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“Can I speak to you, alone?” she asked. The others took their leave.
Chapter Nineteen
Emilia
I was so glad to see Naaro recovering well, and happy that he was given the honor of being the Alpha, even though I did not know the full extent of what that entailed. But Divad had volunteered me for something, something that was still a mess in my mind.
I waited for the others to leave. Naaro turned towards me.
“My brother has always had a loose tongue and speaks without thinking. I do not expect you to reciprocate my feelings, nor do I expect you to stay. You have already been here longer than you should have been. What I said before… I meant it all. I am glad I said it, and I hope that you do not think me a fool. I am sure that you are going to have a good life on earth, no matter what awaits you.”
As he said this, I realized that I was not ready to say goodbye to him yet. I had been shown so many wonderful things in this place and I had only begun to scratch the surface. Emotions bubbled within me.
“I’m sure I would, but I’m not sure it would be as good as the life I could have here. This is all so incredible and from the first moment I learned the truth about this place I’ve been wondering how I’m going to go back and cope with it. It seems a shame to not be able to talk to anyone about it, and I don’t want it to just fade into a silent memory. I think I have unfinished business here. And then there’s you…” I took a breath to compose my thoughts before I continued. “When you said what you did I… it meant a lot to me. We’ve only known each other for a short time, but there is something between us, something I can’t ignore. I’m not sure if I’m exactly ready to commit to being your mate, but I would like to spend some more time with you and see where this could go.”
Naaro nodded. He pursed his lips and a smile twitched upon his face. It faded quickly though and he seemed a little troubled again.
“There is something I wish to ask you. There are many different customs in Orestes, some that are more common than others. I have always had a certain type of relationship in my mind, one that reflects the one I grew up with. I would prefer it if I was not your only mate.”
I was taken aback by this. I assumed he would want me all to himself. “You mean you want something like what your Mom has?” I asked, my voice wavering with nerves.
He nodded slowly and deeply. “All my life I have stood by Divad’s side. I was ready to give my life to him. I hoped that one day we would be able to share what Axanar, father, and mother shared with a woman. When he met Char I knew that it would not come to pass with her for she made no secret of her dislike for me. But with you I thought… I know it may seem strange to ask, but he and I have shared everything. We have walked the path of life together. It feels strange for me to have something that he does not. Is it something you would be willing to consider?”
I remembered seeing them together the first time, bathing in the lake. I had been struck by the beauty of the two of them, in their similarities and their differences. I had seen them cling to each other when they found each other after Divad had been kidnapped. I had seen both brothers risking their lives for each other, and I knew that their love ran deeper than anything else in the world. I walked towards Naaro and spoke in a soft voice.
“You know that I feel a deep connection with you though, right? This is one instance where your brother has not outdone you,” I said.
He smiled with humor. “I know, but it would not feel right having something so important without him. If it is acceptable to you.”
My heart would always be Naaro’s, but as for my body… well… I guess there was plenty of that to go around. The only thing better than having one lion was having two, and it was definitely unlike the relationship I had seen shatter when I was a child. Maybe that meant it had better odds of surviving.
But I also knew that I wanted to make Naaro happy, and if he wanted this then who was I to argue just because it was a little strange? If I could accept everything else about this world then surely, I could accept this too? I had never been in the presence of two people who loved each other more, and I was excited to be caught in the wake of that. I could add a physical element that was beyond them. I could be the new dimension, the missing piece, and the more I thought about it the more I became excited at the prospect.
However, there was something else I needed to take care of first.
“I would love to be a part of that Naaro. I think as long as I got to stay with you, I would be happy,” I said. The moment when I had seen him fall from the sky had hurt so much. It was then that I knew I did not wish to say goodbye to him, and the moment when I knew that I loved him in a way that I had never felt with Peter. There was not a moment of doubt. I did not wish to run from Naaro.
But I still had to return home and give Peter a definitive answer.
“There’s something that I haven’t told you about the day we met. I wasn’t in the forest by chance. I was actually running away. I had a boyfriend and he proposed to me, but I wasn’t ready to answer him. I needed time to think, at least that’s what I told myself. I now realize that the fact I needed to think about it should have told me all I needed to know. I want to be here with you, but I left him wondering. I feel like I owe him an answer. I need to go back to Earth and tell him.”
Naaro nodded. We gathered the others in again and told them that I was staying. Kara and the others were extremely welcoming and happy that I had chosen to become a part of their pride. I was a little nervous about what else it might entail, but I figured with two lions by my side there was nothing that could hurt me, and with Divad the entire universe was open to us.
*
We stood close by Divad as the throne room melted away and within an instant, we were standing on earth again, right in front of Peter’s apartment complex. I staggered as I reoriented myself and tried to ignore the vertigo swirling in my mind. I forced the nausea away and then told Naaro and Divad to wait there while I went to speak to Peter. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to tell him, for I knew he wouldn’t have believed the truth. I supposed I was just going to have to be honest and tell him that I realized I didn’t love him.
I walked up the stairs. The surroundings seemed so mundane compared to Orestes, and the air was not as sweet. I became glad that I had not chosen to return here, for this place paled in comparison to the world of the lions, and with more worlds waiting to be explored I could not wait to begin the journeys.
I knocked on his door. He opened it and looked shocked. He smiled and hugged me.
“Emilia! Where have you been! I’ve been trying to call and text, and I’ve been to your place. It’s like you disappeared off the face of the earth,” he said.
“I know, I’m sorry. I just… I needed some time to think I guess,” I said. I walked into his lounge. There were empty pizza boxes stacked on the kitchen counter.
“Yeah, I guess we both needed time to think,” he said.
“What did you need to think about?”
