Ice Planet Barbarians: The Complete Series: A SciFi Alien Serial Romance (12 page)

—and still coming.

My exhausted legs quiver as his strokes begin to take on a wilder edge. Vektal bares his fangs, his own features tightening as an orgasm rises inside him. I rake my nails down the tough, ridged spots on his chest and arms, and he growls low in his throat and shudders. I can tell he likes that, and I do it again.
Come for me, baby
, I think as he wrings another orgasm out of me and I choke on the overwhelming pleasure.

Then I feel him pulse inside me. Like the rest of his body, his semen feels several degrees hotter than my skin, and I can feel it as he comes, his growl of pleasure becoming louder and louder, the purr in his throat a thunderous rumble. He thrusts hard, and his fingers dig into my hips as he comes, and I feel him coming inside me, over and over again. It’s a new sensation for me.

Hell, all of this is.

But when he collapses on top of me like a big delicious blanket, and then presses his ridged forehead to my flat one and murmurs my name?

I feel content. Boneless—of course—but utterly, completely content. And I want to ask him if he wants to take me up the mountain tomorrow. But it seems like the wrong time to ask. I don’t want him to think I only slept with him because I want him to do something for me.

If I’m totally honest with myself, I slept with him because I’m completely attracted to him. The horns, the blue-gray skin, the tail, the weird cock, all of it. His gruff, protective demeanor. It does it for me.

He shifts over me, clearly trying to pull his weight off of me. I cling to him, because I love the feel of his big warm body over mine, in mine. And I sigh with contentment.

Vektal, on the other hand, begins to kiss me again. I feel him move his hips in a shallow thrust.

A small moan rises from my throat again. “It’s a good thing you can’t make me pregnant, buddy,” I say, even as I lock my feet behind his back.

• • • 

VEKTAL

All night long, my khui thrums with contentment in my chest.

I have claimed my mate. Over and over, she’s welcomed me into her small, soft body, until we’re both exhausted from pleasure. Being with a resonance mate is like no other feeling; I am pleased to my very marrow with my sweet Georgie. I cannot wait to return to the tribal caverns with her. My hand caresses her soft skin even as she snores in my ear, the sunlight streaming in through the gaps in the cave-mouth covering.

I cannot wait for her to swell with my child. Our child. My khui was wise to pick her, even though she is small. She is strong in heart and spirit, and creative and enthusiastic in the furs. She doesn’t resonate for me. Not yet. But when she carries a khui, she will thrum with pleasure at my touch, like I do at hers.

From now until my spirit departs this plane, there shall be none for me but her.

I touch her sleeping features reverently, memorizing them. She’s a strange, tiny thing and soft all over, but her cunt grips my cock so tightly it’s an ecstasy that cannot be described. Her taste is sweet, but the expressions she makes as I fill her with my cock? Even sweeter.

I look forward to tonight, when I will drag my Georgie back to bed until she’s mewing with exhaustion but still eager for more as I pump into her.

I press my mouth to hers to wake her. “Georgie?”

Her eyes, still so dull and lifeless without the shine of a khui
,
flutter open
.
It will need to be remedied and soon, I decide. She looks tired, the circles under her eyes deep against her pale skin.

“Vektal,” she murmurs happily and slides a hand down my chest, which starts my khui to thrumming again.

“Mountain?” I ask her, raising a brow with amusement as she tries to burrow back under the blankets and return to sleep.

That wakes her up. “Mountain?” she asks, eyes wide.

I nod. “Dress yourself. I will check the traps, and then we will go.”

“
Dnno wutyew sd butlessgo
.” She looks excited, flinging her pale arms around the cave and searching for her discarded clothing.

It takes some convincing to get her to stay in the cave while I go out to check the traps, but with hand gestures and our few words, I manage to relay that I will go much faster if I am alone. She kisses me frantically before I leave, as if ensuring that I’ll return for her.

As if anything would ever keep me from her side again.

Rubbing my pulsing chest, I smile to myself and trudge through the snow. Yet another night of steadily falling powder, and the trails are almost entirely covered. I have walked these grounds many times in the past, though, and know exactly where to set my traps for them to yield prey. Since it is just Georgie and me, my traps are small and their catches, even smaller. Were I hunting for my people, I would seek dvisti, bring them down, and then bury them in the snow with a marker until a party could be sent back later to retrieve the bounty. This morning, though, I have two quilled beasts and a small hopper to feed my Georgie. There is no nearby stream, so I gather pure, sweet snow in my skin and then hold it against my chest so it can melt.

