Barbarian's Choice: A SciFi Alien Romance (Ice Planet Barbarians Book 12)

by Ruby Dixon

  “I swear, nothing happened. We talked a little and I slept on the floor.” I don’t add that Farli draped herself on me and slept right next to me. “She didn’t want to be alone in a strange place, that’s all.”

  “You’re full of shit,” Niri tells me. “She’s been asking questions about you nonstop since you left. If you have family, how I met you, what you enjoy ‘hunting.’” She gives me another patient look. “She has a crush on you.”

  I say nothing.

  “We’re playing that game, are we? Okay, then. You wanted me to run tests on her?” She shoots me a cross look and then pulls her pad out of her pocket and pecks the stylus on the screen. “She’s approximately twenty-five Homeworld years old. Adult. Last menstruated about three weeks ago. Blood sugars are excellent, teeth and vital signs are perfect. She’s got that parasite, but other than that, everything’s as it should be. Oh,” she adds in an exaggerated voice, “and she started ovulating when you walked into the room. Interesting, isn’t it?”

  I can feel my ears growing hot. “She what?”

  “Ovulated. The moment she saw you.” Niri’s brows go up. “I was doing a scan on her when you walked in, and boom. Egg production. And this is not the timeframe for her to regularly be ovulating. So now do you want to quit lying to me and tell me what the kef is going on?”

  I rub a hand along my jaw, unsure of how much to say. Niri’s the closest thing I have to a friend, but she’s also prickly at best. In the end, I decide to confide in her. “She thinks I’m her mate. She said her symbiont chose me for her and that we’re now mated.” I tell her all about what Farli shared with me.

  “Well, she’s not lying to you. You have sex with that woman and you’re going to get her pregnant. Didn’t think you wanted to be a dad.”

  I didn’t think I did, either. But there’s something so wholesome and happy about Farli that…I don’t hate the idea of making a family with her. I don’t love it, yet, but I also don’t hate it. Which seems even crazier to me, so I wave it off. “I’ve known her for a day. It’s nothing.”

  “That so? Because she didn’t ovulate around Trakan.”

  A hot surge of jealousy rips through me. “You keep him away from her.” I don’t like the thought of him hovering around her, needling her, or worse, trying to seduce her. She’s far too trusting for the likes of him.

  Niri shoots me a knowing look. “It’s nothing, huh?”

  I clench my jaw and glare at Niri. “Nothing happened between us, and that’s all I will say.” I push away from her and head back toward med bay.

  “Just let me know where to send the wedding invite,” she calls back mockingly.

  FARLI

  “You want to visit my village?” I look at the faces of Mardok’s friends in surprise. I thought they did not like me.

  Cap-tan nods. “It is our duty.”

  Oh. Well, I do not know what he means by that. “I think my chief would like to meet,” I say, a little guarded. “Though I cannot speak for him.” I glance over at my new mate, but his expression is impossible to read. “If I start running now, I can make it there in a few days and will be back in a hand or so with an answer.”

  “Run?” Cap-tan blinks at me. “Oh no, my dear, we will take you.”

  It is on the tip of my tongue to ask how, and then I feel foolish. They live in a flying cave. Of course they can fly to my people. I look at Mardok uncertainly, and he gives me a small nod. “How long does it take? To fly?” I also worry if it will hurt when we land, but I feel foolish asking such a thing.

  “But a few moments,” Cap-tan says, and smiles at me.

  I do not entirely trust that smile. But Mardok is here, and I trust him. “All right. How do we go?”

  “We need you to show us the way.” Cap-tan gestures behind him. “Join us on the bridge and we can begin. Your pet can stay in med bay for now.”

  Niri makes a strange noise.

  “Farli can sit with me,” the other male—the mocking one—says, and winks at me.

  Mardok growls low in his throat and steps forward, putting himself between me and the other male. “She sits with me.”

  “Trakan is the navigator—” Cap-tan begins.

  “She sits with me,” Mardok repeats. I beam happily up at him, because he’s being possessive over me, just like a good mate should be. I like it. I hold on to his arm, pleased.

