by Anna Hackett
She nodded. “I lost everything. I came here with nothing. My father’s dead, and I don’t even know if my sister and niece are alive. Now I have something I never expected—” she pulled in a deep breath. “I don’t want to lose you too, Levi.”
“I know. I’ll do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen. I’ve never had beauty like you in my life, and this time, I’m keeping it. And, babe, I’m a berserker, remember? We’re tough.”
“And wild and crazy,” she added, stroking his goatee.
“Life goes on, and you and I are going to suck the marrow out of it.” He slid a hand down to cup her breast before he slid it lower and spread his palm over her belly. “One day—not yet, but one day—I want to see this round with the baby I planted in it.”
Her breath hitched. “Caveman.”
“Yep.” He smiled at her. “Hey, I just remembered that I have something for you.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Don’t sound so surprised.” He set her on her feet and walked to a nearby shelf. He held out a small package wrapped in hand-painted paper.
She turned it over, then tore it open like a kid on Christmas. She held up the two candles, her eyes going wide. “You…got me candles.”
“Taylor told me you liked them.”
“My biker man got me candles.”
Jeez, she looked like he’d beaned her over the head with her own wrench.
She sniffed one and then the other. Warmth filled her eyes. “Vanilla and mango. My favorites.”
He shrugged, uncomfortable now. “It’s no big deal.”
“It is to me, biker man.” She leaned in and kissed him. A second later, the candles thudded on the floor and he yanked her up on her toes, deepening the kiss.
“Shit, maybe I should let you suck my cock in the shower.”
She pushed against him. “Too late now. I want to go to the party.”
“Damn.” He reached over and gave her a quick slap on the ass. “Then you’d better go and put on something pretty, babe. Something that I’ll want to tear off you later.”
Naked, she sauntered to the closet. “Don’t ‘babe’ me.”
Chrissy fingered the fabric of the pretty green dress she was wearing. It had a deep V-neckline and was short.
Levi had surprised her with some clothes when they’d returned from the mission. Since hers were all charcoal, it had really touched her. And he’d given her candles.
Her man could be thoughtful…and damn, he must really love her.
Holding Levi’s hand, she walked with him into the Garden. She breathed deep, savoring the lush scent of blooming flowers. From the first moment she’d arrived at the Enclave, this had become a favorite place to visit. It was a bowl cut into the rock at the top of an escarpment above the Enclave. The residents reached it through a tunnel, and the Garden had a retractable roof that opened up to let the sunshine in. At all times, it was hidden by an illusion system. Here, the Enclave’s residents could walk on the grass, and enjoy the greenery and sunshine. Off to the side were rows of garden beds where they grew fresh fruits and vegetables.
This evening, people stood around eating, laughing, and drinking. Kids were playing, running through the trees, and by the picnic tables, she saw off-duty squad soldiers enjoying their downtime.
She and Levi joined the berserkers, who were sharing beers with Hell Squad. Tane was standing, nursing a beer. Hemi was sprawled in a chair, with Cam in his lap. Griff, Dom, and Manu were talking quietly with Shaw and Claudia, and Reed and his fiancée, Natalya. Ash had Marin tucked in front of him, and she was talking animatedly with Elle, who was standing with one hand tucked in the back pocket of Marcus’ jeans.
Ash eyed them both, a smile on his face. It was easy for Chrissy to tell that Ash was happy that his best friend had fallen in love. Levi and Ash started talking.
She shifted her head to glance at Tane, who looked deep in thought and was staring into the trees. She followed his gaze, and saw he was watching Selena. The alien woman was so pale she was almost glowing. She was walking barefoot through the grass, smiling. Her long platinum hair fell around her shoulders and she wore a simple green dress that accented her startling green eyes.
“She’s pretty,” Chrissy murmured.
Tane didn’t shift his gaze. “Look at her feet.”
Chrissy did and gasped. With each step, flowers bloomed to life under Selena’s small feet.
Now Tane looked at Chrissy, an unreadable look on his face. “She’s powerful, and I don’t think anyone here realizes just how much.”
Swallowing, Chrissy watched Selena disappear into the Garden. The woman was their ally, and an enemy of the Gizzida. Chrissy had heard rumors of the woman’s affinity to nature and her abilities. Which included saving Marin’s life.
Tane set his drink down and followed Selena into the trees.
“Chrissy, I hear you let this wild berserker catch you,” an accented voice drawled.
She turned back and saw Cruz smiling at her. He was standing with a tiny baby resting on his shoulder, and her tiny, diapered bottom cupped in one of his big palms. There was no sign of his wife, Santha, so Chrissy assumed the woman was working. God, watching Cruz hold the baby with such ease made her ovaries want to explode. Especially after what her bad-boy biker had said to her back in their room.
“You heard wrong.” She shot Levi a saucy look. “I caught him.”
Everyone laughed, and Levi gripped the back of her neck and squeezed. Hearing children’s voices and laughter, she turned her head and spotted Max. He was running with some friends. When he spied her, he grinned, and gave her a big wave. She waved back, so happy to see him carefree. His lost family and his time with the aliens would never be forgotten, but life did go on. He was happy, and his scars were fading.
