Romancing the Alpha: An Action-Adventure Romance Boxed Set (49 page)

The young treasure hunter’s eyes lit up. “Gonna tell me what it is?”

She hesitated. But she was trusting him with their lives, and as he was risking his own as well, he deserved to know. “A Fabergé egg.”

Dathan went incredibly still. “There have been rumors of a Fabergé egg around here for years. No one’s ever found one.”

“Then we’ll be the first.”

“Worth a real lot of e-creds.”

“Which doesn’t matter a bit. Its true value to history is immensurable.”

Dathan got a resigned look on his face. “God, you astro-archeologists are all the same. Okay, so the egg is off-limits. But I get the right to anything else we might find.”

Lexa hated giving anything away, but she knew she couldn’t save everything and he was a part of this hunt. “One artifact. The rest will be secured for my patron, and the Galactic Institute of Historical Preservation will also want their share.”

Dathan crossed his arms. “Ten.”

“No!”

“Five.”

“Two,” she offered begrudgingly. Beside her, she saw Damon hiding a smile.

“Three,” the treasure hunter said.

She sighed. “Fine. Three.”

He slapped her on the back. “Don’t worry, Dr. Carter. It’s unlikely we’ll even find the place, let alone any artifacts.”

“We’ll find it,” she said firmly.

He shook his head. “Your optimism is…a bit sickening.”

“You’re too young to be so cynical.”

He sighed. “I wish.”

There were a thousand broken hopes and dreams in that sigh. “The first clue says we have to cross the Sea of Dunes under the Manifestor’s guiding light.”

Dathan rolled his eyes. “That’s it?”

“There are more clues, but that’s the first one we have to follow.”

He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Okay, well, the Manifestor is a well-known constellation, also called Phanes. We follow it, it takes us west.”

She smiled. “Great.”

Muttering something nasty about optimists, Dathan said, “Let me help you mount the ballo.”

Damon sidestepped and blocked him. “I’ll help her, kid.”

“Roger that, old man.”

Damon muttered to himself and gripped Lexa’s waist. His touch burned through her khaki shirt. She took a deep breath and, as he lifted her, swung her leg over the massive beast. Damon had made it very clear last night that he had no trouble resisting her. She was chalking the experience up to an overload of adrenaline from the attack.

Today, it was business as usual. Two colleagues who didn’t like each other much doing a job.

He patted her leg. “All set?”

God, his touch was still burning, making her nerve endings tingle. “All set.”

“I have something for you.” He held out a brand-new Sync.

She took it. It was an even better model than her old one. “I’m not going to ask where you got this.”

He just smiled.

“Thank you.”

He inclined his head and headed over to his ballo. She watched him and Dathan mount their animals. The treasure hunter glanced at the sky, then at the Sync he’d pulled off his belt and tapped the screen.

“Okay, we’ll start by following the Ruins Route. It’s a well-known caravan route through the Sea.” A serious look came over his features, making him look older than his eighteen years. “Now, the Sea is full of dangers, so don’t go off the path. The desert is filled with sand traps that can swallow an entire herd of ballo beasts. Not to mention the wolves.”

“Wolves?” Lexa asked.

“Yes. Desert wolves. Don’t worry, they don’t attack during the day, and for the nights, I have a deterrent system.” He patted the packs hanging from his beast. Then he nudged the ballo forward. “Okay, let’s get moving.”

With the bright-blue sky stretching overhead and the suns warm on her back, Lexa soon adjusted to the shambling rhythm of the ballo she was riding. It wasn’t that different from the horseback riding she’d done as a girl. Dathan told her the ballo beasts were herbivores and ate any and all vegetation they could find…with a special fondness for the sweet date fruits that grew on the trees at the planet’s oases.

Damon cursed under his breath every so often, and while he looked comfortable enough on the ballo, he didn’t appear to enjoy riding. She smiled. It was kind of nice to see him not be perfect at something. Made him seem more human.

She watched the town shrink behind them, and the dunes grow from small mounds to giant, incredible mountains of sand. Excitement was a low-level hum in her blood. Finally, she was on an honest-to-God treasure hunt. She loved working in the museum, loved handling, restoring and studying priceless artifacts, but…an adventure like this was something she’d hoped to do for a long time.

Hours later, they traveled through a valley between two enormous dunes. Lexa stared around in wonder. Up at the windswept peaks of the dunes, and down at the trail beneath them. It was a paler color than the rest of the sand, beaten down by the hooves of who knew how many animals over the centuries. She imagined vast caravans of ballo beasts moving through here, people heading off on adventure, colonists off to new lives.

Ahead, something nestled into the side of one dune caught her eye. She sat up straighter on her ballo. Ruins!

