Ice Planet Barbarians: The Complete Series: A SciFi Alien Serial Romance (22 page)

“Inside,” Vektal says. He moves forward and touches my jaw. “Are you ready, my Georgie?”

Oh God. I don’t know that I am. I swallow hard. “Let’s do this.”

He nods and pulls his longest, thickest blade out of the sheath at his belt. I brace myself as he sets the tip of the blade against the creature’s belly. In a swift motion, he sinks it deep and then begins to cut. Blood gushes and dribbles out of the wound, and someone behind me makes a choking sound. There’s a sickly, coppery smell in the air, and I force myself to ignore it.

Two of the warriors move forward, and they peel back the creature’s wound, revealing a mass of bloodied organs.

“Just like skinning a deer,” Liz breathes at my side in a curiously blank voice. “No big deal. No sweat.”

Vektal moves to the ribcage of the creature and steps on one side then pushes against the other. His big arms strain, and then there’s a snap like a tree falling in the forest, and the ribs split open.

“Really, really big deer,” Liz says.

Vektal makes a few cuts, the sound wet and overloud in the quiet evening. He pulls out a giant organ that must be the heart, still pulsing. It’s glowing from within, the light dappled and shining a pale blue. With one slit, he opens it, and the light spills out.

There are dozens of thin, wriggling gossamer worms in there.

Worms.

Oh God.

One of the warriors approaches Vektal, and he hands off the heart before gently pulling one of the glowing filaments from it.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Kira says faintly.

I think I am, too. But I force myself to remain in place as Vektal reverently frees the long, coiling strand of light and comes toward me with it cupped in his big hands. It’s wriggling and writhing against his palms. “They cannot live long out in the cold,” he tells me. “We must make an incision in your neck and give the khui a safe place to reside.”

His eyes are speaking volumes. In this, I must be a leader. In this, I must trust him.

I swallow hard, looking at that long, wormlike glowing thing. “What . . . what if it goes to my brain?”

“Like that’s any better than your heart?” Liz sputters.

“The khui is the essence of life,” Vektal tells me, even as he cups the snakelike thing in his hands. His gaze is on my face, and there is a mixture of emotions there. If I turn away now, I’m turning away everything he and his people are offering. I’m turning away a life here and love, all for the potential of a Hail Mary rescue.

“In the neck, huh?” I say, my voice faint. “Will it hurt?”

“I do not know.” Vektal approaches me, and I can hear the thing in his hands flicking and making a purring sort of sound.

“Fair enough,” I say. The thing is pressing against his hands, looking for a way to burrow into his skin. I feel faint at the thought of voluntarily letting it inside me . . . but what choice do I have?

I made my choice. I chose Vektal . . . and our child, who might even now be inside my womb.

“Do I need to make the cut?” I ask him. “Or will you?”

“I can,” he says and offers his cupped hands to me.

I take the khui with a small grimace. It feels like a sticky strand of spaghetti, impossibly warm despite the cold, wintry wind blowing around us. The light flickers faintly as it’s transferred to my hands, and I experience a moment of worry. What if khui can’t bond with humans? But Vektal has pulled out a new, clean blade, and his hand has gone to the back of my neck, cupping it.

And then there’s really no going back.

“Are you really going to do this, Georgie?” Kira asks, sounding ill.

“I really am.” I look into Vektal’s glowing eyes as he leans in. He presses a kiss to my forehead, and I’m struck again at how wonderful he is. “I love you,” I say softly.

“You are my heart, Georgie,” he murmurs. I feel the cool press of the knife against my throat for a quick moment and then a sting as he nicks me near my collar bone. Not deep, but enough that the blood crusts up and freezes against my skin.

Vektal takes the khui from my hands and lifts it, and as I see his hand with that weird, glowing filament approach my bared neck, I think N
o, no, wait, I changed my mind.

But it doesn’t matter.

The moment the khui touches my skin, it begins to burrow, seeking warmth. I suck in a horrified breath as I feel it push through my body. It’s like ice water moving through my veins, and I can feel the thing climbing toward my heart and
oh shit.

Oh shit.

Everything’s going dark.

Vektal’s face is blurring in front of mine.

This is a mistake, isn’t it?

But then there’s warmth.

So much warmth.

And humming…

And then darkness.

