Eternal Nights

by Patti O'Shea

  A doorway to a chamber was on a sharp angle from where they stood. It was impossible to see much, but in the sliver of the room that he could view, there appeared to be a fountain.

  Looked like Kendall had been right.

  They’d found water. Maybe.

  Chapter Twelve

  The skin on Wyatt’s nape prickled. They were exposed, vulnerable, and he drew back around the corner, tugging Kendall along with him. Leaning forward, his mouth next to her ear, Wyatt breathed one word. “Stay.”

  He didn’t miss the way her lips tightened. She was not happy with the order, but Bug nodded once to indicate she understood and would follow his direction.

  Leaving her where she stood, he slipped around the corner again to look at the fountain. There was no good way to do a sneak and peek, not with the layout of the area. Taking a few seconds to think things through, Wyatt evaluated his options, and chose the best of the few he had available.

  Sticking close to the wall, he moved silently down the corridor away from the chamber. When he knew no one inside that room could see his position, he crossed to the other side, and, back against the stone, he eased toward the doorway.

  He heard nothing, but that didn’t mean much. When he reached the entrance, he leaned over far enough to peer inside, and saw the tip of a boot. Shit. Just as he’d feared, they’d put at least one man in the room. Wyatt shifted back and waited, but he’d remained undetected.

  Wyatt wanted a better look, but he wasn’t going to get it, not without taking too large a gamble. If he were alone, he’d do things differently, but with Kendall involved, he was erring on the side of caution.

  Okay, first he needed to move Bug farther away. If he failed, the guy would search the area, and Wyatt wanted to give her the best chance possible of getting out.

  Following the same route, Wyatt returned to where he’d left her. Bug was tense, but she relaxed as soon as she saw him. He shook his head when she opened her mouth, then, hooking an arm around her waist, he steered her down the passageway and past the more distant corner.

  When he felt they were safe, he embraced her loosely. Bug’s hands went to his waist, and that momentarily derailed his thoughts. “Here’s the scoop,” he told her quietly. “There’s one man in the room for sure. There may be more, but I couldn’t see enough to be certain.”

  “What do you think the odds are that he’s there alone?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Fifty-fifty, darlin’. It could go either way.”

  She nodded. “What do you want me to do?”

  Wyatt grinned. That was his Bug. No hemming and hawing. No discussing things to death. Just tell her what he needed, and she’d do it. Too bad she wasn’t going to like his response. “I want you to stay here, and if things fall apart, run.”

  “No. I told you I wouldn’t leave you, and I meant it.”

  With a sigh, he drew her nearer until her breasts pressed against his chest. She didn’t break his hold, and her willingness to stay close got his heart thumping. “You can’t come with me. I’m going to have a heck of a time sneaking up on the man or men on my own. Two people could never do it.” Kendall still looked mulish. “You’re a liability.”

  That deflated her, and his heart twisted. He didn’t want to wound her. “Even if one of my men were with me,” Wyatt explained, voice low, “I’d leave him behind. It’s not a matter of skill; it’s pure logistics.”

  For a long moment, she stared at him. He found his eyes glued to her mouth. Wyatt wanted to kiss her, and he wanted to be one hundred percent aware while he was doing it. Not like last time. Her tongue came out, moistened her lips, and he almost groaned. Damn, he wanted her.

  “We’ll do it your way,” she said, and reluctantly he looked up to meet her gaze. “But you better not get hurt, understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Kendall scowled at him, but he ignored it. “Here’s how we’re going to play it. You stay here. I’ll take out the thief and come back for you. If things fall apart, you take off, away from the problem. The dampening effect of the pyramid might keep you from hearing if things go to hel—heck, but if I’m not back in say, fifteen minutes, you leave, got it?”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “I wasn’t asking for your opinion. Do you understand what I want you to do?”

  “Yes. I stay here, and if you’re in trouble, I run like a coward instead of helping you.”

  “Exactly.” Wyatt grinned again. “And no one is ever going to call you a coward. You’re too gutsy for that.”

  She wrinkled her nose at him, and he almost bent down to kiss her. Shit, he had better get going before he did something that would scatter both their thoughts. “I need something from your bag,” he said as he stepped away from her.

