Barbarian Lover

by Ruby Dixon

  Nothing at all.

  He heads toward our new cave and calls over his shoulder, “My mate and I will be busy. Do not bother us.”

  I should be horrified that he’s told everyone what we’re doing, but I’m too happy to even care. I peek over his arm and look back at the others in the cave. Tiffany and Josie are standing together, whispering, but they have smiles on their faces. Asha looks forlorn and lost. The other hunters simply laugh and call out jibes about Aehako and his prowess.

  All the while, my khui sings and sings and sings.

  Aehako carries me into the cave and gently sets me down on the pile of furs that will make up our shared bed. They’re still bundled into rolls for transport during the move. We’ve been so busy overseeing the others that we haven’t had time to set up our own cave. “Wait here,” he tells me, and stalks to the entrance of our private cave, propping the stretched leather privacy screen in front of the entrance. All the while, I watch his ass flex under his loincloth, his tail flicking madly as he walks.

  A tail has never been so sexy to me. But right now? It’s driving me wild with need. Oh wow. I press a hand to my chest, and I can feel everything vibrating from the strength of the khui’s song. It makes me want to reach out and touch Aehako…or myself. My thighs press together tightly and I fight down the very real urge to flop back onto the blankets and stroke my clit until I come. I’ve never been this utterly sexualized. The khui is making it impossible to think about anything but grabbing Aehako and licking him from head to toe.

  So, so hard to be me. So hard. Truly.

  Instead, I reach for the rolls of the furs and work on untying them. We’ll need something to lie on. My fingers, however, don’t seem to want to work properly. My hands are shaking and I’m distracted. All I can think about is Aehako and sex.

  Boy, they were right about this khui thing. It’s like someone flipped a secret switch inside me and made me into an instant nympho. It’s so strange. But I’m not unhappy about it – not in the slightest. I have to fight the urge not to cry out of sheer emotion, and my fingers pick at the leather knot uselessly.

  I feel – rather than see – Aehako come and sit behind me. My khui’s acutely sensitive to his, and our matched purring sounds feel strange and yet so right.

  His hands come up from behind me and he cups both of my breasts in his hands and kisses my neck. “My mate. Truly mine.”

  The emotional tears I’ve been fighting finally burst free. I clutch his hands against my breasts and sob.

  I feel his big body stiffen. “Why do you weep, Kira?”

  “I just n-never t-though it would happen for m-me,” I babble. I’d resigned myself to being the only human amongst the others that couldn’t have a baby when having children was so vitally important to the tribe. And Aehako had wanted them. I’d never considered having one myself.

  It wasn’t until now that I realize how badly I want those things. And it overwhelms me. I weep even as he shushes me and his embrace goes from sensual to supportive. He strokes my hair and murmurs as I cry against his chest. I’m not unhappy. I’m the opposite. And I have no idea why I’m so weepy, but I’m happy and so full of emotion I could burst, and I guess tears are the way it’s coming out.

  “Shhh,” he tells me as he strokes my hair. “Everyone will think you are miserable at the thought of carrying my child.”

  A hiccupped giggle escapes me.

  “It’s true,” he murmurs, and his hand slides down my arm, gliding over my skin. “They will say she is sorry that her khui has such poor taste as to mate a clever, beautiful girl with a fool like him.”

  I snort at that. No one could ever accuse Aehako of being a fool. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “I am not. There are twice as many unmated males as there are the human women. Do you not think me the luckiest of males that I would resonate for you? I do.”

  I sigh, my tears drying because he’s so sweet. I love this man so much. He’s always seen me, even when no one else has. My flaws have never mattered to him – my smiles are the only thing that does.

  “I’m the luckiest,” I tell him softly, and brush my fingers over the line of his jaw. He’s so very handsome, my mate. I’m getting even more aroused just looking up at his big, broad face and his glowing eyes, and the smile that curves his mouth. I lean up and kiss him, and his hands immediately tighten around my waist, holding me against him.

