Undiscovered (Treasure Hunter Security Book 1) (17 page)

Declan glanced at his watch. “It’s getting late. We’ll need to get some rest.”

She nodded. “Do you think Anders is following us?”

“Yes.”

“Logan and your brother?”

“They’ll be looking for us. And I have my tracker.” He lifted his wrist.

“The signal will get through the rock and sand?”

His jaw tightened. “They’ll find us. Logan isn’t the kind who gives up easily. Even when it’s a lost cause. He’s like a bear—he’ll just keep charging. It’s his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. And Cal…well, he’s never given up on me, ever.”

“You love them.”

Declan’s brows raised. “If you mean in a manly, brotherly kind of way, yeah. I’m close to Cal, and I think of Logan the same way.” A tiny smile on his lips. “Logan’s saved my ass more times than I can count.”

“I assume you’ve returned the favor.”

Another quirk of Declan’s lips. “Maybe.”

Layne nibbled on her bar. “What if we can’t find it?”

“Zerzura?”

She nodded.

“Well, life goes on, Rush. If at first you don’t succeed, you work out where you went wrong, and you try again.”

“And you keep trying…with Anders. You keep trying to stop him.”

“Yeah.” A scowl.

She hated seeing that dark look settle over him, the storms boiling in his eyes.

Layne shifted into his lap, settling her knees on either side of his hips.

He lifted his head. “What are you doing?”

She fiddled with the buttons on his shirt, slipping them open. “You told me to take a break.”

“So I did.” He leaned back, his hands settling on her hips.

“I do like the way you’re made, Declan. All lean, hard muscle.” She spread his shirt open and ran her hands up his chest. She loved the way her touch made him suck in a breath. Layne leaned forward and kissed him.

“God, Layne.” He dragged his mouth from her and pressed his lips to the side of her neck.

She arched back, feeling heat arrowing through her. She ground against him and felt the hard bulge of his cock pressing against where she was hot and achy.

“I want you.” His hands started tearing at her tank. He helped her slide it over her head. “I always want you. Can’t seem to get enough.”

“Good,” she panted.

They tore at each other’s clothes and moments later, she sank down on his cock.

Declan groaned. “Ride me, Rush. Make me lose my mind.”

***

Dec leaned back against the wall, holding Layne in his arms as she slept.

He felt pretty damn good.

He’d dozed through the night and while the rock beneath him wasn’t comfy, the woman in his arms felt perfect. He realized now he’d spent a hell of a lot of time avoiding this. He’d avoided relationships and just had one-night stands. He’d rarely spent the entire night with a woman. He’d never cuddled, never stroked a woman’s hair, or listened to her breathing.

Hell, he’d never wanted to do any of that before.

Before Layne.

She just burned with life, with passion, and he wanted to feel that every day. Wanted to see her smile, wanted to kiss her every day.

He went rigid.
Oh, no
. He pulled air into his tight chest. He was falling in love with her.

He closed his eyes, felt her heart beating against his and the warm puff of her breath on his chest. He’d gone and done the one thing he thought he was incapable of.

Soon she stirred and lifted her head. “What time is it?”

“Early.”

She sat up, pushing her hair back. “Thanks for being my comfy bed.” She frowned at him. “Did you get some sleep?”

“A little.”

“God, I shouldn’t have been lying on you and—”

“Rush.” He gripped her chin. “I got some sleep. Now, how about a kiss?”

She touched her tongue to her lip. “We both know if I kiss you, it’ll turn into something else, and we’ll get naked and have sex.”

Amusement hit him. “And your point?”

She waved a hand at him. “You’re just too masculine and virile. Stop it.”

“I can’t stop it.” Hell, he wouldn’t stop it if he could.

“We need to find this damned lost oasis.” Her shoulders sagged, some of the life going out of her eyes. “Or just find a way back to civilization.”

“Rush. We’re going to find it. You know when I first met you, I thought you were a pain in the ass?”

Her nose wrinkled. “Right back at you, Ward.”

He smiled and stroked his thumb down her cheek. “Then I watched you work. Got to know you. Got zinged by that mouth of yours a few times. I realized you weren’t what I thought you were.”

