by Anna Hackett
“I’ve corrupted you,” she said. “Here you are, the sensible military soldier having a quickie.”
“A quickie?” he asked with a frown.
“It’s an Earth term for…never mind.” Familiar dread filled her. “Kace, was this goodbye?”
“What?” He lifted his head and set her on her feet. He cupped her cheeks. “No. This was me telling you I’m staying. With you. Forever.”
God. She could barely breathe. “They’ll let you do that? The military will just let you go that easily?”
“No.”
For a moment, his face looked so remote, so blank.
“Tell me?” she whispered.
“I informed my superiors that I am leaving the Antarian military and staying here on Carthago.”
Her mouth dropped open. He what?
He swallowed. “Needless to say, they banished me from my planet. I am no longer welcome on Antar.”
She gasped. “Oh, my God. Kace, are you sure this is what you want?” He was giving up his planet for her?
He smiled. “Yes.”
“You’re sure you want to stay here with me?” Her hands tightened on him. “Be sure, pretty boy, because if you stay, I’m never going to let you go.”
He cupped her jaw, pulling her face up to his, lips brushing hers. “You are mine, Rory Fraser. Now and always. I know you have lots more living to show me.”
She winked. “And lots more positions.”
He smiled back. “I love you so much it hurts.”
God, he was perfect. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over her, almost driving her to her knees.
He muttered a curse and pulled her into his arms. “Rory? What’s wrong?”
“Dizzy.”
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “No. But it’s been a hell of a day. I’m sure I just need some rest.” She’d never felt this drained before.
“No, you’ll see a healer first.” He helped her back into her clothes before sorting out his own. Then he hitched his arm under her knees, and headed for the stairs.
Rory argued with him, tried to cajole him into bed, but her stubborn, overprotective gladiator wasn’t having it any other way.
When he carried her into the Medical center, her friends were still there with Madeline.
Rory rolled her eyes at them all.
They were all grinning at her and Kace. Even Madeline managed a smile. Lore was still sprawled in a chair as well, and he looked highly amused.
Kace set Rory down on one of the benches on the other side of the room. “She had a dizzy spell.”
Suddenly, a small body shot through the door and leaped onto the bed beside Rory. The Hermia healer looked shocked.
Rory patted Hero’s head. “This is my pet. He can sort of tell when I’m hurt or upset.” She smiled at Kace. “I’m lucky to have two personal heroes of my own.”
The Hermia healer straightened and moved closer with a quiet rustle of robes, holding a handheld scanner. After waving it over Rory, the healer frowned. “You had your medical checkup when you arrived at the House of Galen?”
“Yes.” Rory frowned. What the hell was wrong with her?
“You had the contraceptive implant put in?”
“Yes.”
The healer studied the scanner screen. “I need to get you some vitamin supplements. You are going to need to bulk up on your vitamins to carry the child.”
Rory went still, and saw Kace do the same.
“Carry the…?” Rory said incredulously.
The healer gave a calm nod. “You’re pregnant. The child appears to be half Antarian. They grow at a fast rate, so even though the pregnancy appears very new, it is already detectable.”
Rory cocked her head. She must not have heard correctly. “I’m what?”
The healer’s face was calm and composed. “With child.”
Rory reached over and slapped Kace’s chest. “You got me pregnant!”
Her gladiator was staring at her, speechless, shock stamped over his handsome features.
Rory looked back at the healer. “But I had the implant to prevent this.”
The healer nodded. “Antarians have very persistent reproductive cells. They are reported to be able to circumvent most standard contraceptives. On their world, the Antarian military regulate their procreation. Since Kace has never indulged in intercourse here on Carthago, it has never been a problem.”
Rory narrowed her gaze on Kace. “Did you know you had super-soldier sperm?”
He still looked shocked.
She dropped her face into her hands. “Abducted by aliens, sold into slavery, rescued, people trying to kill me, and now I’m pregnant with an alien baby.”
She felt Kace’s big hand brush over her hair. “Rory, I’m sorry.”
She lifted her head and smiled. “I’m not.” She was going to have a baby. Kace’s baby. Their baby.
“You’re not?” He looked confused.
Her poor gladiator. Rory had always been one to roll with life’s punches. And at least this blow was a welcome one, no matter how much of a surprise it was.
She pulled his big hand down to her belly. “A baby, Kace. We made a baby.”
Wonder drifted over his features. He leaned down and kissed her. “Every moment of every day, you teach me more about how to live. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“What is going on?” Harper demanded, striding across to them. Regan followed behind her, looking concerned.
“Kace knocked me up,” Rory told them.
Her friend and cousin both blinked, mouths dropping open.
“You’re going to have a baby!” Regan’s voice rose to an excited scream.
“Yep.”
Her friends hugged her and a dazed Kace, and Regan started babbling on about babies and possible differences in alien pregnancies.
The doors to Medical slammed open and Galen, Raiden, Thorin, and Saff strode in.
“What in drak’s name is going on in here?” Galen demanded. “The healers told me to get down here immediately.”
Saff took in Kace’s hand spread over Rory’s belly before jerking her gaze up to her fight partner’s face. “By the Creators, Kace impregnated his Earth girl.”
