He'd witnessed the ravages of war firsthand as an army special ops, but nothing could have prepared Wes Holden for the senseless death of his own wife and son--or the private nightmare that followed. An empty shell of a man, he is unable to do anything but survive. Until the day he walks into Ally Monroe's yard. Raised in the isolated mountains of West Virginia, Ally faces a bleak future spent caring for her stern widower father and two brothers. But that doesn't stop her from dreaming that a stranger might walk into her life and transform her lonely existence. A special bond forms between Wes and Ally. But as Wes emerges from his haze of pain, his soldier's instincts kick in. There's danger in the mountains, a place chosen to hide a thriving illegal drug business. Far worse, the threat is closing in on Ally, and time is running out.