by Anna Hackett
Chrissy stayed with Max’s foster family, helping entertain the kids, until they were all smiling again and playing with their toys. Pat and her husband, Jonas, were saints, taking in so many parentless kids and showering them in unrelenting patience and love.
When Chrissy left, she searched for Taylor, but couldn’t find the squad soldier anywhere. Damn, she’d been hoping to get some information.
Huffing out a breath, she headed in the direction of the Command Center. Her plan was to find someone to ask for any extra information. But when she reached the glass doors, she saw that the place was full of people, and everyone was distracted and busy.
Then, she spied a tall, muscular man heading down the corridor. His shaggy brown hair, streaked with gold, glinted in the natural lighting system of the Enclave.
“Shaw,” Chrissy called out.
Hell Squad’s sniper paused and looked over his shoulder. A charming grin tipped his lips up. “Hey, Chrissy.”
“Do you know anything about what’s going on? Can you tell me anything?”
Shaw’s face turned serious. “Holmes is keeping a lid on it until we know for sure. Right now, they’re still gathering information.”
“It wasn’t an earthquake?”
He looked apologetic. “I can’t say yet.”
So it hadn’t been a natural phenomenon, after all. Chrissy gritted her teeth. She needed to know. Her imagination was working overtime, her pulse pounding.
She nodded at Shaw. “Thanks anyway.”
She turned, striding down the corridor. She decided to check on her Hunters, although she was certain that they’d be fine, parked in their reinforced hangar.
As soon as she entered the bay, she heard the clang of a tool hitting metal.
She paused. It was coming from the corner of the space the berserkers used to store their big, upgraded motorcycles. The damn things were covered in armor-plating and weapons. They screamed “apocalypse.”
Rounding the line of Hunters, she spied a very fine ass in a worn pair of jeans, and a messy man bun.
Her gaze narrowed. She knew someone who might give her the information she wanted.
And she was going to get it. Now.
* * *
Levi worked on the grease line on his bike, not worrying that his hands were covered in the stuff. He was pretty sure he had grease in his veins. His biker name had been Gears for a reason. He was always tinkering with upgrades to make the bikes they used better in the field. Made sense to make them faster and add more firepower.
He set his tool down and grabbed another. For a second, he could almost imagine he was back in the garage behind the Iron Kings clubhouse. He’d turned the club from drugs and prostitution, to designing custom-built bikes and cars. He’d bled and fought to do that, with Ash by his side. They’d made something, and he’d been proud of the name the club was building in custom rides. Proud of the work they’d done.
Then the Gizzida had destroyed it all.
Levi scraped his knuckles on metal and cursed. He watched blood well on his torn skin. Life never made things easy for him and he never expected it would.
“Hey.”
He looked up and saw Chrissy striding across the hangar toward him. His gaze slid down her body, looking at the way her dark jeans hugged her curves. Instantly, his cock stirred.
Looking up, he let himself watch the faint jiggle of her breasts as she walked. Well, maybe life gave a little bit of beauty and ease when it suited her.
“I want to know what’s going on.” She put her hands on her hips.
“Afternoon to you too, Spitfire.”
She rolled her eyes. “We both know you don’t give a crap about manners.”
Levi reached over and grabbed a rag, wiping his hands. “True.”
“What was the shaking? Was it an explosion? An earthquake? Were aliens responsible?”
He held up a palm. “I can’t say. General will update everyone.”
“Levi—”
“Holmes is keeping things under wraps until we know more. Doesn’t want people to panic.”
Levi watched her blow out a frustrated breath.
“So he’s banned you, or anyone, from saying anything?”
“Yeah.”
She stepped closer. “You don’t care about the rules. You slide under them, step over them, bend them, ignore them, or flat-out just break them.”
There was fire in her eyes and it lit up her face. Her cheeks were flushed, and damn, she was something. Her face would look like this if she was spread out on his bed, with him busy working his way down that luscious body.
