"She feels far away."
"She grew." He kissed my forehead. "That's not the same as leaving."
He guided me to the bed and settled over me, his weight grounding rather than consuming.
"Look at me," he said.
I did. And for the first time since the mission, I saw myself reflected back. Not the woman I had been, not the one I feared becoming.
Just me. Here. Seen. Almost the same.
"We see you," Lyrin said. "All of you. And we're not going anywhere."
I pulled him down into another kiss, and then there were no more words.
His mouth traced a path down my throat, teeth grazing the sensitive skin just below my ear before his tongue soothed the sting. I arched into him, fingers threading through his hair, gripping tight enough to make him groan. The Tether hummed between us, carrying every sensation in both directions; what I felt, he felt. What he wanted, I knew. And right now, he wanted to learn me completely.
His hands mapped the terrain of my body with deliberate slowness, palms warm and slightly rough against my skin. He lingered at the curve of my waist, thumb tracing circles that made my muscles jump, then slid lower to the dip of my hip where he squeezed gently, possessively. Every touch asked a question. Every sigh I gave was an answer.
"Still with me?" he murmured against my collarbone, his breath hot and damp.
"Don't stop."
He didn't.
His mouth moved lower, trailing across my skin. He worshipped me with lips and tongue, drawing sounds from me I didn't know I could make. I gasped when he found the sensitive hollow beneath my ribs, and I felt his satisfaction pulse through the bond. Pure, focused pleasure at my response. He used his mouth to learn my wants and needs, cataloging every response, every hitch in my breath, every place that made me tremble.
When his hand slid between my thighs, I stopped thinking entirely.
He touched me like he had all the time in the universe. Slow, deliberate strokes that built heat in layers, each one more unbearable than the last. The Tether amplified everything; his focus, his restraint, the way his own need coiled tighter with every sound I made. He knew exactly what I needed, could feel it through the bond, and he gave it to me until I was trembling.
"Not yet," he murmured against my hip. "I want to feel you when we're together."
"Lyrin—" His name came out broken, halfway to a plea.
"I have you."
He shifted, settling between my legs, and I felt him against my thigh, the evidence of how much he wanted this. Wanted me. The anticipation alone made me dizzy. He held my gaze as he pressedforward, giving me time to breathe, to adjust, to feel every moment of becoming one.
I whispered his name like a prayer.
He began to move. Slow at first, rolling waves that built gradually, inevitably. Each movement was deep and deliberate, and the Tether blazed open between us, no barriers left. I felt what he felt: the overwhelming intimacy, the desperate tenderness he couldn't put into words, the need to make this good for me, to make it matter.
I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him closer, and his control finally slipped. His rhythm quickened, and I rose to meet him, our bodies finding a cadence that was ours alone. Sweat-slicked skin. Ragged breath. The perfect synchronicity of us moving together.
The pleasure built like a tide, each wave cresting higher than the last. I dug my nails into his shoulders, and he groaned against my throat, the sound vibrating through me. Through the bond, I felt him holding back, waiting for me, refusing to let go until I did.
"Let go," he breathed against my ear. "I've got you."
I shattered.
It crashed through me in relentless waves, and the Tether carried it straight to him. He followed a heartbeat later, my name torn from his lips as his body shuddered against mine. For a long moment, we existed outside of time, suspended in the shared pulse of release, boundaries dissolved, two people made briefly, impossibly whole.
He stayed close, still tangled with me, his weight a welcome warmth. I ran my fingers through his damp hair while our breathing slowly steadied. Neither of us moved to separate. Neither of us wanted to.
Afterward, we lay together, his arm draped over my waist, my back pressed to his chest. His lips brushed the curve of my shoulder. Soft, almost absently, like he didn't want to stop touching me even now.
The Tether reasserted itself fully. The others were at the edges. Not demanding. Just present.
