Theron: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 12)

by Anna Hackett

  Roth and Mac’s Darkswift shot out of the hangar. Next was Cam and Taylor. And then it was their turn.

  There was a thunk as the launching mechanism released, and then they were flying out through the hangar door.

  Theron took the controls, and they headed north toward the city.

  Sienna checked the display. “Illusion system up and functioning correctly.”

  Theron quietly confirmed her assessment. The illusion system made them virtually invisible. Blurring them on visual, masking any sound the craft made, and scattering their location on scans.

  It wasn’t long before they were flying over the outer suburbs of Sydney. She glanced down through the canopy, staring at the destruction. In some places, the buildings, houses, and shops almost looked untouched, except for overgrown lawns and parks. But in other places, buildings were destroyed, houses burned out, and cars overturned.

  There had been so much panic and chaos the night of the invasion. Alien ships appearing in the skies and raining down terror. She’d been on leave from the base and she knew that was the only reason she’d survived. Just east of them, the alien mothership was parked on the remnants of Sydney Airport, and was a hub of operations for the Gizzida in Australia.

  “City coming into view,” Theron said quietly.

  The ragged city skyline filled the horizon. Some buildings were still standing, others half destroyed. Beyond them, arching out over the harbor like some sort of broken skeleton, were the shattered ruins of the Harbor Bridge.

  As always, Sienna felt the anger, sadness, and heartache form a small knot in her throat. She thought of her own family, those moments filled with terror, as the aliens bombed the humans from above. All the people who’d died, their lives destroyed.

  And those who’d survived—broken and scarred—in the chaos.

  She glanced at Theron. She could never let herself forget that they were alive. She’d always tried to live her life to the fullest, to never get trapped doing things she didn’t love. The alien invasion hadn’t changed that. If anything, it had made that vow more important.

  She had a chance for something special with Theron. She was sure of it. Something that so many people no longer had the opportunity to experience.

  “La speranza è l' ultima a morire.”

  “Another of your mother’s sayings?” Theron asked.

  “Hope is the last thing to die.”

  He grunted, and she turned her attention back to the tower that they were approaching. “Can you get us closer?”

  “Working on it. Don’t want to let the raptors know we’re here.”

  She scanned the sky. Even though she couldn’t see the other Darkswifts, she knew her squad was close by.

  Theron dipped them in lower, and they zoomed closer to the tower. He turned their craft on its side, flying between two buildings.

  Sienna saw the Winton building ahead. The N had fallen off the sign at the top, leaving it to read Winto. Her gaze dropped to the ground and she frowned. “Look.”

  Theron growled, a scowl crossing his face. “Base of the tower is heavily fortified.”

  Sienna murmured her acknowledgment. There were heavy-duty raptor attack vehicles in soul-sucking black, all with turrets mounted on the back, surrounding the building. Raptor patrols marched everywhere. “There are raptors all over the place. You getting shots of all this?” There was a camera mounted below the Darkswift.

  “Yes.”

  She couldn’t see a way into the tower anywhere. All the windows were blocked from the inside, and the ground-level entrances were all heavily barricaded. The aliens were protecting this building with everything they had. What the hell was inside?

  Theron turned them in a circle and they flew upward, twisting around the tower. Then Sienna spotted something.

  “Look! There are some windows open near the top of the tower.”

  He flew them in closer. Most of the windows had been blacked out, but there were a couple where it looked like the covering was torn, or missing.

  “I can see something inside.” She peered through the canopy, squinting. “It looks like gold light!”

  Suddenly, the Darkswift jerked to a bone-jarring stop, as though they’d hit a wall, head-on.

  Sienna was thrown against her harness and her body jerked forward. Her forehead cracked against the console, and pain exploded through her head.

  She blinked. The Darkswift sat completely still, hanging near-vertical in midair. What the hell?

  “Theron?”

  “We’re stuck on something,” he ground out.

