Chapter 16
“Madison, wake.”
A really big fly landed on her cheek and then moved to her neck. It had to be massive because it shook her. She was too sleepy to care about the size of the thing.
Madison batted at the large fly shaking her. “G’way, fly.”
“Open your eyes, Madison.”
“Stop talking. Flies don’t talk,” she mumbled and snuggled deeper into the covers. Just a few more minutes, then she’d get up and get ready for work.
“Human, I am not a fly.”
Madison rubbed her eyes and sat up. “Oh, it’s you. I dreamed a huge fly kept landing on me, and it talked in your voice.”
He put a hand on her forehead and checked her eyes. Madison pushed him away and looked around uneasily. They were safe in his magic tent, but danger hung thick in the air. It was as if nature held its breath. Nothing moved.
“Are more of the resistance on their way?”
“Yes.” He did that thing with his teeth that she suspected was supposed to be a smile. “I will protect you.”
If that was supposed to be a reassuring smile, he didn’t quite get it right. It might send the people coming for them running, though.
Madison got up, washed up with the water he provided, and quickly dressed. He even had fresh clothes for her. She went outside and looked around, but all she saw was vegetation and dust.
“I don’t see anything, are you sure?”
“I can hear them approach with my superior Zyrgin ears.”
Madison rolled her eyes, but he ignored it and held up a silver device with moving dots. “With this, I can see them coming.”
Madison put her hands over his and squinted down at the silver screen. Red dots formed a circle on the screen. “How do you know the dots are resistance fighters? And which dots are us?”
“Red dots mean humans.”
“Oh.” Now she saw the silver and red dot in the middle of the circle. “We’re surrounded.”
He cupped her cheek in his rough palm and, bending down, kissed her. “I will protect you. They will never harm you.”
“Do you believe I could have planted the tracking device that helped the resistance bomb us?” Logically, she knew he had to be suspicious, but she wanted him to believe her unconditionally.
“I will always protect you, even if you try to plant a bomb under The Zyrgin.” He stared down at her. “But do not do that. He is not killed that easily, and I might die trying to protect you, and that will leave you defenceless.”
Madison smiled and cupped his rough leathery cheek, stroked him with her thumb. “I promise faithfully to never plant a bomb under The Zyrgin.”
He nodded and they both looked down at the red dots moving inward in a circle.
Madison tightened her grip on Viglar’s hand holding the device. His calm assurance that he could protect her helped, but there were so many dots. “There’s so many of them.”
As they watched the number of red dots grew and grew. He’d never be able to kill that many. She said a quick prayer that Zacar was on his way with a few shuttle’s worth of warriors.
“What color dot will the Zyrgins be? The ones that are coming to rescue us.” Please let them be on their way and almost here.
“Silver, like me,” he said.
Madison scowled at the red dot next to the silver dot. “I don’t want to be red like them. I want to be silver too.” Now she sounded like a whiny kid. And maybe a traitor to her people. Shouldn’t she want to help the resistance?
He grunted something and as she watched the dot changed to silver, slightly smaller than the other silver dot surrounded by all those scary red dots. She smiled at him--until more red dots appeared.
“There are too many of them. Can’t you make the shuttle work so we can fly away from them? You can’t fight all of them.”
He rose so fast the silver device fell on the ground, and she fell flat on her back before she could regain her balance.
He roared, like some great beast, and she covered her ears while it went on. He’d been sarcastic and merciless and cruel, but always he’d been almost emotionless. He never raised his voice, didn’t have to. Now it was like a thunderstorm burst out over her with hail sent into the mix to hammer her head.
At last he stopped, so abruptly she had to resist the urge to crawl backward, away from him. “I am a warrior. I do not need help to kill a few puny humans.”
“All right,” she agreed. If he told her the sky was purple with pink dots, she’d agree to it right now.
“I am a doctor by choice, my blood is warrior.”
“Uh--I can see that.” Man, he was upset about this. She’d never even dare think that he couldn’t take on thousands on his own.
“I will kill all of them before they can hurt you.” He retrieved the silver device and placed it in her shaking hands. “Stay inside the shuttle.”
She wanted to offer to help, but didn’t want to unleash another thunderstorm. In the end, she had to offer. “If you give me a weapon, I can help.” She was a good shot. Not as good as Rory and Joshua, but heaps better than her other brothers. “I’m a good shot.” She held her breath, waiting for him to go off again.
He remained thankfully calm. “I know human women expect to help shoot and fight, but I am Zyrgin, and I do not need you to help. I need you safe.”
The way he fought, he might just manage to hold them off until rescue arrived. It was strange to fear humans and to hope for the aliens to rescue them. She glanced down at the silver device in her hand. “There’s so many of them.”