The other gladiators all froze.
Kace grinned. “We’re having a baby.”
As more talking broke out around them, Rory leaned into Kace. He pressed his lips to hers. “Rory, I know nothing about being a father.”
“Don’t worry, Kace. We’ll work all this out together. One day at a time.”
He nodded. “I am a fast learner.”
“All you have to do is love our child, and me. The rest will fall into place.”
“I do love you. Don’t stop loving me.”
“Never,” she told him. “I have lots more living to show you yet.”
A sexy smile transformed his face. “I look forward to that.”
“It probably won’t be tidy and orderly—” At that moment, Hero butted his head against them, trying to worm closer.
Kace’s hands tightened on her. “Good.”
She kissed him again. “Hang on, pretty boy. I think our ride is going to be a wild one.”
---
I hope you enjoyed Kace and Rory’s story!
Galactic Gladiators continues with PROTECTOR, starring showman gladiator Lore, and will be out in early 2017.
For more action-packed romance, read on for a preview of the first chapter of Marcus, the first book in my bestselling Hell Squad series.
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Preview – Hell Squad: Marcus
Her team was under attack.
Elle Milton pressed her fingers to her small earpiece. “Squad Six, you have seven mor
e raptors inbound from the east.” Her other hand gripped the edge of her comp screen, showing the enhanced drone feed.
She watched, her belly tight, as seven glowing red dots converged on the blue ones huddled together in the burned-out ruin of an office building in downtown Sydney. Each blue dot was a squad member and one of them was their leader.
“Marcus? Do you copy?” Elle fought to keep her voice calm. No way she’d let them hear her alarm.
“Roger that, Elle.” Marcus’ gravelly voice filled her ear. Along with the roar of laser fire. “We see them.”
She sagged back in her chair. This was the worst part. Just sitting there knowing that Marcus and the others were fighting for their lives. In the six months she’d been comms officer for the squad, she’d worked hard to learn the ropes. But there were days she wished she was out there, aiming a gun and taking out as many alien raptors as she could.
You’re not a soldier, Ellianna. No, she was a useless party-girl-turned-survivor. She watched as a red dot disappeared off the screen, then another, and another. She finally drew a breath. Marcus and his team were the experienced soldiers. She’d just be a big fat liability in the field.
But she was a damn good comms officer.
Just then, a new cluster of red dots appeared near the team. She tapped the screen, took a measurement. “Marcus! More raptors are en route. They’re about one kilometer away. North.” God, would these invading aliens ever leave them alone?
“Shit,” Marcus bit out. Then he went silent.
She didn’t know if he was thinking or fighting. She pictured his rugged, scarred face creased in thought as he formulated a plan.
Then his deep, rasping voice was back. “Elle, we need an escape route and an evac now. Shaw’s been hit in the leg, Cruz is carrying him. We can’t engage more raptors.”
She tapped the screen rapidly, pulling up drone images and archived maps. Escape route, escape route. Her mind clicked through the options. She knew Shaw was taller and heavier than Cruz, but the armor they wore had slim-line exoskeletons built into them allowing the soldiers to lift heavier loads and run faster and longer than normal. She tapped the screen again. Come on. She needed somewhere safe for a Hawk quadcopter to set down and pick them up.
“Elle? We need it now!”
Just then her comp beeped. She looked at the image and saw a hazy patch of red appear in the broken shell of a nearby building. The heat sensor had detected something else down there. Something big.
Right next to the team.
She touched her ear. “Rex! Marcus, a rex has just woken up in the building beside you.”
“Fuck! Get us out of here. Now.”
Oh, God. Elle swallowed back bile. Images of rexes, with their huge, dinosaur-like bodies and mouths full of teeth, flashed in her head.
More laser fire ripped through her earpiece and she heard the wild roar of the awakening beast.
Block it out. She focused on the screen. Marcus needed her. The team needed her.
“Run past the rex.” One hand curled into a tight fist, her nails cutting into her skin. “Go through its hiding place.”
“Through its nest?” Marcus’ voice was incredulous. “You know how territorial they are.”
“It’s the best way out. On the other side you’ll find a railway tunnel. Head south along it about eight hundred meters, and you’ll find an emergency exit ladder that you can take to the surface. I’ll have a Hawk pick you up there.”
A harsh expulsion of breath. “Okay, Elle. You’ve gotten us out of too many tight spots for me to doubt you now.”
His words had heat creeping into her cheeks. His praise…it left her giddy. In her life BAI—before alien invasion—no one had valued her opinions. Her father, her mother, even her almost-fiancé, they’d all thought her nothing more than a pretty ornament. Hell, she had been a silly, pretty party girl.
And because she’d been inept, her parents were dead. Elle swallowed. A year had passed since that horrible night during the first wave of the alien attack, when their giant ships had appeared in the skies. Her parents had died that night, along with most of the world.
“Hell Squad, ready to go to hell?” Marcus called out.
“Hell, yeah!” the team responded. “The devil needs an ass-kicking!”
“Woo-hoo!” Another voice blasted through her headset, pulling her from the past. “Ellie, baby, this dirty alien’s nest stinks like Cruz’s socks. You should be here.”
