Ice Planet Barbarians: The Complete Series: A SciFi Alien Serial Romance (13 page)

“He understands you?” Liz asks in a small voice.

“Well, only little bits and pieces,” I say, watching him. I don’t think he’s going to greet the others with oral sex, but you never know.

He gazes at the others and then puts a hand on the back of my neck and pulls me against him, possessive.

Yeah, I guess I’m the only one special enough for that greeting. Oddly enough, I’m pleased by the thought. I like being special to him. “Ladies,” I say, gesturing at my big blue-gray friend. “This is Vektal. He’s from around these parts.”

They look at him warily.

“He looks like a demon,” Liz says, ever blunt.

“He’s nice, I promise,” I say and give him another pat on the chest. “He’s been keeping me alive for the last few days.”

“I don’t care if he looks like a demon,” Josie says, her small voice trembling. “Is that a dead animal hanging from his belt? Can we eat it?”

I look down. Sure enough, Vektal’s got his kills strapped to his waist. They look like gigantic naked rats or rabbits with no hair or ears. That’s right. He was checking traps this morning. “I’m sure he’ll share,” I say and gesture at his belt. “Can I have that, Vektal?”

When I reach to his belt, he grips my hand and gives me an incredulous look, then rattles off a string of syllables.

“He just asked if you want to mate here,” Kira says, voice full of disbelief.

“Oh shit,” Liz says. “That’s what held her up. Alien nookie.”

My face feels flaming hot. I jerk my hands back.

They’re all staring at me. Megan looks amused while Tiffany looks a little horrified.

“I can explain,” I begin.

“I wouldn’t,” Liz says. “Just let us imagine for a bit. And feed us. I don’t care if you fucked an entire stadium of aliens if you give me something hot to eat.”

“He’s not keen on the ‘hot’ part,” I say, then turn to Vektal and point at the rabbit-things hanging from his belt. “Food? Food for humans?”

“Humans,” he agrees, unhooking the meat from his belt. As I take it, he offers me his knife.

“We need fire,” I tell him and mime the hand-warming gesture. “Fire.”

“Oh shit,” Josie says. “I’ll even blow him if he can get us a fire.”

“Right?” Liz says in agreement.

I feel a flare of annoyance at the girls. They’re cold. There’s no reason I should be jealous of them. I’ve been frolicking in the snow with a big sexy alien for the last two days while they’ve been freezing their butts off and starving. But the thought of them touching him makes me . . . unhappy.

Jealous.

Crap. I cannot be falling for a big blue alien. No matter how good he is in bed.

“Fire?” Vektal asks. He looks around the cargo bay and frowns, then points at the ceiling and spits another stream of syllables.

“He says that there’s no wood this high up the mountain. He’ll have to go get some from the cave and come back.”

I nod at Kira, then at Vektal. “Please do that.”

His ridged brows draw down, and then he points at Kira and says something else.

“He wants to know if I understand him,” Kira whispers. She edges closer to the others. “What should I say?”

I reach up and brush a hand on Vektal’s hard jaw, turning his frowning face toward me. It’s impossible to tell what he’s thinking right now. “Vektal?” When his attention turns toward me, I gesture at my ear, then move to Kira and pull her forward. “You speak, and she hears it. Understands it.” I add a lot of pantomiming of words and lips moving, in the hopes that he’ll grasp it.

His face lights up, blue eyes glowing. Another string of words, and he gestures at Kira’s ear.

Kira’s face wrinkles. “He says I have a shell that is allowing me to understand him. I wonder if the translation isn’t all that clear.”

“It’s something like that,” I say, nodding at Vektal.

He turns to Kira and says something else.

“He wants to know if my parasite teaches me his language.” She shakes her head. “Just translates.” She taps her ear, then her mouth. “Hear, no speak.”

Vektal scrutinizes Kira for a long moment and then says something else. Then he turns, grabs me by the waist and tugs me against him, pressing a hard kiss to my mouth in front of everyone.

“He says he’s going hunting and to get firewood, and for us to keep an eye on his mate,” Kira relays, amusement in her voice. “Mate, huh?”

This time, it’s my turn to be shocked. “Mate?
What
? He thinks we’re mated?”