“The Temple of St. Theresa,” Dathan told her. He moved easily on his ballo and looked like he’d been riding for years. “Said to have been built by the very first Terrans to ever land on Zerzura. Some say she founded the cult of the Orphic priestesses and other legends say she was the one who brought the Fabergé egg here.”

“Fascinating,” Lexa breathed. She couldn’t tear her gaze off the remains of the graceful columns spearing upward. What must it have looked like in its heyday?

She moved her head and saw Damon watching her.

“You’re eyeing those ruins like other women eye priceless gems,” he said.

“I like gems, too.”

He snorted. “Yeah, if they came from some ancient empress’ crown, or from some priceless Terran necklace.”

She smiled. “Well, that would just be a bonus. All girls love as least a little sparkle, Mr. Malik.”

Lexa knew she would have been showered in gems if she’d entered the loveless, stuffy marriage her parents had wanted for her. She stared at the ruins, her blood pumping from being on this adventure. This was much, much better than all the jewels in the galaxy.

She thought of the men her father had always forced her to socialize with. Smart, for sure, but mostly pretty boys. They wore the latest suits, got manicures every week and spent more time on their hair than Lexa did. Without her permission her gaze strayed to Damon.

No pretty boy here. He was good-looking, but he also had that fascinating edge that drew a woman in. He was dangerous, of that she had no doubt, but he was also a protector. She’d known that when he’d saved her last night, and again this morning, when she’d found him sitting outside her door.

She tried to dredge up the annoyance that had sparked between them the first day they’d met in Marius’ office. For some reason, it proved elusive.

At that moment, he turned his head and their gazes collided.

It was like being hit by an electric Tase weapon.

She looked away and refocused on the dunes around them. A flash of movement caught her gaze, and she stared up at the dune peak. She was certain she’d seen multiple shadows up there, moving around.

She blinked and saw…nothing but sand. She shrugged to herself. Maybe the desert was making her imagine things.

“So, would you like to hear more about the fascinating history of Zerzura?” Dathan said, interrupting her musings.

She glanced again at the empty dune, then turned her attention to the young man. “Of course.” That sounded like a much better way to pass the time than desert mirages.

“The first Terrans arrived here thousands of years ago, when their ship crash landed.” Dathan’s voice took on a dramatic edge. “Even then, there were already some alien species living here, and already many ancient ruins from species long past.”

The kid had flair, that was for sure. Damon directed his ballo over some rocky ground. He suspected this speech must have been one the treasure hunter practiced for his clients.

“I’ve seen lots of Zerzuran artifacts,” Lexa said. “Some of the ancient cultures were so old, they have no identification. We have no idea who they were.”

“That’s right. And after the destruction of Earth, more Terrans came. They intermingled with the locals and built a thriving culture. The climate was much better then, similar to Earth in its prime.” Dathan rode with a steady hand, leading them through the dune valley. “They built cities, farms and temples. They gave the planet its current name. Zerzura was an old myth on Earth. A lost city in the desert.”

“It must have been something to behold,” Lexa said. “And I’ve researched the Terran myth of Zerzura a little. There isn’t much information about it, but apparently it was a lost white city in Earth’s largest desert. It was said to be filled with treasures and fair-haired men.”

Damon smiled. The excitement in her voice was infectious. He listened to her pepper the kid with questions about the local legends, and Damon shook his head. He could listen to her talk all day. Despite the smelly beast he was riding, he felt…easy. For the first time in what felt like forever.

It didn’t change the fact she was opinionated, and a magnet for trouble, and didn’t hesitate to complain when she disliked something he did, but he was actually starting to find all of that a bit endearing.

He watched her as she rode ahead of him, looking extremely graceful atop the ugly animal. You would have thought she was riding some prized thoroughbred horse. It gave him thoughts of her riding him, rising and falling above him, her beautiful breasts bouncing and her back arched.

Shit
. He shifted. That was all he needed, an erection while riding this shaggy monster.

“The climate changed,” Dathan was saying, “and it killed off the Terrans’ attempts at creating another Earth.” The young man looked back over his shoulder. “Many people here have Terran blood. Or so they claim.”

Damon scanned the magnificent dunes. Here the sands were a multitude of colors—bands of cream, yellow, orange, brown and red.

Lexa was talking, something about the temple ruins, when her words drifted away.

He frowned. She was staring off at the top of the dunes to the right. “Lexa?”

“I…think I saw something.”

He glanced in the same direction. Nothing moved, except a small stream of sand whipped off the top of the dune by the wind.

“I thought I saw something earlier, too. Shadows.” She shrugged. “Figured I was imagining it.”

Damon stared at the dunes again. Still nothing. But he felt that familiar tingle between his shoulder blades. The one that had saved his life many, many times before. He whipped out his high-powered binocs from his pack and scanned the dunes.

“Anything?” she asked nervously.

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.