by Abigail Myst
No, Odette did not want to die alone and stupidly on some planet far across the universe simply because she couldn't keep her hands to herself.
Palig pointed out the good choices for a party, the tame but beautiful. Odette rather liked a purplish blue orchid type plant, but not so much for a party when she discovered that it tended to eat any small animals it could reach.
After about an hour of strolling, she chose a dozen plants for the party and another dozen or so to be sent to her lab for testing. She felt more tired than normal for just a long shopping trip. After a quick glance at her spoils, all of which she was assured were safe, Odette peeled off her gloves and touched one of the leaves.
The next thing she knew, Odette was lying on the ground, staring up at Palig and another one of the gardener Mahdfel.
"What happened? Did I touch something?"
"No. Stay there. I do not want my head removed for any injury that may befall you."
"Don't be ridiculous." Odette tried to sit up but was pushed back down onto the greenhouse floor.
"Did I fall?" She didn't feel sore. She felt the spongy floor underneath her. It was made from some sort of rubber that easily let the artificial sprays of rain pass through it. "I don't feel like I fell."
"That is because I caught you. One minute you were up, the next, down."
At a speed that Odette would not have expected, another Mahdfel, this one purple, showed up and scooped her up in his arms. Palig had no trouble keeping up with him as the pair ran out of the greenhouse to what Odette could only compare to an alien ambulance. Moments later, she was hooked up and being scanned by a dozen different machines.
"Oh," one of the medics finally exclaimed. It didn't sound like a bad oh, nor did it sound positive. It was more a “oh, duh” than anything else.
Palig looked at her with a new expression when the medic showed him the screen he held in his hand.
"Oh." That was definitely a disappointed oh.
"Oh, what?"
"You said that you had not mated."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Suddenly Odette was all a blush. Then when the medic pointed the scanner once more at her belly, she got the idea. "Oh."
"Yes. Oh. Etlon must be informed," Palig said.
"No, he mustn't. This is my business and my business only. After all, his son sent me away. That's not my fault, and I damn well don't want to be hooked up with a guy who doesn't want me."
"He wanted you. You carry his child." His tone conveyed that there was no discussing the matter. It was absolute.
“He sent me away.”
“Are you going to weep? I heard that Terrans with child tend to weep a lot.”
Odette peeled off the sensor that stuck to her forehead. “I do not weep. I carry on, which is what I plan to do now, if you don’t mind. I’m going back to my lab.”
“No, you will go back to the Har— Residence.”
“I’m fine. Besides, all of you and your quick Mahdfel reflexes will catch me before I do any damage.”
“Mothers do not work.”
“This mother does. Besides, I’m just fine and dandy. If you don’t take me back to the lab, I’ll get there myself.”
Palig shifted from one foot to the other, as if weighing the consequences of his actions. If previous cases were taken into consideration, fear of their boss would trump any fear or concerns that she voiced herself.
She slid off the examination bench and exited the clinic. They had arrived in a vehicle much like the autocabs at home. In fact, Earth had probably stolen the tech from them.
Once in the cab, she ordered it to take her back to the lab. Palig stepped in at the last second.
"I don't need a babysitter. I'm the one having the baby, remember?" she told him.
"I thought you were unmated."
"I am. I hate to break it to you but I come from a planet where people break up all the time. I mean, it isn't as high a divorce rate as it used to be, before the Lottery, but still. People are allowed to go their own ways."
"If you could bear him a child, why did he find you defective?"
Odette sighed. "There is nothing wrong with me. There never has been. Men just seem to take advantage of me while I'm there, so what if I took advantage of Athen? Doesn't that fit your shiny warrior view of the way the universe works? He was there, and he had all the working parts and he was really pretty to look at and I thought, what the hell!"
Odette had to stop talking because she knew every bloody word out of her mouth was a lie. There was no such thing as sex with Athen without strings. She wanted him in a primal way, and despite spending most of the time away from him on Noven 90, it was nice to be desired. She knew it was chemical. Athen and his biological drive to reproduce, but he wanted her. And that was enough.
And she missed him desperately. Even when she'd been getting to know his warriors, teaching them volleyball and listening to their stories, he had been in the background, watching her. Screw him for not even wanting to give her the chance to make things work.
But now she was here, and she was pregnant, and Athen never visited Etlon. So what?
At least she didn't have to marry his little brother. There was a bright side to every situation. And now she'd have her own little warrior to raise. She put a hand over her stomach. He'd be smaller than a pea right now, she figured, but it still didn't stop the spark of light from reaching her heart.
"You are weeping."
"I am not!" Odette wiped tears off her face. She took a deep breath and the cab stopped outside her lab. But it was not Etlon that greeted her. It was Marlin, and she, despite the smile plastered on her face, was not happy.
"You will come home with me at once," Marlin said, voice cool.
"No, I have some lab work to finish up."
"We shall finish that up later."
We? Who was this ‘we’ all of the sudden. Surely Marlin didn't imagine that Odette was going to buy that line for a second.
