Shaw: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 7) Read online

  The other woman was Claudia’s only company in the darkness. They were always tied up back to back, and the raptors put hoods over their heads when they moved them, so Claudia didn’t even know what Selena looked like, but she already admired the woman’s quiet, elegant strength.

  They were both helping to keep each other sane.

  The other thing that kept Claudia from losing her mind was knowing Hell Squad was coming for her. That had to be the reason the raptors kept moving her so frequently—her squad was right on the aliens’ tails. Each time her captors moved her, they seemed pissed and agitated.

  “And your friend, Shaw, will be with them, yes?” Selena said in her calm, smooth voice.

  Claudia swallowed, trying to wet her dust-dry throat. “Yes.”

  “You talk about him a lot…when you are delirious with the pain.”

  Claudia let her head drop forward, her chin on her chest. “Do I?”

  “He must mean a lot to you.”

  Hell Squad was coming. Shaw was coming. Claudia pressed her hands together above her head, although she could barely feel anything with her swollen fingers. Okay, there was one other thing that helped her from losing her fucking shit in this hell hole.

  Thoughts of Shaw.

  In the SAS, they hadn’t known each other beyond a nod in the field. Even back then, his love of the ladies had been legendary. Once, he’d tried to come on to her at a bar after a joint mission. She’d punched him in the gut for an answer.

  But it wasn’t until after the alien invasion, when they’d both been assigned to Hell Squad, that he’d become like family to her. All of the Hell Squad members had.

  Claudia had grown up with a single mother. Her potty-mouthed mum would have been the first to tell you she’d never win an award for mother of the year, but the chain-smoking brunette had made sure her daughter had clothes and food, and went to school. Claudia smiled at the memory. Well, by high school, she’d been pretty talented at sneaking off to hang out with the neighborhood boys—the Rocca brothers and their friends. They’d had cars and she’d loved hanging out, learning to drive and how to fix them.

  After the five Rocca boys had all finished school by the skin of their teeth, they’d joined the military, and she’d been so damned lonely.

  She’d decided to give college a try, and had been surprised when she’d scored a volleyball scholarship. During her first year of university, her mother had succumbed to emphysema. That string of events had set Claudia’s life on a path she had never, ever planned to take.

  Claudia closed her eyes. Not going to think of fucking Brad Walker now. No way in hell.

  Shaw’s grinning face floated through her head.

  Her tense muscles eased a little.

  With a muscled, lanky frame, he looked more like a swimmer than a soldier. But she’d seen him shirtless enough times to know there was solid muscle under his armor. And that face…he was handsome, but it was his humor and the energy that shone out of him that drew people in.

  The ladies especially. Claudia pulled a face. And hell, the man ran through the ladies like…well, a good analogy escaped her right now. They loved him and they never seemed to mind when he was done with them. They all talked to him, smiled, and stayed friendly afterward.

  Shaw was like that. Everyone wanted to be his friend.

  But Claudia knew him far better than the pretty young things he dallied with. She’d seen his focus and dedication in the field. She’d gotten glimpses beneath the sexy exterior he showed the world. He tried to keep whatever the hell had happened to him when he was younger buried, but if you looked past the quick smile and the sparkling eyes, there was pain there, driving him.

  She sighed. She knew all about burying the past. Like recognized like.

  She wished she’d kissed him.

  God. Her chains rattled again. She didn’t regret much in her life. She believed regrets were a waste of time, but she wished she’d stopped protecting herself long enough to at least have a taste of a man who was her friend, her sanity, her secret obsession, and who drove her crazy.

  Somewhere, a roller door rattled open. Footsteps and the guttural voices of the raptors.

  Behind her, Selena whimpered.

  Damn aliens. Claudia raised her head. She knew if her squad didn’t get here soon, she wasn’t going to last much longer.

  But until then, she’d fight, and she’d do what she could to protect Selena.

