Page 62 of Zayrik

---

But they were right. Everything had shifted. I wasn’t just on the run anymore. Wasn’t just surviving.

I was falling.

And the scariest part?

I didn’t want to stop.

SIX HOURS LATER, WEbroke through the nebula. Cindrel Station Outpost flickered in the dark ahead, all jagged steel and lowlight security. An asteroid-born scrap station. The kind of place I used to feel at home. Now it just felt like another stop on a path I wasn’t sure of anymore.

No one in pursuit.

Just the hope that we might get ahead of Vask. Or die trying.

And something else now. Something that made my usual survival instincts feel different. Because now I wasn’t just protecting myself.

Zayrik returned to the bridge, quiet and steady. His presence filled the space in ways that had nothing to do with his size and everything to do with what had happened between us.

“Deflectors stable. No tail.”

I nodded, throat tight with words I couldn’t say. With the need to turn around, to finish what we’d started, to let myself fall completely into whatever this was becoming.

“Docking request sent.” My voice stayed professional, controlled. Like I wasn’t hyperaware of his every movement.

The comm crackled:“Proceed to Bay Fourteen. Welcome to Cindrel Station.”

As we aligned, his hand brushed mine. Just that small touch sent electricity through my veins, made something inside me reach for him.

And I already knew I wasn’t ready to stop wanting him.

Wasn’t sure I’deverbe ready.

Wasn’t sure I wanted to be.

20

Zayrik

THE BOND WAS QUIET. But not gone.

The moment she yielded completely, I sensed it lock into place, body and soul.

When everything inside me recognized her as mine.

My mating marks had activated like fire beneath my skin, and I felt her inside my head.

Now everything in me was attuned to her.

My focus. My instincts. My need.

Even the way I moved felt different. Like I was walking through the world tethered to something precious.

To someone.

She wasn’t Alaran. Neither was I. Not fully.

But the bond had still formed fully.

And that truth sat like gravity in my chest.

---