Page 29 of Zayrik (The Protectorate Warriors Alien Fated Mates #6)

Zayrik

I WOKE TO WARMTH.

Not the hum of the ship’s systems or the artificial climate controls humming through the walls.

Her.

Nyla was curled against my chest, her breath warm against my collarbone, one hand splayed across my stomach like her body had chosen trust before her mind could catch up.

It should’ve felt strange. But it didn’t.

It felt... right.

Like pieces falling into place.

Like something deep and primal in me had finally stopped bracing for war.

For once, I didn’t move right away.

Just let myself exist in this moment with her.

My arm was around her shoulders, my body wrapped instinctively around hers.

Protective.

Possessive.

I could still feel the echo of her hands, the heat of her mouth, the frantic need that had driven us together like we were trying to outrun the entire flutzing galaxy.

And beneath all of that, something quieter.

Something more profound.

Trust.

She’d given me the crystal with no fanfare. No speech. Just a look I couldn’t name. Something that had rooted deep in my chest and refused to let go. Something that felt too much like goodbye.

I didn’t ask why.

Didn’t need to.

Because I already knew.

She was preparing for something.

Something she hadn’t told me yet.

Something that made her kiss me like she was trying to etch me into memory.

My fingers brushed her hair back from her face, slow and careful, like I was afraid she’d vanish if I woke her. Like touching her might break this moment of peace before whatever storm she saw coming.

She didn’t stir. Just breathed softly, her lashes resting against her cheeks, her body relaxed in a way I’d rarely seen. The warrior in her finally at rest, if only for these few precious moments.

That alone should’ve told me how exhausted she was.

How much she’d been carrying.

How long she’d been running.

And now it was in my hands.

The crystal.

Her trust.

Her.

Everything she’d fought to protect.

I stared at the ceiling for a long moment, the hum of the station barely audible through the ship’s bulkheads. My activated mating marks pulsed steadily, responding to her proximity, to the way she fit against me like she belonged there.

We were safe. For now.

But safety was an illusion we couldn’t afford to believe in.

Because I knew what came next.

Could feel it building like pressure before a storm.

We were getting close. Too close. Vask wouldn’t let this go.

Wouldn’t let her go.

And Nyla —

She was planning something.

Something that made my blood run cold.

I felt sure of it.

Not just in my warrior’s instincts, or our bond, but in something else. Something that hummed between us like an unspoken warning.

In the way she’d kissed me last night. Not just hungry. Not just desperate.

Final.

Like she thought it might be the last time.

Like she was trying to give me enough memories to last.

The bond between us was stronger now. I caught fragments of her even in sleep. Not thoughts, exactly, but feelings. Determination. Fear. A resolve that made my chest tight.

I tightened my arm around her. Trying to anchor her to this moment, to us, to everything we could be if she’d just let us face this together.

No. She wasn’t doing this on her own.

Not anymore. Never again.

Not when I could feel her in my blood, in my soul, in every breath.

She shifted slightly, a soft murmur leaving her lips as she nestled closer, like some unconscious part of her still knew I was there.

Still reached for me even in dreams. Through our growing bond, I felt her contentment, her trust. And beneath it, that steel determination that both drew me to her and terrified me.

She was mine.

My K’sha. My fated mate.

She was everything I hadn’t known I was missing.

If Vask tried to take her. If he so much as breathed in her direction. I’d burn every star he tried to hide behind.

Would tear apart the galaxy until nothing remained of him but ash and memory.

There wouldn’t be a hole in the galaxy wide enough for him to crawl into.

No place far enough to escape what I would do to protect her.

I let my eyes close again. Just for a moment.

Memorizing her body against me, her scent, the quiet trust of her sleep.

Storing it all away like armor for what was coming.

Because when the storm hit —

I’d be ready to do whatever I needed to keep her safe.

To keep her with me.

But right now?

She was still in my arms.

Still breathing soft against my skin.

Still here.

And I wasn’t letting go.

Not for Vask.

Not for anything in this galaxy or the next.

SOMETHING WOKE ME.

Not a sound.

Not movement.

Just... off. Subtle. But undeniable.

The bond hummed with warning. Making everything in me shift from peace to alert in a heartbeat.

Nyla stirred in my arms, her warrior’s instincts as sharp as mine. Her eyes opened, immediately alert, immediately reading the tension in my body.

Then....

A knock.