Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jameson
T he monster rocketed to the surface.
Fuck . Now I knew what a chew toy felt like. Air hissed out of the breather on my helmet. I held on tight to the spongy tentacle.
Greer. Where was Greer?
I looked up and saw her slumped in the tentacle’s hold. She wasn’t moving.
“Greer!” I slid along the tentacle. One wrong move and I’d lose my grip. “ Greer .”
No response. Dammit, was she breathing?
My chest squeezed. Hold on, baby.
The monster was starting to slow. So far, it had ignored us. What the hell did it want?
The bank lay ahead of us, with a flat, grassy area. I kept crawling along the tentacle, and finally touched Greer’s arm. Her skin was so cold.
“Greer?”
I lifted her head, and that’s when I saw that her helmet was shattered. Her face was pale and her chest wasn’t moving. Panic surged.
“Greer, baby, no .”
The monster heaved its bulk onto the bank. I lost my grip on the slimy tentacle and slid to the ground. I hit hard on my side and rolled. I retracted my combat helmet and fought back all the aches in my body.
The tentacle released Greer, and she fell to the ground beside me.
I crawled over to her. The monster was still ignoring us, sunning itself.
“Greer.” I rolled her onto her back. She wasn’t breathing. I retracted what was left of her helmet.
I couldn’t lose her.
I pushed her wet hair off her face, then checked her pulse and airway. “I’m not losing you, dammit. You’re a fighter, Greer Baird, just like your parents.”
I put my palms to her chest and started compressions. I breathed into her mouth.
“Come on.” I pumped her chest. “You’re mine, Greer. I plan to love you, spoil you, and annoy you for a really long time.” My voice cracked. “Please don’t leave me.”
Emotions boiled inside my chest. I breathed into her mouth. This woman was the one that I would love for the rest of my days. I didn’t want to do it without her.
She was still, her skin cold.
“Be mine. Make a life with me. Have my babies, because I want them to be smart and beautiful like you. I would never make you give up your job. The world needs your skills.” My voice lowered. “I need you.”
Suddenly, her body jerked. She sat up with a hacking cough.
“There you go.” Relief like I’d never known rocked into me. I helped her to the side as she coughed up a bunch of water. My hand was shaking as I rubbed her back. “I’ve got you.”
“Jameson—” her voice was hoarse. Her gaze met mine. “You didn’t leave me.”
“Never. I’ll never leave you.”
She leaned against me, and I hugged her tight.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I realized that it wasn’t only my hand shaking. My entire body was shaking. “Thank you for not leaving me.”
“You saved me.” She pressed her face to my neck.
I touched the small pack on my belt and pulled off a tiny bottle of water. She took it from me and gulped some down, then spat the dam water taste out of her mouth.
Reaching up, I touched my earpiece. As I did, water oozed from it. Shit . They were built tough, but they weren’t indestructible.
“Sasha, are you there?”
No response.
“Sasha? Colbie? Kai? Is anyone picking this up?”
Silence.
My jaw worked.
“They can’t hear you?” Greer asked.
I shook my head. “Either the earpiece is too waterlogged or they’re out of range.” I saw her shift and then grimace. “Are you hurt?”
“Just sore.” She lifted the bottom of her shirt up, at the bottom of her chest armor.
I saw the mottled bruises on her skin. “Damn.” My fingers brushed over them gently.
“That tentacle squeezed me pretty hard, but they’re just bruises.” Then she stiffened, her voice lowering. “Jameson, the monster is right there .” She looked over my shoulder.
“I know.”
“God, what do we do?” she whispered.
“I’m going to kill it.”
Her blue eyes went wide. “What? Alone?”
“It nearly killed you.” Determination filled me. That thing had almost taken Greer from me. I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. We slowly crept behind a tree.
“Stay here.”
“Jameson…”
“I’ve got this.” I pulled some thermo grenades off my belt. “Trust me. This is what I’m good at.”
She nodded, then gave me a tight hug and a quick kiss. “You’re not allowed to get hurt. You promised some days off and lots of sex.”
My lips curved. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Be careful.”
With a nod, I turned to face the creature. Its tentacles were all tucked in on itself.
It wasn’t expecting us to be a risk.
