Barbarian Alien (25 page)

Georgie has a pleased smile on her face.

“We will work hard to feed the tribe,” Raahosh says in a hushed voice. “Thank you again, my friend.”

Vektal nods, and the stern chief expression leaves his face. He moves forward and clasps Raahosh in a hug that surprises my mate. “Welcome back, my friend,” he murmurs. Then, he smacks Raahosh on the back with a staggering bro-hit and both are grinning. “You have tonight to prepare. Tomorrow you and your mate begin your work!”

“So we’re good?” I ask. I hold my breath again, just in case I’m misinterpreting this. I get my man. I get to hunt. I get out of these crowded caves and we get to be us again. I mean, it’ll be a lot of work, but I like hunting.

“We are good,” Vektal says.

This is…awesome. I squeal and jump into Raahosh’s arms again.

• • •

“All right,” Georgie says as we survey the storage area in the back of one of the new dens. This is Ariana’s cave that she shares with Zolaya, and it used to be storage. Unfortunately for poor Ariana, there’s still a lot of storage around the walls of the cave. “Let’s get you prepped for hunting so you can be on your way in the morning.”

At our side, Kira makes a soft sound. “I’ll be sad to see you go, Liz. I liked having you back.”

“I’ll be back again soon enough,” I tell her. Truth is, I’m excited. I’m ready to be out with Raahosh again, in the snow and sun, hunting and loving and exploring and…well, just enjoying life. I survey the piles of furs, the baskets of dried leathers, bones, and anything else that might be deemed useful. My mind isn’t on hunting at all. It’s on Raahosh. I just feel so…happy. My mate is talking with Vektal in the chief’s den, and I’m getting geared up.

Tonight, we sleep in the hunter’s cave along with all the other hunters.

In the morning? We take off.

This feels like Christmas.

And I suspect I have Georgie to thank for all of this. She had to have softened up Vektal for me. So instead of grabbing gear, I turn to my fellow human and fling my arms around her in a hug.

She laughs and pats my back. “What was that for?”

“That was a thank you for fixing things.”

“I didn’t do anything special,” she demurrs. “You forget, Raahosh is his friend, too. I just reminded him of how different our societies are.”

Uh huh. Well, if she doesn’t want to admit to some persuasive lovin’, I’m not going to force her to. I give her one last happy squeeze then hug Kira, whose sad face is smiling for a change. I feel suspiciously weepy. Happy, but weepy. I turn to the pile of storage. “What do you think I need?”

“One of everything warm?” Georgie pulls out a basket of old leathers and starts to dig through it. “Where do you think you guys will go first? Any ideas? Vektal says that there’s tons of hunter caves scattered for miles around. They have a system and since the hunters stay out in the field a lot, they’re all set up like mini-houses with firewood and blankets and stuff.”

I consider for a moment. “If it’s up to me, I want to go to the old ship – the one that their people came from. I’d like the language dump, I think.” I’m tired of everyone talking around me. I want to be part of things.

“I like that idea,” Kira says. “I might see if I can head there myself at some point.”

“Oh?” I turn to her. “What about the ear piece?”

She touches it with a grimace. “I hate it. I want it gone. Plus, I worry that they’ll come back for it if they find it still active.”

Kira has a point. I know she can’t remove it – they’d surgically attached it to her ear. I didn’t realize how much it bothers her, though.

We continue to chat as we prepare a pack for me full of essentials – a sewing kit, some extra cord, dried soaps, warm boots and leather cloaks, and then there’s nothing left to do but say goodbye to my friends.

Kira’s expression is sad. “I wish I had some sort of newlywed advice to give,” Kira says. “I feel like it’d be appropriate.”

Georgie’s expression turns…well, a bit like a cat who’s licking the cream. “I’ve got some advice for you.”

“Oh?” I ask.

“You wanna blow his mind? Two words for you.” She ticks them off on her fingers. “Doggy. Style.”

My eyes widen. “But the spur will go…” When she nods slowly, Kira gapes. “Ohhhh,” I breathe. “You are a filthy, filthy girl, Georgie.”

“A filthy girl with a happy mate,” she says.

Can’t argue with that.

