Page 18 of Saved By My Alien Husband

17

DELPHINE

M avel drove me to the dome while Haven stayed behind, helping the advisors with their preparations. I wanted to make sure Michael and I were on the same page as quickly as possible, especially since this would be the first night that the humans—that weren't cat owners, anyway—were moving onto the ship.

Note to self: I should check on the other cats. Would Parvati tell me if she needed help?

What a weird week it has been. You think you know your cat and where your life is going to go, but then the next day the both of you are shepherding your species across the stars.

I walked beside Michael as he helped prepare, directing people running across the dorm and loading up essentials into the farming trucks for transport.

“They what?” Michael asked, glancing at me sidelong.

“They consider kissing sacred. One kiss with an Eldrin means marriage,” I repeated. He didn't actually need me to repeat it, but I understood wanting to be extra sure on that point.

Michael nodded, lips thinning as he thought. “Thank you for bringing this to me. We'll need to make an announcement about that before we board.” He paused, considering. “There will probably still be a few marriages before the week is out, even with the warning. I can imagine a few people that are curious and unattached would take this as an opportunity, but as long as they know what they are getting into.”

“There is no divorce either,” I added, knowing those people would need to think that through a little more deeply. But honestly, there were some that would jump in either way. While most people in our world were sexually active early, we married late. Divorces weren't too common, not like they had been in earlier generations, but they weren’t unheard of.

Though I wondered what happened when an Eldrin cheated on their spouse, if kisses meant marriage and there was no divorce. I had to ask Haven what that meant for a couple.

He barked a laugh. “What a clash we are going to have. But at least we'll be alive.”

I nodded in agreement, fiddling with the seam of my jumpsuit as he answered a few questions from people that stopped in front of us. Today I wore a sunshine yellow one, I thought it would look nicer on the video. Was that really only this morning?

Everything was about to change again.

Michael asked me to clarify a few more things about the Eldrin, and I told him about the room compromise. It was a delicate situation, but we would all work together to better understand what each species needed.

He nodded thoughtfully, his brow furrowing as he considered the logistics. “There’s so much we don’t know,” he said quietly, more to himself than to me. “I just hope this transition is smoother than I’m imagining. They hold our lives in their hands.”

“Haven and King Candor won't let this fail. We can trust them,” I assured him. It had to work. It was our only option.

We went our separate ways, agreeing to meet at the doors of the dome two hours later.

The chaos was worse than I thought it would be. With a few hundred funneling through the double doors of the ship every few minutes, carrying all that their body could hold, and grumbling about the last minute rush, it was a mess. There were a few curious people, many frazzled and crying, and several were angry. Looking back at the dome, it was strange to see how much of our life had to be left behind—homes, routines, familiarity. But there was no choice. Instead of buildings and domes, we had floors and sections. And no more blue sky.

Despite spending such little time in the actual open air, I was used to seeing the blue expanse through the hazy dome. Soon, we'd leave the atmosphere, off to space. While many of the humans may get off at our next location, ten years from now , who knows if the sky is even blue there?

I'd miss it.

Now, as we prepared to leave our home, we were surrounded by stars, and probably would be for a long time. At least I'd have a few more sunrises and sunsets at the other domes when we made our way to rescue them.

“Two single file lines,” Daryl called into the crowd, pulling me from the thoughts. The Eldrin soldiers were enjoying crowd control just as much as he and the other protectors were, it seemed. Everyone was in a long line from the dome to the ship, like a connecting rope. With the majority, including myself until last week, being unfamiliar with life outside the dome, staying in line was difficult. A few people were meandering, trying to sneak out of line to look around. What they weren't thinking about was the danger.

The day had its own dangers with sudden sun bands like the one that damaged the ship, but the night had its own terrors that we would have avoided if we could.

As if my thoughts summoned the deformed beasts that still lived in the world, howling sounded in the distance. Everyone in the line looked around in concern, holding their breath. Was it the wind? Or a creature?

The howling echoed louder, sending a ripple of fear through the crowd. Definitely not the wind.

Panic spread like wildfire. Despite the shouted commands of our protectors, the somewhat orderly lines disintegrated. People shoved past each other, their fear overriding any sense of control. A woman screamed somewhere to my right, and I caught a glimpse of her frantic face before she was lost in the sea of bodies.

“Stay in line!” Daryl shouted again, his voice hoarse with strain.

“Don't run, you'll attract them,” Michael commanded. Some stopped, listening to the man they trusted all these years, but with so much of the mass in a run, it was pointless. I watched in horror as the ones that stopped were trampled by the panicked.

Everyone surged forward, turning into a disorganized mob. Bags and personal belongings dropped to the ground, tripping people underfoot in the rush. The guards—both human and Eldrin—tried to maintain order, but they were outnumbered, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people. My balance wavered and I stumbled over a discarded bag. I tried to regain my footing, but the crush of bodies pressed in from all sides, leaving no room to move. I was trapped between limbs, getting hit each time I got up and fell again, forced to follow in their fear or get buried under it.

Jalen stood twenty feet away, the guard that Haven told me to trust. I saw glimpses of her towering figure attempting to push back the tide of panicked bodies. She noticed my flailing, catching me with her dark eyes, and moved forward.

I called out to her and ran as much as the crowd would allow me, seeking safety as people pushed past me again and again. She was closer to me than Daryl, but the crowd surged as another howl permeated the air, and someone shoved me hard from behind. I was jostled and elbowed in the ribs, my breath knocked out of me. Panic rose in my chest as I realized I couldn’t stop the momentum.

My heart pounded in my ears. I reached out, hoping to steady myself on someone—anyone—but I couldn’t hold on. Someone slammed into me from the side, and I went down hard, my knees hitting a sharp discarded box in the sand. A scream caught in my throat as the mass of people surged above me, feet dangerously close to my head. I tried to crawl, but the pressure of the crowd was too strong. My vision blurred with the threat of tears as I fought to keep from being trampled.

“Delphine!” A voice cut through the chaos, familiar and urgent, but I didn’t recognize who it belonged to. It felt like my ears were clogged with water, everything distorted, as I was hit again. The world was a blur of legs and shadows. I pressed my palms into the ground, struggling to push myself up before it was too late. Another kick hit me in the head, sharp , and my vision grew darker.

Strong arms pulled me up and my head lolled, but I couldn’t answer or open my eyes when they called my name. A shot sounded, I think, but from where I couldn't tell.

Was I going to die before I was saved?