Page 7

It definitely wasn’t a fish.

The humans had won the war. They’d beaten the aliens and killed them with a high-tech weapon.

But the Gizzida had managed to leave some things behind.

Creatures with some alien DNA melded with the local wildlife had survived the weapon. The monsters lived hidden in the shadows. Mutating and breeding.

I’d seen that ripple for a few days now. Disquiet made my chest tighten. I hadn’t seen what it was, but I got the sense that it was watching us.

I dragged in a deep breath. The monsters were why we had the security squads. The most famous of all—Hunter Squad. I had lots of friends on the squad.

My thoughts turned to the squad leader—Jameson. Big, muscled, solid Jameson. He was the most sensible and trustworthy guy I knew. We’d grown up together and he was one of my good friends.

He had the best smile. And anytime I saw him with a shirt off…

I felt a pulse of heat.

“Stop it, Greer,” I muttered. “You’refriends. He’s practically like a brother.”

Except I didn’t think of Jameson Steele in any brotherly way.

I straightened. He wasn’t interested in me in that way. He’d never shown the slightest hint he saw me as anything other than a friend.

Besides, I was focused on my work. My important work.

My nose wrinkled. My last relationship hadn’t ended well. Toby was another engineer. He was smart, good at his job, and we’d dated for about six months. The sex had been good, and the conversation riveting. We had our work in common. We could talk complex engineering for hours.

Then he’d told me about how I needed to give up my work and have lots of his babies. That it was our duty to help repopulate the world and pass on his superior genes.

Ugh.

Jameson’s image popped back into my head. He was rugged, and a little rough around the edges. Sex wouldn’t be good with Jameson, it would be something else entirely.

I frowned. I hadn’t heard from him in over a month. Usually, we called every week and caught up when I was home for a beer or dinner at one of our parents’ houses.

Lately, I felt like Jameson was avoiding me. Maybe because the last time I’d seen him, Toby had been with me. The three of us had gone out for dinner and Toby had been an obnoxious twat. He’d made it clear that he thought any work that didn’trequire an advanced degree not worthy of his time or discussion. He’d even called Jameson a grunt.

Jameson had stayed silent as Toby had prattled on. Honestly, it had been the death knell for our relationship. I’d broken up with Toby ten days later.

My communicator vibrated on my belt, cutting through my thoughts. I pulled it out, then stretched the screen into a larger size. We still didn’t have a full cellular phone system like before the invasion, but key locations in the area had comms beacons that linked to our growing satellite system.

I touched the screen and my father’s face came into view. I smiled. “Hi, Dad. Handsome as ever.”

“Hi, baby girl.”

I had to admit Shaw Baird was good-looking, even if he was my dad. His blond, shaggy hair had some gorgeous silver in it. He was tanned and his grin held a touch of mischief.

“How’s my favorite daughter?” he asked.

“I’m your only daughter.”

“Fine. You’re my favorite child.”

I snorted. “I know you tell Ethan he’s your favorite when you call him.” My brother was a tech specialist who could make any computer sing.

My dad just smiled. “How’s your dam project coming along?”

“Good. Still a lot of work to do.” I glanced at the water. It was now as smooth as glass. “Hopefully we’ll have no delays.”