Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Colbie
Holy shit.
I was frozen, staring at the cocoons. I knew Hunter Squad had seen these before. Hell, North had been snatched by a monster and trapped in one for a short while.
I knew that the monsters were putting animals and people inside them.
“Back up,” Marc murmured.
I reached him. “You think there are people in any of these?”
“Maybe,” he said grimly.
Something moved in the one closest to us, making me jolt. There was a dark shadow of something inside.
I swallowed. “Have you seen this many before?”
“No.”
“We have to pass through here, Marc. It’s the quickest way back to the infirmary.”
A roar echoed behind us. That monster was back there, somewhere, too.
He dragged in a breath. “Move slowly and quietly. Stay right beside me.”
“I wasn’t planning to skip through them and have fun.”
He shot me a look, then shook his head. We cautiously made our way through the room.
Up close, I could see that the cocoons were made of a web-like substance that reminded me of spider silk.
Some of them were large and others were small.
I really, really hoped there were no poor humans trapped in here.
I knew there were missing people across the area, some vanishing almost weekly. The squad suspected that they were being put in these things.
“Why the hell are the monsters doing this?”
“We don’t know yet, but we’re going to find out. The plan is to catch a threader.”
I wrinkled my nose. Capture a scary-ass monster that sprayed out a substance to make cocoons? It was enough to give me nightmares.
We reached the center of the large space, and at this point, I couldn’t even mentally calculate how many cocoons there were. Goosebumps rose on my arms, along with the hair on the back of my neck. It was creepy.
“Pick up the pace, Colbie.” He nudged me forward.
My foot hit some sticky substance with a squelch. Some of the cocoons were leaking dark liquids across the floor. Gross.
Suddenly, noises came from near the door we’d used to enter the maintenance area.
Marc grabbed me and pulled me behind a large cocoon. My heart started hammering and I held my breath. More snuffling sounds, then a low growl.
Oh, shit.
“Can you see it?” I murmured.
He peered around the cocoon, and shook his head.
Then, something in the cocoon right beside me moved. I jerked, and bit back a cry.
“Let’s go,” Marc said. “Stay low.”
Crouched over, we hurried through the cocoons and around some workbenches. I hoped the monster that had entered the room didn’t hear or smell us.
“There’s the exit,” I whispered and pointed.
It wasn’t far away.
We dodged around another cocoon.
“Help.”
I stumbled.
“Colbie, keep moving.” There was grit in his voice.
I shook my head. “Did you hear that?”
He frowned. “I can hear a giant monster coming this way.”
“Help.” The sound was faint and weak.
“That.” I spun. “There’s someone here.”
There were more snuffling sounds, then the sound of something big moving through the room.
“We can’t stay here, Colbie,” he whispered urgently.
“There’s a person trapped here. They need our help.” I crouched and moved closer to a cluster of cocoons. “Hello?” Nothing. “Hello?”
“Help me.”
It was even more faint. I spun and saw Marc frowning.
“Where is it coming from?” I said.
“I don’t know. We have to move.”
“Marc—”
He bit off a curse. “We’ll come back.”
There was a crashing sound and another low roar. The monster was getting closer.
He took my hand and pulled me toward the door. Inside, I was battling conflicting emotions. All I could think was that there was a poor person here, somewhere.
We couldn’t leave them.
We circled a cocoon that was open, like a broken egg, with the top half broken on the floor.
Suddenly, Marc jerked me to the side and yanked me down. He pressed a finger to his lips.
I slowly turned my head, and my blood ran cold.
It was a threader.
It was gliding silently between the cocoons, like a shark moving through deep water.
Its skin was oil-slick black. It had a long, emaciated body that was all sinewy muscle.
Its long arms were tipped with claws, and it had no eyes or mouth, just a smooth, eerie face that ended in a long snout.
I knew from Hunter Squad’s descriptions that the snout flared open like a flower and sprayed the cocoon-web stuff.