• • •

The rest of the day runs away from me. There’s preparation to be done, weapons to be checked over and repaired before we go back into the field, clothing to be mended, people to hug, and Maylak is determined to send us with every kind of healing herb she has – along with an explanation – in case we need anything. Hunters, Georgie explains to me as she translates, are used to going without, but because Raahosh and I will be a team (and I’m pregnant) everyone wants to make sure we’re well prepared.

Before I know it, dinner is over and then Raahosh comes to collect me from my friends, who have been fitting me for new tunics. Apparently there’s a lot of sewing going on in the bachelorette caves, and I now have two new tunics and two pairs of pants to go with sturdy fur-lined boots.

“Come,” Raahosh says, tugging me away gently. “We are leaving early in the morning.”

With one last round of hugs, I say goodbye for now and head off with my mate. It’s not like we’re leaving forever – we’re actually just leaving for a week before we return again. But it’s a change, and we humans have had so much change recently that I don’t blame the other girls when they get teary eyed at the thought of me going.

I’m not sad, though. I can’t wait to spend the time with my mate. I can’t wait to be alone with him and lick all of his skin until he’s pulling my hair.

Totally weird, but I’m into the hair pulling.

Unfortunately, my horniness is thwarted by the hunter cave. We’re staying here tonight – and every night that we’re back with the group. I thought it would be…gosh, I don’t know. Empty? Private? Something?

It’s literally a row of pallets with zero privacy. The cave is small and light on possessions and most of the unmated young males live here. Raahosh introduces me to them: Ereven, Taushen, Cashol, and my best buddy Haeden, who scowls at the sight of me. Then, Raahosh and I set our packs down and curl up in the last bed, which has been left for us since Zolaya recently moved out with Ariana.

This is part of our punishment, I know. Basically we’re in public sleeping quarters until the exile is up. And it…sucks. Because I have been days and days without my Raahosh, and I want nothing more than to sex him into next week.

And we have zero privacy.

He lies down next to me and pulls the blankets tight around us, then drapes an arm protectively around me. My cootie starts purring, and I hear Raahosh’s pick up the song and continue it. One of the men snorts, gets up, and leaves the cave.

Well, at least one is gone. That only leaves three others besides us. I sigh.

I’m lying on my side, facing him, because I just want to gaze at him all night. I trace each of his scars with my fingers and let my hands skim along his horns, until he finally catches my palm and kisses the center of it. “Stop, or I will take you here in front of the others,” he murmurs, and his hips push against mine.

I can feel his erection, hard and insistent against my body. And I want him.

Fucking cave full of fucking hunter dudes.

I thrum harder, and my hand moves to his chest. I love touching him. I’m almost to the point where I don’t care if he takes me in front of the others or not. As long as he takes me, and takes me good.

But then one of the men sighs and rolls over in his bed, and I get an idea.

“Oh, Raahosh,” I moan loudly. “Do that thing with your tail again.”

My mate’s eyes widen in shock and I have to bite back my laugh. Somewhere off to the side, another man mutters something in alien, and then leaves the cave, followed by another. There’s just one other than us left, and I bet I can scare him off, too.

“Just like that,” I cry out, even though Raahosh is staring at me with horror. “Do me like that with your nasty tail!”

Raahosh’s hand clamps over my mouth to silence me, but it works. Another person gets up from his bed and I look over Raahosh’s shoulder to see Haeden shoot me a glare before leaving the cave.

Then it’s just the two of us.

“You are full of mischief lately,” Raahosh murmurs, and pulls me against him to nibble on my neck. “Now they are going to ask me what it is I do with my tail every time they see me.”

“You have a good imagination,” I tease him. “Use it.”

“I don’t need imagination.” His voice takes on a growly note. “I have hands.” He pushes me onto my back and goes to my pants, jerking them down around my hips. I eagerly undo the laces, desperate to have him with me, to be naked with him. The moment they fall loose, I kick them down my legs and then toss them aside. Next goes my tunic, and under the furs, Raahosh is removing his own breechcloth as quickly as possible. My cootie’s singing up a storm.

He puts a hand on my breast and rubs his thumb over my nipple, and I moan. “My Liz,” he breathes. “My mate.”

And then something flicks up and down over my pussy. I gasp and look down. His tail.

“You said to use my imagination,” he murmurs, and slides his hand down to my folds. His fingers part them and his tail glides up and down through my slickness. “Is that all you want me to use?”

