Page 18 of The Alien I Fell in Love with on Walpurgis Night

“Why?”

“The Alliance Force guards humanity from other species who would want to steal humans for less than ideal purposes.”

“No, I meant why me? Why this? If you know the guy running this place, why did you need me at all? Why not just let me go now?”

“I can’t tell you everything.”

“Don’t be passive aggressive. You owe me an explanation, Axl. This is all getting really confusing.”

“I was near Earth on a classified mission. My ship was damaged and I barely survived. If I were to tell Alliance Force what I was doing out here then I risk exposing others who are more important than myself, risking my career, my family, and my House.”

“Okay,” I say thinking about this. “But if what you say is true, then why don’t we just say we don’t want the tattoos and we’re ready to divorce?”

“There’s no divorce in the Empire, only death.”

“What?”

“There’s no divorce in the Empire, only death.”

“I heard you the first time.” I put my hand on the wet stone wall to steady myself. I don’t even care about being naked now. “So if I were to leave…”

He shakes his head. “It’s not possible to back out now.”

“How can this be real? You look so human. All of you look so human.” Has he given me a drug and is now trying to confuse me? Is he part of the game too? I knew it was too easy.

“Georgiana, listen to me,” he says in my ear, taking the back of my head in one of his hands, running his fingers through the back of my hair. “I’m not human, but I am the same species. And if you do this for me, I’ll be your devoted husband.” He leans back to look me in the eyes, but doesn’t let go of my hair. It’s so wrong but my eyes focus on his lips. Then his eyes.

“I don’t even know you. You don’t know me. You may grow to resent me.”

Axl leans in again, his breath against my ear making me tremble with sexual excitement. “You have no husband. You have no family that cares for your future. I am your destiny. Let me care for you. You will want for nothing. I can provide every material wealth in the galaxy for you. But you need to do this one thing for me.”

“I don’t think my destiny is for me to leave the planet with an alien,” I say, but I must admit, even to me my words don’t sound convincing. And it’s no wonder with the sexy way he is looking at me with the water running down his body and the way he’s still holding me. If it were up to my physical body, I would just agree to all of this, but somewhere in my brain, logic is prevailing over hormones. “Look, you seem like a reasonable and kind man, but I don’t know you,” I say, but already my mind is racing with the possibility of being married to this stranger, this alien, in this billionaires’ game. There’s no question that I find Axl attractive. And maybe this is what he wants, maybe I’m correct in thinking it’s his game and he’s a billionaire who wants a continuous sci-fi cosplay wife forever. “What kind of man are you, that you lie to your own people?” I ask, trying to gauge his reaction if I push him a bit. Is he a psychopath?

“I faithfully serve the Empire and the Empress herself.” He shows me his second necklace which must be the Empress’s seal. “Nothing I do is illegal,” he answers me evenly. I can find no trace of anger in his voice or body language, only earnestness.

“Even marrying me?”

“If we marry here with the binding tattoos, it’ll be completely legal, that’s why we’re talking in the shower. I can’t let you go through all of this without telling you the truth. I could’ve let you continue to believe this is all a game until we got to the Empire, and only then, let it be known that you could never leave an alien world and never have sex with anyone but me for the rest of your life on pain of death.”

“You must have considered that?”

“Not for an instant, Georgiana” he looks insulted. “I’m not that kind of man that needs to lie to keep a woman.”

I can’t help but stare at his dark grey lips as he continues talking about everything he can offer me as an alien husband. All I can say is, “But you were trying to do something illegal with me, regardless of how this has turned out now. We don’t know each other, we were never marrie…” I can’t finish the word. His mouth is on mine. His lips are caressing mine. It’s such a surprise, but such a good and erotic surprise.

I should pull back, but I don’t. Forgetting all my worries, I kiss him back. His tongue enters my mouth and I let him. Opening my mouth, allowing him in. None of this makes any sense, but my body doesn’t care. My body desires to be close to his. To touch him and explore him. My hands go to his muscular chest and then his shoulders. He’s so tall, I run my fingers up and down his strong neck. I feel one of his necklaces, I open my eyes and pull away from the kiss. I pick up the necklace’s medallion and read it again. “This is real?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know what to believe. What are we going to do?”

“What we discussed. You can work as an accountant in my House all of that can be true.”

“But what kind of life is that going to be for me? Are there other humans there?” I ask, trying to figure out if this is real or a permanent role-playing science fiction game.

“I know of a few other humans in the Capital City. I don’t know how many.”

“In your House?”

---