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just have a ten-minute
lesson.”
    Holmes nodded. “She’s right. You won’t have
time to decipher on the run. You need someone with the skills to do
it quickly.” The general glanced at Elle. “Elle will be coming with
you.”
    Marcus’ heart stopped. “No—”
    The general’s jaw tightened. “She’s the best
we have. She’s going.”
    Dammit . Marcus’ hands curled into
fists. “No. Absolutely not. I don’t want her.”

Chapter Five
    Elle felt her heart slam against her ribs. Marcus didn’t want her.
    Struggling not to let her feelings show on
her face, she set her shoulders back. Marcus didn’t think she could
do it. It reminded her that he hadn’t wanted her for their comms
officer either. Dammit, hadn’t she proven herself by now?
    General Holmes’ voice turned hard. “Steele,
we have to do what’s best for the mission—”
    “Sending an untrained and unprepared
civilian into a warzone is not what’s best for the mission.” With a
vicious glance at her, Marcus stormed out of the room.
    A part of Elle wanted to shrink into a
little ball. She looked up and saw Claudia, wearing her scuffed
body armor, her dark hair pulled back in one long braid, looking at
Elle, a faint smile on her face.
    The other part of Elle was pissed.
    That taunting smirk made Elle’s quivering
belly harden. No way . This mission was too important. She
wanted to help. She wouldn’t sit idly by and just be another
bystander waiting to be rescued. That’s why she’d volunteered in
the comms department in the first place. She wanted to help. She needed to help.
    Pivoting, she strode after Marcus.
    His long legs had eaten up the ground
between them and she had to jog to catch him. He was ripping pieces
of his body armor off.
    For a second, her gaze snagged on his big,
muscular biceps.
    Elle steeled herself. “Marcus!”
    He kept going.
    He was going to listen to her,
dammit. She snagged the sleeve of his shirt. “I can do
this.”
    He came to a halt so fast she almost ran
into him.
    “You have no fucking idea what it’s like out
there.” He spun. His tough face was set in rigid lines. It would
have sent a lesser person running.
    “Do you know what it’s like to have raptors
raining down on you? To be covered in gore?” He tugged at his
shirt, it was soaked dark red.
    Under his hard green gaze her confidence
wavered, but she stiffened her spine. “I have an idea. I survived
the attack. I watch it on my screen, I hear the laser fire, the
roars of the aliens. I’ve heard people die. I feel the worry, the
anxiety knowing you…the team…are out there. I know what it’s
like.”
    He shook his head. “Hearing it is nothing
like experiencing it.”
    Sometimes she thought it was worse. Hearing
him firing his weapon, yelling orders at his squad as raptors
charged them, while she was stuck, unable to help, in the base. Now
she had a chance to do something.
    She took a step forward until her boots hit
his. “I am not some stupid, little civvy with nothing to offer. I
know the realities. I know if we don’t pull this mission off, we’ll
be stuck in this place like rats forever. Waiting in our hole until
the raptors sniff us out and finish us humans off for good. Until
they help themselves to our planet and its resources and leave it a
desolate ruin.” She sucked in a breath, her chest heaving. “I can do this.”
    His jaw hardened. “I know you can. That’s
not the damn problem.” He turned and stomped down the hall.
    Elle blinked, her brow scrunching in
confusion. What was the issue then? “What, Marcus? You need to take me on this mission. What the hell is your problem?”
    He moved so fast it was shocking. He pushed
her up against the smooth tunnel wall, his big body crowding her
in.
    He smelled hot, sweaty and bloody, and heat
poured off his muscular frame. God, he made her feel so…small. She
felt a lick of something molten inside.
    Marcus leaned in until his face was an inch
from hers. “My problem is