Alien Conquest: A Science Fiction Romance (Celestial Mates) Page 6

  As I walked down the hall, I switched on my holographic disguise out of habit. I didn’t like getting accosted by fans when I went out in public, and I took precautions to make sure no one would recognize me.

  Once I left the building, I stared up at the hotel rooms that looked like beautiful white balls floating in the air over the central sphere containing the front desk and restaurant. When I booked it, I had imagined my future wife would like it. Now I couldn’t care less about the shape of the damned room.

  By a strange twist of fate, I found myself married to the woman I fell for last night, and who I thought was lost forever. I hadn’t realized how much I cared about her until I had to walk away without any hope of seeing her again. The problem was that she thought I was an asshole paraballer and would never be as good as the man she was with last night. She had implied this with some snarky comments before we entered the hovercraft, which resulted in us spending most of the ride in silence.

  Being your own rival was an interesting predicament. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I wandered around the nearby park, trying to figure out a solution to my problem.

  In my heart, I knew the answer. I should tell Beth and come clean about wearing the disguise. I could explain that I wore it to avoid a mob scene. It would be harder to explain that it was a habit of mine to sleep with women anonymously because I had never dated any of them. I could say that I had never had a one-night stand turn into anything else, but it sounded superficial and shallow in my head.

  She would never understand that up until this point in my life, I had objectified and used women to satisfy my needs without having given anything back to a single one. Would I have to say that I had never had a relationship that was more than one night of sex? She would never believe that somehow I was a changed man now.

  If I told her, she was as good as gone. Right now, she was still willing to go through with the marriage because of the contract. She might change her mind when she learned the extent of my deception.

  And then there was the fact that she had been so embarrassed the first time she met me when Casey tried to introduce us. I had seen the flash of recognition when she saw me at our wedding, and it hadn’t been pleasant.

  I sat down on a bench, my head in my hands. I had trapped myself. I couldn’t stop the lies.

  And then it got worse.

  “Odin?” I heard a sweet voice calling my name. It was Beth. I looked up. She was smiling at me, and a moment later she was in my arms, holding me tightly. It was the woman I remembered from last night, not the cold bitch with whom I spent the day. “Odin!”

  I knew what had brought about her attitude change. I was wearing my holographic disguise again. She wasn’t seeing the person I knew I was. She saw the person of her imagination, the wonderful man she fallen for last night.

  She was happy to see me...because I wasn’t me.

  BETH

  Once paraball Odin left me, using a made-up excuse about needing to go to the store to pick up random things we might need, I burst into tears. Everything was wrong, and I couldn’t do anything to fix it.

  When I was alone, I let myself have a good cry until my stomach muscles hurt and my eyes ached. I knew I shouldn’t, and that Odin would see I had been crying. But I couldn’t help myself.

  I had finally found everything I ever wanted in a guy. I had him in my hands, and I let him slip away. I no longer wanted the marriage and had lost interest in the Odin of my childhood fantasies. And the man of my dreams was off marrying some Dorsh bitch who would never make him as happy as I could.

  I supposed it was kind of crazy that I had fallen for him hard and fast. My grandmother always used to sing a song about fools rushing into love. Maybe one-night stand Odin was taking things to an extreme, but wasn’t that what love at first sight meant?

  I was feeling restless, and I decided I was going to go out, too. Paraball Odin probably went out to get away from me. Two could play at that game. I would go out and explore this planet. I might not come back for a long time. I might stay out all night.

  Surely he didn’t expect me to fuck him on our wedding night, not after I had given him the cold shoulder the entire hovercraft ride over here. If that was what he was upset about, then it was too damn bad. He had me on the altar already. That was the only piece of me he was going to get. It didn’t matter how good it was. I wasn’t going to be fucking paraball Odin again. It would make me feel like I was cheating on one-night stand Odin.

  I knew I wasn’t fair to the paraball star, and that nothing was his fault, but I couldn’t shake the memory of meeting him for the first time. I had such negative emotions associated with the event that whenever I looked at him, I felt a sickening sensation taking over my thoughts.

  The mirror in the bathroom told me everything I needed to know about my appearance. I had puffy red eyes and a sad countenance. I didn’t bother fixing my make-up or trying to tidy my disheveled bun, which was falling apart. I wanted to feel pathetic, and looking the part would help.

  What I wanted to do was go out, find the best dessert on Dorsh and eat a lot of it. I would get so fat that my husband wouldn’t want to have sex with me. I recognized the self-destructive nature of the thought, but I couldn’t help myself. I had ruined my chance at a happily-ever-after for my life.

  I headed to the park to calm down before I ventured out further. And that’s when I saw one-night stand Odin, the guy I thought I would never see again.

  He sat on a park bench with his head held between his hands like he was upset. My heart leaped. I wondered immediately if he missed me as much as I missed him. What was he doing here? Could it be that he hadn’t gotten married after all?

  It didn’t matter to me if he was married. It didn’t matter if he wanted to see me again or not. I had lost him once before, and I wasn’t about to lose him again. Life was giving me a second chance, and I wasn’t going to waste it. I ran over to him and threw myself into his arms.

