Page 44 of Zayrik

A pause, then, “She’s in the supply room.”

I stiffened. “I didn’t ask.”

“No,” Nav said flatly. “But you always end up there. Eventually.”

I growled low in my throat. “Stay out of it, Nav.”

A beat of silence.

“Noted.” Another pause. “Though you’ve altered your climate settings twice and proximity patterns suggest... attachment.”

I looked down. My mating marks, hidden beneath my sleeve, burned and itched, their rhythm matching my heart.

Because that’s what this was. What it had always been heading toward, from the moment she stepped onto my ship.

A fated mate bond.

Forming whether we wanted it or not.

Growing stronger with every touch, every kiss, every moment we spent in each other’s orbit.

And the most dangerous part?

I didn’t want to fight it.

15

Nyla

WHAT THE HELL DID Ijust do?

It was a mistake.

A moment.

A kiss I couldn’t take back.

A decision that could get us both killed.

I shouldn’t have grabbed him. I shouldn’t have kissed him. My fingers still tingled from the feel of his jacket, the solid warmth of him beneath it. The memory made my stomach flip, made heat crawl up my neck.

And stars help me I shouldn’t have wanted it.

Shouldn’t still be wanting it.

The taste of him lingered, haunting me with every breath. Warm, wild, dizzying. Like something I wasn’t ready to need. Like freedom and danger wrapped in one addictive package.

He hadn’t kissed me back. Not really. He hadn’t needed to. Because the second I’d closed that space between us, the second my mouth had found his, I’d felt everything I’d been trying to pretend wasn’t there. Heat, need, connection. Something deeper that terrified me more than Vask ever had.

He didn’t stop me.

That was the worst part.

He let it happen, let me happen.

Let me crash into him like a meteor hitting atmosphere.

And now my pulse hadn’t stopped racing since, every heartbeat a reminder of what I’d done. What I couldn’t undo.

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