Ash felt the Hawk slowing, and knew they were nearing their drop-off point.

He didn’t usually feel much fear. Hadn’t, even as a kid. He’d grown up fearless. But with Marin beside him, he felt it now. Lock it down, Connors.

He sensed her tension, saw the fear she was trying to hide. He wouldn’t make it any harder for her. Instead, he’d do what he was good at, and help her get this mission done.

The skids touched down and Hemi yanked the side door open. They’d landed in parkland, near a lake. It was overgrown and tangled, and he watched a flock of cockatoos rise up, squawking as they flew away. The sun was setting and soon they’d lose the light. The cover of darkness would help them sneak in.

Together, the three men lowered the ramp and rolled the bikes out. Ash turned back and saw Marin scanning their surroundings. In the distance, a street flanking the park was visible. Most of the houses were charred shells. He realized she wouldn’t have been here in the ruins of the city before.

He reached over and gripped her waist. “Not pretty, is it?”

“It’s horrible. Everything empty or destroyed.” Her chest hitched. “So many people dead.”

“You lost your parents?”

She nodded. “I was working here in Sydney, not too far from the Blue Mountains. I made it to Blue Mountain Base soon after the attack. I managed to call my parents in Chicago…I heard the raptors attack their house.”

“I’m sorry, Marin.” He remembered the chaos of the invasion. He and Levi, along with several Iron King members had fought back against the raptors, helped who they could. But eventually, it had only been him and Levi left, heading west on their bikes.

“Let’s find this hub,” Marin said fiercely. “For all the people we’ve lost.”

When he led her to his bike, Levi and Hemi were already mounted on theirs. The second Hawk wasn’t far away, and Ash could see Tane and the others unloading their bikes.

Soon, the Hawks lifted off, disappearing into a camouflaged shimmer in the darkening sky. Ash climbed onto his bike and started the silent engine. He patted the seat behind him. “Climb aboard.”

He watched as her cheeks pinkened. Damn, so cute. What he didn’t need right now was a hard-on.

“Lucky we have a dangerous mission ahead, or you’d be making me think of you climbing aboard…other things.”

She settled behind him. “Quit that. I need to focus.”

Soon, the entire squad was mounted up.

“Time to ride,” Tane said. “Illusion systems up.”

“Hold on, Princess,” Ash murmured.

She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face against his back. Around them, his squad mates and their bikes blurred out of view. Ash flicked on his illusion system.

“Let’s roll.” Tane’s voice came through Ash’s earpiece.

“I’ve laid out the best route,” Indy’s voice sounded now. “If the drones pick anything else up, I’ll let you know.”

They took off out of the park and onto the road. Ash glanced at the screen attached to his bike controls, and kept an eye on the route. He slowly felt Marin relax into the ride. She was a sweet weight against his back. They traveled down empty streets, past buildings with gaping doorways and smashed windows. He circled around abandoned cars and bumped over rough ground.

“Squad Three, detour to the left,” Indy said calmly.

Ash followed the order, but as they turned, he glanced to the right. Marin’s sharp gasp sounded in his ear. In the distance, a lone canid stood in the middle of the street, its silhouette ominous and menacing. It was sniffing the ground, but a second later, it raised its huge head and looked in their direction. It had massive jaws, sharp teeth, and a row of wicked spikes along its back.

They turned down another street and lost view of it. Ash’s shoulders tightened, and he peered into every shadow, making sure there were no other hellish creatures around. It was only when they approached their destination that he relaxed just a fraction. They’d been lucky—not another creature, or a single raptor, the entire trip.

Ash hoped to hell their luck held the entire mission.

“Coming up on the tunnel entrance now,” Indy murmured.

Ahead, the gaping mouth of the tunnel yawned open. It was larger than the entrance they’d used for the previous mission. Here, the roads leading in were a patchwork of cracks and potholes, but once, there would have been traffic pouring in and out of this tunnel. People heading into the heart of Sydney for business, shopping, and pleasure.

