“I think we should have a bath,” I say, feeling wet and sticky from the sweat over both of us.
“I’ll get it ready, don’t move an inch.” He gives me another quick kiss before he gets up, placing his pants back over him, no doubt he does it in case he walks into Logan.
I glance down at the sheets, which we never made it under, and see a trace amount of blood.
I’m officially not a virgin. I think that might make me like most normal nineteen-year-olds except I’ve just had sex with an alien. I laugh at the thought, perhaps the alcohol dampening the fact that having had sex with Marduke should be scaring the hell out of me, or at the very least, making me feel guilty.
I shouldn’t have to feel guilty over this, though. I deserve some happiness in my life. Besides, there is no way anyone would actually find out about this. This is a secret, just between me and Marduke. Something else we can also share with each other.
I’m almost dozing when Marduke pokes his head through the still ajar door. “The bath is ready. And I checked on Logan; he’s still fast asleep.”
I stand up, feeling sore as I walk. I hope that goes away soon.
I slip into the bath, leaning forward as Marduke also gets in with me. I let him wash me, enjoying the feeling of being clean, and relish at how powerful I feel as I wash him. I love the gasps he makes as I touch him; love how in control I feel as I stroke him. I sort of understand the big fuss that gets made about this stuff.
Things don’t progress to having sex, mostly because I tell him that I’m feeling too sore to try again. So we enjoy each other as we are, and once we’re clean and dry, we fall asleep naked in each other’s arms.
Chapter 21
Marduke
It’s been at least two weeks since we last saw Ival, maybe even three weeks. Things could not be going any better for us, either. We got some good supplies from the first lot of cabins we found, and most importantly, we found a car that worked. We were able to drive through the night to a bigger town where we managed to find a lot more food and water.
We had everything we needed, and we found a place in the forest for us to store a lot of it.
We got greedy, though, the lure of sleeping in a house, on a bed, too tempting. We only spent two nights in the tents before we took off again. When we ran out of gas, we’d just find ourselves a new car. Mattie even showed me how to drive, although it was more difficult when we couldn’t find automatic cars.
Logan finally started to open up again as well. Just yesterday, I heard him laughing as Mattie read him a story from a children’s book we’ve found. He’s eating more, beginning to put on some weight, and he doesn’t look so haunted. Logan doing better also means Mattie is doing better because now she isn’t constantly worrying about him so much.
Things between Mattie and me have been great. She still asks me questions about my life before Earth, my family and Oden during the day, but at night, she kisses me with enough passion it makes me crazy with lust. If possible, I’d swear she’s even more beautiful to me now than before. Everything about her turns me on. Just the simplest touch of her hand on my arm is enough to make me want to jump her.
I’m not sure why sex isn’t revered back home. It’s spoken of as if it is something you do when you want to have children, then once that happens, you don’t bother with it anymore. Is it because it only feels this good because I’m with Mattie? Or are my people missing something? Or is it some complete lie they tell us kids so we’ll hold off trying it? Either way, sex with Mattie is like a drug—I want her all the time.
The first night I’d barely been able to control myself. I remember how good it felt to be inside her, but not how good she felt during it. That night is still a little hazy, the hangover the next day painfully blocking my memories from the best night of my life.
Mattie was a little hesitant to try again a few days later, but after I got her worked up, she agreed. I focused solely on her this time, even though it was like torture for me, and I stopped when she said it still was uncomfortable. We went slowly that night, and it took too long for the pain to begin to subside for her. I only lasted a couple minutes once we finally sped up. By the third time, I was more under control, and Mattie was more vocal about what she wanted.
I held back until I knew she climaxed, until I heard her calling out my name and I swear her eyes rolled into the back of her head. It didn’t matter, though, seeing her so excited and having her clamping down on me… I was gone.
Now that we’ve done it several more times, I’m learning her body, figuring out what makes her tick and loving every night that we begin our lessons.
Having her lie in my arms afterwards is my favourite position. Ensuring she’s not only satisfied, but also relaxed and protected, wrapped up beside me, feels right.
There is no one else for me. No arranged mating back on Oden could ever come close to this. I can’t bear the thought of even attempting this with anyone else. This is too personal, too special to share with another.
Mattie is it for me, and I won’t ever let her go.
It’s why, when I’m unloading supplies into our car’s trunk while Mattie and Logan are inside a new house we’re raiding—finding more for us to take—I look up to see Ival and I’m devastated.
I know everything will be lost now. I know that I’ll never get to share another night with Mattie. I’ll never be able to hold her in my arms again.
Not unless I can kill Ival first.
He is completely healed, and I realise that he must have transported himself out of the fire, gone back onto his spaceship and had the medics there heal him. I should never have left him behind—I should have made sure he was dead.
I want to call out to Mattie to stay inside, but I fear my voice will only attract her attention.
“Marduke, it’s so good to see you again.”
“Ival,” I grunt, glancing down at the trunk and hoping to find a weapon I can use. I swear I had a gun in here, but Mattie must have taken it out.
“Looking for this?” Ival sneers, as if on cue.
