My room aboard The Night Buzzard wasn't much, with a bunk and storage above, and a tiny closet of a refresher. But, Rey was able to get a shower, and I tucked her into bed in one of my tunics.

My comm link buzzed in my pocket and I stepped out into the hallway before i activated it, sighing when I saw the stern face of C staring back at me.

"The Knights ship left the planet some time ago." She said, flatly.

"Yes." I agreed.

"Are you and Rey on board?" She wanted to know.

"Yes." I answered.

She frowned. "Have you been captured?"

I shook my head slightly. "No."

Her nostrils flared as she inhaled deeply through her nose. "Do you have any idea what its like to risk everything for someone, just to have them turn around and run back to the exact thing you were trying to save them from?"

"My Knights have remained loyal to me." I said, not answering her. "Rey requested that they use her as bait so that we can stop Hux."

"As bait?" She spat. "She is not your bargaining chip, Ben."

I felt a rush of anger heat my cheeks. "Dont do that." I warned. "Dont talk to me like I'm using her for anything, or like I don't know what she is or isn't."

"Then exactly why are you taking her to Hux?"

"It was her decision." I pointed out. "She decided to go and confront Hux."

"And you're letting her?" C accused.

"I don't let her do anything."

"Bantha shit!" She hissed. "You could have stopped her! You could still stop her! Order your Knights to point their ship in the opposite direction, and leave you two on some deserted dot."

"Don't you think I want to do that?" I demanded. "Don't you think I wanted to take the ship that you had for us and shield her from all of this?"

"Then why didn't you?" She snapped.

"Because that's not who I'm mated to, C!" I yelled. "And yeah, I could've taken her to my fortress on Mustafar, or stranded us on a deserted planet, and i could have done it under the guise that I was just protecting her, but I would've had to watch her slowly grieve herself to death as she frantically tried to get away from me."

C didnt have a response to that.

"I didn't make her leave the Resistance." I went on. "I didn't kidnap her from Kashyyyk, I didn't imprison her on Naboo. I didn't make her accept this Bond, I sure as fuck didn't force her to seal it, and I'm not holding her agaisnt her will now."

"It won't matter what you did or didnt do if she gets herself killed." C pointed out.

Even the mention of something happening to my mate made my chest hollow out. "Rey is going there to keep Hux from continuing his search for her because she knows that if she doesn't, he's going to come for you. And, if you expect me to throw her over my shoulder and carry her off of this ship, you can go ahead and exhale, because I'm not."

"No, I expect you to protect her." She corrected.

"And I will." I promised, and ended the link.

I covered my face with my hands, taking a few breaths as I listened to my heart throb in my ears.

I shoved the creeping feelings of doubt aside and opened the door to my room, where i found Rey, staring at me with wide eyes from the middle of my bed.

I sighed again. "How much of that did you hear?"

"All of it." She said.

Of course she had.

I waited for the fighting to start, but she moved to one side of the bed. "Will you lay with me?"

I kicked off my boots and layed next to her, and she pulled me to her, wrapping her arms around me.

We lay in silence until my breathing evened, and my pulse slowed.

Id thought Rey was asleep, but she sat up.

Her lips found mine and she kissed me deeply, holding my face in both of her hands.

"I get it." She said, after she'd pulled away a bit. "I understand why you didn't tell me about our Bond."

I blinked, and my eyebrows pulled together. "You do?"

She nodded, stroking my cheek. "If you'd told me, i maybe would have felt differently, and it could have influenced my decision. And, you wanted me to want you for you. You wanted me to love you for you. You needed it to be my will, not the will of the Force."

My eyes stung, and I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I would have let you walk away." My voice broke.

"You did let me walk away." She reminded me. "You gave me space when I asked for space. You let me reject the Bond."

I remembered the soul spitting agony of her rejection. "I couldn't make you stay if you wanted to go."

"You absolutely could have." She argued. "You could have kidnapped me from Kashyyyk. You could have imprisoned me on Naboo. And you could have used the bond to manipulate me into accepting. But, you didn't."

"It doesn't matter." I said. "That's still what everyone thinks. Even after you told them that you left and stayed gone on your own, they were still willing to kill me to save you. They still took you from me-"

"And I came back." She said, firmly. Her eyes searched mine as she stroked my cheek again. "I dont think I've said this, but I want you for you."

No, she hadn't said that, not out loud, and i sighed, shuddering as her words put life in my veins.

"I love you for you."

Id wasted so much time thinking Rey couldnt love me. Yet she was here, in my bed, in my arms, declaring it to me.

"And I am honored….honored to be your mate."

I never knew that my heart could break, and I'd actually be grateful, until it happened in that moment.

Though it felt like a dream, it was real, as solid and warm as her body against mine.

It didn't matter that we'd accepted the bond. It didn't matter that it was sealed.

She wanted me. She loved me. She was honored to be my mate. Not because of some ancient Bond. Not because the Force had mated us. But because I was Ben, and she was Rey, and she'd chosen me.

I buried my face in her shoulder, too overwhelmed to comprehend anything else, and she held me, delicately running her fingers through my hair as she whispered promises of love and forever.

I was able to forget the terrible job we faced tomorrow, and I fell asleep in my mates arms.