Barbarian's Touch: A SciFi Alien Romance (Ice Planet Barbarians Book 8) (25 page)

Li-lah’s gasp makes me freeze. It penetrates the pleasurable haze clouding my thoughts, and I force myself to go still. Have I hurt her? Agony lances through me at the thought — she is my mate and the reason I breathe. To hurt her is unthinkable. I brush a finger over her cheek in a silent question, and when she opens her eyes, I sign,
okay
?

“Oh my God, what was that?” Her hand slides to where our bodies are joined, and I feel her fingers moving, tracing my spur. “I think the earth just moved.”

I frown, looking around. An earth-shake? Now? I did not feel it, but I was too lost in the wet clench of Li-lah’s body.

“Figure of speech,” she says, breathless, and her fingers move against my spur again. “With this, you rub up against me really nice.” She gives a little sigh that sounds like pleasure, and then drags her fingers through her folds and rubs my spur and her little hard bud. “Do it again?”

She wants more? Nothing would give me greater pleasure. With one hand on her hip, I thrust again.

Li-lah throws her head back, crying out. Her hand moves to her cunt again and she rubs my spur as I rock into her again. “Feels so good,” she tells me. “Incredible. I didn’t dream—“ Her words die in her throat and her mouth forms an O as another wave of pleasure overtakes her.

Fascinated by her response, I press my fingers to her folds and stroke forward again. This time, I feel it as she does - when I move, my spur drags along the sensitive side of her third nipple. She cries out as I touch her, and I feel her cunt clamp around my cock, sucking me deeper.

My control is gone.

I pump into her, thrusting my cock into her tight, sweet warmth. She clings to me, moaning as our bodies rock together. I can feel her cunt rippling in response each time I push into her, until my name rips out of her throat and she stiffens, lost in another release.

The sight of her, the feel of her body clasping mine? The loud, triumphant song of our khuis? My own release explodes out of me with enough force that stars swim before my eyes, and my entire body shudders. Dimly, I can hear Li-lah breathing my name, her thighs quivering as they clasp me against her. My seed empties into her, and it feels as if I am coming forever, and I press my forehead to hers as pleasure overtakes us.

We are one, Li-lah and I. Forever.

I
’m pretty
sure Rokan has ground me so hard into the blankets with our lovemaking that I have tufts of fur up my butt. I’m also pretty sure I’m deliriously happy.

My toes curling, I wrap my arms and legs around him, pinning his big body against mine. I never want him to let go.

Sweaty and sticky with lovemaking, he nuzzles my face and holds me tight against him. It seems we’re on the same wavelength with that. With his arms around me, he can’t sign to me, but talking is unimportant at the moment. I don’t need it. I don’t need anything but his skin pressed to mine, his cock deep inside me, and his spur sending jolts through my body every time he so much as shifts.

I shiver. That spur, man. Someone should have warned me. That thing can turn a girl’s brains to mush.

He presses a kiss to my neck and I yawn, sleepy and pleased.

My ears pop, and for a moment, it almost sounds hollow in the cave. Almost. It might be my imagination, though. I put a finger in my ear and rub it, frowning.

Rokan sits up, gazing down at me with concern.
Are your ears bothering you? Do you need the healer?

I sigh with disappointment as his skin leaves mine. So much for skipping signing and just snuggling.
No, I’m fine. My ears just popped.

Is your hearing coming back?

I don’t think so. Why would it?

The female with the flame-colored hair - Har-loh. She says she has a growth in her brain and her khui fixed it.

Oh. Did she? I make a mental note to ask about it but not right now. In the morning. Or the day after. Whenever. I’m more interested in getting my mate to press his big, yummy chest against mine again.
Does it matter to you if I can hear?

Of course not. You are perfect as you are.
He looks indignant that I would suggest otherwise.

I smile up at him and trace my fingers along one rock-hard pectoral, feeling the ridges that cover his breastbone and how they graduate to smooth, suede-like skin. “I’m okay if it never comes back,” I tell him. “As long as I have you, you’ll keep me safe.”

I will be at your side, always
, he signs, a solemn look on his face.

“Promise?”

He taps his chest.
My feeling tells me it is so. You will not come to harm as long as I am here.

