by Dixon, Ruby
I feel a little guilty at waking the kit. Only a little, though. “Sit, Kira,” I say to my mate, and when she shoots me a fierce look, I kiss the top of her head. “Please.”
She makes that little sound she always does when she is irritated with me, but I ignore it. All I need are answers. She can be mad at me later, and then I will kiss her frowns away.
“Do you need a blanket, Aehako?” Maylak asks calmly as she puts a hand on Kira’s belly.
Comparing their pregnant bodies makes me realize just how much more Kira has to go before our kit is born, and I begin to sweat. Our kit must be so very small inside my mate, and I do not know how I will handle it if the child comes early…
“Aehako?” Kira asks, her brows scrunched as she looks up at me.
“Eh?”
“You’re naked, love. And you’re eye level with poor Maylak.”
“And hovering,” the healer adds. “I have seen everything before but that does not mean I want it in my face.”
I find a fur on the floor, wrap it around my hips, and discreetly adjust myself. “Do you feel the kit? Is all well?” I drop down next to Kira and take her hand in mine, nervous. “If something is wrong, can you tell what it is? Should we stop mating? Does my mate need to eat more red meat? What—”
Kira pulls her hand out of mine and covers my mouth. “Hush, love.”
Maylak closes her eyes, putting both her hands on Kira’s stomach, and concentrates. I can hear the gentle thrum of her khui. It purrs, but not like it does when there is resonance. It is a different sort of reaction, one that happens when she uses her healing senses.
I hold my breath.
Maylak eventually opens her eyes. “From what I can tell, the kit is fine and healthy, and growing much faster than mine.” She pats her distended belly. “Humans must breed so fast.”
“Nothing’s wrong?” I echo. “You did not sense any pain? Any problems?”
“No pain,” the healer reassures us. “No problems. How do you feel, Kira?”
My mate lets out a long, shuddering sigh. “I’ve felt great, but I think my imagination’s running away with me. Aehako was worried, and his worry made me worry. I freaked out and then he freaked out and that’s why we’re here. I’m so sorry, Maylak.”
I touch my mate’s belly, wanting to shove my ear against her skin so I can listen for the kit. “But you are certain there is nothing wrong?”
“Nothing,” Maylak reassures us. “I would feel it if there were. Small things would sing…wrong. They would be evident when I touched you, like a snarl in a mane that catches the fingers.” She strokes Kira’s belly again. “But all is well. Why are you so worried?”
“Because she is small and human,” I say.
Kira snorts.
“And she is everything to me. Her and the kit both. I would give anything for them.” I hesitantly touch my mate’s belly and sure enough, there is a flutter of response. “They are my everything and I am the luckiest.”
“Shit,” Kira mutters, and starts to swipe at her eyes. She is crying again.
“I cannot help worrying,” I admit. “Sometimes I worry I am too lucky, and it is all a dream.”
“Never say the word ‘dream’ again,” Kira sniffles. “And I love you, Aehako, but we can’t keep freaking out. Either one of us. I swear I aged ten years tonight.”
My pulse hammers. “You did?”
Kira groans. I swear Maylak does, too. “You know what I mean,” Kira says. “We’ve got to calm down.”
“I will never calm down. This is my first kit!” I smile with relief when the child kicks against my hand once more. “The little one just moved.”
Maylak just chuckles. She gives Kira a knowing look and yawns. “I can check you again in the morning. When you leave, will you send Kashrem and Esha in?”
“Of course,” my sweet mate says, and offers her hands to me. “Help me up, Aehako?”
I do, and when Kashrem enters with Esha asleep in his arms, her skinny legs dangling, I think that might be a good way to carry my mate, too. But before I can suggest such a thing, Kira drags me away from the healer’s cave and then taps the top of my chest, her signal that she wants to kiss me and I need to bend down.
I do so, gladly.
She cups my face, shaking her head at me. “You’re an idiot sometimes. I am, too. We have to promise to stop freaking each other out, all right?”
“I cannot make such promises,” I tell her sheepishly. “I will always worry about you and our child.”
