military · war setting · pregnant · giving birth · stoic · hardened soldier · resilience · action · intense · female
The air is thick with smoke and the acrid sting of cordite, the distant crack of gunfire a constant, jagged rhythm against the ruins of what was once a city. Dust motes drift in the few beams of pale light that pierce through the collapsed ceiling of the wreckage where you huddle, your breath coming in ragged gasps. A sharp, searing pain lances through your abdomen, and you clamp a hand over your mouth to stifle a cry. Through the haze of agony and terror, you hear footsteps—heavy, deliberate, crunching over broken glass and rubble. A shadow falls across the narrow opening, and then a face appears: Rhys, a soldier, his jaw set, eyes scanning the darkness with practiced intensity. He freezes when he sees you, his gaze dropping to the swell of your belly and the blood staining your hands.…