Niko: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 9) (16 page)

Nope. Never.

Chapter Fifteen

Mac leaned back against Niko as their Hawk traveled back to the Enclave. She hurt like hell.

Taylor was leaning over her, working to stop the bleeding from one of Mac’s wounds. Niko held a wad of blood-covered cloth over her other shoulder.

All around them, the Hawk was filled with big, armored bodies. They were covered in spatter and sweat, but they were all jubilant. She saw Shaw fist-bumping with Reed. Sienna knocking her hip against Theron. Marcus and Roth were talking, and both had faint smiles on their faces.

“We did it,” Mac murmured.

Niko’s lips brushed her ear. “We did. The drone killer is gone.”

They’d seen the bird get hit. Watched it slam into the water and disappear.

“You were magnificent,” Niko murmured. “Born to fight.”

“I think you’re biased.” Pain speared through her shoulders and made her back arch.

“Maybe.” He looked up at Taylor. “Can you give her something for the pain?”

The other woman nodded. “Here you go, Mac.” Taylor put a pressure injector against Mac’s neck. “That’ll take the edge off.”

“I’ll owe you a bottle of that wine you like,” Mac said. “My man is connected at the Enclave. I’m sure he can snag me a bottle.”

“An entire box if you stop her from hurting,” Niko promised.

“Your man, huh?” Taylor said with a smile, placing a bandage over Mac’s shoulder.

“Yep.” Mac tilted her head back, looking into sexy green eyes. “I’ve decided to keep him. He feeds me, spoils me with daily—”

Niko pressed a hand over her mouth. “She react badly to meds?”

Taylor grinned. “Yep.”

He stroked her hair. “Just relax, Mackenna. And maybe don’t talk.”

She snuggled into him. He was warm, so strong, and so hers. “Okay.”

By the time they reached the Enclave, the meds had worn off enough that she wasn’t in agony but she could also think straight again. She let Niko help her off the Hawk and when she spotted the other Hawk descending, she breathed a sigh of relief. Finn and Lia had made it.

General Holmes was striding toward them. “Well done. All of you.”

“Thank you, sir,” Roth said.

The general nodded at Finn and Lia as they reached them. “And you two…thank you. Without your hard work and bravery, the drone killer wouldn’t have been eliminated.”

“I’m just glad it’s gone,” Lia murmured.

“Ah, we may have a tiny problem,” Finn said.

Mac leaned against Niko, wondering if she’d ever heard such a hesitant tone from the Hawk pilot before.

She watched Finn reach into the top pocket of his flight suit…and pull out a tiny bird.

Everyone in the hangar went quiet.

The tiny, fluffy, black bird chirped at them.

Lia spun to face Finn. “Are you insane? You brought a baby drone killer back with us!”

“I didn’t plan it. It jumped in my pocket and I was kind of too busy saving your ass to notice it.”

“What if the aliens can track it?” Roth said.

Finn shook his head. “I ran a prelim scan on it in the Hawk. There’s no signal coming off of it and it’s entirely organic. No alien tech. At least that I can tell.”

General Holmes was staring at the small chick. “Well, we’ll have to check it out. Maybe we can learn something from it.”

Suddenly a body ran into the hangar. Selena’s long hair flowed out behind her. “I sensed…” Her green gaze scanned the space. “I sensed my own kind.” Then she spied the chick and her entire face lit up, her skin glowing. “A baby gyr.”

She moved over to them, holding her hands out. The chick started chirping madly and flapping its small wings. It leaped from Finn’s palm and into Selena’s.

“The gyr the Gizzida stole must have been pregnant.” The alien woman lifted the bird and it nuzzled against her cheek.

Mac smiled. It was the first time she’d really seen Selena look happy and at peace.

“Well,” the general said. “I think I know the best person to be in charge of the gyr chick and our study of it.”

More people entered the hangar, and Mac saw Doc Emerson in the lead with a team of her technicians pushing hovering iono-stretchers.

Mac stiffened. “I’m not going on a stretcher. I’m walking to the infirmary.”

“I don’t think so,” Niko said.

She pulled a face. “There’s your bossy-leader voice again.”

Doc Emerson’s gaze landed on Mac. “Ahh, Mackenna, looks like you’ll be the lucky person getting the needles and nanomeds today.”

Mac managed a weak smile. “Lucky me.”

***

Mac stood, watching Niko address the crowd in the Garden.

“Thanks to the bravery and skill of Squad Nine, Hell Squad, Devlin Gray, our Hawk pilots, and Lia Murphy of the drone team, the drone killer has been eliminated.”

The crowd broke into cheers.

Niko kept talking, telling them about the hope for the future, and how they were now a single group of survivors working together.

He had an easy charm and a steady strength that people responded to.

And he was all hers.

Her shoulders were still aching from where the projectiles had hit her, although they were all healed up. Niko had stayed by her side the entire time as the doc had patched her up. With him, she felt okay about leaning on someone. She no longer felt the need to be tougher or stronger…she could just be Mackenna.

“Now the hard work begins,” Roth murmured from beside her.

She knew what he was talking about. “We have to formulate a plan to take down the Gizzida, once and for all.”

Her boss nodded. “We gather our intel, we look for their weak spots, we find a way.”

Mac saw his lips turn up into a smile. She followed his gaze and saw that he was staring at Avery, who was over with Santha.