She smiled now and pressed her hand over his. “And I thought you were a tough, macho, alpha pain in the ass. I’m not sure I was wrong.”

He laughed. “But you learned to like it.”

Her face turned serious. “Yes. I’ve learned to like it a lot.”

His heart skipped a beat. “Good.”

“You aren’t going to run off to brood and tell me you’re no good, too dark, and I’m better off without you—”

“Shut it.” He pressed a slow kiss to her lips.

Her mouth clung to his for a second, then she pushed him away. “Uh-uh, no kissing. That means sex, and I really kind of want that, and then we’ll be here for hours. Long pleasurable hours…” Her nose wrinkled. “I can’t remember why I’m complaining about this.”

“Lost oasis, valuable treasure, bad guy.”

She grimaced. “Oh yeah.”

“Come on, Rush.” He tugged her up. “Time to get back to work.”

They scoured the cave paintings again. Went in circles again. He watched her get more frustrated and dejected.

“I can’t work it out.” She kicked the ground.

“So, you aren’t a tomb raider after all,” he said, hoping for a smile. “Bummer.”

She thrust her hands onto her hips. “My breasts aren’t big enough anyway.”

He snorted. “Your breasts are perfectly fine.”

She laughed. “You did that to make me laugh.”

“Maybe.”

“We’ve been following the set-animal symbols, the symbol of Seth and Zerzura, and it just takes us in circles. I don’t understand!”

“At least we haven’t seen any snakes.”

“I guess that’s a positive.” Then her gaze went unfocused.

“What?” he asked.

“The realm of Apep. We have to pass through it.”

“Yeah…”

She hurried over to the wall. “Then maybe I should be looking for symbols of Apep.” She moved her hand as she searched the engravings. “There! Look!”

He saw the snake symbol. A glyph of a cobra.

Layne was off like a rocket. She raced along the tunnel and then spun, a smile on her face. She pointed at another snake glyph—this one showing the snake lying down.

Before they took a step, Dec heard something. Frowning, he motioned her to stop. He turned back, facing the tunnel they’d come down.

More sounds.

Voices.

“Shit.” Dec nudged her on. “Anders is coming.”

Her eyes went wide. They moved into a jog.

Every time she found the snake symbol, she pointed. The sounds behind them faded and soon, the tunnel narrowed. Dec saw they were in a new part of the cave complex.

Now the walls were bare. No paintings, no carvings.

At the end of the tunnel, his flashlight illuminated a huge carving on the wall.

A giant snake with endless coils.

“I think we found it,” she whispered. “That’s the classic image of Apep.”

“Why couldn’t it have been a cat?”

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of snakes? It’ll ruin your macho SEAL image.”

“I’m not afraid, but I wouldn’t want one as a pet.”

She looked at the engraving. “Look at its eye.”

He saw the gleam of yellow. “Desert glass?”

“I think so.” She reached up and touched it.

There was a grinding sound. Dec snatched her back and they watched the portion of the wall with the engraving slide back, leaving a black, yawning opening.

Chapter Fourteen

“Well,” Layne said. “I think we’ve found the realm of Apep.”

“I’ll go first.”

“No, I’m the archeologist, so I’ll go first.”

“I’m the macho former SEAL in charge of your security. That means I go first.”

She rolled her eyes. “Have at it, macho man.”

She watched him move forward, his broad shoulders almost spanning the entire opening. He moved his flashlight around.

“Tunnel continues,” he called back. “No snakes.”

She followed close behind, trying to peer around him. She spotted engravings on the wall. “These scenes, they look like the spells from the Book of the Dead, but a little different.” God, they were beautiful, the colors still as bright as the day they were painted. “Look, there’s Seth spearing Apep.”

They kept moving.

“Hold up.” Declan held up a hand. “There’s a chasm.”

She pushed up beside him and gasped.

A small, narrow bridge of rock crossed over a wide, dark opening.

Declan swung the flashlight downward. “Shit.”

She hissed out a breath. “At least they aren’t giants.”

The base of the chasm was filled with writhing snakes. She couldn’t make out too many details but she could tell they were different sizes and a few different breeds.

Declan shook his head. “Ready to cross?”

She eyed the narrow walkway. It was barely wide enough for her boot. “Not really.”

“I’ll go first.”

