Page 71 of Thexan

But the classification was incomplete.

I did not want Brynn merely alive.

I wanted her uninjured. Rested. Free from the constant exhaustion she carried as if it were another tool at her belt. I wanted the people around her to see what I saw when she moved through the infirmary with blood on her hands and steadiness in her voice. She was not simply a medic with a necessary function, but the center of this place in ways they had grown too accustomed to notice.

The thought settled through me with the same certainty as any tactical conclusion, but it did not feel like strategy. It felt like recognition.

She was not a variable I had placed at the center of my calculations because the bond required it.

She was Brynn.

My mate.

The word no longer registered only as a biological status. It carried weight now. Obligation, yes, but not the kind imposed by command. Something chosen. Something I wanted to be worthy of.

I wanted to return to her. I wanted her to look up when I entered the infirmary and know I had come back because there was nowhere else I would rather be. I wanted to stand between her and danger, but more than that, I wanted to stand beside her when there was no danger at all.

That realization did not register as an error within my system.

It registered as an attachment.

And I did not reject it.

A movement at the edge of my awareness redirected my attention. Two individuals had altered their path to observe me more directly, their posture guarded but not openly hostile. Their approach suggested controlled curiosity rather than immediate threat.

I remained where I was, allowing the distance between us to close to a point that did not require defensive adjustment.

“You’re the one Brynn brought in,” one of them said.

“Yes.”

The response was sufficient.

They studied me for a moment longer.

“You killed them,” the second said.

“Yes.”

The statement was not a challenge but a confirmation of information they had already begun to process.

“For her,” the first added.

I looked toward the infirmary before answering. “For Brynn first.”

The adjustment in their posture was minimal, but present.

The second human frowned. “And for us?”

I returned my attention to them. “Yes.”

“Why?”

The question required more than confirmation. It required accuracy.

“Because the hunters would have killed anyone who stood between them and their objective,” I said. “Brynn would have stood between them and you. Therefore, I removed the threat before that became necessary.”

They absorbed that in silence.