It wasn’t enough. I love my best friend, but knowing she’d be sent back to resume her life satisfied my worry. But it wasn’t enough to make me want to go back.
“Earth is boring,” I quip with a smile. “I figured it was time for a change.”
“What about your friend?”
“Will be fine without me. Thank you for sending her home.”
He breathes for several seconds, seemingly regaining energy.
“You almost died.” Working carefully through the wires, I lay my head on the edge of his shoulder. “I was watching you die.”
“I am sorry, my hearts. It should have killed me. I felt the life leaving me, but then I felt you touch me. Your face appeared in my mind’s eye.” Gam opens his eyes and turns his head to look at me as I sit up.
“I did not want to leave you.”
His brows come together as he reaches a hand to my shoulder and feels the end of my braid. “How has this grown so quickly? Your skin has changed.”
“Yeah, about that. Remember when I said that something happened to me when I came through the portal? I took on characteristics that didn’t really belong to me. The fighting, the hair, the toughness. It’s gone and I’m not special anymore.”
“I want you in any way that you are. The Fern in your heart will never change. That is the Fern my hearts connect with.”
I place my other hand over his and hold on tightly. He closes his eyes again. Soft gradient pink creeps up his arm to his shoulder and then fades.
“Good, because I really didn’t like hurting people. I thought I wanted to be those things, but it’s not for me.”
“I am glad that you stayed with me, Fern. You are the female I have been waiting for.”
“Too bad I had to come across a few galaxies to get here, huh?”
He grins.
“You know, I have a lot to learn about Tala Furi. Everything is so different from Earth. The huge trees, the animals. Those weird black creatures with claws that came through the window.”
“I will teach you.”
“Everything?”
His smile widens. “Yes, everything.”
I lay my head on him again and lightly trail a finger between his huge pecs. The wires get in the way. Soon, I hope, they’ll be off so his body will be mine to explore again. Assassin Krunch wasn’t the only one with an eager libido.
“I think I have a lot to learn about all this.” I dodge wires as I run a finger around his chest.
“There is a place on Tala Furi to learn these things about each other, the temple of pleasure.”
Is he serious? “You have a temple of pleasure? Of course, you do.”
Gam’s smile slowly fades.
“Just so you know,” I whisper. “No way in hell are you having nine wives.”
I stay close by his side as he falls asleep. It’s weird, but I’m beginning to feel more like myself than I have since I arrived here. The last vestiges of Assassin Krunch must be fading away. My body feels softer, the muscles more relaxed. My mind is more settled, too. I don’t feel as if I’m always looking over my shoulder or getting ready for a fight. I feel more like me, yet, a little different, too.
My heart aches for Arial. Telling myself she made it back to Earth is the only option because the alternative will ruin me.
Gamalt is showing me a whole new life. One filled with artifacts, and an entire new world to explore. One that offers acceptance and love.
I’m grabbing that opportunity with both hands. Guess I don’t have to worry about becoming the crazy cat lady after all. Sure, some of my desires were destroyed, but most of those were fantasy desires and not real ones.