  Bug adjusted the satchel till it was square in front of her, lifted the flap, and opened it. Wyatt dug around until he found her mirror. “Fifteen minutes,” he reminded her. “No longer.”

  Her seemingly innocent smile made him hesitate, but he opted to say nothing. She’d already agreed to his plan. Wyatt tucked her mirror in the front pocket of his pants, and set off.

  When he reached the second corner, the one nearest the room, he studied the sight lines and their relation to the light. Then he reached for Kendall’s mirror, and angled it so it bounced a beam into the chamber. One flash, and he put his hand over it before ducking back behind the wall. Nothing.

  He repeated the process. Even with the way sound was muted, he heard a voice ask, “What the hell was that?”

  “Go check it out.”

  Two of them then. There could be more, but Wyatt didn’t think so; it would be an unnecessary drain on manpower. He put the mirror away and shifted into position. If he screwed up, he’d lose the element of surprise. Right now, the guards might suspect the flash had something to do with their quarry, but they weren’t sure. That gave him a small advantage.

  The first thief made an appearance, pistol in hand. Wyatt recognized him—Lidge, a corporal attached to the security team. Grimly, he waited. The man looked around, but didn’t head his direction the way Wyatt had hoped.

  “Nothing,” Lidge called.

  “Look some more,” the other one ordered.

  Muttering his displeasure, Lidge went down the hall in the opposite the direction from where Wyatt was standing. The search was halfhearted at best, an indication that these men had been guarding the fountain for too long, and that complacency had set in. That gave Wyatt an edge—if that bastard would come this way.

  Lidge headed back toward the room, and Wyatt frowned.

  Another flash with the mirror would make those men too alert, but it looked as if he wasn’t going to have a choice.

  The corporal stopped, thought things over, then, shaking his head, wandered toward Wyatt. He slowed down as he neared, and it appeared as if he weren’t going to cross the opening. Come on, asshole, Wyatt thought, come on.

  As Lidge drew near, Wyatt plastered himself against the wall, and waited. From his position, he could see the corporal glance over, but the man kept moving. As soon as Lidge was past the archway, his back toward him, Wyatt attacked.

  He didn’t fuck around, and he didn’t play nice. Wyatt grabbed the man and snapped the bastard’s neck before Lidge could react or make a ruckus. With the corporal disabled, Wyatt choked off his air supply, asphyxiating him.

  Unfortunately, the damn pistol clattered to the stone floor as the corporal’s hand went limp, and it slid away from them.

  Silently, Wyatt lowered Lidge’s lifeless body to the ground. Maybe the other smuggler hadn’t heard the noise the weapon made as it connected with marble, but he couldn’t count on that. He eyed the distance to the pistol, knew he didn’t have time to grab it, and cat-footed it toward the room.

  He was two-thirds of the way there when the guy giving the orders appeared. The only point in Wyatt’s favor was the split second of surprise. He used it.

  Closing the remaining distance in a rush, Wyatt kicked the
pistol out of the bastard’s grip. This time he wanted the weapon to sail down the hallway and it did. Hand-to-hand.

  Wyatt believed he had the odds in his favor even though the other man was about four inches taller and outweighed him by at least thirty pounds. Not waiting for the sergeant to land the first blow, Wyatt turned his fist and struck his opponent in the throat, then slammed his palms against the man’s ears.

  The son of a bitch was reeling, but it didn’t stop him from throwing a punch. Wyatt dodged the one aimed at his face, but took a hammer fist in his kidney.

  Intense pain shot through him, but he pushed it aside. He wasn’t fighting only for himself, he was defending his woman too, and no way in hell was he letting Bug down. Hanging on to his adversary for leverage, Wyatt kicked him just below the knee, making the bastard’s leg buckle. But before he could take him out, the man recovered, delivering a head butt to Wyatt’s midsection hard enough to turn him around partway.

  The man grabbed him from behind, and Wyatt countered with a sharp elbow jab to the side of his head. It wasn’t enough to stun him, but it did back the sergeant off.