Somehow, I knew he’d say that. And somehow, I believe him. Who better to keep me safe than the guy with the sixth sense? I rub my fingers over one of his rock-hard nipples. “Then come over here and protect me with that big, sweaty body of yours.”

Rokan’s eyes gleam as he moves to cover me again.

Time to resonate, again.

I stare out at the celebrating tribe, not paying attention to the people that dance past with a skin of sah-sah or the woman that pulls her top down to breastfeed not one but two blue babies. I ignore the exclamations over the fruit that they’ve managed to savor all damn night, and I sure as shit ignore when they start singing again.

Everyone’s so damn happy. Everyone but me.

Me? I’m lost.

In the space of the last month or so, I’ve gone from confident, independent bartender to lost, lonely captive torn from my sister. I’ve gone back to my old role as Lila’s protector only to be ousted from that role the moment she returned, freaking hand-in-hand and lovey-dovey with an alien. She’s mated. She’s happy. She wants to stay.

And me?

I’m just kind of here.

Alone.

I’ve got no one anymore. It’s clear that Lila doesn’t need me. Everyone in the tribe already adores her and they can barely tolerate me. Not that I blame them - I haven’t exactly been Miss Pleasant to live around while my sister was gone. I was worried about her, and I took it out on everyone else, even the women who have gone out of their way to be nice to me.

They don’t understand what it’s like to be so alone, even in a sea of people. Everyone here’s part of a family. There are happy women with babies, and men utterly devoted to their ladies. As I look over, the chief - Vektal - is tossing his baby daughter into the air and giving her exaggerated kisses just to make Talie laugh. And boy, does that baby laugh. It’d be adorable if it didn’t make me feel so sour inside. He’s got a wife and a baby. All of the humans here have someone. Even my sister - scared, timid little Lila - has returned utterly confident in herself and in love with Rokan.

I’ve been forgotten. I sigh and stare out at the entrance of the cave. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I just up and left. Would they hunt me down like they hunted for Lila? Or would they be all ‘good riddance’ and not care because I’ve been a bitch?

Glowing eyes stare back at me, and a big, bulky form emerges from the shadows of the cave entrance, spear in hand, a dead animal in the other.

It’s Hassen. The one that stole my sister. The one that decided he wanted a mate so much he’d just up and fucking steal her.

Him? He can kiss my fat ass.

Though the look he’s giving me right now? That tells me he’d enjoy that far too much. That he’d do more than just kiss it if I bared it for his inspection.

And for some reason, I find myself prickling with arousal at the thought of Hassen folding his big body down to give my plump ass a kiss. Which is all kinds of wrong. He’s exiled. He’s a dick. He wanted my sister. None of these put him on the ‘Ice Planet’s Most Desirable Bachelors’ List.

I jerk my gaze back around to the fire, scowling.

Totally not gonna keep picturing him with his mouth on my ass. Biting one of my rounded cheeks. Dragging his fingers over my body and exploring the fact that I have no tail.

I give my face a hard slap to bring me back to earth. Like a hate-fuck will make everything better? It’d just make things a whole hell of a lot messier.

Nearby, Farli gives me a startled look. “Are you all right?”

“Just distracted,” I tell her. Farli’s a good kid, and the closest thing I have to a buddy here, for all that she’s like fifteen years old. Right now? She’s my ride or die, because, well, I don’t have anyone else. Even my sister Lila is off in a corner somewhere, making out with her new hubby. I can’t even be mad about that - she’s so happy and she is such a wonderful person that she deserves every bit of joy. I’m thrilled for her.

I’m a little jealous of her radiant happiness, sure, but still thrilled for her.

Even though I shouldn’t, I peek over my shoulder back at the cave entrance again. Just in case Hassen is still there. But he’s not, and I ignore the little stab of disappointment I feel.

The last thing I need is to get involved with the bad boy of the ice planet.

W
hew
! Every book in this series is an adventure for me to write. I ended the last book thinking that I’d write one story for the two sisters, entwining their tales and rotating the point of view between sisters and lovers. Except readers spoke out - they wanted each sister to have her own book. You guys love your barbarians!

