Barbarian's Touch: A SciFi Alien Romance (Ice Planet Barbarians Book 8) (14 page)

I wonder if he’s come.

I rest my head on his shoulder, mindful of his big horns that arch around his skull, and reach down to see if he’s still hard. He catches my hand before I can touch his cock, and then guides me there. He wraps my fingers around his length, and then his hand covers mine, and he gives a hard pump.

Oh. He’s going to use me to get off. I should be appalled…instead, I’m rather titillated. He wants my touch, not his. I like that.

After a few hard strokes, I feel his entire body shudder, and then his head leans forward and he bites - bites! - the shoulder of my tunic. Warm liquid spatters my hand, clenched in his. He’s coming, lost in his own pleasure moment, and I wish it were brighter in the cave so I could watch his every expression. Instead, I just stroke his hair with one hand, gently squeeze his cock with my other, and wait for him.

He recovers, releases my hand, and then uses a soft bit of fur to clean our hands off. I’m a little sad when he gets up, and I curl up in the blankets that he’s left because I’m too boneless to move. I watch, dopey with endorphins, as he puts more water on over the fire.

So that just happened. I went to third base with my alien boyfriend. I could officially be the easiest earth chick on this planet. My sister would probably be mortified. It’s only been a few days since I met Rokan. I should go slower. Take things gradually and get to know each other, but I can’t keep my hands off of him. After years of being content with my virginity, I am now officially ‘fast’.

But I can’t find it in me to give a crap. I watch Rokan by the fire, his tight blue ass bare, tail swishing, and feel rather pleased with myself.

T
his is the best day
.

I thought, perhaps, that the day I felt resonance, that would be the best day. But now I know that it is this day, with my mate sleepy and sated, and the scent of her cunt still on my fingers.

I am ravenous for her. Resonance has not been sated, and will not be sated until she is with my kit. Until then, we will starve for each other’s touch. Already I could take her body to mine and fill her with my aching cock, and it has been but a moment since I left her. I poke at the coals, warming a bit of hot tea. I am not thirsty, but I want to have it prepared in case my mate wakes and needs a drink. I must anticipate her every need.

I look over at the nest of furs. Her eyes are closed and she is on her back, her tunic bunched at her waist. Her legs are slightly parted and I can see the undone laces of her leggings. It would not take much to push them down to her knees and to bury my mouth in her warm flesh, to taste her until she fills my mouth with her juices. I lift my fingers to my nose. They are still perfumed with her scent. I want to wear it forever. I want to lick it off my hand and taste it.

Instead, I add a few leaves to the tea and stir it, then hunch down by the fire to wait it out.

I see now why the others are so wild for their human mates. I was pleased for my friends when they mated. I was amused when my brother, ever the flirt, resonated to his Kira and now watches her constantly with a besotted expression.

Now, I understand.

With Li-lah in my life, everything has changed. My priority is her. My happiness is hers. When I return home, I will move my small bed of furs out of my parents’ cave and ask the chief for a home to share with my mate, so we may start our family.

My desires have changed - now, I will crave Li-lah’s hand, her sighs, her everything - in order to bring myself to come. Even my seed has changed with Li-lah. Instead of thin and slick like before, it is now thick and milky. All that I am is changing for her.

I welcome it.

Just thinking about my mate makes me turn back around to look at her again. She is soft in the furs, one hand pillowed on a pale cheek. My cock is stiff with need again, and I think of the way her small fingers curled around my shaft, her grip holding me tight as I stroked myself.

Tea can wait.

I stalk over to the bed and set down gently on my knees to Li-lah’s side, and tap her arm. I always let her know my presence because she cannot hear me. I do not want to scare her by looming over her. I cannot imagine what it is like to live in silence; it only emphasizes how strong my mate is.

Her eyes slide open and she gives me a shy, sleepy smile. “Oh. Hi there.”

I lean down and kiss her, and she makes a happy little sound in her throat. Then, I slide lower on her body and move those tantalizing leggings lower, revealing the tiny thatch of mane between her thighs and the soft folds it covers. Her scent fills my nose and I groan aloud, then begin to kiss her belly.

