Dark Protector
Chapter One
He fought free of the mists, drawing in painful gulps of precious air, vanquishing the last fetid vestiges of death. Slowly his heart began to beat again, taking its own sweet time to fall back into a remembered rhythm. Breathing in, breathing out, each sip of oxygen reluctantly sending life back into his limbs.
Damn, he hated this. He'd already died too many times -- sometimes for a worthy cause, and sometimes for no good reason at all. Every time he came back from the edge was an agonizing process. And every time he brought back a little less of his humanity, until he barely remembered what it felt like to simply be a man. Over the decades, the shadows death had left on his soul made him stronger, but hard and edgy and angry.
"He's back." The familiar voice was not a welcome one.
"He needs to rest before you order him out again, Colonel," a female voice stated.
"He's needed now." The words had the clipped cadence of a man used to barking out orders and having them obeyed without question.
"Speaking as his Handler, I must protest your even being here. Sir." That last word was clearly a re ... read full excerpt from Dark Protector ebook
