Page 6 of Bound By Thorns

Not here. Not now. Not yet.

That wince must have given me away. Not to Logan, but Noel. His eyes always lingered too long, scrutinizing my every move. Usually, I was stoic, my face a mask of indifference while tending to the wounded. But Logan shattered my composure, and made my practiced apathy crumble. Every act, every mask, obliterated.

I needed to control myself in front of Logan. I remembered the day they brought him to Ravenrock Hall. I was so disoriented that I almost gave away my facade. I fought the urge to run to him. I wanted to ask him about his squad. I wanted to ask him how Brewer and Pedro were doing. But I shut myself up and erected these walls around myself to not let anyone inside.

Beyond the personal horrors Garret could unleash on me or Logan, I believed he had the power and spite to dismantle Bridgewood, to crush the Alpha Program entirely.

I settled down on my bed, closing my eyes to remember the days when Logan’s gaze didn’t contain the animosity as it did now.

???

When Officer Mercer dismissed us with the announcement that each Bridgewood squad would be relocated to theirrespective training locations within the next two hours, curiosity prickled at the edges of my mind. I wanted to know more about my newly minted team.

I knew Lancaster Brewer from my Iraq deployment—briefly, but enough to trust he wasn’t useless. The rest? A complete mystery.

I made my way toward Lan, weaving through the dispersing crowd, but my path was suddenly blocked. My gaze landed at neck-level—broad and solid, too close for comfort. I took a step back, craning my neck upward, and my breath caught.

I was instantly taken hostage by the most striking pair of blue eyes I’d ever seen.

Internally, I was wrestling for control, the sheer force of his presence unsettling. But outwardly, I kept my composure. Calm. Unflinching.

“Alpha Squad Two?” I asked, my voice steady.

He gave me a half-smile, one corner of his mouth tugging upward in a way that felt annoyingly disarming. “Logan Carlton. Alpha Squad Six.”

His hand extended toward me, and I glanced down, distractedly shaking it.

“I suppose introductions are unnecessary, then,” I said, arching a brow.

His grin widened, and suddenly, the room felt smaller. His light stubble framed his face perfectly, and my fingers itched with an irrational urge to run through it.

What the actual fuck is wrong with me?

“I think we can still get to know each other,” he said, his voice warm, playful. “Don’t you think?”

“You’d probably be dead in three months.”

“Ouch! I thought you’d have faith in me, sweetheart.”

I tilted my head, pretending to search the room for an answer. When I met his gaze again, there was a flicker of confusion—an adorable, furrowed-brow kind of confusion—that I almost hated myself for finding endearing.

“Am I wrong to assume this is a Bridgewood meetup and not a singles event?” I quipped.

A rich, genuine laugh escaped him, the kind that made his eyes crinkle at the corners.

“Kaylan, you’re—”

But before he could finish, a hand landed on his shoulder, effectively silencing him. An annoyed sigh escaped Logan. The hand’s owner was a dark-haired man whose expression suggested a persistent scowl.

“Let’s go find Max, Gunner,” the newcomer said, his tone clipped and impatient.

Logan rolled his eyes with an exaggerated sigh before giving me one last look, his soft blue gaze lingering for a moment longer than necessary.

“In another life, Kaylan,” he said, his voice teasing as he turned to leave.

And just like that, my blue-eyed stranger was gone.

???

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