At first light Hunter, Wolf, Ryder, Storm and Blaize were up and ready to go. Having not slept a wink all night, they had spent the hours until dawn trying to keep their minds occupied and their feet from racing out the door.

Hunter and Wolf had whiled away the time cleaning their weapons, the intricacies of the familiar task helping to keep them calm and focused. They did the same thing before every mission; it was a ritual that they turned to now when they were fighting their need for action. With impulsive younger brothers like Storm and Blaize who wanted nothing more than to charge out into the forest to look for Ella, it was more important than ever for them to keep their composure so that they could keep the others under control. It was their responsibility as the leaders of their family.

The other three had passed the time alternating between pacing, brooding and working out; the physical exertion helping to keep their frustrations under control. Unlike their older brothers, Ryder, Storm and Blaize were struggling with their forced inaction. Ella was alone and injured, and the concern for her wellbeing and the fierce protectiveness they felt for her was agonizing.

The moment the dawn light was bright enough to allow them to see inside the dense cover of the forest, they were moving. Gearing up with food and water, with Storm also carrying a med kit, they headed out. The five of them moved as a single unit with a single purpose in mind; find Ella.

They came to a halt at the edge of the forest for final instructions.

"Alright, two teams. Wolf, Blaize and Ryder, you head North, Storm and I'll go South," ordered Hunter. "If you find her, radio it in with your location."

"She's terrified, remember that. Keep your distance and try to talk her down, but if she runs don't lose her," said Wolf. "She ran for a reason and until we know why we don't know what will set her off. Talk to her, try to get her to tell you why she ran in the first place."

"And the food," added Storm, "she's got to be starving so try to get her to eat something."

They all nodded their agreement and headed off in opposite directions.

*****

Spending another night alone in the forest had terrified Ella to the point that she'd simply dropped to the ground at the base of a huge tree and curled up. The exhaustion, hunger and pain were beating at her and she felt herself slipping into sleep again and again before jerking awake with each sound that echoed through the trees around her. She had eventually fallen into a fitful sleep just before the dawn light started to unfurl in the distance.

Waking abruptly a little time later, Ella uncurled her limbs from where she lay and stretched her aching muscles. She took her first good look at her surroundings in the morning light that gently shone through the trees. How far had she managed to stumble in the dark the night before? And what had made her wake so suddenly just now?

She listened carefully for a moment, straining to hear the sounds around her as she warily searched the trees from where she sat. Then she saw them; Wolf, Blaize and Ryder were walking through the forest heading straight for her. They hadn't seen her yet but they would soon. What the hell was she going to do?

Run or hide? Run or hide? Run or hide? It was a chant in her head and she was paralysed with indecision, frozen in place.

"Ella?"

Decision made, RUN!

Adrenaline flooded her body and her mind snapped back to the present. Without a second thought she leapt to her feet and took off through the trees.

"Ella, stop!" Ryder yelled behind her.

Like hell, she'd escaped the bad guys twice and these guys once and she was done. No more being captured and escaping only to be captured again, this time she was disappearing for good.

Blood roaring in her ears, heart hammering in her chest and her lungs burning as she gasped for breath, Ella dashed headlong through the trees. Branches tore at her clothes and snagged her hair as she bolted. She could hear feet pounding behind her as the guys ran and her terror grew, clouding her mind until she was running on nothing but pure survival instinct.

Behind her she could hear Wolf calling the others on his radio as he, Blaize and Storm ran to keep up with her.

"We've got her, North side of Long Gully Track, about 2 miles in."

"Roger that, we're coming around from the South," came Hunter's calm reply over the radio.

Oh God they were going to catch her, there was no way she could outrun them. Still, she couldn't stop. Racing ahead, she tripped and stumbled over an exposed tree root, almost falling to her knees before regaining her balance and sprinting on.

"Ella, please stop! We're not going to hurt you!" Blaize called from behind her.

