Severed — S.J. Sawyer

Note: THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE READ STANDALONE OR OUT OF ORDER!! NOR IS IT TO BE MISCONSTRUED TO BE A NOVEL! This simply builds upon a foundation started in Sealed. Severed is the third PART in a continuing series. Sealed and Teased need to be read prior to this novella.

Severed: to separate from, as by cutting or the like, to divide into parts, especially forcibly, disunite.

I've barely left, and I'm already thinking about returning to her.

Eighteen months. Roughly, seventy-two weeks. God, it's over five hundred damned days from now.

I need to get my head on straight, though. Where I'm going, there's no room for feelings or emotions. They just cause errors, deadly errors that I can't afford to make, not when my life and the lives of all my team are at stake. I know that hell is real; I've seen it first hand, and I'm going back there. It's different, now. I have something to come back to, someone, and I'll fight until my last breath is gone for her.

My angel.

While watching her sleep, her blonde hair spilled across my pillow, I realized just how much she meant to me. Yeah, I'm attracted, who wouldn't be, but there's so much more between Avery and me. From the moment I touched her hand, I knew she was the it. The one. My soul mate. Whatever the hell you want to call it, I knew she was mine, and now, she's all alone.

I'm not there to protect her.

This hell that surrounds me is nothing in comparison to the one in my heart. Fear and doubt surround me like never before: what if she doesn't wait? What if this absence is too much for her to bear? We just met. Are a few short weeks enough to build a lasting foundation?

God, I hope so.

The following story contains mature themes, strong language, and sexual situations. It is intended for an adult audience and is not suitable for young readers.