Warrior's Wife Read Online Free PDF Page A

instantly in love.
    Report. Gideon’s order slammed a lid on Marcus’ private sap party.
    Two cyborgs ended. Tori injured.
    Not reading you, there in five. Protect and serve.
    What the fuck did Gideon mean by not reading? Marcus mentally shrugged and skipped, counting off the minutes. Gideon ran like a well-made chron—one hundred percent accurate all the time. Instead he edged a millimeter closer to his wounded woman. “I’m not going to hurt you. I only want to help.”
    “Then find me something to wear.”
    Clothes would’ve been way down his priority list, but he nodded his understanding. A quick scan of the amenities revealed a serious lack of anything other than the putrid stuff the cyborgs wore. Some of the bags stacked around the tent might hold human clothes, but they were unlikely to be Tori-sized. He eyed the canvas wall for toga potential and dismissed the tough fabric. The solution hit him and he unfastened his helmet.
    The second his headpiece came off, she pressed herself harder against the canvas at her back.
    Understanding crashed through his thick skull and he backpedaled away from her with his arms extended. “I’m taking off my armor to get you my undershirt. You’re safe with me, I swear it.”
    Enormous hazel eyes tracked every movement as he got busy handling the slowest and most careful chest-piece removal ever. Once he’d shed the metal, he tugged the soft underlayer off. He held the warm garment out for inspection. “Okay?”
    Her chin dipped.
    He tossed.
    She caught the material in her left hand, never taking her gaze from him. “Turn around, please.”
    “Absolutely.” He gave her his back and held his breath.
    A couple of long seconds crawled by before she said, “You can look now.”
    On her the snug shirt worked like a baggy dress, covering her from neck to knees. She looked absolutely adorable. A no doubt sappy grin stretched his mouth.
    Her gaze dropped to her dainty combat boots and stayed there. “Thank you.”
    Wow, didn’t those two little words puff his bare chest up a couple of sizes? He bobbed his head at her as stupid as a single-function bot. His ears picked up footfalls and he rotated his neck to share his goofy smile with Gideon.
    Too bad it wasn’t his boss. A fresh trio of armored cyborgs spread out and began closing in on his position. Without thinking about it, he stepped in front of Tori as if his unarmored body would slow down their lethal beams. He wondered why they hadn’t been disintegrated for a nano-second or two. Maybe the fuckers didn’t want to take the chance of killing Tori. Then he quit thinking and pulled out his own disrupter—great weapon for annihilation, unless your opponent wore armor.
    Tori moved until she stood next to him, not quite touching, but close enough that he knew when she shivered.
     
    So scared she shook, Tori edged in front of the man she’d dubbed Galahad, catching a whiff of dark spices and clean man. Going by his scent, he had to be a good guy. Evil would never smell so utterly wonderful.
    No way would she cower in the corner while the new batch of metal monsters killed the man who’d literally given her the shirt off his back. If he hadn’t stripped off his armor for the sake of her dignity he might’ve had a chance against them. A rotten, three-against-one chance, still she owed him.
    Dying wasn’t the most awful thing that could happen. She’d been living moment to moment, constantly on guard for more than year. Everyone she’d ever loved was long dead and gone. The dream of joining some new group in California had been just that—a dream. Not enough of a reason to buy her survival at the cost of her protector’s life.
    The man next to her frowned and put himself between her and the metal guys, plainly determined to be a hero.
    She elbowed back in front of him. “Don’t be stupid. They want me alive.”
    “Step away from the woman,” one of the metallic monsters said in the same flat tone the tanker boys