“I have fought many battles with many more skilled warriors than these pathetic humans.”
“Humans are not pathetic. Stop saying that.”
He put his forehead against hers and, despite being still shaky and a little scared of him, Madison grabbed his head and kissed him. “Stay safe. I will be furious if you get yourself killed.”
He touched her hair, held it up so the sun could shine through it. “I will not make you furious.”
Madison went into the shuttle, and they stared at each other as the hatch closed. When she was sealed in alone, she rushed to the window. Viglar stood with his back to the door, his sword held in his hand almost casually. As she watched, men with machine guns and laser weapons came into view. They walked closer, closing the circle around them until all she could see was the hatred-filled eyes of the resistance. The perimeter guard he set beeped and that relentless rhythmic beating drove her out of her mind. It announced more and more resistance fighters stepping into the campsite with Viglar.
There were too many of them. No matter what Viglar said, he couldn’t kill all of them. She looked around, but still couldn’t see anything to use as a weapon. Not even a sturdy stick. The cabinet in the hull? If she could get it open, she could maybe make one of the silver thingies become a weapon. But no matter how hard she hammered or pressed, it just wouldn’t open and, outside, she heard the relentless screaming and fighting. In desperation, she tried to mimic Viglar’s grunting language, but that didn’t work either.
It felt like an eternity, when all that happened was Viglar waiting patiently, and the humans advancing with grim intent.
She ran back to the window. She’d go outside and help but, without a weapon, she’d only be in his way. And if they captured her, she knew Viglar would be helpless against them, because he would do anything to keep her safe.
Viglar lunged, and it was almost like seeing one of the ballets on the TC. He moved with a grace and speed that was amazing to see. She winced every time bullets bounced off his armored skin, convinced this time they would penetrate and kill him. He did more damage alone and with his sword than what looked like the hundreds of humans with their laser guns and automatic weapons spitting old fashioned bullets.
“Observe, my breeder, I did not need help to kill them all,” Viglar said, and he didn’t even sound out of breath.
“I observed, all right.” This was crazy. They were talking as if he managed to win a tournament for her, instead of killing so many human men.
The area around Viglar was littered with bodies when aliens appeared, as if from nowhere. She’d really like to know how they did that. They took the weapons of the remaining men and rounded them up. Madison scrambled to get outside. “Open the hatch, Viglar,” she screamed. She knew what they intended to do with the men they captured and she couldn’t allow it. She hammered on the door and he didn’t open it. “Open this door, don’t you dare ignore me.”
At last the hatch swung open and she stormed outside. “I won’t let you torture them.”
He held her close to his warm body. After all that, he wasn’t even sweating. But he was bloody.
“Eeew, you’re all bloody.” Even so, she couldn’t make herself step away from him. She’d been so scared someone would get through his defences and hurt or kill him.
“They told us everything they know without us touching them.”
“Oh. So where are they now?” She wouldn’t put it past him to lie to her to spare her feelings.
“They will be kept prisoner until Zacar decides what happens with them.”
She shook her head vehemently. “No, what about due process. They should have a trial. That’s how things work in America.”
“That’s how things used to work,” he said very precisely.
Those red eyes stared at her with no emotion. Always, when she considered them, she saw heat and passion for his profession, his fellow warriors, for her. Now she saw an implacable purpose.
Madison stared up at him, and it hit her--as if all this time she’d only had a shallow understanding of their new reality. His hand that held her upper arm she’d thought supportive, now felt like an attempt to control her.
She stood quietly while the Zyrgins talked, thinking about the fact that humans no longer had recourse to the law. The Zyrgins decided who was guilty and not and what their punishment would be. She’d seen Viglar behead those three hospital officials. They’d played the system for years and gotten away with stealing drugs meant for patients. Their guilt had blinded her to the realization that they were not entitled to legal representation anymore. It was a frightening bone-deep realization that kept her frozen against Viglar. She’d slept with him, argued with him, but, until this moment, the reality of what faced humanity had not penetrated her consciousness.
***
Still holding Madison, Viglar saluted his leader. She was strangely quiet and tense against him. Ever since he took over the running of the hospital he’d heard her talk and laugh and her ugly hair had made her stand out among the other interns. She’d made all the other humans look dull in comparison.
He did not have the time or freedom, at this moment, to find out what would make her happy. He had to report to Zacar. “I killed them all and kept three for questioning. They are behind the shuttle where my breeder can’t see them.”
Something about them meeting Zyrgin justice had upset her, but he couldn’t talk to her about it now. For the first time, in his hundreds of years, he resented his duty.
