Earth (The Invasion Trilogy Book 1) (23 page)

After days of wearing the vest, it feels freeing to finally have it come loose. I reali
se its extra freeing since I’m only wearing my bra underneath it.

Marduke slips the vest off my arms
then his mouth is immediately on me. He moves from one breast to the other, kissing me through my bra. I’ve never been touched like this before, never felt the electricity and pleasure that is currently shooting through my body. I feel hot, but shivers consume me, and I begin to rock against him again.

My eyes are closed
, so when I feel myself being lifted, I nearly cry out in shock, my legs locking tightly around him. Marduke has me in his arms, walking us into the bedroom. The door to the room Logan is sleeping in is open, but as Marduke walks us into the spare room, he kicks the door closed behind us.

He dumps me onto the bed
where I bounce up and down, feeling a little sick as I do. That is quickly forgotten as I watch Marduke stripping himself of his pants and underwear. Now, completely naked.

I’ve never really seen a man naked before. Okay
, sure I’ve seen some photos online, but those were just quick glimpses before embarrassment took over and I clicked out of them. I have been on a few dates, but nothing has ever gotten to this point. I even feel like a bit of a weirdo as I stare down at Marduke.

His body is perfection and completely human looking. I feel terrified at what this is leading to. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I definitely know that his penis is never going to fit inside me
—there’s no way.

T
hen my fears move to the back of my mind when he grabs hold of my pants and undoes the button and zipper on my jeans. He pulls them off me and I unconsciously lift my ass to help him. When I’m free of jeans and underwear, he climbs over me, unclipping my bra, which takes him several tries. I giggle when I hear him getting frustrated.

“I’ve never done this before
,” he explains, crying out in elation when he finally unclips it.

He takes it off me and sits back. Now
, he gets to be the weirdo as he stares at me except his gaze makes me feel alive, makes me feel sexy.

His hands explore my body, moving from my breasts, down my stomach and to my thighs.
I feel wetness growing in my anticipation for him and my earlier fears are forgotten about him not fitting inside me.

I’m still tipsy, drunk on this moment and the alcohol consumed earlier, that I feel blank moments also passing me by. Like when did his hands move up my thigh and inside me?

As I get used to the foreign fingers moving, teasing and stretching me, I groan at his touch, desperate for something more. Suddenly, he removes his fingers altogether and before I can voice a complaint, he enters me.

He doesn’t go gently, moving
instead until he’s completely sheathed by me and I feel uncomfortable and in pain. I groan, not in pleasure, but he already begins moving.

“You feel… this is… Oh
, Mattie, I think…” He keeps going like this, unable to finish anything he’s trying to say.

Tears fall down my face, both from pain and the small
bits of pleasure that are coming through. It feels strange, and even though it’s not all that enjoyable, I watch as he gasps, his mouth not actually closing back up again. His entire body is tense, his arms bulging muscles and his stomach so taunt that I feel a little more turned on just feeling him.

He moves in and out of me a few more times and then calls out my name before he lets go completely and climaxes.
He lies on top of me, his arms lifting him up enough that he’s not crushing me while his chest moves in and out quickly as he tries to catch his breath while he is still inside of me. This is something that is just between us, something that can never be taken away from us.

I wonder if I
’ve finished, too. I’ve never spoken to any of my friends about sex, but I’ve overheard plenty of conversations in the locker room after practice. My experience doesn’t sound like some of what the other girls have said. At the same time, however, there is something special about this. There is something magical flowing through me. I feel love for Marduke; feel love for what we’ve just shared. There is an intimacy between us now, something that hasn’t been there before, and something that neither of us has shared with anyone else.

Warmth and happiness fill me as well as exhaustion.

“I want to do that with you again, every minute of every day for all eternity,” Marduke says, finally coming up from lying over me. His eyes look glazed, his smile lazy, and when I look at his lips, he quickly leans down and kisses me.

“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 head, 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 reali
sed 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 reali
sed, 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.