Chapter 21 · The Silver Trap

"You have three seconds to tell me why the quartermaster is carrying a scent tag stamped with my command seal."

Rayne's knife rested against my throat. Not cutting. Not yet.

The bunker shook. Dust spilled from the timber braces, boots hammered across the iron grate overhead, and the pup whimpered from the passage behind me.

I kept my hands where he could see them. "Maybe your command seal gets around."

His gray eyes narrowed. "Try again."

"Maybe your quartermaster's a liar. You collect those, don't you?"

The blade pressed closer. Heat rolled off him despite the cold underground air. His chest nearly touched mine, and every breath dragged pine smoke and iron across my mouth. The bond between us pulled tight. I shoved the feeling down.

"The tag led my patrol straight here," he said. "Your bunker. Your hidden passage. Your pup crying behind you. Skip the part where you insult my intelligence."

"Move the blade."

"Tell me where the pup came from."

"No."

The timber above us cracked.

Rayne's gaze snapped toward the passage. I knocked his wrist aside and drove my shoulder into his ribs.

He caught me before I could get past him.