His arm locked tight around my waist, unyielding as iron.
Thump. Thump.
My heart pounded so fast it felt like it would tear from my chest.
“Greetings, General Cole…”
I shoved against him in panic, forcing myself to sound calm.
The cold wind rushed back in the moment his warmth left me, and I shivered before I could stop myself.
Cole stood as he always did—cold, impossibly handsome, radiating danger.
His ocean-blue gaze dropped to my ankle, his voice a low rumble:
“Still not healed? You didn’t use the medicine I gave you?”
My breath caught. His eyes flicked higher, sharp as a blade, pinning the half-healed welts along my arms.
He knew.
Wolf army medicine was rare, costly—and especially effective.
Had I used it, there would be no scars left to see.
I met his gaze and pressed my