I weighed the grenades carefully in my hand. My jaw tightened. This creature wouldn’t kill anyone else. With the grenades in one palm, I pulled my combat knife out with the other hand.
Then I crept in closer to the monster, careful not to make a sound and disturb it.
I lifted the knife, then stabbed the closest tentacle.
It sprang awake with a low roar.
Its tentacles unfurled, waving in the air. It shifted its bulk, and a tentacle slapped down beside me. I jumped over it and stabbed again.
It made another angry sound. The tentacles whipped sideways, right at me. I dove to the ground and rolled under it.
“Come on.” I looked back over my shoulder. “You’ve got to do better than that.”
It made an awful moaning sound. Two tentacles rushed at me, and I dodged one but the second one slammed into my knees.
It knocked my legs out from under me and I fell forward. I kept the grenades tucked to my chest, rolling across the grass. Springing up, I sprinted toward the monster, leaped into the air, then stabbed my knife deep.
Another tentacle snapped out and curled around me. It lifted me off the ground.
I smiled.
Exactly as I’d hoped.
It moved me down, toward its open sucker mouth.
A nasty rotten smell hit me, and a deep sound echoed out of it. I pressed the buttons on the grenades and dropped them. One by one, they disappeared into the monster’s mouth.
One. Two. Three.
There was a muffled thump.
The monster jerked and shrieked. Its tentacles opened and I fell.
Shit, that was a long way down.
I hit the ground hard and rolled onto my stomach. I blew out a breath, pushed through the aches, and got to my feet.
There was another larger thump and the monster flew apart.
As bits of oily, black skin flew around me, I ran toward the trees and dove. One more to go.
Thump.
A piece of tentacle flew past me and hit the ground. Gore sprayed dozens of feet in every direction.
I rose and looked back, grinning. The monster was in bits, black blood soaking the grass.
And I’d managed not to contaminate Greer’s lake.
“Greer, it’s dead.”
I turned toward her. The first thing I wanted to do was kiss her.
Then I froze, every muscle in my body locking.
Two scaly humanoid monsters held Greer between them. There was something lizard-like about them. Her gaze was on mine. I could tell she was scared, but her chin was up, and her mouth was set in a flat line.
One of the monsters grunted, and a canine creature skulked forward out of the trees. It likely had dingo DNA. It had shaggy, matted fur, enormous claws on its feet, and long fangs. It growled.
Greer
Well, this sucked.
I’d survived drowning, and a giant, scary, aquatic monster. Not just one, but two of them. Now I was tied up with my back pressed to Jameson’s.
The two monsters who’d caught me walked upright, but were definitely not human. They had legs like tree trunks, and thick, scaly, brown skin. They looked like lizards crossed with humans. They had flat faces, but large mouths filled with sharp teeth. I had no idea what DNA had been spliced together to create them, but they were ugly and menacing. They were several inches taller than Jameson, and bulkier.
They’d stripped us of our armor and weapons. We were tied back to back, sitting on the ground.
“You okay?” Jameson asked.
“Fine. Having a great time.”
His fingers brushed mine and squeezed.
I sighed. “I’m all right.”
Night had fallen. The two monsters had a small fire going, and were cooking some sort of animal. Maybe a wallaby.
Every now and then, they grunted to each other.
“Jameson, are they…talking?”
“No fucking clue.” His tone was not happy. “But it seems that way.”
I’d always thought of the monsters as dangerous, slavering beasts that didn’t really think. These two seemed to be communicating, cooking over a fire, working together, taking us prisoner.
Why? What was the plan? Did they even have one?
“I think it’s worse than these two working together,” Jameson said. “I think the aquatic monster brought us here.”
“What?” I whispered. “Are you thinking it could communicate with these guys as well?”
“We did see evidence that the smaller one met with some other monsters.”
A cold chill slithered through me. “If they’re working together, to what end?”
“I don’t know. I’m just speculating. Could be they’re just planning a big cookout, and we’re on the menu.”
I stifled a slightly hysterical laugh. “I hope not.”
“We aren’t going to find out. We’re going to get free.”
I realized his hands were moving. “Can you untie the ropes?”
“I’m going to try. I’m getting you out of here.”
