WARRIORS OF THE DARKNESS

By

Mandy M. Roth

© copyright March 2006, Mandy M. Roth

Cover art by Jenny Dixon, © copyright March 2006

ISBN 1-58608-855-6

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

Dedication

To Shane for supporting me in all I do. Oh, and volunteering to be my research subject was also very kind. To my editor, Andrea, for dealing with my semi-regular freak out sessions and not taping me to a wall as revenge. Last but not least, to my mom for never being caught without one of my bookmarks on hand. Thank you for being my biggest fan.

Chapter One

Colonel Alejandro Vargas watched silently, ready and willing to shoot Lt. Fulk Rodriquez if he dared to cross the line with the two civilian doctors that were assigned until further notice to their team. Rodriquez would heal the wound--eventually. It’s what their kind did. Some shifters took longer than others but in the end, he’d be just fine.

“So, what’s that say?” Fulk asked, tapping the wall full of carvings with his M-16. It was the last thing he should do in a place as old as the temple they’d found but it was so typical of Fulk that no one commented, not even the attractive doctor that had been working so hard to decipher the writing. She seemed to be in a world all her own, the same as her counterpart who had not ventured from her post either.

Both women were more than attractive, though one had managed to not only capture his attention but seemed to demand it. Dr. Murray’s golden waves of hair touched her mid-back and her blue eyes continued to flicker in his direction from time to time. Her body was so close to perfect that he had a hard time believing no part of it was altered. At five feet ten inches tall she came to his chin and that was a rare find. From what he could gather by staring at her, her army issued desert fatigues and dark tan tee shirt did little to hide a toned and well curved body. His cock liked what it saw, so the rest of him wasn’t about to complain.

Alejandro couldn’t tell if Dr. Murray was interested in him or nervous of him. Each time he caught her watching him, she looked away quickly. It was kind of cute and left him feeling young again. He was dressed in fatigues and packing enough ammunition and weapons to take out a small army so it was understandable if it was the latter of the two. He knew he looked intimidating. Any other time, he’d have been pleased to think he was making someone nervous but the idea of scaring her sickened him.

Dr. Ondrea Harris, the petite friend of the blonde one stood slowly and ran her fingers over the markings on the wall. “They’re based loosely off Egyptian hieroglyphics but they aren’t like anything I’ve ever seen before. It’s freaky.”

Freaky? Great, this is one of our experts.

Fulk nodded, his chin length brown hair fell into his face. “This whole place is freaky. One minute we’re standing in a desert and the next we’re in a tropical rainforest. I keep waiting for a snowstorm to hit. This sure the hell isn’t like our Earth.”

She smiled. “I agree. From the base to here we spent less than fifteen minutes driving and covered that much of a climate and terrain change. It’s remarkable.

“I just can’t understand how it is that they have Egyptian writing here as well. From all outward appearances, this temple looks Mayan, yet, I’m positive these aren’t Mayan markings. The strangest part of it all is that I’m sure some of this is Latin as well. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Ondrea glanced towards her friend who was busy with her nose in a pile of books. “Dr. Murray, come take a look at this.”

The blonde goddess continued to fiddle near a pedestal with her electronic equipment and books. She hummed softly and moved her alluring hips to music only she heard. It was both erotic and endearing. It seemed as though she didn’t have a care in the world. She’d arrived early in the morning and never once appeared shocked by the idea of being on a different planet or in another realm--whatever the scientist of the week was calling it. It was as though she did it daily. Maybe she did. Alejandro had requested files on all personnel coming aboard the project and was given all but hers. So far, he didn’t even know her first name and hadn’t heard her utter much more than a thank you. Granted, that one thank you had left his entire body cramping with the need to sink his dick into her.

He was sure of one thing, her smile made him weak in the knees. Already, she’d flashed her pearly whites at him twice, each time leaving his stomach flip-flopping and his heart racing. Alejandro felt like a love-struck junior high student. It was oddly liberating and terrifying all at the same time. There was also something familiar about her, but the idea of forgetting a face like hers was absurd, so he dismissed it.

Ondrea snorted. “Hello? Dr. Murray? Anyone home there or are you too busy locked up in your world of science to come back to us?”

The blonde kept swaying her hips while she held a pen in her mouth. Alejandro never before wanted to be a ballpoint pen. He did now. She tapped keys on her laptop and glanced at a stack of papers to her right. “Hmm.”

Ondrea smiled. “Hello, paging Dr. Murray. Is there a Dr. Murray in the freaky realm?”

Fulk chuckled. Dr. Murray danced in a small circle before returning to whatever it was that had been holding her attention all morning. Ondrea cast him a sideways glance. “Erm, I’d apologize for her but, really, she’ll only keep doing it. Plus, I’m one hundred percent sure that she has no idea she’s even doing it. She just sort of shuts off to everything around her when she gets going with something she’s into.”

Biting his lower lip, Alejandro did his best not to laugh at Dr. Murray as she tucked the pen behind her ear, picked up a piece of paper and danced while reading it. The worst part of it all was that not only was it funny to see a scientist not having a care in the world, it made him horny as hell to watch this one in particular.

Fulk grabbed a piece of native fruit from a tree near him and went to crack its outer shell. “I’m starved. I’ve got to admit these aren’t so bad. Taste a little like a pear mixed with an apple. Weird, but good.”

Ondrea glanced at him. “Hand me one.”

He gave her an odd look.

She rolled her eyes. “Please.”

Grinning, Fulk tossed a piece of what they’d taken to calling monkey-nuts because it was their job to go out of their way to be men and think of names for things to offend others. That and the monkey-like creatures that seemed to inhabit this particular section of the jungle seemed to like not only eating them but throwing them at the soldiers.

Ondrea caught the fruit and stared at Dr. Murray. A slow smile slid over her face. It was mischievous to say the least.

“You are not going to throw that at her,” Alejandro said, before he even thought about it.

Ondrea winked. “Wow, a little overprotective, aren’t you?”

Yes, but that wasn’t the point. Alejandro shrugged. “No. I’d just rather not have to explain why I let one civilian doctor knock another out. That’s all.”

“She’ll live. It’s fruit.”

“With a spiked outer shell,” he said, giving her a hard look.

Alejandro could almost see the wheels in Ondrea’s head spinning. Oh, she was going to throw it at Dr. Murray now just because he’d told her not to. He watched in what felt like slow motion as Ondrea hurled the fruit at Dr. Murray who was still dancing and reading from a piece of paper. The fruit had aligned perfectly with her head.

Drawing his bowie knife from its sheath, he sent it flying, ax-like at the fruit. It struck it, as he knew it would and changed the direction of the fruit. The knife wedged into a purple tree trunk to the right of Dr. Murray, spearing the fruit in the process.

Ondrea clapped. “Nice. But it wouldn’t have hurt her. Just so you know.”

Dr. Murray glanced at the tree and reached out tentatively. Taking hold of the handle, she pulled the knife free from the tree. She turned and arched a brow, appearing to be a little lost as to what was going on. “Did someone call me?”

Alejandro bit back a laugh as he held his M-16 close to him, needing anything to keep his mind off sinking his cock into her. The very idea of being able to touch her, caress her while he slid into what could only be a tight pussy made his palms begin to sweat and his stomach tighten. She would be the death of him if he had to stand around staring at her shaking her ass every day.