Barbarian Lover

by Ruby Dixon

  God, I would love a shower. I manage to wiggle my way onto the alien toilet a moment before wondering if it’s even functioning. “Um, computer? Are the facilities working?”

  “Query: what is facilities?”

  “The toilets and the showers?”

  “I can re-activate them with stored snow. It will take twenty-seven seconds to melt and heat. Would you like to proceed?”

  “Oh, yes!”

  By the time I finish my business on the toilet, there’s water pouring from the spout in the shower ceiling. At first it drizzles a muddy color, but then runs clear, and I run my fingers under the water to test the heat.

  It’s perfect.

  With a small sigh of pleasure, I strip off my leathers and toss them to the dusty floor, then move into the shower itself. Some things are eternal, I suppose, because it’s almost exactly the same as a human shower, and I wipe my wet hair off my face with pure bliss. This is exactly what I need.

  “Kira?” Aehako knocks at the door. “Are you well?”

  “I’m fine,” I call.

  The door opens a moment later. “Then you will not mind if I come and spend time with you?”

  I squeal, covering my girl parts with my hands as he steps inside. “What are you doing?”

  He spreads his arms. “Is it not obvious? You hide in here so I will join you.”

  “I’m trying to shower!”

  “Shower?”

  “Bathe!” I hate that the language that the sa-khui learned is three hundred years old. A lot of our language has changed since then. “Washing!”

  His eyes gleam and he looks me up and down. Aehako’s gaze is scorching. “I have soap-berries in my bag. I shall be more than happy to help you wash.”

  The blush on my cheeks feels like an inferno. “I’m naked.”

  “I noticed.” The look he gives me is appreciative. “And your parts are as fine as I imagined.”

  I know I should tell him no, to go away. But then it hits me…why should I? What is the point in being modest? Who is there to judge or shame me? I want him to come shower with me. I want his big, blue body rubbing up against mine. I like it when he takes care of me. It makes me feel loved and cherished, and those are two emotions I am utterly hungry for. But…I don’t know how to invite a man into a sexy situation. It’s not in me to flirt back. So I just give him a mute, helpless look.

  As if he senses my agony, he hesitates. “Do you wish me to leave, Kira?”

  I stare at him for a long moment. At the big, seven-foot tall alien male wearing only a loincloth that doesn’t do much for modesty. He’s got horns and ridges and should be frightening. And instead, I’m terribly attracted to him. So I steel my courage and shake my head. I don’t want him to leave. “G-get the soap.”

  He flashes me one of those quick, pleased Aehako-grins and heads out of the alien bathroom, leaving me only moments to try and make myself, well, pretty. I smooth a hand over my wet hair and glance down at my legs and arms and my pale body. I’m not at my hottest. I…guess it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t have other humans to compare me to except the ones I came here with. When he comes back with his small pouch of berries, I’m nervous but…so excited. My nipples are already pointing and hard, and I flash him a quick, shy smile, hoping that he finds me pretty. Which is weird to think about considering he’s blue and horned, but I still want him to be attracted to me because of me, not just because I have a vagina.

  Aehako sets the bag down on a nearby counter and scoops a few of the berries out. I push back the glass door of the shower at the exact same moment that he whips off his loincloth.

  And…okay. So that looks a lot bigger than I’d initially ‘felt’. It’s one thing to see pictures of naked men and statues and the like, and it’s another to have a fully aroused guy standing right in front of you. With a spur. Can’t forget the spur. And here I’d thought his big carved ‘present’ of his cock was…well, an exaggeration.

  Doesn’t seem like it.

  His cock looks as long as my arm, though surely it can’t be. It’s also flushed a darker blue than the rest of his skin. I can’t help but stare at it as he enters the shower with me.

  And then I have to squeeze against the back wall, because Aehako’s big body is enormous and the shower clearly wasn’t built for two. A nervous giggle escapes me. “Should I get out?”

