Marcus (19 page)

“You shouldn’t be out of bed.” He closed the
gap between them and pulled her in close.

She pressed a cheek to his chest. “Same to
you.”

“I couldn’t…” His gravelly voice cracked. “I
hated seeing you so still.”

“I’m not the one who got hit by a raptor gun
blast. You’re okay?” She slid her hands up over his shoulders. Then
she pushed back, her hands going to the hem of his T-shirt, tugging
it up.

Oh
. The reality of him always stole
her breath. Probably would when they were both old and gray as
well. She splayed her fingers over the hard ridges of his stomach.
There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. And not even a scar from his
wound. He was so…hard and strong. Warm and alive.

She moved her fingers, caressing that
impossibly hard stomach. He hissed in a breath.

To affect this strong man with such a slight
touch…

“I’m a hundred percent. Emerson put me back
together.” His hands cupped Elle’s cheeks. “Elle.” He leaned down
and took her mouth.

Sensation washed over her. The cool air on
her bare legs, the heat of his hard exploration of her mouth, and
the burn of desire searing her belly.

With a groan, he grabbed her, lifting her
like she weighed nothing. She wrapped her legs around his
waist.

“I love you, Marcus.”

“God, sweetheart, I love you too.” His arms
tightened around her. “You’re mine now. I’m not letting you
go.”

“Good, because I’m going to hold on to you
too. Whatever happens, whatever we come up against.” She stared at
his tough, scarred face. A face so precious to her.

She knew for all the horrors that had
happened, this she would never change. The chance to become someone
she liked, the chance to have this man’s love.

And she knew with him by her side, she could
meet whatever challenges came their way. Together.

***

Marcus breathed in Elle’s unique floral
scent.

Alive. She was alive, warm and soft in his
arms.
Thank God.
He never wanted to see her lying still and
pale like that in a bunk again.

“I have a lot of plans for you,” he murmured
against her lips. “And they involve not getting out of my bunk…for
a really long time.”

“Yes.” She nipped at his bottom lip, her
smile a little reckless and a lot happy. Then it slipped away. “It
seems so wrong to feel so incandescently happy when the world
around us has fallen apart.”

He cupped her bottom, pulling her in close.
“We have nothing to feel bad about. The bomb we planted, it
crippled the raptor communication in the area. You did it,
Elle.”

“
We
did it. For Zeke.”

The thought of Zeke hit Marcus under his
ribs. “Yeah, for Zeke.”
Rest in peace, buddy
.

“It won’t keep the raptors down for long,
will it?”

“No, we know they’re working to regroup, but
for now, they’re running in circles, confused. It’s a good start
and we’ll keep fighting. For our chance to live.”

She ran a palm over his shoulder. “It won’t
be easy.”

He cupped her cheek. “No, it won’t.”

“You and Hell Squad will keep going out
there, fighting, risking your lives.” Her voice hitched.

“Hey.” He forced her gaze to meet his. “I
have something to come home to now, someone to live for.”

She nodded.

“It’s always darkest before dawn,
sweetheart.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “But even the longest
night always ends.”

She smiled. “I never thought Marcus Steele
would say something so poetic.”

“Don’t tell the guys.” He smiled back,
stroking her cheek. “For now, we just have to find whatever light
we can, hold on to it, and use it to guide us until the sun comes
up.”

“I think I’ll just hold on to you instead.
You’ve been my anchor ever since this all happened.”

“Elle…” A light in the sky caught his eye.
He looked up above her head, and surprise rocked him. “Shit, look,
sweetheart. How’s that for a guiding light?”

He set her on her feet, spinning her so her
back was pressed against him. Damn, he was so happy she was his. He
wrapped his arms around her as she arched her neck.

There, burning across the darkness, was a
comet. A brilliant, white-blue flash in the black sky.

She snuggled into him. “Beautiful. They were
considered omens in the past.”

“Well, we both know it’s just a hunk of
space rock.” He rested his chin on the top of her head. “But I’d
like to think it is an omen—one of better things to come.”

Elle spun and grabbed Marcus’ hand. “I can
think of some better things we can do right now.”

He let her tug him back toward the door.
“Sweetheart, I think the dawn is breaking for both of us.”

---

I hope you enjoyed Elle and Marcus’s
story!

For a limited time, I’m giving away a review
copy of the next Hell Squad book,
Cruz
, to anyone who posts
a review of
Marcus
on Amazon or Goodreads. Just email me the
link to your review and what format you’d prefer (Kindle or ePub).
My email address is
[email protected]
. -
Anna

Hell Squad continues with CRUZ, the story of
Hell Squad’s sexy second-in-command and the mysterious Santha Kade.
Read on for a preview of the first chapter.

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For updates about new releases, action romance info, free
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On a Cyborg
Planet.

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here to get started:
www.annahackettbooks.com

Crouched in the shadows on the roof of a
half-destroyed bank, Santha Kade looked through her high-tech
binoculars and watched the alien invaders patrolling the streets
below.

A year ago, these dinosaur-like raptors had
decimated the Earth. Their huge ships had appeared in the
skies…then they’d launched a vicious, unforgiving attack. Now they
had bases in all of what was left of the planet’s major cities.

Here in Sydney, the once-shining capital of
the United Coalition, they’d ruthlessly razed the city. They’d left
skyscrapers in tatters, the Harbor Bridge a shattered ruin…and
humanity broken, afraid and on the run.

