by Elin Peer
I saw red and lifted my hand to strike her, but despite my haze of anger, I couldn’t.
A minute later, Athena lay naked and bound on my bed while I stood shaking by the foot end. In my profession, I’d had the privilege of treating some of the few women who lived here in the Northlands, but none of them had ever removed all of their clothes.
She was beautiful and lush in all the right places. Her hips, wider than her waist, offered that feminine softness that sex-bots tried to imitate but never really could.
Pushing aside my conscience, I stared into her eyes, willing this woman to submit to me – as if my winning this power struggle would somehow rectify centuries of male oppression.
Even in her humiliating and powerless position on my bed, Athena looked at me like I was a bug to be squashed.
It should have been enough to get her naked and tied up, but the one thing I was looking for, she still hadn’t given me. Wearing only my briefs, I trailed my finger along the bed and walked slowly up the side to stand next to her.
Her nostrils were working overtime because of my t-shirt gagging her, and I bent down, whispering close to her face. “Would you like me to remove the gag?”
She gave a nod.
The mattress dipped when I sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning over her and balancing with one hand next to her shoulder. “And are you going to be quiet?”
Again, she nodded.
“Good girl.” Slowly I pulled out the part of my t-shirt that had been stuffed in her mouth.
Athena sucked in a deep breath and coughed a little.
“I’ll bet you regret saying that you would rather sleep naked,” I muttered and let my eyes wander down her naked body.
“Don’t touch me.” It wasn’t a plea but a command.
I thinned my lips “What makes you think that I would be interested in a cold fish like you?” I would’ve thought that sitting next to a naked woman would arouse me, but despite what she thought, I wasn’t a rapist and her disgust with me left me cold.
“You people are monsters, rapists, and murderers,” she postulated. I half expected her to spit at me, but she didn’t.
“Are we?” I said and slid my hand down her arm. “Or are you just trying to rile me up so that I will have sex with you? I have to be honest with you, it’s kind of working,” I lied.
Being tied to all four posts of the bed, there wasn’t much she could do when I lifted my hand and moved a finger from her collarbone down between her breasts, over her belly button, and down along her thigh to her knee.
Athena was holding her breath and finally she pleaded with me: “Please don’t.”
“I’m confused – are you saying please don’t touch me or please don’t stop?”
While I spoke, my right hand grabbed at the duvet and pulled it up to cover her. “I suspect with the way you’ve tried to rile me up for the last half hour, you’re begging me not to stop. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I already told you that I’m tired and just want to sleep.” I rolled away from her with a theatrical yawn and stood up. “Maybe tomorrow when I’ve had a good night’s sleep, I can play your little games and have sex with you.”
Her lips were tightly shut, but once again her eyes were shouting at me that I was a horrible monster, and I got an eerie feeling that she sensed my past sins.
Memories that I’d spent more than a decade suppressing were now attacking my inner movie screen and I wanted to throw up from all the disgusting things buried in my past.
It was her fault! Anyone who knew me would say I was funny, jovial, and friendly, but for some reason, this Momsi brought out a devious side of me.
Like someone had taken over my body, I smirked at her and dug the knife in deeper. “Don’t worry, pet, I’ll make sure the sex is enjoyable. At least for my part.”
Through gritted teeth Athena spoke in a language foreign to me. The fire in her eyes, the hissing, and the sounds of words so alien and yet threatening in their nature gave me goose bumps.
“What did you say?” I demanded but she kept going in that dead language, repeating the same words in a hostile incantation.
As a doctor, I considered myself a man of science, but enough unexplainable things had happened in my life for me to be open-minded.
“What did you say?” I repeated and shook her shoulders with anger. “You’re fucking casting a curse on me, aren’t you?”
With a self-righteous pursing of her lips, she stopped chanting and whispered ominously: “It’s done. I made sure that you’ll never find satisfaction with a woman. Never!”
CHAPTER 1
Behave Yourself
Five months later – October 2437
“I mean it, Finn.” Pearl jabbed her finger into my chest. “This is a serious matter. Not everything in life is a joke, and I’m putting my trust in you.”
As one of the five men that Pearl had chosen to represent the Northlands, I was about to set out on a journey into the Motherlands. My mission was to educate the Momsies and show them that we Nmen weren’t the abhorrent creatures they had made us out to be.
“Oh, he’ll behave himself,” Khan said and pounded my shoulder harder than necessary. “Won’t you?”
“Absolutely!” I gave them my most trustworthy smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll have all the women falling head over heels in love with me in no time.”
Pearl linked her arm with Khan and a small triangle formed between her eyebrows. “This is about diplomacy, and your goal isn’t to sleep with as many women as possible. Your goal is to show them that they have nothing to fear from Nmen.”
“Trust and sex can go hand-in-hand, and as the official seducer, I won’t disappoint you.”
“You’re a representative,” Pearl corrected me with a small smile. “You can’t just come up with a title of official seducer.”