  She saw his head was arched back and he was staring through the canopy. She followed his gaze and saw something that looked like a near-invisible web.

  They weren’t stuck on something, they were stuck in something.

  “Theron? Sienna?” Arden’s tense voice. “What’s happening? You’ve stopped moving?”

  “They have some sort of…web around the building,” he said.

  Damn. Now that they were up close and stuck, Sienna could see the faint glimmer of the web in the sunlight. This had to be some other kind of defense mechanism the aliens had invented. To capture drones and other aircraft.

  The controls beeped and when Theron saw the readout, he cursed. “The web’s affecting our illusion system. It isn’t functioning.”

  Oh, no. That meant that Sienna and Theron were stuck in this web, like a bug waiting for a spider to eat them.

  ***

  Theron muttered some curses and revved the Darkswift’s engines. The craft rocked wildly, but didn’t break free. They were really stuck.

  “Roth? We’re stuck in some sort of web that’s been strung around the building,” Theron said across the comm line. “Don’t come any closer.”

  “Acknowledged.” Then Roth cursed. “We have pteros incoming.”

  Great. Just what they needed. The fast alien ships could blow them up with one shot.

  “Uh-oh, we have other problems.” Sienna pointed out the canopy toward the tower.

  Theron followed her movement and saw raptors smashing out windows on the floor ahead of them. Fuck. They’d been spotted. Desperately, he tried the engine again, pushing as hard as he could.

  Nothing.

  Two dark shapes whizzed past them. He caught the distinctive outlines of the pteros. The craft were named for their similarities to pteranodons, with fixed wings and pointed back ends.

  He had to get Sienna out of here.

  “We need to cut the Darkswift free of the web.” Sienna unbuckled her belt.

  “What are you doing?” Panic was like acid in his lungs. “Keep your harness on.”

  She ignored him, and pressed the button to retract the canopy. It started to open.

  “I need to cut us free.” She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. “You keep your hands on the controls. Once we’re free, we’ll drop fast.”

  Theron knew she was a good climber, but they were stuck several stories above the ground, with no definite handholds and no safety lines. If she fell…

  He wanted to leap up and grab her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and keep her safe.

  Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to keep his hands on the controls and watch as she climbed out of the cockpit and onto the wing of the Darkswift. She moved carefully, but each rock of the Darkswift was dangerous.

  Theron’s hands flexed on the controls, but he kept his gaze glued to her. Come on, Sienna. Come on.

  She reached up and touched the barely visible web. She pushed against it. “It’s organic,” she called back. “A lot like a spider’s web. Sticky and strong.”

  Then, with her other hand, she yanked out her combat knife from the sheath on her thigh and started slicing at the strands.

  She kept going, working around the craft. The Darkswift lurched suddenly, dropping slightly to one side. As it did, he saw Sienna clamp onto the wing. His heart goddamn leaped into his throat.

  Once he’d adjusted the controls, and the c
raft had resettled, she moved over, climbing back in his direction. She crossed in front of him, stepping over, her butt dangerously close to his face.

  “Sorry.”

  “Why do I get the feeling you’re not sorry?” he grumbled.

  She shot him a quick grin, then went to work cutting the web on the other side of the Darkswift.

  Suddenly, raptor poison splattered to their left, sizzling as it hit the web. They rocked again and then, nearby, something exploded, raining debris down on them. He cursed and felt the Darkswift tilt. He heard Sienna gasp, and she slid partway down the wing.

  “Sienna.” He was yanking at his harness.

  “I’m okay.” She came to a stop, her arms and legs clamped on the wing. She blew out a breath. “I’m almost there. Just a bit more of the web to cut off, and we’ll be free.”

  Theron fought the need to pull her back into the cockpit. He carefully settled back onto his belly and set the Darkswift’s laser cannon to sweep across the building where the raptors were firing from. Then he watched as she kept hacking at the last of the web. There were only a few more strands left.

  She turned her head, her brown eyes meeting his. “Ready?”

