rie

disturbing my sleep. The moment my eyelashes fluttered against his collarbone, a furious,

ed, his gravelly baritone crack

ard frame. "You took tactical perimeter g

oot-four frame snapping into a rigid parade-rest stance beside the bed. His broad chest was bare, cris

heavy platinum folio and a sleek, unembossed obsidian black card. He dropped smoothly

rumbled, his voice thick with raw, trembling sincerity. "All military logistics, assets, and titles under my name are hereby surrendered to your sole custody. If.

ck card and deeds from his hands and

ng my legs over the edge of t

ated warhound given the ultimate field direc

eside the coffee table, wearing a pastel-pink lace apron he had unearthed from the manor's kitchen over his tactical trousers. He had pan-seared dry-aged A5 wagyu te

steak, a wave of profound

ntil I literally dropped dead at three in the morning. Now? I had endless black cards, private territories, a four-s

e. C

the marble credenza flared to life, overriding

elders and the Joint Defense Bureau directors. The very men who held the nation's political and milita

onitored the miraculous dissipation of General Sterling's terminal blight last night! The Council has f

ty directors, and watching a terminal Four-Star General walk out of my house breathing had done the rest. I had erased my name from the re

chin on my palm. "Cut to t

s an unacceptable security risk! We have unlocked the Level-Zero National Consort Portfolio for your selection. The nati

w

into a glowing carousel o

asses and silver hair; an elite celebrity chef with crimson highlights... Each profile was accompanied by full biometric scans, tax return

in plate being crushed into powde

un

rized into white dust under his bare knuckles. His glacial blue eyes burned with a dark, suffocating

hrough the dossiers like I was picki

He shorted three pharmaceutical indices last week and froze the municip

d glasses who calculates every breath under fifteen federal

men through the camera, my voice dr

tion. Tell your elite Alphas: if they're out of shape, disqualified. If they like lecturing women, disqualified. If they shed excessively during season

Absolutely, L

A

directly over the projector lens

trembling shadow over me on the sofa. His jaw was clenched so hard the tendons in his throat wer

ar General, completely un

to a low, desperate whine. "Are... are my muscles not

pressing flush against the fabric of my r

red palms coming up to hover an inch from my waist, trembling with the agonizing restraint of an Alpha fighting his own fera

and pinch his burning ear, bu

EEE

in morning was viol

e the perimeter alarms could complete their first cycle, reinforced steel push-ba

private security contractors in full combat armor poured out of the vehicles, raising heavy tactical rifles directly at the sanctuary'

ed through an electronic bull

his entire perimeter is under hostile containment! Unseal

dripping with sa

tarily, our breaching units will blow the hinges, shatter your knees

salon, the air wen

t fade-it turned bone-white, instantly replace

o his full height, his broad frame blocking the light. The temperature in the room plunged fifty degrees in an instant, rime

onto the saucer with a quiet, deliberate clin

t cushions. "Looks like my ex-fiancé just sent his