“Why not? Representative sounds so boring.” I lifted my hand and underscored a headline in the air. “I prefer Charmer or Seducer Extraordinaire.”
“Representative!” Pearl repeated. “Now, please remember all the things I told you about being nice to the mediator. He or she will be your new best friend, guiding you around the country and keeping you safe.”
“You already told me ten times.”
Pearl ignored my comment and continued repeating instructions that she had already given me.
“I’m very proud of you for seeking out Athena and asking her for her forgiveness. The fact that you show remorse for your role in keeping her a hostage tells me I made the right choice when I picked you.”
“Yeah, I feel horrible about what happened to Athena,” I lied. “I think you’re right, Pearl, asking for her forgiveness is really going to help unburden me. It’s hard to sleep at night when you know you’ve done something wrong.”
Magni raised his eyebrows and gave me a pointed stare, telling me that I was taking it too far.
“Magni.” Pearl turned to her brother-in-law. “Are you absolutely sure you don’t wish for Finn to carry your apology with him when he goes to see Athena? It was you who kidnapped her, after all.”
“Nahh, I’m good.”
“But maybe if you…” Pearl started, but was interrupted by her husband Khan, who put his hand on her forearm.
“You’re wasting your breath, honey, I know you don’t understand this but it’s a pride thing, and Magni and I weren’t raised to apologize.”
Pearl opened her mouth to speak, but wisely closed it again. “Well, at least Finn is man enough to apologize and that gives me hope for the rest of you.”
We watched her walk away before Khan spoke.
“I can’t believe she still can’t read you well enough to see when you’re lying.”
“That’s a good thing,” I said and chuckled. “I doubt she would’ve convinced the Council to let me go and see Athena if she knew the truth.”
“Just don’t upset her.”
“Who? Athena or Pearl?” I asked.
Khan frowned. “Both. It’s a miracl
e that Athena even agreed to see you. I can’t imagine she has pleasant memories of her five days as our hostage.”
“It wasn’t all bad,” I defended myself. “Maybe the first night was a disaster, but she wasn’t a complete pain in the ass the whole time.”
“Hmm.” Khan walked to the door. “Don’t forget to report back to us about your progress.”
A slow smile spread on my face. “Do you want all the dirty details?”
“The dirtier the better,” Magni said. “And don’t forget to look for Laura.”
I gave him my promise and half an hour later, I crossed the border to the Motherlands together with four other men that Pearl had selected for this mission. We had met as a group when we were briefed about the project, and they all seemed to be great guys between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-four.
Since I had already been to the Motherlands as part of an experiment to integrate children in a school class, I wasn’t as nervous as the rest of the men.
“I feel so stupid without my beard,” Bruce Lee muttered as we walked toward a welcoming committee. His hands rubbed his cheeks.
“Then why did you shave?” I asked but looked straight ahead.
“Because Christina and Pearl told me that I would fit in better if I shaved.”
“You idiot. We’re not supposed to fit in; the whole idea is that we’re taking a stand for our right to be different. I know you want to get laid but believe me, my beard didn’t scare the women away when I was here the last time.”
He shot me a sideways glance, and played nervously with a leather band around his wrist. “I wish we were going together as a group,” he muttered. “Christina was the first woman I ever met, and you should’ve seen how awkward I was around her in the beginning when I worked at the digging site. I’m afraid I’m going to mess this up for everyone.” With his ink-black hair and a bit of slanted eyes, Bruce Lee showed traces of Asian ancestry.
“It can’t have been that bad or Christina wouldn’t have recommended you to Pearl,” I pointed out in a whisper before we stood across from a delegation from the Motherlands consisting of four women and two men. One of them was Isobel, Pearl’s mother, whom I had met when Pearl and Khan married. I gave her a smile of recognition that she returned.
“Welcome.” Spreading out her arms in a grand gesture, she had our full attention right away. “May peace surround you all. My name is Isobel and I am the chairwoman of the Council here in the Motherlands. I know every one of you has been selected by my daughter with great care, and I trust that you are aware of the heavy responsibility on your shoulders.
“Pearl has guaranteed us that you are trustworthy, kind, and nonviolent men.” Her last words hung in the air as if she challenged us to contradict her.
“Each of you will be traveling to different areas of our country in the company of a skilled mediator. They are trained to handle conflicts, should they occur, and they are eager to teach you about our society and way of life.”
With the efficiency of someone used to delegating, Isobel matched us with our personal guides.
Bruce Lee smiled when he was paired up with a cute brunette called Antoinette.
I on the other hand scowled when Hans was assigned to me. It wasn’t that I had a problem with males, but the three female mediators that were walking over to officially greet each one’s appointed Nman were a lot prettier than the two I had come to know during my last visit to the Motherlands.
“May peace surround you,” Hans said and reached his hands out to me with a warm smile.
I had done this silly greeting before, but I wasn’t in the mood to stare into another man’s eyes for ten seconds, so I chose the Northland way and shook his right hand up and down.
