AllFreeNovel
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I didn’t know him well enough.
I wasn’t ready to share that part of me with him.
“I will not send the details to him then,” the doctor nodded. “You can always send all the details to him by selecting the ‘share with spouse’ option on the file.”
She walked over and tapped on my wristband, opening up the screen and navigating to the spot to show me how to do it.
“Thanks, but I’ll find another way,” I said. “I don’t trust him.”
Her ears pinned back.
“If you don’t trust your mate, you don’t have to stay with him.” The tone of her song became deeper and more staccato. “I can inform the squadron that is guarding him that you need to be separated permanently. We will get him off the ship immediately and you can stay here before being taken home.”
“Oh, no, no, it isn’t like that.” I lifted my palms up to her and shook my head. “It isn’t that I feel like I’m in danger or I want to be somewhere else. It’s just that I just met him. I never thought I’d be in an arranged marriage and I wouldn’t have said yes to it if I didn’t want to give it a go… It’s just that humanity didn’t even know, publicly at least, that aliens even existed, and now I’m married to one.”
She tilted her head to the side.
“His species, the Atisari, are known for their devotion to and care of their mates,” she sang. “At least the males are. And I’ve heard that there is quite a rigorous process for joining the new Mate Matching program that has been set up, so if you were going to stay mated to an Atisari you didn’t know well, you are in the best possible position to ensure you have a good one. If your opinion changes on that at all, all you have to do is contact me or anyone else and we will help you separate.”
“Thank you, but I’m definitely going to give this a real go,” I said. An uncomfortable warm feeling swelling in my chest in knowing I had so much support. It was uncomfortable because it felt so right. It felt so right and I hadn’t ever felt this way before. No one had ever told me they would help extract me from a breakup. I didn’t feel like I was a weak woman, in any sense of the word, but strength had very little to do with toxic partnerships. My life had held the same brittle awareness that if a guy wanted to, he could easily hurt me if I wanted to leave him. Heck, some men hurt women for not being interested in them at all.
I approached many social situations with men in my life knowing where my exits were. It was necessary in my industry. I had to be friendly and approachable, not a bitch and not a thot. I had to be a temptress virgin who could be hit on and spoken to with aggressive sexual language and I had to brush it off with a laugh and move on with my day.
There had been a tension in my chest in the fact that I was putting myself in the hands of an alien who had a greater access and understanding of technology, who was taking me off my home planet to a secluded location where I didn’t have my own personal mode of transportation to get away from.
Sure, I had Caley’s number, but what is it that she could do if this went bad?
The doctor’s words were a relief.
I had backup.
These Norratar that had taken over our planet actually cared about us. This doctor cared about me as an individual. I was a completely different species to her and she was part of an invasion force that was actively destroying infrastructure on my planet and making wide spread legal reformation that was backed up by strategic military actions.
And she cared to make sure I knew that I had a way out. She cared enough to provide help for my anxiety and panic attacks.
The thought of that brought a prickle of tears to my eyes.
I widened my eyes, letting the air dry them out.
“I appreciate what you’re doing for me,” I put my thoughts into words. Gratitude was useless if it stayed isolated and unspoken in your head. “Thank you for your care, and thank you for letting me know that if I want to leave my husband, that you will help me.”
“That is what we are here for,” she sang in a lilting uplifting tone. “We are here to help.”
“Why?” I asked
“Babies,” she sang back. “We want more babies.”
“But I’m not even married to a Norratar,” I laughed in shock.
“Oh, but you could be,” she sang back. “It is very likely your Atisari mate will audition Norratar males to add to your harem once he has cemented his bond with you. It would be the most sensible move. An Atisari would be very stressed out being the only male in a harem.”
“I cant… I’m not…” I stammered. “Are you serious? He would get stressed being monogamous?”
“Oh, most certainly,” she replied. “Though he would still be monogamous. It would just be you with multiple males.”
“I really don’t feel comfortable with that,” I replied. “I’m a one woman one… alien… kind of gal. At least I think I am.”
She shrugged.
