Page 29

I woke to warmth against my side, much different from the cold stone floors and metal restraints that had featured in my dreams. For a moment, the feeling startled me, my markings prickling beneath my skin in automatic defense. Then awareness flooded back – the Eastern Settlement, safety, Ravik.

Ravik. My mate.

The word still felt strange, carrying weight and meaning I was only beginning to understand.

I turned my head on the soft sleeping mat to study his profile in the dim light filtering through the vashkai dwelling’s woven curtains.

The air carried the subtle, earthy scent of the living stone from which the Nyxari grew their homes, mixed with the herbal aroma of Selene’s healing salve still faintly present on Ravik’s bandaged torso.

His blue skin caught the faint light in a way that made it look almost luminous, the golden tracery of his lifelines visible even at rest. The patterns seemed stronger now, more defined than during our captivity, when Hammond’s experiments had dimmed their glow.

His chest rose and fell in the deep rhythm of healing sleep, the worst of his injuries now fading to new scars.

His left arm bore a long, healing gash from the shattered console that had collapsed during our escape.

Beneath the bandages around his ribs, I knew three fractures were still knitting together.

I shifted slightly, careful not to wake him.

My own body had recovered faster, my markings having absorbed most of the energy backlash when I’d severed Hammond’s connection to the shard.

The blindness had been temporary, my vision returning gradually over the past days, though sometimes I still saw faint energy patterns overlaying the physical world – an aftereffect of the interface with the Nexus subsystems. Selene had explained that my optic nerves had been temporarily overloaded by the energy surge, but no permanent damage remained.

Ravik’s tail twitched slightly against my ankle, responding to some dream.

The muscular appendage was as expressive as his face, perhaps more so.

I found myself smiling at the unconscious movement.

The touch against my skin felt like belonging, like safety – concepts I’d nearly forgotten during the endless months of running and hiding.

His eyes opened, golden irises finding mine immediately. In the dim morning light, they seemed to glow from within, pupils adjusting quickly to the low illumination.

“You’re thinking too loudly,” he murmured, voice rough with sleep. The sound vibrated through his chest where my hand rested.

I raised an eyebrow. “The bond doesn’t work that way.” Our connection allowed emotions to flow between us, occasional flashes of sensation, but not direct thought transfer except during our most intimate moments.

“No, but your restlessness does.” His hand found mine, fingers interlacing in a gesture that had become familiar, his skin several degrees warmer than mine. “Your markings are active.”

I glanced down to find silver patterns visible beneath my skin, responding to his proximity.

The intricate designs had spread further across my body since our escape, now tracing up my arms to my shoulders, across my torso, and down along my legs.

They no longer hurt as they once had, instead feeling like a warm current just beneath the surface. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He shifted, drawing me closer. The movement was careful, mindful of his healing ribs. I could feel his discomfort through our bond though his face remained impassive. “What troubles you?”

The scent of him filled my senses – something uniquely Ravik, like warm stone and spice. I’d hated that scent when we’d first been imprisoned together. Now it meant safety.

“Nothing troubles me,” I said, tracing a finger along one of his lifelines, watching it brighten at my touch like molten gold flowing beneath his skin. “That’s what’s strange.”

In that simple glow, I caught a glimpse of forever—of how his light would guide me long after the darkness of this war has faded. My pulse stuttered at the silent promise: whatever storms lay ahead, we would weather them side-by-side.

His low laugh vibrated through his chest, the sound rich and warm. “Peace is unfamiliar to us both.”

“We had to nearly die to find it.” The memory of our desperate escape flashed between us through the bond – alarms blaring, the burn of energy fields against my skin, the crushing pressure as I’d interfaced with the shard, his body shielding mine from falling debris.

“An effective, if extreme, method.” His expression sobered, golden eyes darkening. “Hammond still lives.”

“But we’re stronger now.” I met his gaze directly, feeling the bond between us humming with shared purpose. “And we know what he’s planning.”

Ravik’s hand found my face, his thumb brushing my cheek with a gentleness that still surprised me, given his size and strength. Through our bond, I felt his certainty, his determination, and beneath it, something deeper.

“Come here,” he whispered, drawing me closer.

The kiss was gentle at first, a reaffirmation rather than the desperate claiming of our previous encounters.

This softness felt revolutionary, as though the galaxy itself had paused to watch us breathe. I memorized the way her lashes fluttered against my cheek, storing the memory like a secret talisman for the battles ahead.

The bond between us pulsed, a harmonic resonance that had once been chaotic and painful but now felt like coming home.

I melted against him, mindful of his injuries but needing the connection, the confirmation that we had survived.

That this was real. His tail curled around my calf as his hands traced paths along my body.

The calluses on his palms from years of weapon training created a delicious friction that left warmth in their wake.

“I choose this,” I whispered against his mouth, tasting his breath, feeling the slight texture of his skin against mine. “I choose you.”

The words felt like more than a vow; they were an anchor tying our futures together. I drew strength from the way his entire body answered that promise, as if destiny itself had finally settled on a single, undeniable truth.

His eyes, now glowing with golden light, held mine. The intensity in them would have been frightening once – now it was a flame that matched the heat building between us. “As I choose you, Zara. Against all teaching, against all fear. I choose you.”

Our energies synchronized, markings and lifelines creating patterns of light that danced across our joined bodies. This time, there was no frantic desperation, no survival imperative – only the slow, deliberate exploration of two beings choosing to become one.

His mouth traced the path of my markings, sending shimmers in his wake.

My hands mapped the landscape of his body, careful of healing wounds but bold in their claiming.

Through our bond, I felt his pleasure echoing my own, amplifying and reflecting back until I couldn’t tell where my sensations ended and his began.

I heard myself gasp as his tail tightened around my leg, pulling me closer.

Unlike our previous joining, this connection felt deliberate, controlled, an intentional sharing rather than an instinctive reaction. I could feel his thoughts brushing against mine, fragments of sensation and emotion:

Beautiful... mine... yours... chosen...

When release finally came, it traveled through the bond like lightning, rebounding between us, intensifying until I cried out, feeling his answering growl vibrate through my body.

When we finally collapsed together, breathing hard, our energies still intertwined, I felt something settle into place – a certainty, a foundation upon which everything else could now be built.

The bond pulsed between us, stronger and clearer than it had ever been, no longer just a survival mechanism but a chosen connection.

“We should report to the Council today,” Ravik murmured against my hair, his tail still wound around my leg. His voice held reluctance despite the dutiful words.

“Always duty with you,” I teased, though I knew he was right. The sheet beneath us was damp with sweat, the air thick with the scent of our lovemaking.

“The threat remains. Hammond will not stop.” His fingers traced one of my markings, following its path across my shoulder.

“I know.” I traced the nearly healed scar along his side, remnant of our escape, feeling the slight ridge it had formed. “But he’ll never break what we’ve built.”

Ravik nodded, his certainty flowing through our bond. “Never.”

In the quiet of our dwelling, with the morning light strengthening around us and the sounds of the waking settlement filtering through the woven curtains, I believed it. Through our bond, I could feel his solid presence, his commitment. Whatever came next, we would face it.

I nestled closer against him, listening to the steady beat of his heart beneath my ear. Outside, I could hear the settlement coming alive – voices calling greetings, the rhythmic sound of training in the distance, birds of Arenix singing their strange, complex songs. Normal sounds. Peaceful sounds.

For now, in this moment, it was enough.