  He nodded. “You cut it and hold on. Then get back in here as quickly as you can.”

  “If I had a free hand, I’d salute,” she said dryly. She hacked through the last of the web.

  The Darkswift dropped rapidly. They were free.

  Theron worked the controls, fighting for control. Sienna screamed. He managed to level off the Darkswift, and glanced up. He saw her slip down the wing, and over the side.

  His chest froze. His heart stopped. His life stopped.

  No! “Sienna. Fuck, Sienna.”

  He jammed the controls on to auto-hover and launched himself out of the cockpit. The Darkswift rocked wildly, and was moving slowly ahead. She’d fallen. He’d lost her. She’d fallen. Holding his breath, he leaned over the edge of the wing, terrified at what he might see.

  But she was there, gripping the edge of the wing, legs kicking beneath her. Thank God. He grabbed her wrists. With one hard yank, he pulled her slight weight back up.

  With an arm around her, he crawled back toward the cockpit. Once they were safely inside, he hit the button to retract the canopy.

  She fell into her seat, panting. Theron didn’t think. He reached out and grabbed her. He tangled his fingers in her hair, and yanked her in for a quick kiss. Then he dropped her back into her seat, and settled at the controls.

  He touched the console, and they shot forward, darting between two decimated skyscrapers.

  “Illusion system is back up,” Sienna cried.

  In his ear, he heard Roth ordering them out of the area. He fell in behind the other Darkswifts as they raced away from the city, evading the pteros.

  Sienna laughed. “That was close, but we made it.”

  “Yeah.” He thought his voice sounded calm and controlled.

  But in his head, the image of Sienna slipping over the edge of the Darkswift was playing in an endless loop. Inside him, his gut was rolling.

  Chapter Nine

  After they’d safely landed in the hangar back at the Enclave, Theron thumped the button to retract the canopy. Inside, he was struggling for some control.

  Sienna jumped out of the Darkswift, smiling. She reached up and pulled the tie out of her hair, letting her curls fall around her shoulders.

  “That was close,” she said.

  Theron felt the muscles in his jaw work. He couldn’t find any words. His fingers curled into his palms.

  Next to them, he saw Roth climbing out of his Darkswift. “Nice work, you two. You guys were sitting ducks there for a while.”

  “Close call,” Mac added.

  “The raptors aren’t stupid. They’re clearly coming up with ways to bring down the Darkswifts and drones,” Sienna said. “That net—” she shook her head “—genius.”

  “Yeah.” Roth was eyeing Theron’s face.

  “Theron did some fancy flying,” Sienna added.

  “Arden’s downloading the images we collected,” Roth said. “She and the tech team will analyze everything. Then we’ll make a plan to get into that tower and take down whatever the hell those alien bastards are doing in there.” Roth looked at them all. “Freshen up. Get some rest. Remember that Hell Squad have invited us to a barbecue in the Garden this evening.”

  “Baby Kari’s welcome party,” Cam said. “God, that kid is cute.”

  Theron watched the others walk ahead of him. Cam threw an arm around Sienna’s shoulders, both women laughing. They were all coming down off the mission high.

  He stomped back to his room. Inside, he tore off his armor and paced his room. He was mad. He couldn’t laugh or relax. All he could see was Sienna slipping over the edge of the Darkswift.

  For a long, sickening moment, he’d thought he’d lost her.

  He’d thought that all the sweetness and light that was Sienna had been extinguished. And yes, the sexy naughtiness he was only just starting to glimpse in her.

  He turned to his punching bag and started hammering his fists into it. He’d work off this feeling, bleed off the darkness rising up to choke him.

  But even after his knuckles tore and bled, the sensation was still riding him hard. He headed for the shower and kept it cold. Afterward, he pulled on some well-worn jeans and a gray T-shirt. The anger and other emotions were reaching a boiling point and they needed a target.

  He knew just who was to blame.