“Why are you so worked up about this?”
She spun away, her moves jerky. When she looked back, he saw something dark moving through her eyes.
“I was a prisoner. For several long months.” Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
Levi’s gut tightened. He knew what she’d been through. He couldn’t stand knowing the aliens—bigger, stronger, more powerful—had imprisoned women, children, elderly people. Hell, anyone. He’d always hated bullies, and watching stronger people take advantage of weaker people just because they could made him angry. A man beating his woman, someone abusing a child, fucking aliens killing and torturing women and children. It all pissed him off.
“I’ve just come from comforting a small boy who was a prisoner of the raptors. He wants to know what’s going on because he’s afraid. Every night, he goes to bed, thankful he has a bed, but wondering if the raptors will come and take it away. If he’ll end up back in a cage.” She pulled in a shuddering breath. “I know that when he gets into his bed tonight, his mind will make up all kinds of crazy situations to explain what happened today.”
Something told Levi it wasn’t just Max who would be doing that. “You’re safe, Chrissy—”
She threw out a hand. “When the lights go out, your brain makes up far worse nightmares of what’s hiding in the dark.”
Levi had the strange feeling of wanting to chase the darkness away for her. He frowned. Yeah, you’re a regular hero, King. “The general will share soon.”
She huffed out a breath, and then stepped closer until she was pressed against him. Levi found himself with his bike at his back, and an angry woman at his front.
“I don’t know why I thought there was a streak of decent under the asshole.”
He raised a brow. “You think name-calling will get you what you want? You should have tried a blow job.”
Her eyes flared. “You’re a dick.”
“Yeah. Been called worse.” He grabbed her, spinning her until she was pressed against his bike. She squeaked, and he leaned over her, sliding one thigh between hers. She slammed her hands against his chest. His shirt was unbuttoned and her fingers touched his skin.
“I do follow the rules, Chrissy. Mine.”
Her chest was heaving, her gorgeous breasts pressing upward. Damn, he wanted to see them bare. See what shade of pink her nipples were, and run his mouth all over them.
Her hands flexed on his chest, and he saw her gaze drop to his pecs, then his abs. He smiled. “I can see how much you want me.”
Her gaze flicked up, a stubborn look settling on her face. “Screw you.”
“Yeah,” he continued. “I see you wondering how my hands would feel on you.” He moved his hand, letting his fingers drift down her arm. They left a faint smudge of grease on her skin.
“You have no shame,” she ground out.
“No. And I know you’re wondering how my lips would feel on that honey-smooth skin of yours. Maybe closing over one of your hard nipples.”
“You’re delusional.”
“You can’t lie to me,” he murmured.
All of a sudden, her hands slid downward. When they reached his belly, he sucked in a breath.
“You have nothing I want, King.”
“Liar, liar.” He closed one hand over her breast, rolling her nipple between his fingers. Her lips parted and her hips shifted. Then she
sank her teeth into her bottom lip.
“You’re wondering how my cock would feel sliding into you.” His voice was a husky growl. “How much I’d stretch you out.”
“Asshole.” Her voice was husky too. She pushed against him. “Let me go.”
Levi knew no one would ever accuse him of having polished manners, but they’d also never accuse him of taking a woman against her will. Even if the woman in question did want him.
He stepped back and her legs dropped back to the ground. She put her hands down to slide off his bike.
“Damn.” She yanked her hand away from the bike. When she lifted it, he saw blood on her finger.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. Just a small cut.” Shooting him a venomous look, she strode past him and back toward her Hunters.
“Chrissy?”
She paused, but didn’t look back.
“Sleep with the light on tonight.”
She was silent for a second. “It doesn’t stop the nightmares.” She strode away.
Levi shoved his hands on his hips and watched her go. His cock was hard as a rock, but it was the other unfamiliar emotions churning in his gut that he wasn’t so sure about.
Chapter Five
God, she must be losing her mind.
