Ice Planet Barbarians: The Complete Series: A SciFi Alien Serial Romance (15 page)

Georgie chuckles, the sound sweet. She presses a small, cold hand against my chest, right where my khui vibrates under my skin. “
Luvit wenyew purh
,” she says softly. Then she looks up at me with those strange, white eyes and tilts her head back for my kiss.

I grab her and pull her against me, mindful of her wounded wrist. I want to touch her everywhere. Taste her everywhere. The khui inside me demands a mating, and it’s a call I want to answer. I kiss her just like she’s asking, my lips moving over hers before I slide my tongue into her mouth for a taste. It feels like nothing I have ever experienced, this kiss, and I want it over and over again with Georgie. I love her smooth tongue brushing against mine.

She is just as hungry for my touch. Her fingers tear at her clothing until she exposes her breasts to me. I groan at the sight and drop to my knees to tug one soft nipple into my mouth. I love her breasts, how similar and yet different they are to those of the women of my people. Her pink nipple hardens when I touch it, but it’s still like brushing my fingers over soft leather instead of the armored, hard tips of my own women. I wonder how human children are, if their mothers have such soft, tender swells. I picture my child there and crush her against me.

Our child. Part sa-khui, part human.

“Mmm,” she says softly, and I don’t know if she’s humming or saying another one of her strange human words. I lick her breast to distract her, and she moans. Then she reaches down and grips my cock in her hand and strokes me through the leather of my leggings.

I nearly come undone at that touch. With a hiss, I pull apart the knots that keep my clothing at my waist and free my cock. This mating will be quick and not elegant. I don’t care. From the sounds Georgie is making and the way she squeezes my cock in her hand, I doubt she cares, either.

“You are my heart,” I tell her as I caress her breasts. I tease one, then the other, loving the soft noises she makes. Her skin puckers at my touch, and the scent of her arousal perfumes the air. My mouth waters at the thought of tasting her, and I kiss her flat belly that will be rounded with our child next season.

But children will come later, and I want Georgie now. I tug at her leather leggings until the dark curls between her legs are revealed. She pulls her pants down the rest of the way and kicks them aside, and then she drags her fingers against my pants, doing the same for me. In this way, we undress.

Georgie gives a small shiver and moves to stand closer to me, to share in my warmth. I pull my mate against me, pick her up, and then seek out the furs in the cave. As I do, she presses kisses to my face and runs her fingers along my horns, murmuring soft words.

Then I lay her down in the furs, and she looks utterly beautiful and tempting, my strange human. I cover her small body with my larger one, and her legs go to my waist, her feet brushing against my flicking tail.

Her hands caress my horns as if they are my cock, stroking the length of each one, and I groan at the sensation. I seek the folds between her legs, and she’s wet and slick, her body hungry for me as I am for her. I want the taste of her on my mouth, and I push my head between her thighs.

She makes a soft sound and spreads her legs wide for me, welcoming me. I drag my tongue over her sweetness, enjoying her cries. Her flavor is heady, her aroma intoxicating, and I lose myself to her body. I lick and suck each fold, my tongue coaxing more of her nectar from her body. Telltale shivers move through her, and her thighs grip my head and horns tighter with each stroke of my tongue. She is close, my Georgie. And I want to be inside her when she comes.

I shift my body, fitting the head of my cock to her. She feels incredible against me. Wet and willing and oh-so-soft. I push into her, and she gasps, clinging to me. Her body is tight around mine, clasping me like a glove. The sensation is incredible, and I close my eyes, savoring it. My khui responds, thrumming inside me. Soon, I will feel her khui answer mine.

It must be soon, or else Georgie will not survive.

The thought sends a stab of fear through me, and I press my form to hers, holding her close. No. She is mine. I must keep her. With a groan, I stroke into her and feel her body give to mine.

Georgie gasps. “Vektal.
Ohhyes
!”

I pull back and slide into her again, and her legs twitch then grip me tighter. I stroke into her over and over again, need making my motions quicken. Her cries increase as my movements speed up, and when her hot warmth clamps around my cock, I feel her orgasm race through her even before she cries out.

