Page 147 of The Edge of Dawn

Tch. Dragek could only shake his head in exasperation, throwing caution and restraint to the Goddess.

As he stepped into the dark entrance of the portal, a tendril of celestial energy coiled around his soul, drawing him closer to the slipstream; toward the mysterious energy that flowed throughout the Universe.

Finally, he saw how beautiful it was.

He couldn’t hold back any longer. He dropped his barriers and desperately reached for her because he needed to believe that she would be in his future.

How he needed her more than life itself.

I’m coming back now, Jade. Everything will be well. Just wait for me, and no matter what happens, don’t forget how you found me.

Because he couldn’t stand the thought of a timeline where they had never crossed paths.

The power of the Universe washed over him, and once again, he started to fall…

But this time, she was there to catch him.

FORTY-EIGHT

The tesseract was a strange thing.

Actually, it was beyond strange. It was dark, resonant, and metaphysical; thrumming in sync with the frequency of the Universe.

It stretched his soul toward the very edges of his body, right up to his bloodstained fingertips.

He should be afraid.

But he wasn’t.

You’re back. Jade’s welcome, familiar voice rang in his head. She sounded unsurprised, unflustered. As if they’d been doing this for centuries. Whatever this is… you overcame it.

Almost. He still had to let the tesseract suck him back to wherever he was supposed to be. If Tarak intervened and changed the timeline back there… would things still be the same when he returned to the present?

It was madness that he was even considering this.

The only constant was her.

I felt it, you know. Something monumental. There was a giant disturbance. It seemed so unnatural and yet inevitable. I was scared for you, but I knew that if anyone could pull off the impossible, it would be you.

I’m pleased that you’re finally starting to understand how I work. Even as he fell into the liminal space, the void between worlds that was both familiar and terrifying—the same well from which he drew upon to enter the state of qim—he was unafraid. In fact, having Jade with him made him feel rather indulgent, even though the Mating Fever had eroded his sanity to near breaking point.

After fighting while maintaining a state of invisibility for so long, he was finally starting to feel drained.

He’d been pushed far beyond his limits.

He’d held the state of qim for far longer than he’d thought possible.

And it was only possible because of his mate.

His sarien.

The one who had stayed with him just because he’d asked.

Because he needed her. He couldn’t explain it. If he thought about it too deeply, he’d find it utterly confounding that he’d so very quickly become so dependent on another.

Now, he couldn’t imagine an existence without her. He wanted nothing but to go back to the Fleet Station as soon as possible so he could be with her.

So he could claim her in the real, physical sense.

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