Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress #1)(15)
Author: Gena Showalter

My heart slammed inside my rib cage, and I had to fight to keep my adrenaline rush under control. This was just like my vision. Total chaos, angry energy. Then death. I shivered and forced myself to breathe. I had to keep my mind cool. Calm. I paused a moment and simply listened. Silence.

No. No, there was a muffled sound, low and hurried, erratic, but there all the same. I waited, breath bated. There were three open doorways in the hall, no light emanating from any. Which room was the sound coming from? Damn it, I didn’t like this. The best course of action would be to check one myself and allow Dallas and Ghost to check the others, all at the same time.

I rejected that idea as soon as it formed and skirted around the wall ledge, the men close to my heels. I moved into the first room. Almost immediately, I noticed a woman sleeping on the bed. Pink silk sheets draped her from toe to shoulder. I was able to make out blond hair, but nothing more.

Four steps later, I stood at the side of the bed. Keeping my weapon locked on her chest, I freed a pair of laserbands from my waist and locked her wrists around the headboard. The bands pulsed with a slight, golden light as they bonded to her skin. She muttered something as she stirred. Her eyelids slowly opened.

The moment she spotted me, her jaw dropped, and she prepared to scream. I covered her mouth with my free hand, cutting off any sound. A second later, Ghost was beside me.

Someone moaned, and it wasn’t the bound woman. The sound had been too deep, too far away. Ghost put his hand over the woman’s mouth to replace mine. I spun, ready, and watched the doorway. The sound had come from one of the other rooms.

“We’re A.I.R. agents, ma’am,” Ghost whispered to the woman. “Be quiet, and you’ll be fine. Understand?”

She was glancing from one to the other, trembling so violently I feared she was having a seizure. Tears were filling her eyes, but she nodded. Shit, I inwardly cursed, as I looked at her more fully. She was just a kid. Probably eighteen, give or take a year.

Behind me, I heard a woman groan and shout, “Oh, God.”

I spun again and saw no one. And that’s when it hit me. We had been so careful, so discreet, and in all likelihood, we wouldn’t have been heard if we’d blown a trumpet to announce our presence. Hudson and Lilla were too busy screwing.

“Stay behind,” I told Dallas.

He gave a quick, jerky nod in the affirmative. Fury burned in his eyes.

Since the bedroom door was open, Ghost and I took opposite sides of the frame. Kittie made the end of the hallway his focal point. I concentrated on the couple. They were crouched on the floor, and Hudson gripped Lilla from behind. Her pale hair swayed each time his na**d ass pounded forward. His hands roamed all over her, through her hair, over her br**sts.

I had to admire his technique.

“On my count,” I mouthed silently.

I raised my index finger. One.

Middle finger.Two.

Another finger.Three.

We burst inside.

“Hands up,” Ghost shouted. “A.I.R.”

“Do it now,” Dallas yelled. Of course, he hadn’t stayed behind like I’d commanded.

Lilla screamed and jolted to her stomach. Hudson didn’t even turn. He was too busy reaching for his gun on the bedside table.

“Touch your weapon, and you die,” I told him calmly. “You’re f**ked, Agent Hudson. And I don’t meant that literally.”

With his back still to me, he held his palms up and out as he eased back on his ankles.

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” I said. “Understand?”

He gave one almost imperceptible nod.

“Good boy. Now turn toward me. That’s right.” I arched a brow as he sat himself next to Lilla. I couldn’t help myself. My gaze was between his legs and I almost smiled. “At ease. I’m not that impressed with your equipment.”

Hudson scowled.

Lilla was crying, her sobs echoing off the walls, and I switched my attention from Hudson to…“Fuck!” I shouted. “That’s not her. That goddamn isn’t her.” Hudson hadn’t been screwing Lilla, after all. This woman wasn’t even an Arcadian. She had long blond hair, yes, but her eyes were dark blue, and her skin was perfectly sun-kissed.

I almost blew Hudson’s face apart just to appease my growing rage.

But I paused and took stock. Okay. So this woman wasn’t Lilla. Didn’t matter. Lilla was here. I still felt her presence.

“Where is she, Hudson?” I demanded. When he didn’t respond immediately, I leveled my gun at his dick, so proudly displayed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I swear to God I don’t.” He licked his lips and tried to scoot himself behind the woman’s back.

“Using a civilian to shield yourself,” I muttered. “You’re practically the Antichrist, you know that?”

He stilled.

“In A.I.R. training, did you watch instructional halograms of my work?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he hesitantly answered.

“Then you know I have no conscience, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get what I want.” I gave the trigger of my gun a little pressure, not enough to grind off a shot, but enough to make my target squirm a little. “I’m not going to ask you about Lilla again. I’m just going to hurt you.”

“You’ll go to jail if you hurt me.” Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he worried a shaky hand back and forth across his brow. “Assaulting an agent of the law is a federal offense, and there are too many witnesses here.”

One by one, my men turned around and faced the wall. Hudson’s face grew paler and paler. A cruel laugh pushed past my lips. “Wrong answer,” I said, and switched my gun’s setting to its highest level. I aimed.

“She was here,” he rushed on, hands up to ward me off, “and she tore my place apart. I kicked her out. I swear.”

He was lying.

Lilla didn’t control him, but he cared enough for her to risk his career and his freedom by burying her file. I truly doubted he would have kicked her out for trashing his place.

“Who’s your friend?” I asked, motioning to the crying female. My men turned back and faced us. We’d made our point.

Hudson glanced at each man. “She’s my wife.”

He was lying. Again. His record said he was single. Most likely, he didn’t want us to be able to question the woman about him. “Georgie, Georgie, Georgie,” I said, holstering my gun, “you’ve really pushed me too far this time.” With that, I closed the distance between us and slammed my palm into his nose. The cartilage snapped on contact. Amid his shrieks of agony, I turned and said, “Three noses in one night. Not my record, but not bad either.”