by Anna Hackett
Damon moved. “No closer.”
The caretaker turned to look at him. “Malik, Damon. Head of Security for the Darend Museum, although you’ve only recently begun the role. Strangely, I am unable to access any other information on you.” The droid tilted its head. “From your fighting ability, I would deduce military training or something similar.”
Damon stayed silent. The droid could deduce all it wanted. If it touched Lexa again, Damon would end it.
“My sensors detect your body’s responses which indicate an emotional connection to Dr. Carter.”
“If you’re asking if I’d kill for her, the answer is a very easy yes.”
Lexa put a hand on his arm, but she was looking at the syndroid. “If we found this place, others will, too.”
“I will ensure they do not. I attempted numerous times to divert you.”
Lexa blinked. “You sent the thieves and the wolves, and caused the sinkhole?”
“Yes. And the sandstorm.”
“All to protect the temple?”
“Yes. You persisted far beyond any others who have attempted.”
She looked at the egg, a sad smile on her face. “Because I believed finding this was important. That sharing its history was the right thing to do.”
The droid was silent.
She sighed. “We’ll leave—”
Damon controlled his start of surprise. “Lexa?”
“You can’t be serious!” This from Dathan.
She held up a slim hand. “Quiet, Dathan.” Her gaze found Damon. “He’s following the wishes of the priestesses. That’s important, too.”
“You wanted this enough to fight for it,” Damon said.
“Yes. But being on this hunt with you…I realized that believing in myself was just as important as finding the temple and putting the egg on display under lights.”
God, would she ever stop surprising him? Nope. Damon suspected Lexa would always keep him guessing. “You’re pretty special.”
She smiled. “Oh, I know.”
He grabbed her hand, entwined their fingers. “Just so you know, I’m planning on falling in love with you.”
She gasped, her fingers flexing on his. “What?”
“Well, I think I’ve already started, somewhere between you kneeing me in the balls and you storming into a pack of wild desert wolves.” He drew her closer.
She pressed a palm to his chest. “You’re awfully easy to please, Mr. Malik.” Her voice was breathless. “Oh, Damon, I was upset this would be over between us when the hunt was finished. That you’d lose interest.”
He laughed. “Sweetheart, I’ve never met a woman who’s kept me on my toes as much as you.”
“Ah…hello?” Dathan waved an arm at them. “Temple, treasures and killer droid here, remember? Can you deal with the mushy stuff later?”
“A true romantic,” Lexa murmured.
Over her head, Damon looked at the droid, who was watching them with an unwavering stare.
“You wanted to place the egg in your museum?” the caretaker asked.
Lexa swiveled in Damon’s arms. “Yes.” A rueful smile. “I’ll be honest, I’ve already designed the exhibit a hundred times in my head. And he—” she jabbed her thumb into Damon’s chest “—would have driven me crazy with all the things he’d have done to keep the egg safe from the hordes of schoolchildren who’d come to see it.” She looked at the Terran treasure again. “But it looks like it belongs here.”
“Children?”
“Yes. The Darend gets a large number of school groups from around the quadrant who come to learn history from our collections.”
The droid was silent and Damon suspected it was running some sort of program. Damon stayed prepared for whatever happened next.
“I am at the end of my useful life cycle.” The droid scanned the temple. “I had planned to purchase and program a newer-model syndroid soon to become the new caretaker.” His gaze landed on a small group of statues of priestesses. “I remember Priestess Tialla’s last words. That the egg was not just a symbol of new life, but of hope and growth. That hope and growth were the two most important things people needed in their lives.” He straightened and looked at Lexa. “I believe now is the time for growth and change.” He grabbed her hand.
Damon moved to intercept but Lexa stopped him with her other hand and the look in her eyes. “It’s okay.”
“Dr. Alexa Carter, do you accept the role of caretaker of this temple and its treasures, and promise to ensure the Fabergé egg is protected, treated with respect, and admired by all those children you mentioned?”
