Claimed by the Order (S-Gods, #1) (6 page)

“When I let you go, you will run for the tree line as fast as you can. I will only give you a small head start before the hunt begins.”

Marduk’s heart leapt into his throat, and he turned to face Shamash.

“The hunt?” he said, almost choking on his words.

Shamash gazed down at him, a smile twisting on his lips as the night sky darkened around them.

“Yes, Marduk ... We are going to hunt you down, and the god who succeeds in capturing you will lay claim to your body. He will be the first god to fuck you, and you will belong to him.”

Marduk stared at Shamash, and the warmth faded from his face.

“Shamash, I never agreed to this ... I’m a god; I won’t... you can’t do this!” Marduk shouted, pain spiking through his chest.

“You belong to us now, Marduk.” Shamash said, cutting the binding off his wrists. “The time has come. You need to run, and you need to run now.” His words were like ice. Marduk stepped backward. The gods around him began to whoop and holler. He was sure he was going to be sick.

“Shamash ... please don’t do this,” he pleaded, taking another step back, but Shamash stared down at him with no change in expression. Then Shamash lowered his white mask over his face.  Marduk felt the blood drain from his head, as a cold wind cut through him. His eyes fleeted from one end of the crowd to the next. More than twenty gods stood around him, their white masks glowing against the darkening sky. His eyes fell momentarily on Seth, and his stomach clenched.

“Run!” Seth shouted. Marduk jumped and stumbled backward, swallowing hard. After one last fleeting look at the gods, Marduk turned and sprinted across the field as fast as he could. If he could make it off temple grounds, he would have the use of his powers to fight them. Brisk air stung his lungs as he crossed the tree line, and he was instantly plunged into darkness. He tripped and stumbled through the trees, his feet scraping on rocks and branches as he ran. The further he moved from the tree line, the less he could see. Marduk dodged a tree in his path, tripped on a root, and flew forward onto his hands and knees. Heart pounding, he scanned the terrain, but there was barely enough light to see. The sound of running water came to his ears, and he navigated cautiously through the trees until he arrived at a creek. At the water’s edge, the break in the trees provided just enough light to see his path. Right at that moment, a roar of ecstatic cries and hollers echoed through the forest, shocking him back to life.

His heart surged with panic, and he ran along the bank as fast as he could, but as the voices steadily grew closer, he realized his only hope was to hide. Marduk looked around frantically and spotted a tree growing on a small ridge along the bank. He ran to the tree, slipped into the shallow water, and pressed his back up against the elevated bank, hiding as much as he could beneath the surface. As the sound of his pursuers grew nearer, his heartbeat grew louder, but he tried to be as still as he could. Then three dark figures darted by him on the far bank, while others ran along the bank to his back. Marduk held his breath, plugged his nose, and lowered his head back, completely submerging his body. The rushing current beneath the water’s surface muted every sound save the rapid beating of his heart. A long moment passed, and when he emerged, the gods were gone. Quiet had returned to the forest, but something told him they would be back soon. Marduk slowly rose from the water and began climbing up the bank, when a hand suddenly grabbed his ankle.

Marduk shrieked and cursed as he struggled. Seth’s laughter rang in his ears, and a tremor ran through his body. Marduk kicked wildly, breaking free from Seth’s grasp. Adrenaline rushed through him as he scrambled over the bank, but Seth’s hands caught hold of his thighs, slamming his stomach down hard on the bank, knocking the breath from his lungs.

“Fuck!” Marduk struggled, but the weight of Seth’s body came down on him, pinning him to the bank. His pulse raced frantically.
This can’t happen
.
Not by Seth.
Seth’s breath was on his neck; his cock digging into his thigh.

“Come on, sweetheart, fight me!” Seth taunted, forcing a finger into his opening. Marduk gasped and sobbed, waves of nausea passing over him as Seth’s finger jabbed deeper inside him.

“You’re so tight,” Seth growled against his neck. “I’m going to love fucking you.”

Seth’s laughter spiked through his gut as his finger jerked out. Groaning, Marduk grabbed his crotch, sure he was going to piss, but his sex was rock hard in his hand. Then a burning pain tore through him, and Seth’s pelvis slammed him into the bank. Marduk cried out, and his cock exploded in his hand. He gasped and trembled, heat flushing to his face, and the realization hit him: He was completely impaled on Seth’s cock. “No,” Marduk sobbed, desperation flooding through him, hot tears leaked from his eyes.