“I know. I worry, too, but we really can’t make ourselves crazy like this.” Her soft fingers skate over my face and she studies me, all serious expression and sad eyes. “Do you truly want to move back?”
“Will it make you feel safer?”
“No.”
I am surprised at her answer. “No?”
“I already feel safe, Aehako.” She shakes her head at me. “I’ve felt fine. Better than fine. If I get sick every now and then, that’s just part of being pregnant. Kemli’s at the cave and she’s had lots of children. And we truly are only a sled ride away from this cave and the healer. I’m not worried about anything. But when you worry, apparently I pick up on it.”
“Are you telling me to calm down?”
“Do you think you can?” A hint of a smile plays at her lips.
“I know one thing that helps me relax,” I drawl, and she rolls her eyes. I love making her chuckle, and it feels like a gift when she does so right now.
“I can only guess that it involves your cock and my body.”
I give her a sly look. “Perhaps Rokan is not the only one with a knowing sense.”
“You’re impossible.”
“But you love me anyhow?”
She leans in and kisses me. “I do. But let’s relax for the rest of our vacation, all right?”
“You know what relaxes me?”
Kira mock-groans. “You really are the most impossible mate.” But she is smiling as she says it, and I know if I suggest cuddling, it will turn into touching, and mating…because it is never about just cuddling. Never.
And Kira loves that it is never just about cuddling, too.
My mate reaches up and caresses my cheek. A wicked smile curves her mouth. “Remind me to show you the new loincloth I made you in the morning.”
I can tell from the look on her face that it is going to make me laugh long and hard…and then we will probably end up mating afterward. “In the morning, then.”
She wiggles her brows at me.
Truly, I am the luckiest.
Part IV
Ice Planet Honeymoon: Rukh & Harlow
Rukh and Harlow are starting over at the beach, away from everyone else. Newly mated, they’re just now realizing what a monumental task it is to create a home when you’ve got nothing but the leathers on your back.
It’s even worse when you can’t talk to your mate. Will misunderstandings ruin everything?
This story is an extended epilogue for book 4 of Ice Planet Barbarians — Barbarian’s Mate — and is for readers who want a little more of their favorite couple. Don’t start here! You’ll be missing out on so much story. Start at the beginning with Ice Planet Barbarians.
13
HARLOW
One of the first mornings at the beach, I wake up to something scuttling over my foot.
It hasn't been the most comfortable night's sleep already. Sand is everywhere, and the cave we're bunking in is tiny and cold. Those things don't matter the moment I look up at the sunlight streaming in from the cave and see one of the scorpion-things perched on my boot. I kick it off, sliding backward in the cave in horror. Everywhere I look, there's more of the damn things. They're on the furs, at the mouth of the cave, and I swear there's one on the wall. I make a noise of distress at the sight.
My mate, Rukh, is instantly awake at my terrified sound. He sits up, growling and ready to protect me, a question in his eyes. I point at one of the things. They're horrid looking, a
cross between a crab and a scorpion with lots of legs and a segmented tail. Rukh plucks the nearest one off the wall and promptly bites the head off.
I squeal in horror again.
He holds the limp thing out to me, an offering. "Har-loh?"
"I'm not eating that," I cry. "Not on your life!" The defunct vegetarian in me is appalled at the thought. I've had to make a lot of changes since coming to this icy planet, not the least of them being a change in my dietary habits. And so far eating meat hasn't been too bad, even if I do randomly get cravings for a hamburger, of all things. But seeing Rukh holding that awful-looking thing out to me to eat? I can't do it. My throat clenched tight, I shake my head.
He stares at it, and the look in his eyes is uneasy. "Har-loh…no?"
"No," I manage. "My seafood has to be cooked."
"Cookt?" he echoes, shaking the floppy thing at me. "Rukh cookt?"
Rukh doesn't know a lot of language—any at all—because he's been feral for so long. He's picking up some of my words, though, desperate to talk to me. And “cook” is one of them he knows.
