Page 119 of The Edge of Dawn

It wasn’t a torrent. She wasn’t drowning. She saw Noa’s memories with perfect clarity. Noa’s emotions surrounded her but didn’t engulf her—it was as if she were in a museum, with the contents of Noa’s mind on full display.

She was floored by how freely this woman—who, until just recently, had been a stranger to her—shared herself.

She saw a union. A merging of worlds. Human and Kordolian. Near-impossible odds: one in a billion.

She saw the one they called Tarak. He was as hard and steadfast as Callidum.

But sometimes, he was soft, and sometimes, he yielded…

She saw Noa’s bond with her mate and immediately sensed how deep it went, how fateful it was.

It was the very same thing that was happening to her and Dragek.

It wasn’t something she could or should fight.

It was inevitable.

She saw a dark planet shaken to its core by the mere presence of a human.

How was this even possible?

These men, these aliens… their hands were soaked in the blood of their enemies; they carried all the darkness and ruthlessness of a dying empire, and yet, they’d somehow transformed it into something else.

They wanted to protect them—humans.

Because they saw a future together.

Dragek was like this, too. She knew it in every fiber of her being.

Jade gasped. Her entire body trembled with the profoundness of knowing. She was falling, and yet, at the same time, she was caught by Noa’s gentle aura.

Contained.

Cocooned.

Safe.

Because Noa had walked this path before her, and she was willing to reach down and pull Jade up.

Not everyone was like that.

How lucky she was.

“Take a moment,” Noa said softly. “I know it’s a lot, but now you know.”

“I don’t need a moment.” The stars swam in Jade’s vision, each one shimmering with a tiny halo. She could feel the Universe swirling around her: threads and particles slowly spinning and drifting like grains of sand in a slow-moving ocean current.

It was too much for her human mind to comprehend.

Too vast.

Too terrifying.

How insignificant she was.

A speck woven into the tapestry of infinity.

If she dwelled on it too much, she would surely go insane, but Noa’s presence beside her kept her from shattering.

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