Then Seth’s body was suddenly thrown back, hitting the water with a splash. Marduk struggled for breath as if he’d been drowning, stunned by the shock of Seth’s withdrawal. For an instant he was frozen, before it dawned on him that he was free. Marduk snapped out of his daze and immediately scrambled over the bank, but the moment he was back on his feet, he ran into another god’s arms.

A desperate whine escaped him, but when he looked up and realized it was Shamash, relief washed through his body. Marduk threw his arms around Shamash, burying his face in his chest, but Shamash threw his arms up, yanked Marduk away and threw him to the ground.  The breath knocked out of his chest. In the next moment, Shamash was on top of him, flattening him to the ground. Marduk suddenly realized what was happening. Shamash was not there to save him; he was there to lay claim to him.

Marduk held his breath, his heart pounding. Then pain burned through his passage as the god’s hard shaft tore through him. Marduk choked out a cry, grasping at the dirt, but the sensation of being opened by Shamash made blood rush to his sex. Shamash grabbed Marduk’s cock, and began to pound into him, boring down on him with all his strength. Marduk’s entire body screamed with pain, but he clung to the knowledge that he’d escaped the worst. He was in the hands of a god he had wanted with all his soul. The rough handling made no difference. Marduk endured the assault to completion; his heart brimming with bruised emotions. When Shamash came inside him, Marduk collapsed in the dirt, tears spilling freely down his face as all his fight drained away. He knew he’d been defeated, but he thanked the heavens that it had been Shamash and not Seth.

When Shamash finally dragged him to his feet, ecstatic cheers filled the air. A handful of gods had witnessed his capture, and more were gathering around. Marduk closed his eyes as the shame of his downfall crashed down on him, wanting nothing but to be wiped from the earth. Then Shamash hugged him close and kissed his lips, causing more tears to spill. Marduk wished he could forget all that happened, but the memory of Seth’s cock lodged inside him tore through his psyche.
It didn’t happen.
Marduk gasped for breath, breaking his embrace with Shamash. He had to forget it had happened.

“My darling Marduk,” Shamash said, peeling Marduk away from his body. “I’m afraid it’s not over yet.” He turned Marduk around to face the gods of the Order, and Marduk’s stomach dropped. The gods’ black garb melted into the darkness, making their glowing white masks look like ghosts. His blood ran cold as the ghostly masks floated closer, their hands reaching out for him. He spun around, clinging to Shamash while the gods of the Order touched him all over. A hand took hold of his cock, while other hands stroked him and fingers probed deep inside him. Marduk felt a scream building in his chest, but all that escaped him were tortured groans.

“Shamash, please.”

“This is only the beginning, Marduk,” Shamash said softly. “The things we’re going to do to you will tear you apart, but when you awake from it all, you will know without a doubt that you belong to us.”

Shamash kissed him again and then shoved him into the swarm of glowing masks. Marduk tried in vain to get back to Shamash, but the swarm of gods laid claim to him.

“Shamash!” Marduk cried. Terror swept through him as the gods dragged him down to the ground.

A
faint light whirled in the darkness, hovering and disappearing like a ghost. Marduk drifted out of sleep—and realized he was lying in the bed where he had first been bound. Candle-light illuminated the darkness around him, and a masculine scent overwhelmed his senses. Strong hands glided down his torso and grasped his thighs, spreading them open as the weight of a god bore down on his chest. Then his body was being opened, a large cock driving deep inside him. Marduk groaned, and the sensation of being filled made his own cock throb. It was Shamash who was fucking him, and Shamash who was staring down into his dazed eyes.

Then the haze returned to his mind, and he dreamed he was in the forest being fucked over and over. He was opened up so many times, by so many gods, that he had no recollection of when it had started or when it had ended. He just felt it and lived it as if the nightmare was real and would never end. Marduk finally faded into sleep. He woke several times in the night, but only a glimmer of consciousness reached him before he slipped back away.

