Among Galactic Ruins (9 page)

The worry in his tone made her breath catch.
“Damon, I’m fine.”

“I’ll find my medscope. I promise, not even
a scar. You’ll be fine.”

“Damon!” She spoke sharply to break through
his panic. The man had faced down four huge desert wolves with his
bare hands but her bloodstained clothes sent him into a spin. She
cupped his face and made him meet her gaze. “It isn’t my
blood.”

That seemed to get through. His hands patted
her down, once, twice. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.” But as she got a good look at
him, she realized much of the blood covering him was his own.

Claw marks scored his chest and arms. God,
he was badly injured. She touched his face and saw three deep
gouges on his cheek. She rested a hand on his shoulder and saw
another wound. She pushed the tattered remnants of his shirt away
and saw an ugly, ragged bite mark.

“Oh, Damon, did you let them gnaw on
you?”

He gripped her shoulders. “You ran in there
like…like some damn berserker and attacked that wolf—”

“He was sneaking up on you!”

He shook her a little. “When are you going
to start listening to me about running
away
from
danger?”

She tilted her head. “Ah, probably
never.”

He dropped his forehead against hers. “For a
smart woman, you don’t learn very fast.”

She touched that terrible bite again,
probing gently. “I learn very fast. I’m just not going to let
wolves eat the man I want to—” God, what had she been about to
blurt out?

Their gazes met.

“Man you what, Lexa?”

Looking away, she tore a strip off her
shirt, wadded it up and pressed it against his shoulder to stem the
bleeding. “I’m not exactly sure what I want to do with you yet.”
Oh, boy, she was a big fat liar.

He pulled her closer, giving her a quick
hug. “We both know that isn’t true.”

“Come on, Mr. Malik. Let’s check on Dathan
and get you healed up.”

***

Damon let Lexa fuss over him. He saw that
tending his wounds with the medscope and medical kit calmed her.
She used the medscope on his scratches and bites. She wanted to
give him a shot, but the scope eradicated any viruses or sources of
infection. He wasn’t letting her stick a needle in him.

She was washing the last of the blood off
his chest with a med cloth. “They didn’t set off the deterrent
alarm.”

He scowled. “No, they didn’t. That big one
leapt on me from behind with no warning.”

The pack had snuck in soundlessly. He
pondered how they could have done that. Only one option made
sense.

Lexa’s hand smoothing over his chest broke
into his thoughts. She moved her fingers up over his shoulder,
where there was now no sign of the wolf bite. He watched that slim
hand against his skin. It was far too easy to imagine her exploring
him, both of them naked, her straddling his body.

“Damon?”

He cleared his throat. “Someone let them
in.”

Her gaze darted to where Dathan was calming
the still-agitated ballo beasts. One beast had been killed and the
other two, while wounded, had survived. “I can’t see Dathan doing
this.”

Damon couldn’t either, but he’d learned the
hard way that seemingly nice people were capable of doing horrible
things. He’d seen child terrorists carry out suicide bombings and
smiling old women open fire in crowded places.

Lexa leaned forward and pressed her lips to
his healed shoulder. “All better now.” Her voice was thick.

He grabbed her. “Lexa, I’m too old for
games. When we get somewhere safe, I want you naked. I’m going to
spread your legs, suck on your clit until you come, and then fuck
your brains out.”

She quivered, heat flashing in her brown
eyes. “A poet, you are not.”

He let his hand travel down her body, his
fingers grazing her belly. “No. But I’m honest. I want you under
me.”

Her lips twitched. “I like being on
top.”

A laugh burst out of him, despite everything
they’d been through tonight. “Damn, you are trouble. Fine, we’ll do
both.” And a few other positions he knew. God, he’d take her anyway
he could.

“I’m worth the trouble,” she whispered.

Oh, he didn’t doubt it.

“Not sure I’m getting paid enough for this
job.” Dathan’s voice broke the quiet night as he stomped up to
them.

Damon pulled Lexa to his side, his arm
across her shoulders. “Someone let the wolves in, kid.”

The treasure hunter nodded, his face
troubled. “I know. I found the place where the fence was
disabled…from the outside.”

