Untamed Hawaiian Heat (Rift Hunters) Read Online Free

sound of approaching footsteps. She snapped her head around to assess the situation.
    Mateo . She belatedly realized she hadn’t answered his demand for her location. How had he known where she was? Her com link was still flickering because of the energy the vortex had exuded.
    He crashed into the clearing like he’d been running for his life, only to stop dead in his tracks at the sight of the man lying at her feet.
    “Who the hell is that?”
    Kiana looked at the man lying so still on the ground. She was about to kneel beside him to see if he was even alive when he groaned and lifted his head slightly and looked at her. Her eyes widened at the piercing blue of his gaze. He opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he’d wanted to say was cut short when he fell unconscious.
    Kiana squatted next to him. “I don’t know. He just appeared.” She hesitated a moment before adding, “We can’t leave him here, though.” She reached down and turned him over with little effort, thanks to her cybernetic implants.
    A jolt of electricity jumped from his supine form to her when she touched him. Heat flooded her senses; her soul shimmered with recognition. The energy she’d been feeling in her blood sparked to life, stronger than ever before, reaching out to the stranger. It felt similar to the energy the vortex had given off. She looked up at Mateo. He wasn’t looking at her but was glaring at the man. He must have felt it through their link, she realized. Kiana reached out to pick the man up, but Mateo pushed her hand aside.
    “I’ll carry him.” His words pressed into her mind, hot and angry.
    “I can do it. Now move aside.” When she sensed the desire to argue with her ripple through their link, she added, “That’s an order, Lieutenant.” Seeing the incredulity flash in his eyes that she would pull rank on him, Kiana looked away and closed hers. She debated turning off their emotion link but decided against it. She’d only imagined the connection she’d felt with that brief touch. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to find Mateo grasping the stranger’s arm and leg in preparation to lift him. “Lieutenant?”
    Mateo refused to meet her gaze as he settled the man over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. “I’m well aware you can carry him, Kiana. But I don’t care for the reaction you had to him when you rolled him over. Go ahead and give me an Article Fifteen if you must, but I’m carrying him. End of discussion.”
    Kiana stared after Mateo in disbelief as he swept past her. Noticing how the valley had grown quiet with the retreat of the OS forces, she decided it was best to save this argument for later. They needed to get back to base so Niki and Ash could take a look at the guy. Once he woke up, they would find out who he was and then…
    Well, she didn’t know what orders she’d hand down after that. She clenched her hand into a fist. Kiana couldn’t shake the feeling that he was very important. The tingle she’d felt when she had touched the stranger still trembled along her nerve endings.
    Worse, she knew Mateo had sensed it too. What else could explain the anger and jealousy surging through their link?
    * * * *
    Mateo stalked past Kiana and disappeared through the trees. He hadn’t missed her reaction to the stranger when she’d turned him over. It had flashed through their link, hot and tempting. He’d stared at the man lying on the ground while a frisson of heated awareness had fluttered along his spine. After he was sure Kiana wasn’t looking, he’d glanced at his tattoo before reaching down to pick the man up. It had glowed with a deep sapphire luminance, pulsing and tingling across his skin.
    It had taken all he had not to let Kiana feel his reaction through their link. He’d been experiencing this twinge a lot the last couple of weeks. Building in intensity…like he’d felt when they’d made love earlier. It brought to mind the feeling of his first cliff dive…standing on