Bound to the Alpha Commander

rid

ainst porcelain, sharp eno

le, Preston wa

ry club. Something about the kind of life his

listening te

onto the linen. It had come free with Preston's espresso, which

orange

he was delivering a verdict. "But let's be realistic. Once we're married, you won't need

er glass dow

omething I do to

aningful hobby. But a household like mine requires a woman with pre

all I could hear was the

e buzzed aga

t out unde

m my mothe

Astrid. Do not embarras

over and slapped it onto the table, face do

ebrows

m that I was done being inspected, measured,

ger on my h

e soft jazz of the restau

one trau

's message, the suffocating weight of being arran

r scraping hard

s face twisting. "What are you

s hand away.

one else can

h. The offended mouth. The absolute certainty that his dinner

aid. "The

my purse and slapped it onto the t

it my flushed ski

Jude Medical Center," I said, alrea

dded and cut

aking, not from fear, but from the violent relief of motion. For once, I

in front of the hospital, I thre

d open, and the smell hit me instantly - blea

.Groundi

rge nurse, Sarah, saw me and shoved a ster

a room three. Military tran

t ask q

my back with practiced fingers. Blue latex snapped again

door, I stopped fo

blood. Two nurses were cutting away fabric. A resident was calling out vitals t

director, stood near the he

This is a special case. The military

s unnecessary

o time

and the restau

s only t

s, found the bleeders, clamped one, then another. The patient

dropping," s

ther unit

sing, shoes skidding against the floor, orders snapping through the a

the far end of t

d thud of boots

n

ic

h the trauma bay wit

anged befor

l straightened. Even Arthur went still, his mouth tighteni

"That's Alonso," she whispered. "No rank on him

ed, "Arthur called h

on

through the roo

in the middle of clamping an artery, and if m

felt

from instincts other people trusted like a second language. I could not read dominanc

rity officer. A military liaison. Someone with enou

ed, going careful in a wa

r. We're stabil

the sce

e.C

th, cold and ancient, lik

est hard enough to

ly that scent, that presence, that invisible pressure bending the a

my finger

profes

s a

e rattled by a man i

tly to reach f

when I

ear without a single visible rank insignia - no polished badge, no nameplate,

dy built less like a man and more like a weapon someone had taught to

his eyes th

e.Fixed ent

the patient. Not at Ar

e

human. It was terrifying in its focus, like he had walked into a

ath hi

gaze snapping back to the patient. I felt his eyes on me

as Al

im like command when h

e looking at

titched the wound, my movements precise, even as every nerve in

d," I said, my voice

ath. The monitor's frantic

back, my

lt too exposed, too raw, as if he had seen

leave the

of air, a static charge that l

not t

d not

not h

or one brutal second, and my heart ans

t wal

ng against my ribs, leaving Alonso, the man with no