They all turned to scan the dark dunes
around them.

“Your father?” Damon asked.

Dathan was quiet for a minute. “I don’t
think so. The sad fact is he wouldn’t come all this way. It’s too
far from the bar.”

Shit
. Damon had hoped to put a face
to whoever had tried to kill them. “So, someone else is targeting
us?”

“Who?” Lexa asked.

“I’d say someone who wants the egg.” Damon
looked up. “We need to get to the crossways…as fast as we can.”

The rising sun lit the sky with a pink blush
and turned the dark dunes a lovely shade of yellow. Since her ballo
beast had been killed by the wolves, she now rode with Damon,
sitting in front of him, surrounded by his lean body. His chin
rubbed against the top of her head and she smiled. She liked it. If
there was one thing Damon Malik inspired, it was a sense of
protection and safety. Hmm, well, if she was being honest, he also
inspired something else in her—crazy, panty-melting desire.

She snorted mentally. If someone had told
her last week that she’d be lusting after Damon Malik, she would
have had them declared mentally unfit.

Only a few steps ahead, Dathan looked back
at them over his shoulder. The ballos were moving at a fast clip.
“Only a couple of miles and we’ll reach the crossways.”

Damon raised a hand in acknowledgment.

They were still in the dry riverbed. The
dunes had given way to rocky cliffs here, the sandstone walls
pockmarked with caves.

“Look,” Damon murmured in her ear.

She followed where he pointed and for a
second, she noticed nothing more than just other caves in the cliff
wall. Then she saw it.

An ancient town carved out of the rock,
clinging to the side of the cliff.

She gasped. It was amazing. Some of the
dwellings were intricately carved, possibly temples. Others were
simpler, perhaps houses, and some had been worn away by time. She
imagined the people who’d lived there, going about their daily
lives, no doubt surviving off the river. Maybe the priestesses had
come from the Temple of the Goddess Divine and administered their
goddess’ will, given fertility blessings and healed the sick.

“What’s put that look on your face?” he
asked.

“I was thinking of the past. Of the people
who’d lived here. Maybe the priestesses came here.” When they
weren’t tending their temple, guarding their treasure.

Damon was quiet for a moment. His gaze
hadn’t lost that sharp, cautious look since they’d set out. “Why
history? What drew you to it?”

“I’m not sure. I’d always loved it. My
planet never cared much for history. For Econia, it’s all about the
pursuit of money and finance.” She wrinkled her nose. “My parents
never once talked about the past or history, but I was always
insanely curious about where we’d come from. Especially since my
brothers and I are so different from our parents. None of us were
interested in joining my father and making gazillions more e-creds.
Much to my father’s dismay.”

“And your brothers chose law
enforcement?”

“Yes. I always thought they’d end up behind
bars, not in front of them. Well, maybe not Aston, he’s the most
straitlaced of the bunch.”

Damon went very still. “Aston Carter. He’s
your brother?”

“Yes.” She detected something in Damon’s
voice. “He’s an analyst in the GSS. Do you know him?”

Damon made a choking noise. “I’ve met him a
couple of times.”

So at least that confirmed Damon had
actually been in the GSS.

“My brothers were always physical and liked
to fight for the underdog. I preferred to read stories of our
ancestors, and of colonists and adventurers forging across the
galaxy, conquering new worlds, meeting new cultures.”

“Sounds like you.”

“I decided on astro-archeology, fought my
parents to study it. I thought at first I wanted to be in the field
on digs, but my parents refused to approve my attending any
training digs. I ended up spending my practical stints in museums.”
She grinned. “Luckily, I discovered I liked museums too, and ended
up specializing in curation. I love studying the artifacts and
displaying them so others can see and learn as well.”

“You do excellent work in the museum.”

His simple, quiet praise made her blink and
her chest tighten. “Really?”

“Yeah. Your exhibits are interesting and the
crowds love them. Nightmare for security, though.”

She smiled. It was the nicest thing anyone
had ever said to her.

A shout from ahead had both their heads
snapping forward. Dathan had pulled his beast to a halt and was
waving his arm at them.