Damon blinked. Holy stars, the droid was giving the egg to Lexa?
“I do,” she said solemnly.
The droid nodded. “It has been hidden too long in the dark.”
“I’ll take care of it, of everything here.”
“Thank you.” The droid gave them one long look before he dropped Lexa’s hand. “My function has been achieved.” The syndroid turned and disappeared into the shadows.
“Damn.” Dathan was shaking his head. “I still get my three things, right?”
Lexa smacked him. “You are going to drive some woman nuts one day.”
The treasure hunter grinned and winked. “More than one woman, I hope.” He wandered off to study the egg.
Damon hugged Lexa close, resting his chin on the top of her head. “Well done, Dr. Carter.”
“I still can’t believe it. There’s so much to organize…I need to contact Marius, and the Institute. We need to secure the treasure.”
“We’ll sort it out, and get all this stuff back to the Darend.”
She smiled. “I can’t wait.”
“So, do you want to drive me crazy for a really, really long time?”
She laughed, and looked up at him, and there it was. That look on her face, like she was looking at the most important thing she’d ever seen. Something she wanted to keep and hold on to.
“I think I’m up for the task.” She brought her lips close to his. “Someone told me I’m smart, and confident, and determined. I think I can handle one former super spy.”
He dropped his mouth to hers.
Damon didn’t doubt it. And he was going to enjoy every minute of handling his own beautiful trouble magnet.
~ Official Document ~
Darend Museum, Zeta Volantis
Press Release #PR-23-54-90-76
Subject: New Exhibition – Orphic Priestesses and the Fabergé Egg
The Darend Museum is delighted to announce the opening of their new exhibit, the Orphic Priestesses and the Faberge Egg. Museum Curator Dr. Alexa Carter was the discoverer of the invaluable Terran treasure after the museum funded an expedition to the desert planet of Zerzura to find the egg.
“This is a dream come true,” Dr. Carter was quoted saying in a recent interview. “To have the priestesses’ treasure on display for all to see. It was time for it come out of the dark.”
When asked about her dangerous trip to Zerzura, the astro-archeologist only had praise for the other two members of her team: up-and-coming young treasure hunter, Dathan Phoenix, and her head of security, Damon Malik.
Mr. Malik is also in charge of the state-of-the-art technology used to secure the egg and the other historical treasures that make up the exhibition.
The Darend Museum is also delighted that the new exhibit will also be the location of Dr. Carter and Mr. Malik’s upcoming wedding. It seems the Goddess’ powers of love worked their magic on the treasure-hunting couple. The Museum wishes them all the best.
To book your tickets for the exhibition, or to arrange a private group viewing, contact the Darend today.
---
I hope you enjoyed Lexa and Damon’s story!
The Phoenix Adventures continue with AT STAR’S END, the story of a very grown up Dathan Phoenix and his own opinionated astro-archeologist, Dr. Eos Rai. Read on for a preview of the first chapter.
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Read the first chapter of At Star’s End
Dr. Eos Rai gripped the edge of her seat and gritted her teeth. The pilot of her hired minishuttle executed a dizzying spiral descent toward the moon below.
The free fall was exactly what her life was like at the moment. Her hand clenched on the seat. How much longer until she hit the bottom?
Eos focused on the irregular, pockmarked surface below. Her first look at Khan.
The moon was a captured asteroid that now orbited the market planet of Souk. If she craned her neck, she could just make out the large planet with its urban areas interspaced with farms and forests.
Here at the edge of the known galaxy, Souk was the stopping-off point for explorers, colonists and daredevils heading off into unknown space to make their fortunes. And its small moon of Khan was home to the most notorious treasure hunters in the galaxy—the Phoenix Brothers.