I glance back up at him to see he has a handgun in his hand, pointing it at me.
“So, are you going to shoot me then?” I glare at him. I’m not wearing my vest since I’ve been forcing Mattie to wear it every day. I’m completely open to a kill shot from him. I know it’s coming; I’m just angry that, if he kills me now, I won’t be here to protect Logan and Mattie.
“You know, I’ve been watching you since you arrived at this house. I watched you break in, search for food and make yourselves lunch. I watched the way you held that human female’s hand, the way you leaned forward and kissed her. I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t taken it further with her.”
I slam the trunk’s lid down in anger, stepping aside the car and moving towards him. “I swear, Ival, if you lay one finger on her, I’ll—”
“Logan!” Mattie screams from the house.
I turn in time to see Logan running towards me. He has a smile on his face, completely oblivious to the situation he’s running into.
“No, Logan, go back inside!” I yell out, managing only a few steps in his direction before Ival pulls the trigger on his gun. He’s no longer pointing the gun at me, though; instead it’s been aimed at Logan.
Logan is thrown by the force of the bullet impacting his small body.
“No!” Mattie screeches. She runs to Logan and I detour my route, going straight for Ival.
Ival doesn’t shoot me, even though he has ample time to. He just smiles at me, looking actually gleeful that I’m about to attack him. When I run into him with everything I’ve got, he only has to take a few steps back to right himself. I’m crouched down, my arms wrapped around his middle as I try to tackle him. From his position, he is able to elbow down hard over my spine, the force so strong I fall to my knees before he then slams his fist into my face, knocking me down to the side, blood spurting out from my nose.
Pain radiates through my body as I turn my h
ead, seeing Mattie sobbing while she holds Logan in her arms. I see her breaking apart in front of me, watch as her sanity is stolen from her by this loss. My Mattie, the carefree and happy one I’ve come to find in the past few weeks, disappears and an empty shell replaces her.
“As I was saying, I watched you, little brother, and I realised something. Want to know what I realised?”
I sit up, forcing myself to get back on my feet, only to be punched again in the face. This time, my jaw clicks out, and when I fall to my knees, Ival kicks me in the ribs. The impact is enough that I can’t breathe properly afterwards.
Again my eyes find Mattie. She is rocking Logan as she mutters words to him. I don’t know what she’s saying, all I know is that I’ve failed Logan—I’ve failed her.
“I realised, brother,” Ival blocks my view of Mattie as he crouches down beside me, “that I no longer need to kill you. Just seeing you like this, seeing what you’ve allowed yourself to do with a human, is enough for Father to change his mind. You’ve disappointed him, dishonoured our family name, and you won’t get a hero’s death here. You’ll be wiped from our history, having never existed at all.” He laughs, his face contorted with his humour. He looks evil.
When did Ival become such a monster? I’ve always known he is brutal, but never to this extreme. He doesn’t want to just kill me, he wants to destroy me.
“You bastard! How could you kill him! He’s just an innocent child!” Mattie screams at Ival, coming alive again as she leaves a lifeless Logan on the ground and runs at Ival.
“Watch, brother, watch her scream.” He smirks at me before turning to face her.
The fear of him harming Mattie is enough to kick me into action.
I jump onto his back, ignoring the pain from my ribs that feels like they’re stabbing my insides. I blink away the dizziness as black dots appear in front of my eyes. I knock Ival’s hand, surprising him enough that the gun drops to the ground, and then I reach to his side and grab the monit.
I point it at Mattie, not giving myself time to take in her appearance one last time before I send her away. Black light cloaks her, and in a second, she disappears. She’s now on a spaceship, somewhere high above us on her way to Oden.
Ival shrugs me off and I fall. I have no strength. It’s why I haven’t just held him until Mattie made it to us. If I thought I could manage it, I’d have held him until she could get to the gun to finish him off, but there wasn’t time. One shove from Ival, and I’m already lost to him. He would have reached the gun first, and Mattie would be dead along with Logan.
“You idiot,” he hisses at me, grabbing the monit out of my hand and pointing it at Logan, letting the green light cover him until he disappears. “I cannot wait for Father to see what you’ve become.” He then points it at me and green light comes at me.
Before I finish blinking, I find myself trapped in my father’s spaceship.
I blink away the unconsciousness that is trying to take hold of me as Medics quickly approach me. I think I must black out, yet regrettably, it doesn’t last long. In what feels like seconds, I’m jolted awake, sitting upright and vaguely aware that my ribs no longer hurt.
“You have failed me, Marduke—failed this family.” My father is immediately in my face. I sit back from him, feeling his foul breath hitting me.
“Father, I—”
“Don’t speak without permission. I’ve just been hearing from Ival what you’ve been getting up to on that planet. You’ve been spending time with a human? Seen kissing one? I need to hear if you were intimate with her,” he demands, turning to stare at one of the guards. “Find this human and bring her to me. She must be dealt with immed—”
“We didn’t sleep together, Father, I swear. She was just helping me to survive. I was on the run after Ival tried to kill me,” I quickly explain, fearful that I haven’t helped Mattie at all. I’ve hoped that sending her on a spaceship to Oden would mean that she would get lost in the crowd of humans there. She’ll be able to find Hank and Lisa, find any surviving family, and I’ll try my best to find her when I can.