Zacar nodded. “Human women have very soft hearts.” He dispatched a warrior to take the prisoners to the holding cells. “She is very quiet. When you introduced her to me, she talked all the time.”
“She is upset about the humans we have captured. She does not want to understand that we make the laws now. That is something she must learn to accept. We cannot change Zyrgin law for her.”
Zacar nodded. Looking at Madison, he switched to English.
“Viglar is one of my most trusted warriors. I came to rescue him personally because we cannot function efficiently without him.”
Madison gave Zacar a strange look, but nodded.
Viglar appreciated his leader making his breeder aware of her good fortune to have him as her warrior. Sometimes human women did not appreciate how privileged they were to be chosen.
“He fought bravely for you. No human man could kill that many attackers and keep you safe,” Zacar continued.
“That is true,” Madison said, something strange in her voice.
“I have three senior warriors, and he is one of the three. He is paid more because of that and will be a good provider for you.”
“I see,” Madison said.
Now she sounded really strange. Viglar hoped she didn’t cry. She was supposed to smile her odd human smile and be impressed with him.
“Viglar, on his own, handled the resistance trying to bring down a shuttle and capture a Zyrgin. I trusted him to do it alone.”
Again, she merely nodded.
“You are welcome in my dwelling any time.” Zacar nodded at them and left.
“Does that have special significance, being welcome in his dwelling?” Madison asked. She sounded worried and he could not understand why, after such an honor was bestowed on her.
“It is an honor to be given the freedom of a leader’s house. If you did not belong to me, you would not be afforded this honor.”
She merely nodded.
***
Still not feeling like talking, Madison got into another shuttle. The one she and Viglar had traveled in had taken off a while ago with one of the other aliens flying it. Just as she suspected, the bomb had done very little damage. It was frightening how little impact Earth’s defences had against the Zyrgins.
Viglar kept hold of her through the whole flight, but didn’t speak either. They’d almost charmed her with the way Zacar sang Viglar’s praises and the way Viglar was so obviously grateful for the boost to his image. If she wasn’t reeling from the deep-seated knowledge that Earth would never again belong to humans, she might have jumped him--he was so cute and sexy.
They landed on the mountain, or rather in the mountain, where the aliens had their headquarters, and he led her through the long narrow tunnel to the large main cave. Natalie stood talking to Julia, while her daughter, Alissa, practiced with a wooden sword. She had a fierce expression on her little face. Madison didn’t know anything about swords, but the little girl looked pretty skilled to her.
Natalie smiled at them. “Do you have time to have tea with me? I baked a cake earlier.”
The little girl lowered her sword and jumped up and down. “I want cake.”
Viglar cocked his head. “Warriors do not take tea and eat cake.”
Madison had the weirdest impression he was talking to Alissa, but she had to be wrong because he looked at Natalie without looking at the child. He also seemed to go to a lot of trouble not to look at Natalie directly, speaking in her general direction.
“Well, Madison does. Leave her with me for a while and do your warrior stuff and then come and get her,” Natalie told him.
Madison felt a small pang when she realized how easy Natalie was with him. She didn’t seem afraid of him and ordered him around. And he allowed it. A small mean part of her wanted him to tell Natalie not to take such liberties.
Viglar drew Madison against him and pressed his forehead against hers. “I will come for you in one Earth hour.” Without acknowledging Natalie or the little girl, he left. At the door, he stopped and turned back. “Do not speak to Margaret, and if she comes here, sit far away from her.” With those cryptic words, he left. He re-appeared almost immediately. “If Margaret’s eyes change color, run to me.” He turned on his heel and left.
Natalie shook her head. “He’s paranoid about Margaret.”
“Why? He won’t tell me what has him so concerned about her.”
Natalie poured tea into a cup and handed it to Madison. “It’s a long story, but she was changed by a monster until she didn’t remember who she was.
Julia nodded. “She went through a bad patch and threatened them with her voodoo. Nothing scares these warriors, but they seem awfully careful of her non-existent voodoo.”
Madison would be sure never to mention her voodoo priestess ancestor then.
“I have to know. Has Viglar ever tried to tease you?” Julia asked.
“He pretended he was going to eat me,” Madison told them. They stared at her. “I believed him, and I put up quite a fight not to become alien food.”
They looked at each other in silence and then screamed with laughter.
While they drank tea and talked about living in the mountain and the Zyrgin’s strange sense of humor, she debated asking the question burning in her mind. How did they cope with having a relationship with the warriors who conquered Earth--their oppressors, for all intents and purposes?
Except, apart from the beheadings, she hadn’t seen a lot of oppressing being done. This latest encounter with the resistance was instigated by the humans, not the Zyrgins. The aliens built hospitals and orphanages and shelters and, now that she thought about it, there hadn’t been food riots in the last year.
