Alex Wales: Promise

“Ah, never mind,” she said with a frustrated sigh. What was the point? One way or another, she already knew where this would lead. “Just answer my first question. How did you know where to find me?”

“I didn’t.” Damon dabbed the washcloth against her arm, cleaning it. “You fell onto Eden hours ago, so I think you must have been unconscious for a while.”

“Yeah, I was.” The watch wrapped around her uninjured wrist had confirmed it. She winced.

“Sorry,” he said, dabbing softly. “I spent hours out there and walked past the same spot many times before you fell on me.”

Heat rose up her neck and face. She cleared her throat. “That doesn’t explain why you were looking for anyone.”

“Oh, yes. Priestess told us of the breach.”

So, they did have ways of knowing when someone neared or entered their atmosphere. It gave her hope for getting out of here.

“This must be terribly confusing for you,” Damon said with a small smile. “If it’s any consolation, we’ll take very good care of you. Priestess Aleena has been talking about the prophecy of the space traveler since I was a kid.”

“You sure know how to make a girl feel special.” Special…and weird.

“Alex, you arespecial, and not just because of the prophecy. Magic is woven deep inside you. I can feel it.”

“Listen, you’re gonna have to stop with the magic talk, okay? I’ve already told you. I don’t believe in it.”

“Just because you don’t believe in it, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Were either of your parents magic users?” He dried the skin of her forearm with a small towel.

She snorted. “No.” If either one of her parents had access to any sort of mumbo-jumbo, she would’ve known about it, because they’d have used it for self-gain.

Damon stared at her for a moment. “Would you like me to show you some magic?”

She rolled her eyes. “Are you going to pull a rabbit out of a hat or something? Trust me, I’ve paid good credits to see many an illusionist. Although most are good, they’re all frauds at heart, using sleight of hand and other acts of trickery.”

Alex had been involved with an illusionist-a man who lived in a spaceport on the other side of the galaxy. Wondrous William had amazed her with a great many illusions, both in and out of the bedroom, but mostly he was good at swindling credits out of her. Will had been trying to contact her for weeks, but she’d ignored every message he sent to Promise during her stay on the Anteris Space Station.

It was just her luck to now be stranded on a planet where magic and prophecies existed. It would have been easier to live the rest of her days naked on Zeal, the Aphrodite-worshipping planet.

“There’s no trickery in magic.” Damon dropped the washcloth back into the bowl and placed the towel beside it. Then, he leaned over, pulling her arm closer to his face.

“What are you doing?”

“Just relax and watch, okay?”

Damon’s mouth hovered over her skin, and for a second, she thought he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t. Instead, he blew a line of warm breath along the cut he’d made when scraping the worms out.

A shiver raced through her body. The skin of her forearm tingled-a thousand tiny pinpricks soothing her so much, she wanted to lean back into the armchair and close her eyes to the unbelievable sensations. Her nipples tightened inside her bra, and something hot stirred between her legs. For a moment, Alex felt as if she was going to have an orgasm.

“Don’t close your eyes. Keep watching,” Damon whispered. His breath made her skin buzz.

She squirmed in her seat but kept her eyes pinned to her arm. Alex watched, in disbelief, as the separated skin blended with the rest of her arm.

“What the hell?” She pulled out of his grasp to take a closer look. The wound was completely healed over. She ran her fingertips over the smooth skin. It felt and looked as if it had never been cut. “What did you do? How did you do it?”

“I worked some magic to heal you.”

“No, really. Howdid you do it?”

“I used the arcane all around us and connected it to your own magic to heal you.” His eyes were bright with wonder.

“I’ve already told you, I don’t have any magic!”

He shrugged. “Every living soul has some sort of magic within them. Wouldn’t you say that being alive is magical enough?”

She didn’t answer. She just kept looking at her flawless skin. There wasn’t even a scar to mark where he’d cut her.

“There are some who have it inside them but don’t know how to connect to it, but I can help you with that.”

“No, thanks.” Alex refused to believe his insane claims. They lived in a time of technology and space travel, where most of the galaxy’s population chose to live inside space stations rather than on planets. Yet this place was different, starting with the tall walls surrounding the gardens, all the way to those hideous bird beasts, and whatever other dangers lurked outside this seemingly safe sanctuary.

What was she doing here? More importantly, how the hell was she going to get out?

“In time you’ll feel it, yourself. You won’t be able to hold it back any longer,” Damon said.

“I don’t intend to be here too long.” Alex met his gaze with a harsh glare.

Something crossed in front of those gorgeous green irises and seemed to disappear just as quickly. “I don’t wish to have the same conversation with you over and over again, Alex. It seems like you continue to dwell on the fact that you’ll soon leave, but you won’t. This is where your destiny lies-”

“My destiny is out in space, delivering cargo.”

“No, your destiny is here with me.” His jaw was clenched tight, gaze pinned on hers. He lowered his voice and said, “Besides, carrying stolen cargo originating from our planet isn’t exactly a destiny.”

Alex didn’t bother to ask him how he knew for sure when she hadn’t confirmed anything about the liquid.

She tried to keep the goosebumps at bay, but they were spreading all over her body. “No, your destiny is here with me.”Why would someone who was practically a stranger say something so bizarre? It reminded her of Ulric’s confession of love. What was going on? Why was everyone acting so strangely around her? Even Sackor’s sleazy advances had increased in tenacity lately.

“Besides, you need to help us,” Damon said.

“From where I stand, it doesn’t look like your society needs any help.”

Damon dropped his gaze and took her injured hand in his. He unraveled the bandage she’d wrapped around the Sackor-induced wound and stared at it silently, for too long.

“What’s wrong?”

“How did you get this wound?”

“Someone accidentally scratched me.”

“I think it’s infected.” He reached for the washcloth again and rinsed it to clear off the blood clinging to it. He wrung the excess water out and dabbed at the taut skin between her thumb and index finger.

She winced at the instant sting and tried to pull out of his grasp, but he held on tighter. “Don’t move. I need to clean this before it gets any worse. Tell me who did this to you.”

“An idiot. It’s not important.”

“This might take some time to heal.”

“Can’t you just blow on it and make it go away?” She wasn’t comfortable with his bogus claim