"Incredible," I finished, my own voice barely above a whisper. "I've never felt anything like that."
"The bond amplifies everything," he said, pressing a kiss to my temple. "Every touch. Every sensation. Every emotion."
I could still feel him through the connection—his love, his satisfaction, his absolute contentment. And beneath it all, a possessive pride that made me shiver.
Mine, the bond seemed to whisper.Finally mine.
"Yours," I agreed softly, knowing he felt my response through the connection. "Always yours."
We lay tangled together afterward, our hearts still beating in perfect rhythm, our breath slowly returning to something approaching normal.
I pressed my hand against his chest and felt it—that steady thump-thump that matched my own exactly, perfectly, eternally.
"It's real," I whispered, awe coloring my voice.
"It's real." He covered my hand with his, pressing it harder against his chest. "You're mine now. Forever. No matter what happens."
"And you're mine."
"Yes."
I looked up at him and saw everything I needed to see in his eyes.
Love. Devotion. Certainty. Forever.
"What happens now?" I asked, my voice quiet in the darkness.
"Now?" He pulled me closer, his arms wrapping around me like he could shield me from the entire universe. "Now we leave this planet. We get on that Alliance ship. We go back to Alliance space. We deliver Persico's warning to the Prime and hope she listens."
"And then?"
"And then we figure out the rest together." He pressed a kiss to my forehead, gentle and sweet. "As mates. As partners. As whatever we need to be for each other."
I smiled against his chest, feeling his heartbeat—our heartbeat—steady and strong.
"I like the sound of that."
"Good." His hand stroked down my back in long, soothing movements. "Because you're stuck with me now."
"I can think of worse fates."
He laughed—a real laugh, warm and genuine and free of the shadows that had haunted him for so long.
And I felt it through the bond. Felt his joy and his love and his absolute certainty that this was right, that we were right, that whatever came next, we'd face it together.
I closed my eyes and let myself sink into the feeling.
Into him.
Into us.
Chapter 21
Merrilee
TheHistoriawasn't like Palaydium.
Clean. Orderly. The kind of place where everything worked the way it was supposed to—lights that didn't flicker, air that didn't taste like rust and desperation, corridors wide enough that you didn't feel like the walls were closing in.
