Leave Me Behind

Nell Gallows is the only person left from Riøt, an elite dark forces squad hit by a devastating attack two years ago. Her record makes her the top candidate for Malum, a special ops team that takes the missions nobody else can or will. There is a catch: Malum lost one of its own on the Patagonia mission and holds Riøt responsible.

Nell boards a plane to California expecting a hostile reception, possibly a fatal one. Before she reports in, she spends one night with a dark, mysterious stranger, meant as a last taste of freedom with no strings. Too late, she learns who he is. He is Bones, her new commanding officer on the team, and the man she most dreaded meeting.

Bones is cruel, unforgiving and openly hates her, and he makes sure she knows it. When a mission goes wrong and he cannot reach the evacuation point, Nell chooses to stay behind with him rather than leave. That puts her alone with a man whose secrets she does not yet know.

The book is a military romance with an enemies-to-lovers charge, built on a forced partnership and boss-subordinate tension. Expect a tense, adversarial mood, with trust as the main thing at stake once the mission falls apart.