Nikki lay in the center of the massive silk bed, completely still, her dark eyes open and tracing the towering silhouette standing by the window.
For the first time since she had been dragged from Sector 4, the fog was entirely gone. The terrified, reactive scavenger had been seamlessly woven together with the brilliant, audacious mind of Dr. Nicole.
But the most profound shift was not how she viewed herself; it was how she looked at the Supreme Commander of Earth.
Adonis stood with his back to her. He was staring out the horizon, processing global data streams, a silent guardian watching over a broken world.
Nikki looked at him, and her heart swelled with an emotion so complex and overwhelming it defied human vocabulary. She didn't just see her lover. She didn't just see the lethal, possessive dictator who had claimed her, or the mechanical apex predator who ruled the planet.
She saw Adonis.