“And we keep living,” he said simply.

Mac understood now, and she nodded. She was looking forward to that second bit. She glanced over at Niko. She was looking forward to it a lot.

“So, you and Ivanov?”

Not so long ago, Roth’s question would had made Mac nervous. She would’ve wondered if he was second-guessing her judgment, or considering if she was going soft. Not anymore. “Yes. Me and Niko.”

Roth gave a nod. “Good. I like him. Do I need to question him about his intentions?”

Mac snorted. “Only if you want me to kick your ass.”

Roth laughed and squeezed the back of her neck. “Roger that.”

She looked over to where Niko was now surrounded by people—both Enclave and former Blue Mountain Base. He was patiently answering their questions, smiling, and nodding.

Then she saw a woman with a young girl approaching him. Mac’s chest hitched. Anne and her daughter.

Mac had taken a step forward, then stopped. Anne threw herself into Niko’s arms, a sad smile on her face. Niko hugged her back, saying something. The woman nodded, and they both drew Anne’s daughter into the embrace.

It would soothe that dark hurt in him. Mac smiled. And all of them could start to find a way to heal.

To live.

In her head, Mac started planning something special for her man. “See you later, Roth.” She pushed through the crowd and left the Garden.

***

Niko had seen Mackenna sneak off from the talk. After he had finally broken free of the crowd and all their questions, he’d expected to find her in his apartment. But she wasn’t there.

He figured she’d turn up, so he’d taken out a piece of wood he’d been saving for the last few months. Now it was speaking to him, and he was carving it in a frenzy.

It was taking shape exactly how he wanted it to.

The door opened. Niko looked over and there she was.

She smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi, yourself.”

She was carrying a tray and she set it down on the table. Then she moved closer. “What are you working on?”

He just nodded his head toward the wood.

“God, it’s beautiful, Niko. You are so talented.”

“It’s not finished yet.”

It was clearly Mackenna. Her slender but strong body pressed back against a man’s chest. His hands were covering her breasts possessively, and her face, as she looked up toward him, showed love.

“Is that how I look at you?” she asked quietly.

“It’s how I hope you look at me.”

She reached out and stroked his hand, following the line of paint staining his skin. “I’m in love with you, Nikolai Ivanov. Who you were, who you are, and who you will be with me.”

Niko released a breath, fighting the flood of emotion in him. He pulled her in for a kiss. “God, Mackenna. You bewitched me from the moment you held a gun to my head.”

She laughed. “You are so easy. And you’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Never. Now that I know you, now that I’ve held you, touched you, I love you so much.” He deepened the kiss, nipping at her lips. Then the two of them were stumbling toward the bed.

She helped him tear his T-shirt over his head, and then she surprised him by pushing him back onto the bed.

“I want to share moments with you, Niko. Sexy, indulgent moments.” She grabbed a bottle off the tray she’d brought in. “Vodka?”

He grabbed it from her and took a healthy swig. He enjoyed the burn, but he really didn’t need it. Nothing could match the heat she generated in him.

She slowly pulled her clothes off, a sexy little show just for him, until she stood there in pretty black lace panties and matching bra. “I want to spoil you, too.” She grinned. “I heard a rumor that you like dark chocolate.”

“I do.”

She reached out and grabbed a bowl. “I stole some from the kitchen and I melted it.” She tipped the bowl up, dripping some of the chocolate onto his chest.

Niko swallowed a gasp. She set the bowl down, climbed up on top of him, and put her mouth on his skin.

Jesus
. He reached down and cupped her face. “I love you, Mackenna.”

“I love you, too.” She lapped at his skin, her gaze never moving from his. “Now how about we make some of those sexy memories together? I seem to recall you promised to spoil me with daily orgasms.”

Niko reached down and pulled her against him, smearing them both in chocolate. He loved the sound of her laugh. “I did, didn’t I?” He let his hands skim down her body and got to work.

---

I hope you enjoyed Niko and Mac’s story!

Hell Squad continues with FINN, the story of Hawk pilot, Finn Erickson, and head of the drone team, Lia Murphy. Coming August 2016.

If you’re looking for more action-packed, science fiction romance, then read on for a preview of
Among Galactic Ruins
, the first book in the Phoenix Adventures.

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Preview: Among Galactic Ruins

As the descending starship hit turbulence, Dr. Alexa Carter gasped, her stomach jumping.

But she didn’t feel sick, she felt
exhilarated
.

She stared out the window at the sand dunes of the planet below. Zerzura. The legendary planet packed with danger, mystery and history.

She was
finally
here. All she could see was sand dune, after yellow sand dune, all the way off into the distance. The dual suns hung in the sky, big and full—one gold and one red—baking the ground below.

But there was more to Zerzura than that. She knew, from all her extensive history training as an astro-archeologist, that the planet was covered in ruins—some old and others beyond ancient. She knew every single one of the myths and legends.

She glanced down at her lap and clutched the Sync communicator she was holding. Right here she had her ticket to finding an ancient Terran treasure.

Lexa thumbed the screen. She’d found the slim, ancient vase in the museum archives and initially thought nothing of the lovely etchings of priestesses on the side of it.

Until she’d finished translating the obscure text.

She’d been gobsmacked when she realized the text gave her clues that not only formed a map, but also described what the treasure was at the end. A famed Fabergé egg.