"You are my everything," Rao said, his fingers painful enough to leave bruises. "And you're my entire world."
Rao came with her, pulling her tightly in his arms.
They lay there together, curled in each other's arms. They watched as the second sun went down and the first sun started to rise. Their wedding day is finally at a close.
She thought she'd feel sad that what was to be the happiest day of her life was over, but she wasn't. She looked forward to the life she was going to share with Rao.
"Well, should we get up and go eat? Maybe have some coffee? Possibly a long shower."
She chuckled, holding onto him. "Just a few more minutes. Then we can get up."
He didn't fight her. He curled closer, kissing her forehead. "Are you sad today is over?"
She shook her head, taking in the plum purple of the forest, watching it meet up with the light pink river that was bright against the pale-yellow sand of the beach. This crazy world was now her home.
"I'm not sad." She'd miss Earth, but she could go back, and as much as she missed her family, she looked forward to her future life on Nova Aurora more. "I'm right where I need to be."
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
LEXI
Lexi had initially been understandably apprehensive about leaving her life on Earth to start a whole new one on another planet. On paper, it sounded insane. If she were to ask her past self if it would be something she’d consider, she would’ve burst out laughing. She was sure some friends on Earth would do the same. But here she was, married to a shifter and making a home in a place where the ocean was pink.
She had fallen in love and found someone who treated her like a goddess, and it was with that treatment that she had finally realized she deserved it. Finding Rao’s wounds, too, and healing them with her love gave her not only a sense of purpose but a feeling of agency and power.
And the man wasn’t too bad to look at either.
They had been married, and Lexi easily settled into the life of a pride leader’s wife. She even started to become a sort of administrator for him, helping him organize meetings and lending her experienced opinion into the pool of his considerations.
They also couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Lexi had never been so sexually drawn to someone in her entire life, and she figured that it had something to do with falling in love and trusting the man without any doubt in her mind.
His insatiable hunger for her was a turn-on, making her constantly feel sexy to such an attractive man. They often had to ask the servers to leave early or to depart to their rooms at a moment’s notice because Rao was touching her leg under the dinner table.
Their spontaneous bursts of passion also meant there was less time to consider protection. Lexi hadn’t been on any form of birth control for a long time, and the concept of condoms on Nova Aurora was nonexistent. Lexi had to admit to herself that she hadn’t thought about it at all. The heat of the moment had been far too tantalizing for any fear to creep in.
They were talking about a picnic in a clearing that overlooked two massive mountains, the sun setting between them like a majestic painting. They had invited Trull, Riley, Kinn, and, of course, Jagi, who Rao was ecstatic about seeing more often. All of them had become family in the past month since Rao and Lexi had been married, and everything had felt completely harmonious and peaceful.
They sat on the terrace in the evening after dinner, as they often did, with Rao playing his flute softly. Lexi would gaze over the massive acreage and watch the spill of the setting sun move over the trees and vegetation that were once foreign to her but had quickly become common and gave her a sense of home.
Lexi, however, wasn’t as calm that night. She had missed her period, and after having not been too concerned, she waited until it was eight days with no sign in sight. She knew that Rao would likely be happy about it, but a part of her felt that old feeling of doubt creep into her peaceful new life.
She had never been pregnant and, of course, knew nothing about what it would be like to be pregnant with a shifter baby. She had informed Riley, who took her to a shifter doctor, who confirmed her suspicions.
The words hadn’t really sunk in until Riley brought her back home and sat in the car with her before Rao got home from a meeting.
“You have to tell him,” Riley said, leaning over and stroking Lexi’s hair. “He is going to be over the moon, trust me.”
Lexi trusted Riley, and she trusted Rao too. She just had to learn to trust herself.
So she sat with her legs curled up onto the chair after having visited the shifter doctor that day. She didn’t want to put it off too long. It was already infesting her every waking moment.
Rao had paused playing his flute, and it was then that Lexi took the chance.
“Babe,” she said, turning from the horizon. “Can I talk to you about something?”
He turned to her, beautiful eyes glistening with love, and nodded. He placed the flute down next to him, gentle as always, and crossed his legs. Rao always gave her his undivided attention, which often felt like she was staring too deeply into the sun.
But then she had realized that no one had ever considered her or her opinions that seriously before.