Page 137 of Riv's Sanctuary

Riv was only a tortured soul.

Underneath all that gruffness was someone who was dying to be loved.

As he bounded up a ramp to the door of the building, he paused so she could catch her breath.

“You all right?”

“Yes,” she nodded, glancing behind them.

There was still no sign of the guards.

Riv followed her gaze, too, his eyes scanning the crowd below.

“Come, we must make haste,” he said.

The inside of the building was not what she’d expected it to be.

It looked like the inside of a bank on Earth.

The only thing that differentiated it was the many different species of aliens inside and behind the transparent barriers.

Riv pulled her beside him and they moved together to one of the queues.

As they waited, she glanced up at him every now and then but she couldn’t read the expression on his face.

He wasn’t wearing his eye-shades or his face covering today but she still couldn’t read him.

“Do I need any documents? I don’t have even an ID from Earth.”

Riv glanced down at her, his eyes still unreadable.

Guarded, almost.

As if he was preparing himself for rejection of some kind.

“No. You don’t need identification. They will scan your biosignature. You will be registered based on your DNA as a refugee under the protection of the Interplanetary Union.”

Lauren’s eyebrows rose a little.

He sounded like he knew exactly what he was talking about and she guessed it was something he’d had to do before.

The queue moved quickly and soon they were at the front staring into the eyes of your typical intergalactic alien public sector worker.

The being on the other side of the barrier looked bored and completely uninterested.

“Name,” the alien said in monotone. The alien’s eyes were on stalks above their clam-shaped head and they blinked once as the alien regarded them.

Riv glanced down at her.

“Lauren. Lauren McDonald,” she answered.

“Planet of origin.”

“Earth.”

“Please state your business.”

She glanced at Riv but he began speaking immediately, giving her hand a slight squeeze and she realized at that moment that he hadn’t let her go.