“In here—” He pressed his own hand over hers, holding it against his chest. “Something knows. Something that does not require words or time. When I woke and found you next to me, something… settled. Like a key finding its lock.” He struggled for better words, frustrated by the limitations of this borrowed language. “I cannot explain. But I know. You are mine to protect. Mine to provide for. Mine to—” He stopped before the last word,the one that made heat rise to his skin. “This is what I feel. This is truth.”
She was silent for a long moment. The storm howled outside, a reminder of how close she’d come to death, and he watched emotions move across her face like clouds across the sun.
“I don’t know if I can give you what you want,” she said finally. “I’m not… I’ve never been good at this. At letting people in. At trusting someone else to?—”
“I am not asking.” He bent his head until his forehead nearly touched hers. “I am telling you what I feel. You do not have to give me anything. You do not have to trust me yet. I will protect you regardless. Because you are my mate, and that is what mates do.”
Her breath caught and he felt the small hitch in her breathing, the way her pulse quickened beneath his hand.
“What if I never trust you?” she whispered.
“Then I will protect you anyway.”
“What if I push you away?”
“Then I will give you space and protect you from a distance.”
“What if?—”
He kissed her.
It was gentle this time, not like the hungry claiming of the morning. Just a soft press of his mouth against hers, a promise rather than a demand. He felt her surprise, felt her start to pull back, and then?—
She melted against him.
Her arms came around his neck, her body pressing into his, and she kissed him back with a desperation that made his heart ache. He held her carefully, so carefully, acutely aware of his own strength and her fragility, letting her set the pace.
When they finally broke apart, her eyes were bright with unshed tears.
“You’re impossible,” she said. “You know that, right? An ancient dragon alien who thinks he’s found his soulmate in a grumpy miner. It’s ridiculous.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “Ridiculous.”
She laughed again, and this time the sound was stronger. “I’m going to regret this.”
“Perhaps.”
“You’re supposed to reassure me.”
“I cannot promise no regrets. I can only promise that I will be here. That I will protect you. That I will—” He hesitated, then pushed forward. “That I will love you, if you let me. Even if you do not let me. This is also truth.”
The word hung between them, heavy and shimmering as new ice.
Love.
He’d said it without thinking, the concept rising from somewhere deep in his fragmented memory. But it felt right. Felt like the only word that fit what had grown in his chest over these strange, compressed days.
She stared at him as the tears that had been threatening finally spilled over, tracking down her cheeks.
“You can’t just say things like that.”
“I can. I did.”
“Adjar—”
“You do not have to say it back.” He brushed a tear away with his thumb, marveling at the softness of her skin. “I only wanted you to know.”
She made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