  Cap-tan stares at Mardok for a long moment. “See that she does not get in the way.”

  “She won’t.”

  They talk around me as if I am not here, which is baffling, but then Mardok puts a hand on the small of my back and I feel all warm and giddy, and I forget to be irritated. How can I be, when he is around? Everyone heads down a passage that leads into a large chamber full of lights and colors. This is the room I sat in before, to teach Mardok my language. Things flash on the walls, and it reminds me of the Elders’ Cave. The others file in, moving past me, and sit on strange-looking stools with backs. Mardok touches my arm and gestures at an empty stool in the rear. I follow him, and he taps a few clicky things on the slab of shiny stone in front of him. Something rises from the floor and it looks like a stool. He indicates I should sit and moves to sit down in his own chair.

  Oh, I would rather sit in his lap. I ignore the stool and move toward him, sitting on his thigh and putting my arms around his neck. “I like this much better.”

  He stiffens, and I hear the one called Trakan give a muffled laugh, but no one says anything. I look over at Trakan curiously, and then lean in to whisper to Mardok. “Why does he laugh? Do mated people act differently where you come from?”

  Mardok just shakes his head. “Ignore him. He’s an ass.” His hand goes possessively to the small of my back, and I wiggle a little, because just that small touch is making my khui sing. My tail finds his and tries to wrap around it, but he flicks me away. Aww, he’s shy. That’s…sweet. I smile at my mate, admiring the lines of his face.

  I will break him of his shyness soon enough.

  “Starting engines,” Trakan calls out.

  “Vendasi,” Cap-tan says. “Run a diagnostic on all systems before we proceed.”

  “Starting diagnostic,” my mate says, and reaches around me to press a few clicky things. “Standby.”

  Swirls and squiggles move across the stone in front of Mardok, and I watch it, fascinated. Strange pictures pop up, highlighting different portions of what looks like a smaller version of the ship. I poke at it, fascinated at how it can appear in the stone itself, and Mardok gently pulls my finger away. “Careful,” he murmurs.

  I shiver, because I do not know what is going on, but I love his voice when it is soft.

  “Diagnostic complete,” Mardok says a moment later. “All systems running at expected levels.”

  “Excellent,” Cap-tan says. “Take us up. External display on the forward monitor, please.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Trakan says, and the ship trembles underneath our feet. There is a distant roar, and I am reminded of the earth-shake so many seasons ago. I cling harder to Mardok’s neck, frightened.

  He rubs my back silently, and somehow…that makes it better. If he’s not worried, then the noise must not be dangerous.

  I lift my head just in time to see the wall ahead of us flash white and then disappear. Or not. It’s like an image of the outdoors—so realistic and lifelike that I can practically smell the snow—appears. I gasp in wonder. It is like we are standing on a very tall hill and looking down. “How is this possible?”

  “It’s a visual,” Mardok murmurs. “No need to be afraid.”

  I am not afraid; I am full of wonder. You can see everything, right down to distant herds of dvisti. It is fascinating, and the picture makes my world look so…pretty and yet distant. Then the picture changes, replaced by a new picture, this one of green and white smears cut through by delicate blue lines. I like the other view better.

  “Can your little girlfriend point out where her tribe’s located so I can set the coor
dinates?” Trakan asks, voice dry. “Or do we need to break out crayons for her so she can draw it? Or is a smoke signal more her thing?”

  “She’s not going to know what a topographical map is,” Mardok growls at him, clearly irritated. “Don’t be an ass.”

  “Well, then, how are we going to get there if we don’t have coordinates?” Trakan retorts.

  I can feel Mardok stiffen with anger under my leg. I place my hand on his chest to calm him, and speak up. “I can guide you, but I need the picture of the valley again. I can show you which way to go.”

  “You’ll have to manually pilot it,” Cap-tan says. “Will this be a problem?”

  “No, sir,” Trakan replies, but he sounds unhappy. The picture switches again, and it is the current valley once more. “Okay, where to?”

  I get to my feet, crossing the chamber and approaching the wall with the picture on it. “I have never seen from this high up before. Give me a moment to think.” I worry I will tell them the wrong thing and the others will grow upset. I do not wish to get this wrong. I want Mardok to be proud of me.