  A big body stopped in front of Claudia. She looked up. The aliens called themselves the Gizzida, but humans had nicknamed the humanoid reptilians running the show the raptors. This one was a standard soldier, over six-and-a-half-feet tall, heavy muscles packed under thick, gray, scaly skin. An elongated jaw and heavy brow ridges dominated his ugly face, along with red eyes.

  But it was the raptor she saw step into view behind this one who made her blood run cold.

  He was a few inches taller, and his face was somehow smoother, a little more refined. He wore a red leather bandolier crossed over his muscled chest, and it was the color of his red eyes. But his eyes never seemed to boil with the hungry hatred she saw in the other raptors.

  His eyes were coldly intelligent and lethally empty.

  She’d nicknamed him the Huntsman.

  He stepped closer, and she saw a movement by his hip. As usual, he was flanked by his pet canids—alien hunting dogs with the same gray, scaly skin and red eyes. These ones were far bigger than any she’d fought before. He stroked one on the head.

  “You will share the location of the human survivors,” the Huntsman said.

  It was damned freaky to hear them speak English. And this one was good, no halting or stammering or incorrect pronunciation. Just precise words in that guttural tone.

  “You’ve had me for days. They’re long gone.”

  “You will share what you know. How they are traveling, how many of them, any pertinent details.”

  “Fuck you.”

  The Huntsman stepped closer, his cold gaze tracing her face. “I admire your loyalty and dedication. They are admirable, but not when they are to your detriment.”

  Claudia choked out a laugh. “Then you don’t understand loyalty and dedication, asshole.”

  He moved closer still, crouching, then one clawed hand touched her face. “I am learning a lot about humanity from watching you.” His head tilted. “But you are not like the others of your species, are you, Claudia Frost?”

  She jerked her face away from him. “I’m a soldier. I do what I have to do.”

  “As do I.” The Huntsman stood and nodded to the raptor soldier in front of her, who slammed a huge fist into her belly.

  The air rushed out of her lungs, pain exploding, but she ground her teeth together to keep from crying out. She lifted her head, skewering the Huntsman with her gaze. “When my squad gets here, they are going to beat your scaly asses.”

  The soldier punched her again, this time in the face.

  Claudia tasted blood. She licked at it, then spat at the alien.

  The Huntsman crossed his arms. “Yes, let’s talk about your squad. Hell Squad. I would like to know every last thing about them, too.”

  “All you need to know, asshole, is that they are the ones who’ll take you down.”

  Another vicious punch to her stomach.

  “Claudia.” Selena’s quiet voice was edged with concern. “Be quiet.”

  “Unchain our fighter.” The Huntsman’s face was devoid of any emotion. “I think she would like a few rounds in the ring.”

  Claudia’s abused stomach clenched. He loved watching her fight his men. Wherever they went, he set up a fighting ring and sent raptor after raptor to fight her.

  Her leg was already sore, and they all knew it. They focused on it until it broke, then they healed her with their tech, and made her fight some more.

  She knew they’d make her scream.

  But they wouldn’t break her.

  “Bring it on,” she spat. “I’ll fight you until I c
an’t fight anymore. My squad will keep fighting you, and they are going to rain pain down on all of you.”

  As the raptors stepped closer, she heard Selena sobbing quietly, and Claudia readied herself for the agony.

  ***

  “We are seeing increased alien activity in several locations throughout the Blue Mountains.” General Adam Holmes pointed to an image projected onto the canvas wall. “Here, here and here.”

  Shaw took a sip of the protein shake he’d taken from the kitchen truck after he’d grabbed a few hours of sleep. He was feeling gritty-eyed, but watching the general outline the extent of the alien activity nearby, he was starting to wake up.

  Overhead, canvas flapped in the gentle mountain breeze. Someone had rigged the khaki canvas tent up between some trees to house the mobile military ops center. A few folding tables were set up with comps, and at one of them was Hell Squad’s comms officer, Elle.

  “Main roads,” Marcus said from beside Shaw.

  The general nodded. “Yes. The activity is all centered on the main routes out of the mountains.”