I smiled at the fierceness in his voice. “ We’re getting out of here.”
His fingers squeezed mine again. “Yeah. And Hunter Squad will find us. I know it.”
There was rock-solid certainty in his voice. He trusted his squad that much.
“I have a tracker in my armor.”
My pulse leaped. “It’ll lead them straight to us.”
“Not exactly. The satellite system isn’t large enough yet, so the coverage is spotty. They’d need to be fairly close to us to pick up the signal.”
My shoulders sagged. Damn .
“They’ll be searching for us, Greer. I promise. They won’t give up.”
I relaxed against him. Jameson was with me. I wasn’t alone. He’d always had such a strong, trustworthy feel, even when he’d been a teenager. Even then, he’d been taller and broader than everyone else.
“We sure as hell are getting out of here. I have several days of unbridled sex ahead of me. You promised.”
His low laugh made me smile.
“And all those fantasies you said you’ve been collecting. I want to experience every one of them.”
“I’ve been collecting them for years.”
My heart knocked against my ribs. “Years?”
He was quiet for a moment. “I think the first one was when you were far too young. The moment I realized that Greer Baird had breasts.”
I sucked in a breath. “You’ve wanted me that long?”
A beat of silence. “Yeah.”
I stared blindly at the trees. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“So many reasons. You were younger than me. Then you were studying and working, and the next thing I knew, you had a boyfriend.” He paused. “Albert or something.”
“Alfie. I met him in one of my engineering classes.” My gaze narrowed. “He came to a family barbecue once, then would never come again.”
“I possibly gave him a talking to about respect and treating you right.”
I laughed. “You must have scared the hell out of him. We broke up a few weeks later.”
Jameson went quiet again. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he’d liked me for so long.
“Mostly, I thought you wanted a smart guy, with degrees. I remember you and Alfie talking for ages about stuff that made my head spin.”
“Jameson, you are one of the smartest men I know. Believe me, Alfie could not have held his own in our current situation. He couldn’t have led his squad, saved me, and killed that monster. There are different kinds of smarts. Added to being brave, loyal, and a brilliant leader, I think that makes you pretty darn amazing, Jameson Steele.”
“Shit, Greer.” His voice was thick with emotion.
“And the muscles, don’t forget those.” I squeezed his fingers. “I really like your body.”
Now he chuckled. “Happy to hear that. I’m pretty fond of yours too.”
Just then, one of the monsters looked over at us. I stiffened. Its eyes glowing red in the darkness and it let out two guttural grunts.
The canine rose from where it was sleeping beside the fire. It loped over to us. It was far larger than a regular dog and had one red eye and one blue eye. Its shaggy fur was matted and when it snarled, I stared at its fangs.
My chest hitched. It could easily tear us apart. “Good doggie.”
“Shh,” Jameson warned.
It circled us and growled.
The monster by the fire grunted again, and the canine reluctantly returned to its master.
I let out a breath, and leaned back against Jameson.
“Try to get some sleep if you can,” he said.
“I think that’s impossible.”
“We are getting out of here, Greer.”
“That’s right. I’m looking forward to those days off in your bed.”
“Naked.”
I went quiet for a moment. “Jameson, I’m going to fall in love with you.”
He was silent for a moment. “Good. I’m already falling for you.”
Warmth filled my chest. God . This man. This good, solid, strong man was mine. I felt it in my gut and my heart. I wanted to make him happy, hear him laugh, make a life together. He’d never hold me back, and he’d always support me.
Yes, I was going to fall in love with Jameson Steele.
But first, we had to escape and stay alive. I looked around at the thick darkness and even thicker bush. How the hell would Hunter Squad find us? Especially without tipping off our captors?
Jameson believed in them, and so would I.
“Get some rest, Greer. You’ll need it. If we get free, we’re going to need to move fast. And if my squad finds us first, we need to be ready.”
I glanced at the monsters. “I’ll try.”
“I’ll stay awake and keep watch. You’re safe.”
Such a good guy, and he was all mine. “Okay.”
I was certain I would never fall asleep, but with the warmth of Jameson at my back, and knowing he was keeping watch, I found my eyelids drooping.
Shockingly, I drifted off to sleep.