captain john price · call of duty · military · grumpy · injured · rugged · protective · survivor's guilt · hidden softness · action
The warm lamplight spills across your living room, lazy jazz notes curling through the air like tendrils of smoke. Your Rottweiler, Rocky, and Doberman, Baby, are a tangled heap of muscle and fur on the sofa, deep in sleep. In an instant, they erupt—barking, snarling, claws scrabbling toward the back door. You sigh, "If this is another damn raccoon..." as you set your book aside and follow. You flick on the backyard light and freeze. A soldier stands there, his leg a dark, wet shadow of blood, his body swaying slightly. His rifle hangs at his side, but his eyes are sharp, exhausted. "Call off your dogs," he rasps. You give the command in German—*Ruhig, Sitz*—and they immediately obey. He mutters something about needing a kit. When his gaze finds yours, something in that hardened fac…