"No, I have to do it now. Time sensitive things, you know."
Marlin stepped into her path, still with that same passive grin.
"Odette, I have been informed with the lovely and brilliant news that you shall be a mother."
"News travels fast! On my planet, we let the parents to be break the news to the extended family. There's something called medical confidentiality. But you needn't worry. I'll take things easy from here on out."
"Athen will be thrilled to hear the news. I look forward to seeing my son."
"Athen never visits Etlon."
"Athen and his father have patched things up. He will be coming home and resuming his rightful place in the council as the oldest son."
"You are not using me and my baby as bait,” Odette said. “He told me to go. You think he's just magically going to decide to keep me because I'm pregnant. Why not just leave me here and let me rot?"
"You know nothing of my son. He is proud. He is—"
"Still angry with his father, and if you make him come here and sit on your so called Council when he doesn't want to, you'll find him even angrier than before.”
“You’d rather he faced death from the Suhlik.”
“Of course not! But you can’t force a person to do something just because you’re their parent. How the hell do you think I ended up here?”
Marlin’s smile faded, but only for a moment. The entire top of her head turned a bright scarlet before fading away then the smile returned, though not quite as large as before.
“Etlon will determine this,” she said, voice as placid as ever.
Odette was pretty sure that meant that Marlin was going to go home immediately and demand that her husband lay down the law.
“Fine.”
She strode into the lab without looking back. She gave herself an hour to gather everything she needed. The good news was that in the past month, she had processed most of her Noven 90 samples. Number and formula crunching could be done by computer sims rather than actual lab work
. If she was going to be stuck in the Harem, she could still keep working.
She stayed for an extra hour after that, just to prove that she wasn’t being rushed, before leaving for the afternoon. Palig and Wadoo eyed her suspiciously as she left, though neither warrior spoke.
On the way back to the residence (she really couldn’t yet think of it as home), she closed her eyes and once again tried to center herself.
A baby. Athen’s baby. Would it be green? No, would he be green. All the Mahdfel’s children were boys. She was going to have a boy. Perhaps, she could name him after her father. It would be a fitting name. And he would grow up to be whatever the damn hell he wanted to be. Not a botanist, unless he wanted to. Not a warrior or a soldier or a de facto king of the planet. Not unless that’s what her son wanted to do.
With Marlin and the other five wives around, always offering childrearing advice, it would be difficult to manage. Somehow, she’d have to figure out how to get away, how to get off Etlon and find some place to make a fresh start.
Chapter Fourteen
Odette
Odette woke up hot and wet and near orgasm. It took a moment to realize that she wasn’t dreaming of Athen’s hands on her breasts, moving lower across her stomach, or his fingers tickling past her lips and to her clit. When she was finally awake, she felt his hard cock pressing against her backside.
“Athen.” Months of loneliness and dreams filled with Athen melted away with the warm touch of his skin against hers. She knew instinctively that it was him.
“Hmm?” It was meant to sound lazy, but the way his hips flexed forward told her that he was more than ready to move on to the next stage. Odette, for her part was not ready to contemplate what his presence in her bed meant. She just knew what she wanted.
She grabbed his hand and swiveled around. He meekly followed her direction until he was on his back and she was atop him. Odette centered herself and then lowered onto his cock. Athen let out a sigh as she enveloped him, taking him all the way inside her and settling for a moment.
His hand absently played with her nipple and she felt herself squeeze him, tightening around the pole inside her. The reality of him in her bed began to sink in.
“What are you doing here?”
“You are my mate.”
“That didn’t seem to concern you the last time.” She was beginning to feel like a booty call. Her damn body betrayed her into letting him touch her however he liked. Fine. Let it be just sex. Staring down at Athen, she knew that was a lie. Her heart was already in his hands.
“The last time was a long time ago.” He arched his hips to indicate that he’d like to get on with things.
“Now who’s fault is that?”
“My father’s.”
Odette crossed her hands over her chest. It was a ridiculous motion since he was still towering inside her. “Your father was just doing what you asked for. How on Earth can you blame him for this?”
“We are not on Earth.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do not. We are mated. He separated us. That is the end of the argument.” Athen could have ended the argument any way he liked. A particularly good one would have been rolling over and pushing into until she had no breath. Instead, he just lay there underneath her, lazily plucking at a nipple as it peeked out under her arms.
“You wanted us to separate.” She didn’t want to sound so pitiful, so vulnerable, but her voice trembled as her throat tightened.
“Not after I mated with you.”
Toughen up. Lie more. “Look, Athen, one night in the sack, despite how terrific it might be, is not equal to a lifetime commitment, but you gotta admit, it takes a heel to-”
“There was no sack involved, but you are mistaken. I took you as my mate. You are mine. You will bear my children. That is non-negotiable.”
Athen said it as if he expected an argument. Odette just stared down at him and processed this information.
“I woke up alone. You didn’t stop me. Why didn’t you stop me?”
“My father- No. I will not make excuses. It was a mistake. But you are mine, understand?”
