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
“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 naive 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
Alex wanted some time to think this through, try to understand why he said
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.
Chapter Six
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.
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.
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.
When he took the first step, the loud screeching overhead was quickly followed up with a sharp stabbing to his back.
He made a move to get free.
The creature shrieked in his ear, digging its claws deeper into his skin and fur. He tried to shrug it off, but he was pecked in the back of the head. Warm blood trickled down his scalp and the back of his neck, but a wound was nothing to the majestic creature he’d become.
Ulric had no idea what had happened, but the change had come swiftly and easily. Out of nowhere, to fill him with a strength and hunger he’d never known before. This creature attacking him didn’t stand a chance against the wrath he suddenly felt inside.
Nothing was going to keep him from finding Alex.
She was the reason why he was here. She was the reason for everything, now.
He lifted his front legs, struggling to wrap his paws around the creature’s skinny neck, damning the fact he couldn’t, because he was no longer a man with hands and fingers. Instead, he sneaked a look over his shoulder and extended his claws, digging them into the creature. He swung it over his head, slamming its bony body on the ground in front of him.
He took a step back, away from the bird-like animal, taking the opportunity to get his next move figured out as it struggled on its back. Before it had a chance to take flight, he leaped forward, but the creature pecked him in the face.
Agony tore through him.
He collapsed to the ground and roared in protest.
The wounded bird took flight, disappearing into the air.
Ulric took the opportunity to get to his feet, disappointed that he couldn’t check his face with his paws without making it worse. As much as he tried to wish himself back into human form, he remained an animal.
How was Alex going to react when she saw what he’d become? Why had this happened to him,