My own khui responds, and I thrust into her again, spilling my seed inside her. I hold her close and stroke her hair as I come, my own body locked in the process of pleasure. Her hands touch me, fluttering over my skin, and she pants small, sweet, unintelligible words.

When the last of my seed is wrung from my body, I press my mouth to hers and then roll to my side, pulling her against me, our bodies still joined. I want to stay like this for hours. All night, even. My exhaustion is gone with my mate in my arms. Already I’m thinking of how to make her cry out with pleasure again.

I stroke a hand over her skin and feel her sex quiver around my cock again. Just a few touches and she would be crying out once more. I’m intrigued by the thought and tug her closer to me, until her small back is pressed against my chest.

As I do, she props up on one elbow. “
Wutwuzzat
?”

I touch her arm. “Hm?” I wish again that I could speak the language of humans.

Georgie pats my hand to get my attention and then points. “
Sawa lyteblink. Wutwuzzat
?”

She indicates the far wall, and sure enough, a star blinks under the ice and then fades. Ah. “This is the cave of elders. The cave of stars. It is full of magic. That is what you are seeing.”

But she pulls free of my grip and crawls out of the blankets. I feel a sense of loss as my cock slides from her warm body, but she is preoccupied. So I sit up and watch as she climbs to her feet and runs to the far wall. She presses her face against the thick ice, watching the light as it slowly blinks again. Then she looks back at me again.

“Vektal,” she breathes, and there’s excitement in her voice. New excitement. “
Izzit a spays ship
?”

 PART FIVE

GEORGIE

Holy crap, it’s a spaceship.

I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.

Well, actually, I do. I was so tired after our journey that my brain was a fog. The need to help save the others constantly burned in the back of my mind. Vektal seemed to have a sense of urgency, too; he crossed over valleys and climbed up sheer walls with me clinging to him, more agile than a mountain goat. I held on for dear life, but it was still exhausting. The cold hadn’t let up, and the wind felt as if it had chapped my face into one big cold burn. But I still had it better than the other humans, so I didn’t complain.

By the time we finally stopped for the night, I’d barely glanced at my surroundings. Yes, the cave was perfectly made inside. Yes, it was in the side of a hill that also seemed perfectly oval-shaped outside. I’d noted it and stumbled inside, heading for the warm furs that I now knew waited within.

It wasn’t until after sex, as I relaxed and cuddled against my alien, that I saw a light flash. I’d thought my eyes had deceived me until it did it again. Then I stared at the ice really hard.

And realized that the cave was perfect because it was the interior of a ship.

“It’s a ship,” I tell Vektal. Behind the thick layer of ice, I can barely make out a control panel of some kind.

His eyes narrow, and he shakes his head. He doesn’t understand. “
Es sa-khui tokh
.”

That doesn’t sound like
spaceship
to me. Right. My big blue barbarian probably wouldn’t know a spaceship if it bit him on his big ridge-covered nose. He wears leather, eats raw meat, and hunts with slings and bone knives. Big guy’s probably never heard of a space heater, much less a spaceship.

I pat his chest. “You know what? I got this. Don’t worry.” I take the blade of the knife I carry with me and use it to hack at the thick ice coating the walls.

Vektal stops me with a gentle hand. He points at the firewood pile in the fire pit, still unlit. Oh. Fire will melt things faster. He’s right. I reach up and give him a quick, smacking kiss. “Clever man.”

He doesn’t know what I’m saying, but he’s pleased by the kiss anyhow.

As I wait for the fire to start, I stare at the walls around us. I’m trying not to freak out. The ice covering the walls is thick. Vektal’s familiar with this place, and it’s set up like a camp as the other caves, which tells me that this has been here a long time. It looks nothing like the cargo hold the other girls are currently camping out in. The odds of it belonging to the same aliens are slim, I tell myself.

I still worry, though. That’s why I have to see that control panel for myself. I have to know what it is we’ve found.

It’s either a frying pan about to go into the fire . . . or a ticket home.

Or neither.

I need answers. No matter how tired I am, I won’t be able to sleep without answering some of these questions.

