I feel the bond surge.
Not just in my mind—but in my skin. My blood. Every nerve lights up as our connection flares open like a sunburst. I see him—his pain, his rage, his hope—all buried beneath the war and the armor.
He sees me too.
And gods help me, he accepts it.
“Come for me,” he rasps, thumb working my clit as his cock pistons into my soaked pussy. “Let me feel you.”
I shatter.
It rips through me like a nova, violent and electric. My scream echoes off the walls. My legs clamp around his waist, body convulsing as pleasure roars through every cell.
He roars with me, hips slamming in once, twice—then stills as he spills inside me, heat flooding deep.
He doesn’t move for a long moment.
Then he lowers his head, panting hard, and whispers, “You were always mine, Ella.”
I wrap my arms around his neck, pull him down to me, and kiss him like I believe it.
Because I do.
CHAPTER 16
TAKHISS
She sleeps against me like she belongs there. One leg hooked over mine, her cheek pressed just below my shoulder, breath warm against my scales. The air inside this sealed corridor is stale, thin, but it doesn’t matter. Not when she curls into me like I’m the only thing keeping her tethered to this dying world.
It should feel wrong.
She’s soft. Fragile. Every instinct inside me screams that this should be prey. Alliance. A threat.
But I don’t feel hunger.
I feel at home.
Her scent floods me—copper, ozone, sweat, the sweet edge of adrenaline still buzzing beneath her skin. My claws trace the ridge of her spine, slow and reverent. She doesn’t stir.
The bond beats low in my chest like a second heart, syncing to hers. I surrendered to it days ago. Not to instinct.
To her.
This human woman with cracked knuckles and a fire in her eyes. She’s not mine because fate says so.
She’s mine because she chose me.
And I’d tear this ship to slag before I let anything take her away.
She stirs just as the heat coil flickers. Her lashes flutter. Then her eyes—storm-dark and sharp despite the exhaustion—open. She blinks up at me, uncertain for a breath. Then her hand finds my jaw.
“You’re still here?”
I nod. “Didn’t plan on going anywhere.”
Her lips curve. It’s not a smirk, not a grin—just a real, soft smile. One I’d kill to protect. Then she kisses me.
This time, it’s not slow.