  “Kira,” he says, and he sounds as breathless as I feel. His nose nudges mine before he takes my lower lip in his mouth and sucks on it. Oh god, he is way too good at kissing now. “When I take you this time, I will not be able to control myself. We will have long, tender nights of mating in our future. But I think now…if I do not sink inside you, I will lose my mind.” He presses his ridged forehead to my flat one and closes his eyes. A tremor rushes through him and I realize just how close he is to losing his control. Oh wow.

  My response to that? I slide my hand down to the front of his breeches so I can trace the outline of his cock. His breath hisses from his lungs, and I’m practically flung off his lap in the next moment.

  Giddy with need, I expect to have him tackle me. Instead, I watch as he savagely rips the cords of the blankets with his bare hands, snapping the sturdy leather like it’s nothing. He flings the blankets down onto the cave floor with unimaginable speed, and then turns to look at me, eyes blazing.

  A shiver moves through me. He’s so…brutal with his need. That is so damn sexy.

  Then, he reaches over to me and grabs the front of my dress, then pulls me forward for a savage kiss. Hot prickles of need skitter through me and I moan against his mouth, my hands going to his neck.

  “My Kira,” he says roughly, and then pushes me onto my back, onto the furs. He jerks my skirts up around my thighs and the next thing I know, he’s face-down between my legs, his tongue seeking my clit.

  A loud gasp of surprise escapes me.

  He groans between my thighs, and I feel his tongue move over my sensitive flesh again. “You’re so wet.” He lifts his head and I see a feral gleam in his eyes as he licks his lips, shining with my juices.

  Aehako rears back and rips at his loincloth. His cock emerges, a darker blue than the rest of him, the crown gleaming with pre-cum. I could stare at it for hours, but all I get is the briefest glimpse before he’s on top of me, and his hand moves to my hair. His mouth captures mine—

  And then he sinks in completely, thrusting into me in one hard movement.

  My cry is swallowed by his lips and his seeking tongue. I cling to him, because, oh God, the sensation of him inside me is making my khui go into overdrive. It feels as if everything inside me is vibrating, and that only makes Aehako’s cock feel that much better. I feel his spur rubbing against my clit, and my legs jerk, because I already feel like I’m about to come.

  “Am I hurting you?” His voice is a gruff whisper against my jaw as he nips at my chin.

  I manage a breathless shake of my head. “Feels good,” I tell him. ‘Good’ is perhaps an understatement, but I’m not sure that my lips will form around the words ‘earth shattering’.

  His hips move and he pushes deep into me again. A moan escapes me, and my legs quake again. I’m going to come with just two thrusts, I know it. I raise my legs and lock them around his hips, just under his tail. Aehako growls again and thrusts once more, and I feel my khui hit a fever pitch with its humming. All I can hear is the song between us, and then as he sinks deep into me again, stars explode behind my eyes. I come, and come, and come…and I don’t stop. It feels as if I come forever when he thrusts into me with powerful, needy strokes. Then he groans my name and his body stiffens on top of me, and he comes inside me as my body clenches and quivers around him.

  Aehako drops on top of me, panting. He puts his weight on his elbows so he doesn’t crush me, and nuzzles me with kisses on my neck and jaw as we try to catch our breath.

  When my entire body no longer feels like it’s about to splinter with sheer pleasure,
I sigh heavily. “Wow.” I’m pretty sure the furs are shoved up under my butt. I’m also pretty sure that was probably only three minutes or so of sex. I can’t even be sorry about that, because I’m pretty sure I came harder than I ever have before.

  He leans on his side and presses a hand between my breasts. “Your khui is pleased.”

  “Is it?” I place my hand next to his. The humming has gone down a bit, but it’s still going strong. Even at those small touches, my nipples harden and my legs jerk, making me acutely aware that he’s still inside me…and still hard.

  And I’m still aroused.

  “Um,” I say, and stroke a hand down his arm. “How long does resonance last?”

