The wood cracked, and he fell down into the trench. Dom slammed onto his back, winded for a second. “Fuck!”
“Dom,” Griff yelled.
His team mates appeared above him.
Dom sat up, then he froze. Something shifted in the darkness at the other end of the trench.
“Dom, get the fuck out of there.” Griff’s urgent voice.
Before he could get his feet under him, a mass of suckers rushed out of the darkness. His heart hammered in his chest. There were too many, and they were too close.
“Dom, get up.” Arden’s voice in his ear.
A sucker leaped on him. Dom slashed out with his knife.
But there were too many and they all landed on top of him in a writhing mass. Burning pain hit his face and neck. He heard his squad mates shouting.
“Get them off me!” Dom yelled.
One was right in front of his face. He grabbed it, tugging on its squishy body. Its flesh squeezed under his gloved fingers.
He sensed his squad close, fighting to free him, but he couldn’t see a fucking thing. Another sucker latched onto his neck.
Dom shouted. Fiery pain tore through him, like being dipped in battery acid. Salvatore had liked to burn his enemies.
Blackness threatened, splotches dancing in front of Dom’s eyes. His knife slipped from his hands.
“Dom, hold on!” Arden urged him.
Bella. It was a soundless whisper.
Then his familiar mistress, the darkness, sank her sharp claws into him and pulled him under.
With nausea churning in her gut, Arden clutched Indy’s hand. They were running toward the Hawk hangar.
She knew her friend was worried about her entire squad. Arden sucked in a short breath, trying to ease the pressure in her chest. She was so worried about Dom.
As they reached the entrance to the hangar, Doc Emerson appeared. Behind her stood several of her nurses, pushing two iono-stretchers that floated above the ground.
Together, they stood in a small group.
“We’ll get them all patched up.” Emerson tried for a smile, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “These berserkers are tougher than carbon fiber.”
Arden couldn’t smile back. She squeezed Indy’s hand tighter. Dom was hurt badly. The others had pulled him out, but he’d been buried under a pile of suckers and unconscious.
And Tane had cut the camera feed, not letting them see him.
A moment later, the general joined them. He gave them a quiet nod, his face serious. “Squad Nine?”
Arden cleared her throat. “They provided cover for the berserkers to get back to the Hawk. They’ll be landing shortly.”
Alarms echoed through the cavernous hangar, followed by the clang of the doors above retracting. A second later, a Hawk quadcopter descended. The aircraft swiveled, and its skids touched the concrete floor.
Heart in her throat, Arden stared at the side door of the Hawk.
Be okay. Please, be okay.
The door slid open, and she instantly spotted Tane. He was always impassive and unsmiling, but now he looked downright grim.
Levi appeared, helping Hemi off. The man had nasty burns on his neck, and the chest plate of his armor was burned and twisted.
Then Ash and Griff followed, carrying a body between them.
Arden stopped breathing.
As she looked at Dom’s limp form, flashbacks peppered her head. The night of the invasion. That night on the street, her family dead, so many injured, dead bodies all around her.
“Here.” Emerson rushed forward, pushing an iono-stretcher. “Get him on here.”
The men laid Dom out flat and a second later, Indy threw herself into Griff’s arms. Without thinking, Arden moved closer to the stretcher.
“I gave him a dose of nanomeds,” Ash told the doctor.
Emerson clasped his shoulder. “Good work. We’ll take it from here.”
Arden pressed a fist to her chest, watching the doctor check Dom over and pressing medical monitoring patches to his skin. As Emerson shifted, Arden got a clear view of him.
Nausea rushed into her throat. His armor was completely ruined. What was left of it was peppered in burns, looking like it had melted. His face and neck were badly burned, all raw and red.
“I’m not lying on the damn stretcher,” Hemi grumbled.
Emerson looked over and rolled her eyes. “Hemi Rahia!”
His face turned belligerent. “No.”
Indy straightened. “I’ll go and get Cam. She’s on patrol.”
Arden nodded, as her friend rushed off.
“All right, let’s get Dom to the infirmary,” the doctor ordered.
As the nurses started pushing the stretcher toward the door, Arden followed.
Once they reached the infirmary, Arden stayed to the side. They shifted him onto a bunk and she sat down beside his bed. The team worked around him—stripping his armor and cleaning his wounds. Arden reached out and touched his arm.
Emerson appeared. She eyed Arden, but didn’t say anything. She checked a scanner, making a few noises. She called out orders for some meds.
A moment later, the door opened and Hemi came in, sitting on a stretcher. A tall, dark-skinned brunette in armor was striding beside him.
“You’re injured,” Cam McNabb snapped. “You don’t get to be an idiot. Whatever the doc tells you to do, you do it.”
“Baby—”
“No way, Hemi Rahia. You’re not babying me right now. I want you better.”
As some of Emerson’s team moved to work on Hemi, Emerson stayed close to Dom, checking his neck again. She glanced down at Arden.
Arden saw the silent question in the doctor’s eyes. “I wanted to sit with him. He…helped me out recently.”
Emerson nodded. “The nanos are working fine. His vitals are good. He’s going to be okay.”
The air shuddered out of Arden’s lungs. “Thanks.”
Finally, the medical team moved off, and there was quiet around Dom’s bed.
Unable to stop herself, Arden reached out and stroked his face, where it wasn’t injured. “The doc said you’ll be fine.”
She continued to murmur quietly to him, mostly nonsense stuff, but also letting him know he wasn’t alone.
Suddenly, his dark eyes opened. They weren’t very focused, but his head turned toward her.
“Bella.”
This close, she could see that his eyelashes were very long
