Chapter Fourteen
The smell of burning flesh was sharp in Cam’s nose, and the screeches of the dying creepers rang in her ears.
The rest of her squad was exterminating the remaining creepers in the cavern, but she only had eyes for one thing. One man.
She leaped over a pod and rushed over to Hemi. He stood slumped against the wall, a grin on his face.
“God, Hemi.” As she reached him, his legs went out from under him. She wrapped her arms around him, trying to keep him upright. The guy was built like a tank. She lowered them both to the ground and tightened her hold on him. “You look terrible.”
He was covered in blood and orange gunk. His face was pale under his dark beard, and lines of pain bracketed his eyes.
He grinned at her through the gore. “Hey, baby.”
He was smiling. Idiotic moron. She knew that was redundant, but it seemed to apply. “I…I…” Tears threatened.
“Hey.” He reached up and cupped her cheek.
“I love you, damn you.”
His grin widened. “I know.”
She pressed her forehead to his. “I thought you were gone. It scared me more than anything.”
“I’m pretty tough to kill.”
She gave a hiccupping laugh. “Like a cockroach?”
He barked out a laugh, but it quickly turned to a grimace. She spotted his bloody shoulder, and quickly yanked open the field med kit on her belt. She pressed absorbent gauze to the ugly injury. Damn creepers, she wanted to kill every one of them with her bare hands.
Hemi ignored her hands as she tended his wound, his gaze on her face. “I’ve been waiting forever for you to be mine. I love you, Camryn.”
She went still, her heart bursting. “I’m still afraid. I’m afraid that I’ll screw up, that you’ll screw up, that I’ll drive you away or lose you.”
“There aren’t any guarantees,” he said.
“I don’t ever want us to look at each other the way my parents looked at each other. With so much poison and hate.” If that happened to her and Hemi…no, she wouldn’t be able to live with it.
His hand gripped hers, moving it a few inches from his wound until her palm was pressed over his beating heart. “It’s like when you pick up your carbine and step into a fight. Every day, we do, not knowing if we’ll win, or if we’ll make it back. You’ve just got to believe that the reason you’re doing it is worth it.”
Something in Cam stilled and went quiet. “You’re worth it.”
His hands tightened on her. “We’re worth it.”
“Time to go.” Roth stepped up beside them. “There are several thousand more creepers in here and I think we’ve overstayed our welcome.”
Cam pressed her shoulder in under Hemi’s arm.
Tane moved in front of them. “I know this was supposed to be a recon mission—” He pulled some things from the backpack on his shoulder. “—but I brought a few extra toys with me.”
Cam recognized the small, silver devices. Each had two tiny windows on it. One showed a line of glowing blue and the other a line of glowing red. When the two lines met…well, it was best not to be around when that happened.
Roth shook his head. “All right. Let’s move out.”
Cam helped Hemi toward the tunnel. Her squad moved to take point, carbines up. Behind them, Griff and Dom brought up the rear, while Tane and Ash moved around the cavern, setting the charges.
As they hobbled into the tunnel, Tane and Ash jogged up to join them. Tane slipped an arm around his brother to help take his weight.
“We’re going to make a little mess for our friends to deal with,” Tane murmured.
“Nice,” Hemi replied.
Cam rolled her eyes.
As a group, they headed up the ramp. Roth led them through the tunnels’ twists and turns, a few creepers attacking and easily dealt with.
“Roth? Large…” Arden’s distorted voice. “…creepers converging.”
Roth touched his ear. “Arden, say again?”
“More…too many.”
Static filled the line.
Screeches echoed through the tunnels around them. From all the tunnels.
Cam tightened her hold on Hemi and Tane stepped away, lifting his flamethrower hose.
“Just can’t get a fucking break today,” Hemi grumbled.
“Creepers!” someone shouted.
Cam watched her squad and the berserkers turn to face the incoming aliens. God, there were so many of them.
She heard more sounds coming from the tunnel behind them. Shit. Her jaw tightened and she moved to lean Hemi against the wall. She needed to protect him—
“Hell Squad, ready to go to hell?” a deep voice yelled.
“Hell yeah,” came several voices, echoing off the rock walls. “The devil needs an ass kicking!”
Hell Squad sprinted out of the tunnel, carbines firing.
“Looks like you caught a break after all, Rahia,” Cam said.
He let out a laugh but she could tell he was in pain. “Well, you finally admitted you loved me, so it is my lucky day after all.”
Cam leaned into him and watched as the Hell Squad soldiers barreled into the fight with the others. Within minutes, the creepers were all down.
“Nice of you to join us, Steele,” Roth said. “After we rescued Squad Three and practically fought our way back out all by ourselves.”
Marcus raised a brow. “You’re welcome, Masters.”
“The general thought you guys might need a hand,” Cruz said, studying the maze of tunnels around them. “And we are here for clean up.”
“You get the berserkers out of here,” Marcus said. “We’re going to assess the breeding ground and how best to destroy it.”
“We already set some explosives,” Ash said. “In the queen’s cavern below.”
“Send me the data.” Marcus held up his wrist and Cam saw he had a screen identical to Roth’s. “We’ll add what we brought with us and bring the entire place down.”
Roth nodded. “Have fun.”
Shaw grinned, his sniper rifle resting on his shoulder. “Blowing up aliens is always fun.”
Soon, Tane was back to help Cam with Hemi and they were headed for the surface. She felt a rush of fresh, clean air, and relief surged. They were almost out.
Roth stood at the entrance, waving them forward. “Everyone, let’s move back to the Hawk as fast as you can.”
Cam looked up into the bright-blue sky overhead. “We’re heading home, big guy.”
