Among Galactic Ruins (7 page)

He shook his head. “Let’s keep an eye out,
though.”

They kept moving. An hour later, they ate
lunch on the move, a simple fare of bread, cheese and dates.

Suddenly, Lexa’s ballo beast balked turning
in a half circle. It made a braying noise.

“Shh.” She held on, murmuring soothing words
to the animal. Ahead, Dathan halted and looked back, frowning.

Damon felt his tingle return. He scanned the
sand around them, searching for a threat. His ballo was disturbed,
too, stamping its feet and slowing down. They were nervous, as
though something was spooking them.

Suddenly, his beast reared, front hooves
lifting off the sand.

“Holy hell!” Dathan yelled.

Damon swiveled. Racing toward them over the
sand was a pack of fast-moving, dark shadows.

Desert wolves.

What the fuck? Damon used his knees and the
reins to try and control his ballo, never taking his gaze off the
wolf pack.

“They never attack in the day!” Dathan
called out.

“Well, something’s convinced them
otherwise,” Damon yelled.

As the pack neared, he got a closer look at
them. They were big, their shoulders probably reaching his chest.
They had shaggy coats that were a slightly darker shade of brown
than the sand around them. The lead wolf howled.

The ballo beasts all brayed in fright and
bolted.

Dammit
. Damon gripped the reins,
fighting to stay on, the rope burning against his hand. Ahead, he
saw Dathan and Lexa doing the same, both of them bouncing hard.
Lexa was holding on like a champ.

Damon felt like his bones were rattling with
every jarring step. Then his beast let out a scream.

He looked back and saw a wolf clamped onto
the ballo’s hindquarters. Its large claws were locked into the
beast’s hide and the wolf’s mouth—filled with sharp, ragged
teeth—was snapping at Damon.

Fuck
. The ballo slowed and started a
crazy dance, trying to dislodge the wolf.

Damon felt his grip slipping on the reins.
Shit, no.

He looked forward and saw Lexa’s horrified
gaze. The rope slipped through his hands and with one more wild
arch of the ballo’s back, Damon fell backward. He thought he heard
Lexa scream.

He hit the sand.

Fuck, it was harder than he’d thought. He
spat grains out of his mouth and pushed to his hands and knees.

Then he heard a growl.

He froze and slowly, so very slowly, turned
his head.

The desert wolf pack fanned out, surrounding
him. They looked even bigger up close, with drool dripping from
their jaws and rabid, yellow eyes.

Damon pulled out his laser pistol. He fired
a shot into the sand to scare them off.

They backed up a little, wary, but they were
not leaving.

The lead animal crept closer, belly low,
eyes never leaving Damon. Then he pounced.

Damon shot the animal and it went down with
a yelp, but the others were closing in. Resigned, he aimed his
pistol. This was not going to be pretty for any of them.

Suddenly, a huge body barreled past him and
into the pack.

“Yah, get away.” Lexa charged through on her
ballo, barely controlling the clearly terrified beast.

The stupid idiot
. She should have
gotten to safety.

The wolves scattered and wheeled around.

Damon fired again, picking off another two
animals. Images of Lexa falling into the midst of the wolves danced
in his head. She turned and charged back, wolves falling under the
ballo’s sharp hooves.

The rest of the wolves turned and ran back
toward the dunes.

Lexa pulled her beast to a stop. Damon
stomped over to her, shoving his pistol back in its holster with
more force than necessary.

“Idiot. You should have left and gotten
somewhere safe.”

Her eyes narrowed in her flushed face. “And
left the big bad man to do the fighting?” Her sarcasm was
heavy.

“It’s my job.” He gripped her leg.

She snorted. “It isn’t your job to get
gnawed on by crazed wolves.”

He slid his hand up and grasped her thigh.
“It’s my job to keep you safe. A damn hard job if you keep running
right into trouble.”

“I can hardly be blamed for desert wolves
attacking!”

“But you ran toward them instead of
away.”

“I was saving your life, in case you didn’t
notice. Although, I’ll definitely think twice about doing it
again.” She poked her tongue out at him.