• • • 

My eyes snap open at some point later. It’s curious because I can feel the wind blowing and snow falling around me, but I’m not cold anymore. Warm fingers brush over my cheek, and I look into Vektal’s handsome face. I feel a little stiff and achy overall, but I don’t feel as weak as I was before. I lick my lips. “How’d it go?”

“Your eyes are a lovely shade of blue,” he tells me, voice warm with happiness.

“Oh?” I sit up with his help and look around. Not much time has passed, I think, since I took in the khui. There’s thunder in the distance, and the skies are black with night. I blink and look around. I feel . . . the same. There’s no weirdness. No oh-my-God-there’s-a-tapeworm-in-me feeling. Everything is quiet.

As a snowflake lands on my arm, though, I look around in surprise. “I’m warm?”

“The khui will keep you warm,” he says, his hand brushing over my skin. He’s touching me everywhere, as if he can’t quite believe I’m all right.

“Wow, okay.” I glance through the camp, and the men are helping the women to their feet. “Did they all take it? The khui?”

“Everyone,” he says, a proud note in his voice. He helps me stand, though I don’t suppose I need the help anymore. I’m just fine, oddly enough. I feel . . . good. “You were brave and led the way.”

“I have a lot to live for.” The sound of the thunder increases, and as his hand touches mine, I feel . . . strange. Aroused. It’s weird because all he’s doing is touching my arm. I look at Vektal in surprise. I fight the urge to kiss his hard mouth, to climb him like a freaking tree, and to drag him into the snow and make sweet, sweet love to him.

Good lord, what is going on with me?

The thunder rumbles louder, and I look behind me.

Vektal chuckles and presses a hand between my breasts. “You hear it?”

“What is that noise?”

“It is you,” he says. “Your khui sings for me.”

I press a hand to my chest. Sure enough, the rumble’s coming from me. I’m
purring
. “Oh.” Heat pools between my legs, and my pulse starts to thrum as if he’s touched me in naughty ways, just from his fingertips on my chest. “Oh man, I feel . . .”

“I know,” he says, and his eyes glow with a mixture of need and amusement. “I can smell your need, mate.”

“Oh boy,” I say faintly. “Can . . . can anyone else?” If they can, I might die of embarrassment.

“My senses are attuned to you. The others are too busy helping the humans. Look around you,” he says, pulling me against him.

God, he’s warm and big and delicious, and I want to shove my hands in his pants and take his cock in my grip. It takes me a moment to focus, and I cling to his vest as I try to get a grip on myself. Is this what resonating feels like? I mean . . . wow. But good lord. I don’t know if I can stand being this sensitized around Vektal constantly.

Then again . . . the orgasms are going to be mind-blowing.

My gaze focuses on the women in the distance. Tiffany’s on her feet, which is wonderful, and a sa-khui male dotes on her. Almost every woman seems to be escorted by a man of Vektal’s tribe, and the sound of faint purring fills the air.

“Are they all—”

“Not all,” Vektal says. “But some.” At my worried look, he adds, “They will approach things slowly. This I promise.” Then he grimaces. “Except for one.”

“One?” I look around at the sea of faces and notice that one familiar, lippy one is missing. “Where is Liz?”

“Raahosh has slunk off with her like a metlak with a kill.” Irritation clouds his features. “He will answer to the tribe when he returns.”

My entire body tenses. “Is he going to hurt her?”

“Hurt her?” The look Vektal gives me is incredulous. “He takes her to mate her. Harming her is the last thing on his mind.”

Boy, I almost feel sorry for Raahosh. He doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into by taking Liz. She’s not about to let an alien run roughshod over her. “I’m sure Liz will have a few things to say about that.”

He gives a wry smile. “I am sure she will, too.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if Raahosh brought Liz back,
I think to myself. She’s a handful. “Can we go after them?”

“Raahosh is the best of my hunters. If he does not wish to be found, he will not be found. We can simply wait for them to return.”

“Let me guess,” I say drily. “Barefoot and pregnant?”

He looks puzzled at my words. “Why would her feet be bare?”

“Never mind.” I pat his chest and then find myself utterly fascinated with the play of his muscles. “Oh, wow. Vektal, I feel very . . .”

“In tune with your resonance?” he asks. Under my hand, he begins to thrum louder, and that makes my nipples prick as my own khui responds.

I nod.