And so I started to pull the story apart to see where I could separate the two. Maybe I could write two short books instead of one long one. However, this story took off on its own! I knew Lila was stolen by Hassen. I knew Rokan would save her. Did I think it would grow to be the longest book in the series? Nope! Did I know that they weren’t going to fulfill resonance until the very end? Gosh, no! (Don’t kill me -- it just worked out that way!)

Did I know that Lila was going to show up on page one, deaf? No! But once I had the idea, it wouldn’t let go of me and I had to write it. There were reasons, of course. Naturally she’s scared of everything - she can’t hear. And Maddie’s protective nature took on its own angle; naturally she’s protective of her little sister, given that she’s been her protector in the past.

I loved exploring how a deaf/hearing-disabled character would cope with life on a savage planet. If you have any sort of hearing loss, even minor, you know how isolating it can be to be part of a crowd and not able to participate in the conversation. I wanted to delve into that, because in a survival situation, everything takes on a new, more profound significance. I also wanted Lila to grow in strength as the story continued. I wanted her to realize how strong she was, and how she wasn’t a victim, no matter the circumstances. The Lila of chapter one is not the same Lila of the last chapter.

Does her hearing come back? It’s entirely possible; if the khui can keep Harlow’s brain tumor in check, it could also repair the cilia in Lila’s ears that affect the transmission of sound. Of course, this is problematic - ‘fixing’ her hearing assumes that she’s flawed. Like Rokan says, she’s perfect just as she is. So will she get her hearing back? I haven’t decided, and she doesn’t need it one way or another. She’s strong enough either way and I hope I’ve portrayed her so.

In addition, you’ll notice that toward the beginning of the book, there are different spellings of some ‘common’ story words, like khui. That’s because they’re interpreted as how Lila would see them, reading lips. I hope it’s not too jarring for readers. I spent a lot of time in this book with my fingers pressed against my mouth to see how my tongue and lips would move so I could recreate the experience as faithfully as possible.

A few tiny notes…

Since I am now writing a full-length story for Maddie (three guesses as to who her hero will be), BARBARIAN’S TAMING will be out late this summer, and that means BARBARIAN’S CHOICE (Farli’s story) and FIRE AND ICE (spinoff) will be pushed a bit further back. We’re not ready to leave the ice planet yet, so there will be more to come. There will also be more short stories about others in the cave, because there’s so much more to explore.

Also, a huge shout-out to Kati Wilde, who makes amazing covers. Isn’t this one gorgeous? I’m so in love with it. She makes magic happen with stock photos. You’ll note that Rokan has four fingers on the cover instead of three, mostly because it would have looked weird to try and manipulate the existing hands into three fingers. Just close your eyes and pretend!

One housekeeping note. In re-reading the last book to prep for this one, I noticed that Harrec speaks a few lines while out in the hunting party. This is an author ‘oops’ because Harrec wasn’t there! It’s Hassen speaking, but my mind tangled up their names. I’ve uploaded a corrected copy, so if you are a purist, make sure to delete your old copy and re-download the new one. It’s my own fault for deciding that since the sa-khui are a small family, they should have similar sounding names. The change is minor, and, I hope, not too confusing.

As always, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for reading. I really do have the best fans in the world and I adore your Facebook messages, your cheery posts, and your enthusiasm. I love writing in this world and I’m beyond thrilled so many other people love hanging out on the ice planet with me.

<3

Ruby

A
T THE MAIN
TRIBAL CAVE

C
AVE
1

Vektal (Vehk-tall) - The chief of the sa-khui. Mated to Georgie.

Georgie – Human woman (and unofficial leader of the human females). Has taken on a dual-leadership role with her mate.

Talie (Tah-lee) – Their baby daughter.

C
AVE
2

Maylak (May-lack) – Tribe Healer. Mated to Kashrem and currently pregnant with child.

Kashrem (Cash-rehm) - Her mate, also a leather-worker.

Esha (Esh-uh) – Their young daughter.

C
AVE
3

Sevvah (Sev-uh) – Tribe elder, mother to Aehako, Rokan, and Sessah

Oshen (Aw-shen) – Tribe elder, her mate

Sessah (Ses-uh) - Their youngest son

C
AVE
4

Warrek (War-ehk) – Tribal hunter.

