The rest of her squad had gone to bed. As he’d left to find his partner Avery, Roth had threatened Arden with bodily harm if she didn’t take a break and get some rest.
But she needed to stay. She needed to keep working. She needed to help.
Those poor kids… Arden sat back in a chair and stretched her stiff neck. She knew her emotions were mixed up with the loss of Beth and Emmett. She was okay with that. She was using it to fuel her need to take the Gizzida down.
She wished for the millionth time that she had a photo of Jason and her kids. In those early days, it had tortured her that she had nothing of theirs to hold on to. But now, she realized she had all the important things. Every time she closed her eyes, it was easy to remember Jason bending her over his arm for a kiss, and the snuggles, the giggles, the endless stories her kids would tell her. It was the small things she kept locked in her heart. Jason making his world-famous, homemade pizza, Emmett’s bright coloring, Beth’s hard hugs. Her husband had been a wonderful father, and her kids had always known they were loved.
Arden opened her eyes, staring blankly at the drone footage on the screen. For her family, for those kids at Mount Wilson, for the survivors at the Enclave, and dammit, for herself, she was going to find this damn bomb.
She wanted to live.
Memories of her hands on Dom, her mouth on him… Arden shivered. She wanted more.
Shaking her head, she concentrated on the screen again.
She’d been over the footage of the town over and over, but she forced herself to study every detail—the bodies, the scales, the claws, the mutations. Her hands clamped onto the edge of the conference room table and she breathed in deeply.
They would find this bomb. She wouldn’t let the aliens take any more than they already had.
Then she tilted her head, staring at an image of the remnants of the detonated test bomb.
What was that? There was something in the shadows of one of the drag marks gouged into the mud.
Tapping the screen with a frown, she zoomed in on the image.
There. There were lots of deep tracks in the mud from where the Gizzida had dragged the bomb into place. And in one track, hidden in the shadows, she saw a faint neon glow.
Even zoomed in, she couldn’t quite tell what it was. It looked like a strand of lights.
What was it?
“Bella?”
His deep voice shivered through her and she looked over her shoulder.
Dom stood in the doorway, wearing his black, carbon-fiber armor, with his carbine slung on one shoulder
“You should be in bed,” he said.
“I wanted to look at a few more images.”
He walked inside, stopping beside her chair. His gloved fingers brushed her cheek. “You look tired.”
She nodded. “You have patrol?”
“I took a shift from Morales from Squad Eight.”
She noticed that he was always taking extra shifts, especially from the married or partnered-up soldiers. “I heard his foster son has been sick. You need to rest, too.”
Unsurprisingly, he ignored her comment and glanced at her computer screen. “Any luck?”
She shook her head, frustration skating on her nerves. “Not really.”
“Maybe you need fresh eyes. You’ll do better after some sleep.”
Arden nodded again, but she felt the ticking clock. “They could detonate that bomb at any time, Dom.”
“We don’t know that.” He rubbed his thumb across her lips. “Rest now. I’ll check on you when I get back from patrol.”
Warmth bloomed inside her. It had been a long time since she’d had someone to check on her. “Okay.”
His dark gaze narrowed on her. “You should tell me to stay away.”
Arden lifted her chin. “It’s my choice who I spend time with. And you’re the first choice I’ve made in a long time.”
He stared at her, dark eyes unreadable.
“I want to touch you again,” she murmured. “Taste you again.”
He sucked in a breath. “Code me into the lock on your door. Now, go.”
She stood and he ushered her out of the conference room and through the Command Center. As she walked down the hallway, she could feel him watching her.
She glanced back over her shoulder. He stood there, dark and deadly. He lifted his chin, a chunk of thick, black hair falling over his forehead. Then she blinked, and he was gone.
Back in her quarters, Arden quickly showered and changed. As she dropped onto her bed, she was sure she’d toss and turn, worried about the bomb.
Instead, her thoughts were of touching Dom, stroking bronze skin. She dozed off, thinking of him, and dropped into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Arden jerked awake, feeling lips on her collarbone in a gentle, teasing caress.
His scent—soap and freshly-showered skin—washed over her. Desire coiled in her belly and she moaned.
As a strong hand cupped one of her breasts, she shook off the last remnants of sleep. Faint light was spilling from a lamp on the other side of the room. She pulled in a sharp breath, drawing more of Dom’s scent into her senses.
Liquid heat ran through her body. She lifted a hand, touching damp hair. His lips moved to her neck, teeth and stubble scraping over her skin. She arched into him, and a strong hand moved down, then pushed the hem of her sleep shirt up.
He pushed it over her belly, over her breasts. Then he lowered his dark head.
“Oh.” It felt so good. As his tongue moved over her skin, she looked down. Her belly jumped. The sight of that dark head nestled between her breasts was so sexy.
He tugged on one of her nipples, and she couldn’t hold back her moan. He took his time, exploring, tasting, plumping her breasts together with his hands as he sucked and licked them.
Then his head moved lower. His lips traveled across her belly.
“So much beauty,” he murmured against her skin.
He glanced up at her and her breath caught. This man looked
