Selena stood in the entrance, and every male in the room oriented toward her like planets caught in a star’s gravity. It wasn’t conscious. Wasn’t deliberate. Just the inevitable response of beings whose lives had reorganized aroundher.
She looked exhausted. Her spots dimmed to something soft and weary, shadows bruising beneath her eyes. Whatever had passed between her and Ryzen had cost her—Zyxel feltit through their bond, the emotional drain, the weight of compassion given to a male who’d been splitting apart.
But when her gaze swept the room and found them all gathered, her spots flushed a soft pink.
“I don’t want to talk about war until we’re on Destima.” Her voice came out quiet. Raw. “I just want… this. All of you. Before everything changes.”
Zirene moved first. Of course he did—the Sovereign, her Shadow, the male who’d claimed her before anyone else. Two strides, and he pulled her into his arms, as if holding her tight enough could keep the world from taking her. His shadow wrapped around them, dark and protective, a cocoon instead of a weapon.
V’dim reached next, tentacles sliding along Selena’s arm, her hip, threading through Zirene’s shadow like they belonged there. Z’fir’s vines followed on the other side, brushing her waist, tangling with his brother’s tentacles in that practiced choreography that saidwe’ve survived worse together.
Zyxel stayed still.
For a heartbeat he was outside the constellation he’d only just joined—watching, measuring, waiting for the moment someone turned and reminded him he didn’t fit.
Then warmth bloomed through the crimson bond.
Not command. Not demand.
Invitation.
Selena brushed his mind like fingers trailing across scales.“Come here.”
He moved before the fear could stop him. His tail uncoiled, carrying him forward, and when he reached the tangle of bodies near the door, Selena’s hand found his.
Small. Warm. Her fingers threaded through his clawed ones, and she drew him into the embrace.
Into the clan.
Into his new family.
Zirene’s shadow brushed against his scales—not welcoming but accepting. V’dim’s tentacles made room for him. Z’fir’s vines curled loosely around his wrist, a gentle tether that said stay.
Wonder crashed through him. Joy and terror and something that felt like grief for all the years he’d spent alone, hiding, running, never daring to hope for this.
“You claimed me,”he pathed to her, the words raw with emotion he couldn’t voice. “You didn’t have to. I would have served you without—”
“I know.”Her mental voice cut him off, gentle but firm. “That’s why I chose to.”
The simplicity undid him.
He’d searched for her all his life. Crossed galaxies. Changed forms and names and lives—worn like armor. Hope strangled down to a thin, humiliating thread he’d kept anyway.
And now here she was. Not just tolerating his presence but drawing him close. Not just accepting the bond but strengthening it with every breath she took.
Outside these walls, war gathered like a storm.
Tomorrow, this constellation would fracture. Zirene would fly toward battle. V’dim and Z’fir would soon follow. Zyxel would stand with whoever remained and guard the center of it all with everything he had.
But tonight, he belonged—and for the first time in longer than he could remember, he let himself believe it might last.
6
Xylo
The transmission had come at dawn.
Kaede’s voice, stripped of everything but urgency:War. Evacuation. Selena coming home.