I feel her quiver. She shifts, and I take the opportunity to tug her pants down to her knees, just as I pictured.

“Oh,” she breathes. Her hands smooth down the front of her tunic and then she reaches for me. “Oh…”

I pull one leg of her pants off, then the other. Now she is delightfully bare. I take one delicate ankle and run my mouth over it.

“Oh,” she breathes again, the sound low and throaty.

I kiss my way down her leg, toward her cunt.

“Oh.” Her moan fills the cave as I taste her. “
Oh
…”

My mate
, I think with fierce, possessive joy as her flavor dances on my tongue. My perfect mate.

Her hands fist in the furs beside her thighs, and I feel her entire body quiver when I drag my tongue over her slick folds. She is hot, sweet, and wet here, and I explore her with my mouth, seeing which flicks of my tongue make her cry out, and which make her suck in a breath.

Li-lah’s hips rise to meet my mouth, and I put a hand on her thigh to hold her still, so I may lap at her cunt over and over again.

“Oh, wait,” she breathes.

I raise my head, curious. Did I do something wrong?

“No,” she cries out a moment later. Her hand goes back to the top of my head and she pushes me back down. “I didn’t mean it. You’re doing great.” Her head flops back onto the furs. “Thumbs up.”

I chuckle and go back to my task. My tongue circles around the small bud of her third nipple. It seems to be the most sensitive, so I focus on it. Her aching whimpers fuel me, and I eagerly lick her until she’s crying out my name, her entire body shuddering in response to my tongue.

Perfect.

Everything about my mate is perfect. This moment? Her taste on my lips? Her soft thighs pressing against my ears as she comes?

Perfect.

* * *

I
wake
my Li-lah up in the morning with a kiss to her brow, and then many kisses to her cunt. Her soft squeals and moans from last night haunt my dreams, and I must have my fill of her before I can travel. Once I have made her cry out twice, she releases the double-handfuls she has of my hair and uses her hand on my cock so I may come, too.

I think we shall wake like this from now on, every morning. It is a very pleasant way to greet the day.

We bathe, eat, and then bundle our furs. I pack our things while Li-lah braids her hair and sips at the tea I push on her. It will be several days walk to the Elders’ Cave, going slow so I do not exhaust my Li-lah. Sky-claws do not hunt this far away from the mountains, so we can take our time and enjoy the journey.

We will go even slower than usual, as well, because I must start teaching Li-lah. Even as she has taught me her hand-words, I must now teach her to care for herself, like she has suggested. She knows less about how to survive than my youngest brother, Sessah, who is not yet two hands of age.

I will give her the same lessons that patient, quiet Warrek gave to me, lessons that he gives to my younger brother even now. I must do them all with hand-speak and with her fingers touching my mouth if that does not work. It is important that she learn.

So I take one of the furs we have on the bed and set it on the ground. She looks over at me, sipping her tea, and her eyebrows go up when I gesture that she should come sit by me. A bright flush touches her cheeks and she begins to breathe heavy, and I feel my cock surge in response. Does she think I will taste her, even now?

Of course, I like that idea, but I shake my head. I must focus on other things. I pat the fur. It is one of the thicker hides, and not waterproof like mine, but it will do for now. I flip it over to the leather side, and then gesture at my bag.

Her brows wrinkle and she puts aside her tea. “Bed?” she asks, making a hand-talk.

I shake my head and point at my pack, and say the word. Then I pull out several leather cords and pack a few things into the center of the fur - rations, an extra skin for water, the empty stew pouch. I put them in the center, then swiftly roll the bundle and tie it on each end. I loop the straps in the knots that will allow me to create a shoulder harness. It is not the same as my own pack, but an easy-to-make carry-all that young kits are shown when they are not strong enough to carry a regular pack.

Her eyes widen with recognition. “You made me a backpack?”

I unroll it immediately and then offer her the straps.

