Page 60 of Thexan

The words went through me with more force than I expected.

“Thexan.”

“I am becoming aware,” he said quietly, “that being mated to you is not only a biological state. It is a responsibility. An honor. A choice I must continue to make in a way that does not reduce yours.”

That was what shifted something in me.

Not the bond.

Not the certainty.

That.

“Good,” I said, my voice quieter than I intended. “Because this isn’t just something that happened to you.”

“No.”

“It happened to me too.”

“Yes.”

“And I get a say in what that looks like.”

His gaze held mine, steady and focused. “You do. Always.”

That word landed differently. Not automatic. Not assumed. It felt considered.

Acknowledged.

I stepped back toward him, stopping just within reach, close enough that I could feel the bond settle between us again, quiet and steady, like something that no longer needed to prove its presence.

“We’re not done figuring this out,” I said.

“No,” he replied. “But I would like to figure it out with you.”

My breath caught before I could stop it.

That might have been the closest thing to a love declaration he could have given me just then.

“But we’re not walking away from it either,” I said.

“No.” His voice lowered slightly. “I will not walk away from you unless you command me to go.”

The steadiness in that should have frightened me.

Instead, it settled somewhere deep.

“I’m not commanding that,” I said.

“Then I remain.”

“Good.” I nodded once, more to myself than to him. “There’s something else you haven’t told me,” I said.

Thexan’s gaze sharpened. “Clarify.”

“You weren’t only running from them. You were going somewhere.” I finished securing the bandage and looked up at him. “Where?”

For a moment, he said nothing.