  “Drop lower to the ground,” Cap-tan calls out. “Give her the visual she needs.”

  I feel a lift under my boots, as if the floor is puffing with air, and then the picture changes. We are now close to the ground, and I can tell where we are. I know these lands. I scan the landscape, looking for familiar things, and then tap one particular rock. “Between these walls, into the next valley.”

  The ship moves, gliding along faster than I could ever run, and I gasp as the world speeds ahead. It is marvelous. Within the space of a breath, we are at the spot I pointed at, and so I give them the next coordinate. On and on, we glide through valley after valley, heading back toward the village at a dizzying pace. What takes me all day to run takes mere moments to swoop past. We will be at the village in a matter of moments, and the thought is incredible. I keep calling instructions out to Trakan, and he guides us along, the ship moving through valleys and past steep cliffs with more skill than the most delicate-winged scythe-beak.

  Then my home valley appears. In the distance, I can see the shadow of the gorge. “There,” I say, pointing at it. “We live in the canyon there.”

  “In a canyon?” Niri asks, speaking up for the first time. “Really?”

  “Yes. We used to live in caves—”

  “Of course you did,” Trakan interrupts, smirking.

  “Kef off,” Mardok growls at him, surging to his feet.

  “Enough,” Cap-tan tells them, and Mardok sits once more. Trakan hunches behind his table. Cap-tan looks at me again. “Go on.”

  I hesitate, not understanding their reactions. Why does Mardok get angry to hear we lived in caves? Is that bad? The caves were nice and cozy, and it was easy to get outside. The gorge is quiet and sheltered from the worst of the weather, but taking Chahm-pee out on a regular basis is difficult, and the hunters must do a great deal of hauling to bring things down into the village. The humans love it, though. I am puzzled by their reactions, but I continue slowly. “We moved to the gorge when a great earth-shake destroyed our home.”

  Mardok shoots Trakan an angry look, and Trakan just slides lower in his seat. “Your home is fine, Farli,” Mardok tells me. “You and your people are incredibly resilient to be able to make a life here on this planet.”

  Resilient? It is my home. It is the only place I know.

  “Well, someone want to tell me how I’m supposed to pilot the Lady down into that gorge? Because it’s not happening.”

  “We’ll get out and walk,” Cap-tan says. “Set the ship down as close to the lip as possible. Everyone suit up and let us be on our way.”

  A short time later, the others are wearing thick suits that cover every inch of their skin, their bodies made bulky. Each one clips a device to their noses and wraps garments around their heads and horns to keep them warm.

  I stand there in my leather tunic, a little amused at how much work it takes for them to bundle up. Not even the humans are this bad. Chahm-pee nudges my hand, eager to go outside. I do not blame him—he is hungry and did not care for the food on the ship. I did not, either. He has eaten all the roots in my bag, but I do have more back at the village. If nothing else, I can pry a few from Stay-see, who keeps a well-stocked hut full of extra foods for her strange cooking projects. “Soon,” I tell him. “Be patient.”

  He bleats at me.

  I look over at Mardok, still handsome despite his strange cold-weather leathers. He finishes buckling on his gloves and glances up at me. Our eyes meet, and my khui begins to sing, and his ears darken with a hint of embarrassment, his focus suddenly going back to his buckles. I find it charming. He is so like—and yet so different—from the males in my tribe. He looks up at me again, and the heated look he sends my way makes my pulse flutter.

  Not so different from any other male in resonance, after all. Wait until you get a khui, I think. Then you will know. This? This is nothing.

  They are finally ready, and the wall of the ship opens up, letting in a blast of refreshing, crisp air. I suck in a deep breath, pleased. It feels as if I have been trapped in the steamy, heated fruit cave for far too long, and the chill feels bracing. I nudge Chahm-pee to follow me and head down the ramp. The others trail behind me, and I scan the horizon.

  The herds that wander near the upper valley are nowhere to be found, of course. The roar of the ship will have chased them far away. It is utterly still, and after being on the ship, it seems almost too quiet.