“Oh. I guess I’m making the bag, right?”

I nod.

“All right, show me how to start? Where does this strap go?” Her eyes light up with enthusiasm and she smiles at me. “Don’t go easy on me, either.”

It takes some time and much patience, but I show her how to make the bundle, to form the knots that create shoulder straps, how to cinch it when it is on her shoulders so it does not dig. She looks pleased with her creation and even more pleased when I hand her one of the spears. If she is to be a hunter, we cannot hold hands as we walk. She must be ready to look for tracks, to flush out game, to be on alert for predators.

We leave a short time later, after I show her how to put the cave back in order for the next visitor. It has snowed overnight, and Li-lah’s steps are plodding over the drifts. It will be a slow journey today, but that means we can make camp and go to our furs that much sooner.

I am…very eager for that.

* * *

A
s a hunter alone
, I could make the journey to the Elders’ Cave in a day or so. With Li-lah at my side, it takes five days in total. Every step of every day is spent teaching her. I show her how to hold her knife, and how to throw a spear. I point out tracks to her as we walk, and describe the animals they belong to. We gather soapberries and fire fuel as we travel. I show her what to look for in our surroundings - signs of danger, changes in the weather, places where the snow drifts hide caches of stored meat. I show her how to approach the hot streams and to chase away the face-eaters that dwell on the shores, waiting to prey on anything that moves near. There is no time to stop and show her how to build snares, or traps, but I manage to hunt fresh meat every day and every night, after she builds a fire, I show her how to cut it open without spilling the innards and spoiling the meat.

It is a lot for her to learn, and by the time we stop for the day at a hunter cave, she is exhausted, her strength ebbing. But she must learn, so I insist she build a fire when every instinct in my body urges me to take care of her and to do it for her. I show her how to melt the snow when all I want to do is hold her and let her relax against me. I show her how to slice up a fresh kill and how to scrape the hide for curing.

She falls into the furs each night, exhausted. There is very little kissing these nights, and she falls asleep in my arms and slumbers until dawn. I tell myself I am patient, but my body craves more of hers. I want the taste of her cunt on my tongue. She is a craving, and I need more of her. My khui’s song grows stronger in its distress, and I wonder that Li-lah does not feel the same aching need I do.

Perhaps when she truly knows what resonance is, she will understand. Then we will come together as we should. Until then, I will teach her how to survive, just as she asks.

And though I am aching with need, I enjoy having Li-lah at my side. Every moment with her is such intense pleasure that I feel full of joy and wonder at the world. Every smile makes me smile. Every hand-talk sign I learn brings me that much closer to being able to truly speak. Every brush of her hand over mine reminds me that she is my mate, and she is everything I have ever wanted.

It is early on the fifth day of our journey when the Elders’ Cave comes into view in the distance. I recognize the large, smooth, snow-covered mound, so out of place amongst the jagged stone cliffs. It is here that the walls talk and will teach me how to speak to my Li-lah.

I point it out to her, eager to begin.

Maybe it’s that I’m tired, or maybe it’s that I’m not really expecting to see another spaceship, but I don’t recognize the big, snow-covered dome for what it is until we get to the entrance and I realize it’s not a cave, but a spacecraft. The door is rounded, a metal ramp leading up out of the snow and into what looks like an opening.

I retreat a few steps, clutching my spear, and look over at Rokan.

He’s giving me a boyish grin of excitement.

Okay, he doesn’t look freaked out. Me, I’m still trying to wrap my head around what this means. “This is a spaceship?”

His brows go down, a close, alien-approximation of a frown of concentration, and then he makes the
cave
gesture.

I want to point out that this is most definitely not a cave, but maybe there’s no word for spaceship in his language. The man wears fur pants and carries a spear, so I’m guessing that there’s not a ton of technology in his culture. Plus he’s been heading us in this direction because he said something would help us learn to speak to each other. I haven’t been able to figure out what he meant by that.

I never really thought it would be a spaceship. And I don’t know how that’s going to help, but I’m worried.