He shifted his lips to her jaw. “You’re on to our secret.” He found her lips and took his time kissing her. Then, just to provehe could, he pulled back to look into her face. “Although I seem to have formed a particular liking for dark hair.” He tugged at a curl. “And skin that looks like it’s coated in gold dust.” He brushed the back of his hand against her cheek.
Her eyes were wide. She licked her lips and took a step back. “Any luck in quadrant one?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. Wondering why the hell he’d spouted all that poetic nonsense. “Nothing. How about you?”
“Some fascinating artifacts of daily life, but nothing I can definitively date yet.” Her face lit up. “There are some eroded Terran numbers stamped on this metal. I know, not much of a clue since most of the galaxy uses the Terran numerical system.” She glanced up and pulled a face. “Sorry, I’m rambling.”
A small smile tugged his lips. “It’s okay.”
She shook her head and reached out to pick up a small brush from the kit she had laid out nearby. “No, I’m not here on a dig. Darc could turn up at any moment, or any other treasure hunter who hears about this.” She ran the brush through her fingers. “No sign of treasure.”
“No point looking until we can prove this place is Star’s End.” He stared across the site.
Eos sighed. “That might take too much time.”
He gripped her chin. “Treasure hunter rule number three. We never give up, no matter what.”
Her eyes brightened. “I’m not going to ask what rules one and two are.”
He kissed her, quick and friendly, despite the gnaw in his gut that wanted more. Much more. “You will. You, Dr. Rai, are insatiably curious. In the meantime, let’s clear your quadrant and see how my brothers are doing with theirs.”
They walked side by side. As they reached the spot where she’d been working, the ground beneath them vibrated. A deep rumble echoed through the ruins.
He grabbed Eos to keep her steady.
“What was that?” She looked behind them.
Another deep rumble, and he saw the sand beneath them start to move. “I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t good.”
A plume of sand shot high into the air. Eos gasped, and he yanked her backward.
A huge creature, ten meters long, broke the surface. It had a long, sinuous body, its armored, brown scales sparkling in the sun. Dathan glimpsed an enormous mouth edged with razor-sharp teeth.
“Fuck.” Grabbing Eos’ hand, he leaped onto a fallen stone plinth, tugging her behind him. “Run.”
“What the hell is that?” Her breathing turned rapid.
“Sand monster.”
“BEll said there were no large creatures.”
He watched the creature burrow back under the sand. “We have similar animals called sarpa on my homeworld. They burrow deep, out of scanning range. And they like to eat people.”
“Oh my Suva.”
“My guess is the mag-lift stirred them up.” He yanked out his Sync. “Z? Nik? We have a problem.”
There was no response for a minute, stretching Dathan’s nerves tight. Then Zayn’s harried voice burst through. “If it has lots of teeth and lives under the sand, we have one too.”
Shit.Dathan was about to answer when the sand monster reared up in front of them. The rubble they stood on bucked and they both lost their balance, windmilling their arms to keep from falling.
He grabbed Eos’ hand and pointed to a broken pillar. She nodded and leaped across the space, landing in a sprawl. He followed, landing beside her in a crouch.
“Can we chase it off?” She stood, pushing her hair from her face. “Kill it?”
“If they’re anything like the sarpa, then they don’t like fire.” Might have been why they hadn’t made an appearance during the night.
The creature reared again, shooting up in a huge explosion of sand. Close.Too close.