Exactly an hour later, Viglar appeared and led her out of the cave that looked so much like an old farmhouse, she half expected to walk out into the sunshine into a garden instead of the large cave.
He took her to his enormous sterile rooms beyond the infirmary. Madison looked around and shook her head. “It’s hard to believe we’re inside a mountain. It looks more like a space ship.” She brightened. “Hey, can I--”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”
“You were going to ask to see our space ship and you may not.”
“You know how you were studying how to be romantic? Well, sneaking me onto your space ship and showing me around would be very romantic. And I’m sure I’d want to do all kinds of naughty things in different parts of the ship.”
He stared at her and she thought he might be weighing getting to do naughty things against breaking their rules. “You will live in my quarters here when we come to the city. I will send a warrior to bring your possessions.” He’d obviously decided to leave the previous subject alone.
“What? Why? I thought we were going to date first before we thought about living together.” After seeing him torture that poor man, she kept thinking about Rory. What if the message from the resistance was true and they did the same to him? It was driving her crazy--wanting Viglar and feeling as if she’d betrayed her family at the same time.
“You are not safe anymore. You will be with me all the time. The rooms can be changed to what you want,” he said with a magnanimous attitude that set her teeth on edge.
“Oh, wonderful, just what I always dreamed of. To be with some green overbearing idiot all the time.” She looked around the rooms. She had to admit the place had potential. A bit of paint and a few good pieces of furniture, and they’d be living in high cotton. Except, she’d wanted them to get to know each other, work at their relationship before they took this step. She needed time to prepare her family. It was only a matter of time before someone told them of their relationship.
“You will learn to respect your warrior.”
“Why don’t you hold your breath, and we’ll see what happens while you wait for me to obey like a good little slave?”
“What really bothers you, Madison?”
She nearly fell over. One should never underestimate this wily Zyrgin warrior. She tended to underestimate how intelligent he was because he talked with an accent. How did she tell him she struggled with accepting that humans would be ruled by an alien race in the centuries to come? That her family would probably disown her if she moved in with him. That her colleagues already gave her strange glances. She settled for the easiest explanation. “I can’t move in because my mother will have kittens.”
He produced his silver gadget. “You mother is defective?”
“What?” She rubbed her forehead. He was a doctor, surely he didn’t think a human woman could produce kittens. Most of the time, she found his literal way endearing, but now she felt like clobbering him. And here she was just telling herself how intelligent he was.
“How many animals has your mother given birth to?” He looked ready to start making notes.
She threw her hands up in the air. “My mother doesn’t give birth to animals, you moron. And you call yourself a doctor.”
“You said she gives birth to kittens.”
“It’s a saying, and how come an intelligent guy like you thought a human could have kittens?”
The Zyrgins were centuries advanced when it came to technology and genetics. A cold chill went down her spine. “What kind of medical experiments have you done?”
“It does not concern you.”
“You expect me to move in with you, but you won’t even answer the simplest of questions.” She clenched her fists. She wanted to hit and kick him out of sheer frustration. Why couldn’t this be easy? Why couldn’t he be a human doctor that she could take home to her mother? Someone who did nog fight in the battle where her brother may have died.
He stood straighter, and she braced for bad news. “There are certain things I can never talk to you about.”
Madison relaxed. Her brother’s fiancé had no idea he ran moonshine. “I can live with that. I don’t plan on telling you everything either.”
She could see he didn’t like that. Served him right. “A breeder shouldn’t keep secrets from her warrior.” He came to her and touched her hair, held it up for the light to shine through. “Will you move in with me?”
“Please, I’m not ready. Jacobson will make my life miserable if he hears I’m living in his old apartment.” She could sympathize with the man. One moment the hospital was his little kingdom, and the next he was thrown out of his own office.
“You do not have to be concerned about him.”
Great, he’s probably going to cut off Jacobson’s head too. “Please don’t hurt him.”
As usual, he ignored what he considered unimportant and focused on what he wanted. “When will you be ready?”
She had to think about what he meant--oh, to move in with him. Man, he had a one-track mind when he set his mind to something.
When she could be sure he didn’t kill her brother. Madison couldn’t make herself ask him if he’d learned anything more about Rory. “I have to talk to my parents,” she stalled. It was true she had to talk to them. Had to tell them about Rory.
“I could claim you as my breeder. I killed an Eduki for you. I do not need permission to take you to my dwelling.”
The very soft, deliberate way he said that scared the pants of her. She stumbled back from him. “Do you really want our relationship to be like that? With me being nothing more than your slave. Do you think we could ever be happy like that?”
The silence thickened and lengthened as he stared at her and thought about her words. At last he said, “I will speak with your family.”