Eklan (Ehk-lan) – His father. Elder.

C
AVE
5

Ereven (Air-uh-ven) Hunter, mated to Claire

Claire – mated to Ereven, currently pregnant

C
AVE
6

Liz – Raahosh’s mate and huntress. Currently pregnant for a second time.

Raahosh (Rah-hosh) – Her mate. A hunter and brother to Rukh.

Raashel (Rah-shel) – Their daughter.

C
AVE
7

Stacy – Mated to Pashov. Mother to Pacy, a baby boy.

Pashov (Pah-showv) – son of Kemli and Borran, brother to Farli and Salukh. Mate of Stacy, father to Pacy.

Pacy – Their infant son.

C
AVE
8

Nora – Mate to Dagesh, mother to twins Anna and Elsa.

Dagesh (Dah-zzhesh) (the g sound is swallowed) – Her mate. A hunter.

Anna & Elsa – Their infant twin daughters.

C
AVE
9

Harlow – Mate to Rukh. ‘Mechanic’ to the Elders’ Cave. Spends 75% of her time there with her family.

Rukh (Rookh) – Former exile and loner. Original name Maarukh. (Mah-rookh). Brother to Raahosh. Mate to Harlow.

Rukhar (Roo-car) – Their infant son.

C
AVE
10

Megan – Mate to Cashol. Mother to newborn Holvek.

Cashol – (Cash-awl) – Mate to Megan. Hunter. Father to newborn Holvek.

Holvek – (Haul-vehk) – Wee blue baby boy!

C
AVE
11

Marlene (Mar-lenn) – Human mate to Zennek. Has unnamed child. French.

Zennek – (Zehn-eck) – Mate to Marlene. Has unnamed child.

C
AVE
12

Ariana – Human female. Mate to Zolaya. Mother to Analay.

Zolaya (Zoh-lay-uh) – Hunter and mate to Ariana. Father to Analay.

Analay – (Ah-nuh-lay) – Their infant son.

C
AVE
13

Tiffany – Human female. Mated to Salukh and newly pregnant.

Salukh - Salukh (Sah-luke) – Hunter. Son of Kemli and Borran, brother to Farli and Pashov.

C
AVE
14

Aehako – (Eye-ha-koh) – Acting leader of the South cave. Mate to Kira, father to Kae. Son of Sevvah and Oshen, brother to Rokan and Sessah.

Kira – Human woman, mate to Aehako, mother of Kae. Was the first to be abducted by aliens and wore an ear-translator for a long time.

Kae (Ki –rhymes with ‘fly’) – Their newborn daughter.

C
AVE
15

Kemli – (Kemm-lee) Female elder, mother to Salukh, Pashov and Farli

Borran – (Bore-awn) Her mate, elder

Farli – (Far-lee) Their teenage daughter. Her brothers are Salukh and Pashov. She has a pet dvisti named Chahm-pee (Chompy).

C
AVE
16

Drayan (Dry-ann) – Elder.

Drenol (Dree-nowl) – Elder.

C
AVE
17

Vadren (Vaw-dren) – Elder.

Vaza (Vaw-zhuh) – Widower and elder. Loves to creep on the ladies.

C
AVE
18

Asha (Ah-shuh) – Separated from Hemalo. No living child.

Maddie – Lila’s sister. Found in second crash.

C
AVE
19

Bek – (BEHK) – Hunter.

Hassen (Hass-en) – Hunter.

Harrec (Hair-ek) – Hunter.

Taushen (Tow –rhymes with cow- shen) – Hunter.

Hemalo (Hee-mah-lo) – Separated from Asha.

C
AVE
20

Josie – Human woman. Mated to Haeden and newly pregnant.

Haeden (Hi-den) – Hunter. Previously resonated to Zalah but she died (along with his khui) in the khui-sickness before resonance could be completed. Now mated to Josie.

C
AVE 21 (formerly
a storage cave)

Rokan (Row-can) – Oldest son to Sevvah and Oshen. Brother to Aehako and Sessah. Adult male hunter. Now mated to Lila. Has ‘sixth’ sense.

Lila – Maddie’s sister. Hearing impaired. Resonated to Rokan.