by Anna Hackett
Then the Huntsman leaped off the edge, and into the air.
Shaw cursed. He stopped at the edge, aiming and shooting at the falling alien.
Then, small wings snapped out of the small pack on the Huntsman’s back. Claudia swallowed a curse. It looked like a raptor version of a wingsuit.
The Huntsman turned, arrowed downward, and disappeared from view.
“Fucking hell.” Shaw kicked the ground, stirring up dust. Then he spun, angry green eyes spearing into her. “So, you thought you’d take off and make yourself bait for that bastard?”
She narrowed her gaze. “You’re angry at me?”
“He was after you, Claudia.” Shaw swung his rifle over his shoulder. “The guy has a damn big hard on for you.”
“Yeah, well, I am in no mood to get fucked. By anyone.” She heard the rest of the squad coming now, moving through the trees.
Shaw grabbed the front of her armor and tugged her close. “I will be fucking you, as soon as I get you somewhere halfway private.” His mouth slammed down on hers.
The kiss was angry, rough, but it was fueled by a passion that took her breath away, and tasted like the man she couldn’t get enough of.
She thrust her hands into his hair, tugging, holding on tight.
They both pulled back.
Something raw flashed across his face. “I thought I was going to be too late.”
“I’m okay,” she murmured, running her gloved hand over his jaw.
He nodded.
Then the rest of their squad raced out of the trees.
“The gang’s all here.” Claudia knew Shaw would always come for her, her squad would always come for her.
She hadn’t had anyone like that in her life before the alien invasion.
Maybe for her, in some twisted, strange way, the damned alien apocalypse was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
***
As Hell Squad drove up the mountain road, Shaw stayed alert in the autocannon, watching for any sign that the raptors were onto them.
But the road remained empty.
His thoughts turned to the woman seated not far away. She was quiet, brooding, and Shaw didn’t like it.
He also really didn’t like this obsession the Huntsman had with her.
“Coming up on the convoy,” Cruz called from the driver’s seat.
Shaw looked back through his scope. Ahead, lay a really small dot of a town. It didn’t look like there was much to it. The trucks and cars of the convoy had all pulled over along the main street, parked in their standard rapid-escape rows.
The Hunter slowed and stopped.
As Hell Squad got out, Shaw watched Claudia lift the little girl they’d rescued into her arms. The kid’s parents were thanking them all, relief stark on their faces. As the parents ushered their older kids out of the Hunter, Shaw watched the little girl giggle and press her nose to Claudia’s.
Shaw froze. The two of them looked…so right. He’d never once thought of Claudia in terms of kids or being maternal. She was hardcore, a hell of a soldier, someone who could run into a fight without a second glance.
But now knowing what she’d been through before, having held her in his arms, he’d glimpsed another side of her he’d been blind to before.
What would she look like holding their child?
As that thought slapped him in the head, she set the girl down, patted her hair and urged her back toward her parents. They headed off to be assigned to another vehicle.
The general appeared. “Hell Squad, well done.”
Marcus lifted his chin. “It was close. This Huntsman is turning into a real pain.”
“He wants Claudia.”
As Shaw spoke, all eyes swung toward him.
Marcus cocked his head. “Say again?”
“Bastard wants Claudia,” Shaw said again. “I saw the way he watched her. It’s not a sexual thing, it’s, I don’t know. Like he wants to own her.”
Claudia cleared her throat. “Those canids he had, they were vicious, and he treated them like pets. Loved to watch them fight.”
“Like he loved to watch you fight,” Shaw added.
She lifted her chin. “I don’t give a shit about what he likes. I’m not a damned pet. We get the chance, I’m taking him down.”
Holmes cleared his throat. “Our priority is getting out of the mountains and to the Enclave, not killing the Huntsman.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Marcus asked.
“It’ll be dark in another few hours, and most people have been running on adrenaline for the day,” Holmes said. “We make camp for the night, then tomorrow, we make for our route out of the mountains as fast as we can.”