Marduk opened his eyes, staring into the darkness until his vision focused on a glimmer of light from a cluster of dying candles on a table beside him. The scent of incense in the air was not enough to mask the strong musk of sex that clung to his skin and permeated the sheets. Attempting to sit up, he realized Shamash’s hard body lay partially on top of him, pinning him to the bed. Marduk drew a deep breath and closed his eyes. The events of the previous night flashed before him, instantly making him feel ill. Shamash and the gods of the Order had fucked him repeatedly throughout the night. He suddenly had difficulty breathing. He had to find some way of escape. He glanced at Shamash, who lay still, his loose brown hair shielding his eyes. Holding his breath, Marduk slowly slid from beneath the god’s arm and shoulder, but before he could get away, Shamash woke, tightening his hand around his wrist. Marduk closed his eyes, and his heart raced.

“You have no need to fear me, Marduk.” Shamash said, sliding his hand around the small of Marduk’s back and pulling him close. “I was the god who captured you, which means I’m your master and protector.” Marduk kept his eyes closed, struggling to breathe, his desire to flee still burning inside him, but somehow he knew there was no possible escape. The entire world was the playground of the gods. If he fled the temple, they would hunt him down just as they had last night. Marduk turned his head away from Shamash, fighting back tears.

“Marduk,” Shamash said, pulling his face back toward him and kissing him gently. “The first few days are the roughest, but once you get through this, everything else will be easier.” His voice was low and soothing, but his words felt like a knife carving into Marduk’s gut.

“The first two days? How long do I have to do this?” Marduk choked.

“There’s no set time, but you should know your status is temporary. One day you will become a full member of the Order, and when that happens, you will no longer be treated as our pet.”

Marduk raised his head. “Your pet? What do you mean?”

“You are property of the Order, and you will act as our play-thing whenever we require you to do so. Every day following your classes, you will report to the lower hall. Sometimes you will entertain for a party, and sometimes I will deliver you to the god who has requested your attentions.”

Marduk pushed away from him.

“Shamash ... I am a god! You can’t ask me to act as a whore; I won’t do it!”

Shamash sat up beside Marduk and ran his hands into his hair.

“Marduk, the longer you resist your role, the more you will suffer. You have to understand that every god in the Order had to endure the same induction.”

“But I gave myself to you, not to this Order!”

“Marduk, you belonged to the Order the moment you stepped into the lower hall. You have this status because you are our newest pledge. Aya was our pet before you, but now he is a full member. When you invite a god to take your place, you will be made a full member as well.”

Marduk suddenly remembered how Aya had invited him to the party. Was Aya the reason all this had happened? His chest began to boil, and he looked back up at Shamash.

“Did Aya pledge me to the Order?” Marduk asked, his pulse pounding in his ears. Shamash smiled, touching his shoulder, his nonverbal response confirming Marduk’s fears. Teeth clenched, Marduk looked away. Aya betrayed him. Everything Aya ever said to him was a lie meant to lure him into the Order. Marduk’s stomach hollowed.

“It’s not so bad, Marduk.”

Frowning, Marduk avoided his gaze. None of it seemed possible. How could an order like this exist? Was there no rule of law in the world? Was there nothing in place to protect the gods? Wasn’t that the job of the council? A bad taste was in his mouth, and he had to turn away.

“You should wash up and get ready. Your classes will begin soon.” Shamash rose to his feet and stepped in front of the table next to the bed. He dipped his hands in the clay basin, splashing his face, and began to wash his body.

Marduk stared at the god, his eyes wide. “Shamash, I don’t think I can go ... not today.” The idea of returning to school weighed heavily on his chest.

“Don’t worry.” Shamash, said drying his face and body with a cloth. “No god will fuck you without my permission, and it’s forbidden for any god to use you in front of deities who are not in the Order.” Shamash donned his tunic, and crossed the dark room to the door.

Marduk suddenly remembered Seth, and his stomach twisted. He remembered asking Shamash last night to keep him safe from Seth, but Shamash had ignored his request. Marduk sprung from the bed, rushed to the god’s side, and grabbed his arm before he could leave. Shamash turned to inspect him with a raised eyebrow.

“Last night ...” Marduk said, his voice shaking. “I asked you about Seth, but you never answered me.”

Shamash glared down at him. “I realize Seth terrifies you, Marduk, but he is a high ranking member of the Order, and you are the Order’s play-thing. It would be unheard of to deny him your attentions.” Marduk’s world shifted beneath him and he fell to his knees.