“The tech team have any luck working out what this octagon device is?” she heard Levi ask Marcus.
Marcus shook his head. “They’re still analyzing the pics and scans you guys brought back. Nothing yet.” The rugged man scowled. “I spent last night without my wife in my bed. She was glued to her comp in the lab.”
Elle smiled. “Actually, Gaz’da is helping us and its speeding things up a lot.”
Chrissy leaned into Levi, darkness trying to creep into the happy feeling. She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about the raptor-turned-ally that lived at the Enclave. He stayed out of sight, and was helping them, but her months of captivity meant she had trouble accepting him. She thought of that damn octagon device instead.
“I hate not knowing.”
“We know more than we did before,” Levi said. “Whatever the hell that thing is, we keep fighting, no matter what they throw at us.”
She smiled. She knew her man would never give up.
“There’s always hope, Spitfire.” He winked. “Plus, I’m always ready for a fight.”
She shook her head and chuckled.
Suddenly, Gabe Jackson stormed into the group. The big man reached over and snatched Cruz’s drink out of his hand and knocked it back.
Chrissy raised her brows and glanced sideways to see Levi grinning.
Gabe dropped onto one of the picnic table chairs, and it creaked under his muscular form. He reached for Shaw’s drink, but the sniper snatched it back.
“No way,” Shaw said.
Reed handed his cup over, and Gabe took it and drank it in one gulp.
“Gabe.” Marcus rested his hand on the man’s shoulder.
Hell Squad’s deadliest soldier looked up, his normally dark face pale.
“I think I know what this is about,” Chrissy said.
Levi lifted his glass. “Congrats, man.”
“What’s going on?” Claudia demanded with a frown.
Gabe opened his mouth, then closed it. When he stayed silent, Chrissy cleared her throat. “Emerson’s pregnant.”
“What?” A smile broke out on Claudia’s face.
A round of cheers and laughter broke out.
&
nbsp; “Awesome, man.” Shaw clapped Gabe on the back.
Cruz jiggled baby Kari. “It’s the hardest job in the world.” The baby gurgled at her father, and his handsome face softened. “And it’s the best damn job in the world.”
“She’s pregnant with twins,” Gabe ground out.
There were gasps.
Claudia was trying hard not to laugh. “I thought twins came from the mother’s side?”
“I don’t know,” Gabe said. “What the hell do I know about babies?”
“Gabe,” Marcus said. “You’re a good man, an excellent soldier, and you’d die for your woman.” Marcus lifted his beer and sipped. “You’ll be fine. And Doc Emerson will help you work it out. Together.”
The tiniest bit of color came back into Gabe’s rough-hewn face.
“We need drinks,” Shaw called out.
When Levi slid his arm across Chrissy shoulders, she smiled. Life did go on. And in the squads and family units in the Enclave, there was goodness to celebrate. There was love worth fighting for. Nothing was shiny and perfect anymore, and it didn’t matter. It stripped everything back to what was really important.
She felt a rough hand tease the skin on her thigh, just under the hem of her dress.
“Want to get out of here?” Levi murmured. “I suddenly feel the need to get you naked again.”
Desire spiked. “I could be talked into it.”
“You’re fucking perfect.” He pressed his lips to hers. “And all mine.”
“Yes, I am.”
“I told you I always get what I want.”
She shook her head. “Cocky and arrogant.”
“Yep.”
“Let’s sneak out.” She grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the door.
But they’d barely taken two steps when strong arms circled her waist and she was lifted off her feet. She found herself tossed over Levi’s shoulder.
As he strode through the crowd, she heard laughter, cheers, and whistles.
“This isn’t sneaking, biker man!”
“Don’t care.” He slapped her butt. “You’re all mine, Spitfire, and I want the world to know that.”
Chrissy didn’t mind the world knowing it, but she still put up a fight. There was no way she’d let her man get his own way without a little pushback. She needed to keep him in line.
But deep inside, her heart now belonged to her cocky, arrogant biker man and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
I hope you enjoyed Levi and Chrissy’s story!
Hell Squad continues with MANU, starring former berserker and oldest Rahia brother, Manu. Coming in 2018.
For more action-packed romance, read on for a preview of the first chapter of Gladiator, the first book in my best-winning Galactic Gladiators series.
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Preview: Gladiator
Fighting for love, honor, and freedom on the galaxy’s lawless outer rim…
When Earth space marine Harper Adams finds herself abducted by alien slavers off a space station, her life turns into a battle for survival. Dumped into an arena on a desert planet on the outer rim, she finds herself face to face with a big, tattooed alien gladiator…the champion of the Kor Magna Arena.
A former prince abandoned to the arena as a teen, Raiden Tiago has long ago earned his freedom. Now he rules the arena, but he doesn’t fight for the glory, but instead for his own dark purpose—revenge against the Thraxian aliens who destroyed his planet. Then his existence is rocked by one small, fierce female fighter from an unknown planet called Earth.