  “What the kef is that?” Mardok snarls, and I look around, pulling out my bone knife. The others will be slow moving in their strange leathers, so I must protect them like any good hunter.

  But I see nothing—no scythe-beak, no snow-cat, no sky-claw, no metlak. I turn back to him, a question in my voice. It dies when I realize he is not looking around him, but staring hard at Trakan and Cap-tan.

  “Look,” Trakan says, patting something belted at his hip. “Just a little precaution, that’s all. We don’t know that they’re friendlies.”

  “They are mesakkah, just like us.”

  “And wars have been fought by mesakkah against other mesakkah. Just having blue skin doesn’t make you a pal. You should know that.”

  Curious, I watch as Mardok’s face grows cold. His expression is so awful and bleak that my heart hurts for him. What has happened? But he speaks again. “You’re not shooting anyone. This is a friendly visit.”

  “And it’s wise to be prepared,” Cap-tan says, and gestures at me. “Even she is armed.”

  Mardok looks over at me again, his gaze on my knife. His eyes are slits, and I cannot tell what he is thinking, but it is clear to me that he is not happy. He glares at the others in his party and then moves to my side, protectively. “Lead on, Farli.”

  “Is all well?” I whisper to him.

  “All is well,” he tells me, and there’s grim determination in his voice. “No one will ever harm you while I am breathing.”

  I chuckle, because he sounds so very determined. I love it. I open my mouth to speak, but I see something in the distance that makes me pause. It is a row of my people. They are too far away to make out most of them, but I see Pashov’s one lone horn, and Raahosh’s crooked ones. I see Aehako’s hulking form and the tall, proud stance of my chief. They carry spears.

  All hunters. All males. No one else. And they are not approaching to greet us.

  Oh no.

  I can imagine the panic going through their minds. The last time a ship came, it tried to take away the humans. I scan the line of them again, and I do not see the fierce Leezh next to Raahosh, which means she has been told to wait below. I bet she did not like that much. “I should go talk to them.”

  “Why?” Mardok asks, moving to my side. “Is everything all right?”

  “They think you are the enemy. They are ready to protect their mates.” I turn and put my hands on Mardok’s shoulders. “Let me go and speak to my chief and reassure him that you are not her
e to bother us.”

  “I’ll go with you. To protect you.”

  I give him a curious look, pleased that he is so protective but puzzled as to why I need protecting from my own people. “Why?”

  “To show that I am not the enemy.”

  Because he is my mate? Thoughtful but unnecessary. “Let me ease their fears. Wait here. I will speak to them.” I turn to leave, and he grabs my hand. I look back at him, surprised, and there is torment on his face.

  “I don’t want this to be the last time we see each other,” he says, voice low.

  My khui begins to sing wildly, and I smile at him. “It will not be.” I squeeze his hand and then reluctantly let it go, our fingers dragging as we pull away, as if our skin is reluctant to let us part. I am relieved that he remains behind, though the look on his face is clearly mutinous. He does not want me to go. It fills me with warmth that he is feeling this despite not having a khui of his own.

  Soon enough, I decide. A sa-kohtsk hunt must be done very soon.

  I move forward to the line of my tribesmates, guarding the entrance to the gorge where the pulley and the rope ladder are. No one comes forward to meet me, which means they are more worried than I thought. “All is well,” I say when I am close enough. “I promise. They are not here to hurt us.”

  Vektal rushes forward, crossing the short distance between us. He grabs my arm and drags me back toward the hunters. “Farli, what is going on?”

  “It is fine, truly—”

  “Hey!” snarls Mardok from behind me. “Don’t you keffing touch her!”

  Oh no. Two of my tribesmates advance, spears at the ready. “No, wait. It is all right!”

  “Move back, Farli,” my chief says. “Go stand behind the hunters. We will protect you.”

  “Protect me?” Has everyone gone mad? “He is my mate!”

  That stops everyone in their tracks. Everyone except Mardok, that is. He rushes to my side and pulls me away from the others, tucking me behind him as if to protect me from my tribe.

  The others stare. Aehako starts to grin, and Pashov smirks. Bek just rolls his eyes.