Free Reed: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 4) by Anna Hackett Page A

surrounded her, his big body pressing up behind hers.
    Focus? How was she supposed to focus like this?
    He helped her lift the pistol and aim it, her arms outstretched.
    “Now, pull the trigger.”
    She did. Green laser fire whizzed down her lane. As it hit the electronic target, she saw it shimmer.
    “It’s got more kick than I’d guessed,” she said.
    He nodded, his chin brushing her head. “Again.”
    He made her shoot over and over again. Soon, her arms were burning from the strain. He gave her pointers, adjusted her grip, changed the targets to different sizes and distances.
    And the entire time, he surrounded her, his body brushing against hers in a way she couldn’t ignore. A hand along her arm, his chest against her back, his thighs against her bottom.
    By the time he decided they were done, her body was a mass of quivering need. Every nerve ending was trembling and every cell was vitally aware of him.
    His arms were still around her and he was saying…something about a holster and a gun safety.
    Unable to stop herself, she pressed back against him, her butt brushing him.
    He hissed out a breath. “Natalya.”
    She felt one very large and very hard cock nestle against the crevice of her bottom.
    His arms tightened around her. “We have a mission, a dangerous one, to prepare for.”
    “I know. I’m—”
    “Not taking it seriously enough.” His words were like bullets past her ear. “If they get you, they’ll put you back in a cage. Take you to a lab again…or kill you.”
    A rock settled on her chest. “I know—”
    His fingers dug into her skin. “I can’t bear the thought of them cutting into your soft skin again—” he dragged in a shaky breath “—of them crushing the life out of you.”
    “Stop it.” She spun and slammed her hands against his chest. “You’re trying to scare me.”
    His hands cupped her cheeks, lifting her gaze to his burning gold one. “Yeah, I am. I don’t want you to go in there unprepared. You need the fear to give you an edge.”
    “I’ll be with you. With Hell Squad.”
    “We aren’t superheroes, Natalya. We all bleed too. Can be killed.”
    She did not want to think about Reed hurt or dying. It was hard enough knowing what he risked every time he went out there.
    “This mission is important.” She pressed her hands over his. “We’ll do it, together, and strike back at them. They might not be the raptors who hurt me—” her voice wavered “—but I think it’ll help to know I took the offensive.”
    He released a long breath and let his forehead drop to hers. “Okay. But I’ll be by your side the entire time.”
    She smiled. “I’d like that.”
    “God, you twist me up.”
    She licked her lips. “Really? I don’t think I’ve ever twisted a man up before.” Especially not a hard, tough warrior like Reed. But boy, she liked it.
    “If…if the worst happens—” he stopped with a curse and heaved in a breath. His gold eyes bored into hers. “If they get you, I’ll come for you. Understand?”
    She trembled. “Okay.”
    “You don’t do anything stupid, or risk yourself, you wait until I come.”
    Natalya could barely stand the thought of being strapped down on a bed again, bright lights in her face, pain sawing through her. Panic fluttered in her chest. “Reed—”
    He gave her a little shake. “Promise me, sweetheart, or I won’t let you get on that Hawk.”
    Could she hold on if the aliens had her again? Memories of being dragged away the first time flashed through her head. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face to his chest. Suddenly an overwhelming urge welled inside her, the need to talk.
    “When they took me…I’d been hiding out at the university. That’s where I was when the attack happened. A bunch of us, staff and students, had been there, scavenging, hiding. Then a raptor patrol came through.”
    Her throat tightened. She remembered the screams, the hiss of raptor poison burning through skin, wood and