Harper is determined to find a way home, but when she spots her best friend in the arena—a slave of the evil Thraxian aliens—she’ll do anything to save her friend…even join forces with the tough, alpha male who sets her body on fire. But as Harper and Raiden step foot onto the blood-soaked sands of the arena, Harper worries that Raiden has his own dangerous agenda…
Just another day at the office.
Harper Adams pulled herself along the outside of the space station module. She could hear her quiet breathing inside her spacesuit, and she easily pulled her weightless body along the slick, white surface of the module. She stopped to check a security panel, ensuring all the systems were running smoothly.
Check. Same as it had been yesterday, and the day before that. But Harper never ever let herself forget that they were six hundred million kilometers away from Earth. That meant they were dependent only on themselves. She tapped some buttons on the security panel before closing the reinforced plastic cover. She liked to dot all her Is and cross all her Ts. She never left anything to chance.
She grabbed the handholds and started pulling herself up over the cylindrical pod to check the panels on the other side. Glancing back behind herself, she caught a beautiful view of the planet below.
Harper stopped and made herself take it all in. The orange, white, and cream bands of Jupiter could take your breath away. Today, she could even see the famous superstorm of the Great Red Spot. She’d been on the Fortuna Research Station for almost eighteen months. That meant, despite the amazing view, she really didn’t see it anymore.
She turned her head and looked down the length of the space station. At the end was the giant circular donut that housed the main living quarters and offices. The main ring rotated to provide artificial gravity for the residents. Lying off the center of the ring was the long cylinder of the research facility, and off that cylinder were several modules that housed various scientific labs and storage. At the far end of the station was the docking area for the supply ships that came from Earth every few months.
“Lieutenant Adams? Have you finished those checks?”
Harper heard the calm voice of her fellow space marine and boss, Captain Samantha Santos, through the comm system in her helmet.
“Almost done,” Harper answered.
“Take a good look at the botany module. The computer’s showing some strange energy spikes, but the scientists in there said everything looks fine. Must be a system malfunction.”
Which meant the geek squad engineers were going to have to come in and do some maintenance. “On it.”
Harper swung her body around, and went feet-first down the other side of the module. She knew the rest of the security team—all made up of United Nations Space Marines—would be running similar checks on the other modules across the station. They had a great team to ensure the safety of the hundreds of scientists aboard the station. There was also a dedicated team of engineers that kept the guts of the station running.
She passed a large, solid window into the module, and could see various scientists floating around benches filled with all kinds of plants. They all wore matching gray jumpsuits accented with bright-blue at the collars, that indicated science team. There was a vast mix of scientists and disciplines aboard—biologists, botanists, chemists, astronomers, physicists, medical experts, and the list went on. All of them were conducting experiments, and some were searching for alien life beyond the edge of the solar system. It seemed like every other week, more probes were being sent out to hunt for radio signals or collect samples.
Since humans had perfected large solar sails as a way to safely and quickly propel spacecraft, getting around the solar system had become a lot easier. With radiation pressure exerted by sunlight onto the mirrored sails, they could travel from Earth to Fortuna Station orbiting Jupiter in just a few months. And many of the scientists aboard the station were looking beyond the solar system, planning manned expeditions farther and farther away. Harper wasn’t sure they were quite ready for that.
She quickly checked the adjacent control panel. Among all the green lights, she spotted one that was blinking red, and she frowned. They definitely had a problem with the locking system on the exterior door at t
he end of the module. She activated the small propulsion pack on her spacesuit, and circled around the module. She slowed down as she passed the large, round exterior door at the end of the cylindrical module.
It was all locked into place and looked secure.
As she moved back to the module, she grabbed a handhold and then tapped the small tablet attached to the forearm of her suit. She keyed in a request for maintenance to come and check it.
She looked up and realized she was right near another window. Through the reinforced glass, a pretty, curvy blonde woman looked up and spotted Harper. She smiled and waved. Harper couldn’t help but smile and lifted her gloved hand in greeting.
Dr. Regan Forrest was a botanist and a few years younger than Harper. The young woman was so open and friendly, and had befriended Harper from her first day on the station. Harper had never had a lot of friends—mainly because she’d been too busy raising her younger sister and working. She’d never had time for girly nights out or gossip.
But Regan was friendly, smart, and had the heart of a steamroller under her pretty exterior. Harper always had trouble saying no to her. Maybe the woman reminded her a little of Brianna. At the thought of her sister, something twisted painfully in Harper’s chest.
Regan floated over to the window and held up a small tablet. She’d typed in some words.
Cards tonight?
Harper had been teaching Regan how to play poker. The woman was terrible at it, and Harper beat her all the time. But Regan never gave up.
Harper nodded and held up two fingers to indicate a couple of hours. She was off-shift shortly, and then she had a sparring match with Regan’s cousin, Rory—one of the station engineers—in the gym. Aurora “Call me Rory or I’ll hit you” Fraser had been trained in mixed martial arts, and Harper found the female engineer a hell of a sparring partner. Rory was teaching Harper some martial arts moves and Harper was showing the woman some basic sword moves. Since she was little, Harper had been a keen fencer.
