other weird shit she’d put up with today.
“How do your people get in and out of here, then?”
“We don’t,” he answered. “As I’ve already mentioned, we don’t have ships. So, we don’t travel outside of Eden.”
Her eyes narrowed as she glared down at him suspiciously. “That’s impossible.”
“The people of Eden don’t get visitors, and we don’t visit anyone. We’re more than happy in our village.”
“Then how am
She had a life in the stars. A job, a lover…
“We have electronic ways of contacting others on the planet, but not outside. I’m really sorry.”
“Then, how am I supposed to get off this rock?”
“You can’t get off,” the guy whispered. “Though, I can take care of you. Take you back to my village and provide shelter, food, and drink-”
“I don’t need a babysitter. I need to get a job done!” She checked her watch. Sackor was going to be pissed.
“A babysitter?” He looked confused. “That’s not what I’m offering.”
“Then, what are you trying to say?”
Maybe, she should have stayed with the scoundrel who had offered her a better life-a simple way out of the dangerous situations she usually stumbled into. If she’d accepted Ulric’s proposal, she wouldn’t be sitting on some stranger, on a weird planet, with no way of contacting anyone else in the galaxy. Still, it was too late to regret her decision. She’d denied Ulric and was now stuck on Eden.
Alex winced when she made a move to stand up.
The man caught her arm to stop her. “Are you hurt?”
“It’s my ribs. Don’t worry about it. Nothing’s broken.”
“I can take a look for you. I’m a healer,” he said.
“Are you some sort of doctor?” She couldn’t see a bag anywhere. How was he going to heal her exactly?
“No, I’m a
“Do we need to go to a medical center or something?” In a medical facility, they’d have some form of comm-unit. They had to.
He shook his head. “No, I can heal you with my hands.”
“Okay,” she replied skeptically. They must do things
“What’s your name? I’m Damon.”
“I’m Alex.”
“Alex is an unusual name for a girl, but I like it,” Damon said with a lopsided grin. “Will you accompany me to my village before nightfall?”
“Are you asking me out on a date?” she teased. Maybe that’s why he’d offered to use his hands to ‘heal’ her.
His brow furrowed. “Would you say ‘yes’ if I was?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry. It was a joke.” She looked around. He was right. The light shining down so brightly only minutes before had almost receded into the horizon.
“Night comes quickly on this side of the planet.” He answered her unasked question.
“Right.” Alex felt a sprinkle on her arm. She lifted it and noticed several droplets of green liquid had burned through her jacket and onto her skin. The thick substance seeped in through her pores and became tiny squirmy things beneath the surface. “What the hell?”
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
“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
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
“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
