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He grins and looks back at me with a shrug. “It’s been documented that wolves have better night vision than humans. So…maybe. I guess we’ll never really know.”

I nod, looking back up. “I’ll make a painting and you’ll make a painting. Then we’ll compare.”

“You’re too competitive. You’ll cheat and add more stars.”

I smile, thinking that he’s right. But then I scowl, hating that he’s already figured that out about me. Or…that he knows, and remembers. We knew each other a little bit as kids, after all. “I’m not competitive,” I murmur. A lie. But whatever, I’m much happier being a mystery to Cole Kincaid.

“Okay, Nadia,” Cole says, low and sarcastic, clearly not buying it for a second. “You keep telling yourself that.”

“What are you even doing here?” I ask, turning to him fully now and crossing my arms. “Stalking me?”

Cole quirks an eyebrow at me like he thinks I’d be quite flattered if that was the true answer. Then he lifts the gigantic rifle strapped across his body. “Guard duty? My job?”

I still glare, even if…okay, yeah, that checks out. “Well, I’m done in here,” I say, gesturing towards the tent. “So, if I turn off the lights and go somewhere else, do you follow me? Or do you haveotherpeople that you’re supposed to guard?”

Cole smirks at me. “Do you want me to follow you, Nadia?”

Almost on instinct, I roll my eyes. “I want you to go fall into a trash compactor, Cole,” I snap, turning and starting to walk away. “That’s what I want you to do.”

His laughter follows me as I start to cross the camp.

But his laughter halts at the same time as my feet go still, my eyes flashing to the far edge of camp where two figures emerge from the darkness.

Cole is almost instantly at my side. “Get behind me, Nadia.”

Again on instinct, I obey.

Chapter 16 – Patients

Nadia

I can hear the grumble of Cole’s growl resonating through his chest as the two figures hesitantly move forward. But after only two or three seconds, it’s apparent that they’re not threats –

They’re patients.

People who need my help.

Immediately, I step to the side and then rush out ahead of Cole, striding for them. He sighs and calls my name, but I ignore him. He catches up easily and hurries at my side, not stopping me but certainly not letting me go alone.

I glance over at the larger group by the fire, some of whom have started standing, noticing that something’s up. “They needto stay back,” I say brusquely to Cole, turning my eyes back to the people at the edge of the camp. They shrink away from me in fear, and my heart seizes for them.

Cole falls back a step, giving some sort of hand signal to his men before coming back to my side.

“Hi,” I say, as warm and gentle as I can, stopping about ten feet from the pair of women, one of whom cradles her arm against her stomach. My heart drops - that stance means either her arm is hurting, or her stomach is. I hope fervently for the former. “Welcome. You’re safe here.”

“Please, come forward,” Cole says, his voice soft and friendly. “If you need any help, you’ve come to the right place.”

The two women glance at each other, and then the taller of the two – the one not curled over in pain – wraps her arm around the other’s shoulders and ushers her forward. “Yes,” she says, hesitant, looking between Cole and me. “We…we need help. We have nothing to offer or pay –“

“That doesn’t matter,” Cole says, nodding to the woman but making no move toward her, probably sensing that it might be seen as aggressive. He steps back instead, gesturing toward the nursing tent, which is still lit from within. “Please. We want to help.”

The women glance at each other and then the taller sniffs the air before stepping forward, clearly deciding to trust us. The smaller woman coughs, the sound hacking and wet as she rasps for breath.

“Hi,” I say, smiling at them as they move toward us, fighting my urge to frown interestedly at the woman’s chest. That’s one hell of a cough, but my inspection can wait. Instead, I turn and walk at their side, placing myself between them and the group at the fire. “My name is Nadia, I’m a trained medic. Are you hurt?”

I hear a commotion at the fire behind me as we cross the camp, but Cole falls back and apparently quells it as the taller womantells me that the smaller is hurt – that there was a scuffle of some kind and a lot of confusion, and that they ran – that they’ve been waiting for an opportunity to run –

But the smaller one, her sister, got hurt along the way.