  “I can fit,” he says, stooping a bit lower to get his big horns into the shower. “It just means we’ll have to stand a little closer together.” And he gives me another flirty look that makes me giggle.

  “You’re hogging all the hot water.” It cascades off of his body and his horns but doesn’t seem to hit me at all. He’d make a great umbrella, not such a great shower partner.

  “Hogging?”

  “Taking,” I correct, then think about it. “I should probably get the language dump while we’re here. I want to know your speech.”

  “It can wait another day,” he tells me, and smashes the berries in his fist. “Shall I rub this on you?”

  A shiver moves through me, and my skin prickles with awareness of him. Even hunched over, Aehako’s size is intimidating…but I know he can be oh-so gentle. And if I move in any closer, his penis is going to be rubbing up against me.

  It’s a bit like sensory overload. I want to explore him, and I want him to explore me…but I mostly just want to kiss him.

  “Aehako,” I breathe, and reach up to wrap my arms around his neck. Water immediately dumps in my face. I sputter, and then wipe my face clean. “Will you kiss me?”

  “You need never ask, Sad Eyes. All you need is to turn your face toward me.” His big arm goes around me and pulls me against him, and I’m startled at the contact of our wet skin. It feels decadent and strange and I want to run my hands all over him and explore him.

  But then his mouth covers mine in a hot, hard press, and I moan in surprise and delight. His tongue flicks against mine in invitation, and then we’re kissing wildly, the water streaming down on both of us. Lips locked, we kiss over and over again until I’m pressing up against him as much as he’s holding me to him. My nipples rub against his chest and it sends shivery bolts through my body…so I make it a point to rub against him repeatedly.

  “Kira,” he groans, and then pulls away, which leaves me dazed. I nearly stumble without his big body to lean against. The look on his face is sober as he indicates I should turn around. “Let me wash you before we continue.”

  I stiffen even as I turn, my back going ramrod straight. “Is it because I smell?”

  “No, it is because I don’t have many berries left and I need to wash, too.”

  Oh. I stand obedient as he rubs the berry juice over my back and shoulders and then into my hair. He rubs at my hair for a bit and then smooths his hand down my arm, washing my skin. It feels good, like being stroked. Almost like a massage.

  Then, his hand comes forward and cups my breast and I forget all about massaging. The breath explodes from me and I gasp in shock and startled pleasure.

  “You are so delicate.” His hand moves over my breast, then glides to the other. “Soft and delicate all over.”

  I tilt my head back and I’m surprised when Aehako’s other arm goes around my waist, pulling me against him again. The feel of his cock against my back is like a stabbing spear, but he holds me against him and smooths his soapy hands all over my body and I’m helpless to do anything but stand there and let him. It feels way too good.

  His mouth nuzzles at my neck and he licks and then playfully nips at my skin, even as both of his hands move to cup my breasts. I moan with pleasure. I’ve touched my own breasts but when he does it, the pleasure goes from simply ‘good’ to off-the-charts. I press back against him and my hands go to his arms. I’m desperate to show him that I want more of this lovely, exciting touching, but I don’t know how to show him. “Aehako, what do I do?” I scratch my nails over the plated ridges on his forearms.

  His low growl of pleasure surprises me. “Anywhe
re you touch me is a pleasure. Just like it is for me when I touch you. And right now, I intend on taking my pleasure from my mate.”

  Aehako’s passionate words are like a slap of cold water in the face.

  His mate.

  Oh no. I need to tell him. “Aehako,” I say softly, and turn around to face him.

  “No, Kira.” He leans in and nips at my mouth to silence me. “I will hear no protests. You will be my mate. We need no khui to bind us. You are mine and I am yours. Our khuis will simply catch up later. It has happened in many a mating. You choose, and then eventually the khui chooses.”

  I shake my head. “It won’t ever choose me, Aehako.”

  “You do not know that—“

  “I do,” I say, and before I can even think about keeping the words in, I spit them out. “I’m barren.”

