I get everything set up in the upstairs guest room, and having learned from Amara’s experience that aliens can be much bigger than we are, I station a queen-sized bed there. Finally, after two days of cleaning, the house at least looks presentable. I have a problem with collecting knickknacks, which decorate cabinets and shelves all over, so I hope my new alien spouse doesn’t mind that.
Then it’s time. I get into my car and take a deep breath before driving off to the spaceport.
I sit in a waiting room for a surprising amount of time once I arrive. Two tall, skinny aliens with huge eyes are talking behind the counter, and I can’t tell what gender they are or if they have one. Their voices grow louder and their movements more agitated while I wait, and I wonder if something is wrong.
Is my new alien partner not here yet? Did they miss the flight?
“Fiona Knox?” one of the two tall aliens calls out.
I hop to my feet. “That’s me.”
The alien, who appears a little harried, gestures for me to follow. They lead me into the same room where Roth’kar and Amara sealed the deal on their marriage and I was their witness. In an adjoining room I hear arguing. Loud arguing, the words indistinguishable, and is that hissing?
When the door opens, the noise abruptly halts. A familiar short and turtle-faced alien stands in the middle of the room on a stool, so that he’s nearly at eye level with the two other aliens on either side of him. It’s Gazargo, one of the Frahma, who were the first alien species to make contact with Earth.
Then my eyes are drawn to the two aliens. They’re distinctly reptilian—that’s the best way to describe their faces, which are humanoid in shape but with rounded snouts and broad nostrils. Their bodies are covered in scales in shades of green, and they both stand on two legs and have two arms each. I thought I might have to contend with more limbs, like Amara did when she met Roth’kar, but it looks like the biggest difference between us is they each have long tails trailing along the ground. They appear to have five fingers and five toes on their bare feet, but at the tips are claws. Their ears are pointed, with hair running between a pair of ridges on top of their heads.
I gulp, wondering who they are. I must be in the wrong place. There should be only one alien husband waiting for me.
The moment I step into the room, two pairs of intense yellow eyes settle on me. They have slitted pupils, like lizards, and I freeze in the doorway.
“Oh, it’s you,” Gazargo chirps. “Come in, come in.”
Uneasily I cross the room, all my nerves firing at once. When I approach, the two aliens take deep breaths, as if smelling me. Up close, I notice one alien is more of a teal color, while the other is a deep emerald. The emerald one has deeper lines around his eyes, as if he’s older.
“Gentlemen,” Gazargo says to the two aliens, “this is Fiona.”
“Fiona.” The greener alien rolls my name around his mouth, revealing his sharp teeth. “You smell… wondrous.” He sniffs again, his brows relaxing as he breathes it in.
I fidget, surreptitiously sniffing the air to see if maybe I forgot to put on deodorant. “What? Me?”
He nods. “Perhaps this meeting is fortuitous after all. I believe, Fiona, that you are my fated mate.”
I stand still, not quite sure what this means. By his declaration, though, it sounds significant.
“Liar,” snaps the younger, blue-tinted alien. “You cannot possibly be her mate.”
The first one arches his eyebrow. “And why not?”
“Because…” The second alien inhales deeply. “Because she is my mate. I can smell her, and I know it to be true.”
The emerald-green alien stands up straight and… the things that looked like ridges suddenly flare out into wide fans along the sides of his head. He hisses, baring his sharp fangs at the other alien, who responds in kind, his own fans raising. They circle each other, still hissing, and I back away.
“Pardon me,” I say to Gazargo. “But what is going on?”
“I’m so sorry.” He turns to the two aliens, gesturing wildly at them. “Give her some space and calm down, will you?”
“But—” says the first alien.
“She’s mine!” says the second alien.
“Everyone, stop!” Gazargo’s voice booms across the room. The two of them freeze. “Is this the first impression you want to make on your new wife?”
Both aliens wilt, their fans lowering. They look at me, then at each other, then at me again.
“Do I need to send you both back where you came from?” Gazargo grumbles.
This mollifies them, and their fans droop back down to the sides of their heads. They turn to me, subdued expressions on their faces.