He took it well, so I figured someone had warned him that we did things in a different way. “Would you like to say goodbye to your friends before we leave? Our drone is just over there.” He pointed behind his back.
Since I had only met the other Nmen today, I wouldn’t exactly call them my friends, but I called out a “Good luck” to Bruce Lee. He was too busy holding hands with the cute brunette and staring into her eyes to even hear me.
“How about I meet you at the drone? I just need to talk to Isobel about an urgent matter.”
Hans walked off to the drone while I approached the chairwoman of the Motherland’s Council.
“Good to see you again, Isobel.”
“Same to you, Finn.” She smiled and reached out her hands to me. This time I took them.
“I thought we were friends, Isobel – remember how I protected you when you went to Pearl’s wedding?”
Her smile didn’t waver. “Of course I remember.”
Casting a quick glance toward the drone where Hans now stood waiting for me, I leaned in a little. “Then how come I get a male mediator?”
Her lips pursed. “Because you already slept with the two female mediators that were assigned to your group when you were last here.”
“They told you that?”
“Not in detail,” she admitted. “But yes, we know full well about all your escapades, and since that is not the purpose of your visit, we decided to try a new approach.”
“Wait a minute, are you saying I’m not allowed to have sex with any women while I’m here?”
“I don’t see how we could stop you. And as long as it’s consensual, it’s really none of our business. But when it comes to the mediators we prefer that they keep their focus on the task instead of the person.”
I looked over at the four other men. “What makes you think that they are going to be any different from me?”
Isobel shrugged. “Hans is a very nice person and a skilled mediator. I’ve told him about you and he is excited to be your guide and protector.”
I winced at that last word. “Protector? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Isobel placed a hand on my wrist. “Nothing for you to worry about; it’s not like we expect a mob of people to attack you. When I say protector, it has a different meaning here than in the Northlands. You could say that Hans will protect you from yourself.”
“Excuse me?”
Isobel fixed her eyes on the collar of my jacket. “Maybe I didn’t explain that very well,” she said. “It’s just that you Nmen have a tendency to speak without a filter, and that could easily get you into an awkward social situations. Hans will guide you and teach you about our ways to protect you from that happening.”
Placing my hands in my pockets, I rocked back on my feet. “You know I adore you, Isobel, but you’re naïve if you think you can change me into a Motlander. I’m not going to change who I am or how I speak.”
It wasn’t the first time I had made Isobel blush a little.
“I adore you too, Finn, and I am certain that you and Hans will have a very good time together. Now go in peace, my friend. I believe Athena is waiting for you.”
CHAPTER 2
Memories
Athena
Sitting on the doorstep to my house, I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and enjoyed the warm feeling of sunshine on my face.
It was one of my favorite places to sit and let the calming sounds of nature wash over me: the wind breezing up my bare calves and playing tag with the beautiful colored autumn leaves, a bird chirping in the distance, and a woodpecker tapping away.
All these sounds and impressions normally soothed me, but the last few days I’d been out of balance.
Finn was coming to see me.
Why was a mystery to me since I didn’t for one second believe he truly wanted to apologize to me. We had spent five days together and he had shown no signs of remorse during that time. The apology had to be an excuse.
He had played with me, like a mad scientist probing at his test subject. With a heavy exhalation, my memories took me back to the last hours we’d spent together.
“What is it, sexy? Why don’t you just tell me to fuck off if that’s what you mean?” Finn was in my personal space again,
squatting down behind me and breathing down my neck in that imposing way that he knew I hated. “Come on, say the F word, just once – I dare you.”
I ignored him, keeping my back straight, my legs folded, and my eyes closed although my meditation was a pretense at this point.
“What happened to that scared young woman I met on the first night? I miss her, she was temperamental and interesting.”
Finn moved even closer and whispered into my ear. “Tell me I’m not the only one going crazy from being stuck in this room.”
Opening my eyes, I stretched and pushed up from the floor to confront him. “Are you sure your mental health is connected to this room? I could’ve sworn you seemed unbalanced the first night I met you.”
A sparkle in Finn’s eye revealed that he didn’t take my words as an insult, but rather a reward for his persistent nagging. I was his only entertainment and he had gotten me to talk.
“Sleep deprivation will do that to a man.” He shrugged. “And so will boredom, so let’s do something exciting. How about we play strip poker?”
Angling my head, I sighed. “If you ask me to have sex with you one more time, I have to question your intelligence.” I couldn’t count how many times I had rejected this man and he still kept pushing.
“You know what I think?” He didn’t give me a chance to answer before he continued. “I think that if I didn’t give you a choice, you would like it. My gut tells me that you’re attracted to me but you would just never allow yourself to admit it and give in to your desires.”
I kept a straight face. “Your gut must be out of whack then.”
He grinned. “I knew you wouldn’t admit it.”
Shaking my head, I played with my earlobe. “Even if that was true, your logic is obscured by a lack of knowledge about women. No one likes to be forced.”
“I’ve heard otherwise.”
“No one likes to be forced,” I repeated. “Not even you!”