Chrissy stomped over to her toolbox and wrenched it open. She was mad at herself. Not just because she’d touched Levi King…but because she wanted to do it again.
She rummaged around in her tools and found a clean rag to wipe her bleeding finger. She shouldn’t go anywhere near him. He was too arrogant, too cocky…and too sexy and tempting.
Ugh. What was she thinking? The man had bedded half of the Enclave’s single ladies. She had no desire to be a notch on a bedpost. All she wanted was information, and for some dumb reason, she’d thought he’d give it to her.
Ignoring her stinging finger, she opened the hood of the Hunter. Work. She needed to work.
Pulling her rolling toolbox closer, she leaned over, studying the Hunter’s engine. Bec had finished printing a few of the parts Chrissy needed. Time to start putting her baby back together and get the Hunter operational.
Chrissy pulled out her auto socket wrench and got to work loosening bolts. The whizzing sound it made as she worked on a particularly stubborn bolt was soothing.
Clink. She turned her head, and spied two bottles of beer resting on her toolbox, along with a tiny first aid kit.
She swiveled her head and looked back at Levi.
“Let me look at your finger.”
She glared at him. “It’s fine.”
He glanced at where her hand rested on the Hunter and raised a brow. There was blood smeared on the metal.
He seized her hand. “It needs cleaning.” He grabbed a beer and handed it to her. Then he opened the first aid kit.
Not sure how to deal with this sudden kindness, Chrissy took a long sip of the beer.
She watched Levi’s big hands as he carefully started cleaning the cut on her finger. It was minor. As a mechanic, she’d had plenty of cuts and scrapes. Her hands were covered in small scars that the nanomeds had deemed too inconsequential to heal.
Expertly, Levi applied some cream and then placed a bandage over the scrape. “Tell me about the Gizzida prison.”
She stiffened. “You want me to relive the worst moments of my life?”
“The past is there, whether you talk about it or not. Seems to me that it’s eating at you. Might be better to offload some of it.”
She took another sip of beer. What the hell. If he wanted to know all her dark, ugly memories, fine. “I’d been on the run since the invasion. I was in Australia on vacation at the time, so I didn’t know anyone.”
“You’re American?”
She nodded. “From Miami. I spent the first few months scavenging, and moving around with other small groups of survivors.” She’d watched many of them get picked off by the raptors or die. “The last group I was with had lots of older people and kids. We had a few camps we moved between bushland north of Sydney.” Her throat tightened. “Six months we survived, before a raptor patrol caught us.”
She closed her eyes, and in her head, she heard the echoes of the screams and the guttural grunts of the aliens. She felt scaly claws grab her, and the rough treatment as they jerked her around.
“We were shoved in some alien vehicles and taken to an alien factory.” She cleared her throat to loosen the lump in it. “You know the rest. We ended up in the bowels of the factory in cages—” she glanced up at him “—and we were used as test subjects for their alien tech. Mainly the oura globe. They’d use it on us, over and over again.”
A muscle ticked in Levi’s jaw. “Not a big fan of bastards who torture women and children.”
“I’m not a big fan of people who torture anyone.” Chrissy tilted her head. “I thought motorcycle gangs did whatever they pleased, and are…pretty violent.”
He shrugged a broad shoulder. “Motorcycle club, not a gang. We worked hard. Partied harder. And yeah, things used to get pretty physical, but we never hurt women or children.”
He might annoy her, but she believed him. He could be a cocky prick, but he went out there every day and risked his own life and fought for their safety.
“Besides, I’m not in a motorcycle club anymore. I’m just a soldier.”
Chrissy lifted her beer. Levi King was not just anything.
She scanned his rugged face, with his sexy goatee, and the faint lines around his gold-brown eyes that said he was a man who laughed and lived. “Whatever happened earlier to make the ground shake wasn’t good.”
Levi took a sip of his own beer. “Nope.”
His intense gaze moved over her face, and then set his beer down, muttering something about chasing away the darkness. She frowned, wondering what the hell he was talking about.