Declan didn’t even hesitate to step out onto the bridge. He kept his hands out and his steps steady. There was just calm concentration on his face.

Okay, you can do this, Layne
. She pulled in a deep breath and followed him out. It was okay, as long as she didn’t look down and didn’t move too fast.

Ahead, she saw that Declan had made it to the other side.

Something fell from above and brushed her arm. She paused, her heart thumping. “Declan. Something just fell down from the ceiling.”

He frowned, shining his light upward. His eyes widened. “Just keep coming, Rush. Don’t look up. Take your time.”

“What?” She looked up.

Her stomach rolled. Above, the curved roof was dotted with small ledges.

And the ledges were all covered in snakes. As she watched, one fell down, tumbling into the gorge below.

God
. One had
touched
her. She shivered.

“Rush. Look at me.”

She swallowed the bile in her throat. If one landed on her…

“Rush!”

Declan’s harsh voice snapped her head up. He moved his fingers in a “come here” gesture. “Just look at me and keep moving.”

She put one wobbly foot ahead. Then another. Her balance felt off and she felt a burning need to look up.

“Keep coming.”

Something flopped on her boot.

She stifled a scream and lifted her foot. The snake slid off…and Layne’s balance teetered precariously.

“Foot down,” Declan snapped. “Keep coming.”

She did and righted herself. She took another step, fighting not to rush. If she ran, she’d lose her balance. She looked down but the space was too shadowed for her to see the nightmare below. She had no trouble imagining it, though.

“Almost there, sweetheart.”

Just a few more feet.

A snake landed on her shoulder.

She froze. She felt the damn thing move, heard it hiss.

She whimpered.

“Flick it off,” Declan called out. “Keep moving.”

Layne shrugged her shoulder, trying not to cry out. She felt the creature slide away.

But she felt frozen. She couldn’t move.

Suddenly, trails of light winged through the dark space. Voices shouted.

“Ah, it is lovely to see you again, Dr. Rush.”

Anders’ cultured, icy voice made her close her eyes. She heard gunshots and lifted her head. They slammed into the rock wall behind Declan. He was raising his gun and returning fire.

“Rush! Get over here!” he roared.

The thought that he could get shot spurred her into action. She moved steadily and carefully, fighting down the competing feelings inside her body—to run, to scream, to cry.

She stepped off the bridge.

Declan grabbed her arm, his fingers biting into her skin. He yanked her away from the chasm, firing over her shoulder. The echo of the shots was deafening.

He pulled her through an arched doorway and Anders and his men disappeared from their sight.

“You okay?” Declan cupped her cheeks.

“Not really.”

He smiled. “You’ll do. We need to move. Fast.”

They sprinted down the long tunnel. At the end, it speared off into three different tunnels.

“Which way?” he prompted.

“Umm.” She was madly reading all the glyphs. “I can’t see a set-animal. All the hieroglyphs are just talking about Seth.”

Noise and voices echoed from behind them, getting louder.

“Come on, Rush. You can do this.”

She sucked in a breath and blocked out the sounds. The hieroglyphs came into focus. “The middle tunnel.”

They ran again.

The tunnel ended, opening into a small cavern.

“Careful,” Declan said, flashing the light above. “There’s a booby trap here. Looks like this spot on the floor triggers a slab of rock to slam down and seal this entrance.”

Layne carefully skirted the darker colored patch on the ground. Her heart pounded, and she half expected to see some ruins in the cavern, or more tunnel entrances, something.

There was nothing but a still pool of water.

It was a dead end.

Oh, God.
“I must have gotten it wrong. Declan, I’m so sorry—”

“Shh.” He was looking around. “We need to hide.”

She guessed they could hide in the water, but she’d never be able to hold her breath long enough.

“God, I screwed up.”

“Hey.” He grabbed her chin. “No giving up, remember?”

She nodded. “If anything happens to us…”

“Rush, that’s giving up.”

“No, it’s not.” She remembered the terrible pain of not having the chance to say goodbye to her parents. She hadn’t been able to tell them how much she loved them.

It wasn’t happening again. Even if the man she was crazy enough to fall for didn’t want to hear the words.

“Declan, I want you to know that I’m falling in love with you.”