Ten years ago, Maxwell you-can-just-call-me Clark thought he would spend his life as a military man. But his world turned into a nightmare when a suicide bomber destroyed Clark's career. It's been a long road to recovery, but now Clark finally has peace. His bar, Glow, is the place to be in the city of New Amsterdam; Lucian Gray, the son of the mayor, employs Clark as a confidential information man; and Clark’s side venture as part-owner of a BDSM club is quite the profitable release. Clark’s life is a good one, so long as no one gets too close.<br><br>Then a man walks into Glow who will forever change Clark’s rules and reality. Thinking Professor Daniel Germain is just another handsome face ripe for Clark’s kind of good time, Clark puts on his smoothest moves. When the professor turns him down, Clark goes on the hunt, and what he discovers shows him that even the deepest wounds can be healed by submitting to love.

Hearts Under Fire

Lancing though his eye and shooting in from his spine to fan out over his side, the pain made Clark jerk. It was phantom—he knew that. Some sort of nasty brain cocktail that made things seemreal: ghosts of evils past.


But that didn’t make it hurt a damned bit less. In fact, Clark felt sure that the phantom pains hurt more than the injuries that initially caused them. He managed for a second or two, and then nausea hit with a force that made Clark break into a cold sweat. He bent slightly, head going down and arm wrapping protectively across his abdomen before he checked himself and stiffened his spine.


I will not panic. Pain is nothing. Illness is manageable. Just get outside. And breathe.


Chapter 33