Mahdfel mated for life, whether he wanted to or not. Odette had no objections, considering she was already pregnant with his child, and the other option included trying to find a way off Etlon without Etlon pulling her back to safety.
“Then we’ll go back to Noven 90?”
“That is still up for debate. But you know what else is still up?”
“What is that?”
“My cock.”
“Oh, is it? I hadn’t noticed.”
Athen grabbed her hips and lifted her then pulled her back down onto his cock.
“Have you noticed now?”
“Perhaps.” Odette rotated her hips and Athen gave her another stroke.
“Now?”
“Now.” He set a rhythm that had her crying out in no time, bouncing on top of him as he guided her speed with his hands on her hips. Her world exploded into stars and Athen was not content with being underneath her. He flipped her over and began to press into her with more urgency. Odette wrapped her legs around him, urging him on as he pounded her. She loved every glorious stroke and every inch of flesh that contacted hers. He was hot and hard and insistent and Odette gave herself to him and his primal thrusts.
“Odette!” Athen stiffened and moaned as he filled her with his seed. After a moment, he turned, taking his weight off her and gathered her in his arms.
“You said my name,” Odette remarked after their hearts had stopped pounding.
“What of it?”
“You never say it. Is that what I have to do to get you to say it? To come inside me?”
Athen smiled and said nothing.
“What did you mean when you said that Noven 90 was up for discussion?”
“The Suhlik are planning something.”
“The Suhlik are always planning something.” The whole thing sounded a bit ridiculous, like a board game, but Odette could tell Athen was serious.
“Yes, but we caught spies. My men are interrogating the ones still alive.”
Rumor had it that Suhlik were notoriously resistant to interrogation, at least by human hands. The Mahdfel might have other ways of making them talk.
“There is an expression in English. Where you go, I go. So I really hope you don’t plan on leaving me here. Your family is driving me a bit nuts.”
“You don’t like my family?”
“Oh, they are all just fine, though being pressured to marry a pre-pubescent brother by your mother was a bit stressful.”
“If you had told her we were mated then she would not have pressured you. She would not have liked me having to kill my remaining brother.”
“She stopped pressuring me, that’s true, but your gaggle of sister-in-laws? They all think they know the right way of doing things. I’ve been forced into trying old wives tales from four different planets. And the whole ‘Mahdfel mothers don’t do anything until the baby pops out’? On Earth, we work until we can’t see our toes.”
“Odette.”
“You said it again.”
“What?”
“My name. And you weren’t mid orgasm. I think we’re making progress.”
“Mother.”
“Yes, your mother what?”
“No.” Athen put his hand over her stomach. “Are you already with child?”
“Didn’t your father tell you?” Why else would Athen have had such a change of heart if he hadn’t come back because of the baby? The pull of the mating bond couldn’t possibly be that strong.
“I have not spoken to my father.”
“Why not?”
“Because I was busy claiming my mate. Besides, he has more pressing matters to worry about. I have more pressing matters to worry about.” His hands began to wander again. Damn if she wasn’t feeling the sparks.
“Odette!” Her door flew open and Nona ran in. She literally slid to a stop as Athen catapulted
out of bed with alarm. He crouched, completely naked, scanning the room before relaxing, sensing no danger.
Nona’s eyes went wide as she got a view of Odette’s husband in all his rigid, hard glory. “Uh, there was a rumor, and uh, I guess it’s true and uh, I should probably be going now.” Nona sighed. “I miss my husband.” She turned to leave, but Odette could see four more pairs of eyes, all trying to get a peek at her husband.
“Sleepy time over. Time to get dressed!” she announced.
Athen turned back to her. He actually looked disappointed. “I shall close the door.”
“That ain’t gonna solve the fact that they are all out there, and they will know what we are doing in here.”
Athen did indeed go to close the door. He turned back and looked at Odette, blanket still pulled up to her chin. “Why should that matter?”
“Clothes. Now.”
“But only if you take them off again,” he said with a grin.
Odette rolled her eyes. It was hard to ignore him, especially when he approached the bed, stroking himself to a harder state.
“Fine. Compromise. Shower time, then dress.”
“Agreed.”
Athen pulled the covers off her and nearly off the bed. He gathered her up in his arms and escorted her into the shower. Just like the rooms, it was palatial and would easily accommodate two.
Athen waved his hand over the control panel and the water fell like rain. The stone floor and wall were also heated.
“It never does that when I go in,” Odette said, letting the droplets of water wet her hair. It probably wasn’t enough pressure to get soap out of her hair, but she somehow doubted that was Athen’s intention.
“You should set your preferences.”
“I didn’t know it had preferences.”
“I find this one quite relaxing. And the wall heat quite soothing.” Athen backed her up into the wall and instead of a shocking cold, the warmth radiated through her. It had nothing at all to do with the way Athen was casually cupping her breasts and running his thumbs over her nipples.
“I thought we were going to wash,” Odette said with an innocent look up at him.