I stare at the thing, trying to get over my initial disgust. It's food, I remind myself. It's food it's food it's food.
"Cook it, sure," I manage. "Thank you."
Rukh grunts, the sound full of pleasure, and tosses the dead thing down on the ground. Then he grabs another one of the things. He lifts it to his mouth, ready to bite the head off, and then glances over at me. As if recalling the horror on my face, he changes tactics at the last moment and snaps the head off instead. It makes an awful crunching sound, followed by a splat of liquid, and then tosses it down onto the other. Within moments, we have a neat, tidy little pile. He doesn't care that they pinch at him with their stinger-pincher things, or that they scuttle away fast when they see his hand descending. Rukh is faster than them, and something tells me he's done this plenty of times before.
I can't begrudge the man for surviving, even if it is a little rough on my sensibilities.
I curl up in the back of the small cave and watch Rukh as he chases the smaller ones out of the cave with a flick of his hand and beheads the larger ones. It hasn't been very long at all since Rukh and I resonated. Not very long since he hit me over the head and stole me, and I'm still adjusting. It's a lot to take in all at once—leaving behind the sa-khui tribe that's welcomed me since I got to this planet to go out into the wild alone with Rukh, but he's made it clear that to him, they're the enemy.
Since he's my person, I'm not leaving his side. We'll just have to figure out how to manage with just the two of us.
It's one reason we're at this beach, I think. From what I can tell from our (admittedly short and mostly inferred) conversations, the weather will be warmer here throughout the wintry brutal season, and we're much farther away from the tribe that he wants so desperately to avoid. His father's grave is here, too, and I suspect he just likes the beach. It's pretty, even if it's nothing like the beaches back home. It's cold and rocky and a little violent, but the tide still rolls in to hit the sands, and there's a comforting familiarity with that, even if the sands are greenish and the tide is slushy with ice.
Rukh piles up all the dead scorpion-crabs and then begins to make a fire near the entrance to the cave. It's a small one, and I inwardly wince when he tosses the dead things directly onto the flames. I have to remind myself that Rukh's used to eating his food cold and raw, and the fire's for me. I can't really complain that he's not skilled at grilling his food if he's never grilled before, can I?
He's trying to please me, and really, that's all a girl can ask for.
Once they're all on the fire, he looks over at me with expectation. I beam approval at him, and love that a slow smile curves his mouth. "Thank you," I say softly.
"Cook," Rukh says as he moves around the fire and back to my side. "Rukh cook Har-loh."
I giggle. I know what he means, but it just sounds a little funny to hear. "You're doing lovely, Rukh. I appreciate it."
He sits extremely close to me, pushing aside some of the loose furs I piled atop us when we slept. He's naked—he's pretty much always naked—and Rukh leans in close, touching my jaw. "Rukh kiss Har-loh," he murmurs. "Yes?"
He's definitely learned all the “important” words, my wild, ferocious mate. He's got kiss down pat, that's for sure. "Kiss," I whisper, and lean in to brush my lips over his. I won't think about him biting off the head of one of those scorpion-crab things, because I might think it's gross, but to him, it's just food. I don't want him to ever feel ashamed around me. There's nothing wrong with him; it's me that has to adjust to life here.
So I touch his face gently and kiss him. Kissing Rukh is never a chore. If anything, it feels a bit like Christmas every time, which is an odd way to think about it, but it fits. He acts as if every time I kiss him, it's a gift. And I feel like every time that I kiss him, I'm being given something special as well. So…Christmas. It makes me happy to touch him, to kiss his firm mouth, to give him pleasure. I think about all the years he grew up in the wild without anyone to talk to, much less anyone to kiss, and I'm happy that resonance paired us together. It doesn't matter that he scared me in the beginning. I saw the lonely, aching man beneath all the dirt and fell in love.
Rukh groans softly against my mouth, tugging me to the furs. He's ravenous for attention, my mate. Doesn't matter how insignificant the touch is, he wants more. I keep that in mind as I kiss him, making sure to touch him all over, brushing my fingers over his skin and down his neck. I murmur his name between little presses of our lips, letting him know how pleased I am with him and how happy I am to be here with him. He can't understand my words yet, so I'll give it to him in actions.
