Barbarian Mine (Ice Planet Barbarians #4)(3)

I gently lay her back onto the ground, and as I do, I can’t help but stare at her. Her skin is speckled with a reddish brown dirt of some kind, and I rub at it absently. Her skin is different than mine – there’s no soft, light covering of fur. She is bare everywhere except her head and that feels…strange. It makes my cock hard again, but I ignore it. I can’t sit around and rub it all day. I notice that the spots don’t go away when I rub. They’re on her skin. It’s curious. I lick my thumb and rub at another, but it doesn’t move.

Strange creature.

I tug at the fur coverings, curious to see if this female is spotted everywhere. They fall open and reveal another lighter covering underneath, made of something similar to my waterskin. I pull it off and reveal more of the strange, pale skin with the spots on it. Her arms are smooth and soft, devoid of the thick plating mine have. I rub my arm, then touch hers. Very different. She is all softness, and it makes me think she is weak.

I’ve never seen anything like her. I tug at the leathers again and they fall open, revealing her teats. I draw back, surprised at the sight. They’re full and round, with pinkish-brown tips that point at the air. I touch one, curious to see if she’ll make that throaty sound like she did earlier.

But she’s silent, and I’m disappointed. My cock jerks and aches, desperate for another release. I ignore it and press my hand between her teats, where she is thrumming, just like me. Her chest is vibrating at the same speed as my own, which is curious. It’s like we are joined, somehow. Like our bodies have decided to sing a song together.

I like that.

I like looking at the female, too. I like her strange, spotted skin and her odd mane. I like her small, pretty teats and even her tiny, ugly face. She has no horns and no tail from what I can tell, but the scent of her is maddeningly delicious. I feel an odd need to lick her and find where the scent is coming from, but my cock throbs at the thought.

I’m not sure I like how out of control my body is at her presence. Frowning to myself, I replace her furs, hiding her teats from view, and move back to the other side of the cave. There are things I must do before I can go to sleep: there is water to be melted, cords to be braided for trap lines, and blades to be sharpened. I must eat, and I must check my pit traps.

There is no one to help, so I cannot sleep until things are done. As I pick up a bit of dried sinew, I crouch and watch the female from afar. I’m not leaving the cave, nor am I leaving her alone.

This female is mine, now. I’ve taken her from the bad ones. She belongs to me, and I’ll kill anything that tries to take her.




HARLOW



My head throbs fiercely, and the first thing I think is that the brain tumor’s come back. That the computer in the alien ship was wrong, and I’m not well after all. That I’m dying and these are my last moments.

But then memories trickle in. Memories of frantic hunting for trees, chopping at one, and then something hitting me hard from behind.

And purring, oddly enough.

Relief shoots through me. I’m okay. My khui fixed my brain tumor. I’m not on Earth, and I’m not dying.

The purring is still in my mind, though, like a gigantic cat that won’t leave my chest. Except, I realize as I slowly open my eyes, there are no cats here, and the purring is coming from inside my chest.

Shit. I’ve been around the others long enough to know what that means. It’s resonance. I’m resonating to a man because my khui – or cootie, as we humans like to call it – has decided I’ll be the perfect mate for someone. The only men we were traveling with were Aehako and Haeden, though. One of them? I like Aehako, but I know he’s in love with Kira. Haeden is all gruff snarls. I’m not sure I like the thought of being his mate.

Not that I’m given a choice. Thanks, cootie. Thanks for nothing.

My eyes focus slowly, and I realize I’m staring at the jagged ceiling of an unfamiliar cave. Why am I in a cave? Did I get hit by something and then Aehako came to rescue me? Is that why I’m resonating? My cootie has a damsel in distress complex?

Movement catches the corner of my eye. I turn my head, and then a gasp escapes me.

There’s a sa-khui male crouching in the cave next to me, but…it’s not any sa-khui I know. I sit upright and skitter backward as I realize he’s staring at me, a knife in his hand.

Shit. Shit shit shit.

My back presses up against the hard rock wall by the time I move a few inches, and I stare in horror at the stranger.

That can’t be. There’re no strangers on this planet. Not on Not-Hoth. There are only Vektal’s tribe and the humans. I know every alien face on this planet.

But I can’t deny that I’m staring into the face of a stranger. A savage one.

He crouches on the dirt floor of the cave like an animal, his shoulders hunched over his body. He’s naked, too. There’s not a stitch of clothing on his enormous, muscular blue body. His cock dangles between his thighs, erect and straining, and I see the ‘spur’ that everyone’s always talking about – the short horn-like protrusion right above the cock that is standard equipment for all sa-khui males. My face heats when I realize I’m checking out his junk.

Seriously, though, it’s just hanging between his open legs for anyone to look at.

His face is broad, his cheekbones high. His features are sharp, his brows heavy and ridged. The black hair on his head is a snarled nimbus that looks as if he’s tried to braid some of it out of the way and gave up long ago. It looks more like a tumbleweed than hair, and it’s clear he isn’t a big fan of combs.