"You don't look friendly. We all survive disappointment."
A few recruits glanced between Rayne and me.
I folded the enlistment papers against my palm. "You always greet new recruits by insulting them?"
"Only the ones wearing another woman's name."
The guard beside him stiffened. "Commander?"
Rayne didn't look away from me. "She was rejected this morning."
My pulse stumbled.
The rejection mark still burned beneath my collar. I pulled the fabric higher. "You smell every recruit's private business now?"
"Only when it announces itself. Rejection burns through the skin for hours."
"Congratulations. Your nose works."
His gaze moved over my armor and stopped at my ribs.
The pup shifted inside the hidden pouch.
I held my breath and stepped around him. "I'm here to enlist. Get out of my way."
Rayne caught my wrist.
Heat shot up my arm. His grip wasn't painful, but it made one thing clear: he could make it painful whenever he wanted.
My wolf surged, furious and hungry.
I yanked against him. "Let go."
He leaned closer. His breath brushed my cheek. "You smell like a rejected mate."
"And you smell like a man who enjoys hearing himself talk."
"What's your real name?"
"Mara Vale."
"No."
"Then stop asking questions you already answered."
His nostrils flared. "Who sent you here?"
"Your mother. She said you needed a hobby."
A couple of recruits snorted.
Rayne's mouth twitched. It wasn't a smile. It was meaner than that.
I drove my elbow toward his ribs.
He caught it, twisted me around, and locked my back against his chest. Leather scraped over my armor. The recruits backed away as his arm crossed my stomach.
"Try that again," he said beside my ear, "and I'll put you on the ground in front of everyone."
"You already have a line forming. Don't disappoint them."
He turned me hard.
My boots slid in the mud. Rayne caught my waist before I fell, his palm spreading across my side. The contact lasted one beat too long.
His eyes dropped to my mouth.
Mine caught on the pulse in his throat.
The bond between us pulled tight—hot, wrong, and far too familiar. My skin prickled beneath his glove.
I shoved his chest. "Don't touch me."
His stare sharpened. "Then stop hiding something under your armor."
"I'm not hiding anything."
"Liar."
"Alpha."
That wiped the amusement from his face.
He swept my legs out from under me.
I hit the mud on my side. Pain flashed through my hip. The pouch crushed against my ribs, and a tiny whimper escaped.
I bit my tongue to keep from answering it.
Rayne dropped over me before I could roll away. One knee pinned my thigh. He forced both my wrists above my head and pressed them into the wet ground.
"Get off me!"
"Who trained you?"
"Someone who hated bullies."
"Who sent you?"
"I told you. Your mother."
His fingers tightened around my wrists.
I couldn't fight too hard. If he searched me, he'd find the pup. If I surrendered, Cole's hunters would find me before nightfall.
Rayne lowered his face until his mouth hovered a breath from mine. Smoke, leather, and iron filled my lungs. My wolf clawed at the bond like it wanted out.
"Tell me your real name," he said.
"Mara Vale."
"That isn't your name."
"It's the only one you're getting."
A horn sounded from the watchtower.
Rayne kept his eyes on mine. "You came here to disappear."
"I came here to enlist."
"Under a stolen identity."
"Under a name nobody wants. Seems fair."
His nose brushed the edge of my jaw.
My whole body locked.
Rayne inhaled once.
His expression changed. Not softer. Worse.
"What is that?" he asked.
I twisted my wrists. "Get off me."
"Who are you hiding under there?"
"Nobody."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I expect you to move your damn hand."
His palm left my wrists and slid toward the edge of my chest armor. His knuckles grazed my side as he found the lower strap.
Panic tore through me.
I slammed my forehead into his.
He cursed and loosened his hold. I rolled, reached for the knife at his belt, and closed three fingers around the handle.
Rayne caught my hand before I could draw it. He dragged me onto my back and pinned my arm above my head.
Blood ran from the cut at his brow.
"You just tried to take my knife."
"You just tried to search my body."
"I have the right."
"Not to me."
For a second, neither of us moved.
His thumb crossed my lower lip, wiping away the blood from my bitten tongue. The touch was slow. Careful. Nothing like the way he'd thrown me down.
My breath caught.
His gaze darkened. "Whose child are you hiding under that armor?"
The question hit harder than Cole's threat.
I drove my knee between us. "Touch the armor and I'll scream."
"Do it."
"You think your soldiers won't hear?"
"I think they'll hear their commander expose a spy."
"I'm not a spy."
"Then prove it."
His fingers hooked beneath the leather plate.
I grabbed his wrist with both hands. His skin was hot beneath my palms. Mine shook against him.
"Rayne."
His name slipped out before I could stop it.
He went still.
The bond yanked tight. His breath caught against my cheek. His body held mine down, but his eyes searched my face like he'd just heard something he couldn't explain.
Then he lifted the armor.
The hidden pouch showed beneath it, strapped tight against my ribs.
A small face pushed against the cloth.
The pup cried.
Every soldier in the yard heard it.
The alarm horns exploded overhead.
One blast. Then another.
A red flare climbed over the Ironfang walls. Beyond the gate, a second flare burst over the eastern ridge. Then a third. More followed, marking the dark line of the hills.
Cole's hunters had found the camp.
Rayne rose in one sharp movement and drew his knife.
I pushed onto one elbow. "Don't touch my child."
His gaze snapped back to me. "Your child?"
"You heard me."
Boots pounded through the mud. Soldiers sprinted toward the walls while others dragged the gates shut.
Rayne stepped over me, blade raised. "Lock the camp down. No one leaves. Find the woman carrying that child."
A guard stopped halfway to the eastern wall. "Alive, Commander?"
Rayne's eyes stayed on mine. "Alive. No one lays a hand on her."
Another horn cut through the yard.
A scout came running from the watchtower, pale and breathless. "Commander, they're not attacking the gate."
Rayne's jaw tightened. "Then what are they doing?"
The scout looked at me. "They're calling for her. They know her name."
Rayne turned fully toward me, knife hanging at his side.
"Mara," he said, voice low enough that only I could hear, "what the hell did you steal from Cole?"