The berserkers kept firing, but more and more tentacles appeared.
One rammed into Levi, its suckers clinging to his armor.
“It burns,” Levi yelled. The man yanked out his gladius combat knife and slashed at the tentacle.
Dom kept firing.
He had to get to Arden. He had to help his squad.
He’d had next to nothing his entire life. Now, he had friends—brothers—and he had a woman who was his. He wasn’t letting anyone take them from him.
Chapter Thirteen
Arden darted toward the bomb. Just a few more meters—
A tentacle reared up out of the ground, knocking her back.
She tripped and fell on her ass with a cry. The tentacle with its ugly suckers rushed at her. With a yelp, she rolled out of the way.
Oh, God.
Her heart was pounding, her stomach churning. There were tentacles everywhere and she could hear the grunts of the nearby raptors.
Above her head, the drone’s rotors whirred, and the machine started firing. The tentacle whipped around, trying to evade the weapon. The lasers hit their target. The tentacle exploded, and she was splattered with… Ugh. Wincing and swiping at her face, she pushed to her knees.
All around her, the berserkers were fighting, tooth and nail. Ash was dragging Levi away from the mêlée. Hemi was roaring as he fired his weapon. Griff was lobbing several grenades. Tane was a force of nature. With a grim face, he leaped into the air, spraying carbine fire all around.
The squad leader landed, then yanked a grenade off his belt. He tossed it upward.
The weapon exploded, spraying cineole oil everywhere. The tentacles whipped around in a violent frenzy.
Tane kept moving forward, ignoring the tentacles, focused.
And that’s when Arden saw Selena.
Oh, no. The woman was held in the air by a tentacle, being whipped around like a broken doll.
As the cineole hit the tentacle, it wiggled faster and shriveled. It dropped Selena.
Tane lunged forward and went down on one knee, catching her against his chest.
Arden swiveled her head and saw Dom whirling and lunging, his knives in his hands. Dark and deadly, he slashed at several tentacles.
A tentacle dropped to the ground, swiping at his boots. He dived over it, rolled, and came up fighting.
Focus, Arden. She turned, her gaze falling on the bomb. She had a job to do. Sucking in a deep breath, she ran.
She jumped over a tentacle, dodged another, then another one slammed into her. Crap. She threw herself on the ground, going with the momentum of the blow. The tentacle swept over her, and she rolled across the dirt.
Ouch. She wasn’t anywhere as nimble as Dom, but she was alive. Her drone appeared, spraying oil and laser fire around.
Nearby, several tentacles retracted. Arden pushed to her feet. The bomb was right there.
She’d taken two steps when she spotted the raptors.
Her heart lodged in her throat. They were walking toward her, large-scaled weapons in their hands. One fired, sending ugly, green poison splattering on the walls. Their eyes were glowing red, like demons in the dark.
Arden ducked around the side of the bomb. She had to get this done…fast.
“Drone, target raptors.”
Her drone whirled and fired cineole oil. Arden focused on the black surface of the bomb. It had a matte finish, absorbing the light. She quickly pressed a small targeting patch to the bottom of the device.
She stepped back. “Drone, fire laser cutter.”
Her drone moved into position. A small arm swiveled, and then a narrow green laser shot out, piercing into the black metal where she’d applied the target.
She watched, heart pounding. Come on, come on.
A hole opened up in the metal and the laser abruptly stopped.
But no fluid came out of the bomb.
What? Frowning, she moved forward, smoothing her hand over the black metal. She circled around it. She couldn’t quite see over the top of it since it was too big and closed up. Then she felt a panel depress under her fingers, and she snatched her hand back.
With a click, the top of the octagon bomb started to open, unfurling like a flower.
Arden quickly moved around the side, looking for a way that she could boost herself up and look into the top.
She heard a grunt and spun.
And found herself face-to-face with a raptor.
Her lungs contracted. The alien towered over her, close to seven feet tall. She froze, suddenly unable to breathe.
The raptor’s gaze fixated on her. She saw blood oozing from its eyes and ears. It clutched a huge weapon in his claws. Its dark-gray scales looked thick, its chest covered in old scars.
She could swear the raptor was smiling at her, baring sharp teeth.
Suddenly, a burst of fury uncoiled in her belly. These aliens had taken so much from her. Anger flowed through her like a molten river. She charged forward, shoving her hands against the raptor’s gut.
It grunted in surprise and Arden quickly pressed one of the target patches onto his scales.
“Fire,” she cried out.
The drone fired. As the laser blasts hit the raptor, his body jerked wildly. He collapsed at her feet.
Steeling herself, Arden stepped on top of the dead raptor. She used the added height to peer over inside the bomb.
Her heart dropped. It was empty.
She stepped back, her knees unsteady. The bomb was just an empty shell.
She touched her earpiece. “Tane, the bomb is empty. It’s a decoy.”
“Fuck,” came the squad leader’s harsh reply across the line.
Arden spun. The tunnel was like a war zone, lit up by the glow worms above and the laser fire below. Raptor poison sprayed the walls and floors, sizzling as it ate into rock and dirt. The sharp scent of cedar and cineole filled the air.
Her gaze fell on Dom. He kicked a raptor, then spun and threw a knife. It lodged in a raptor’s chest and the alien threw its head back and roared.
She watched as more raptors converged on him.
Adrenaline surged. For so long she’d been holding back, drowning in her grief. But Dom had woken her up.