  As they circled, Wyatt tried to find an opening to launch another assault. He wanted this over pronto. Just because he’d only seen two men, it didn’t mean the temple wasn’t filled with groups searching for Kendall and him, and it didn’t mean one or more of those people wouldn’t swing by this area at some point. He wanted to be far away before reinforcements arrived.

  Wyatt saw it in the man’s eyes the instant the bastard spotted his partner’s body and figured out he was dead. His opponent had wanted to kill him before, but that was business. Now the sergeant knew it was kill or be killed.

  The other man struck out. Wyatt blocked the blow with his forearm and grabbed the sergeant’s other arm, swinging him face first into the wall. Before he could pin the bastard, he got free, going low, and caught Wyatt in the kidneys again.

  Pissed off, Wyatt slammed the heel of his hand into the asshole’s face. He was aiming for the nose, but the man ducked far enough that Wyatt got his forehead instead. It still would hurt and cause some disorientation, but it didn’t have the full effect that Wyatt was hoping for.

  They exchanged punches, both landing a series of blows. The other man was skilled. He knew to go for soft areas, and he didn’t talk. That was something for less experienced fighters, men who didn’t know enough to realize someone with Wyatt’s background couldn’t be distracted that easily. It made him curious as to who this sergeant was, and what his duties were.

  Wyatt grunted as the bastard connected with his kidney a third time. The son of bitch had a thing for that spot, and it irritated him. Grabbing the man’s head, Wyatt jerked it down to meet his rising knee. He got him twice before the sergeant pulled away.

  Blood ran from an obviously broken nose, and Wyatt saw the fury in the other man’s eyes. Good. Emotion caused mistakes.

  The sergeant rushed him, tried to tackle him, and Wyatt moved. He wasn’t able to completely evade the assault, but the man didn’t have a good grip, and he was able to spin loose. Wyatt linked his hands together and delivered a hard blow to the back of the bastard’s neck.

  The man lurched, but he didn’t go down. Wyatt didn’t give him a chance to recover. He kicked out, catching the sergeant in his ribs. The second kick only grazed the knee.

  With a low growl, the man charged him. Wyatt spun out of the way, and swung his elbow back, catching his opponent in the face. While he was reeling, Wyatt caught his arm, and banged his head into the wall—repeatedly.

  The sergeant pushed off, but he couldn’t break Wyatt’s hold. He could, however, find the same kidney he’d been pounding on, and his elbow connected solidly enough to make Wyatt groan.

  Sweat dripped from him. Most fights were short, and this one had gone on long enough to leave both of them panting. But while the other man was fighting for his life, Wyatt had additional incentive. Bug.

  He’d failed once before to keep her safe, but he wasn’t letting it happen again in this life.

  Digging deeper, he found strength, enough to get the asshole in a choke hold. Wyatt cut off his air, not loosening his grip even when he took another sharp blow to his left kidney.

  The flailing arms were causing damage, but this tactic also used up oxygen, and the sergeant abandoned it. Instead, he tried to break the hold by putting his fingers between Wyatt’s arm and his throat. That didn’t work either. Wyatt held tight, cutting off his air until the man was dead.

  He let the body fall face first on the floor, and leaned forward, gasping as if he’d been the one deprived of oxygen. Although Wyatt was positive he’d killed his opponent, he was unwilling to take any chances. Reaching out, he searched for a pulse. There wasn’t one.

  Wyatt remained bent over, and braced his hands on his thighs as he attempted to catch his breath. Mentally, he ran through his aches and pains, decided nothing would slow him down too much. He’d just have to make sure Kendall never saw the bruises, especially near his kidney.

  Kendall. Shit, he had to go and get her. Adrenaline had a way of warping time, so he wasn’t sure how close it was to the fifteen-minute mark, but he didn’t want to leave her standing alone anyway. Not when they didn’t know who was roaming about.

  He eyed the two dead men and grimaced. Bug knew what he did, that he was Army Spec Ops, but he was sure she’d glossed it up in her mind. These bodies would show her exactly what he was capable of. He wasn’t sure he wanted her to see this side of him, but there was no way to avoid it.