I check all my traps, and it’s not until I’m returning back from the last one that I notice an oddly-shaped lump in the newly fallen snow. Curiosity gets the better of me, and I approach it, then nudge it with a boot to uncover what lies underneath.

It’s a foot. Small, bare, and five-toed—like my Georgie.

It’s frozen solid.

As I stare down at it, I realize my Georgie’s not here alone. This is why she’s so frantic to get up the mountain. There are others like her.

Or . . . there were.

 PART FOUR

GEORGIE

Vektal’s out checking traps and getting me some Not-Hoth breakfast. Since I’m stuck at the cave, I decide that today I’m going to leave with the blankets instead of abandoning them here at the cave like we did last time. Vektal has already indicated that he wants me to be ultra-bundled when we leave, and since we’re heading up the mountain, I want blankets for the other girls. The only way that’s going to work is if I can wear them.

So I’m busy slicing makeshift ties out of the lining of my jacket and poking holes through the edge of one of the furs with my knife to make it a cloak. I’m not much for sewing, especially with these terrible supplies, but it’s something to do while I wait on Vektal to return. I’m testing my second “cloak” when Vektal rushes back to the cave, his glowy-eyes frantic.

I get up, alarmed. “What is it?”

He grabs me and pulls me against his chest, stroking my hair. He’s breathing hard, and this might be the first time I’ve heard him winded. Normally nothing fazes him.

But right now? He’s rattled. And that makes me scared. “Vektal?”

He cups my cheek and gazes into my face. Then, he peers into my eyes. Puts a hand to my forehead, then to my breast. Asks a question I can’t make out.

I frown and shake my head. “I’m fine? What’s going on?”

“Georgie,” he says and then utters something else that I’m pretty sure is “Come with me.”

I put on the heavy furs, and he nods, helping me bundle up. When every inch of me is covered in shaggy hides and I’m practically sweating, he tugs me onto his back and out into the snow we go.

It’s a lot warmer this way, and I’m rather enjoying the snowy weather as Vektal does the hard work, tromping through the deep snow. The two sickly-pale suns are out, and the world looks rather beautiful right now. Like a snowy paradise.

I’m so busy admiring my surroundings that I don’t notice Vektal has stopped until he nudges my arm and then gestures at the snow.

There’s something in the drifts.

Somehow, I don’t think this is a hunting kill. My stomach churns sickly, and I slide off his back. Holding my furs against my body, I move forward and brush a bit of the snow aside.

It’s a face. Human. Red hair. Her eyes are open and frozen.

I gasp. Dominique. Her clothing is ragged and dirty, and it’s clear from the tinge of her skin that she’s been out here for a while. She’s frozen through and through. A sob escapes me, and I look at Vektal.

He points at the girl, his eyes pale as if with shock. “Georgie?”

“No, I’m Georgie,” I say then point at her. “That’s Dominique.” Then I try to teach him the word “human” by spreading my five fingers. I can’t stop sniffling. What is she doing here? Did they send her after me? Another sob catches my throat. “Vektal, we have to go up the mountain. Please.”

“Mountain. Human?” he asks, voice low.

“Yes,” I say, feeling frantic. While I’ve been fucking around with an alien and eating and wearing warm furs, the others are starving and cold. I point up the mountain. “Please. Please let’s go up the mountain. More humans.”

He nods and lets a stream of syllables fly. I don’t understand them, but when I gesture that I want on his back again, he hauls me against him and begins a quick pace up the snowy hills and past the cliff we spent the night at.

This time, we’re going up the mountain. I want to sob with relief. Instead, I keep thinking of Dominique’s frozen face. Poor Dominique. What happened? Why did they send her out with no clothing? It’s a death sentence. Were they so desperate they had no choice?

“Hurry, please,” I tell him. He doesn’t understand the word, but maybe he hears the urgency in my voice. His pace picks up.

It takes at least two hours of Vektal’s steady, measured pacing before I get a glimpse of the black hull of the ship. It’s almost entirely covered by snow at this point, and I suck in a breath at the sight of it. That can’t be warm, no matter the insulation. Up this high, there aren’t many trees and there’s no wildlife. The air feels thinner, and I wonder if the aliens deliberately stranded us at the most inhospitable site so we wouldn’t run away.