When the fire is stoked and burning brightly, Vektal takes up a lit stick of wood and hands me the safe end. It’s like a crappy makeshift torch, and I carry it carefully to the wall and then hold it near the panels, watching the ice glimmer and then melt. It takes a long time to thaw away the layers of ice, but as I do, more and more instrument panels become uncovered. I look over at Vektal, and he seems unnerved by this discovery as well.

It looks different than the sleek, bare walls of the alien ship I crashed in. Granted, I didn’t see much outside of what I assumed was the cargo hold, but this has an entirely different feel to it. The panel I’ve uncovered is upraised with hundreds of buttons, and the blips of light flick regularly. It reminds me of when I’ve set electronic devices on standby in the past, and I wonder if that means everything is functional.

I wonder if this means we can go home.

I steal a look at Vektal. His brutishly handsome features are pulled down into a frown, as if he’s not entirely sure what to make of this. He’s been wonderful to me. And the sex? Okay, the sex is mind blowing. But this place sucks. It’s cold and horrible, and I don’t know if I want to stay here when there’s a ride home.

If
there’s a ride home, I remind myself.
If.

I return my sputtering torch to the fire and examine the panels again. I see a lot of buttons and one blinking light but no screens. Am I wrong in hoping this works? I lean forward and examine the now-uncovered panel. The blinking light is actually a button with a strange squiggly character on it. I move forward to press it, then pause.

Is it dumb to press a strange button on an even stranger spaceship?

Yes, yes it is.

Do I have many options? I contemplate all the different things this button could be. It could be a distress signal. It could arm a security system. It could be nothing at all. Do I want to chance it?

I look at Vektal again.

Actually . . . I don’t want to chance it, I realize. I’d be just as happy turning around and going out of here with him. I know I’m safe with him. I might even be able to be happy with him. But the other women don’t have the same option as I do. They don’t have a big, wonderful alien treating them like gold and catering to their every need.

So I suck in a deep breath and punch the flashing button.

It clicks.

Nothing happens.

Well that’s . . . disappointing.

Then a slow whine starts, like the hum of something coming online. A smooth, androgynous voice says something in a fluid language that’s unlike mine. Lights appear and begin to flash. There’s a noise and then a hiss like central air was just turned on.

Vektal grabs me and hauls my body behind him, pulling out one of his blades to protect me.

I’m chicken enough to hide behind his back for a long moment. Then I pat his arm again and push forward. “It’s okay,” I say. “I think stuff is just . . . uh, booting up.” I approach the panel.

As I do, the voice speaks again. This time it raises its voice at the end, almost like a question.

It’s . . . asking us something? “I don’t understand you,” I say aloud.

There’s another whirling, chirring sound. A picture of Earth appears in midair, three-dimensional. “Query,” the voice says. “Language: Earth English. Is this correct?”

I gasp. “Yes! Yes, that’s correct! You know English?”

“This ship’s artificial intelligence is programmed with over twenty-thousand common languages. Do you wish to change language selections? If so, say—”

“No,” I say quickly. “Stay on English!” I point at the picture of Earth, spinning in midair. “That’s my planet!”

“Settings accepted. Please wait for system to come fully online before requesting a query.”

“I . . . all right.” I look at Vektal with wide eyes. He seems equally as astonished as me. He puts an arm around my shoulder and pulls me in close, prepared for a just-in-case sort of scenario. It’s strangely comforting.

The computer hums for a moment longer, and then I feel a gust of warm air brush my face. “Environmental controls online. Ideal habitat temperature for humans is 22 degrees Celsius or 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Ideal habitat temperature for modified
sakh
is 3 degrees celsius or 37 degrees fahrenheit. Which shall I program?”

“Modified sakh?” I ask.

“The male at your side is a sakh lifeform, modified for habitation on this planet.”

Oh. “Is he not from this planet?” Is Vektal a stranger here, too?

“Sakh originate from a planet that they call
Kes
, or home in their language. It is approximately 3.2 million parsecs from your planet Earth. This planet is 5.8 million parsecs from your planet Earth.”

That sounds . . . far. I feel faint. I have so many questions. I don’t know what to ask first. “I . . . what is this place?”