“God, no.” I reach down and cup his cock while he uses his tail to tease my clit. “I want you to use this most of all.”

He groans and moves over me, his heavy weight a welcome sensation. Fuck foreplay – I want him in me fast and hard and now.

As he pushes my legs open and kisses me, I remember what Georgie said about blowing his mind. I put a hand on his chest to stop him. “Hey, baby. I have an idea.”

Raahosh rears back and gives me a puzzled look. “What is it?”

“I want you to do me from behind.”

He tilts his head so comically I almost giggle. “But your tail–”

“Doesn’t exist,” I point out, and trace one finger around his nipple. “Humans do this sort of thing all the time. You can just flip me over and push into me and–”

No sooner do I say the words than his big hands are turning me over and then my ass is in the air. I giggle even as I get on my hands and knees. Not gonna be hard to drag Raahosh to the dark side, I see.

His hand smooths over my ass and I give a soft sigh of pleasure and close my eyes. “That feels good.”

“You are so…bare.” The big hand moves over my butt, and his fingers trail down the cleft. “It’s…”

“Sinful?” I offer, feeling rather wicked myself.

“Beautiful.”

Aww. I start to make a comment about his sweet choice of words, but then his fingers glide between my legs and stroke into me from behind. My entire body jolts and I gasp. Jesus, that feels entirely too good.

“Are you wet enough to take me?” he asks, and his fingers stroke in and out. I’m so wet that I can hear his fingers moving, and I nod in response. An excited gasp builds when he pushes the head of his cock against my entrance, and I lean forward, bracing myself.

“Please,” I tell him. “Now.” I feel like I’ve waited forever for my lover.

He pushes into me and I cry out because it feels so amazing. Inch by delicious inch, he works his cock into me, and I wiggle and push back against him, determined to speed things along. Just when I think I can take no more of him and feel stretched to my limits, something nudges against my ass and prods.

Oh
God
.

That has to be his spur.

And there aren’t words for how good it feels. My fingers dig into the furs and I cry out again.

Raahosh hushes me, but then he pulls back and thrusts again, and I’m unable to keep my cries to myself. With every stroke of his cock into me, the spur presses and penetrates into my ass, just enough to drive me insane with lust. It’s not long before I come, and I come hard, crying out his name. Every muscle in my body locks down around him, and his fingers dig into my hips. He thrusts wildly into me, and then he’s coming, too.

With a happy little sigh, I reach backward and hold on to him as he rolls our locked bodies onto our sides. He presses kisses onto my neck and shoulder, and I wiggle against him, because I feel weirdly aroused that his cock (and spur) are sunk into me. I’m tired, my knees are weak and I’m breathing hard… but I’m also ready for round two.

“I think you must learn to be quieter if we’re going to be in this cave, my mate,” Raahosh tells me. “Your shouting likely woke up all the kits on the other side of the caves.”

“Fuck ‘em,” I say, dopey with pleasure. “They want us to be quieter, they’ll get us a cave of our own.” Because that doggy style…whoa. Mind: blown.

“We must finish our exile first.” Raahosh nips at my shoulder. “Are you sure you wish to do this, Liz?”

Bleary with endorphins, I run a hand through his hair as he caresses my breasts. “Doggy style? I dug it. A lot.”

“No. Leaving with me. Sharing my exile.”

What a silly question. “One hundred percent. There’s nothing for me here if you’re not here.”

“It’ll be hard work. We have many more mouths to feed with the expansion of the tribe. We will hunt non-stop until it gets too cold to leave the caves.”

“Then we’ll hunt non-stop,” I tell him. “I like hunting.”

His hand moves to my belly and traces over it. I’m still flat – and probably will be for quite some time if this three year pregnancy thing is legit. “It will be easier for you to stay here.”

I shake my head. “Do you not understand, Raahosh? You’re my life. You’re my reason for living. When those aliens took us away from everything, I felt…lost. I’m not lost when I’m with you. I’m happy.” I touch his cheek. “I’m complete.”

“My mate,” he murmurs. “My Liz. My everything.”

“All yours,” I tell him. And it’s the truth. As long as I’m with Raahosh, the world can snow all it wants, the tribe can pile all the work they want on us, and we can sleep in the hunter caves.

As long as I’m with him, I’m happy.