Santha’s hands curled around her binocs. So
many had died. Millions of lives…gone. Some survivors remained
hidden in what had once been their homes, but they were slowly
moving on or being weeded out by the raptor patrols.

She reached for her weapon. Her hand closed
on her Titan tactical crossbow—the metal was cool under her fingers
and the self-loading mechanism was filled with her own homemade
bolts—and she felt herself grow calm, steady. Some gave up, some
ran…and others chose to fight back.

She zoomed in with the binocs and studied
the face of the lead raptor. Thick, gray, scaly skin covered his
elongated face and his eyes were blood red. The aliens were all
big—over six and a half feet—and carried a lot of muscle. They wore
a kind of metallic armor on the bottom half of their bodies, and
huge boots. Their top half was all tough skin, crisscrossed with
what looked like leather for holding their claw-like blades, or for
the snipers, their bone-like projectiles.

Looking at them made Santha’s throat close
in a choking rush. Why the hell had they come here? Why, with no
warning, had they decimated the human race? Destroyed friends and
families. Killed beloved sisters. She lowered the binocs and
gripped her thigh. Her fingers dug into her skin through her black
cargo pants.

It didn’t matter. She didn’t care. Whatever
their reasons, she was going to make them pay.

Focused, she lifted the binoculars
again.

The raptor at the back of the patrol came
into view and a muscle ticked in Santha’s jaw.

He was the leader for this area. Santha was
sure of it. She’d been spying on them for months, taking notes,
marking down their installations, picking off small raptor patrols
when she could.

She wouldn’t ever be able to find the raptor
that had beaten her sister to death, but she could sure as hell
take down the one who’d brought them here and ordered them to
kill.

This raptor was a little taller than the
rest, skin smoother and a darker shade of gray. Santha had
nicknamed this raptor,
the commander
. The commander had an
air of authority and looked at everything like it was his—or her,
who knew what gender they actually were?—domain to rule.

Not for long, asshole.
Santha lowered
her binoculars and took a deep breath. She wanted to leap off the
building and shoot the commander through the goddamned head.
Another deep breath. But not today. She needed more intel first,
and she wanted to take out the leader and their main base in the
city.

She caught a movement in the sky out of the
corner of her eye. As she stared at the bright, blue expanse, she
didn’t see anything but the fluffy white clouds.

She kept staring.
There
. A blur of
something winked for a second.

Santha knew what it was. A Hawk quadcopter,
with its illusion system up, flying in from the west.

Other humans were fighting back, too. From a
secret base west of the city.

She watched where she guessed the
camouflaged Hawk was flying and wondered if Hell Squad was on
there. If
he
was on there.

She only had a little contact with the few
survivors still hiding in the city. Most had left for Blue Mountain
Base—the underground military base that had become a haven for
survivors. But everyone had heard of Hell Squad. A group of
soldiers so deadly, they mowed through the aliens as easily as
taking an afternoon stroll.

Normally, she would have written that sort
of reputation off as exaggeration, but she’d seen them in action.
She’d even helped them a couple of times.

And she watched them…a lot.

Especially the sexy soldier with the dark,
liquid eyes, sensual grin, and an accent that made her insides
flutter.

Cruz. His name was Cruz Ramos.

She’d met him several weeks ago, when she’d
helped them fight off aliens so the squad could get in to destroy a
key raptor communications hub. Hell Squad had blown the damn thing
sky high. And for a month, the raptors had scrambled around with
limited communications. It had made Santha’s job a hell of a lot
easier. She’d spent days out picking off lone raptor patrols who
couldn’t call for backup, and blowing up their facilities.

But they’d recently repaired the damage.

Santha shivered and shifted her binocs to
where she’d last seen the Hawk’s illusion. She caught a glimpse of
gray steel as the copter dropped lower to land. She told herself to
stop watching and focus on the raptors instead. After a quick—and
futile—mental debate, she lifted her binocs again.

Zooming in gave her a perfect view of the
now-visible Hawk in an empty parking lot. The side door slid open
and a big man with broad shoulders and a scarred face leaped out,
laser carbine clutched in his hands.

Marcus Steele. Hell Squad’s leader.

Another man followed, with an intense face
and a shaved head. He was a mix of races, but from the shade of his
dark skin, she’d guess one of his parents was black. The predatory
way he moved told her he knew how to fight, and that you didn’t
want to meet him on the battlefield and be on opposing teams.

Two more people exited the Hawk. A man and a
woman. Sniper, by the looks of the lanky man’s long-range rifle,
and a dark-haired woman who looked like she ate nails for
breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Then a young man leaped out. The sun glinted
off his blond hair and eager face. She knew Hell Squad had lost one
of their team to the raptors about a month back. She guessed this
green kid was their replacement.

Then her heart leaped.
Cruz
.

He landed beside Marcus and was saying
something, even as his gaze scanned the area around them.

Okay, so the way the man was put together
worked for her. No harm in looking. He was shorter and leaner than
his teammates, although by no means soft. She wished she could see
through his black body armor. Santha bet the view beneath would be
just as fine as his handsome face. And oh boy, that was a hell of a
face.

Then Santha thought of Kareena. Her sister
had been so beautiful and full of life. And now she was no longer
here to tease Santha about her interest in handsome men.

Santha moved the binoculars away from Hell
Squad.

She was out here to get revenge for Kareena.
Not ogle Cruz Ramos.

Then Santha caught movement about a
kilometer from Hell Squad’s landing spot.
Raptors
. Crouched
amongst the ruins of a small office building.