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Barbarian's Lady: A SciFi Alien Romance (Ice Planet Barbarians Book 14)

Page 14

by Ruby Dixon


  This could be the greatest problem a woman was ever faced with.

  I reach for him with one limp noodle of an arm, touching his skin. “What about you? Don’t you want me to pleasure you?”

  “Time enough for that later,” he murmurs, and wipes his wet mouth with the most self-satisfied, toe-curling expression I’ve ever seen. “Have you rested enough?”

  “You’re serious, aren’t you?” I shield my pussy with my hands. “Babe, that was amazing, but I need a few more moments.” Either that or I’m going to turn into goo.

  He responds by taking my ankle in his hand and lifting it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the inside. Then he begins to slowly kiss back up toward my thigh, and I start to squirm, biting back the rising moans in my throat.

  Maybe I’m ready to go again after all. I nudge him with my other foot. “You kissing all the way up?”

  Harrec’s possessive grin tells me that yes, yes he is.

  And I shiver with delight.

  11

  Three Days Later

  HARREC

  “Do I need to carry you?” I tease my mate when her steps start to slow in the snow once more. It is always toward the end of the day that my pretty Kate needs to be goaded into pushing ahead. She grows tired, but our destination is not too far in the distance.

  “Do you need me to shove my boot in your ass?” she retorts, and I howl with laughter at the thought. She grins back at me, taking the sting out of her words.

  I adore this female. So quickly, she has my heart in her grasp. She now takes all my jokes in stride, and when I push her, she pushes back.

  Traveling with her these last few days has been one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced. For so long, I have been content to hunt alone, to do my rounds and bring my food back to the tribe. I would spend a few days in the village when I could, but a great deal of my time is spent alone on the trail. I did not realize how lonely it was until I traveled with Kate.

  Now, every day is an adventure. I wake her up with kisses all over her body, and we share a quick meal before setting off. She is a strong female, and she does not mind the walking, or carrying of heavy packs. She can go for much longer than the other human females can, and even though we tether with our braided leather rope, I do not worry sky-claws will snatch my strong, fierce Kate. She carries a spear in hand and knows how to use it. If anything, sky-claws should be afraid of my mate.

  She is mine, I decide. As much as I have never felt resonance, I have never truly cared if it happened to me or not. I courted Tee-fah-ni once, only because I was lonely and she was beautiful. I do not mind that she mated to Salukh, and now I am grateful for it, because it means I was waiting for my Kate.

  I still do not care if I ever experience resonance…as long as Kate does not, either. I want her in my furs, always. Perhaps that is selfish of me, but I cannot give her up.

  I will not. She is mine, no matter what my khui decides.

  We travel all day, and at night we curl up by the fire, sharing mouth-matings and touches. We have not fully mated yet—we have all the time in the world to explore all that mating has to offer, and I am in no hurry to rush her. I am enjoying touching her in all ways, and there is no sweeter pleasure—yet—than my tongue buried in her cunt. My cock aches to be inside her, but it will happen soon enough.

  I pause on the trail, noticing that Kate is breathing heavy, and pretend to scrape ice off my boot so she can have time to recover. She pants, brushing her tangle of white mane away from her face and glances around. “It’s getting dark. Are we stopping somewhere close by for the night?”

  I nod. “I know this area well. It is not too much farther.” I gesture at a distant hill. “Just over that rise are the old tribal caves.”

  Kate looks surprised to hear this. “Old tribal caves? I thought someone said those collapsed.”

  “They did.” I give her a reluctant smile, feeling a bit foolish. “There is enough shelter at the base of the cliff to build a fire. I wanted to stop by and see what our old home looked like. My heart misses it sometimes.”

  “Homesick? I get that.” She puts her gloved hand in mine. “And I’d love to see it. Were you born there?”

  I nod to her, and we set off again once she catches her breath. I tell her about the set-up of the old cave, the circle with the warm pool of water in the center for bathing, the small, cozy caves that were private but still felt like one big clan living together. The square huts with their stones have more distance between them and feel more remote. I miss the night noises of hearing the others, of kits crying at night and couples mating quietly in their furs. Sometimes silence feels like too much. I squeeze her hand as we walk. “When we return to the village…would you like to have a hut together? With me?”

