Barbarian's Touch: A SciFi Alien Romance (Ice Planet Barbarians Book 8) (23 page)

Vektal nods, pleased. “A fierce female is a good one.” No doubt he thinks of his own Shorshie.

I watch Mah-dee trail behind the others, and glance over at my chief again. “What about Mah-dee? Should we worry that Hassen will take her and try to force resonance on her?”

Vektal snorts at that. “You have not been at the cave, so you have not seen it. Mah-dee and Hassen hate each other. She snarls at him and he is determined to avoid her. There is no spark between those two.”

“Mmm.” My feeling pricks, telling me there might be something there. I think of Haeden and his Jo-see, who bickered and fought until resonance. Now, they are so hungry for each other they cannot be pried from their furs. “Has Mah-dee shown preference to any of males?”

Vektal shakes his head and switches arms, and Talie immediately starts to smack the other side of his face, babbling. “She has not. There is hope she will resonate, but it might take time, like Jo-see and Tee-fah-nee.”

I nod. “My mate and I will need a cave of our own, and privacy. I know that Mah-dee should come and stay with us because she is family, but my Li-lah is shy. She will not feel comfortable if her sister is near when we mate.”

The look he gives me is full of understanding. “Resonance has not been filled yet?”

“Not yet.” I try to keep the heaviness out of my voice. “But soon.”

“Is she fighting it?”

I shake my head. “Her sister has poor timing.”

Vektal laughs, and Talie whacks him on the nose and giggles. “You will have a private cave, my friend. Your mother has already taken over one of the storage rooms and prepared it for your mate’s arrival. As for her sister,” he thinks for a moment. “Asha can cave with her.”

“Asha?” I am surprised. “Then-”

He nods slowly. “It is broken between them. Hemalo beds with the hunters.”

I think of quiet, gentle Hemalo. He is not a hunter, and once, many turns of the seasons ago, he loved Asha. “I am sad for him.”

“Sometimes resonance is a curse,” Vektal says. “And sometimes, it is the greatest gift.” He pulls his daughter close and gives her a smacking kiss, which makes Talie giggle all over again. “The sooner you claim your mate, the sooner you will know this for yourself.”

E
ven though I’m deaf
, the signs of a party are obvious. Skins of strong-smelling drink are passed around, and someone’s face is contorting in an ecstatic rendition of what must surely be singing. Farli is racing around, painting bright circles and dots on people’s exposed skin, and yet another woman hands me a fat blue baby, beaming at me.

It’s sensory overload, but the best kind.

All my worry about coming to the tribal cave was for nothing. These people are warm and friendly, and everyone has been trying to sign some sort of greeting to me. They really want me to feel welcome, and it’s so sweet I could cry. My poor Rokan has been pulled away by his chief, and now he sits talking to another woman in the corner of the room. Maddie has drifted toward my side to interpret, and she winces when someone staggers past, a skin in hand, yelling something up at the ceiling that I can’t hear as someone else plays a drum.

You should be glad you can’t hear this
, Maddie signs.
These people are nice but they are terrible singers. Just awful.

I giggle and rock the baby in my arms. It’s so stinking cute, with little nubby horns, pale blue skin and a wee little tail. The mother - a quiet redhead - just smiles at me, content to hang out and let me admire her baby. I hand him back after a few minutes, and turn to Maddie.
I don’t remember her name.

Harlow
, she spells out.

“Thank you, Harlow,” I say aloud.

Harlow says something long and involved, but I can’t catch all of it, and look to my sister.

She is heading out to the ship tomorrow, she says, to get the language. She says it’s very clever of you to teach the computer. Says she’s working on a broken medical machine and if she gets it fixed, maybe she can have it look at your ears.

“Thank you, but I’m good either way,” I say aloud to Harlow.

You sure?
She mouths, her brows going up.

I shrug. “I’m fine either way.”

She grins and gets up, and as she does, I catch a glimpse of a few people frolicking naked in the nearby pool located at the center of the cave. Okay, that’s a lot of nudity - both male and female, human and sa-khui. I blink rapidly and turn away.

Yeah
, Maddie signs.
In addition to the singing? They are also not shy. But hey, bonus. There’s a bath.

Might be a while before I get brave enough to do that, I tell her.

You and me both. Gonna be a long time before I go native.
Maddie nods her head over in the corner, where Rokan is now being fussed over by both his mother and the other woman.
Did you meet the in-laws?