Ducking and weaving between the trees, Ella didn't even slow down at his words. Escape, escape, escape; her fight or flight instincts were in control now and they were definitely screaming 'flight'.

Suddenly Hunter and Storm appeared out of nowhere ahead of her. She swerved left and raced on, having no idea where she was heading. They were flanking her on both sides now and time was running out. Up ahead she could hear water and the thunder of what sounded like a waterfall.

Crashing through the trees and stumbling into a small clearing, Ella came to a screeching halt as the ground in front of her fell away into empty space. She found herself teetering on the edge of a long drop, a churning river below. She took a couple of quick steps back away from the edge and spun around to find the five men standing behind her.

"Easy, little one," Hunter said, his voice deep and his face grim.

"That's a long way down, darlin', careful now," added Ryder.

Ella's gaze swung from one face to the next and back again. Her chest was heaving from running and her lungs burned. She had to lock her knees to stop her legs from buckling beneath her.

Storm took a tentative step forward, his hands held out in front of him. Ella immediately took a quick step back towards the cliff edge.

"Easy Ella, we're not going to hurt you. I don't know what made you run but we can work it out, just talk to me sweetheart," he beseeched. "What happened?"

"I heard you, I heard you say you were going to lie to me! You were going to trick me!" Ella felt tears well in her eyes before they tipped over and rolled down her cheeks. Her feet and ankle were throbbing and her entire body was shaking with the stress and adrenaline.

"You've been looking into me, asking around about me, invading my privacy! Do you have any idea what you've done? They'll find me! Or is that what you want, to sell me back to them? I'm sure they'd pay you quite a lot to get me back." Ella couldn't seem to stop the words pouring from her mouth, the dam had broken and now she was on a roll.

"I'd rather die than go back to them!" She took one last step back towards the edge of the cliff, the long drop down into the river behind her.

"NO!" Hunter roared, leaping forward, one hand held out to her. "Don't do it, little one. If you want us to leave then we will, but don't step off that ledge, please." His face was stricken as he looked into her eyes.

"You were going to keep it to yourselves because you couldn't risk me running, why? Because you couldn't sell me back to them if I was gone?" She could barely think straight, but the tortured looks on their faces as they watched her standing on the edge of a deadly drop was making her pause.

"That's not what we meant!" cried Storm. "We didn't want to frighten you into running because we want to help. We would never, ever sell you or give you over to someone. All we want to do is help."

Ryder spoke up, "He's right, we want to help but we can't do that without information.  We were just doing some digging around to see what we could find out until you were able to give us more. It's how we operate; get as much information as possible before making any moves."

"And I told everyone to keep what we had already learned to ourselves because I wanted to give you time to come to us on your own. We want you to trust us, to let us protect you but that means we have to know everything as soon as possible to anticipate any danger that might be on the way," added Wolf.

Could they really mean it? Were they really a group of good guys who just wanted to help? She'd spent so long being too terrified to trust anyone, especially men, that she couldn't tell the difference between the good ones and the bad ones anymore.

The exhaustion and stress finally overtook her and Ella's trembling legs buckled, her battered and bruised body collapsing to the ground.

Hunter lunged forward and caught her shoulders, stopping her from swaying backwards and falling over the drop. He gently scooped her up and cradled her in his arms against his chest. He breathed a sigh of relief and brushed his lips against her hair.

"You're safe, little one, you need to start believing that," Hunter whispered to her softly. "All you need to worry about is resting and getting better, everything else can wait. No-one is selling you or betraying you or handing you over to anyone, you're safe with us."

Hunter turned back to the others as they crowded forward, each reaching out to touch her as if they needed the reassurance that she was safely back with them again.

Ella's eyes closed as she gradually relaxed and finally took the first step towards trusting them. Just as she was slipping into the blackness of blessed sleep, she felt a soft kiss pressed to her hair and a deep voice murmur, "Rest, sweetheart. No-one's going to hurt you, you're safe now."

Safe. For the first time in forever, she really did feel just the tiniest bit safe.