Page 32 of Deserted

I nodded, settling against him, feeling the steady thrum of his heart against mine. His knot would keep us joined for some time yet, a physical manifestation of the deeper bond that now linked us across dimensions more profound than mere flesh.

“The desert tech,” I remembered suddenly. “The Legion. Your duty?—”

He silenced me with a gentle kiss. “All secondary to you now,” he murmured against my lips. “You are my primary mission, kassari. My purpose. My home.”

The word—home—settled into my chest like a missing piece falling into place. I hadn’t had a true home in years, had been wandering from assignment to assignment, never putting down roots, never letting myself belong anywhere or to anyone.

Yet somehow, here on this alien world, in the arms of this warrior with his spotted skin and his fierce devotion, I’d found what I’d been searching for without even knowing I was looking.

“Mine to protect,” Rhaekar continued, his voice a low rumble against my ear. “Mine to cherish.”

I smiled against his skin, feeling the tug of sleep at the edges of my consciousness, my body satisfied and replete in a way I’d never imagined possible.

“And I’ll protect you too,” I promised, pressing a kiss to his bond-mark, feeling the answering pulse in my own. “Whatever comes for us in that desert, we face it together.”

His tail tightened around my ankle in silent agreement, his arms cradling me close as our breathing synchronized, our heartbeats finding the same rhythm.

The desert might hold dangers we couldn’t yet name. The Legion might demand answers we weren’t ready to give. Thepath ahead remained uncertain, fraught with challenges neither of us could foresee.

But we were bonded now—claimed and marked, two souls forged into one by forces older than either of our civilizations. And whatever storms awaited us beyond the shelter’s walls, we would weather them together.

Fate had decreed it. And for once in my life, I was perfectly content to follow the path the universe had laid out for me—so long as it kept me in the arms of my alien warrior, my protector, my heart’s match.

My Rhaekar.

12 /RHAEKAR

The weightof her body pressed against mine felt like an anchor to reality—the one thing keeping me from floating away into the vastness of what we’d just become together. Her heart beat in perfect sync with mine, our shared rhythm echoing through the bond that now pulsed gold and vibrant between us. Jas’s scent filled my lungs with each breath—citrus and earth spice mixed with something deeper now, marked with my essence as thoroughly as I was marked with hers. Fate-bonded. Claimed. Mine.

I traced the mark on her collarbone with reverent fingers, feeling the raised edges where my teeth had broken her skin. The bond-mark glowed faintly in the shelter’s low light, a subtle shimmer that marked her as kassari—heart’s match—to any Rodinian who might see her. My own mark throbbed in response, a pleasant warmth pulsing at the center of my chest where she had pressed her teeth into my flesh.

We remained joined, my knot keeping us locked together, a physical manifestation of the cosmic connection we now shared. I could feel everything—her racing thoughts, her wonder, the slight soreness in her body from our claiming, the pulsing aftershocks of pleasure that still rippled through her core atrandom intervals. Her emotions flowed through me like a river finding its natural course, settling into spaces within me I hadn’t known existed.

“Is it always like this?” she whispered, her fingers tracing patterns on my chest. Her touch sent sparks of sensation through both of us, doubling back through the bond until I couldn’t tell where my pleasure ended and hers began.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, pressing my lips to her temple. “The bond is rare. Sacred. I’ve never...”

“Never thought you’d find it,” she finished for me, the bond allowing her to pluck the thought from my mind as easily as picking fruit from a low-hanging branch.

I nodded, tightening my arms around her smaller frame. The truth was I’d purposely avoided it—sought isolation in this wasteland to minimize the chance of ever encountering a fate-mate. I’d seen what happened to Reapers who found their fated pairs—how they changed, how their priorities shifted, how duty became secondary to the needs of their mates. I’d judged them weak. Compromised.

Now, with Jas in my arms, our souls intertwined through ancient blood rites, I understood. This wasn’t weakness. This was transformation—something primal and necessary, written into our genetic code since the first Rodinians looked to the stars.

“You’re thinking too loud again,” she murmured against my skin, a smile in her voice. The sensation of her lips moving against my chest sent another wave of pleasure rippling through us both.

I growled low in my throat, the sound vibrating between us. “Just realizing how wrong I was. About everything.”

Her hand found mine, our fingers interlocking with perfect ease. “We both were. I spent my whole life running from anything that felt permanent.” She lifted her head, her gazemeeting mine with unnerving clarity. “And now I can’t imagine being anywhere but here.”

The admission hit me like a physical blow, the sincerity of her words flowing through the bond with undeniable truth. No one could lie through a fate-bond—not about something this fundamental. She meant it. Every word.

I lifted our joined hands and pressed my lips to her knuckles. “I will spend every day making you glad you stayed,” I vowed, the words tearing from somewhere deeper than thought, somewhere ancient and true.

She smiled, the expression lighting something warm in my chest. “I think I can feel your heart,” she said wonderingly, pressing her palm flat against her own chest. “Like it’s beating alongside mine.”

“It is,” I confirmed, my tail curling more tightly around her ankle. “Part of the bond. We share life force now.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “You mean literally? Like, if I get hurt?—”

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