  Roth Masters, head of Squad Nine, cursed. “They’re trying to block all our possible escape routes.” The rugged man was standing on the other side of Marcus. Both men were cut from the same cloth—tall, muscled, excellent leaders and brilliant soldiers.

  General Holmes rubbed a hand down his face. The usually spit-and-polish general was no longer wearing his neat, pressed uniform since they’d been on the run. And he had more than a five o’clock shadow on his face. He also looked how Shaw felt—damned exhausted.

  “The aliens know we’re here, somewhere. And they’ve guessed we’ll be trying to head out of the mountains. We just need to make sure we keep avoiding them and get to the Enclave.”

  Shaw had heard a lot about the Enclave. Roth and his woman, Avery, had been on a covert recon mission, and had crashed near the secret human sanctuary. The former president of the United Coalition, and all-round asshole, President Howell, had a private agreement with the aliens in place to protect the Enclave. The price had been the entire rest of the human population, which the Gizzida were busy trying to stuff into tanks in their labs to turn them into raptors.

  Howell had met with a fitting, grisly end, and the Enclave was under new management. They were opening their doors to the residents of Blue Mountain Base.

  Shaw thought for a second about their former home. For a year and a half, it had sheltered them, and they’d had an almost-normal life there. Friday night parties, a school, damn good food, and Noah Kim and his geek squad had worked hard to keep the lights on and the water mostly hot.

  Now it was gone. His gut hardened. Just like Claudia.

  “Our proposed new route is this way.” The general’s finger followed a twisting path through the mountains and across a bridge. “It’ll take us longer, but we’ll avoid most of the aliens.”

  Shaw’s jaw tightened. That path could take them a hell of a long way from wherever the aliens might be holding Claudia. “We still need to find—”

  Holmes held up a hand and released a breath. “I know, Shaw. I’m trying to balance the needs of protecting the hundreds of people out there—” he pointed to the people milling around, talking, eating, and exercising “—and Claudia’s life.”

  Marcus pressed a hand to Shaw’s shoulder. Silent support.

  Suddenly, the flap on the tent burst open. A gorgeous redhead by the name of Lia rushed in. She was one of the best drone operators they had.

  “Sir? We have a lot of Gizzida activity by the Gordonstone Bridge. And I mean a lot. Something’s up.”

  “Dammit, that’s along our new escape route. Thanks, Lia.” With a frown, the general turned to Elle. “Elle, can you pull it up on screen?”

  Elle tapped her comp keys. “Coming up…now.”

  The drone feed filled the screen, and Shaw knew the tiny little drone was zooming through the sky, operated by one of Lia’s team. After the aliens had destroyed the planet’s satellites, the humans had compensated by creating the drones and sending them out to gather intel. It gave the squads a fighting chance every time they went into the field.

  The image showed raptors all over a large, metal bridge that spanned a wide river.

  “Hell, you have the drone in close.” This came from Finn, the Hawk pilot. He abandoned his relaxed pose at the back of the tent and moved forward.

  Lia barely spared him a glance. “We have several skilled drone pilots. We’re getting better and better at getting the drones in close and avoiding detection.”

  “Sweetheart, you aren’t a pilot unless you’re sitting in a damn bird, flying it.”

  Her face went cool and she raised a brow. “Only arrogant, hopped-up flight jockeys spout that kind of nonsense. I bet I could out-fly you with a drone or a Hawk any day.”

  “People,” Holmes said. “Focus.”

  On any other day, Shaw would have been amused by the interplay, but right now, he was focused on the mass of aliens on the screen, his gut going hard.

  “Damn. That’s a lot of aliens,” Marcus muttered. The rest of Hell Squad murmured their agreement from behind him.

  There were large groups of raptor soldiers. Then Shaw saw something else lumber into view.

  “Rex,” he said. “No wait—” three more appeared in the image “—make that rexes.”

  The huge alien monster resembled the Tyrannosaurus rex of old, so they’d been dubbed rexes. They were huge, vicious, and very territorial.

