Page 33 of Fourth

Only this.

Her heartbeat pulsed against his chest, that quiet rhythm syncing with his own. Strange how quickly it had become necessary. Essential. As if the bond forged between them had rearranged his very biology, embedding her presence into his blood.

Her hair had spread across the pillow in a pale fan, strands curling against his shoulder and neck. He had never understood the human fascination with touch before this. But now he did.The way her skin pressed against his was... ajoining. Real in a way nothing else had been for longer than he cared to admit.

His kind did not have words for this sensation. Vettian or Elaroin, there were only biological markers, chemical triggers. But that did not explain why he had been awake the entire night simply watchingher.

Intergalactic Warriors were forbidden this sort of connection. Any bond beyond duty was a liability.

Their directives were clear: protect the Nine Galaxies, eliminate threats, serve without entanglement. Bonds created vulnerabilities. Emotional ties risked hesitation in moments where only exactness could mean survival.

He had lived by that code for centuries. No attachments. No distractions. No softness. It was doctrine etched into every layer of his training, reinforced by repetition until even the thought of connection seemed alien.

And yet, here he was. Withher.

Maya broke all those rules. Simply by existing. By touching him in ways no other ever had. And the part of him still governed by discipline whispered that it was already too late. That even if he wanted to sever this bond, it would no longer be possible.

His Final Flight was proof of that. Intergalactic Warriors in Final Flight shed attachments as easily as breath, consumed by inevitability. Emotional ties risked triggering unfortunate reactions, making bonds not just forbidden, but dangerous. Warriors were meant to burn alone, without lingering or entanglement. When the time came, there was nothing but the burn of release and the obliteration ofself.

And yet, with her, he lingered.

Protecting her.

And memorizing her.

It should not have been possible. Not for him. His Final Flight loomed too close, its gravity pulling at everything he was. When an Intergalactic Warrior reached his end, there was no retreat. No return.

He was already beyond the time allotted. Somewhere in the deepest threads of his system, the countdown continued. Final Flight was not a choice. It was inevitability. And soon, he would be gone from everything within the Nine Galaxies.

But for now, there was this.Her.

Riv’En brushed his fingers lightly down her spine, from the nape of her neck to the curve of her waist. She shifted slightly in her sleep, murmuring under her breath, her lips parting with a soft exhale that stirred heat low in his abdomen.

She belonged to him now. Fully. Irrevocably. The bond was not theoretical. It was not science. It wasfact.

When she had given herself to him, she had sealed it. It did not matter what the Elaros Council said. It did not matter what Third commanded. Maya washis.

Her eyelids fluttered, brows drawing together faintly as though she sensed his focus.

He watched her closely, analyzing every minute shift. The slight dark smudge beneath her eyes that indicated fatigue. The faint flush still coloring her cheeks. The way her lips were swollen from his mouth. From hisbite.

That mark had already faded from her shoulder, but the impression of it remained in his memory with clinical clarity.

She stirred again, slower this time. Her legs stretched beneath the sheets, toes brushing along his calf, then curling. Her breath caught, that one hitch signaling the transition from sleep to waking.

Riv’En remained utterly still.

And waited.

A few more seconds, and then her eyes opened. Pale blue. Unfamiliar and familiar at once. They focused slowly, blinking against the low lighting of his quarters, until her gaze landed onhim.

He did not speak.

Maya stared at him for several long moments, her expression unreadable. Then, finally, her lips curved. Not a full smile. Just a quiet upturn at the corner.

“You stayed here all night?” she asked, her voice rough from sleep.

Riv’En tilted his head slightly, studying her. “Affirmative.” No embellishment. “You are safer when I am with you.”

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