As screwed up as everything was, she needed to put it into some sort of order. She had to make real sense out of all the pieces, which started to fit together the moment she found Ulric naked on the bed with her.
When she was sure there was nothing left to throw up, she straightened and flushed. Then, she headed for the sink to clean her hands, as well as rinsed her mouth out several times. Luckily, she’d dumped her toiletries bag in here earlier, so she quickly brushed her teeth before rinsing with mouthwash.
She found it strange that the locals could so casually refer to Eden as a village, giving the impression of a rural place, yet their indoor plumbing was as sophisticated as it was in cities. This place was full of contradictions.
“Alex…”
How the hell did Ulric get to this damn planet?There was only one way it could have happened, and she didn’t like it one bit.
She hit the edge of the sink with an open palm. “Shit!”
“Alex, are you okay in there?”
The bathroom door was still open, but she appreciated Damon staying outside. She wasn’t ready for him just yet. Not having to actually see Damon at the moment made it a little easier to deal with this. Only a little.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” She unwrapped the moist bandage from around her hand and flinched. She’d forgotten to take it off before cleaning her hands. The skin looked tender and red. It hadn’t scabbed over yet, but it looked bruised. She couldn’t remember if it actually looked worse than when Damon had cleaned it out.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“What made you scream before?”
“I had a bad dream,” she lied. Her dream hadn’t been bad at all. She’d recalled the night her father helped her change her life for the better. It’s what happened after the dream, when she’d slid into a dreamless sleep-and then woke up to find a man who never left Anteris-that was driving her insane. She’d been so convinced Damon had sneaked into her room to surprise her, and instead had found Ulric.
She couldn’t keep her hands from shaking. Did I really see him turn into some sort of animal?
Alex shook her head. As ridiculous as it sounded, she was positive she had. One second, he was backing away from her, and the next he literally changed right before her eyes. Of course, realizing her choker was found at the scene of a vicious crime now made total sense, but how could she tell Damon any of this without rousing suspicion?
She hadn’t invited Ulric to come along for a ride on Promise, and he sure as hell hadn’t been hiding in one of Sackor’s barrels. Yet, she’d inadvertently caused those violent deaths. Ulric had somehow stowed away on her ship, and she hadn’t even detected him.
Ulric is turning into a monster and killing people because of me.
“Are you okay, now?” Damon asked.
“Yeah, I just need to take a quick shower. That’s all.” She doubted a shower would cleanse away all the grime she felt internally, but she needed to wash Ulric’s touch off her skin.
How could she be so disgusted by a man whom she’d craved for so long?
Alex sighed. That wasn’t important right now. She was determined to have a nice, warm shower and take the time she needed to sort through a few things.
Then, she’d do the only thing that would totally erase the chills from her body-seduce Damon.
Damon didn’t chase Alex into the bathroom. He could take a hint and knew she wanted to be alone right now. Whatever dream she’d woken up from had obviously affected her so much that she needed to be totally alone.
When the water started up, he headed for the armchair with his armload of hardback books. He paused when he noticed Alex’s bag sitting on the seat. He could clearly see a picture tucked into the mesh pocket at the front but decided not to touch it. He didn’t want to disturb her things, didn’t want to pry. She might be keeping some things from him, but he refused to find them out by spying on her. Not like Elroy was determined to do.
As Damon headed for the bed, with the light of day now filtering in through the large window behind him, he noticed a patch of dirt and leaves on the tiled floor. When he leaned over, it became obvious that they were actually half-made footprints leading to the bed.
Damon placed the four books he hoped to find answers from at the foot of the bed and inspected the sheets. There, he found several dark patches as well. “Levi!”
He ran into the room. “Yes, Damon?”
“Did anyone come into this room while I was gone?”
He looked away, shaking his head. “No, I stood by the door the whole time, and no one approached.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Okay, thanks. You can go home. I’ll stay here, now.”
“What happened to her this time?” Levi asked.
“Bad dream.”
Without saying anything else, Levi lowered his head and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. Damon had no idea what was going on, but he was sure someone hadcome into this room. He trusted Levi when he claimed he hadn’t seen or heard anything, but that didn’t change the facts. Judging by Alex’s reaction, he was sure something strange hadhappened. She didn’t strike him as the kind of woman who scared easily or ran away from her problems. Yet, he could feel her tension from here.
What happened to her?
He decided it was best to grab his books and read about men who turned into animals. After all, even if the only explanations he found were old folktales and myths, at least it would give him somewhere to start. From his experience, a lot of myths were more truth than story.
Damon glanced at the thin book right on the bottom: Priestess amp; Goddess.
He hadn’t intended to grab this one, but what Alex had pointed out about Aleena bothered him for some reason. Why hadn’t he ever thought to question who their Priestess worshipped, if anyone? Who were the population of Eden secretly devoted to, through her? Maybe, he never bothered to ask, because everything was so efficiently run. The problems in Eden were minimal. The population of 700 all lived in harmony and managed to produce one generation of offspring after another. This was as close to utopia as anyone could get, so whywould he dispute it?
It wasn’t until Alex appeared in his life that he started to challenge anything around him. This society was all he’d known. His whole life’s memories were made on this beautiful part of the planet, led by the strong and caring Priestess Aleena.
He’d been the only one to roam outside the walls and discover every inch of the planet, returning to report his findings to the Priestess. Sometimes, he took others with him, and they didn’t come back because of the birds or the lake, but no one ever went out without him. They couldn’t.