He straightened. “The Gizzida set off a massive explosion that flooded part of Sydney, near the airport. It completely submerged a port and the surrounding suburbs.”
* * *
Levi watched Chrissy frown as she absorbed the information. “Why?”
“Million-dollar question.” He grabbed his beer again.
“So they flooded a section of the city?”
He nodded. “Mostly the port right near their mothership at the airport.”
She nibbled on her lip, and he watched the movement, imagining how those pink lips would look stretched around his cock.
“They’re hiding something,” Chrissy said.
“Yep. Don’t know what. Holmes will update us once he knows more.” Levi cocked his head. “And now you have more questions than answers. More fodder for those nightmares. That’s why the general didn’t want to share yet.” Maybe there were other ways Levi could help her forget those dark memories.
“Maybe, but I still prefer knowing something over nothing. I…appreciate you telling me.”
He cupped her chin. “Say it again.”
Her gaze narrowed. “You heard me.”
“No, don’t think I did.”
“I don’t think I like you.”
She was such a challenge—an irresistible one. “Drink your beer.”
She lifted her chin. “Why?”
“Because you’ll need the energy when I bend you over the hood of this Hunter and fuck you.”
She straightened like she’d been electrocuted. “You just can’t help yourself. You have to be an annoying asshole.”
“So you keep telling me.” Levi stepped closer, until his chest brushed hers. “Tell me you don’t want me to do it.”
A frustrated look twisted her face, but triumph flared in him. He saw bright, hot desire in those pretty eyes.
She shook her head. “Why don’t you go find one of your bed buddies—”
“Don’t want anyone else. I want you.” He leaned down, his nose brushing her cheek. “I wanna fuck you, Chrissy, and you know you’ll love it.”
“I don’t like anything about you.”
> He backed her up until she bumped into the Hunter. “You’re lying now. You want me, Spitfire. You want me lodged deep.”
He expected her to shove him backward and go for her wrench. But of course, Chrissy surprised him.
She hooked her fingers in the belt of his jeans and yanked him forward.
“If you tell anyone,” she whispered fiercely, “I’ll hit you with my hammer.”
He felt fingers reach for his zipper. Fuck. He leaned in and kissed her.
As he thrust his tongue inside her sweet mouth, he wrapped his arms around her. She tasted like beer, and, for some weird reason, raspberries.
Damn, Levi had always had a thing for raspberries.
She pulled back. “No kissing, King. Just fucking.” She pushed at his shirt and it slid off. Her hands ran over his chest, and she made a small humming noise. Then she leaned forward, licking one of his nipples. She found his nipple ring and tugged it with her teeth.
All the blood in his body rushed south. His cock swelled, and desire was a fierce punch to his gut. He reached past her and slammed the hood of the Hunter down. Then he gripped her hips and lifted her until she rested on the hood.
It took him seconds to yank her tank top off. He couldn’t help but stare at her gorgeous, full breasts cupped by black lace. Fucking hell. As he got rid of her bra, she leaned down, her mouth on his neck. She bit him, hard, and Levi groaned. Then her breasts were bare and he had to taste them. He pushed her back a little, then buried his face in her sweet curves. He sucked one nipple, and felt her hands slide into his hair.
“I like it harder, biker man.” Her voice was husky.
He scraped his teeth on her nipple and sucked hard, sending her writhing against him. He worked on the other nipple while he unsnapped her jeans. Then he stripped them off her.
Damn gorgeous. He was one lucky man. He stared at her for a second, absorbing the picture of a naked Chrissy on the black metal of the Hunter.
He had to be inside her. Now.
He spun her around, watching as she pressed her cheek to the metal. Her naked ass was on perfect display and he cupped it, squeezing her soft cheeks. She moaned.
“You want me, Spitfire?”
She pushed back into his hands. Need was a pounding drive inside him. He slid his fingers between her thighs and stroked her folds. “You’re fucking soaked.”