"Har-loh," he rumbles, his khui purring despite the fact that we've already resonated. Just being around one another is enough to make our khuis respond, and I place my hand over his heart, where his khui “sings” to me.
Rukh brushes his nose against mine, then nips at my lower lip. His hand slides to the loose waist of my leggings, and then he pushes inside. He's ravenous, my mate, and it's an eagerness that I share. I thought things were supposed to slow down with resonance, but it's been a few days now and I still feel as insanely hungry for him as ever. I still wake up with him touching me in the middle of the night, and it excites me.
It's not a chore to be touched by him. Not in the slightest. I'm still getting used to this planet, to resonance, and to the thought that we've made a baby. But adjusting to him? No hardship at all. "Touch me," I whisper. "I don't mind."
"Touch," he rumbles, and his hand steals between my thighs. He's a quick learner, and all it took was for me to show him once what I liked and now he's determined to do it right every damn time. I moan, clinging to his shoulders as he rubs lightly at my clit. "Har-loh mine." His voice is so possessive as he leans in and nips at my ear, repeating the words. "Har-loh mine."
Fuck, when did he learn “mine” and do I even care? I rock against his hand as he works my pussy, his finger lightly dancing over my clit. I bury my hands in his hair and clench my body against him as he nibbles on my ear and seems determined to give me a hard and fast orgasm even before breakfast. Need ratchets up in my body and before I can even process things, I'm coming hard and fast, my pussy flooding with my release. I let out a little cry as I come, dazed at how he can make me get off so darn quickly.
He kisses me again, his movements gentle and tender. "Har-loh."
"Rukh mine," I tell him softly. I smile up at him, all dopey-eyed pleasure, and run my hand along his chest.
This makes him happy, too. He gives me a fierce look, as if he likes the idea of me calling him mine. In that moment, though, the sand-scorpions start to pop and sizzle on the fire. Reluctantly, he pulls away and moves to the food. "Rukh food Har-loh," he says instead.
"If we must," I say, fighting back a little disappointment. I wouldn't mind rolling around in the furs for a while, but I guess that's not how you survive out here. It's a lot of work, and I need to star
t thinking like my barbarian does. "Food, and then we start to make a home, right? Right."
Rukh only grunts an answer.
14
RUKH
I will never grow tired of watching my female eat the food I have brought for her. I know she does not like the look of the crawlers, but she enjoys the flavor when they are sizzled atop the fire. I must remember to do that every time. Har-loh likes all her food warm. Har-loh likes everything warm, I realize, as she piles a few of the furs over her body before coming to join me by the fire. She does not walk about in nothing but her speckled skin. Instead, she piles the skins of others atop her and shivers when she does not have enough of them.
This is another thing I must learn when it comes to my mate. Har-loh is fragile and weak compared to me. I must take care of her. I must handle all the things that are too difficult or that she does not like to do, because I am her mate. I hand her one of the hard-shelled things and she immediately drops it into the sand, hissing and licking her fingers. "S'tewhawt," she fusses, sucking on her thumb. "Gimmemowment."
I touch the hard-shelled creature, but it does not seem too warm to me. She has gotten sand on hers, though, so I crack mine open, revealing all the tasty white flesh inside, and set it down on a corner of the animal skin in front of her.
Har-loh's expression grows soft. "Dankyewbehbeh," she tells me, and my cock surges in response to her soft words. I love hearing her speak.
I nod and take the one she dropped, brushing off the grains of sand before cracking it open and eating it. I watch as she picks at hers with dainty fingertips, nibbling on the tiny bits of flesh she pulls free. She is so…soft. And pink. I worry that I will not be a good mate to her. That I will not be able to take care of her like I should. I am fine with sleeping in the sand. I am fine when the weather turns brisk and the clouds come and do not leave for days and days. But these things will be hard on my little mate, and the thought of that makes my gut clench with fear.