Undiscovered (Treasure Hunter Security Book 1) (15 page)

Dec swallowed a groan, wondered how, with just a few simple touches, she could flay him wide open.

“I see you, Declan Ward. All of you.”

He slid a hand in her tangled hair and tugged her up. “No, you don’t. The things I’ve done—” The darkness broke loose.

Declan surged upward. As he grabbed her, a part of him liked her shocked gasp. He spun her, pushing her down on her hands and knees.

He shaped a hand over the globes of her ass. “I’ll show you what you don’t know.”

She pushed back against him. “I’ve seen you. You’d never hurt anyone, Declan. You’d never hurt me.”

He growled and pressed a palm to her lower back. With the other, he stroked his already hard cock.

He gave her no warning. Just pressed forward and roughly thrust inside her.

She cried out, her entire body shuddering.

Declan pulled out, until just the head of his cock rested inside her. God, what had he done?

Then she shoved back, taking him back inside her. “You fill me up, Declan. So hard, so good.”

His nostrils flared and the last of his restraint collapsed. He gripped her hips and hammered into her.

She was warm and tight around him, the little noises she made in her throat said she was enjoying herself. But it didn’t feel right. He couldn’t see the emotions flitting across her face. Missed the connection he’d felt before.

He pulled out of her, and stopped, his breath heaving in and out.

She swiveled, her gaze tracing his face. Whatever she saw there made her features soften.

“Layne—”

“Shh.” She pressed her palms to his chest and pushed him backward. He went, lying back in their little makeshift bed.

When she climbed on top and straddled him, he gripped her thighs.

“Stop thinking,” she murmured as she lifted her hips.

When she sank down, his cock slid snugly into her slick warmth.

“Hell.” He felt every muscle in his body strain.

She rose up, finding a lazy pace. “You deserve pleasure, Declan. Everybody does. Whatever we’ve done, whatever we’ve been forced to do, it doesn’t define us. It doesn’t mean we can’t change. Now, just feel.”

She pressed her hands to his shoulders and started riding him in earnest. Now he could see the pleasure on her face, the flush in her cheeks. The starlight turned her skin a pearlescent white.

He’d never seen anything more beautiful. He had fanciful thoughts of priestesses saving the souls of lost warriors. It sure as hell felt like Layne was saving him. Here with her, there was no darkness, no pain.

Just pleasure, heat, and warmth.

She slowed her movements, riding him slowly now. Her green-gold gaze collided with his, held.

When she came, he followed a second later, never looking away from her eyes.

***

Layne woke up with a start, a hand pressed over her mouth. It was very early morning, the light murky. She jerked upright, but immediately knew it was Declan’s hard body wrapped around her.

Serious gray eyes met hers and he held up his fingers to his mouth.

When she nodded, he moved his hand. “We have company.” His voice was a whisper.

She heard it now. Voices in the distance, the hum of an engine.

“Get dressed.”

As she pulled on her clothes, Declan shoved things into their packs with methodical movements. As their little bed was destroyed, her heart gave a tiny pang.

Declan shoved her backpack at her and she swung it onto her shoulders. “Come on. We need to move. If they spot the fire, they’ll know it was fresh.”

“Maybe it’s strangers. They could help us—”

He just shook his head. She nodded again, and followed him as he crept through the temple. They reached the back entrance and paused. Down at the other end of the oasis, she saw a battered, dusty jeep with its lights on. It illuminated four men standing in front of it. She saw the single tall form, and instantly knew it was Anders.

Then she saw Aaron Stiller beside him. The poor archeologist was hunched over, radiating fear, pain, and exhaustion.

“Come on.” Declan urged her in the opposite direction. “Move quickly and quietly.”

Layne focused on following Declan, putting her boots right in the same place he did. When the ground got sandy, he urged her on and then took up the rear. As he stooped down, she realized he was covering their tracks.

She rounded the crumbling ruins of what must have once been a dwelling of some sort, and slammed into someone. She gasped.

The man’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to yell.

Layne kicked him. Her boot landed between his legs and he grunted. Declan pushed past her.

