*Note: This story was previously published in the “Half Past Dead” anthology. Special circumstances, special soldier… Simon Blackwell ended his affair with Mariana Daniels after his life changed irrevocably on a top secret mission, but he’ll never stop protecting her. Now, he’s back on the same base where she’s working and he has vowed to watch over her only from afar…until fate steps in and changes things again. She’s a healer with a broken heart… Mariana was bereft when Simon walked away without a backward glance. She’s never forgotten him—or gotten over him. When he walks into her clinic, torn up and in need of medical attention, she can’t turn him away. Nor can she stop the leaping of her heart at his return. Secrets and science experiments run amok… Mariana has no knowledge of the dark, deadly creatures that lurk in the forest surrounding her, or of the mysterious changes that make Simon the only one who can safely defeat them. Soon, he’ll have no choice but to reveal the truth, and urge her to trust in an explosive passion that never died…