He clasps me against him, and I gasp because it feels . . . amazing. “Shall we go somewhere private then, my mate?”

“But . . . the others . . .”

“The men will take care of them for the night,” he says and traces a finger down my cheek that leaves me shuddering with need. “They will keep them warm and fed while they adjust to their khui. And in the morning, we shall all start the journey home.”

Home. After weeks of being captive, it feels so nice to think of a place as home. “Where can we go?” I ask him, lacing my fingers in his. “Lead on.”

But he hesitates. “Do you feel well, my resonance? Do you want to rest? To sleep?”

“Right now, I want to tear your clothing off and put my mouth all over you,” I tell him, and the purring in my chest increases. So does the wetness between my legs. If I had panties, they’d be soaked.

Vektal’s nostrils flare, and he stifles a groan in his throat. Before I can react, he throws me over his shoulder and begins to storm off into the darkness. “We will return at daybreak,” he calls to one of his men.

“Enjoy the resonance,” the man calls back, and there is envy in his voice.

I wiggle with excitement on Vektal’s shoulder. God, I should not be so aroused, but I am. The khui humming through my system is making me feel warm and good, and the intense arousal feels like a bonus. Why was I so against the thing? I touch my breastbone and feel it humming happily underneath. If this is all it takes to live at Vektal’s side for the rest of my life, I’ll take it.

I mean, there aren’t any toilets, but living as a barbarian? Not so bad when you’ve got a big, sexy barbarian male with you.

Vektal tromps through the snow for several minutes, and just when I’m about to shove a hand down my own pants and take care of business, he stops. “Here is far enough.”

He sets me down, and I look around with a frown. We’re in the middle of nowhere, a few scattered trees nearby. There’s a large flat rock here, about waist height, and the sight of it arouses me because I picture Vektal mounting me from behind and fucking the daylights out of me. My thighs tighten again. “Here?”

His hand goes to my neck, and he pulls me against him in a brutal, possessive kiss. “Here we are far enough away that when they hear you scream with pleasure, they will not think to come and rescue you.”

I blush at his words, but they make heat pool in my veins. “You are one sexy beast, you know that?”

“All I know is that I am yours,” he says to me. His mouth captures mine again, and I feel the scrape of his fangs a moment before his tongue swipes against mine, the bumps playing against my own tongue and sending a spike of fierce desire through me.

I moan and slide my hands into the laces of his leggings. “I want your skin against mine,” I tell him. “All of you, against me.” My khui hums an agreement. A moment later, my wandering hands brush against the head of his cock, and I feel drops of pre-cum against the crown of his cock. I lift one to my mouth and moan at the taste of him. It’s like nothing I’ve ever tasted before: sweet, musky, and delicious. He tasted good pre-khui, but now . . . I drop to my knees in front of him. “God, I really want to suck your cock.”

“It is said that the taste of a resonance mate is like no other flavor,” he murmurs, his hand brushing through my hair. “I know there is no finer thing than your dew on my tongue.”

Dew? We’d have to talk about love words in the future. I smile up at him and pull at his pants until his cock is freed from his lacings. I take him in my hand and moan my pleasure at the hot, throbbing length of him and then lick the droplets beading on the crown. Each one is delicious. My hand steals to my own thighs, sliding into the leggings that Maylak gave me so I can rub myself as I touch him. I’m absolutely wild with lust, and I need him right this moment or I’m going to lose my mind. All the while, the khui is humming and throbbing a tune in time with Vektal’s.

It feels amazing. I sink a finger into myself and moan. It’s not enough.

“On your back for me,” my mate breathes, his hands caressing me. “If you must be filled so quickly, let me be the one to do it.”

I don’t need any convincing. I’m so wet, so slippery that I know I can take him. Feeling naughty, I get up on the stone and press my belly to it, my hips in the air. “Let’s do it from behind, Vektal. Remember? That night in your cave? You said you’d never done it that way.”

He growls, and I feel his mouth press to my back. “Never . . . tails . . .”

“But I have no tail,” I say and wiggle my ass at him.

Vektal grips my hips, and his hands rip at my leggings. I’m trying to help him, too, and then my ass is exposed to the chilly air and my pants are around my knees. I feel the hard press of his cock against my hip, and I spread my thighs wider—as wide as my clothing will allow. “Yes,” I breathe. “
Please
.”