  Swallowing a groan, Wyatt pushed himself upright. Although he doubted anyone else was around, he leaned into the room and did a fast visual sweep. He almost cursed when he saw a figure lying on the floor. It took an instant longer to realize that the man was dead, his body left where it had fallen, about half the distance into the chamber. Aside from the corpse, the room was clear, but he didn’t like it. There was a lot of blood, and he’d bet big that there was some kind of alien snare involved.

  He returned to the hall, patted down the second man, and found nothing. Wyatt rolled him to his back and unfastened his pistol belt before he realized it would take too long to open the clips on the holster. He needed to get Kendall first.

  Quickly, he checked Lidge. The corporal had a knife tucked into his boot, and Wyatt helped himself to that. Next, he retrieved the pistols from the opposite sides of the hall, and shoved both into the waistband of his fatigues. Now at least he and Bug were armed.

  With the important details taken care of, Wyatt went to get his woman. He wasn’t entirely steady, but the farther he walked, the more surefooted he became, and by the time he rounded the final corner, he was almost normal.

  Bug was pacing. He must have made a noise, because she pivoted fast, and her eyes ran over him, assessing him from head to toe. Before he realized what Kendall was up to, she threw herself into his arms. Her weight knocked him off balance, and he couldn’t contain the grunt of pain, but that was the only sound he got out before her mouth was on his. For a moment, he was too stunned to react, and then Wyatt kissed her in return. Sweet Lord, he’d been waiting for this moment, wanting it for so long.

  He pressed her back against the wall, unclipped the strap on one side of her bag, and let the damn thing fall to the floor. Once that satchel was out of his way, he tugged her closer.

  Wyatt wanted to sink inside her. He wanted to savor the feel of her body clasping his, to thrust into her until they both climaxed. “Aw, damn, Bug,” he murmured as he nipped her bottom lip. “I want you so bad.”

  Without waiting for her to respond, Wyatt took her mouth again, trying to show her with his actions alone how much he needed her, how deeply his feelings for her ran. Part of his brain told him to slow down, that he’d overwhelm her, but that voice was far away, and with adrenaline and desire rocketing through him, it was easy to ignore.

  They shifted, moving with the familiarity of long-time lovers, and he rubbed his erection against her. She gasped,
and he tightened his hold, bringing her lower body more firmly against his. Though he wasn’t anywhere near ready to stop kissing her yet, Wyatt broke away to explore further. Nipping his way to her neck, he discovered her pulse hammering in the base of her throat, and lightly pinched the skin between his teeth before kissing and licking the spot.

  Bug’s moan was low, but the sound of her arousal was as potent as if she’d reached out and stroked him. He’d known it would be like this between them. God help him, he’d known.

  The last thread of his restraint snapped. Wyatt tugged at her T-shirt, freeing it from her pants. He slipped his hand underneath it, stroked her stomach with his fingers. Impatience ate at him, and as much as he wanted to revel in every nuance of Kendall, he needed more. Now.

  He moved his hand until he cupped her breast, but her bra prevented contact, and he growled his displeasure. Wyatt reached behind her, attempting to unhook the thing. His concentration, though, was centered on kissing Bug, and it seemed to take an eternity before he freed her.

  His contentment was short-lived. Almost as soon as he got his hand on bare skin, Kendall pushed at his chest.

  Reluctantly, he lifted his head. When he saw the expression on her face, he wanted to kick his own ass for being so stupid. Damn it, he’d known he had to take it slow.

  “Sorry,” he apologized, putting enough distance between them so that Kendall would relax. “Guess that adrenaline charge was stronger than I thought. I didn’t mean to lose control.”

  That was an understatement, but once she’d put her lips on him, his cock had started doing the thinking. If he’d considered things for even a second, he would have realized not to take it further than a kiss.

  With a jerky nod, she put her back to him, and attempted to fasten her bra. Bug was shaking so bad, though, that she wasn’t having much luck. Again and again, she failed and finally he said quietly, “I’ll close it for you. If you trust me.”

  Kendall froze, then slowly turned to look at him over her shoulder, her light brown hair falling wildly into her face. At some point, he realized, he’d removed her clip, and had put his hands in her hair. She looked sexy as hell like that, and his body twitched in appreciation.