  “Until I plant a kit inside you.” He kisses my jaw. “It might take many, many days.”

  Dear God. I will die of pleasure overdose. What a way to go. “But I’m ovulating right now, right? That’s why I resonated?”

  “What is ovu-lay-“

  “Never mind,” I say. That must be it. He wouldn’t be able to make me pregnant otherwise, and all the others seemed to make it through their resonance all right. Wrecked, happy, but still whole.

  His hips move, and I feel his cock drag in and out of me again, the movement slow. I moan, arching up. “Oh God, are we going again?”

  “We will go again many, many times,” he tells me with a nipping kiss. “And then you will carry my kit.” His hand goes to my belly. “This is mine,” he murmurs. His hand slides lower. “And this is mine,” he says, brushing a hand over where his spur grazes my clit. “Your cunt is mine and mine alone, sweet Kira.”

  I moan, because it feels like I’m about to start coming again. “All yours, Aehako.”

  “And then we will move back to the main cave so you can be near the healer—“

  I shake my head even as he presses his thumb on the other side of my clit, sending ripples of pleasure through me. “I don’t want to.”

  “No?” He sounds surprised.

  “No,” I say, and I’m confident. For some reason, I trust my khui. “I won’t need the healer. Things will be fine. And this is where we’re meant to be.” I gaze up at the painted walls of my cave and feel a surge of joy. “We’re home.”

  “My home is wherever you are,” Aehako tells me.

  I touch his face gently. “I feel the same way.”

  Note to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  Thank goodness for self-publishing!

  I have wanted to write science fiction romance for the longest time. It’s a genre I adore, but I write for New York under another name, and contracts tend to keep me busy. Still, back in 2010 or so, I started a manuscript called ‘The Symbiont’ about a race of people that had crash-landed on a planet and had to have a native parasite to live. It sounds terribly romantic, right? Nothing says sexy quite like a parasite. The book never really got off the ground, because I had to keep putting it aside. In between contracts, however, I kept returning to the story and poking at it, hoping for a miracle.

  Then, earlier this year, I felt burned out by writing. It was a job, and one that I love, but my creative fuel gauge was on ‘empty’. A friend dared me to write something new and exciting just for myself. All right, then. I immediately picked up my symbiont story. I’d left off with my heroine Georgie deciding to stage a break-out from the alien ship. I made it crash, I introduced Vektal, and I fell in love with the story – and writing – all over again.

  And I discovered that I love my big blue aliens.

  Ice Planet Barbarians was an utter labor of love from start to finish. I was sure that it was weird and out of the box, but it was the kind of story I’d been wanting to read – and write – for so long that I loved every moment of it. I’d also wanted to try a serial, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was a creative stretching of the mind, and I was shocked (and pleased!) when it took off. I didn’t expect to write a sequel.

  Well, that’s not entirely true. I already had Raahosh and Liz paired up in my mind, along with Aehako and Kira, but as a writer, you hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I’ve killed a series mid-stream before, and it hurts, so I prepared myself for this to fail. If it was one book, it’d just be one book. Reviewers asked if there would be a series, and I answered honestly: only if there was demand for it.

  But there’s been demand! In fact, the demand has been so incredibly exciting. So exciting that I jumped right into book two, and then into book three between my contracted obligations. My schedule for the latter half of the year is filling up rapidly, but I’m hoping to publish book four, BARBARIAN MINE, before Christmas. Hopefully earlier! I know it’s not super speedy, but I want to deliver a good story. If it takes a bit longer…then I’ll just have to figure out how to write faster.

  A note about borrows: I’m really sorry that the books are no longer available for borrows. I really had fun with the serial format, and I liked the idea of readers borrowing each portion every week to see the new adventures. But once KU changed the payout, it no longer became financially smart for me (no matter how much I love writing the books) to continue forward with their program. So I’ve made the books available everywhere, and going forward, I anticipate continuing that. In addition, I don’t feel that the serial format works when it forces readers to pay $6 for the full book instead of the regular price, so I’m going to just do complete novels from now on and I’m taking down the individual portions.

