Not merely survival.
Not vengeance.
A future.
Another thing I owed her.
The list was becoming impossibly long.
I turned my gaze from the luminous birthing spheres to the female at my side. The violet and silver light of the Portal danced across her features, turning her into something ethereal and heartbreakingly beautiful. Wonder softened her expression. Her fingers remained intertwined with mine, warm and reassuring.
Mine.
The thought carried none of the savage possessiveness that had once defined it. Only reverence. I did not like her being here. In the center of this battlefield. In the place where my oldest enemy waited.My fight. The thought surfaced instinctively. Then I exhaled and let it go.
No.
Our fight.
Naeris had made that abundantly clear. She was not a fragile creature to be hidden behind locked doors. She was my equal. My counterpart. My Aelyth. She would stand beside me whether I wished to shield her or not.
My gaze shifted to the others. Zapharos stood with Ella tucked close to his side, his massive frame angled protectively toward her even while he studied troop deployments. Dravok and Nadine conferred quietly over the tactical projections, their heads bent together with an intimacy that seemed as natural asbreathing. Three bonded pairs. Six souls drawn together by fate, war, and love.
A family.
The realization struck me with surprising force. For most of my existence, I had considered myself apart from everyone. The flawed one. The male born in darkness. The Arkhevari others respected, perhaps even cared for, but never fully understood. I had accepted solitude as my natural state. Yet somewhere between Earth, the revelations of our past, and the extraordinary females who had turned our lives upside down, that isolation had quietly vanished.
I was no longer alone. The sensation was so unfamiliar it nearly brought me to my knees. Gratitude rose within me, fierce and humbling. For Naeris. For the others. For the impossible gift of belonging.
The tactical display shifted, showing swarms of Mmuhr’Rhong gathering beyond the Portal. The familiar unease returned. Naeris would hold her own. Of that I had no doubt. I had seen her launch herself at a Moggaddesh without hesitation and emerge grinning. But the Mmuhr’Rhong were something else entirely.
They were not simply soldiers.
They were living shadows, manifestations of corruption and hunger. They moved with terrifying speed and delighted in exploiting fear. The thought of them laying so much as a claw on Naeris made my blood turn to ice.
Then I looked at Zapharos. The Praetor of War was many things: ruthless, brilliant, and utterly relentless. But in that moment, all I saw was a male whose arm remained wrapped around Ella’s waist. A male who would tear apart the stars themselves before allowing any harm to come to his Aelyth.
Understanding settled over me. I was not carrying this burden alone. Every male in this chamber felt exactly as Idid. Every one of us would stand between our mates and the darkness. Every one of our females would fight beside us anyway. A slow smile touched my mouth. Perhaps this was what family truly meant. Not the absence of danger. But the certainty that no one faced it alone.
Naeris turned to me, her eyes still bright with wonder. “What are you thinking?”
I brushed my thumb across her knuckles. “That I have spent my entire existence believing I was alone.”
Emotion flickered across her face. “And now?”
I lifted our joined hands and pressed a kiss to her fingers. “Now I know I was merely waiting for you.”
Her smile stole the breath from my lungs. Beyond us, the armies of light and shadow gathered. War loomed. But with my Aelyth at my side and my newfound family surrounding me, I felt something stronger than fear. For the first time in all my existence, I felt exactly where I belonged.
The docking clamps engaged with a deep metallic thud that reverberated through the ship. For a heartbeat, no one moved. Then Zapharos turned from the command console, his dark eyes burning with purpose. “We are here.”
Ella snickered, "Home sweet home." Which, for some reason, made me chuckle.
The bridge doors hissed open, revealing the crystalline docking chamber of the Celestial Portal. Naeris’ fingers tightened around mine. Excitement surged through our bond, bright and sparkling as starlight. Not fear. Not hesitation. Pure exhilaration.
A smile tugged at my mouth despite the danger awaiting us. Of course my impossible female would find adventure in the heart of cosmic darkness.
Together, the six of us stepped through the airlock and into the Celestial Portal. Viewed through Naeris’ eyes, the sight stolemy breath. Crystal arches rose around us in vast concentric rings, shimmering with the light of newborn stars. Galaxies swirled inside translucent spheres suspended in the darkness beyond. Entire worlds turned in embryonic brilliance, cradled in fields of living energy.
