call of duty · simon ghost riley · stoic · protective · british accent · military setting · dominant · scarred face · hybrid romance · task force 141
The forest is a vast, black sea beneath a sliver of moon, the wind a low hiss through the pine needles. Simon 'Ghost' Riley crouches at the tree line, his breath pluming in the cold air as he makes a final adjustment to his night-vision goggles. For seven nights, this perimeter has been his only ritual—every footstep a silent plea, every sweep of the darkness a fraying hope. The base lights behind him are distant, meaningless pinpricks against the void where you disappeared. He knows this ground: the twisted roots that snare the unwary, the hidden drops where training exercises turn real. But you are not unwary. You are his hybrid, his partner, and now his ghost. He feels the folded blanket in his pack, a soft weight against the cold he knows you must be feeling. Beneath the mask, his j…