Page 1 of Dark Awakening: New World

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JASMINE

First kiss.

Jasmine had had many of those, and most had been exciting, but none compared to the one she had just shared with Ell-rom.

None even got close.

Perhaps it was the exhilaration of finally reconciling the elusive prince her tarot had promised with the flesh and blood male she'd saved from wasting away in a nonfunctioning stasis chamber.

A stasis chamber that had been inside a crashed escape pod, which had been ejected from an exploding alien ship. It could be a great script for a sci-fi movie in which Jasmine was the star, but ironically, she had never even auditioned for one of those.

The closest she had gotten to playing a part in a fantasy or a sci-fi production was when she had gotten a callback for a zombie apocalypse film. In the end, she had not gotten that part, which she hadn't been too sorry about.

Zombies freaked her out, and she wasn't a fan, but she had watched all the big sci-fi movies. All the Star Treks, Star Wars, Stargate, and Independence Day.

The last one was her favorite, especially the president's speech. But while most remembered the famous line, we will not go quietly into the night, Jasmine favored a different one—you will be fighting for our freedom not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live, to exist.

Jasmine chuckled.

The speech was epic, but in that film, the aliens were the enemy, and humans cooperated to save the planet, while, in reality, it was the opposite. The aliens were trying to save humanity, while humans were more divided than ever, and World War III was brewing.

Well, at least she was aligned with the good guys and was now part of an alternative reality that had been running parallel to the one that had prevailed throughout human history.

Until a few short weeks ago, Jasmine had no clue of its existence, and the most out-there thing she had ever done had been to join the Wicca community and practice a bit of harmless witchcraft. In her wildest dreams, she couldn't have imagined that it would lead her to kiss an alien prince who was part god, as in the mythological gods of yore, and part a completely alien race, the Kra-ell, who drank blood for sustenance.

It wasn't Ell-rom's alien origin that had made the kiss magical, though. It was the fact that it had been his first.

Ever.

Her prince had been a priest in training when he had been smuggled onto the settler ship, and Kra-ell priests were celibate. Ell-rom was a virgin, an innocent she had tempted with forbidden fruit…

Jasmine's fingers flew to her lips. "Oh, dear Goddess. What have I done?"

Ell-rom's eyelids, which had been at half-mast until she'd spoken, popped wide open. "What's wrong? Are you not allowed to kiss me?"

The guilty look in his eyes made it evident that he had been aware he was not supposed to get intimate with a woman, and yet he hadn't stopped her.

Jasmine wanted to believe that he had been overcome by desire or didn't care about his religious obligations because he couldn't remember them, but it was more likely that he felt indebted to her.

After all, she had saved him and his twin sister from death and then pulled him out of a coma by talking and singing to him for days.

No, it couldn't be gratitude.

Ell-rom still looked dazed and euphoric from the kiss, so it had to be lust or maybe even some tender feelings that Jasmine didn't dare hope for.

Nevertheless, she should have been mindful of his situation and not tempted him. He shouldn't succumb to desire until he remembered more about his past and figured out where he stood concerning his religious convictions.

"I'm so sorry." She took his hand. "Well, that's a lie. I'm not sorry that I kissed you. I'm sorry about you being a celibate priest and for tempting you to do something that you were not supposed to."

As Ell-rom frowned, guilt made Jasmine shift her gaze away from his handsome face and look at the wall behind his hospital bed. The unadorned, cream-colored walls and medical equipment were a reminder of his vulnerable condition. She had just taken advantage of a male who, only a day ago, hadn't been able to remember his own name.

"I don't recall what being a priest entailed," he said. "I don't even remember what I was taught about spirituality. The only reason I know I was a priest is that you, Jade, and Annani told me about it." He rubbed a hand over his jaw. "Jade said it was my mother's way to protect my sister and me. We didn't look Kra-ell, and we were in mortal danger if we were discovered. They didn't tolerate hybrids where we came from. The only way she could hide us was to put us in the temple where we were protected by the head priestess and the robing that veiled us from head to toe. It wasn't our choice to join the priesthood. Do I have to follow a path I didn't choose?"

Jasmine wanted to say that he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to or didn't feel duty-bound to do, but the truth was that neither of them knew what his life had been like in the temple. What if he had found it satisfying to dedicate himself to serving the Mother of All Life and helping others with their spiritual journey?

Despite her love of carnal pleasures, Jasmine could understand how giving it all up could be fulfilling when it was done in the service of others.

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