Hello everyone! Today I am so excited to welcome Liz Borino to the blog. Liz is here to help us celebrate Men in Uniform Week by sharing her thoughts on sexy men in uniform.  Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Two Alpha Males, One Couple?

men in uniform weekRomance readers yearn to be swept off their feet by the hero, or heroes, in the case of M/M. We all know, nothing is hotter than an alpha in an Army uniform. I’m going to be honest and tell you I never got the appeal. I always saw the alpha as being a man who went around with his chest pushed out, booming about his intelligence and superiority. He had an answer for everything, and was always in control. I may well be the only woman that would rather someone not swoop in and fix my problems. Nor would I write a character who desired such a thing. So, the following conversation shocked me:

Beta: You may not have worked a D/s relationship into the Angel series, but Jordan is definitely an alpha.

Me: *blinks* Are you sure?

Beta: Yeah. He’s hot.

Me: *thinking* But… but… he’s not an asshole!

I had, up until this moment, liked Jordan. I thought he had impressive strengths with enough weaknesses to make him human. After my beta told me this, though, I did some research and found that perhaps I had misjudged alphas. According to Lovepanky.com, traits of an alpha male include:

  1. Charisma
  2. Confident
  3. Rule-breaker

Now these were traits I could see in Jordan. As an Army officer in 2003, he had quite a few reasons to hesitate before approaching a CIA intern, but in this excerpt, you’ll see how effectively he does just that.

“She’s not interested in him,” a man next to Aaron remarked.

Aaron turned to find well-built, tan-skinned Korean man – no, wait, not only Korean, too dark for that. African American? Maybe. His nametag read Jordan Collins. “She’ll be interested in the next drink offer. Why? Hoping she’d pay attention to you?”

“No, I prefer the tall blond type,” Jordan answered, sweeping his gaze over Aaron.

Meeting his eyes to confirm his intention, Aaron leaned down and whispered, “Should you be so open? I could be homophobic. If I was offended enough to report you, you would be facing some grim consequences.”

“You’re not. See,” Jordan made a show of reading his nametag, “Aaron Larson, you had no more interest in that very attractive woman than I do. And yet, I got your first smile of the evening.” He took a breath and continued, “Besides, if you were homophobic, you would have recoiled when I stepped into your personal space. Instead, you leaned closer.”

“All right, you win for gaydar. I’m Aaron, obviously. Do you go by Jordan?” Aaron held out his hand, which Jordan shook.

“I do, but I must say, Aaron does not suit you,” Jordan commented, taking a slug of his beer.

“No? And you know me well enough to make that judgment?” Aaron challenged.

Jordan tilted his head to the side. “When the light hit your spiked blond hair, it glowed like a halo. Angel suits you much better.”

 

Confidence, charisma, and rule-breaking, all in less than two hundred and fifty words. Then, I got to thinking about Aaron, Jordan’s eventual husband. He also exhibits these three traits, as shown in this excerpt.

This man is deliberately annoying me. Aaron massaged harder. “What do you know?”

“Captain Collins and Lieutenant Parks met with prominent members of the Afghanistan grand council regarding release of the American POWs. In the process of saving the lives of fifteen American soldiers, unfortunately, Captain Collins lost his. I’m sorry for your loss,” Bryant explained.

Aaron’s gaze fell to his tattoo on the inside of his arm. And waited for the sadness to overcome him. But no. “Where is he?” Aaron questioned.

“Excuse me?” the LTC pressed.

“Do you need a hearing aid?”

“Aaron!” Troy exclaimed.

“I thought those were both valid questions, sorry. Where is Jordan?” Aaron asked again.

“We were not able to recover a body,” Bryant replied. “The area is under fire, which means—”

“There’s a current battle going on. I understand,” Aaron told them, losing patience with the whole thing. “How can you claim a death without a body?”

“They found his dog tags and burned uniform in the rubble of the prison building,” Troy cut in, placing a hand on Aaron’s arm. “No one is taking this lightly.”

“Obviously they’re not taking it as seriously as they should, or else they’d have a body or even a picture of a body. Do you have that?” Aaron demanded of Colonel Bryant.

“We already explained that the area is under fire. It isn’t safe to go digging around,” Pyrilli told him. “I’m sorry, but everyone who was left in the building is dead.”

“Fine, then prove to me he was in the building,” Aaron responded.

 

Okay… he’s confident and rule-breaking, we can’t exactly say Aaron was charismatic here, but he is protective and optimistic, which are other alpha traits the named by the site. How does a relationship with two alphas work? They support each other and are confident in their love.  And when the confidence turns to arrogance? Well, these alphas have plenty of sarcasm to keep that in check.


Bio

Liz Borino transcribes the world inside her head onto the page, and share it with the people who are stuck in the “real world” to makes their lives a little more interesting. Because in her world, heroes fall and stand up again with the help of their partners and friends. Liz’s world is littered with formidable obstacles, which her heroes overcome with a fire of courage and passion. The beauty of love between two men is celebrated. Who wouldn’t want to live there?

When not with her heroes, Liz enjoys exploring cities, working toward social justice, and editing for other authors. Liz is less than three months from obtaining her Masters’ degree in English and published nine books since 2010.

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