Page 39 of Zayrik (The Protectorate Warriors Alien Fated Mates #6)

Zayrik

THE DOOR SLID SHUT behind us sealing out the world.

Sealing in everything unsaid.

We were alone together for the first time since her awakening.

Since I’d felt her return through our bond.

Since possibility became real.

No med bay. No interruptions. Just us.

Just the pulse of our connection growing stronger with each breath.

I meant to give her space. To be careful with this fragile new trust.

But the second the door sealed, she turned.

And I knew.

Her gaze flicked over me. Searching.

Not for weakness. Not hesitation.

For truth. For everything unspoken.

I held her stare. Didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.

Because I wanted to witness it.

The moment she chose me.

Chose us.

The silence stretched, charged and crackling.

She moved first. A single step. Then another.

Each movement intentional, like she was finally walking toward something instead of away.

Until she was standing right in front of me.

Close. So close I could feel the heat of her.

I breathed in a steady, calm rhythm. My insides felt like they were ablaze. Everything in me reaching for her.

She reached out, fingers ghosting over my ribs.

A touch so light it was almost nothing.

But through our bond, it felt like everything.

Like finally finding solid ground.

She exhaled.

“You stayed.” Her voice was quiet. Not surprised exactly—just... something softer. Like she didn’t quite believe it until now.

Like she was finally letting herself trust in permanence.

I clenched my jaw, voice rough. “Yeah.”

Her fingers curled slightly against my shirt.

Not holding, just feeling.

Learning what it meant to touch something that wouldn’t vanish.

“Why?”

The question carried years of abandonment.

Of learning not to expect anyone to stay.

My pulse kicked.

I could have lied. Could have deflected.

Could have given her the easy answer.

But we were past that now.

Past pretending this was anything less than life-changing.

I covered her hand with mine.

Felt the way she tensed and then softened.

“Because I don’t know how to walk away from you. Not now. Not ever.”

Her breath caught.

I felt it.

Felt everything.

Saw the flicker of something vulnerable.

Something real.

She swallowed. “Zayrik...”

My name on her lips like a prayer.

I tipped my head, voice low. “You gonna stay?”

Not a challenge.

A final chance to choose.

She lifted her chin. Met my gaze.

And said the one thing I hadn’t expected. But hoped.

“Yes.”

That was all it took.

One word.

One choice.

One moment when everything aligned.

I moved.

Not just with body, but with soul.

One breath, we were apart.

The next, I had her.

Where she belonged.

Where she’d always belonged.

Pressed against me, against the wall, against everything that had ever tried to keep us apart.

Her hands fisted in my shirt, dragging me closer. Like she needed this.

Through our bond, I felt her, and everything we could be together.

I didn’t think.

Didn’t hold back.

I kissed her deep and slow, deliberate, like I had all the time in the universe to prove this wasn’t just fire.

This was fate.

Choice.

This was us.

She melted into me, gasping softly, her body molding against mine, her walls shattering piece by piece.

Through our bond, I felt every defense fall.

Felt her finally let herself believe in something permanent.

I slid my hands over her sides, up her back, feeling her, grounding her.

Memorizing every curve, every breath, every moment she chose to stay.

She wasn’t running.

Wasn’t hiding.

Wasn’t planning her escape.

She was letting me in.

Letting us become real.

Her breath hitched against my lips.

Through our connection, I felt her wonder.

Her surprise at finding home in the middle of chaos.

I leaned my forehead against hers, chest rising and falling hard.

Her voice was breathless. Hopeful, with a hint of fear and everything in between.

“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

I huffed out a rough laugh.

Let her feel through our bond exactly how serious I was.

How completely she’d undone me.

“Have you met me?”

The words were light, but carried meaning.

She swallowed, then smiled.

A real smile.

The kind that reached her eyes.

That was it.

The moment possibility became certainty.

I kissed her again, deeper, softer.

Letting her feel everything through our connection.

Every promise.

Every future.

Every reason to stay.

And this time, there was no doubt.

No hesitation.

No walls between us.

Just us.

Just this.

Just everything we’d be together.