The Alien Soldier by Eryn Ivers

“I told you you wouldn’t be able to stand when I was done with you.”
“I didn’t doubt you. I never have.”
Patrick Smith is being punished. For letting a good man go free, for refusing to steal from a newly sovereign nation, for disobeying orders, but most of all for being a human in an alien army. Despite his decades of service and experience, instead of being on the front lines to defend his home against a strange new threat, he’s stuck commanding a squad of misfit soldiers no one wants and no one believes in.
Fal’ran has always been nothing. Worse than nothing. The poor, uneducated, brat of a drunk from the Moon Projects. But with war comes opportunity. For the first time in his life, Fal’ran has a chance to prove his worth, fighting in the greatest military in the sector. Nothing and no one is going to stand in his way. Not his past, not his useless teammates, and definitely not his pathetic human commanding officer.
That is until Fal’ran gets a whiff of said commanding officer’s mouth-watering scent and his entire world turns upside down. The simmering tension between them is undeniable. But it’s also unprofessional and unethical and acting on it is completely out of the question as far as Patrick is concerned.
As a new species launches an invasion, Patrick must decide if his moral compass is really as reliable as he’s always believed, and Fal’ran must decide if what he’s always wanted is really what he’s always needed.