A smile tugged at Elle’s lips. Shaw Baird always knew how to ease the tension of a life-or-death situation.
“Oh, yeah, Hell Squad gets the best missions,” Shaw added.
Elle watched the screen, her smile slipping. Everyone called Squad Six the Hell Squad. She was never quite sure if it was because they were hellions, or because they got sent into hell to do the toughest, dirtiest missions.
There was no doubt they were a bunch of rebels. Marcus had a rep for not following orders. Just the previous week, he’d led the squad in to destroy a raptor outpost but had detoured to rescue survivors huddled in an abandoned hospital that was under attack. At the debrief, the general’s yelling had echoed through the entire base. Marcus, as always, had been silent.
“Shut up, Shaw, you moron.” The deep female voice carried an edge.
Elle had decided there were two words that best described the only female soldier on Hell Squad—loner and tough. Claudia Frost was everything Elle wasn’t. Elle cleared her throat. “Just get yourselves back to base.”
As she listened to the team fight their way through the rex nest, she tapped in the command for one of the Hawk quadcopters to pick them up.
The line crackled. “Okay, Elle, we’re through. Heading to the evac point.”
Marcus’ deep voice flowed over her and the tense muscles in her shoulders relaxed a fraction. They’d be back soon. They were okay. He was okay.
She pressed a finger to the blue dot leading the team. “The bird’s en route, Marcus.”
“Thanks. See you soon.”
She watched on the screen as the large, black shadow of the Hawk hovered above the ground and the team boarded. The rex was headed in their direction, but they were already in the air.
Elle stood and ran her hands down her trousers. She shot a wry smile at the camouflage fabric. It felt like a dream to think that she’d ever owned a very expensive, designer wardrobe. And heels—God, how long had it been since she’d worn heels? These days, fatigues were all that hung in her closet. Well-worn ones, at that.
As she headed through the tunnels of the underground base toward the landing pads, she forced herself not to run. She’d see him—them—soon enough. She rounded a corner and almost collided with someone.
“General. Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“No problem, Elle.” General Adam Holmes had a military-straight bearing he’d developed in the United Coalition Army and a head of dark hair with a brush of distinguished gray at his temples. He was classically handsome, and his eyes were a piercing blue. He was the top man in this last little outpost of humanity. “Squad Six on their way back?”
“Yes, sir.” They fell into step.
“And they secured the map?”
God, Elle had almost forgotten about the map. “Ah, yes. They got images of it just before they came under attack by raptors.”
“Well, let’s go welcome them home. That map might just be the key to the fate of mankind.”
They stepped into the landing areas. Staff in various military uniforms and civilian clothes raced around. After the raptors had attacked, bringing all manner of vicious creatures with them to take over the Earth, what was left of mankind had banded together.
Whoever had survived now lived here in an underground base in the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney, or in the other, similar outposts scattered across the planet. All arms of the United Coalition’s military had been decimated. In the early days, many of the surviving soldiers had fought amongst themselves,
trying to work out who outranked whom. But it didn’t take long before General Holmes had unified everyone against the aliens. Most squads were a mix of ranks and experience, but the teams eventually worked themselves out. Most didn’t even bother with titles and rank anymore.
Sirens blared, followed by the clang of metal. Huge doors overhead retracted into the roof.
A Hawk filled the opening, with its sleek gray body and four spinning rotors. It was near-silent, running on a small thermonuclear engine. It turned slowly as it descended to the landing pad.
Her team was home.
She threaded her hands together, her heart beating a little faster.
Marcus was home.
***
Marcus Steele wanted a shower and a beer.
Hot, sweaty and covered in raptor blood, he leaped down from the Hawk and waved at his team to follow. He kept a sharp eye on the medical team who raced out to tend to Shaw. Dr. Emerson Green was leading them, her white lab coat snapping around her curvy body. The blonde doctor caught his gaze and tossed him a salute.
Shaw was cursing and waving them off, but one look from Marcus and the lanky Australian sniper shut his mouth.
Marcus swung his laser carbine over his shoulder and scraped a hand down his face. Man, he’d kill for a hot shower. Of course, he’d have to settle for a cold one since they only allowed hot water for two hours in the morning in order to conserve energy. But maybe after that beer he’d feel human again.
“Well done, Squad Six.” Holmes stepped forward. “Steele, I hear you got images of the map.”
Holmes might piss Marcus off sometimes, but at least the guy always got straight to the point. He was a general to the bone and always looked spit and polish. Everything about him screamed money and a fancy education, so not surprisingly, he tended to rub the troops the wrong way.
Marcus pulled the small, clear comp chip from his pocket. “We got it.”
Then he spotted her.
Shit. It was always a small kick in his chest. His gaze traveled up Elle Milton’s slim figure, coming to rest on a face he could stare at all day. She wasn’t very tall, but that didn’t matter. Something about her high cheekbones, pale-blue eyes, full lips, and rain of chocolate-brown hair…it all worked for him. Perfectly. She was beautiful, kind, and far too good to be stuck in this crappy underground maze of tunnels, dressed in hand-me-down fatigues.