  He yanked open his door, and stomped down the hall. She had no right to risk herself like that. No right to send his pulse rate through the roof and make him worry.

  Her room was only a few doors down from his. He lifted a fist and banged.

  A second later, she opened the door and stood there, dark hair damp, wearing a blue robe.

  “Theron?”

  He pushed inside, slamming the door behind him. He crossed her room and put his hands on the back of his neck.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He spun. “What’s wrong? You nearly killed yourself!”

  She watched him steadily. “I did my job.”

  He’d seen her take calculated risks before, but seeing her go over the edge… “You were gone.” He heard his voice crack on the last word.

  Sienna’s face softened and she reached out a hand. “Hey.” She stroked his arm. “I’m here. I’m okay.”

  A vibration went through him, and her touch burned his skin.

  He leaned down until his forehead pressed against hers. “Sienna. Seeing you fall…I can’t get it out of my head.”

  “Shh.” Her arms wrapped around him.

  Holding her, breathing her in, helped settle the seething emotions in him, but it didn’t make them go away. Her robe gaped a little, and he had a perfect view of plump, perfectly shaped breasts.

  “I can’t get you out of my head. You’re under my skin, in my veins.”

  She went still. “I’m not sorry about that.”

  “I want you out.” He slid his hands up her sides, shaping her rib cage. Sometimes he forgot how small she was. He felt the beat of her heart under his hands. Alive. So damn alive.

  She licked her lips. “It doesn’t always work like that.”

  He pulled her into his chest, yanking her up on her toes. He saw desire burning in her gaze. “I need to get you out of my system.”

  “Oh? And how do you plan to do that?” Her gaze dropped to his lips. “What do you want, Theron?”

  He looked down at her. “I want you.” The words were torn from him.

  She released a long breath. “Just for now? One time?”

  His gut was hard as a rock. “I made a vow a long time ago not to get involved long term. I come from bad blood—”

  She snorted. “Bullshit. You come from two loving parents.”

  Theron felt the last of that leash unravel and slip away. He slid a hand into her hair, tangling his fingers in the damp str
ands. “Once won’t be enough.”

  She smiled. “Good.”

  He backed toward her bed and sat down. “Get on my lap.”

  Theron saw her breath hitch, but she climbed on to straddle him. He slid his hands into the mass of her hair and tugged. The desire running through him had turned molten hot.

  “If anything I do scares you, you tell me.”

  “It won’t.” Her voice was breathy.

  “You tell me.” He traced a finger over her full lips. “You call out basil if you want me to stop.”

  “I don’t—”

  “I like rough, Sienna, but I don’t want to hurt you. I’d kill myself before I did that.”

  “Okay.”

  She shifted against him and he pressed his mouth to hers. He took his time kissing her, thorough and deliberate, until she was squirming in his lap. Damn, she tasted so good and kissed him back so eagerly.

  “What do you like, Sienna?”

  “I don’t know. I want to find out.”

  Fuck. Desire was riding him hard. “Take the robe off.”

  She lifted her hands, and with a shrug and a push, the robe spilled off her body. She had soft curves, toned legs, and breasts that were just a little too large for her frame. With a groan, he pulled her forward and sucked her nipple into his mouth.

  “Oh.” Her hands clamped on his head.

  He nipped, sucked, and licked until her nipple was hard on his tongue, and she was writhing against him. He slid his mouth to her other breast, enjoying her moans. He sucked hard and she gasped, pulling on his hair.

  He smoothed a hand down her belly, feeling her muscles contract. He reached the dark curls between her legs and ran a knuckle through her damp folds.

  “That wet all for me, Sienna?” he said against the smooth skin of her breast.

  “Yes. Yes.”

  He slid his finger into her folds and bit her breast, hard enough to make her jerk and cry out. Damn, she was so tight. “You have a sweet, innocent face, but a hot, greedy body, don’t you?” He started fingering her slick little clit.

  She gasped, hips moving as she rode his hand. “Don’t stop, Theron.”