He grabbed the man and swung him around. The guy tried to swing a punch, but a second later, Declan slammed the man’s head against the stone ruins, and the guy fell into a heap on the ground, out cold.

“Move it,” Declan said.

She ran now. God, if Anders caught them, they’d be dead.

Soon, they were out of the oasis and back in the desert.

Layne’s chest tightened. Okay, she could admit to the flash of fear. The desert had almost killed them yesterday. The oasis had been their little sanctuary.

Now, they were back at the mercy of the sands.

No.
She straightened. Anders was behind them and they were armed with fresh water. And most of all, knowledge.

They had the directions to Zerzura.

“I don’t know how it happened, but we aren’t near Dakhla, right?” she asked.

Declan scowled. “No.”

“I forgot to tell you earlier… In the temple, I found the next clue to Zerzura. West. We need to head directly west and look for special markers.”

He stared at her for a second. “You think we should head to Zerzura?”

She tightened the straps on her backpack. “Do you have a better plan? Maybe we should wander aimlessly in the desert, instead?”

“Smart ass.” He tugged on her ponytail. “Fine.” He looked at his watch. “We’ll head west.”

They headed off, but Layne took one last glance behind them.

The sun was rising directly opposite, giving the oasis a hazy flush of color. The temple looked beautiful in the morning light.

I’m coming back to study you
. Layne made the silent vow.
To show your beauty and secrets to the world.

Then she saw the silhouettes moving through the oasis.

Declan grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

They moved quickly at first, but once the sun started to rise and the sweat started beading on their faces, they slowed down.

The hours passed, and soon Layne felt weariness tugging on her. God, what if she got Declan killed out here?

“Follow the path of the birds, look for the buried marks of the birds.” Frustration welled inside her. “There are no birds out here! It’s a desert.”

“The climate was different thousands of years ago, right? Maybe there used to be birds.”

She huffed out a breath and swiped her arm across her forehead. “Then there’s nothing to find. How are we supposed to find buried marks?”

“Come on, Rush. You’re not going all negative on me, are you?”

“You’re chipper.”

He smiled at her. “Sweetheart, I spent most of the night with my cock lodged inside you. Not even Anders, or being lost in the desert again, can ruin my mood today.”

A reluctant smile tugged at Layne’s lips. God, it was so nice to see him so happy and…lighter.

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “Hmm, some of last night is coming back to me…but it’s a bit fuzzy.”

“Fuzzy?” Declan snatched her into his arms.

She gasped, and while her mouth was open, he took advantage. His mouth hit hers, his tongue delving inside.

“Mmm.” She gripped his hair and kissed him back. God, she loved that wild edge beneath the tough, controlled man.

He set her back on her feet. “Remember now?”

She licked her lips, liked the way his gaze zeroed in on the movement. “Yes. Every glorious detail.”

He grabbed her chin, his thumb rubbing her jawbone. “Remember, we’re heading to that beach after this.”

She smiled. “Red bikini.”

“Screw the bikini. I’m finding a private beach where I can keep you naked the entire time and push you down and fuck you whenever I like.”

Layne shivered. In all her previous relationships, no one had ever talked dirty to her. She liked it.

Declan gave her a light swat on the butt. “Come on. Let’s find your undiscovered oasis so we can get to the beach.”

They trudged on. Layne searched the desert sands for any signs that Seth’s followers might have left behind. Nothing.

“You think the others are okay?” she asked.

“Yep.” There was absolute firmness in Declan’s voice. “Logan is far too tough and cranky to die. And Morgan and Hale are damn good at their jobs.”

“And Aaron?”

Declan’s jaw tightened. “We’ll get him out of there.”

Another hour passed, the sun reaching its zenith, beating mercilessly down on them.

“Rest,” Declan ordered.

She flopped in the sand and pulled out her water. The lukewarm fluid still felt beautiful on her dry throat. “There’s nothing here, Declan. Whatever signs Seth’s followers left, the desert has reclaimed them.”

A hand settled on her neck, rubbing. “You’re sure?”

She nodded. “I don’t want to risk our lives on this.”