I did
, I tell her.
Very briefly.
I’d been expecting an old crone and instead was surprised to see that Rokan’s mother, Sevvah, has gray hair, but her face is youthful and her smile bright. She’s the same pale blue as Aehako, and Rokan’s the darker shade like his father. When the party first started, Sevvah hovered over me for a time, patting my stomach and then pinching my cheek, making it obvious that she’s super excited to get grandchildren. She got pulled away with Sessah, and right now she’s busy splitting her time between fussing over Rokan and dishing out food. Rokan’s dad is apparently the one in charge of the booze, and everyone keeps heading over to his corner of the cave. They seem like a nice family, though.

As I look over to my mate, I watch as Sevvah pinches Rokan’s cheek, and I stifle a giggle. Imagine getting your cheek pinched at the age of forty. Mothers are mothers where-ever you go, I suppose. I look over at Maddie.
Should we get something to eat?

She makes a face.
More stew? I’m so sick of it I could puke.

Oh. I have some fruit. You want some? It doesn’t taste like regular fruit, but it’s still pretty good.

Maddie’s eyes go wide. “You what?” She’s so startled that she speaks aloud, and two or three human girls also turn to look at us.

“Um, I have fruit? It’s in my bag.” I glance around at the other women, curious. “Found a whole cave of it.”

Two other humans immediately pile into the small group near the fire, and one, I think, is the chief’s wife. She says something to me, and I look over at Maddie.

She wants to know if it’s real fruit.

I nod slowly. “I ate a lot of it. Do you guys not have fruit?”

Not that I’ve seen
, Maddie signs, and talks to the woman for a moment.
Georgie says that the plants they can eat consist of something like a potato. I’ve tried it, and it sucks. Where’s your bag?

I think Sessah ran off with it?

Maddie turns to Georgie and they speak, and then Georgie charges to her feet with a speed that astonishes me. A few other humans gather, and by the time Sessah returns with my pack, there are no less than ten eager humans crowded near me, most holding a baby.

I open the bag and pull out one of the big reddish fruits, and every mouth rounds into a little ‘oh’. I can’t hear it, but it’s funny to watch. “This one is sour,” I say as I hand it over to the closest set of hands. “A bit like cherry. This one is kind of like spinach mixed with melon.” I pull out the next and hand it over. “And these sweet little berries taste, well, kind of like berries. They’re a little squished after being in my bag, I’m afraid.” I pull them out, passing the ‘little berries’ out to the others. They’re actually about golf-ball sized, but compared to the other fruits? They’re tiny. “I have a few more in the bag, too.”

It looks like everyone starts talking at once, and it’s clear they’re excited. Maddie begins to sign.
They want to know where you got these.

“There’s a cave,” I say aloud. “In a little valley close to the Elders’ Cave. It’s about halfway up the cliffs and you can’t see it from the ground, but when you go inside, it’s full of all these plants and it’s warm like a sauna. It’s almost like a greenhouse.” As I watch, a pretty black girl claps her hands and says something to Maddie.

She wants to know if you can take her. She’s their gardener.

“I can, but give me a few days? In the meantime, you guys can have this stuff. I’m kind of fruited out at the moment.”

The fruits are snatched up eagerly and a few girls come over to give me a hug, which is surprising. You’d think it was Christmas the way they’re acting.

They’re super excited
, Maddie says, an envious look on her face.
You’re now the most popular girl in the cave.

I am? It’s just fruit.

You know they’re worried about food shortages, right? Everyone’s out hunting like crazy to try and have enough food for the winter.

Wait, winter? It’s not winter right now?

Maddie shakes her head slowly.
This is summer.

Oh God.

So yeah, the fruit is great. They are going to love you even more.
My sister gives me a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
And here you worried about fitting in.

I shrug, feeling awkward. This isn’t like Maddie. She’s normally so assertive and right now she seems…lost? My poor sister. This has been hard on her. She hasn’t had a Rokan to lean on through all this. She’s been alone, except for me, and I haven’t even been here. I’ve been with Rokan.

My body fills with warmth at the thought of him and I peek over at the corner, where he’s been ensconced with a few of his tribesmates for the last while.

Our eyes meet from across the busy cave, and I feel an electric pulse race through me. It’s like he was thinking about me in the same moment, or his psychic sense told him I was thinking about him. And in that moment, I wish we were back in one of the other caves, alone. Everyone is nice, but I really just want to crawl into Rokan’s arms and kiss him until the suns come up.

We stare at each other for a long moment, and then he gets to his feet. His movements are slow, sinuous, and I get all hot and bothered just watching the man freaking stand up. God, he’s sexy.

He’s all mine, too. I feel the need to fan myself.

Then, he starts walking toward me. He says something to his mother, hovering nearby, and she smiles and turns away. It feels as if the entire room is watching us as Rokan steadily approaches me across the crowded cavern. My breath catches in my throat, and my chest is purring like it’s got a motor in it.