  “Odin!” I cried, clutching him tightly. I felt like he might disappear again at any moment.

  ODIN

  I held Beth tightly, so glad to see the woman I had made love to last night instead of my reluctant bride. I had never wanted to remove the disguise more than I did at that moment.

  I almost did it. I nearly revealed myself to remove the shackles. The only thing that stopped me was the near-certainty that Beth would be furious and leave me right away. I wasn’t willing to let her go that easily. I needed to hold her a little while longer. I promised myself that I would tell her the truth when the time was right. I would have a chance to fix everything sometime in the future.

  “You left,” she said accusingly, face still buried in my chest. “Would it have been too much to say goodbye to me?”

  “I know.” Kissing the top of her head was easy because she was much smaller than me. “I didn’t want to make it harder on either one of us.”

  “Was leaving difficult for you too?” she whispered, daring to look up at me with big searching brown eyes.

  “Maybe a little.”

  She blinked as if my words surprised her, smiled, then ran her hands down my chest. Something made her frown as she fingered my clothing. “You’re wearing a Dorshan wedding suit,” she said. “You got married.”

  I nodded. “Apparently, so did you.” I watched her carefully, wondering what she was thinking and wishing I could hear her thoughts instead of vaguely detecting the quantum field.

  “I did,” she whispered. It sounded like her marriage to me was making her miserable.

  “It didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to?” I asked.

  Beth shook her head, looking pensive. Suddenly she stepped back, taking my hands. “Let’s do something crazy. Run away with me.” Her eyes were shining and determined.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Let’s reset our lives, Odin. Can’t we leave everything and go somewhere else?”

  I stared at her. For me, everything was a lot of stuff. I had a career, a
home, and a life. Would it be worth it to abandon all those things to be with a human? To be with my Beth?

  The future beckoned to me. I pictured us in a little cottage. Maybe we even had children together. It looked like paradise.

  But then I remembered why I had married Beth in the first place - to save my career. I couldn’t lose my life to be with her. And what would I do about my disguise? I couldn’t wear it forever. Overusage came with side effects. Hearing loss. Amnesia. Impotence. There was a warning on the box.

  “I don’t think I can do that.” I felt my heart crack as I saw her face crumble.

  “That’s okay. I thought...I don’t know what I thought.” Beth turned to face away from me but not before I saw that her eyes were full of tears. With a sniff, she turned back and kissed me passionately. Beth kissed me the way I hoped she might kiss me for the rest of our lives. But I knew she would never care for the real Odin the way she did for the disguised one.

  She loved me. I was sure of it. But she didn’t know she loved me.

  Tears were rolling down her cheeks now. Beth turned and walked away from me. She looked at the ground with slumped shoulders. Her appearance was dejection personified. A thought inside of me screamed out that I couldn’t let her go again. I had already made that mistake once before.

  “Wait.” At that moment, I would have said anything to get her to stop. “Beth, wait. I’ll do it. I’ll run away with you.” I ran to catch up with her.

  “Do you mean it?” She looked unsure of herself.

  “Of course I do.” I didn’t know if it was even possible to cheat on myself with my own wife. The disguise wouldn’t last forever. I had never used it for longer than a night.

  I didn’t know how I would tell her the truth, but I meant what I was saying to her.

  Beth stared at me for a moment until she came to a decision. “If you’re sure, meet me at the spaceport in two hours with whatever you can fit into a bag.”

  “What are you going to tell your husband?” I asked.

  “Probably the same thing you’re going to tell your wife. I’m going out for a walk, but I’m never coming back. It might seem cruel, but we can call them later and explain everything.”

  I studied her sadly.

  “Is something the matter? You’re not getting cold feet already, are you?”

  “No, I’m committed. But I would hate to be the husband you were leaving behind.” From one point of view, I was the husband she was leaving behind.

  Beth didn’t answer, but stood on her toes and kissed me. Her touch took my breath away.

  “I’ll see you soon,” she said. “I’ll send you a message when I’m at the spaceport.”

  I watched my wife walk away from me. Beth planned to leave me for me. I didn’t know whether I should laugh out loud, be ecstatically happy or be unbelievably depressed.

  Chapter Ten

  BETH

  I hugged myself happily as I walked through the park. I needed to calm down before I returned to the hotel room so I wouldn’t look completely guilty in front of my husband.

  Odin had agreed to run away with me! I would leave my husband to paraball, and live a happy life with a guy I thought I would only see for one night. I didn’t know how I had turned into such a romantic so quickly, but falling in love at first sight must have influenced me. I received a message from Odin showing two intergalactic tickets. It was happening!

  By the time I got back, my husband was in the shower. I hoped he would stay there until I was ready to leave. I tossed my bags in the hall. I hadn’t even unpacked them yet, which saved some time. As I closed the door, Odin came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist.

  I caught my breath. Odin had a chiseled physique. Part of it was from being an athlete, but I knew he must work out religiously to maintain his appearance. I remembered how I had had a crush on him before I met him.