“No, that’s not necessary.” If she ever moved in with Viglar, she’d keep it a secret form her family. It wasn’t as if they were going to find out. They never came to the city and she could find a reason why she should go and visit them without Viglar. Rachel would never betray her.
He took her arm and she just knew he was going for a shuttle. “I will go with you now. We will take a shuttle.”
“No really, it’s not necessary. Besides, you don’t know where they live.”
He recited their address, and Madison didn’t know if she should be impressed or scared out of her mind. She dug in her heels, or tried to. It was like trying to stop one of those old freight trains. “Now would not be a good time to visit them.”
He stopped, took her chin in his hand, forced her to look at him. “Are you ashamed of me, Madison?”
“No, but think about it, Viglar. If my brother died at the Battle of No Name Town, how do you think my family would feel about me having a relationship with one of the aliens that might have killed him.”
“I did not kill a red-haired human.”
“What?”
“I killed many humans that day, but I did not kill a man with red hair like your Rory.” Her legs gave way beneath her. He picked her up and sat down with her on his lap. “I should have told you sooner,” he said and stroked her hair.
“I couldn’t have lived with the thought of you killing him. It would always have come between us.”
“Our probes show him at the battle but he was not among the killed. I will find out what happened to him. Now we will go to your family.”
They took a shuttle to Alabama. Even though she was frightened out of her mind, and her stomach acted up again, she couldn’t help but appreciate the comfort of traveling via alien space shuttle. It was so much nicer than going down in a rickety bus that kept breaking down. She’d counted the breakdowns and fourteen times in one trip was the record. Her grandmother said that her grandmother had told her of a time when people would fly between states. These days only the very rich flew in planes. Madison remembered their whole county once going to look at an airplane that landed on a private estate.
Of course, Viglar parked right in front of her parents’ door, and she thanked her lucky stars they had no neighbors. She wasn’t ashamed of him, quite the opposite. He was a very intelligent male and, despite his surly attitude, she’d never seen anyone work so hard to help people. On top of that, the way the children reacted to him told her everything about his character. But their relationship was going to cause her problems. With literally everyone.
She jumped out and stood panting, but thankfully her stomach declined to expel its contents.
Normally, she wouldn’t knock on the sturdy wooden door that was made by one of her ancestors when trees were still plentiful. But with Viglar at her side, her brothers could start shooting before they realized she was with him. Madison lifted a shaking hand to the door and knocked, praying they were not at home so that she could put this off for another day far, far in the future.
Obviously, Viglar didn’t think much of her knock because he added three hard knocks that nearly brought the door off its hinges. Footsteps pounded to the door, and Joshua threw it open.
His broad shoulder filling the doorway, he glared at them. “What the--”
This was the first time she’d seen her big older brother speechless. He stared up at Viglar and then his eyes narrowed and he reached for the shotgun Madison knew he kept beside the door.
She jumped in front of Viglar. “No, Joshua, he’s with me.”
Viglar immediately put her behind him and stood looking calmly at Joshua, who pointed the shotgun at him. Madison tried to get around Viglar, but he held her firmly behind him. “Stay behind me, Madison.”
From where she peered over Viglar’s arm, she could see his protective attitude penetrate Joshua’s fury and need to kill one of the aliens that probably killed his brother. His eyes flickered, and he lowered the shotgun. Madison knew her brother and that didn’t reassure her. He wouldn’t put the gun down until he’d decided Viglar wasn’t a threat to them.
“Come in.” He stood back and waited for them to precede him. She could’ve told him there’d be no opportunity to get Viglar from the back. But she knew he would try.
She didn’t turn when she heard the scuffle. Viglar had promised not to hurt her family, and she believed him.
She found her parents in the lounge, her father watching old football games and shouting at the screen and her mother knitting. Seeing the familiar flowered couches that clashed magnificently with the bright curtains and checked covered chairs, Madison felt that sense of home, of welcome she always experienced when she came back. Their smiles faltered when they focused behind her.
“Mom, Dad, please listen to me.”
“Why did you bring that thing into our home?” her father demanded and reached for his gun.
Honestly, did they always have to try to fix everything with violence? On second thought, they might get along splendidly with Viglar. She only had to tell them he chopped off his enemies’ heads, and they’d get right along.
“Please just hear me out.”
She tried to seat Viglar in a chair, but he moved them to the couch. They might be with her family, but she knew he’d never allow her to be alone until he was assured it was a safe environment for her. She just hoped her mother’s couch could take his weight.
Jeremiah strolled in and stopped to stare at Viglar.