I get to my feet, drawn by his intense gaze.

It is time
, he signs as he comes to my side. And before I can ask exactly what he means - though I have my suspicions - he picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder like I’m a girl in one of those caveman movies.

And okay, it’s hot as hell. I’m so aroused at that quick, decisive action that I’m practically squirming. Everyone’s going to know what we’re leaving the party to do and I kind of don’t care. I want my mate. I want my Rokan.

Everything else can wait.

I have been a patient male. I have let my mother fuss over me. I have let the healer check over my wounds. I have watched as my mate has been handed every kit in the tribe and introduced to all of the humans. I have endured the envious looks Vaza and Taushen are sending in my direction. Hassen is not here, but his name is mentioned several times. It is a small tribe and gossip flows freely, but I will endure it all for my mate. I want her to enjoy her celebration.

But when her eyes meet mine over the crowd and she has that soft look on her face that tells me her breast is resonating as hard as mine? I am no longer patient.

It is time to claim what is mine.

I get to my feet and push my way through the group to her side. I hear a few muffled chuckles from the gathered tribe as I scoop my mate up, but they are lost amongst the cheer that rises as I storm away with her over my shoulder. They are ready for us to consummate our resonance, just like I am. They want our happiness.

I want that, too.

My mother has told me about the cave she prepared for us. One of the new storage caves - a smaller one, but that does not matter to me - has been cleared out and readied for our return. I head down the long, winding passageway that was recently opened and there, off to one side, is our cave. A decorated screen leans against the entrance, waiting for us.

I duck to enter the cave, a hand on my mate’s back to ensure she is not scraped by the low rocks. I set her down gently in the room and then move to the entrance. The screen fits perfectly over it. Now, we have privacy. Now, no one will disturb us. We will climb into bed and mate until we grow too hungry to stay in bed any longer.

And then we will eat and return to bed. My cock aches with pleasure at the thought. I do not plan on letting Li-lah out of my furs for several days. Not until we are both utterly sated.

“It’s dark,” Li-lah whispers. “I can’t see your hands.”

I feel a stab of shame at her words. Of course I should build a fire. I touch her cheek to let her know I hear her words and then kneel beside the cold firepit. In a few moments, I have built a small blaze and there’s a relieved smile on my mate’s pretty face.

“Is this our home?” she asks, glancing around the cave.

I nod.
Do you like it? The furs are mine, and if you need anything - pillows, blankets — I shall make it for you. Whatever you need, I will provide.
I want her to be happy here, with me.

She bites her lip and looks around. She gets to her feet and I watch as she explores the cave. There is not much to see, and I worry it will not be enough to please my mate. Her hands move over a covered basket, then she touches a decorative leather hanging my mother has thoughtfully put up. My weapons are stacked neatly in an alcove, and there are extra bowls, skins, and other items the tribe has donated to make our home. Li-lah turns and looks at me, and there is a soft smile on her face. “I like it.”

It is enough for you?

She moves to my side and puts her hands on me, stroking my chest. “I love it, because I am here with you. You are all I need.”

A groan escapes me, because seeing her smile fills me with lightness. She is my happiness.
My heart
, I sign to her.
You are my heart.

I know
, she signs back,
and I’m keeping it
. Then, she slides her hands down my arms and whispers, “Are we private here? Do we have to worry about being interrupted? Or someone hearing us?” She bites her lip and gives me an awkward look, all the while, her hand rubs my forearm.

Just that small touch is making my cock ache unbearably.

Do you see the screen?
I point at it.
Over the entrance to our cave?

She nods.

As long as it is in front of our cave, no one will interrupt us. Behind it, we do not exist.

Her eyes widen in surprise and she peers at the entryway.
Are you sure?

It is a tradition honored by my people.

Then, they will know what we’re doing in here?

My heart, of course they know
. I take her small hand and press it to my chest, where my khui sings loudly to hers.
The moment we resonated, they knew we would be joining. No one denies resonance for long.

So obvious
. Her hands return to my chest after she signs. “I guess there’s no hiding it.”

I shake my head slowly.
I do not wish to hide it. I want everyone to know you are mine. I am the luckiest of my people.

Her fingers fidget on my breast.
So we should just do it?

She is not sure? I would be amused if my body did not ache so badly for hers.
That is my choice, yes.

Her chuckle makes me ache. “I just, I’ve never done this before, you know?”

I have not, as well. In that, we are both new.

Li-lah makes a face.
I almost wish that wasn’t the case.

I go very still.
You would wish another female has touched me?

“No! God, no. I just wish I knew what I was doing right now. I feel like such a dork.” Her hands move over my shoulder and caress my arm. “I think I’d kill another woman if she tried to even look at you twice.”