  I had to admit that the sex on the altar had been amazing. Even though I was reluctant, he had made me come almost as hard as one-night-stand Odin. I was puzzled for a second but didn’t let it bother me for long. There was something about my husband that baffled me. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  We stared at each other for a moment before I looked away. I shouldn’t have exchanged smoldering glances with him.

  He spoke first. “Why did you look away?” His voice sounded familiar. I hadn’t heard him speak much on the videos.

  “Your eyes are purple.” I latched onto the first thing that popped into my mind.

  “It’s not rare on Dorsh.”

  “I happen to know someone else with purple eyes.”

  “Do you?” He sounded angry about something. I couldn’t imagine why he might be mad at me. I looked over his body, arousal building in spite of myself. My eyes latched on to a red semicircle on his shoulder. It looked like someone had bitten him while in the throes of passion. I stared at him as a feeling of outrage overtook me.

  I stalked over, whipped out a finger, and traced around the edges of the wound. “What is this?” My frown deepened as I inhaled deeply. Come to think of it, his smell was familiar, too.

  “It’s a bite mark.” He didn’t elaborate.

  “Where did you get it?”

  “Someone bit me.” That didn’t explain anything.

  “Was it a woman?”

  He nodded, his wild eyes never leaving mine.

  “Who?” I was afraid of the answer.

  “You.”

  ODIN

  The worst part was that I saw the precise moment when she realized my deception. “Beth. Don’t go. Let me explain everything.” I grabbed her arm to stop her. Beth looked at my hand coldly, and her expression was enough to make me release her.

  “I want nothing to do with you. Was I a joke? Maybe a game? Why would you do this to me? That was why you had to clean up your apartment before we went in together, wasn’t it? You were putting away things that might identify you as Odin Sobota, paraball god. Too bad you couldn’t put away the parts that make you Odin Sobota, galactic asshole.”

  “Yes, I didn’t want you to know who I am. But, but,” I stammered. “You’re not a joke to me. Give me a chance.”

  “Are you going to explain why you have been deceiving me the entire time I’ve known you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will that change the fact that you’ve been deceiving me?”

  I gulped. “No.”

  “Exactly.” Without another word, she walked out the door.

  I thought everything had gone well until her epiphany. At least now I knew that she was attracted to who I was. It wouldn’t do me much good now that she hated my guts. Before she left, the look of betrayal on her face cut me to the core.

  Was it possible for anyone to fix this situation? I didn’t know, but I was going to find out.

  BETH

  I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. I was too mad. I stormed out of the hotel and into the park. As soon as my feet touched the grass, I started to run. The wind tore at my hair, and I almost ran into three different people until I found an empty path.

  I raced down the road as if the devil himself were on my heels, running blindly. My hair whipped into my face as it fell out of my bun. If I had been moving just a little slower, it wouldn’t have happened. I hit a ninety-degree corner in the path and couldn’t turn in time. Instead, I crashed into the brush, realizing there was a deep ravine on the other side of the foliage.

  I felt my foot catch in the crook of a root. My entire leg twisted as I fell headlong down the steep hill. I did a somersault and rolled down the rest of the way, finally coming to a stop at the bottom of the ravine.

  When I managed to look up, I could only see the forest around me. There wasn’t a path anymore. I lay quietly for a moment trying to catch my breath. When I finally sat up, a sharp pain shot through my leg. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to walk on my ankle.

  The tears came then.

  Everything had gone horribly wrong. How c
ould it all have changed so much after things had been perfect last night?

  Now I was stuck at the bottom of a ravine, on a path that seemed deserted, with no one to come looking for me except a husband that I didn’t want to see. And Odin didn’t want to find me either. I had been hard on him before I left. I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he was better off without me.

  The alien forest, which had looked so attractive from space, now appeared deadly. I wondered if there were any dangerous animals or poisonous plants that should concern me. There was no way of knowing. I tried to stand but putting any weight on my ankle felt excruciating.

  All I could do was sit.

  Two hours later, I was frantic about being stuck where I was, but I had calmed down about Odin.

  I had a basic timeline in my mind. Odin had been wearing a holographic disguise last night. Maybe he had a good reason, but I didn’t know. I hadn’t stayed to listen to his explanations. He had not taken it off after we met. Maybe he was afraid I would recognize him immediately and become an uncontrollable fan. Surely a lot of women would do that if they knew who he was.

  He left me without saying goodbye, which was understandable in retrospect. He did say that he thought it would be harder for both of us. That was definitely true. If I had woken up first, I might have crept out without waking him, too.

  The problems started when he married me as Odin Sobota, paraballer extraordinaire.

  It was news to me, but he knew all of this already. He hadn’t wanted to run away with me at first. Of course, he would be leaving his life and career behind on Dorsh. Why had he said yes like he meant it? Was he willing to give up his life for me?

  My computer was not responding. I hit it on something on the way down. The screen was black. The last thing I saw on the screen was the two tickets off-planet. I guess he had been serious. He must care about me if he was willing to do that, even if he had lied to my face.