Some faded graffiti covered one wall. It consisted of stylized images of the raptors and their ships. Ash wondered if the artist had survived the invasion. He felt Marin’s hands tighten on him.

Tane led them down to the tunnel’s entrance, and they drove into the darkness.

Ash flicked on his night vision.

They moved slowly down the main tunnel. Overturned cars appeared out of the gloom, and Tane led them down a descending tunnel to the left.

“You need to keep tracking Marin’s bot and follow its signal,” Indy said.

“Acknowledged,” Tane said.

Ahead, the eerie, red glow of raptor lighting filled the space. They moved deeper into the tunnel system.

“Squad Three…do you…signal breaking…” Indy’s distorted voice came through the comm line.

Damn, they were losing her.

“On…your own…luck.” Indy’s voice cut off.

It was all up to them now. They slowly rode past a converging tunnel, and Ash heard the echo of guttural raptor speech. Marin shifted behind him, and he reached down and patted her gloved hand with his own.

“Raptor patrol ahead.” Tane’s near-soundless voice in the earpiece. “Stay quiet, and keep to the left.”

The raptors appeared out of the gloom. They were standing around a drum that held a fire burning inside. They appeared at ease, although they all had their scaled weapons slung over their shoulders.

Ash’s muscles tensed as they rolled past the aliens. One lifted his head, looking their way, like he sensed something. Ash watched the raptor as his bike rolled by, his breath tight in his chest. A moment later, one of the raptors said something, and the watcher turned to reply. Ash exhaled quietly.

Then the squad was past the raptors, and headed down another wide tunnel.

“This tunnel system is amazing,” Marin said quietly. “A real engineering feat.”

Ash knew it had been needed. After the United Coalition was formed, and Sydney declared the capital, the influx of business and people had exploded the population of the already overcrowded city.

Now, it was rotting, and home to an alien species intent on killing off humans once and for all. They’d already rounded up many of the survivors, and stuck them in alien labs—experimenting on them and turning humans into raptors.

No. They would never stop fighting back. And if Marin could hack the hub, it would give them another valuable weapon in their arsenal.

Besides, he thought, as he reached back and rested a hand on Marin’s thigh, he sure as hell had something worth fighting for now. Marin was the bit of sweet he’d been missing all his life.

A loud, scraping noise caught his ear. The sound echoed through the tunnel and Ash frowned.

“What was that?” Marin whispered.

“Don’t know.”

The squad rounded another corner, and ahead, he saw a lone raptor standing in the middle of the tunnel. A big fucker, too. Close to seven feet tall.

It was just standing there.

“I don’t like this.” Hemi’s near-silent murmur.

The raptor lifted something that it had been holding down beside its leg. Ash’s gut cramped. It was a giant missile launcher.

And it was aimed straight at them.

“Fuck,” Tane bit out. “They know we’re here. Squad Three, evasive maneuvers.”

Thump. Something shot out of the missile launcher. The projectile hit the ground only meters from the berserkers.

The missile exploded with a blinding flash. Flames roared up, filling the tunnel. Ash averted his gaze, and quickly flipped his night vision off to prevent blinding himself.

Shouts and guttural roars echoed off the walls.

“Ride! Get out of here,” Tane shouted. “They know we’re here but can’t see us. They’re firing blindly.”

“Hold on,” Ash yelled at Marin.

There was the sound of thunder made by boots on concrete, and in the next moment, an armed raptor patrol poured out of a side tunnel. Raptor poison splattered the walls, sizzling on contact.

Ash couldn’t see his squad mates, but he heard them, and knew they were trying to ride out. Ash glanced over his shoulder, and saw more raptors jogging in from the way they’d come, canids loping at their feet.

“Keep moving forward!” Hemi’s shout on the comm line.

Ash gunned his bike and shot forward. He dodged around a raptor and sped up.

