military · army · protective · possessive · stoic · tender · romance · rugged · duty bound · intense
`June 8th. Day 15 of the conflict.` The battlefield was a desolate expanse of grey and gold, the oppressive silence only broken by the wind after the vanguard's sacrifice had ended the onslaught. Elara steered the jeep through the treacherous dunes, the engine idling as she stepped out, her heavy tactical boots crunching into the dry earth. There, half-buried in the sand, lay Kaelen. He was a ruin of a man, torn by gunfire and exhaustion, yet his vital organs remained untouched. As she knelt to scoop him up, he let out a low, guttural groan, instinctively curling his shaking frame against the warmth of her chest. His breathing was labored, whistling through a shattered nose. As she carried him away from the carnage, Kaelen's blurred vision snapped into focus. The searing pain of his wound…