The other monster in the room roared again. It sounded angry and hungry. The threader didn’t react, clearly unconcerned. Then it disappeared from view.
“Go,” Marc ordered.
We darted toward the door.
“Help.”
I stumbled, trying to hear where the voice was coming from.
“Colbie,” he snapped.
“It was close. We have to help them.” I turned, and touched the closest cocoon. “Hello? Where are you?”
“Get your butt moving,” Marc snapped.
“No, I—”
The next roar was so loud that I clamped my hands over my ears. There was a deafening crash. The monster was coming this way.
With a curse, Marc pick me up like a football, then dumped me in the broken cocoon.
Ugh. It smelled horrifically bad.
“Stay down.” He disappeared from view.
God, where was he going to hide? I huddled in terror. I’d just wanted to help the poor, trapped person, but I’d put us both in danger.
I heard a low growl and cracked one eye open. I saw the monster as it moved past my cocoon.
It was shaggy. It looked like some mutant wolf. It sniffed around, and let out another angry roar.
Then, there was a loud crash of noise from the other side of the room. The creature’s giant head whipped around, then it bounded off.
Dammit. My belly clenched. Marc was luring it away from me. Risking himself. What if the monster caught him?
This was my fault. I should’ve left when he’d said.
There was movement right beside my cocoon and I swallowed a scream. Marc’s head appeared.
“We’re going. No argument.”
I nodded, and he helped me scramble out of the broken cocoon.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes. Come on. That monster could come back at any second.”
Hand-in-hand, we rushed toward the exit.
Then, I saw the threader. Its mouth was wide open, looking like some sort of evil demon, spraying thread.
Oh, God.
It was horrifying.
It wasn’t paying any attention to us. It looked like it was spewing thread onto a lizard. The reptile was moving weakly.
Then the threader made a sound. “Help.”
My eyes widened.
“Help.”
It wasn’t quite enunciating the word, but it sounded similar. Mimicking the human word. It reminded me of sheep, that could make sounds like humans screaming and crying.
“Colbie, move your ass.” Marc yanked me through the door.
Marc
I marched down the corridor. I was moving so quickly Colbie could barely keep up. I kept a tight grip on her arm.
I was fighting to keep a lock on my emotions.
She’d risked her pretty, little neck. I’d told her to move, but she’d damn near run headfirst into the fucking monsters.
Images of her hurt and bleeding and trapped in a damn cocoon kept running on repeat through my head.
“Marc.” She was out of breath, running to match my strides. “Slow down.”
“No.” I wanted her safe in the infirmary.
Or as safe as I could make her right now.
Finally, we reached the door. She slipped in sideways, then I followed and wrenched the door closed behind us.
I grabbed one of the metal medical bunks and dragged it across the floor. I jammed it in front of the door. Nothing was coming through easily.
Then I turned. Colbie was watching me warily.
“I told you to move.” My tone was low, lethal.
“I thought someone needed help, Marc.”
“I’m the fucking soldier.” I stabbed a finger at my chest. “I’m used to being out here with the monsters.
This is my situation. If I were flying a Talon, I’d listen to you.
Down here, fighting the monsters—” I stalked toward her “—you listen to me.” Her back hit the wall and my chest met hers. “You don’t risk your life.”
“I thought it was a person calling for help. I didn’t know that it was a monster.”
I pressed my palms to the wall either side of her head. “There was a big-ass monster close, and a threader… We had to leave.”
“Marc—”
My face was an inch from hers. “You put yourself at risk.” My voice was a low roar, but I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t deal with the idea of her hurt or dead.
Everything that had been boiling inside me since I’d heard that her Talon had gone down welled up.
“I’m okay,” she whispered.
“You got lucky. You can’t die, Colbie.”
“I’m fine. I’m okay.” She cupped my cheeks. “I’m right here.”
“You risked your life. You didn’t listen to me.” I gripped her jaw and tipped her head to the side.
I should back away, but I didn’t. I was driven by things that I’d tried not to feel for so long.
