Page 86 of The Edge of Dawn

Humans didn’t connect like this. They couldn’t. It took days, weeks, months, years. Even then, sometimes, one could get the feeling you didn’t really know the other person, the one you thought you’d known the whole time.

Humans could turn from friends to strangers in an instant.

But Dragek…

Just like that, she’d seen the inside of his soul; she’d seen that it was bleak and desolate and horrifying. Despite all of that, he was beautiful.

She didn’t understand anything anymore. Just that right now, his hand around hers felt good.

Right.

Like all the loose pieces of the chaotic Universe had fallen into place.

Before I depart from here, I will show you the place I’ve made. I’ll show you what’s possible. And you’ll understand that the physical world is merely an illusion. Everything you thought you knew is just a surface image. It’s here that you and I have real power. So come with me, Jade. Let me show you what I now know… beyond a fragment of a doubt.

Suddenly, his tone had turned reverent, and Jade was certain she had to be dreaming because she couldn’t stop herself from stepping forward as he tugged gently at her hand, leading her up the sandy beach toward the ethereal grove.

A strange realization came over her.

She felt at home.

At perfect peace.

She hadn’t felt like this in such a very long time—if ever.

As they walked toward the trees, she thought she caught an elusive glimmer of color shimmering in the delicate leaves.

TWENTY-NINE

Dragek hadn’t really planned any of this.

He’d simply followed his instincts, which had been roaring at him ever since he escaped from Jade’s chambers.

The realization had dawned on him slowly. His reaction to her wasn’t ordinary arousal. Of course, he knew what arousal was, even if he’d never experienced it before. He had senses and ears. He’d traveled far and wide across the Universe. He’d lain in small, dark spaces—perfectly silent, listening to mindless chatter in a dozen different languages.

He knew that his kind wasn’t supposed to have mates. They were unworthy, mere slaves, destined never to have their own free will.

When he’d learned that one of their own—Ashrael—had been freed from the mindbond and had even taken a mate of his own, Dragek was shocked to the core.

At that moment, everything had changed.

And now, he was walking through his very own sanctuary in the void with a human female who possessed extraordinary abilities.

He’d reacted to her. It was subtle at first, and he’d been able to push it to the back of his consciousness, in denial that it might actually be happening.

But then he’d watched her in the transport when she was sleeping.

He’d realized it then, but he hadn’t accepted it. Thanks to his training, he was able to suppress the physical symptoms to a certain extent—at least, so he’d thought.

Until he’d wandered into her chambers like a clueless fool and caught a faceful of her scent.

That pure, clean aroma, spiked with Earthly fragrance, swirled into the air with the steam from her sanitation chamber.

In hindsight, he didn’t know what had hit him, and when he’d caught sight of her…

Goddess, take him already.

Deep down, he knew what this was.

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