But when she tried to twist free, she moved the wrong direction and ended up pressed even tighter against him, her back flush with his chest, his arm still banded across her.
She froze.
So did he.
They stood there for a heartbeat, two, three. His tail had moved of its own accord to curl around her waist, holding her close in a way that had nothing to do with training and everything to do with instinct. His body recognized her as his even as his mind struggled with the impossibility.
“Selik.” His name on her lips was barely a whisper. “What are we doing?”
“Training.”
“Is that all this is?”
No. Not even close.But admitting that meant confronting truths he wasn’t sure he could handle—that he wanted her with an intensity that defied logic, that every moment in her presence made the future seem less like an endless gray stretch of duty and more like something worth wanting. He should release her and step back. Give her time.
Instead he found himself saying, “What do you want it to be?”
She turned in his arms, a smooth movement that brought them face to face. Her eyes searched his, looking for something he hoped she could find there.
“I want…” She paused. “I want to understand what’s happening between us. Because it feels like something. But I don’t know if it’s real or if I’m just desperate for connection after everything that’s happened.”
“It is real.”
The words came out roughly, scraped raw from somewhere deep in his chest. He’d spent twenty years avoiding this kind of vulnerability, building walls between himself and anything that might hurt. But she made him want to tear those walls down and risk the pain if it meant having her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I have not felt this way since my mate died. Because I wake thinking of you and fall asleep wishing you were beside me. Because when I found out about the escape shuttle, something drove me to pursue it myself instead of sending one of my officers—and I believe now it was fate bringing me to you.” His tail tightened around her waist. “Because my body recognizes you as mine even though everything I know about Cire biology says that is impossible.”
Her breath caught. “The mating bond. Can it really happen between species?”
“I do not know. The scholars say no. That it can only happen between two Cire.” He touched her face, fingers gentle against her soft skin. “But I feel it anyway. The pull towards you. The need to protect and provide. The desire that burns hotter than anything I have known.”
“Maybe the scholars are wrong.”
“Maybe.” He traced the curve of her cheek, fascinated by the warmth of her skin and the delicate structure beneath. “Or maybe this is different. Not a mating bond but something else. Something equally strong.”
“Would that be enough for you?”
“More than enough.” He meant it. If he could have her in any capacity—mate, partner, companion—he would count himself fortunate. “Would it be enough for you? To build a life with someone who cannot give you a biological bond?”
“I don’t need biology to tell me what I feel.” She leaned into his touch like a flower turning toward the sun. “I feel safe with you. Happy. Like I don’t have to carry everything alone anymore.”
“You do not. I will carry whatever you need me to carry. I will protect you and the young ones with everything I have. I will build a home where you can rest and heal and be happy.” The words poured out, raw and honest. “I know we have only had days together, not enough time to build the foundation a relationship needs. But I want that time. I want years of it. Decades. However long you will give me.”
Tears gathered in her eyes but she was smiling. “That’s a pretty serious commitment for someone you just met.”
“I told you I do not take this lightly. When we choose, we choose completely.” His thumb brushed across her lower lip, feeling the soft give of it. “I am choosing you, Corinne. If you will have me.”
“I’m choosing you too,” she whispered. “It’s crazy and impractical and probably too fast, but I’m choosing you anyway.”
Thank Granthar.Relief flooded through him, so intense it made his knees weak. He pulled her closer, needing the contact, the reassurance that this was real and happening and not some fantasy his lonely mind had conjured.
“I want to kiss you again,” he said, giving her the choice.
“God, yes.”
He lowered his head and claimed her mouth, gentle at first, testing. She made a soft sound and pressed closer, hands sliding up his chest to wrap around his neck. The kiss deepened, turning hungry. She felt perfect against him and he wanted more, wanted everything, wanted to lose himself in her until the ache of twenty years of loneliness finally eased.
