Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1)(53)

I don’t understand her words, but I understand what she is telling me. “Your numbers are twice what they seem.”

“I hope you’re not mad?” Her face is worried.

Mad? I am ecstatic. That there are five women who are young, healthy, and mate-able seems as a gift from the gods. Six more is an unthinkable bounty. I want to press Georgie against me and crush her in a hug for saving my tribe from what feels like certain destruction. Instead, I must remain calm. “Six more females . . . And they will be frightened and confused and will need to be treated carefully.”

She nods. “Your men will need to be careful around them. They haven’t been held captive like us. As far as we know, they might still think they are at home, sleeping in their beds. This is all going to be very strange and very frightening to them.” She squeezes my hand. “We didn’t want to wake them when we weren’t decided. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I do. Georgie’s telling me that however reluctant the humans are to join our tribe, these women might be even more so. That it will take time and patience to bring them into our tribe. “I understand.”

“Some of them might reject the . . . khui,” she says, her mouth struggling to form the word. “That must also be their choice.”

It’s not something I comprehend, but as long as Georgie takes the khui, I care not what the others do. I press her palm to my mouth. “I shall leave it in your charge.”

She nods, a grim look on her face. “I’ll get the others, then.”



? ? ?





The men retreat, a little awed by the newest revelation that there are yet more human females. I see eagerness in their faces, and they want to stay behind to be the first to lay eyes on the new females—in the hopes of resonating to one. But we know the women will be hungry when they awaken, and a sa-khui male’s instinct is to feed and tend to his mate. So the men set off hunting, and Georgie and her women get to work prying open the compartments. I watch from a distance, unable to let my mate leave my sight. She and her women are weak and listless, and I am worried that the khui-sickness might be too much for them.

With Kira’s help as translator, they manage to open the strange wall, revealing six long tubes with floating, naked women. Georgie is right. Six more women, all so similar to my Georgie that it makes my heart clench uncomfortably at the thought of her being trapped inside one of those tubes.

One by one, the women are freed from the tubes. There’s confusion at first followed by sobbing. The others wrap the new female in a warm fur and take her aside to answer questions she might have, feed her, and clothe her. Some of the women stare blankly as Georgie and the others explain. One is furious. There is one with flaming orange hair and orange specks all over her strange pale skin. She sees me and chokes back a little scream, only to be comforted with small pats from Georgie and the other women.

My mate is right. It will take some time before these women are comfortable, and it’s time we don’t have. Georgie and her women cannot last much longer without a khui.

As the women share clothing and chatter together, I head out to check on the men who were exiled from the hold to give the humans time to acclimate. A few of my hunters have stayed behind to guard the hold while the others search for more food. Amongst them are Aehako and Rokan.

Aehako presses a hand to his chest. “I do not know if my heart is beating fast with excitement or if it is resonance.”

I clap him on the shoulder. “You will know when you see your female’s face. Until then, do not worry.”

“I have longed for a mate all my years,” he says. “Now I cannot stop wondering if it is one of the human females. To think of having a family after so long.” There is an ache in his voice I well understand. Before my Georgie, I felt the same. Now my life feels almost complete.

When she takes the khui and her life is no longer in jeopardy, I will know total contentment.

“When can we look upon them?” he asks.

“Soon,” I tell Aehako. “The humans are scared. This is all new, and we are strange to them. Give them a bit more time to adjust.”

“It is difficult to be patient,” Rokan says. He seems to be calmer than Aehako, but the hands that grip his spear are white-knuckled. “To know that there are mate-able females so close by . . .”

I nod, but my gaze is on the men in the distance. The hunters are returning, and there is haste in their steps. I watch them approach, and when Raahosh arrives at the head of the hunting party, he is out of breath but jubilant. “A sa-kohtsk is near. A large one.”

I nod. “Then we will bring our humans to it in the morning.” My own blood thrums with excitement. The sa-kohtsk are lone wanderers. To find one so close to the human encampment is a sign. I decide it’s time to sit back no longer. Entering the human cave, I ignore the startled looks the new humans send my way and call Georgie to my side.

She comes, all kisses and smiles. I suspect that’s for my benefit as much as the wary humans’. “Hi,” she says in a cheery voice. She looks tired, though. All of the humans do.

I take her hand in mine to kiss her palm again, and she gives me another tiny sigh of pleasure. I can smell her arousal bloom at my touch, and it’s making my khui hum in my chest. But I cannot take her tonight. She needs her rest. “Tomorrow, we leave here.”