Fuck that. We are getting out of here today, and I am taking my girls with me.

I just pray they are still alive.

Vektal points at the black oblong vessel that had broken off from the ship. “
Sa
?”

“Yes,” I tell him. “
Sa
!”

It takes a bit longer for us to get up to the discarded portion of the ship. The slope is rocky and steep, and going up proves to be a bit of a challenge that I hadn’t had while going down. We get to the edge, and I see a snowy drft is high enough on one side that it can act as a ramp. It must have snowed a lot here. Ugh.

I drop off Vektal’s back and nudge ahead, taking the lead. The breeze is picking up, so I swaddle the furs closer about my face and climb up the ramp. The hole is covered by the tarp, so I tug it up.

A snowball immediately hits me in the face.

I sputter, wincing and staggering backward. It’s nailed me right on the nose, and my face throbs, my eyes stinging.

“Back the fuck off!” A voice yells. Another snowball lobs in my direction, and I duck it.

Vektal gives a furious cry, pulling me behind him, rage lighting his eyes. As I watch, he pulls two bladed, carved short swords from his vest.

“Wait,” I yell. “Guys, it’s me! Georgie!”

Silence.

“Georgie?” A voice cries. It sounds like Liz. “You’re alive?”

“I am,” I yell back. “Fuck off with the snowballs!”

“What’s with the lion, Georgie?” someone else yells up. “Call it off!”

“It’s not a lion. It’s a native, and it’s my friend. His name is Vektal.” I pat Vektal’s arm, trying to soothe him since he still looks as if he wants to crawl inside and murder everyone. “It’s okay, big guy. Really.” I’m so relieved at finding the others alive that I could blubber big, ugly tears of joy.

I try to move forward, only to have Vektal block me again. I give him an exasperated look. “Really. It’s fine. These are my people. Humans.”

“Humans,” he repeats and points at his fingers.

“That’s right.”

Grudgingly, he moves aside, and I push the tarp away and duck, just in case another snowball comes flying my way. When nothing does, I peek in.

Five ragged girls stare up at me, faces dirty. Liz, Kira, Megan, Tiffany, and Josie are all still alive, though they look like hell. Their eyes are hollow, their hair is lank, and they shiver as they stare up at me.

I think they’re all beautiful. I’m so happy to see them that I burst into tears. “Hi,” I sob out.

“Georgie?” Vektal asks. His hands go to my back, his touch possessive.

I turn and pat him, trying not to blubber and failing miserably. “Help me down?”

My wrist is still crap, but Vektal is strong. He helps lower me into the hold just enough that I can grab onto some of the wreckage. I climb down awkwardly, falling forward when I get close to the floor. Then the five girls are grabbing me, hauling me against them in big, smelly hugs.

“You guys smell awful,” I say between sobs and hug each one. Liz is grinning wide, but Josie seems listless, her delicate figure practically skeletal. Tiffany’s blubbering as much as I am, and both Megan and Kira are quiet. “Here,” I say, stripping the furs off my body. “Please. Take these. You guys have to be freezing.”

They grab the furs with greedy hands, and I don’t even mind. I strip them off, happy to hear their moans of pleasure as they get their first warm clothing in days.

“We thought you were dead,” Tiffany says. “You never came back.”

“I got held up. Are you guys okay?” I ask as they snuggle in the blankets. Kira’s wearing Vektal’s traveling cloak, and Liz and Megan are huddling together under one fur, Josie and Tiffany under the other. They’re standing and alert, so that’s good.

Megan sniffs and then sneezes. The others grimace. Liz rubs her forehead, and she’s clearly exhausted. “We’re hanging in there,” Liz says. “Food’s almost gone. Water, too. But—”

Something big and heavy thumps behind me, shaking the entire cargo hold. Everyone’s eyes go wide as they scatter, retreating.

I turn and see Vektal shaking a bit of snow off of his leather boots. His nostrils flare with the stench of unwashed bodies and human waste, and then his gaze fixes on me. He frowns at the realization that I’ve given away all my furs.

“It’s okay,” I tell him, moving to his side. I pat his big chest, trying to soothe him with small touches. “Vektal, these are my people.”