Romancing the Alpha: An Action-Adventure Romance Boxed Set (50 page)

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 collarbones. “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.”

God
. She yanked his head up and pulled his mouth to hers.

His tongue swept over her lips and their mouths fused, both of them struggling to get closer to each other. She bit his bottom lip, he sucked on her tongue. He pulled her closer and she felt the hard press of his erection digging into her belly.
Yes
. The hot, furious kiss made her knees weak and every single part of her felt like it was turning molten. The man could kiss.

She even heard bells ringing. Wait… Bells?

Damon pulled back and cursed. “The deterrent alarms!”

***

Damon ran over to where Dathan stood, staring at the fence and beyond. A second later the ringing stopped.

“What is it?” Damon demanded.

The treasure hunter clutched a hand-held scanner, waving it left and right. “Don’t know. Nothing’s coming up on the scanner.” He shook his head. “Could be something, could be nothing.”

A slight wind was blowing. Damon stared out into the desert darkness, but the shadows refused to give up their secrets. The cold wind made him realize he was still shirtless.

A breathless Lexa jogged up to them. She’d pulled on some clothes. “Was it the desert wolves?”

Dathan was eyeing her somewhat-disheveled state and Damon knew the kid wasn’t fooled. It was hard to miss the hastily-pulled-on clothes—and Damon knew just what she was hiding under there now—and kiss-swollen lips. And damn, he wanted to taste her again. He wanted his mouth on her breasts, his fingers exploring her and those red lips wrapped around his…

Fuck
. His cock, still semi-hard, sprang back to full life.

“False alarm,” Dathan finally pronounced. “Let’s grab some chow. I think we should be ready to move fast, though, just in case.” He glanced at Lexa. “And that includes knowing where we’re headed next.”

They all settled around the fire. Damon sat down next to Lexa. Not too close, but close enough to pick up her scent—something fresh and fruity.
Shit
. He was still hard as Dinorian granite. He shifted slightly in an attempt to ease the discomfort.

As the three of them munched on their unappetizing rations—Damon had eaten enough cloned food in his lifetime to never want to see the stuff again—Lexa pulled out her replacement Sync. She lifted her necklace and clicked her pendant into the slot on the side. She waited a second, then tapped the screen.

“Okay, the next clue says, ‘At the Crossways, make a choice that leads right.’”

Dathan rolled his eyes upward. “Gods save us from fucking cryptic clues.”

Lexa ignored him. “Anything known as a crossways near here? Maybe a crossways of these old caravan trails?”

“Yep. There are thousands of them. Some are larger, but there’s nothing that stands out.” He chewed thoughtfully on his food.

Damon was impressed by the young treasure hunter so far. He was smart, tenacious and prepared. Brocken Phoenix was an idiot. He was going to lose his boy if he wasn’t careful.

Dathan set his own Sync down on the ground in front of him. He touched the screen and sat back. A three-dimensional map projected up into the night air in front of them.

It was a map of the Sea of Dunes. It showed the path they’d traveled as a solid green line. Glowing dots marked some points of interest. Damon leaned forward. He could see the caravan trails marked in orange.

Dathan and Lexa got deep into discussion, pointing out options that could be the mysterious crossways. They argued, agreed to discard some things, brainstormed.

Damon pondered what the Sea of Dunes would have looked like at the time the long-ago priestess had carved her clues on the vase. “Have you got any historical maps? From the time of the temple?”

Lexa and Dathan stared at him, then she bumped Damon’s shoulder. “Brilliant, Damon. We need to be looking for a crossways that existed
then
, not now.”