Gabe: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

She could ask you for a tropical vacation and you’d get it for her.”
    As Emerson ushered the trio inside the exam room, she thought Santha’s observation was right. But while the soldier might be deeply fond of the small girl, his heart very clearly belonged to the tall, slim woman with him.
    Santha Kade had survived alone for months, living in Sydney’s ruins, fighting back against the raptors any way she could. After helping Hell Squad, she and Cruz had teamed up to rescue human prisoners from the raptors’ labs. And those prisoners had included young Bryony.
    Since then, Santha had moved into the base with Cruz, and was now heading up a new reconnaissance division. She and her small team were sneaking in and out of raptor territory and feeding intel back to the squads.
    But it was the way Cruz looked at her, like she was his end and his beginning that made Emerson’s throat close.
    She looked away and focused on her patient. “Okay, hop on up here, Bryony.” Emerson patted the exam bed. “I’m going to check you out.”
    The girl hopped up, her sneakered feet swinging. “I’m feeling better.”
    “Good.” Emerson gently tilted the girl’s head, studying how well the bone was being repaired by the regen therapy she’d used. “Do you like your new room?”
    “Oh, yes. Santha’s helping me decorate.”
    Behind the girl’s back, Santha grimaced. “I’m doing my best.”
    Emerson hid her grin. She guessed a former SWAT-team member didn’t have much interior-decorating experience.
    “And Cruz and Marcus smashed down a wall.”
    Emerson’s eyes widened. “They what?”
    Cruz smiled. “We put a door in so Bry’s new room is linked to our place.”
    As Emerson clicked on her m-scanner, she felt a surge of happiness. To see two tough warriors like Cruz and Santha take a young girl under their wing…
    “Your vitals all look good. Today, I’m going to run a more in-depth scan on your head. Okay?”
    “Will it hurt?” Bryony’s voice held the slightest tremble.
    Damn the raptors. “No, it won’t hurt.” Emerson swung the larger resonance scanner around on a flexible arm. “I’m just going to put it near your head. It’ll make a little humming noise and send a picture to that screen there—” she pointed at the comp screen “—and you won’t feel a thing.”
    Santha grabbed the girl’s hand and squeezed. “When you’re ready, Bryony-girl.”
    Bryony looked at Santha, then Cruz. “You’ll stay?”
    “For as long as it takes,” Cruz promised.
    Bryony straightened her thin shoulders. “I’m ready.”
    “Good.” Emerson turned on the scanner. “It’ll take a few minutes, so just relax. Anyone need a drink?”
    Santha and Cruz shook their heads.
    “I’m okay,” Bryony said.
    “Hell Squad off today?” Emerson asked casually.
    “Yeah.” Cruz crossed his arms over his chest, the tribal tattoos on his arms visible under the edges of his T-shirt. “Everyone needed a bit of downtime. They’re in the gym, beating each other up. It’s Reed, Claudia, and Shaw versus Gabe. Marcus is refereeing.”
    Emerson stilled. “Three against one?”
    Santha made a noise in her throat. “Yeah, they should have made it four against one. Gabe is super strong and super deadly.”
    A scowl took over Cruz’s face. “And lately…well, Gabe’s gotten even more intense, more driven.”
    Emerson’s stomach turned over. Yeah, he was very clearly winding tighter and tighter, and when he finally snapped…
    “How are you, Emerson?” Santha asked quietly.
    “Fine. Busy.”
    “You were trapped with the raptors and took quite a beating—”
    “All recovered.” She smiled, and wondered if it looked as brittle as it felt.
    “Yeah, physically, maybe. But it takes time for the wounds inside to heal, for the terror to fade.”
    Santha’s quiet tone resonated with understanding. Emerson knew the woman had been forced to watch her sister be attacked by raptors, and later dealt with the shock of