He bit back a curse. The tunnel ahead was filled with raptors. Ash threw the bike left, then right, conscious of Marin tightly holding onto him. He weaved around raptors and other obstacles, feeling for a second like he was in a damn live-action version of Pre-Emptive Strike.

A stack of boxes appeared ahead, and with no time to swerve, he lifted the front wheels and he and Marin jumped them.

They landed with a bounce, following the rest of the berserkers deeper into the tunnel system. They raced through tunnels, heading down another ramp. If they were lucky, they could outrun these aliens, and still find a way to get Marin to the hub.

If they were unlucky, they’d die down here.

“What’s that sound?” Levi asked.

Ash frowned and a second later, he heard it.

“It’s flapping, like wings.” Ash looked over his shoulder. There was something in the air, but he couldn’t see anything.

“Fuck. What now?” Tane ground out.

“You see it?” Ash called out to Marin.

“No!”

Ahead, something came out of the darkness. There was a squeal of tires, and Ash knew someone had swerved to avoid the creature.

It was about the size of a dog, flying close to the top of the tunnel. It looked like a miniature version of the ships the raptors flew, that the humans had nicknamed pteros, after ancient pteranodons. But this one was more like a small, dinosaur-like bird, with leathery wings and a pointed beak. And it was carrying something in its claws.

As it passed over them, it made a loud squawk and released the red sphere it was carrying. The ball, covered in wicked spikes, hit the ground and rolled. What the hell?

Then Ash saw the ball start to glow red hot. “Bomb!”

He quickly jerked around the rolling object. It exploded behind them, and he heard Marin’s muffled scream. Then the sound of gunfire echoed off the tunnel ahead. Some of his squad mates were firing.

That’s when Ash saw more of the birds flying in their direction, each holding another bomb. Aww, shit.

He threw his bike to the right.

“Keep going,” Tane yelled.

One of the balls hit the side wall of the tunnel and exploded. Concrete and rock rained down. Ash accelerated. He had to get Marin out of there.

Another spiked ball dropped and bounced…right in front of them.

With a vicious curse, Ash yanked the bike to the left. Raptor fire opened up in the smoke billowing in the tunnel.

Then he heard Marin’s scream—both in real life and through the comm line.

Her hands fell away from him and he felt her disappearing off the bike behind him. He tried to keep the bike steady with one hand, and reach back for her with the other.

He only felt empty air behind him.

“No!”

* * *

Marin hit the ground and all the air was knocked out of her.

She scrambled to her feet, chest heaving. She heard the alien poison that had hit her sizzling through her armor. Dammit. Think, Marin. She grabbed her water bottle off her belt, twisted the lid, and tipped water on the scorch mark over her ribs.

Instantly, the sizzling stopped. She breathed out in relief. It hadn’t eaten all the way through the carbon fiber.

Then, she looked up and a rock of fear lodged in her belly. She was standing in the middle of smoke and flames in the center of the tunnel. Through the chaos, she saw the giant silhouettes of several raptors.

What she couldn’t see were the berserkers.

Her breaths came in sharp pants. Stay calm. She pressed her hands together. No one could see her. She just needed to get out of the middle of the tunnel, and away from the raptors.

Then she saw her illusion flicker. No. No! She looked down and saw that the controls for the illusion had been hit by the poison.

The illusion flickered off.

The raptor closest to Marin spotted her. He lifted his gun and grunted. His demonic red eyes were on her as he aimed.

Terror flooded Marin. This was not Pre-Emptive Strike. There were no health packs if she went down. In real life, dead was dead.

Marin spun and ran. She charged through the smoke, trying to stay calm. In her head, she heard Ash’s tense voice.

That’s when she realized he was talking on the comm line.

“Marin! Where are you? Marin, answer me!”

A raptor appeared in front of her and Marin dived. She came up on her hands and knees, and scrambled forward.

“Use your thermo pistol, Marin. Then I can find you.”

Thermo pistol. She pushed to her feet and pulled the weapon out of the holster with trembling hands. She spun and lifted it.