  She looks over at me in surprise, her mouth wide. “Are you asking me to move in?”

  “I am. I currently live with the other unmated hunters, but I would love to share furs with you permanently.”

  Kate looks amused. “I know where you live, silly. Taushen and Bek complain about your snoring.” She leans in, nudging me with her shoulder. “Though I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as they say.”

  “That is because by the time you are ready to sleep, I have given you so much pleasure with my tongue that—”

  “Harrec!” Her face turns bright pink in that charming way I love.

  “I mean it, Kate,” I tell her soberly. “Nothing would make me happier than sharing furs with you, for good.”

  “And what if you resonate to someone else?” She keeps her voice light, but her smile does not reach her eyes.

  “I will tell her not to steal your blankets.”

  She gives another choked giggle and squeezes my hand. “You are the worst.”

  “The best.”

  “Okay, okay, the best.” She looks over at me. “And yes, I’ll move in with you.”

  For once, I run out of jokes and teasing. I just grin at her, pleased.

  Things feel different even before the old caves come into sight. Trails that were once hard-packed and well-trodden are mushy with drifts of snow. Trees that mark caches nearly have their marks overgrown with the sticky bark that coats them. Bushes that were once constantly denuded of their soap-berries hang heavy with fruit. We replenish our supplies and continue, but my heart hurts at the sight.

  This was home, before it was destroyed. Perhaps it is not good to come here again, to see it as it is now, but I cannot help it. I want to look upon it once more.

  Kate has no memories of this place, but she senses my sober mood and is quiet, leaving me to my thoughts.

  We head on toward the cave, and the cliffs come into view, the small, remembered tufts of Tee-fah-ni’s once-newly planted trees now a neat, strong row of pink saplings that sway close to the cliff wall. They have grown tall in the intervening seasons, a good food source for any traveler heading in this direction. The sight of them just makes me sadder, because I know Tee-fah-ni would want to see this.

  “The cave entrance is not too far away,” I tell Kate.

  She slips her gloved hand into mine again. “You okay?”

  I give her a half-hearted smile. “Not as much as I would like. I remember it as it was. The village is pleasant, but this will always be home to me.”

  “I understand.” Her expression is sympathetic. “I’m happy here, but I’m always going to have memories of Earth. You can’t help but compare the two, because it was all you ever knew. Things change, Harrec. They’re not good or bad. They’re just different. We can look back at the past, but at the end of the day, that’s all that it is—the past.”

  Wise words. I nod at her and pull her close, hugging her against my chest. I nearly knock her pack off her shoulders, and she makes a startled noise, but I ignore it. I need to touch her and hold her close. After a moment, she lets the pack slide to the ground and sinks into my arms.

  “Need a hug, big guy?”

  “I suppose I do.” I rest my chin on her c
loud-mane. “Do you ache to think about your home?” My heart hurts to see our old home in disrepair, and the feeling is a confusing one. The village we live in now is happy and a good place, so why do I feel so lost staring at Tee-fah-ni’s trees?

  I can feel her shrug. “Sometimes I miss it. I think I get sad when I realize I’ll never see another flower bloom, or go to the beach, or feel a warm summer day. I miss fast food and…” She sighs. “Sometimes I miss my mom.” Her voice grows hoarse. “But I know she’s safe and loved where she is.”

  “And you are safe and loved with me,” I promise her, rubbing her back.

  Kate looks up at me in surprise. “You love me?”

  “Always. Have you not guessed?”

  For some reason, she looks indignant. “I shouldn’t have to guess! A girl likes to hear this sort of thing!”

  I grin and cup her pink cheeks, feeling more like myself. “I loved you the moment you appeared and stood over the others like a she-mountain.”

  Kate makes an outraged noise but then ruins it by laughing a moment later. “You are the worst with compliments, you know that?”

  “Ah, but they all make you smile.”