Another sharp turn and she almost head-butted the synth-glass windshield. She shot a narrow look at the pilot, but the weathered old man peered straight ahead through his thick glasses—who still wore glasses when you could visit a medbooth and get your vision fixed for a few e-creds?—didn’t even glance at her. In fact, he looked bored.
As long as she landed in one piece…
She had to make the Phoenix brothers help her.
She pulled in a deep breath and rubbed the fingers of her left hand together. She felt the slight bump at the end of her index finger and thought of the precious cargo it carried.
It challenged all her beliefs to put this into the hands of treasure hunters, but she was out of options.
She’d worked with Niklas years ago at the Galactic Institute for Historical Preservation. He was steady and smart. She trusted him. His brothers, though, were the wild cards.
Why the hell had Niklas thrown away a promising career in astro-archeology for this? She stared at the scratched and dinted hulls of the various starships that littered the moon’s surface. A spaceship graveyard.
But she knew it wasn’t the brothers’ main business. No, they went after items far more lucrative than scrap metal.
Dathan Phoenix had a reputation for sniffing out the choicest ancient relics.
Right or wrong, it was a skill she needed. If she could convince him to chase a myth.
He was legendary across the Exodus quadrant. Not to mention cursed in the halls of the Institute. Heat seared under her rib cage. Artifacts that should be in vaults or museums, taken by his grubby hands and then sold to the highest bidder. Her mother had died trying to keep artifacts out of the hands of pirates.
Eos smoothed a finger over the floral markings that traced up the back of her hand and twined around her wrist. The familiar habit soothed her. No one had the right to steal someone’s history.
“There she is,” the pilot said.
Eos’s gaze shifted downward. A large huma-dome shimmered pink-purple on the horizon. The energy field of the dome kept the atmosphere inside but also permitted solid objects to pass through. Moments later, the bubble-shaped shuttle shot straight downward—along with Eos’s stomach. The light lunch she’d had earlier at the spacedock on Souk threatened to come back up. The shuttle descended through the dome and touched down on a small landing pad.
“Thank you.” Eos didn’t hide her eagerness to exit the shuttle. She’d already transferred payment into the pilot’s account before the trip, leaving her e-cred account dangerously low. Her stomach clenched. She’d already forked out a small fortune for the commercial fare to get to Souk. What she had left was to convince the Phoenix brothers to help her.
As Eos slipped on her small backpack, the shuttle shot upward, bathing her in steam. Spinning, she faced the building.
No one to greet her.
Hmm, security sucked. Her boots made a quiet tap on the smooth floor as she headed inside the monstrous warehouse.
The inside was packed with…junk. Mostly ships—or parts of them—of all types and sizes. She spied lights in one corner of the building and wended her way through the debris.
As she passed a small pile of rusted metal, she glimpsed paintwork on the…whatever it was. She stopped and crouched, smoothing a hand over the surface.
“It can’t be,” she breathed.
NASA was written in faded white paint, with a small flag made up of stars and stripes. Remnants of a Terran satellite!
She shot to her feet. So little was known about the world that had seeded life on so many planets in the galaxy. Most of the planet’s records had been lost after its nuclear devastation in the Great Terran War. She imagined for a second what it must have been like with the world’s superpowers at war. Even over the name of the planet itself. Earth had been the English term used by the United Countries of the Americas, but the records showed that in the other powerful group of countries, the Northern Federation, they’d used Terra. Both terms were now commonly used throughout the galaxy.
Eos’s mouth firmed. This satellite should be in a museum being studied, not rotting here on a desolate moon. She marched toward the back of the warehouse. The light she’d spotted was spilling from a half-open door. She pushed it open.
Living quarters. Not tidy ones. She noted the clothes strewn across the floor. A large bed with rumpled covers was pushed against one wall. A battered metal desk was closest to her.
What sat on it had the breath rushing out of her lungs.
She circled the desk. “By Suva’s grace.” A Renaissance bronze in mint condition. She’d only ever seen pictures of them in records. She reached out a trembling hand.