“He’s with me, Jeremiah, don’t go for your gun,” she said hastily. She shouldn’t have gone to the effort. He reached behind the living room door and brought out his laser gun. She hoped Viglar didn’t enquire too closely about where they got the guns. Or how they made their living.
With two of her brothers pointing guns at Viglar, and Viglar leaning back from her to ensure she didn’t get accidentally shot she gathered her courage.
“This is Viglar. He is a doctor, and he works with me at the hospital. He’s--I’m--”
“She is my breeder and I am very satisfied with her. I have come to ask you for her hand in breeding as is the human custom.”
Madison had feared that they would start blasting him, but everyone just stared while Viglar waited for an answer, appearing oblivious to the undercurrents.
“Well, now I have heard everything,” Joshua said.
“Do you want to be with him?” Her mother’s quiet voice cut through the room.
“What the hell is a breeder?” her father asked and sighted down his gun at Viglar.
Madison focused on her mother. If she could convince her, she’d won half the battle. “Mama, I know it will be difficult to accept, but please just give him a chance. He’s rude and superior, but you should see what he’s done for the hospital. And he built shelters and orphanages, and he protected me when the resistance attacked us.”
“Why would they attack you?” Joshua asked.
“The resistance attacked you?”
“They planted a tracking device in my bag and then shot us down while we were cloaked. That’s when you can’t--”
Joshua held up his hand. “I know what cloaked means. I watch movies too. How did they get to your bag?”
“I don’t know. Someone must’ve placed the tracker in there after I packed it for the trip.”
Joshua scowled at her. “It’s that odd friend of yours. Rachel is short a few bricks, if you ask me.”
She could see Joshua and Viglar bond right there over their mutual dislike of Rachel.
Viglar nodded. “I have informed her of this. Rachel is not a good friend to her. It is good to see her family protect her,” he said.
Samuel, who’d been listening outside the door, strolled in with his gun casually held over his shoulder. He rudely looked Viglar up and down. “Boy, you fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on your way down.”
“Samuel,” Madison exclaimed.
As usual Viglar was oblivious. “Zyrgins do not fall out of trees.”
“Not very bright either,” said her brother, who didn’t finish high school. Her mother frowned at him and he shut up and leaned against the wall.
“Being his breeder is like a marriage. He doesn’t mean any disrespect. He stepped in front of bullets for me.” She’d never talked so fast. “And he helped rebuild the hospital and made Jacobson pay me every month.”
“That asshole didn’t pay you?” Joshua said very softly.
“I shook him until he understood that is not acceptable behavior,” Viglar said. He cocked his head. “He pissed himself.”
Madison slapped her face into her palm and didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. At least now he was bonding with her brother--with all her brothers and father, going by the satisfied grunts around her.
“You will stay for tea, of course,” her mother said.
Everyone relaxed. Her mother offering tea meant she would allow Viglar to prove himself worthy of Madison. Had she said her brothers would show him the shed, they’d have had to fight their way out of there.
Now that no guns were pointed at them, Viglar drew her close to him. When she’d first seen him, she’d thought him cold and unfeeling. If she’d thought about it then, she would’ve said he was not a very demonstrative person at all. She’d been wrong, he always touched her or drew her to stand or sit against him. Her father and brothers noticed and correctly interpreted his actions, and everybody relaxed.
“So you’re a doctor? Didn’t think aliens needed doctors,” Daniel said.
He sauntered in and came over to kiss her, keeping a wary eye on Viglar. He had his gun in his hand. She bet Viglar approved of her family’s many weapons.
Joshua curled his lip at him. “Try not to embarrass our family in front of the merciless invader who will probably enslave humans and who is our sister’s only hope of living a half way decent life. It would be in our best interests to keep him very, very happy.”
Madison glared at him and her father quickly spoke, knowing they’d be at it for the rest of the day if he didn’t break their argument now.
“He really stepped in front of bullets for you? He doesn’t look injured.”
“It’s amazing, Dad, he only had a sword, and he managed to hold them off until we were rescued.”
“I did not need help with a few puny humans,” Viglar said.
Her mother came in carrying a tray. She had obviously softened. “He saved you.”
“His armor protected him and, yes, Mom, he saved me when the resistance shot us down.”
Joshua took the tray from her and she saw Viglar tilting his head in that way he did when he thought over something. Please let him not say anything inappropriate while things were going this well.
“I still can’t believe the resistance shot you down,” her second youngest brother snarled. They all exchanged looks she didn’t understand. “They’re supposed to kill the alien scum, not our sister.” He seemed to realize in front of whom he said it and shrugged. “No offense,” he said to Viglar.
“No offense taken. Your resistance couldn’t shoot down alien scum if they tried for the next hundred years,” Viglar said in his usual emotionless voice.