“Our best bet is to get back to the temple oasis, then. And hopefully avoid Anders and his men.”

She nodded glumly.

They drank in silence. Then Layne saw a flutter of movement.

She narrowed her gaze and realized it was just the breeze whipping some sand into the air.

She sighed. She’d started to believe that somehow Zerzura, a haven for the god Seth’s followers, was out here, somewhere.

But if it was, the path to it was now long buried.

Another flutter of movement. Layne looked up.

A tiny bird landed on the sand in front of her.

It hopped a little, then took to the air again. She watched, stunned. “Where the hell did you come from, little guy?”

He wasn’t pretty. He had black feathers, short legs, and a short beak.

Layne scrambled to her feet. “He doesn’t look like a desert bird.” She scanned the rocky dunes around them. “How could he survive out here?”

“He’s landed again,” Declan said.

They hurried over. The small bird was clinging to some rocks.

And right below him, partially covered by sand, was an engraving.

“Oh, my God.” Layne dropped to her knees, heedless of the hot sand burning through her clothes and brushed the sand away from the rock.

There, perfectly carved into the rock, was a set-animal and a bird image that looked like their small visitor.

With a trembling hand, she stroked the carving, made so long ago, hidden out here and undiscovered for thousands of years.

“He’s on the move again,” Declan said.

They jogged through the sand, following the small bird. Every time they lost him, her heart turned heavy in her chest. Then the bird would pop up again. He seemed to like gliding through the air with his dark wings.

“Look, Rush.”

Another bird. She sucked in a breath. There were two of them now, both with dark plumage, gliding past each other. “There! Another marker.”

It was the same glyphs—Seth’s animal and the bird.

“Wait. I remembered something about Nephthys. She was also considered goddess of the air, and sometimes took the form of a bird.”

“So these markers represent Seth and his wife?”

She nodded. As they headed down a shallow dune, she realized the ground here was turning much rockier. The dark-brown rocks were like scars in the golden sand.

She found another marker partly buried in the sand at the base of some rocks. They kept following the birds as they dipped and glided gracefully through the air.

When she spotted them again, they’d landed on a larger outcropping of rocks.

As they hurried closer, she gasped. “Look at the rocks, Declan.”

“I’ll be damned.”

What looked like just a jumble of natural rocks from a distance, was actually the crumbling ruins of a carving.

It was twice as tall as Declan and badly weathered.

“Seth,” she murmured. “It’s Seth.”

The figure was seated and definitely had the distinctive head of a canine.

“Zerzura is getting close, Rush.” Declan scanned around them.

Layne ran her fingers over the hieroglyphs at the base of the statue. God, her hands were shaking. She concentrated on translating them.

Declan crouched beside her. “So, what’s next?”

She finished reading the text and blinked. She felt her heart sinking to her toes. “It can’t be.” She read them again, looking for any errors she’d made. “No.”

Declan’s hand settled on her shoulder. “Rush?”

“Nothing’s next.” She looked up, pulling air into her tight chest. “The text here says
this
is Zerzura.”

Chapter Twelve

Dec watched Layne as she sat in the shade of the rocks, staring off into the distance. Her knees were drawn up to her chest.

He took his time working back to her, checking around the rocks. Most were natural, a few were what he guessed might be the ruins of something.

If this had once been a great, treasure-filled oasis, he couldn’t see it.

He headed over to her. God, it killed him to see her so upset, so dejected. It wasn’t like the Layne he’d gotten to know.

She didn’t look up. “It’s stupid to follow maps. Even stupider to believe in fairytales. I know better.”

“Rush—”

She shook her head violently. “No, I know how life is. Loved ones die, people betray you, terrible things happen. Life is full of disappointments, that’s just the way it goes.”

He knelt behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She was stiff and tense. “Sweetheart, you know there’s good out there as well.”

“You don’t really believe that.”

Shit. Was she right? Had he been so twisted up in the darkness of his past that he’d stopped seeing, hell, stopped looking for the good? Did his friends look at him and see what he saw now in Layne?

It had taken one bright, smart woman to burst through the gloom and show him the light.