Something in Damon stretched very, very
taut, threatening to snap. Lust and need were a hot rush in his
body. “You poke that out again and I’ll find a better use for
it.”

She stilled, her eyes widening. Then she
poked her tongue out at him again.

His nostrils flared and he yanked her off
the ballo.

She yelped and he caught her before she hit
the ground. In a second, he had her back pressed up against the
beast and his chest pressed against hers.

“Damon,” she whispered.

He leaned down and nipped her ear. She
moaned, a sound that inflamed him. He sucked her earlobe between
his teeth and she writhed against him.

“Everyone okay?”

Dathan’s amused voice broke the spell. Damon
pulled back a few inches. Damn, he hadn’t even heard the kid ride
up. No one had snuck up on him…ever. Lexa was driving him crazy,
making him lose his edge.

She pushed at his chest and he stepped back.
“We’re fine.”

“Never seen the wolves attack like that in
the day.” Concern covered Dathan’s face. He held the lead of
Damon’s ballo with one hand. “Luckily your ballo isn’t injured,
Damon. Claws didn’t make it through the tangled hide. Still, I
suggest we make camp a little early and get the deterrent fence up.
We can discuss the next clue on the map.”

Damon nodded. “I second that idea.”

Lexa tossed her dark hair back and avoided
looking at him.

Damon’s hand flexed into fists. Make camp,
rest, and cool off before he either turned Lexa over his knee and
spanked her, or stripped her naked and fucked her brains out.

***

Lexa pressed the button on the final tent and
watched it unfold from its tiny box. In three seconds, it formed a
round, waterproof dome. Two others sat beside it. She glanced over
where Dathan and Damon were finishing putting up the wolf deterrent
fence. Stars, they were something to look at—the young, lean
treasure hunter on the cusp of manhood and the older, deadlier man
in his prime.

She shook her head and focused on the fence.
It didn’t look like much—two strings of thin, glowing wire strung
between posts the men had embedded into the sand. But Dathan had
assured them the non-lethal, directed energy field the fence gave
off was strong enough to stop a rampaging pack of desert
wolves.

She glanced at Damon’s back and thought of
him, crouched in the center of that wolf pack. Her stomach turned
over. It had been horrifying. She’d been terrified he was going to
be torn to shreds by all those claws and teeth.

She closed her eyes and drew in a deep
breath. He was fine. Clearly still pissed at her, but alive and
uninjured.

Then she thought of that hot moment after,
his teeth at her ear.

She put her hands on her hips and stared at
the darkening sky. Damon Malik was a huge complication she didn’t
need. A man was not on her life plan…at least, not for the next few
years. Focus on her career, do good work, make a name for herself,
and do something that mattered.
Then
think about marriage
and a family.

As she turned, her gaze snagged on the
horizon and the magnificent sunset.
Wow
. Something inside of
her eased. The beautiful scene in front of her was a vivid reminder
of why she’d wanted to follow the map, have an adventure and find
the treasure. Zerzura sure knew how to do sunsets.

The huge ball of the first sun—this one
shimmering red—was lowering over the edge of the horizon, and the
second sun—a smaller, yellow one—was following. They were painting
the sky in long strokes of orange, red, gold and pink. It looked
like some giant had run paint-covered hands across the darkening
sky. Stars were rapidly appearing—and it looked like there were
more of them visible here than back on Zeta Volantis, or even on
her homeworld of Econia. They were like a carpet of white jewels,
scattered on velvet. Oh, and there was a not-too-distant nebula
visible to the east, with its multiple shades of neon green.

She wasn’t sure how long she stood there,
but darkness had well and truly fallen. The temperature had also
dropped. She rubbed her arms. Damon had started a fire not far from
the tents, using a synfire cylinder. She headed over.

“Look at you, like an old Terran Boy
Scout.”

He arched a brow. “I don’t know what that
is, but I’m sure I’m not.”

He was probably right. “Tell me you’re going
to cook a feast for me, and then I’ll be impressed.”

“Sorry. Tonight we have a choice between
packets of cloned meals. Want me to list the options?”

She grimaced. “No point. They’ll taste the
same, regardless.” Cloned food was great for travel but it tasted
like a sad imitation of the real thing. Ugh.