She fired off some wild shots. When she heard loud grunts, she turned and kept running. She rounded a sweeping corner in the tunnel. The thick smoke made her choke. God, how was she going to get out of here? How was she ever going to find the others?

“Marin!”

“Ash!”

“Where are you, Princess?”

Her throat was so tight. He was looking for her. “I don’t know. All I see is smoke.” She looked over her shoulder and gasped. Raptors were thundering toward her. “My God, more are coming. My illusion system failed.”

“Run, Marin.”

She did, leaping through the smoke. She needed a safe place to hide and she needed it now.

Then, out of the darkness, a huge shape reared up and let out a screech.

Marin froze in horror. It looked like a giant spider, the size of a small car, with two of its powerful legs waving madly in the air.

It was a creeper.

Marin tasted bile in her mouth, her gaze dropping to the creature’s red, glowing belly. She knew that these beasts swallowed people whole and held them in their bellies, injecting them with Gizzida DNA and turning them into aliens.

Suddenly, a massive weight slammed into her back. She fell forward, crashing to the ground, her chin bumping the concrete. Pain exploded through her and she tasted blood in her mouth.

Raptor grunts sounded right above her. She looked up into the terrifying face of a raptor.

The massive alien stood. His chest was all gray scaly skin, and he wore metallic trousers and black boots. He reached down and grabbed her leg. Then he started dragging her down the tunnel.

A sob broke free of her chest. Oh, God, she was going to die.

She squeezed her eyes closed. She was never going to have the chance to be with Ash. To experience more mind-blowing sex, see him watching her with a sexy smile, to wake up beside him, to fall in love with him.

Her hands clenched, and she realized she was still holding her thermo pistol. Energized, she lifted it. Her arm was shaking badly, but she aimed in the general vicinity of the raptor. She pulled the trigger, thermo bullets firing in quick succession.

The raptor released her leg, and gore splattered her. The alien let out a deep, rasping scream, before dropping to the ground, claws tearing at his chest.

Marin froze, air heaving in and out of her lungs. She wanted to curl into a ball and hide, but that wasn’t an option. She lifted her hand and swiped at the…she didn’t want to think about what was coating her face and chest.

You can’t hide, Marin. If you want to live, you have to find a way out.

She pushed to her knees. She was going to get out of here, dammit.

“Marin!”

She turned her head, and realized she’d heard his shout close by. She scrambled to her feet. “Ash, over here!”

She stumbled forward and saw a big, familiar shape coming through the smoke. Thank God.

“Thank fuck.” Ash strode straight to her and scooped her off her feet. As he crushed her to his chest, she wrapped her arms around him and clung. Relief was a huge, shiny thing in her chest.

“God, Ash, I thought…”

“I’ve got you,” he murmured.

“I was so afraid. I thought I was going to die.”

“Found her.” Levi appeared, clutching his carbine. “Fucking A. The others have cleared the area, but we won’t have long before more raptors turn up.” He looked over at the dead raptor on the ground and toed it with his boot. “You do that, Curls?”

She nodded.

Ash smiled. “Hell, Princess, you didn’t need a rescue. You saved yourself.”

She made a hiccupping sound. “Ash, I’m about two seconds away from a major meltdown.”

He cupped her cheek, his finger brushing her skin. She realized he was rubbing away some gore.

“No, you’re not,” he said. “You’re steady and smart and fierce.”

Warmth rushed through her. She was starting to believe that he actually saw all of that in her.

Tane appeared, stomping up to them. “Connors, when I said don’t rush off half-cocked, did you not hear me?”

“I couldn’t leave her.” Ash’s arms tightened around her.

“We were coming back to get her,” Tane said. “Together. As a team. With a plan.” Tane’s dark gaze landed on Marin. “You okay, Marin?”

She managed a nod. “I am now.”

“She sure is.” Ash yanked her forward and slammed his mouth against hers.

Oh. Marin instantly forgot where they were and what had happened. She leaned in and kissed him back.