“Yes, Ival skipped telling me that part. I only told him I planned to have you lead instead of him as a test. I expected to hear he’d killed you straight away, and then I would have told him he passed.” He stands up, walking over to Ival, who is standing at attention next to my mother. “I was disappointed to hear you couldn’t do it. I assumed you were too weak to end him, but was surprised when I realised Marduke had gotten away. I thought maybe I’d underestimated him. I see now I’ve merely underestimated you both. If your mother weren’t defective, I’d have you both killed and would choose from my remaining sons who will lead, but I only have you two disappointments, so I have to restrain myself. I’m disgusted with you both, and as of right now, I am considering taking it to the other families that we cannot lead after my reign.”
“Father, no!” Ival cries out, only to be slapped in the face by our father.
“You have given me little other choice. If you do not step up and show me that you can make our family name proud, then I will have you both erased, and our family will be shamed.”
I keep my head bowed as a sign of respect and chastisement. My mind might be freaking out about Mattie and Logan, however I’ve been raised all my life to know how important our family name is to our history and our future. To hear my father speak like this is shocking and terrifying.
He storms away, ordering guards to lock us both up in our quarters, and I only manage a quick glimpse at the medics in the corner working on Logan, trying to save him. I want to ask if he’s okay, ask them how long until he’ll be fully healed, but I don’t. I don’t need to draw more attention to the fact that I care about him, a human child.
So I let the guards walk me to my quarters. My ribs feel tender with each step I take, a painful reminder I’m not completely healed yet. As I leave the room, I feel Ival’s glare on me the entire time before he, too, is taken away.
***
It takes a week to make it back to Oden, and as soon as we’re home, I’m trapped in my room there as well. I’m told from the guards that I am to stay here until further notice. My only consolation is that Ival is also still locked up.
I pace the length of my room, feeling angry at my predicament and anxious to find Mattie. I’m desperate to hold her, to hear her voice, and to know that she is okay.
The last time I saw her, she’d held Logan, assuming he was dead, and I watched as she died in that moment. The only other emotion that was able to emerge from her was anger. Not sadness, not fear and not loss. That anger consumed her as she ran at Ival, ready to take him down or die trying.
I’ve never seen her like that. Now, I’ve sent her away from me, and I’m worried about how she is coping with this. Is she still that shell of herself? Is she still suffering the loss of Logan? That’s not fair that she should believe he’s dead.
From what I have been able to find out, Logan has made a full recovery, and I’ve made one of the guards promise to take him to Lisa and Hank. I knew they would be able to protect him until I can find out what state Mattie is in. However, I’ve dared not mention Mattie’s name in case word gets back to my father. I know she’ll find Lisa and Hank on her own, and from there, she’ll find Logan. It is the best I can do from here.
It might seem strange that Logan has been saved, but children are sacred here. They’re a family’s legacy, and to take that away at such a young age, before the child can become who they are meant to be, is considered a sin. To die fighting for your family and home is considered an honour, but for a child to die under those circumstances is nothing other than tragic.
Ival transporting Logan to our spaceship was him passing along a courtesy that has been beaten into all of our people for generations. I’m sure many human children have been killed, and for that, my people will mourn and question what’s happened on Earth. I also know that the planet itself and the possibilities it provides our family with—as well as the fact that
humans were slowly destroying it—will help ease that pain. I’m not sure Ival meant to harm Logan, or at least, not mortally wound him.
From what I’ve gathered, public pressure and the massive amount of deaths caused my father to issue an order to take and not kill the remaining fighting humans. They want everyone off Earth, and as far as I’m aware, that means Oden will be crawling with humans.
I’m not sure how we’re supposed to house so many, and I definitely have no idea how we’re meant to feed and provide for them. I see how barbaric what we’ve done is, yet I also know it’s too late to change it.
We’re stuck now—there is nothing to be done. Nothing I can do except ensure Mattie is with Logan and the others.
There is no way for us to be together here, but I will keep my promise to keep her safe. I’ll ensure she is taken care of and given the best life possible for her here. I will search for her family and hope that they’re alive so I can reunite them. I will do anything to ease this pain because I know coming here has not been something she’s ever wanted. She wanted to remain on Earth whether she was able to live or die there.
A knock reverberates throughout my room, followed by my mother’s voice calling out my name.
I stand still, facing the wall where I know my door to be. When it appears, I hope my punishment is over. Instead, my mother enters my room, quickly closing the door behind her, and I watch it turn back into my wall.
“Your father doesn’t know I’m here, so I must be quick,” she says to me, her eyes roaming over me again. Before, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but now I realise how distant we all are here. If Mattie had just entered the room, we’d have taken steps towards each other and hugged, maybe kissed. I’ve witnessed lovers, friends and family doing much the same back on Earth. Humans are incredibly physical.
Earth (The Invasion Trilogy Book 1) Page 24