“And once we’re out of the mountains?” Claudia moved closer, her shoulder brushing Shaw’s. “It’s going to be tougher, right? Less places to hide, fewer trees, open roads—”
“And more raptors patrolling the area.” Holmes nodded. “But we don’t have any other choices. We make it or we keep running until they pick us off.”
Shaw felt a faint tremor beneath his feet. He frowned, wondering if he’d imagined it. He looked around, but the others hadn’t seemed to sense anything. He shook his head. Not enough sleep last night—not that he regretted that for a second.
The others kept talking and Shaw scanned the convoy. People were getting out now, checking their vehicles, breathing in some fresh air.
Another tremor, stronger this time. He stilled, and noticed his squad mates and the general do the same thing.
“I take it you all felt that one?” Shaw said.
“Yeah.” Marcus turned slowly, scanning around.
The next tremor was larger still.
“Get everyone back in the vehicles,” Marcus said urgently. “I’ll contact Elle and tell her to spread the word.”
The general, jaw tight, nodded. He strode closer to the vehicles. “Everyone, we can’t stay here. Please, get back in your vehicles and fire them up. Hurry.”
Shaw listened to Marcus talk to Elle. Then the comms officer’s voice came through all their earpieces.
“Hell Squad, the drone operators have picked up rexes with riders heading this way. An entire pack of rexes.”
Shaw swung his rifle off his shoulder, his gaze hitting Claudia’s. Her face was tight.
“How do they know where we are?” Claudia asked.
“Maybe the illusion is malfunctioning?” Shaw asked.
“I’ve checked with Noah,” Elle said. “He said the illusion is working perfectly.”
A few of the civilians had gathered around, scared and panicked. They’d been on the run for over a week, and under attack for over a year and a half. They were running on fumes.
“What’s going on?” a man asked.
“Raptors headed this way,” Cruz said, his voice low and calm. “You need to get ready to go.”
“How are they following us?” one woman said.
“Yeah.” The man frowned. “How do they keep finding us?”
It was a hell of a question and one that needed an answer.
The man’s gaze turned inward. “Maybe that woman. The alien one. They’re tracking her or something.”
“Yeah,” a woman mumbled, wringing her hands together. “That could be it.”
Then the man’s eyes drifted to Claudia. “Or maybe her. She was with them for over a week. Maybe she’s helping them now.”
Shaw felt Claudia stiffen, but it was nothing compared to the way his spine snapped straight.
“She mightn’t even know she’s doing it,” someone else called out. “Maybe they’re brainwashed or something.”
“Back off,” Shaw said, his tone lethal.
The crowd all shifted nervously.
“She’s spent a fucking year and a half fighting to keep you safe.” The words spat out of him like laser fire. “She’s bled for you, broken bones for you—”
“Shaw.” Marcus’ low voice.
“No, dammit, Marcus. They are trying to
turn a damn hero into the bad guy here…all because they’re scared.” He rounded on the people, aware of Claudia’s charged silence behind him. “She was bloody tortured by those animals for you, to keep your location safe.”
The lead man swallowed. “But what if she did give us away?”
“She didn’t!” Shaw part shouted, part growled the words. “I know her. I’ve fought beside her.” Loved her. “She never fucking gives up, all to keep idiots like you safe.”
A hand touched his shoulder. “Shaw. Enough.”
Claudia’s voice sounded normal, steady, but he knew her better than most, heard the slight tremor under her words.
“Everyone, get back to your vehicles,” Marcus said. “We need to go. Now.”
The people left, grumbling and casting unsure glances at Claudia.
“Hell Squad. Hunter. Now.” Marcus spun and stomped toward the vehicle.
They climbed in and instantly, Shaw saw Claudia’s tough mask slip.
He pushed in beside her. “Ignore them.”
“Check me.”
“What?” He frowned.
“Check me for tracking devices.”
He felt the others in the vehicle watching and listening.