Then she was yanked backward.
A strong arm wrapped around her chest like a steel band. A hard male body pressed against her back. She stiffened and shoved her elbow into a firm abdomen. A wet, naked abdomen. The cool metal of a weapon pressed against her temple and she froze.
“I’ve already had one woman sneak up on me today. I don’t plan to make it two.” The male voice was low, raspy.
“I don’t care what kind of day you’re having.” She wasn’t violent by nature but she’d been trained to defend herself on isolated digs. Acting on instinct, she dropped low and swiped out at his ankles with her foot.
She obviously surprised him, because he toppled. Pulling her over with him.
For a second, she glimpsed the lean, tough body of a runner—all firm, sinewy muscle. She had a quick impression of dark ink covering one of his arms. She didn’t let her gaze go lower.
He was strong and she realized she’d never beat him in a fair fight.
He was cursing in a language her lingual implant didn’t recognize. She scrambled off him, reaching for the laser pistol that was now lying on the floor.
Her fingers brushed metal. Then she was tackled from behind.
She hit the floor face-first and all the air was forced out of her lungs in rush. The man’s heavy weight settled over her and her cheek pressed against the smooth concrete.
Warm breath tickled her ear. “Now what, darlin’?”
“Now nothing. Get off me.” Eos bucked her body. But all that did was grind her butt into a hard stomach.
“Not until you tell me who you are and what the hell you’re doing in my place.”
She sucked in a breath. “No one met my shuttle.”
Footsteps.
“Her name’s Dr. Eos Rai.”
Eos recognized Niklas’s voice. Relief flooded through her. She turned her head enough to see Niklas and a younger man with tawny hair in the doorway.
The younger man smiled. “Twice in one day you’ve gotten beaten up by a girl, Dath.”
“Screw you, Z,” the man above her said.
She guessed the one with Niklas was the former Galactic Strike Wing fighter pilot, Zayn. Which left the hard, dangerous man on top of h
er as none other than Dathan Phoenix.
His weight shifted off her and she sat up.
Now she knew who he was, she let herself look.
Tanned skin over hard muscles. Actually, he was a bit pink, like he had bad solarburn. Not that it detracted from his blatant masculinity. A washboard stomach and a deep V of muscle that disappeared…downward. Where she wasn’t going to look.
One strong arm and shoulder were covered in black ink. Her heart stuttered as her gaze traced the wild, masculine design. She pressed her hands together, touching her own designs. His markings were nothing like the elegant mehndi markings the men and women on her world were born with.
Dathan grabbed a towel off a nearby chair and wrapped it around his hips, then he crossed his arms over his chest. Her gaze met eyes the color of the bright blue-green mountain lakes on her home world. Hair the color of deepest space fell around a slightly battered face and a small white scar cut through his left eyebrow.
“How are you, Eos?”
She forced her gaze away from Dathan. “Niklas. It’s nice to see you.”
“So you know each other?” Dathan asked with a frown.
Niklas nodded. “We worked together at the Galactic Institute of Historical Preservation.”
Dathan’s face tightened. “We’re not real fond of Institute snobs around here.”
She arched a brow. “I’m on a leave of absence.” A forced one, but they didn’t need to know that.
Dathan extended a hand, his intense eyes burning through her. “Well, regardless of your profession, I’m sorry about the gun in your face. Like I said, it’s been a rough day.”
She put her hand in his. Ignored the tingle where their palms met. “Spent in the sun?”
He rubbed a hand over his stubble-covered cheek and she thought the color in his face deepened. “Something like that.”
“This is the last place I’d expected to see you, Eos,” Niklas said.
She lifted her chin, forcing her mind off the distracting treasure hunter beside her. “I need your help. I want to hire you.” She let her gaze move over them. “All of you.”
The brothers traded a quick glance. She marveled at the fact that such a quick look and they all seemed to understand each other. Some sort of sibling shorthand.