She realized how gritty and dirty she felt.
Sand coated her skin and the sweat from the hot day and their mad
escape from the wolves left her wanting a nice hot bath.

Which she wasn’t going to get.

Still, they’d brought along a sonic shower.
It wouldn’t feel as good as water, but at least she’d be clean.
“I’m going to clean up before diving into those tasty rations.”

He gave her a nod and she wandered back to
her tent. Well, at least he didn’t seem mad anymore. She nabbed the
small sonic shower unit and headed out behind her tent,
double-checking to make sure the men were busy and couldn’t see
her. She activated the shower, and a slim pole shot up from the
unit. It made a low humming noise.

It took her a moment to realize it wasn’t
strong enough to penetrate her clothes. Another glance toward the
fire, and she could hear Dathan and Damon talking. Quickly, she
stripped off her clothes and stood there in just her bra and
panties. A moment later, she ran a hand down her arms, pleased with
the cleaner, smoother feel of her skin.

She shook out her hair, brushing off the
excess sand. Memo to self: she
never
wanted to live on a
desert planet. By the time they finished this hunt, she may never
want to vacation on the beach again, either.

There was a whisper of sound, and Lexa
glanced up just as Damon rounded the tent.

They both froze.

His hair was damp and he was shirtless,
wearing just his khaki cargo pants—and those were riding low on his
hips. He’d obviously dumped some water over his head and washed up.
She couldn’t stop herself from looking. She might have wondered
what he looked like under his clothes, and she knew he was strong
and fit. But she hadn’t imagined he had all those…hard muscles
under there.

Heat curled low in her belly, and she felt
her nipples harden. He was all corded strength, from his hard
shoulders to the sizable biceps, and down to the ripped
abdomen.

He was staring at her as well. “That is
not
treasure-hunting underwear.”

She felt heat flame in her cheeks. So she
had a small weakness for nice lingerie. She’d packed her most
sensible underwear, but she didn’t own anything plain. She was
wearing pale pink lace; a tiny wisp of panties and a bra that
looked like pink gossamer. Belatedly, she realized he’d have quite
a view.

But she made no move to cover herself.

“You are so beautiful,” he growled. “Why the
hell couldn’t you have been some old grandma
astro-archeologist?”

She gave a nervous laugh and watched him
close the gap between them. “Is that what you really want?”

He yanked her to him, his skin hot against
her. “Hell, no.”

Lexa lifted her hands to Damon’s chest,
molded her fingers over those intriguing muscles. Stars, her hands
were shaking a little. Her entire body felt flushed and hot.

“I so badly want to know what color your
nipples are.” His hot lips were at her neck and she arched into
him.

“Super spies can’t see in the dark?”

He growled and nipped her. Oh, it felt good.
She’d never known her neck was so sensitive.

“Unfortunately, no, and I desperately want
to know if the glimpse I got of those tiny, poor excuse for panties
really showed that your pussy is shaved clean.”

She turned her head and bit his bottom lip,
drawing it into her mouth. “You don’t need to see to confirm
that.”

He growled again, the sound vibrating
through him. “You drive me crazy.”

God, this wasn’t really happening, was it?
This was Damon Malik. Bane of her existence for the last three
months. “This is still probably a bad idea,” she managed to get
out. “It’d be hot sex and then we’d be back to—” hating seemed like
the wrong word now “—disliking each other.”

His mouth moved over her jaw. “All I heard
was hot sex.”

“Typical.” She curled her hands into his
dark hair. It was so silky. She tried hard to keep her mind on
track, despite the marvelous things he was doing to her. One of his
hands had slid down and cupped her breast. He was plumping it, his
thumb rubbing her nipple. “We’d…we’d have to see each other every
day back at the museum. This…it…would be a complication.”

He bent her backward slightly, his mouth
sliding down her neck, his teeth scraping over her collarbone.
“Complications keep life interesting.”

His mouth closed over her nipple, bra and
all. As he sucked on her, she made a small cry and bucked against
him. It felt crazy good. She tightened her hands in his hair,
urging him closer.

He chuckled and moved to the other breast.
“And I think I might like you after all.”