  I did the serial format as a way to stretch my wings, but it’s clear that readers just want a fun story. So on we go! That’s the great thing about self publishing – if it’s not working, you can change it.

  The next book I am calling BARBARIAN MINE (at least in my head) and will be about Harlow and her mysterious captor. I hope you’re excited to read about them! We’ll also see more about the pregnancies, the human women, and how everyone’s settling into their new lives. There’s been a lot of chatter about the babies and I LOVE the feedback. If you want to see a particular story piece hit on, don’t be afraid to speak up! Your feedback is invaluable to me as an author.

  Lastly, if you enjoy the books, please, please leave a review. Tell me what you think and who you’re hoping to see in future books. Tell me if you want more about Georgie and Vektal or if you want stories about new characters only! I want to know your thoughts and leaving reviews helps me as an author in so many ways.

  I sincerely hope you enjoyed Kira and Aehako’s story, and I’m so happy to be writing more blue balls and cooties. Onward!

  — Roo

  Ice Planet Barbarians

  Ice Planet Barbarians, Book 1

  You’d think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you’d be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they’ve left their cargo of human women – including me – on an ice planet.

  And the only native inhabitant I’ve met? He’s big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me…

  Part One

  GEORGIE

  Up until yesterday, I, Georgie Carruthers, never believed in aliens. Oh, sure, there were all kinds of possibilities out there in the universe, but if someone would have told me that little green men were hanging around Earth in flying saucers, just waiting to abduct people? I would have told them they were crazy.

  But that was yesterday.

  Today? Today’s a very different sort of story.

  I suppose it all started last night. It was pretty ordinary, overall. I came home after a long day of working the drive-thru teller window at the bank, nuked a Lean Cuisine, ate it while watching TV, and dozed off on the couch before stumbling to bed. Not exactly the life of the party, but hey. It was a Tuesday, and Tuesdays were all work, no play. I went to sleep, and from there, shit got weird.

  My dreams were messed up. Not the usual losing teeth or naked in front of the class dreams. These were far more sinister. Dreams of loss and abandonment. Dreams of pain and cold white rooms. Dreams of walking in a tunnel an
d seeing an oncoming train. In that dream, I tried to lift my hand to shield me from the light.

  Except when I went to raise my hand, I couldn’t.

  That had woken me up from my slumber. I squinted into the tiny light someone was shining in my eyes. Someone was . . . shining something in my eyes? I blinked, trying to focus, and realized that I wasn’t dreaming at all. I wasn’t home, either. I was . . . somewhere new.

  Then the light clicked off and a bird chirped. I squinted, my eyes adjusting to the darkness, and I found myself surrounded by . . . things. Things with long black eyes and big heads and skinny pale arms. Little green men.

  I’d screamed. I’d screamed bloody murder, actually.

  One of the aliens tilted its head at me, and the bird chirping sound happened again, even though his mouth didn’t move. Something hot and dry wrapped over my mouth, choking me, and a noxious scent filled my nostrils. Oh shit. Was I going to die? Frantically, I worked my jaw, trying to breathe even as the world got dark around me.

  Then, I went back to sleep, dreaming of work. I always dreamed of work when I was stressed. For hours on end, angry banking clients yelled at me as I kept trying to tear open packs of twenties that wouldn’t seem to come open. I’d try to count out change only to get distracted. Work dreams are the worst, usually, but this one was a relief. No trains. No aliens. Just banking. I could deal with banking.

  And that brings me to . . . here.

  I’m awake. Awake and not entirely sure where I am. My eyes slide open, and I gaze around me. It smells like I’m in a sewer, I can feel a wall behind me, and my body hurts all freaking over. My head feels blurry and slow, like all of me hasn’t quite woken up yet. My limbs feel heavy. Drugged, I realize. Someone’s drugged me.

  Not someone. Something.