“Good. I have plans.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Yes, a trip to Medical,” she said dryly.
“Watch out!”
At Ash’s shout, Cam glanced over. A juvenile creeper rushed up behind them. Ash leaped on top of it, stabbing it with his combat knife.
The creeper spun wildly, and alien and man crashed into a rock wall. There was a shimmer of light, and the wall blinked out of existence.
Cam controlled a gasp. Behind it was a space filled with raptor comp screens and a humming alien generator.
Holographic camouflage. She’d heard of the raptors using it to hide their tech.
Ash killed the juvenile, jumped off it, and gripped it by a leg. With a giant heave, he tossed it out of the away. Then he straightened and stared at the comp screens. “Look at that.”
“What is it?” Tane called out.
Ash stepped up to the screens, and nudged a pile of raptor data cubes with his boot. “My guess? This is this is some sort of control station for the breeding ground.” He picked up a slick black cube. “Could have good data on the creepers.”
“Grab the cubes,” Tane ordered.
With a nod, Ash opened a backpack and scooped the cubes into it.
Tane touched his earpiece. “Indy, we found some raptor cubes. Relay a message to Hell Squad to keep an eye out for any more.”
Cam couldn’t care less about raptor cubes or creepers. With Hemi’s warmth pressed against her side, she didn’t want to think about aliens for at least the next twenty-four hours.
“Let’s go home,” she murmured to Hemi.
***
Hemi let Tane take most of his weight to help him aboard the Hawk. He actually was feeling much better now, but he was pretty sure that was just because he had Cam, his brother, and his friends by his side.
He dropped down into a seat and winced at the pain in his ribs. Cam sat beside him, but before she could settle, he yanked her into his lap.
“Hemi, your ribs—”
“Are fine. Stay still.” She froze and he pressed his face to her neck. “Holding you is worth any pain.”
She made a small sound and settled into him.
“I need a beer, shower, and a hard fuck,” Hemi said.
Chuckles broke out around them, and Cam lifted her head and rolled her eyes. “Well, I hope the shower is first on the list. You smell bad.”
“He won’t look much better after a shower,” Ash called out. “You sure you want to hang out with him, Cam?”
“Quit flirting with my woman, Connors.” Hemi tightened his arms around a smiling Cam. “I feel on top of the fucking world. I’m alive and my woman, the sexiest most beautiful badass ever, loves me.”
“A bit louder, Rahia,” she said. “I don’t think the Gizzida heard you.”
He cupped the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss. A slow, thorough kiss.
“I love you too, you Neanderthal.”
“The backfire explosives are going,” Ash called out.
Hemi turned to look out the window.
Boom. The Hawk vibrated, and outside, he saw a huge blue ball rise into the air. Then the heart of it turned a brilliant red. Hell Squad did not mess around.
He had no idea how big the damn creeper breeding grounds were, but he knew they had to have caused a fuckload of damage.
“What did I miss?” a groggy voice asked.
They all turned to see a dazed Levi sitting up on his stretcher in the back of the Hawk, his long hair brushing his shoulders.
Laughter broke out, and Ash moved over to check his friend.
“Mate, you kind of missed everything.” Ash probed Levi’s head wound.
Levi groaned. “Great. And you’ll never let me live it down.”
Hemi held onto Cam, and listened to the murmurs of his squad and Squad Nine around him. He’d meant what he’d said to Cam earlier. Each time they stepped onto a Hawk, they never knew if they’d make it back from the mission. There were no guarantees, but what they did was important, and every risk was worth it.
Hemi had always lived by his own rules. It was part of the reason he’d never joined the military. Working as a mercenary had let him pick his own fights. The ones that suited him and his own beliefs.
But sitting here, with these brave men and women, and holding the woman he loved in his arms, he knew he’d go out there every hour of every day to fight the aliens. For these people, for the people at the Enclave, for Cam, he’d take on every alien he could find until they were all gone. Because what he had right here was worth fighting for.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome home,” Finn called out from the cockpit.
The Hawk stopped, hovered for a moment, then started to descend. They landed in the hangar, and when Roth pushed back the door, the first thing Hemi saw was Doc Emerson waiting with two stretchers.
Aw, shit. Ash and Tane quickly loaded a still-groggy and complaining Levi onto a stretcher. Hemi warily stepped down from the Hawk, holding on tightly to Cam.
The doc looked at him and rubbed her hands together. “I’ve been looking for some more victims today.” She pointed to the stretcher.
Hell, no. “I can walk—”
“Climb aboard, Rahia. I promise to only stick you with needles once or twice.” Emerson pursed her lips, her critical gaze running over him. “Actually, it might be a few more than that.”
“Cam can help me—”
“Up,” Emerson said.
“I need a shower—”
The doctor shook her head, her blonde hair fluttering against her jaw. “From what I can tell, you have a still-bleeding wound to your shoulder, some other scrapes and cuts, and my guess is you’ve likely broken some ribs. Plus, I heard you nearly drowned in alien fluid, so I need to check you out.” Her eyes hardened. “And you’ve pulled the shower thing on me before, Hemi. It took me two to days track you down last time.”
Cam shot him an amused look. “Not afraid, are you?”
“Afraid?” He made a scoffing noise.
“Then get on the stretcher, Hemi,” Cam said.
He hesitated. He fucking hated needles, but there was no way he was admitting that.
Cam leaned in, her lips pressed to his ear. “I’ll make it worth your while,” she murmured.
He looked at her. “Oh yeah? With what?”
“Dirty sexual favors.”
“In that case…” Hemi pulled himself up on the stretcher.
As they headed out of the hangar, Cam’s full-throated laugh made him smile.