Shaw shook his head. “The doc gave you the all-clear—”
“There must be something,” Claudia’s words came out fast. She started tearing her armor off.
“Shit.” This came from Reed.
Watching her tear at her gear made Shaw’s damn heart clench like a fist. “Claudia—”
“I’m endangering everyone. The Huntsman…he cut me sometimes. Then I’d pass out. When I’d wake up, they’d have healed me again.” Large gray eyes looked up. “They could have put something in me without me knowing. Something the doc couldn’t detect.”
Shaw squeezed the back of the chair, the tough fabric compressing under the force of his fingers. He hated seeing her like this.
She had her armor off now, and she yanked her shirt from the waistband of her trousers. She lifted the hem, running her hands over the bare skin of her stomach.
Shaw wasn’t letting her do this alone. “Reed, take the autocannon.”
“Sure thing.”
Shaw shoved Claudia’s hands aside and pressed his palm to her belly.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He ran his hand up to under her breasts, then back down. He reached behind her, touching muscles strung taut with strain.
“There’s nothing, Claudia. This is crap.”
“He came right to me.” Her words were harsh. “We were hiding in the trees, but his vehicle stopped right by us. Then he chased me through the woods.”
“He had canids.”
She shook her head. “That doesn’t explain it all.” She swallowed, her gaze drifting past him. “There’s a small scar on my hipbone,” she said. “I woke up with it after one of the Huntsman’s sessions.”
Dammit, Shaw really, really wanted to kill that damn raptor. The bastard had tortured Shaw’s woman, taken the strongest soldier Shaw had ever known, and was making her doubt herself.
He brushed his finger over her hipbone…and felt the thick ridge of the scar on her left side.
“It could be just a scar,” he said.
Claudia reached down and yanked her Gladius combat knife out of its sheath. “Cut it open.”
Chapter Fourteen
Claudia gritted her teeth. At first, Shaw was hesitant with the knife, barely nicking her skin.
She grabbed his wrist. “Quit with the fucking butterfly moves, just do it.”
Green eyes flashed at her. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Oh, he could. Emotionally, but not physically. And she was starting to believe that she might even be able to trust him with her heart.
“Shaw…help me.” She used her strength to force the knife into her skin.
She hissed out a breath and Shaw cursed, but as blood flowed down her side, he dug deeper.
God, it hurt. Claudia rolled her eyes to the roof of the Hunter. She didn’t want to let him see how much it hurt. She bit down on her tongue, and as he slipped a finger into the wound, she tried to hide her moan.
He paused.
“Don’t stop,” she muttered.
Grimly, he nodded. His jaw looked so tight it might crack. “There’s something there.”
Dammit. Claudia sucked in a few shallow breaths, fighting through the pain. Thankfully, it was nothing like what she’d suffered under the Huntsman.
“Come on, you little piece of shit.” Shaw muttered under his breath, trying to grab something and pull it out of her skin. His fingers were slippery with blood.
Then his hand came free.
“Got it.” He held something up.
“Here.” Gabe appeared with a wad of gauze. He pressed it over Claudia’s hip.
But everyone’s attention was fixed on the tiny device Shaw was holding.
Claudia swallowed…that had been inside her. It looked like it was made of bone and scale, but it had a blinking red light, and was certainly a piece of the raptors’ organic technology.
“Some sort of tracking device?” Marcus said.
A sense of violation shivered through Claudia. It had been there all along, put there without her knowledge. She shouldn’t feel so icked out—some of the other survivors had endured far worse atrocities at the hands of the raptor scientists. Hell, Reed’s fiancée Natalya had a raptor heart implanted in her.
Shaw dropped the tracker on the floor and brought his boot down on it.
The crunch was loud in the confines of the vehicle.
Claudia let out a breath. “It was there all along.” She swiped a hand over her hair. “I was endangering everyone.”
“It’s gone now,” Shaw said.