Damon urged their ballo on. “What is
it?”

Dathan pointed down from the top of the
small rise where they’d stopped. “Down there. It’s the
Confluence.”

Lexa stared down at the junction were the
two large riverbeds crossed. There was a huge expanse of sand
between the rock walls. The rivers must have been impressive when
they’d been swollen with water.

Damon kicked his ballo and they lurched
forward. “Come on, Dr. Carter. Let’s see what our adventure has in
store for us next.”

“As long as it isn’t more desert wolves,
I’ll be happy.”

“Well, whatever it is, remember to keep
away
from the trouble.”

She poked her tongue out.

“I saw that,” he murmured in a tone that
promised payback.

***

As they wandered through the large crossways,
Damon found it hard to imagine it filled with water. There wasn’t a
lick of moisture here now.

Ahead, Lexa and Dathan were talking, both of
them waving their arms around and pointing.

Damon left them to it. He couldn’t see
anything but rock and sand, nothing that indicated which direction
they should head to find a mythical temple.

As he wandered along behind them, he admired
the swing of Lexa’s curved ass. Desire, a hot, hard coil in his
gut, flared. He couldn’t wait to explore every inch of her.

Suddenly, that familiar prickling feeling
crept over him. He kept walking, his arms relaxed by his sides, but
he lifted his gaze to scan the surroundings.

Nothing. No movement. No shadows. No wolves.
Nothing that should set off his internal alarm.

He scanned again. The suns were getting damn
hot now, sending sweat running down his back.
There
. A glint
of something at the top of one riverbank.

He grabbed his binocs and lifted them,
zooming in on the location.

Frustration punched through him. Nothing,
dammit
.

But that itchy feeling hadn’t gone away.

He headed over to where Lexa stood, her
hands on her hips.

“Any luck?” he asked.

Her shoulders slumped. “No. ‘Right path’ is
pretty general and there’s nothing here.” She kicked the sand.

“Right path,” he murmured. “Do you think
it’s literal? A path to the right?”

They both stared at the dry riverbeds.

She shook her head. “Right based on which
direction?”

Yeah, it didn’t help narrow down any path.
Lexa wiped an arm across her forehead and sighed. He could tell she
was tired, but it was the most dispirited he’d seen her since
they’d left the museum.

“Hey.” He cupped her shoulder. “We’ll work
it out. You’ve gotten us this far.”

Her lips firmed and she gave a decisive nod.
“Everyone split up and look around again. Check the side walls.
Maybe there are carvings or markings—something.”

The three of them fanned out. Damon cast
another look up to where he’d seen that glint of that reflection,
but all he saw was sand.

He searched his area. He looked all along
the wall of the riverbed. Dirt, sand, dirt, rock, more sand.

A shout echoed across the crossways. Damon
spun, reaching for his pistol.

But it was just Dathan, waving them over to
where he stood by the wall on the opposite side of the
crossways.

Lexa got there first and was crouched down,
looking at something, when Damon reached them.

She looked up. Smiled. “We’ve found a
clue!”

There was that look. The one that made him
hard in an instant.

She brushed sand and grit off the rock.
Damon could just make out faint symbols carved into the rock. She
traced a hand over it.

“It’s definitely Orphic.” She traced the
last carved symbol. “Their language is so distinct. It’ll take me a
bit of time, but I can translate it—”

A loud rumble sounded. A deep reverberation
from beneath them. They all froze.

The ground started shaking.

Dathan spun. “What the hell—?”

In the center of the crossways, a giant hole
appeared. The sand around them started to swirl around, like a
giant drain in a bathtub.

“Sinkhole!” Dathan yelled.

Damon grabbed the rock beside him.

“Damon!”

Lexa’s feet were knocked out from under her.
She slid and he lunged for her. His fingers brushed hers but he
couldn’t grab her.

“Fuck!”

She skidded a few meters and suddenly jerked
to a stop. Dathan had grabbed her ankle. He was holding onto the
wall like Damon.

But from the strain on his face, he couldn’t
hold on for long. Damon started edging along the rock toward the
pair of them. “Hold on!”