Shattered Promises 02 - Fractured Souls Jessica Sorensen (top 10 novels of all time TXT) 📖

you because you have the star’s energy in you. It was her way of trying to protect you from anyone who tried to use magic on you to get to the star’s power.”

“So why didn’t it work when I was little?” My voice is sharp and bitter. “When Sophia detached my soul from my emotions? Why didn’t it protect me then?”

Alex shuts his eyes, his face contorted in pain. “Stephan knew what it was and he took it off you before Sophia detached your soul.” He opens his eyes and they’re glossed over. “That’s why I tucked it into your shirt in the Jeep. So he wouldn’t see it and take it off.”

I remember when Alex was about to climb out of the Jeep back at the cabin in Colorado. The Death Walkers and Stephan had just shown up and stopped us from running away. Alex had reached over and tucked the locket under the collar of my shirt, whispering, whatever you do, keep that hidden. Don’t let anyone know you have it.

“So you were planning all along to save me.” I’m doubtful because none of this makes sense. There are so many questions without answers, like why Stephan and the Death Walkers would just walk away.

He shrugs. “Pretty much.”

“But that goes against everything you said… how my soul had to be detached or else the star’s power would die and then the portal would open and the world would end.” I frown, thinking of my dooming fate. That I might die, or live and be hollow, neither of which were options that I wanted. I want normalcy, plain and simple.

His hand slides up my thigh and halts at the top of my shorts and the rage burning inside me fizzles. My heart and body want one thing and my mind another. What do I want?

“Things changed between us… you know that. When we… after we…” He drifts off.

“Had sex.” I strive to sound blasé, but my cheeks heat.

His eyes are secured on mine and he displays no emotions at all. “It was more than that, wasn’t it?”

My cheeks flame even hotter, though I refuse to look away. “I have no idea… I have nothing else to compare it to. Besides, that was my fault... I pretty much begged you to do it.”

He keeps one hand on my thigh and reaches his free hand up to cup my face. Being touched intimately always throws me off guard since I didn’t experience any human connection for about fourteen years. Something as simple as being touched both frightens and enthralls me to the point where I do irrational things, solely based on my hormones.

“You asked me to kiss you. I’m the one that took it that far because I…” he grapples for words he never does find. “And I meant what I said when I woke you up. If my father wouldn’t have shown up, I would have gotten you out of there and hid until we figured something out.”

“But we didn’t make it that far, did we?” I scoot away from him. “And then you held that rock up in front of me…”

He rubs his hand across his face, letting his fingers linger on the smudged black spot on the middle of his forehead.

“What happened to your head?” I reach out to touch him, but then retreat. The last thing I want to do is trust him again and end up in a situation like back at the cabin in Colorado.

“It’s from the memoriaextracto,” he whispers, rubbing the spot with his fingertips. I’m surprised when it stays and doesn’t smudge.

“Why did it do that to you?”

“Because the magic bounced back on me.”

I scan him over; long lean arms, solid shoulders, a firm, stubbly jawline. “But then how could you… do you… huh?’

“That’s what the sugilitedoes,” he explains. “Those who try to use harmful magic on someone who has sugilite on them, automatically gets magical harm done on them instead. So when I used it on you it bounced back on me.”

“And you knew that was going to happen?” I gape at him.

“Better me than you.” He shrugs, acting nonchalant, the exact opposite from the meaning his words convey.

“When you say the magic bounced back on you, does that mean your memory was erased?” I inquire. “Because you seem fine now.”

“I am fine now,” he assures me. “But for a while there…” he blinks and then his face contorts like he’s remembering an excruciating memory.

“But you weren’t fine?”

“No. I blacked out. When I woke up Stephan and the Death Walkers were gone.”

“And you have no idea where they went?” I question. “Or why they just left?”

He shakes his head. “By the time I came to, Aislin and Laylen had shown up to a torn up cabin and you were still passed out.”

Pushing past my confliction, I extend my hand forward to rub the black spot on his head. The contact brings a euphoric tingle to my body that I secretly bask in. “Is this permanent?”

He watches me intently. “It’ll go away eventually.”

I withdraw my hand to my lap, fighting the impulse to touch him some more. “What about your head?”

The corners of his mouth tug upward. “What about it?”

“Is it okay?”

“Do you want it to be okay?”

I tuck my hand under my leg to keep from touching him again. “I’m sure it probably has its benefits.”

“Like what?” he wonders, looking amused.

“You tell me,” I say. “I’m sure you have answers. More than you’re probably sharing.”

Frowning, he retrieves something from the pocket of his jeans. “Put this back on.” He holds his hand in front of me and in his palm is a silver, heart-shaped locket with a small, violet stone in the center.

I don’t take the locket right away. Can I trust Alex to help me instead of harm me? Is he finally telling the truth? Considering his track record, my initial instinct is to scream no! However, there’s something else inside me that’s conflicting. My emotions. Those Goddamn tingling and fluttering