“What if there are others?” She thrust her hands on her hips. “Maybe I should leave—”
“No.” Shaw’s voice was unyielding. “No.”
She was so used to his lazy, joking tone that the firm authority made her blink.
“We’ll get the doc to check you out again” he said. “But it’s gone now.”
Marcus turned in his seat. “Doc’ll need to check out Selena, too.”
“Will the resort be safe?” Claudia asked. God, had the damn tracker let the aliens get too close?
“It’s still a fair distance from here,” Cruz answered. “We should be fine.”
When the Hunter finally turned off the road onto a smaller side road, Claudia sagged in her seat, at once realizing how tired she felt. The tension of being on the run, the fight with the raptors and the confrontation with the Huntsman, not to mention that Shaw hadn’t let her get much sleep the night before, meant she felt like she was running on the barest of fumes.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Old mountain resort,” Cruz called back from the front seat. “General figured it would make a good rest stop.”
Reed leaned forward, looking at the buildings in the afternoon sun. “Looks like it was pretty swanky.”
“Yep,” Cruz said. “Five star. Let’s hope the wildlife hasn’t reclaimed it.”
They pulled to a stop beside the other Hunters. As she climbed out, Claudia didn’t see any other squads and figured they were all on patrol, checking the perimeter or helping the survivors unpack.
Elle appeared out of the growing shadows. She ran straight for Marcus, and he swept her into his brawny arms without hesitation.
Damn, sometimes watching them made Claudia want to roll her eyes, but she couldn’t deny that beauty and the beast fit together like two perfect pieces of a puzzle. Elle had made Marcus so happy, soothed the former Marine’s crusty edges.
She glanced up and saw Shaw was watching her. He grabbed her hand, and after a brief tug of war, she huffed out a breath and looked down. She saw her dried blood on his fingers as he twined his hand with her own bloodstained one.
Here was a man willing to hold on to her, no matter what. It left her equal parts brea
thless and afraid.
Finally, Marcus set Elle down. The brunette looked over at Claudia. “Claudia, you’re okay?”
“Sure thing, Elle.”
“Good. Look, I’ve arranged rooms for the squad. Actually, everyone has a cabin.” She smiled. “And I don’t mean the rustic, wooden kind. This resort only offered the best.”
The way she said it made Claudia guess that Elle, in her previous life as a wealthy Sydney socialite, had spent some time here.
“They might be dusty,” Elle continued, “and you should probably check for snakes and spiders first, but everyone will have a bed. Oh, and Noah said the water is still running here as well.”
“A shower and a bed,” Cruz groaned. “I’m going to find Santha.”
Elle’s gaze fell on Claudia before flicking to Shaw. “I only got you guys one cabin.”
Shaw winked. “You are a goddess, Ellie. Thanks to you, maybe I’ll get lucky.”
Claudia elbowed him. “You just have to stride through camp and you’d get lucky.”
He leaned closer, lowering his voice. “No, my badass girl, I wouldn’t. I’d get laid but lucky is when you finally agreed to be mine.”
Claudia tried to find a comeback, but her heart was in her throat.
“Oh, and I arranged for the doc to come around and check on you, Claudia. She’s checking a few other patients, as well as Selena, then she’ll be there. She’s rigged some extra scanning device to check for the raptor tech.”
Claudia nodded. “Thanks.”
Shaw kept hold of her hand as they passed through what had once been the grand lobby of the main building. Lots of people were wandering around, many no doubt staying in rooms in the main hotel.
She tried, discreetly, to pull her hand out of his. With so many people around, she didn’t want gawkers to see them holding hands. But her stubborn sniper held firm.
Sure enough, she saw people, especially women, eyeing their joined hands. There were looks of surprise and disappointment, and even a couple of smiles.
The lobby had a huge, A-frame roof with dark wooden beams. It had probably once been furnished beautifully, but over time, the contents had been looted. All that was left was a large, dusty, rustic-looking chandelier hanging overhead, and the long check-in desk decorated with river stones.
