Jace Strickland POV

  Frustrated by her distance, I finally had enough. I found Thriexa in her quarters, standing near a console, her back to me. She stiffened the moment she sensed me, but she didn’t turn around.

  “Are you going to keep avoiding me?” I asked, my voice tight with frustration.

  She exhaled slowly before facing me, her expression guarded. “I wasn’t avoiding you.”

  I stepped closer, unwilling to let her slip away again. “You barely look at me. You leave before I can talk to you. You saved my life, Thriexa, but now it’s like you can’t even be around me. Why?”

  Her shoulders tensed, her hands gripping the edge of the console. Then, just as I thought she would deny it again, something inside her broke. “Because I was terrified!” Her voice wavered, but she forced herself to meet my eyes. “I thought I was going to lose you, Jace. And I made a choice that I can never take back. I changed you. I changed everything. And I was so afraid that you would hate me for it.”

  I took another step forward, but she kept going, her words tumbling out. “I love you, Jace. I think I have for a while now, but I was afraid. Afraid of what it would mean, afraid of what I would have to sacrifice. But none of it mattered when I thought you were going to die. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t lose you.”

  She was rambling, caught in the storm of emotions she had tried so hard to suppress. I didn’t let her go on. Instead, I did the only thing that felt right—I kissed her.

  She froze for a split second before melting into it, her hands gripping my arms like she was afraid I’d disappear. The warmth of her touch, the way she fit against me—it felt right. More right than anything had since I woke up in this new body.

  When we finally pulled apart, I pressed my forehead against hers. “You made the right choice, Thriexa. I don’t hate you. If anything, this just proves how much I belong by your side.”

  Her breath hitched, but she didn’t pull away. I hesitated, then whispered, “I’m sorry… last time, you said we couldn’t.”

  Her grip on my arms tightened. “I know. But none of those reasons matter anymore.”

  She exhaled softly, her hands still clinging to me as if grounding herself. “Jace, I told myself I had to find a partner from my own species. Not because I didn’t care for you, but because my duty has always been to my people first. As Aizih, I was expected to continue our line, to ensure the future of the Aurra nation. And before… before, you were human. I told myself that was why I had to push you away.”

  Her voice wavered, and I felt my heart tighten. “But now,” she whispered, “you are Eova. That barrier is gone.”

  I searched her eyes for hesitation but found none. I kissed her again, and this time, it was deeper, more certain. The moment our lips met, I felt everything—every nerve in my body, every pulse of energy beneath my skin, every single sensation heightened to a level I had never known before. It was overwhelming, intoxicating. I felt alive in a way I never had before, like my body wasn’t just mine, but something greater, something limitless.

  Maybe it was this body. Maybe it was because I had nothing holding me back anymore. Or maybe it was just because I loved her.

  I deepened the kiss, letting my emotions take over, letting everything I had been holding back flood into this moment. Thriexa responded just as fiercely, her hands sliding up my arms before gripping the back of my neck, pulling me closer like she had no intention of letting go.

  My senses were on fire. Every nerve, every fiber of my being felt alive in a way I couldn’t explain. Her warmth against me, the energy crackling beneath my skin—it was almost too much, yet I didn’t want it to stop. I could feel her heartbeat, the way it matched mine, racing, desperate, as if we had both been waiting for this far longer than we had ever admitted.

  She broke away just enough to catch her breath, her forehead still resting against mine. “Jace…”

  I ran my hands down her arms, feeling the tension still lingering in her muscles. “I’m here, Thriexa. I’m not going anywhere. And I love you too.”

  Her eyes locked onto mine, something unreadable flickering in them before she kissed me again, harder this time, with certainty. As if this was the only truth left between us. As if this, we, were inevitable.

  And then I felt it.

  It started as a tingling in my fingertips, an awareness beneath my skin that wasn’t entirely my own. The energy I had struggled to control in training now surged forward, unbidden, instinctual. But it wasn’t random—it was reaching, reacting to Thriexa. To us.

  My entire body burned with sensation, but it wasn’t pain. It was connection. The force within me wasn’t just alive—it was trying to merge. With her. It wasn’t just a surge of energy. It was something deeper, something fundamental. My power wasn’t trying to merge physically—it was reaching for something far more intimate. It wanted to merge our consciousnesses, our very beings.

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  Thoughts, emotions, instincts—all of it blurred together in an overwhelming rush, as if the barriers separating me from Thriexa were dissolving. I could feel her—not just her presence, but her essence. Her thoughts pressed against mine, her emotions layered over my own, an intensity that I had never felt before.

  Thriexa gasped, pulling back sharply, her breath ragged. “Jace, I know what this is!”

  I barely heard her, my mind reeling from the sensation. I wasn’t just me anymore—I was us.

  She gripped my shoulders, her hands firm but shaking. “I read about this. The Elaron… they merged with their true partners. Not just in bond, not just in emotion, but in mind, in soul.”