They all stared at him. Madison still couldn’t figure out if he was serious or if he just made a joke.
“Well, I like your modesty,” Joshua mocked.
“Thank you,” Viglar said in all sincerity.
“They wouldn’t do that. They’d never use a woman like that,” said her youngest brother, who climbed through the window he’d been lurking outside of. He had a serious case of hero worship for the resistance and her parents feared he would join. For the first time, she saw doubt in his eyes.
“Why are we drinking tea? It’s not a drink for men,” her father said with false heartiness.
“Daddy, no.” She should’ve saved her breath. They poured liberal amounts of the clear liquid you could use to strip paint. “Uh, Viglar--” She didn’t know how to warn him without injuring his pride in front of her family.
He took the tin cup her brothers insisted on using to drink their brew and took a large swallow. He didn’t blink or cough or change color like everybody did who drank her family’s brew for the first time. “It is very good ale, almost as good as the ale on Aurelia. Would you be willing to sell large quantities?”
Madison moaned and hid her face in her hands. And here she thought her brothers might kill him. They’d trample her to get to him to sell their vile brew.
After that everything went well until they started to say their goodbyes. Her father glowered at him. “I’m watching you, alien. Harm my daughter and I will skin you alive.”
Viglar seemed to accept her father’s attitude as a sign of his caring for her. “I will look after her, make sure she eats, and we will swap spit regularly and spend much hours in the sleeping place.”
Madison moaned and hid her burning face in her hands again. Her mother actually giggled. “May I go inside your space ship,” Jeremiah asked.
Viglar turned to her. “Is it human custom for a warrior to do this for his breeder’s family?”
“Oh, yes, it is. If you came to visit her in a car, we’d be all over it too,” David said who’d appeared out of nowhere.
He allowed them into the shuttle and couldn’t have done anything else to win over her brothers faster. Just as she suspected, they immediately started to request to be taken to see the space ship they arrived in.
“No,” Viglar said and they said their goodbyes and took off.
“You will move in with me,” he said quietly. “Everyone knows you are with me and that put you in danger. In the hospital and when you are with me, I can protect you.”
She nodded. There was no reason to put it off anymore. No use pretending to herself she didn’t love him more than her own life. “You won’t try to stop me from becoming the very best doctor I can be?”
He turned his seat around. “I will never stop you. I will help you keep your promise.” He seemed unusually hesitant.
“What is it, Viglar? Just tell me.”
“You can learn to heal people. I will teach you as much of our methods as I am allowed. But, Madison, you cannot save everyone. It is a truth every doctor must learn.”
She lifted her chin at him. “I will never stop trying.”
Moving her few belongings into his apartment at the hospital was not even an afternoon’s work. They both had duties to return to and, after he pressed his forehead against hers and she kissed him, they both went to work.
She’d planned to make the occasion special, but by the time her shift ended she was so tired she just wanted to fall down somewhere and sleep for a year. It didn’t even have to be a soft spot. As long as she could sleep uninterrupted for a year.
The apartment doors opened when she approached them, she bypassed the office to go directly to the apartment. It was an eventful day, and she hadn’t unpacked yet. She would just grab what she needed to sleep in, take a nice long shower, and then go to bed. She stopped in the spacious living room. Viglar sat on the couch, which was the only piece of furniture they had, apart from the unpleasantly soft bed.
On the screen, a creature with skin that looked crudely sewn together was chased with torches by vindictive humans. He must’ve gotten curious after she’d called him Frankenstein. She shrugged. He’d acted like a monster before she got to know him so he could just suck it up.
“Where on earth did you find that? I thought no copies survived the crash.”
“I am Zyrgin, I can find anything I need.”
“Oh, and why would you need a copy of a Frankenstein movie?”
“I am trying to find the logic of sewing together dead people. I have never done that.”
“You know that’s what--uhm--they call you?” Best not tell him that most people called the monster Frankenstein.
“I know that is what you call me.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s because you brought Viktor back to life.” She wouldn’t mention she’d called him that before he healed him. If she was very lucky, he didn’t hear her with that sharp alien ears of his.
He pulled her down on the couch and across his knees and kissed her. A long lazy kiss that had her forgetting about being tired and wanting to go to sleep.
“You might be an alien, but you’re a damn good kisser.” She scowled at him. “How many alien ladies did you kiss to become this good.” Madison bit her lip and wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
“Zyrgins do not kiss.”
She leaned back and just kept her mouth from falling open. “You lie.”
“I have honor.” Menace in every word.
She shook her head and rushed to tell him, “It’s just a human saying. When we can’t believe our ears. You know when something is too good to be true.”
He stared at her ears and she could see him trying to figure out what she couldn’t understand about her ears. How someone so brilliant could be so clueless she couldn’t figure out.
