Page 69 of The Edge of Dawn

Something about him had changed. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she swore it wasn’t just her imagination—he wasn’t so cold and indifferent toward her anymore.

That put him on a whole ‘nother level.

And she couldn’t deny that he was attractive. He was big, bad, and otherworldly. Who wouldn’t find him tempting?

Her body was burning up. She slipped her good hand between her thighs and held it there for a moment, thrumming with growing arousal.

What am I doing?

Here she was, indulging in little fantasies about dangerous Kordolian males, and yet she was light-years away from Earth—away from everything she’d ever known—and she didn’t understand a thing about this new reality.

Shouldn’t she feel different? More afraid? Shouldn’t she yearn to return to Earth?

But she didn’t feel that way at all.

Sighing, she unsteadily rose to her feet, putting all her weight on her good foot and leaning heavily on her little hovering assistant, which, apparently, was waterproof. Of course it was.

There was a small recess in the wall with a sleek rack containing a selection of fragranced body washes, shampoo, and conditioner. Things like grapefruit and lavender, vanilla and sandalwood, and minty rose.

Huh.

Alien space station?

More like a fancy hotel.

Voices murmured in her head as she one-handedly worked the heavenly-smelling shampoo through her hair. But unlike the loud, intrusive voices she’d experienced on Earth, this was a soft background murmur, almost soothing.

As an experiment, she tried the thing Dragek had taught her—the glass jar trick. In her mind, she formed invisible walls and imagined herself as a separate entity contained by her own will.

Apart from everyone and everything else.

This time, it was easier.

Silence came at once.

And she began to understand.

She could choose to merge with the Universe or be completely separate from it.

Her mind, her body.

Her will.

The Kordolians might be in control of everything here, but she could choose what—and who—she allowed to enter her consciousness.

That was a start.

How ironic that the one who’d taught her this was a Kordolian himself.

“Jade.”

And just as his presence overwhelmed her thoughts again, a distant yet familiar voice reached her ears through the rush of the shower.

No. It couldn’t be him. She was in her own private chambers, and the doors were sealed. She was imagining things.

But still, she swore she’d just heard…

“Is… someone there?” she called out, feeling ridiculous. There was no way he’d come in here looking for her.

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