Page 95 of Enslak

"I'll contact him immediately," Charick said. He looked at the bodies again, his expression shifting to something like respect. "Fifteen of them. You killed fifteen Ulkommenians while wounded."

"Had help." I pulled Niki closer, pride surging through me. "She fights well. Better than well. She's a warrior."

Charick's expression softened as he looked at her. "You chose well, brother. She's fierce. Loyal. Strong. Everything a mate should be."

"She's everything," I said simply, because no words could capture what she meant to me.

Charick nodded, understanding flickering in his eyes—the kind that only comes from having a mate of your own, from knowing what it means to find the other half of your soul.

"I'll leave you to your healing," he said. "I'll send down a team to deal with the bodies and bring the Ulkommenian shuttle to the Bardaga. When you're ready—when you're both ready—we'll be waiting."

"I know." The words felt inadequate, but they were all I had. "Thank you. For understanding. For not—"

I couldn't finish. Couldn't say the words. But Charick understood anyway.

"Thank your mate," he said, his voice gentle. He bowed slightly to Niki, a gesture of profound respect. "You have my gratitude. My respect. And my eternal thanks. You saved my brother. I will never forget that."

Then he was gone, striding back to the shuttle with his soldiers. The engines fired up, and moments later it lifted off, rising through the canopy and disappearing into Avalon's strange sky.

We stood alone in the clearing.

I turned to Niki and pulled her into my arms, holding her as tightly as I dared without hurting her.

"You saved me," I said against her hair, breathing in her scent—flowers and determination and home. "Again. You keep saving me."

"Always," she whispered back, her arms wrapping around my waist, her face pressed against my chest. "I'll always save you. I'll always fight for you. I'll always choose you."

"I know." I pulled back enough to look at her face, to see the tears and the fierce love in her eyes. "I love you. I don't know if I've said that enough. Don't know if I can ever say it enough."

"I love you too." She reached up to touch my face, her fingers gentle against my cheek, tracing the line of my jaw with infinite tenderness. "So much it scares me sometimes. So much I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Don't be scared." I leaned down and kissed her, slow and deep, pouring everything I couldn't say into the connection between us. When I pulled back, I rested my forehead against hers. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here. With you. Always."

"Always," she echoed, and the word felt like a promise we were both making to each other. A commitment that went deeper than words or bonds or anything the galaxy could throw at us.

We stood there in the clearing, holding each other as the sun began to set over Avalon, painting the sky in shades of gold and crimson. The dinosaurs called in the distance, their cries echoing through the forest. The air smelled of blood and earth and something green and alive.

And for the first time since I'd woken in that cell on Merisalle, I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Chapter 20

Niki

The Bardaga felt different this time.

Not the ship itself—the corridors still stretched forever, the walls still pulsed with that organic bioluminescence. But walking through them now, Enslak's hand wrapped around mine, his presence solid and real beside me, everything had changed.

Or maybe I'd changed.

My stomach was doing that thing it used to do before testifying in court. That tight, coiled feeling. Like swallowing rocks.

I'd defied the Alliance Prime. Stolen her son. Run.

The warrant Binwee mentioned in her message kept circling through my head. There was a warrant issued when they discovered Enslak missing.

A warrant.

For me.