Page 57 of Obsessed

"We'll see how it goes. Might be nice not having to dodge Alliance patrols for once."

"I'm detecting elevated heart rate," Navi announces. "Are you nervous about something, Davrik?"

"Shut it, Navi." I take a deep breath, reaching for the small box in my other pocket. "Alice, not to pile it on, but there's one more thing. And it can't wait."

Her eyes widen as I drop to one knee. "Oh my god."

"Marry me?" I open the box, revealing a ring studded with bioluminescent crystals from Meltor IV. "Be my mate in every way?"

"Yes!" She pulls me up, throwing her arms around my neck. "Yes, absolutely yes!"

After another kiss that makes Navi threaten to short-circuit, Alice pulls back.

Alice traces the navigation console with her fingertips, examining the sleek new controls. "So, any leads on jobs yet?"

"Not yet." I adjust the environmental controls, watching her explore every button and switch. "Thought we could take her for a proper test run first. Your choice where we go."

"Really? Anywhere?"

"Within reason. Let's not start with a war zone."

"I want to see Kalei." She leans forward, grabbing my hand. "Your home world."

"From one jungle planet to another?" I can't help but laugh. "Didn't get enough nature on Meltor?"

"That's different. Meltor was wild, untamed. I've heard about Kalei's cities, the forests." She squeezes my fingers.

"Kalei it is." I punch in the coordinates before Navi can spill any more secrets. "Gonna be interesting to see the mother land. Don't think I've ever been around more than two Kaleidians at one time before."

Alice settles back in her seat, still smiling. "How long until we get there?"

"Three days at standard speed." I check the fuel levels. "Two if we push it."

"Let's push it." She wiggles her eyebrows. "I'm sure we can find ways to pass the time."

"I'll activate privacy protocols," Navi says dryly.

CHAPTER 29

ALICE

The temple's air feels different from anything I've experienced before - thicker, sweeter, carrying hints of incense I can't identify. Davrik kneels across from me on the crystalline floor, his green eyes locked with mine. The priestess moves around us in slow, deliberate circles, her robes whispering against the ground.

"Remember," she says in a voice like wind through leaves, "silence is the path to true connection."

Navi's hologram flickers at the temple entrance. "I'll keep watch outside. Try not to spontaneously combust from all the intensity."

The priestess shoots the AI a stern look, and Navi's image disappears with an electronic chuckle.

Hours pass like water through my fingers. The sun tracks across the sky, painting Davrik's blue skin in shifting colors through the temple's prismatic windows. I notice things about him I never had before - the slight asymmetry of his smile, a tiny scar near his left ear, the way his chest rises and falls with each breath.

My knees ache, but I don't move. This discomfort is nothing compared to what we've already been through together. His eyesnever leave mine, and I see everything there - the courier who crashed into my life, the protector who taught me to defend myself, the man who chose love over his entire way of life.

The sun begins to set, casting long shadows across the temple floor. The priestess returns, her voice soft but carrying easily in the silence we've maintained.

"The bond is formed," she says. "What was separate is now whole. You are mates for life."

Davrik reaches for my hands, and I feel it - something new, something more, like a circuit completing itself between us.

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