  “Yeah, my standards are pretty low, it seems.” She chuckles and gives my waist another squeeze. “Now, shall we go see what the cave looks like?”

  I feel better with her in my arms, smiling. She is right—I would not go back to the cave and that time, if it meant my pretty Kate was not there. “I am.”

  She tilts her head and gazes up at me. “I love you, too, you big goofball. I just want you to know that.”

  “Oh, I knew that long ago.”

  Kate just rolls her eyes at me.

  KATE

  It’s strange to me to see how emotional Harrec gets over what looks like nothing more than another rocky cliff, this one lined with trees. But this, apparently, was their home once upon a time. As we walk, the expression on his face grows more thoughtful and distant, until I want to grab him by the hand and do something crazy just to make him smile. Anything. I just hate seeing him hurting. Funny to think that such a happy, laughing guy like Harrec has seen so much misery and still finds a way to wake up every day with a grin.

  I love that about him.

  We move farther down into the valley, and then I see it—what must have been the entrance to their cave, once upon a time. There’s a crumble of collapsed rock in the center of one of the cliff walls, halfway down the steep side, and it looks unnatural enough that I can guess what used to be there. Interestingly enough, there’s a small, dark wedge off to the far side that looks to be an entrance back into the cave itself. “Is it not totally collapsed?” I ask, curious.

  “Not completely,” Harrec tells me, releasing my hand and moving forward to examine the entrance.

  I follow him, plucking off my gloves. “It looks pretty collapsed to me,” I have to admit. Maybe it’s the worrywart in me, but I don’t like the look of things.

  “The entrance is not entirely blocked,” he says, gesturing at the cliff wall. “You can still enter the cave. But it is not a safe home any longer.” He puts a hand on the rock, then takes a step back as it tumbles to the ground at his touch. “The main chamber has collapsed, and all of the smaller caves as well. We almost lost Pashov that day.” He squats close to the entrance, thoughtful, but doesn’t go in. If he thought crossing a glacier was safe but this isn’t, it must be pretty dangerous.

  “Pashov—he’s the one with the horn that’s growing back, right? Stacy’s husband?” I move to stand behind Harrec, keeping my hand on his shoulder. I can’t see anything inside the dark cave mouth, but I’m picturing a bunch of the tribesmates moving about the cave in their daily life. If they all lived in one big cave, no wonder he’s sad. The village is very different from this. I personally like the stone houses—and the plumbing—but I understand his feelings.

  He grunts, and his long face looks even sadder. “He lived that day, thanks to Maylak’s healing. We lost Eklan in the cave-in, though.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head. “I am sad for him. He had many good seasons left.”

  Oh no. Eklan was Warrek’s father and the one who looked after Harrec. No wonder there are so many memories here. “Do you want to say a few words?”

  Harrec glances back at me. “Eh?”

  “Out of respect for the dead,” I clarify. “To ease his spirit and yours.”

  He looks vaguely uncomfortable. “It should be Warrek saying words, not me. I am not his son.”

  “He still raised you. And you can still mourn him. There’s nothing wrong with that.” I run a possessive hand down his long black braid. “I can leave if you like.”

  “No,” he says, and reaches up to catch my hand. “Stay at my side.”

  I have to admit that feels good to hear. I relax next to him, ignoring the fact that my gloveless fingers are cold. Harrec’s still staring thoughtfully into the cave entrance, silent.

  “I miss you, my friend,” Harrec says quietly. “I know you tried to be a father to me after mine was gone, even when I did not appreciate it. Your presence is missed.” He is silent for a long moment and then gets to his feet. “The tribe is at a good place, and that would make you happy. There are many stone huts for the families, and so many kits in the village that it would make your head spin. None from your son, but there are more humans in the tribe now, so perhaps he will resonate very soon.” He grins at the cave entrance, and there’s a bit of his normal lively spirit showing. “Just the other day he—”

  Mew.

  I blink, not entirely sure my brain didn’t just imagine that. “Did…did you just hear a kitten?”

  Harrec cocks his head to the side, frowning.

  Mew. There it is again, small and sweet and kitten-y.