But Vektal’s already climbing up the side of the hull and back out into the snow.

VEKTAL

There are five other humans in addition to the dead one in the snow. All female. My mind cannot comprehend this. All female. I think of my own tribe, with over twenty unmated males. There are only five adult females in our tribe. There have never been many. Maylak was my only age-mate that was not mated, and we were lovers for a time until she resonated for Kashrem. Now they have tiny kit Esha, bringing the count of females in our tribe up to six. Most of our warriors only dream of the resonance of a mate.

And I have found one. And there are five more who could resonate for one of my tribe. Five more who could bring our small, dying people back to life. We are long-lived, thanks to our khui, but it is a long and lonely life, and I have spent much of mine envious of others with their mates.

Now there is Georgie. And Georgie brings hope with her.

I don’t know how she and her tribe have come here or why they are so poorly equipped to survive. We cannot communicate well enough. In time, I will have answers. For now, I must hunt and feed my small, fragile humans. I worry they are too weak to make it back to the tribal caves.

None of them have khui.

Before long, they will sicken and die. It’s too early to see weakness in my Georgie, but I have been feeding her and keeping her warm. The others lack the spark in her eyes. They look tired. Frail. One has a rattle in her lungs that speaks of sickness.

I think of the dead one in the snow, frozen. That will not become my Georgie.

I travel as quickly as possible through the ever-deepening snow. I clean out first the cave we slept in earlier this morning. Then I will travel further down the mountain and remove the contents of yet another. With luck, I might find something to hunt. I only have one water skin and many human mouths, though. The humans need everything. They are not equipped to survive, not in the slightest. Thinking about this makes me run through the snow even faster. Raahosh is out on his hunting treks, and his territory is near mine. I could head south, enlist his help, and together we could feed the sickly humans.

But it might take days to find him, and I will not leave my Georgie for that long. Not when she cannot fend for herself. Not when she could already be carrying our kit. Not when there are metlaks in the area and Georgie’s tribe has no weapon but snow.

I have no idea why or how they are here, but my protective instincts surge at the thought of my Georgie facing off with more of the rabid, unpredictable metlaks. I must teach her how to defend herself. One small step before the next, I remind myself. First, food and shelter for the humans.

By the time I finish gathering the supplies, both suns are disappearing into the horizon, the larger of the two moons is out, covering the sky. Snow has begun to fall again, and I return to the strange black cave that Georgie’s women are huddled in. The cave’s contents are strapped to my back, their weight heavy. In addition to the firewood and furs, I’ve also hunted a small dvisti that will feed all the hungry mouths for at least a few days if they freeze the meat properly. I’m exhausted from spending the day running, and I’m tired as I drop into the cave from above.

Frightened screams ring out as I do.

“
Calmdn
,” I hear Georgie tell the others. “
S’Vektal
.”

I drop my burdens to the hard, cold floor and stretch. My back pops, muscles aching.

“
Fck owtall izzee
?”

“
Ithnk sevnfeet
,” Georgie says, and I hear a hint of pride in her voice. She approaches me, and I see concern on her face as she looks at me. “
Yewrgon lngtime
.”

“I am well, sweet resonance,” I tell her. I caress her cheek. “Did you eat something? You are as small and weak as your fellow humans.” I look at the other five-fingers. They have taken all her furs and huddle against the walls together. They smell terrible, but they are also trapped inside this cave, so I don’t blame them.

“
Eez askinifyewate
,” the one with the shell in her ear says. “
Sezurweak
.”

Georgie makes a funny face, wrinkling her tiny, smooth nose. “
S’frozn
.” She looks at me hopefully and asks in my language, “Fire?”

I nod and pull her close to my body. I’ll make fire for her in a moment. For now, I feel the aching need to be next to her. My khui rumbles and begins to resonate in my chest at her presence. The anxiety I felt at leaving her disappears at the sweet press of her cheek to my chest.

One of the others makes smacking noises with her mouth at the sight, and Georgie’s pale cheeks turn pink. “
Fckyew
,” she says but laughs. “
Eyelikhm
.”