  Then Shaw frowned. “Holy hell, is that what I think it is?”

  Elle looked back over her shoulder. “Yes. They’re saddled, with riders.”

  “Rex riders,” Shaw murmured. They’d never seen this before. The rexes were wild and unpredictable. Usually the raptors sent them in, like wild bulls, and let them stomp around, destroying stuff.

  “What the hell are they up to now?” Roth muttered.

  Shaw frowned. That many rexes in one place was bad enough, but having riders meant they were controlled. Not good.

  The sound of a throat clearing came from across the tent. Captain Laura Bladon stood, her red hair caught back in its usual braid. Since she’d shacked up with Noah Kim, she’d relaxed a lot, but she still wore her uniform—even if the jacket was gone and the top buttons on her shirt were open. She was damned efficient at her job as head of the prison and interrogation unit.

  “My team has been working with the medical team to research all the various alien species. We believe the rexes have an extraordinarily strong sense of smell.”

  “With our illusion system, they can’t see us, hear us, or capture us on scans,” Elle said. “But they can smell us. They’re trying to sniff us out.”

  Curses echoed around the tent, and the general dropped into a chair, staring at the rex riders. “We cannot let them get close enough for that to happen.”

  As everyone in the tent talked around him, Shaw continued to watch the aliens on the screen. He really didn’t give a fuck about the rexes. Sure, he wanted the convoy out of the mountains safely, but all he really wanted to focus on was their next move to find Claudia. And all of this was just noise getting in the way of that.

  Movement at the edge of the screen caught his gaze. The image wasn’t crystal-clear and he squinted, trying to make it out.

  Someone was fighting.

  “Wait. Lia, can you have your operator zoom in?” He pointed. “Over there.”

  Lia nodded and touched her ear. Through her earpiece, she talked to her operator.

  The image changed, the drone moving closer, then zooming in tighter.

  There. His heart stopped. It was Claudia, wrestling with a huge alien raptor.

  Shaw could barely draw a breath. He watched her slam a boot into the raptor’s midsection. It toppled over like a tree. Another came in from the side. She spun, and this time her kick connected with the alien’s head and sent him staggering. Shaw realized her hands were chained together.

  She moved back, shielding a
smaller, more slender figure who was hunched in a ball beside her. That had to be the other prisoner.

  Claudia turned, and the drone captured a perfect view of her face.

  Shaw felt a sense of admiration, relief, and pure, unadulterated rage. He saw that same tough face he’d seen every day for a year and a half. Not beautiful, she had too many angles and sharp edges for that, but it was certainly compelling. Her “I’m going to pound your face into the ground” look was in place. It was one of her best. But her left eye was black and swollen.

  And she was babying her left leg.

  Three raptors charged at her, and he knew this wasn’t going to be a fair fight.

  One raptor punched her in the stomach, and she fell to her knees. Another kicked her from behind, and she went down. He could see her mouth moving, and knew she was no doubt hurling insults at them.

  The third raptor tangled a hand in her hair and slammed her head into the ground.

  This time she didn’t get back up. She didn’t move at all.

  Shaw didn’t realize he’d moved. But suddenly, he was aware he’d charged forward, and Marcus and Cruz were holding him back, one on each side.

  “We’re going in,” Shaw snapped. “Now.”

  Marcus nodded. “We’re going in.”

  General Holmes sighed and rubbed his face. “Half the damn alien army is there. You go in, it tips them off that we’re close.”

  Shaw surged against the arms holding him. “We can’t fucking leave her there.”

  “I know that,” the general bit out. “But like I said before, I have to think about everybody.” He stabbed a finger to the outside of the tent.

  Shaw gritted his teeth. Fuck, he knew the general was right, but dammit, he was torn.

  Holmes shoved his hands behind his neck, staring at the ground.

  Then he raised his head. “Go.” He took them all in, his blue eyes glittering. “Go and get her.”

  Marcus and Cruz released Shaw’s arms, and a second later, all the men of Hell Squad were running from the command tent.