Chapter 28
Kyrax was back.
Morgan just knew.
She sat in the center of his massive bed, legs folded beneath her, spine straight, hands resting loosely on her knees. She wore one of the soft charcoal garments Raeska had given her, her hair falling over her shoulders, her breathing measured and slow.
Meditating, or something close to it.
The bond pulled tight between them, a shimmering thread of awareness that hummed through her nerves.
When she opened her eyes, she was calm and focused.
Waiting.
Her gaze met the red glow of his mask without hesitation, without fear. She knew he was there; she had felt him crossing the threshold long before he stepped inside.
And the moment she saw him, her body reacted.
A low, insistent ache unfurled in her chest, in her belly, between her thighs.
Need. Recognition. His presence stabilizing her, drawing her in.
You came back, she thought—and knew he heard it.
He didn’t move. The silence between them deepened, charged with everything they’d shared, everything still unspoken, everything about to change.
She drew in a careful breath, then exhaled.
“I know what happened,” she said softly. “I heard you.”
His stance shifted barely, a subtle bracing.
She felt it ripple across the bond: surprise, restraint, a flick of tension that would have been invisible to anyone else.
She rose from the bed with slow, graceful certainty and stepped toward him.
“I know you’ll lose everything if this fails,” she continued. “Your rank. Your bastion. Your life.”
She stopped a few feet from him, tipping her head back to meet the fiery glow of his eyes.
“And you chose me anyway.”
The words hovered between them, weighty, irrevocable.
His answer wasn’t vocal—but she felt it ripple through her thoughts like heat: I did.
Her heart tightened. She fought the urge to touch him immediately—to reach for his mask, his armor, his skin. The bond surged with wanting, with recognition, with the deep, velvety pull that came with every breath he took.
But she kept steady. Because this moment mattered.
“I have conditions,” she said at last.
His mask tilted, just slightly. “Speak.”
Her pulse quickened, and she almost felt giddy. She forced herself to focus.
“First,” she said, “I want to be able to return to Earth. When I choose. Not as your captive, not smuggled or restricted, but freely. I want that option. Always.”
He was silent for a long moment before he said: “You shall have it.”
She nodded, breath releasing in a slow, controlled flow. “Second… I won’t live here as your subordinate. If I stay—if we do this—I want to learn. Your language. Your traditions. Your laws. I want to walk among the Saelori as someone who belongs. Not hidden away. Not sheltered in a room.”
A faint pulse of warmth traveled along the bond: approval, pride, and something like admiration.
“You will learn all you wish,” he said. “But you will remain by my side.”
Her mouth twitched, unable to help itself. “For protection,” she teased.
“For protection,” he confirmed, and the flicker of amusement in his voice vibrated low and warm through her chest.
She allowed herself to smile.
“And… if possible,” she said, “I want access to your technology. Your ships. Your archives. I want the chance to understand your universe, not just your planet. And maybe—eventually—to use what I learn to help mine.”
“As you wish.” He didn’t hesitate.
Was that it? Was it that simple?
Trust, given so freely?
She swallowed, a mix of fear and awe and something more tender.
He was doing this for her.
Choosing her—for reasons she was only beginning to understand.
“Then…” she breathed, pulse hammering as she stood before him, “shall we prepare?”
Kyrax stepped closer, closing the remaining distance between them until she felt the heat of his body radiating through his armor. He didn’t touch her—yet—but the weight of his presence wrapped around her like smoke, sultry and intoxicating.
“Morgan Halden of Earth,” he murmured, voice low enough to vibrate through her bones, “this is your final moment of choosing.”
Her breath shuddered.
Fear coiled through her, mixing with anticipation and desire so sharp it made her thighs press together.
A sense of inevitability settled over her, as heavy as gravity.
This was it.
Her choice.
Her future.
Her heart pounded once—hard—and then settled into a strange, steady certainty.
“I choose you,” she whispered. “I choose this.”
Heat flared through the bond, a heady, molten wave that made her knees threaten to buckle.
“Then,” he said, voice dark with promise, “we begin the attunement.”
Her entire world narrowed to the glowing red of his eyes and the electric thrum between their bodies.
Really, she wasn’t ready.
She was terrified.
But she was willing.
And for the first time since the night she’d been taken… she felt like she belonged exactly where she stood.