“You’re right,” Zarina said. “Bryce and Spencer are out of danger now, so there’s no reason we can’t leave. But where do we go?”
Tanner tipped her face up and kissed her. “What about Russia? We could see your family. If the place you grew up in is still as rural as you said, I doubt anyone would recognize me. What do you think?”
She smiled. He was the amazing one in this relationship. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? I don’t care where we go as long as we’re together. If you want, I’ll happily go live in the Wenatchee Mountains with you again. I’m sure Chad wouldn’t mind us staying with them.”
He chuckled. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ve seen how much you enjoy hot water. I’m not taking you anywhere without indoor plumbing.”
She was about to insist that wasn’t necessary—even though it really was—but just then, he jerked his head around to look at the door. He sniffed the air, a sure sign that someone unexpected was approaching their room. A moment later, there was a knock at the door.
Zarina tensed as Tanner stood and walked over to the door. She followed, her stomach clenched into a knot. What if it was a reporter? Or the cops?
Tanner opened the door without looking through the peephole. Cam stood there, a petite girl with a colorful pixie hairstyle beside him. An older couple stood behind them, as well as a blond woman about Tanner’s age. Between the stunned look on Tanner’s face and the obvious family resemblance, it was easy figuring out who their visitors were.
No one said anything, not even Cam. Everyone simply stood there staring at each other. Clearly, Zarina was going to have to make the first move. Reaching out, she took Tanner’s hand in hers as she motioned his family forward.
“Come in,” she said, giving them a smile.
When they hesitated, Cam stepped back and herded them into the room. He peeked down the hallway, like he was worried someone might have followed them, then closed the door.
“We’re clear,” he said, as if reading her mind. “I still have a few friends on the force, and they made sure we weren’t followed.”
Zarina thought after they had come inside that someone would say something, but no one made a peep. She was just about to speak when Tanner’s youngest sister closed the distance between them and enveloped Tanner in a big hug, burying her face against his chest with a sob. Tanner wrapped his arms around her, his eyes filling with tears.
“Hey there, Jelly Bean,” he said softly. “I see you’re still coloring your hair to match your socks.”
The girl laughed, and just like that, the tension in the room disappeared. Eyes misting with tears, each family member hugged Tanner one by one.
“These are my sisters, Kellie and Raquel,” Tanner said to Zarina when they were done. “And this is my mother, Madeline, and my father, Cedric.”
Madeline seemed to be one of those women who never showed her age. While she had to be in her fifties, her hair was still dark blond and her face had few lines. Cedric was a big man and still carried a lot of muscle on his broad frame even though he was probably at least sixty. His hair was mostly gray, but there were still stray strands of blond showing up here and there.
“Everyone,” Tanner continued, “this is Zarina Sokolov, the woman I love and the reason I’m alive today.”
Madeline’s smile broadened as she gave Zarina a warm hug. “Cam has told us a lot about you. I have to admit, at first it sounded like he was describing Wonder Woman, but after he told us what you’ve done for Tanner, I’m starting to think he’s right.”
Blushing, Zarina motioned everyone to the couch and chairs around the TV. “I was about to go out and get something to eat, but since you’re here now, why don’t I order takeout instead? That way, we can sit around, and you can ask all the questions I’m sure you have.”
“Takeout would be fine,” Cedric said before offering Tanner a small smile. “And while we do have a lot of questions, we don’t want to push. If you’re not ready to talk about it, Son, we’re okay with that. The only thing that matters to us is that you’re safe.”
Tanner glanced at Zarina, then gave his father a nod. “I’m ready to talk, but I’m warning you in advance, it’s a long story.”
“Long stories are the very best kind,” his mother said, taking a seat in one of the chairs across from the couch. “Take all the time you need. We’re not going anywhere.”
Tanner caught Zarina’s hand and squeezed it, then moved over to sit on the couch while she grabbed the menu from the pizza place they’d ordered from a couple of times already.
“You probably think the story started in that compound in the Kunduz Province of Afghanistan during my last tour in the Rangers, but the real beginning was in a ski lodge in the Wenatchee Mountains,” Tanner said. “That’s where I met Zarina and where everything changed.”
His gaze drifted to hers, his mouth curving into a smile that made her heart sing, then he turned back to his family and started from the beginning.
Epilogue
“How the hell did this happen?” Rebecca Brannon demanded, flipping through the contents in the folder in front of her on the table.
“They pitted two hybrids against each other in a cage in front of a room full of cell phones,” William Hamilton said. “The results were inevitable.”
His gaze was locked on the CNN news feed playing on the projection screen at the front of the conference room. The volume
