Yolanda Sfetsos - Alex Wales - Promise

Alex craned her neck. The steady stream of green liquid dripped from the tree above. It took her a few seconds to realize it was leaking from her ship. Sackor’s cargo! The suspicious barrels she regularly transported for him must have been damaged during the crash.

“Is everything all right?”

She pushed off Damon and stood, getting out of the leaking liquid’s path.

He followed suit and took a step forward. “Alex, are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She pulled up her sleeve. Alex couldn’t take her eyes off the tiny worms-or whatever they were-squirming beneath the skin of her arm.

Damon followed her gaze, grabbed her right arm, and held it up to stare at it. A frown darkened his face. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I must remove them before they reach any of your vital organs.”

“You know what they are?”

“Parasites,” he answered, lifting her arm for an even closer inspection.

“What the hell?” Her stomach flipped with disgust. What would these horrid things do to her?

“These tiny creatures live as eggs inside the waters of Lake Eros. They can survive in that form indefinitely, but once they come in contact with the skin of another living creature, they penetrate it. The egg hatches beneath the surface, and they eventually make their way into the heart or lungs, even kidneys and liver of their host.”

“Then what?”

“The host dies.”

“That’s it? They hatch and kill? What happens to them? ” Alex tried to pry her arm away from his grasp, but his grip tightened.

“They die with the host.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“These parasitic worms are micro-organisms. They’re supposed to live in the lake. They’re not supposed to be removed.” His lips pressed into a thin line, and his brow furrowed as he continued to inspect her arm.

“Are you telling me these things belong in a lake somewhere?” If she made it out of this alive, she was going to kill that asshole, Sackor. What the hell was he doing transporting this stuff across the galaxy, anyway?

“Yes.”

“Where’s this Lake Eros?” It was strange, because even though she could see the tiny worms squirming away, she couldn’t feel them.

“It’s on this planet.”

“What?” That didn’t make any sense.

Damon lifted his gaze and met hers. “There have been several incidents with these worms before, but only when someone comes into contact with them in the water.”

She didn’t want to state the obvious, but someone-possibly Sackor himself-not only had access to Eden but had been taking this liquid for years. This wasn’t the first time she’d transported these barrels, but it was the first time she’d crashed landed and had any of it seep into her skin.

“Is this kind of lake common on other planets?” She had to know.

“Not that I’m aware of, but I don’t have contact with other places. I’ve already explained that to you.” Damon pinched her skin between his fingers.

“Hey, that hurts!”

“I know it does,” he said. “Where’s the liquid coming from?”

“I’m not sure,” she lied, looking up.

He pulled a knife out of his pocket and held the tip against her arm.

“Wait a sec. What are you going to do with that? ”

“I have to cut them out. It’s the only way to ensure they don’t spread.” He didn’t wait for a response and instead stuck the blade into her arm. He cut a straight line along her forearm, using the tip of the blade to flip the skin and scrape at the exposed wound.

“Ouch.” She instinctively tried to pull free.

“Stop moving. I’ve almost got all of them!” With that admonition, he continued to scrape, flinging all the dead worms off the blade. “They’re gone, now.” He loosened his grip but didn’t release her.

Alex looked down at the raw patch of red on her arm. He’d flipped the skin back into place, and the horrid worms were gone. Yet, she wasn’t bleeding.

“I need to dress your wound,” he said. “I can heal it properly when we reach the village.”

“Thanks, but I think-”

“This’ll do until we get home.” Damon ripped a section off the bottom of his sleeveless shirt and wrapped it around her arm several times. “I can’t heal you out here, but in my village, I should be able to. Can you tell me why liquid from one of our lakes is dripping from your ship?”

Alex couldn’t take her eyes off his firm abdomen, now exposed by the missing piece of cloth. His skin was smooth, and his tight muscles rippled with his every move. “It wasn’t my ship.” She met his gaze.

“I might be naïve to the way of space travelers, but I’m not stupid, Alex.” His eyes were intense, so green they sparkled.

A sharp screech overhead distracted her. “What was that?”

“We need to get out of here. Now!”

“Why? What’s going on?”

Damon’s face turned upward, and his eyes narrowed. “After dark, the birds come out to hunt. They feed on anything and everything they can find.”

“What birds?” The screeching above didn’t sound like any bird she’d ever heard. On her mother’s planet, birdlife was abundant-canaries, budgies, cockatoos, parrots, and many more she couldn’t even name. None of them sounded as scary or as big as whatever was flying over the trees, though.

Goosebumps rose along her skin. Alex leaned over and picked up her discarded backpack. “I don’t like the idea of leaving my ship unattended-”

“They’re carnivorous scavengers. They won’t touch your ship, but you don’t want to be outside long enough for them to notice.” Damon wrapped his hand around hers. She cringed when he pulled on the bandage over the cut she’d gotten from Sackor.

Alex wanted some time to think this through, try to understand why he said she shouldn’t be out here, and hadn’t included himself. He was as much flesh and blood as she was, and if these scavengers were a threat to her, why not to him?

She also had to figure out how Sackor could have accessed liquid from a planet that wasn’t detected by radar. She could hopefully figure everything out later, but right now, there were some very scary birds descending toward them, and she didn’t particularly want to see them up close.

“Come on.” When Damon dragged on her arm, she realized there was no time to think, only to run.

The beast leaped out of the trees, landing with a thump on the leafy ground.

He raised himself on his hind legs, raised his snout, and sniffed the air. Something smelled familiar. It wasn’t just the scent of the woman the human part of him craved so much. Her sweet scent was mingled with that of an unfamiliar male, as well as the multitude of smells the jungle around him radiated.

He wasn’t entirely Ulric, anymore.

The man he’d always been remained somewhere deep inside, but he’d faded into the background and given command to some sort of animal. He looked at his hands, now caramel-colored paws, but still holding Alex’s leather necklace and golden bracelet.

What the hell happened to me?

Voices distracted him.

He slowly made his way toward them, peeking around the tree housing the wrecked ship he’d just jumped from.

“What birds?” There she was, Alex. She stood with a man, and he was standing too close to her.

The screech overhead distracted Ulric, and when he turned back to Alex, the man had grabbed her hand and was dragging her away.

No, she’s mine!

Ulric raced out into the clearing, surprised at how easily moving as a four-legged animal was, but he got there too late. The man had already led Alex into the path ahead of him. Entangled with branches, he couldn’t see anything but darkness.