The sun was a blistering eye in the center of the sky, baking the red earth of the training grounds until the air shimmered with a dry, suffocating heat.
Aria stood at the edge of the square, her hands still stinging from the rough hemp of the well-rope, but the physical discomfort was nothing compared to the slow-burning fire in her chest.
She had spent the last hour trying to bury herself in pack chores, desperate to drown out the memory of Liam’s touch and the terrifying weight of the word mate.
But as much as she tried to look away, her gaze was a needle to a north pole, constantly snapping back to the center of the pits.
Liam stood there like a dark monument carved from the very earth he walked upon.
He had just finished a grueling set of combat drills, and his bronze skin was