  PART FIVE

  AEHAKO

  It takes me a moment to digest the word ‘barren’. The mental visual the translation gives me is that of scorched, fallow earth with no animals and no plants, no water, no anything.

  Then I realize what she is telling me. “You cannot have kits?”

  Tears pool in her sad eyes and she nods. “When I was very young, I got sick and nearly died. I was in the hospital for a long time and when I finally healed, they told me that my reproductive system had been compromised by the illness and I’d never have children.” The tears spill down her cheeks and she swipes at them with quick, angry motions. “That’s why we can’t be together. Because you want to have a family. And I have to tell you that if you choose me, you’ll never have one. I won’t ever resonate, because I can’t have children.”

  I feel a sharp pang of regret, but it’s quickly banished. Is this why she’s so sad? Is this why she holds me at arm’s length when it’s clear she is desperate to be loved? That she craves affection the way I crave her smiles?

  I touch her chin and force her to look up at me. There’s such misery and heartbreak in her eyes. She truly thinks I shall cast her aside now that I find she cannot create life in her belly? “Is there anything else?”

  A half-sob turns into a laugh and she swipes at her tears again. “I think that’s plenty, don’t you?”

  “What if I told you it did not matter to me if you could have kits or not?”

  Her small brows furrow. “But you said you wanted a family. I wouldn’t deprive you of that.”

  “Do not worry on my behalf, Sad Eyes. There are no children without resonance, and now I do not have to worry about another male snatching you out of my grasp.” I stroke her cheek gently. “A few moons ago, I had resigned myself to a lonely life of hunting and the only companionship that of my hand.” My crude words make a small, horrified laugh erupt from her, and I continue. “Now, I have met you and I see a life ahead of me of laughter, and caresses, and loving. Does it matter to me that we will never resonate? It does not. Just to have you in my life is enough for me. You are my heart, Kira, and you should be my mate.”

  She starts to cry again. “I don’t want you to feel trapped with me.”

  “Trapped?” I laugh. “Trapped with a beautiful, strong, smart mate in my furs every night? I welcome such traps.”

  “But children—“

  “If we have no kits, then we shall always have our cave to ourselves,” I tell her, pulling her against me. Her wet skin sticks to mine and creates a delicious friction between us. I can feel the small nubs of her nipples rub against my stomach and it makes my cock jerk, desperate to be inside her. “And we shall scandalize all of the others by being the loudest mated pair in the caves.”

  A horrified little giggle escapes her, and I’m so relieved that I’ve made her smile that I squeeze her tight against me.

  “If you’re sure…” she says softly.

  “I was sure the moment I saw your face.”

  She pulls back, surprised. “You were?”

  I nod. “I saw you and thought, if ever there was a female that needed a male to make her smile, it was you. And that we would be perfect together.”

  Kira bats at my chest in mock annoyance, but I can tell she’s pleased by my words. She’s softening against me, and the tears are drying. “I just…I never said anything. Your people were so excited about the fact that we could resonate and have children. I never wanted to admit that I was flawed. I didn’t know what would happen if I was. Would I be welcome any longer?”

  “Of course you would be welcome. We would not cast you out simply because you cannot bear kits. Do we cast out Farli?”

  She snorts. “Farli is too young to have children. That’s not even a fair comparison.”

  “Then Asha? Whose kit died too young? Or my mother, Sevvah, who is now too old to have more kits?” I touch her cheek. “You bring more to the tribe than just your body.”

  “I’m not so sure,” she says softly. “The only thing I was good at was translating, and I just had that removed.”

  “Then you will bring new skills and joy to the tribe. We just have not seen them yet.”

  Kira gives me an exasperated look. “Do you have an optimistic answer for everything?”

  “Yes.” I grin at her. “That is what I bring to the tribe. Well, that and my carving skills.”

  Another small giggle escapes her, muffled under the falling of the bathing waters. “Yes, I still have the present you made for me.”

  “Ah. Because it is such an impressive likeness?”

  Her giggle turns into a snort and she buries her face against my wet chest, her arms going around me. “Because I wanted to compare the sizes. I figured it was exaggerated.”