I lowered my mouth and scraped my teeth down her neck. She shivered and made a small sound.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered briefly.
“I don’t think you are. You take so many risks. So many damn risks.” I bit her neck. “I should give you a damn spanking.”
She sucked in a breath. I pulled back, and noted the heat in her cheeks and her parted lips.
Damn. She liked the idea.
My cock turned as hard as steel. All I could picture was my bare hand on her ass.
“Our lives are filled with risk, Marc. We live in dangerous times. I’m a pilot. It’s my job to help people.”
“So, you’re going to risk your life again?”
“You will too!”
“With my team. You listen to your team, and they have your back. You didn’t listen to me. Maybe I need to help you learn that lesson.” I picked her up.
“Marc.” She wriggled against me.
I sank onto our little nest of a bed on the floor. I settled her face down over my lap. I knew she’d feel the hard outline of my cock digging into her belly. She squirmed.
“Marc Jackson, I’m an adult, not a child. I—”
“Need to stay safe.” I yanked her trousers down.
She gasped, and I hissed out a breath. She wasn’t wearing any panties. All I could see was the smooth, creamy skin of her ass.
“Marc.” Her voice was hot and pissed. “I’m going to—”
I smacked her, my palm cracking against one cheek. She jolted, then she moaned. I smacked the other cheek. Her hand grabbed my leg, her fingers digging in.
I spanked her again and again, her skin turning pink. Her moans turned breathy, and she shifted that soft tempting ass under my palm.
“I’m not sure it’s a punishment when you like it so much.” My voice was low and husky.
Her gaze flicked up at me. Fuck. The look on her face. Her eyes were glazed with need.
“Marc,” a needy whisper.
“God, Colbie.” I let my palms squeeze her buttocks. Desire sank its claws into me.
I’d wanted plenty of women before and had a lot of sex. It had always been fun, pleasurable, something I enjoyed. Then I usually forgot about it.
This…
This was something else.
“Please,” she murmured.
I heard it in her voice, saw it in her face. She needed this. Needed to release her fear and stress of the last day.
My hand slid between her thighs. The sound she made—sweet and sexy and husky—drilled into my gut.
She was soaked.
I stroked, loving it as she writhed for me. I sank a finger inside her slick warmth. Her hips jerked.
“Ride my hand, Colbie.”
“God, yes.” Her head flew back.
I groaned. “Fuck, you feel good.” I stroked her clit. “Make those little sounds for me.”
She did, then moaned my name.
That right there. I loved hearing her say my name like that.
I kept working her, sliding a second finger inside her. As I’d known, she wasn’t still or shy or quiet. No, Colbie let me know with every move, every twitch, every sound, how much she liked what I was doing to her.
“Marc, don’t stop. Keep touching me.”
“I am, dove. You feel so good.”
“I’m going to—”
I pinched her clit. With a cry, she came. She thrashed on my lap, enjoying her orgasm. I worked her through it, stroking her soft flesh and watching her face.
Finally, she slumped against my thighs. I lifted my hand and licked the taste of her off my fingers. She watched, desire sharp on her face.
“We need to eat something,” I said.
Her gaze dropped. “What about you?”
I shook my head. “We’re in a dangerous situation. I need to be ready, and I can’t do that if I’m balls-deep inside you.” I wouldn’t be aware of anything but her.
I wanted to slide inside her more than anything. But not here. Not when a damn monster could crash through the door and threaten her.
Cupping her face, I hauled her against my chest. “Eat. Rest. Get those cards you found out. We can play poker.”
“I don’t know how to play poker.”
“I’ll teach you.” I pushed some of her hair back behind the delicate shell of her ear. “We need to be ready when it’s time to get out of here and meet the others.”
She nodded. “Are we going to pretend this…didn’t happen, or are we going to talk about it?”
Something squirmed inside me. “We’ll talk. When you’re safe.”
She met my gaze. “When we’re safe.”