“So how come you do not kiss?”
“In our culture and the culture of the planets in our galaxy, kissing is not done.”
Madison wasn’t so sure about that. People of all cultures found ways to do the forbidden.
They continue kissing and he took off her blouse. She moved over him to take off his shirt. He put her back on the couch so fast she bounced.
“You are not behaving as a proper breeder should.”
“What?” She’d been having fun and thought that he was in on it.
“A breeder does not climb on top of her warrior. It is deviant behavior that will not be tolerated.”
Madison bit her lip, amused. If he thought her being on top was deviant behavior, wait till she showed him a few things she’d read about.
Madison straddled him again and kissed him. “Why don’t we run an experiment? See how deviant I can be?”
He put her firmly back on the couch. Keeping his hands on her hips. “I am not a deviant Zyrgin, I have honor.”
“Yeah, but sometimes it’s fun to buck the system.” She held up her hand when she saw him trying to figure it out. “Let’s move to our unpleasantly soft bed. This space is too small for what I want to do.”
They moved to the bedroom and he continued undressing her, stopping to play with her hair every now and then. “Would you refuse me sex if I won’t let you be on top.” He kept his gaze on the string of hair he held up to the light. Her fierce warrior, who never backed down or avoided anyone’s gaze studiously avoided hers.
She softened. “It’s not a deal breaker.”
“We won’t deviate from what is proper.”
Madison hid a smile against his chest. His earnestness was rather endearing. “I will seduce you to the dark side.”
“The force is strong in this one. You will not seduce him to the dark side.”
Madison nearly fell off the couch. She stared at him with her mouth inelegantly open. “How on earth do you know Star Wars?”
“When we first landed, we lived in the cave with Natalie, and she showed us the Star Wars movies. Many times.” He sounded as if Natalie had tortured him with the films.
Madison didn’t like the cosy picture he drew of their living with Natalie.
“So my warrior is strong of heart and resistant to the dark side,” she teased. She kissed her way down his chest, nibbled on the muscles he had even on his stomach. “And what if I did this?”
“I would stay strong.
She moved lower. “Take off your clothes.” She hadn’t yet figured out how to get them off him. They wouldn’t do their trick of coming apart for her.
He stepped out of his clothes then divested her off the last of hers in record time and sat down with her on his lap. She nibbled on his pecs. He was seriously ripped. She could do this forever and not get tired of it.
“You may try to seduce me to the dark side, and I will resist,” he said magnanimously.
She hid a smile against his warm skin and moved lower. She’d wanted to do this ever since he’d tortured her with pleasure during that first knowing. It was time he learned the meaning of the words sensual torture.
Madison licked and kissed her way down his body, taking small careful bites out of him. His skin was as tough as it looked, and she could easily break a tooth on him. He didn’t move, but she could feel small tremors under his skin. His penis was swollen and lay against his flat stomach. His unique exotic smell of strange worlds and medicine filled her nostrils.
She took the crown in her mouth and swirled her tongue, waiting until his hips jerked before she released him with a soft pop. “Are you ready to come over to the dark side yet?”
“No, you will have to try harder.” His voice was so gravelly she could barely make out the words.
Wily alien. Madison bent down over him and, this time, used her tongue to lick him from base to stem. She kept that up until he clenched his hand in her hair and tried to force her to take him into her mouth again. She pulled back. “Ready for the dark side yet?”
“No, try harder.”
This time, she took him into her mouth, relaxed her throat, and drove him out of his mind, the way she and Sally Mae had practiced on fruit on their sixteenth birthdays. She was determined to make him come like this, but he pulled her off him and, laying her down on the bed, entered her in one long thrust. She was ready for him, his entrance easy because pleasuring him had made her wet. He thrusted twice and on the third stroke they both came. She lost herself and heard him roar as if from a distance.
She opened her eyes at last and smiled at him, then she screamed and tried to scramble away from him. His incisors grew and his red eyes swirled red and black. Before she could get away, he was on her. He bit her neck and pain shot through her whole body, like bullets going for her nerve ends. He’d lied to her--they did eat people was her last thought before the world went black.
The moment she woke she knew something bothered her. There was danger. She should get away. She moaned, sat up, and looked around the apartment.
“You should rest,” Viglar said next to her.
Madison frowned down at him. “You bit me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It is our custom.”
She relaxed and laid down. She gingerly felt her neck, but couldn’t feel a wound. “Well, that was interesting. Talk about deviant behavior,” she told him.
“Do not lie, human, that was spectacular, better sex than a human has ever experienced. Being bitten by your warrior is not deviant. It is an honor.”
She dissolved into giggles.