  “Shall I show you just how accurate my carvings are?” I slide my fingers down her wet back, and then take her hand and place it on my aching cock. I hear her suck in a breath, but she doesn’t pull away. Instead, she caresses me and explores. “Be my mate, Kira.”

  She looks up at me, hope in her eyes. “But the aliens—“

  More excuses? “Let them do their best to separate us. They will fail.” I touch her cheek again. “And let us not predict doom for our future. Let us live for today, yes?”

  I have always been a practical male. I have seen too much sorrow to let it guide my life, like Haeden does. If it means I must smile one day and weep the next, then I shall enjoy the day of smiles all that much more. I want Kira to realize this – that life is sweetest when we take what it offers with no worries.

  She squeezes her fingers around the base of my cock and then gently glides her hand up, stroking me. “Today,” she says in a low voice, “Is a really, really nice day to be with my mate.”

  My heart swells with affection. “Yes, it is.”

  The water changes temperature from a delicious heat to an ice cold, and Kira yelps at the same time I do. She rinses the berries from her hair and then quickly jumps out of the water, and I follow a moment later.

  “I guess we ran out of hot water,” she says, her arms pressed against her chest as she shivers and gives a little hop.

  “Was that not supposed to happen?”

  “No!” She laughs. “No one can bathe in that cold of water.”

  I shrug. I don’t understand anything about the elders. But as I watch Kira delicately pick up her leathers from the floor, quivering with cold, I decide there are other ways I can warm her. Ways that are as old as time. I scoop her up in my arms and ignore her startled squeal. “You are entirely too cold, my lovely mate. Let your male warm you up.”

  Instead of the shy protests I expect, she wraps her arms around my neck and clings to me. My cock feels like aching stone. I’ve wanted this since I saw her. I carry her into the other room and gently lay her down on the bed. Kira looks up at me with trusting eyes, and my heart swells again with affection.

  This is my mate.

  It doesn’t matter that our khuis haven’t chosen or that she cannot bear kits. She is mine to claim. Mine to pleasure.

  “You are beautiful,” I tell her. She is. Her human limbs are dewy with water, her skin gleaming
with smoothness. Her eyes – blue with khui – seem big and bright in her face, and her hair is slicked back against her skull, making her seem even more fragile than usual. Her chest heaves with nervousness, and each short breath makes her breasts jiggle enticingly. Her legs are curled together, but soon I shall lick her between them and taste her honey.

  Kira smiles up at me and reaches out for my hand. I lace my fingers with her smaller ones, noting again our differences. She has four small fingers and a thumb, where I have three and a thumb. Her toes are the same – four small toes next to a large one on a slender foot. My own foot is more than twice as large as hers, and my toes – one less than her – are more spread to balance my larger form. There are no plated ridges on her body to protect it, only softness everywhere.

  I cannot deny that I find the thought of all this softness incredibly arousing.

  I free my hand from her grip and touch her chest, eager to feel that smooth skin. The valley between her breasts feels as soft as the underbelly of a quill-beast. She trembles at my touch, her gaze on me, and I watch her nipples harden in response to my touch, going from soft pink circles to hard, ruched little tips. I don’t touch them yet, though. I’m still exploring, still admiring my mate’s body. This is our first chance to be truly alone and unclothed with each other, and I would like to enjoy it.

  Her belly is flat, with a tiny dip for a navel that makes me want to kiss it. Her hips flare out slightly, rounded and inviting, and between her thighs is a thatch of dark hair that hides her honey-covered folds and her third nipple. It’s begging for my mouth, but I suspect my shy Kira would jump right off the furs if I spread her legs and buried my face there, so I must woo her with kisses and caresses.

  I want to feel her against me, so I climb into the bed and lie next to her. My body dwarfs her smaller one, and she shifts a little. I lean my weight on the side so I don’t crush her, and throw a possessive leg over her thighs so she can’t squirm away from me.