I breathe in my mate’s scent for a moment longer, then release my Georgie and move to the supplies I’ve brought. I create a small pyramid of wood and dung chips, and add a bit of the fluff that keeps my boots warm to use as tinder. The women all watch quietly as I begin to make a fire. When a spark lights on the tinder, though, and I blow on it to increase the flame, I sit up and see I have six weird, smooth faces peering at me with happiness.

“
Fck eyelikhmtew
,” says one.

They huddle near it for warmth as I put one of my kills on a spit to roast. I don’t understand their need to burn the flavor out of their meat, but Georgie has taught me she won’t eat it any other way, so burn it I must. At my other side, one with a long mane of pale yellow hair begins to cough again, deep, racking coughs that shake her small body.

Georgie grimaces and looks at me. “
Medsin
?”

I don’t know what she’s asking, but I shake my head. “Nothing I have can help her. It is the khui-sickness.”

GEORGIE

“What’s that word mean?” I ask Kira. “Cwee?”

“I don’t know,” she says with a shrug of her fur-covered shoulders. The others are bundled up to their necks in the furs, only their heads peeping out from the woolly coverings. I’m a little chilly now that I’m not the one bundled, but I don’t complain. How can I? This is the first time they’ve been warm in days. I’m thrilled I can at least do this much for them.

Or rather, that Vektal can. I mostly just stand around and look proud that I brought him.

The girls have been giving me shit for hours. I don’t mind, because I do deserve it. After being taken captive by aliens, I show up with a new one who’s calling me his mate? Who kisses me and drags me against his chest every chance he gets?

Who fucked the hell out of me for hours last night until I nearly passed out from orgasms?

Yeah, I totally deserve all the shit I get.

I’m just so freaking happy at the moment. Vektal’s getting us fire and food, and all the girls are alive. I’ve fussed over them for the last few hours, making sure they’re warm and retrieving snow to melt in one of the makeshift basins so they can wash a little. They’re weak with starvation, and Tiffany’s toes and fingers look like they’ve got frostbite. Josie’s listless and weak, and Megan has a deep, racking cough that shakes her entire body. But they’re alive. We can fix everything else. Food will go a long way toward making them feel better. In addition to the hairless rat things (which have a thick layer of blubber that Vektal insists we eat, and no one is brave enough to try yet) we have something that looks like a cross between a boar and a pony that he calls a dvisti. The meat’s roasting on the fire, and even my mouth is watering, so I can’t imagine how hungry they are.

“What’s khui-sickness?” Megan asks, a worried look on her face as she crouches nearer to the fire.

“I don’t know,” I say with a small shake of my head. When I ask Vektal, all he does is press a hand to his chest and then to mine.

“The khui lives here,” Kira translates with a shrug. “No clue.”

“You just need some food and a warm place to stay,” I tell Megan, trying to soothe the worry from her face. “We’ll deal with one thing at a time.”

She nods. I’m afraid she’s going to question more, but Vektal pulls one of the legs off of the hairless rat, and it looks just like a drumstick. He automatically hands it to me.

“Oh gosh,” I say, embarrassed. “Don’t feed me, Vektal. I’ll eat last.” I immediately hand it to Megan.

She scarfs it down before someone can take it from her, and Liz gives me a gleeful look and makes more kissy faces. “He’s feeding his mate, Georgie. Give the guy a break.”

My cheeks heat again. I feel like I’ve spent all afternoon blushing.

He pulls another leg off and raises a brow at me. I shake my head, and he offers it to Kira instead, who takes it gratefully. One by one, the women are fed. I only take small bites of the dvisti as it cooks, leaving the majority for the others.

This displeases Vektal, who insists on feeding me more. I give the others an unhappy look every time he shoves another cooked piece into my hands.

“Don’t piss him off,” Tiffany says, licking her dirty fingers to get the last of the grease. “If it makes him happy to feed you, eat.”

So I eat. Once everyone is full, Vektal crouches next to me and pulls me against his chest again, and he starts purring. He strokes my hair and touches my face as the others talk quietly. We discuss our kidnappers, who haven’t returned, the planet, which seems to be getting snowier every day, and our situation.

Which is grim.

That casts a pall over the conversation, and everyone gets quiet. Liz switches places with Megan, who’s helping herself to more food. She sits next to me, cross-legged, her furs draped over her thin form, and she studies me as Vektal runs his fingers through my tangled hair.