  Her words cut through the storm in my head. Merged?

  I struggled to pull back, to separate myself from her, but the connection fought against me, demanding to complete itself. I could feel everything—her fears, her hopes, her love for me, raw and undeniable. And I knew she could feel mine.

  “You have to fight it, Jace,” she whispered, her voice almost desperate. “We can’t—this isn’t—” Her breath hitched. “I’m not ready for this.”

  Neither was I.

  I clenched my jaw and forced myself to retreat, to pull the energy back into myself. It resisted, but finally, the tether snapped.

  I staggered away from her, my chest rising and falling rapidly. My entire body trembled as if I had just waged a battle within myself. I looked at Thriexa, still feeling the ghost of that connection between us, the remnants of something ancient and powerful that neither of us understood.

  The Elaron hadn’t just created. They had become something greater together. And now, I had almost done the same.

  The question was—if I had let it happen, would I have ever been able to undo it?

  Thriexa took a shaky breath, stepping back just far enough to put distance between us, though the remnants of our connection still clung to the space between us. She pressed a hand against her temple as if trying to steady herself. “This… this is what the Elaron did,” she said, her voice uneven but certain. “They merged with their true partners. Not just emotionally or spiritually—but completely. Their consciousnesses became intertwined. They became one.”

  I ran a hand down my face, still feeling the ghost of her thoughts brushing against mine, even though I had pulled back. “I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

  “Neither did I,” she admitted. “But your abilities—they recognized me. Just like the Elaron’s did with their partners. That’s why it happened so instinctively. The bond… it was trying to form.”

  The weight of her words settled heavily between us. I had been struggling to understand what it meant to be Elaron, to have these powers, but now I realized they weren’t just powers. They were something much deeper, something that carried expectations I never could have anticipated.

  I looked at her, searching her face for answers, for something that would tell me what I was supposed to do next. “If I hadn’t stopped it… would it have been permanent?”

  Thriexa swallowed hard. “I do know that once an Elaron completed the merge, it was forever. They were still separate beings, but they were connected in a way that is hard to understand. They could sense each other’s thoughts, emotions, and intentions. It wasn’t just a bond—it was something deeper, something that made them more than they were alone.”

  I stared down at my hands, still feeling the lingering energy from what had just happened. I had barely touched my abilities before, but now it was as if something had unlocked within me—something raw and instinctual. I felt more connected to my power than ever, and somehow, I knew the training session tomorrow was going to be much easier.

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered, glancing back up at Thriexa. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

  Thriexa shook her head, her violet eyes steady as she met his gaze. “Don’t apologize.”

  I frowned. “Why did I react so strongly? That was more than just losing control—that was something else entirely.”

  Thriexa hesitated, a faint blush creeping up her cheeks. “Your abilities reacted that way because we are true partners—the Eovan equivalent of soul mates.”

  My breath caught. “Soul mates?”

  She nodded, stepping closer, drawn toward me despite what had just happened. “The bond was forming because that’s what your abilities are designed to do. The Elaron only ever merged with their true partners.”

  I swallowed hard. She was so close now, her presence overwhelming, intoxicating. I could still feel the remnants of their connection, the way it had tried to pull them together, deeper than anything he had ever known. I wanted to kiss her again, but—

  “What if it happens again?” I asked, my voice lower now, cautious.

  Thriexa gave a small, knowing smile, her violet eyes shimmering with something unspoken. “I was surprised by it too. But there is no bond deeper for an Eova. And eventually… I want to experience that with you.”

  My breath caught. Her words settled deep in my chest, stirring something raw and undeniable within me. The weight of what she was saying, what it meant—it was overwhelming, but it was also right.

  Slowly, deliberately, Thriexa reached for me, her fingers brushing against my arm before sliding up to rest against my chest. I felt everything—the warmth of her touch, the energy still thrumming beneath my skin, the connection that had almost formed between us moments ago. But this time, I was ready. I was in control.

  I lifted a hand to her face, tracing the edge of her jaw before tilting her chin upward. Thriexa’s breath hitched, but she didn’t pull away. If anything, she leaned closer, her eyes searching mine for hesitation.

  There was none.

  I closed the distance between us, kissing her deeply. I felt her melt into me, her hands gripping my arms as if anchoring herself in the moment. This time, I let myself fully embrace it—the fire that ignited between us, the way their energy pulsed in harmony. I understood now why the Elaron sought this bond, why they merged with their true partners.

  Because nothing had ever felt this right. I held back my abilities tonight, but when they were ready, my abilities would merge them together forever.

  I pulled her closer, my fingers tangling in her hair as I pressed her against the wall. She gasped against my lips, her body molding perfectly against my new Eovan body. Heat coiled in my chest, but I held control. The power was still there, lingering, waiting, but this time, I didn’t let it consume me.

  I just let myself love her.