  “I heard it for sure that time,” I tell him. “You guys have cats here on Not-Hoth? Really?” I picture a snowy little fluffball of adorableness. Maybe someone lost a pet cat in the cave-in, and it had kittens—

  Harrec grabs his knife and steps in front of me, brandishing it. “Step back, Kate. Very slowly.” His gaze is locked on the cave entrance.

  Oh dear. I’m starting to think that Not-Hoth doesn’t have any cute fluffy snowballs after all. “What is it?”

  “We shall see soon enough,” he promises, gripping his knife at the ready. I take a page out of his book and pull mine out of my belt sheath. He continues to nudge me away from the cave entrance, so I keep trudging backward, even if it’s difficult with all the snow around.

  Before I can ask what’s going on, I hear it: a low, fierce growl. Slitted eyes—bright blue and glowing—peer from out of the cave. My heart leaps into my throat as a creature emerges from the cave that can only be this planet’s version of a tiger or a mountain lion. It’s a cat of sorts, with shaggy white hair, long canines, and a short, stubby tail. The front paws are enormous, tufted, and the back hindquarters seem to be all muscle. It’s like if a bobcat went on steroids on its winter vacation. The thing stands at least as tall as my hip, and as it slinks out of the cave, it circles wide.

  “It is starving,” Harrec murmurs. “It will attack us.”

  It is? It’s hard to tell with all that fur, but now that I stare at it, the face looks gaunt, the eyes hollow. It hunches low to the ground in a stalking sort of motion, and I can see that the sides are painfully thin. I’m so busy studying the cat that I almost miss the second growl.

  Harrec mutters something that sounds like a curse under his breath.

  Oh…shit.

  A second cat emerges from the cave, this one skinny and mangy looking. The thing’s back leg is crusted with dried blood, and it limps as it comes out, fangs bared.

  “A mated pair,” Harrec warns, nudging me backward another step. “When I tell you to run, I want you to run and not look back, Kate. Go to the hunter cave we were in last night and wait—”

  “What? No!” Is he going to sacrifice himself for me? “Fuck that noise! I’m staying with you!”

  “Kate, d
o not—”

  “I’ll take the injured one,” I tell him quickly. “You focus on big daddy. We can do this, but we have to work together.” Actually, I don’t know if we can do this, but it sounds pretty confident to my ears. Plus, it’s not like we have a ton of choices.

  Whatever happens, I’m not leaving him here to die.

  “Kate,” he warns again, but the big one snarls and darts toward us before he can finish that thought.

  Harrec flings himself on me, knocking me out of the way. My scream dies in my throat, because there’s a rush and the cat is on us. I turn as fast as I can in the snow, desperate to get back on my feet. My knife’s a few feet away—I didn’t even realize I’d dropped it—and I rush for it, gripping the bone handle and turning around. Nearby, Harrec’s grappling with the big cat. The thing swipes at him, but he bats it away as if it’s nothing and rolls in the snow with it, trying to pin it underneath him. He’s got his knife in hand, and I watch, anxious, waiting for a chance to strike.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see the other cat—the wounded one—slink forward, heading toward Harrec and its mate. “Oh no you don’t,” I whisper, approaching the cat. I skirt wide around Harrec and his prey, hissing at the other cat to scare it away.

  It hisses back at me, withdrawing a half step but no farther. Its ears flatten, and it bares its fangs at me, shoulders hunching and ready to strike.

  Come on, then.

  The thought goes through my mind a mere second before the cat lunges at me. Panicked, I slash my knife wildly, trying to strike. The cat grabs my arm and wraps its paws around it, sinking its teeth into my sleeve. I feel sharp pricks on my skin despite my thick layers, and I choke back my scream, stabbing at the cat with my knife again. It slams into the cat’s side and bounces off bone, my hand jarring backward. The cat snarls and releases me, trying to scramble away.

  “Oh no you don’t,” I repeat under my breath. I chase after it, because I’m not letting it get near Harrec. This is hunt or be hunted, and I’m not going to die on this iceball of a planet to be kitty kibble.

 

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