Barbarian's Touch: A SciFi Alien Romance (Ice Planet Barbarians Book 8) (5 page)

I
stifle
a yawn and burrow deeper into the blankets. For the first time in what feels like forever, I’m warm. My toes aren’t frozen under the furs and I…oh.

It’s because I have a parasite. The coo-ee. I rub my chest, eyes closed, but I don’t feel any different. Just warmer.

I roll onto my back and open my eyes.

A blue face is inches from mine, glowing eyes wide. Fangs jut from the grinning mouth.

I shriek and fling myself backward, desperate to get away. My head cracks into a hard wall and I groan, pressing a hand to the back of my head as I stare in alarm. What the—

Hassen reaches for me and I slap his hand away. I look around me in shock, because I’m not entirely sure where I am. In fact, I have no clue where I am.

It’s a cave…I think. There’s a small fire burning a short distance away in a dugout fire pit that is lined with rocks. I’m sitting in a bed of furs, and there’s rock under the bed, not metal. So, I’m not at the ship. Okay. I rub my eyes, trying to think. My memory’s a bit blurry but I remember the big, leggy creature that they pried open and the glowing-spaghetti-noodle-things that they handed to me and Maddie. I remember someone cutting me with a knife, at the base of my throat.

My fingers go to my throat. If there was a cut there, it’s healed over already. Wow. Either I healed fast or I was asleep for a really long time again. I’m trying not to think about that year and a half I lost in the pods, or the fact that it could have easily ended up being so much more. What if I was in there for longer than I thought? What if I thought it was only a year and a half and it was more like ten, or twenty?

I lick my dry lips. I guess it doesn’t matter. The moment I saw those twin suns, I knew I was never going home. It could be a hundred years and it wouldn’t change anything. I feel a pang of loss for my old life, but I have Maddie. It’s always been just the two of us, and as long as I have her, I know I’ll be good.

I glance around for my sister, ignoring Hassen’s too-intent face and the fact that he’s practically crouching over my bed. I don’t see Maddie, though. In fact, I don’t see anyone. It’s just me and creepster here. “Maddie?” I call out gently. “You here?”

Hassen gestures and when I look over at him, I realize he’s talking. He seems rather pleased with himself, and his tail - yeah, it’s weird - thumps on the ground. He sweeps a hand out, indicating the cave.

I have no idea what he just said. His lips move all wrong for proper lip-reading. Not for the first time, I feel completely overwhelmed and isolated, and I reach a hand back to my ear, feeling for the cochlear implant that isn’t there.

“Maddie?” I say again. I’m starting to get uneasy.

Hassen says something again. He taps my blanket-covered knee and then pulls out a waterskin, offering it to me.

Where is everyone? I look around the cave again. The fire is very small, with no meat roasting over it. The cave itself is tiny, with me and Hassen squeezed in, and there’s no room for more blankets on the floor space. In fact, I get the impression that this is not more than a two-person cave. So why am I here with him?

Maddie wouldn’t let this happen.

I slowly get to my feet. Hassen stands, also. He’s close, but not so close that he’s in my personal space, yet. I avoid the eager look on his face, and the water skin he shoves in my direction. I’m thirsty, but I want answers. I step out of the blankets and try to go around Hassen. The cave entrance is a short distance away, neatly covered with a stretched hide that acts a bit like a tarp.

Hassen steps in front of me and puts his hands up. Even though I can’t read his lips, his message is clear. I’m not supposed to leave.

That’s when real panic sets in. Have I been kidnapped?

“
Maddie
,” I scream, hopefully loud enough to rattle the cave. “
Maddie! Maddie!
” I start to hyperventilate. “
Maddie!
”

He grips my arms and gives me a little shake, as if to calm me.

It has the opposite effect. I’m in full-blown hysteria at this point, screaming my sister’s name and pounding my fists against his chest. There’s devastation on his alien features as he realizes just how upset I am.

Good. I want him to know how it feels. I slam my fists on his chest again and when I realize how ineffectual it feels, I fling myself away from him again and throw myself down on the blankets, crying.

This is the worst thing that could have happened to me. I’m here completely and utterly alone, with a guy who looks at me like he wants to own me.

I don’t have a friend on earth. On the entire fucking planet. I’m totally alone and I can’t even speak to him. I can’t hear.

I’m so alone.

* * *

M
y crying
jag lasts a few hours, until I’m weak with exhaustion and my eyes feel hot and swollen. I eventually sit up again and look over at Hassen. He’s sitting by the fire, and his shoulders are slumped with dejection. He’s disappointed? I ignore the twinge of pity I feel because the jerk freaking kidnapped me. This shit is not right, not at any level.

He looks over at me and the expectant, hopeful look returns to his face. God, he looks so eager to see me. He gets to his feet and brings the waterskin over, offering it to me again.

I want to refuse, but my throat feels like a desert, so I take it and sip cautiously, watching him. He returns to the fire and comes back a moment later with a bowl of stew. I take it, too, because I’m starving and I’m going to have to eat something if I’m going to live.

I certainly don’t plan on dying, not now that I’ve gone through the trouble of getting the parasite. And it doesn’t seem like Hassen wants to hurt me, so I just need to endure him until Maddie finds me. I know my sister - she’s not going to rest until we’re reunited. She’s tireless in her efforts to protect me, and I feel a twinge of guilt that I resented the fact that I needed her for the last few days.

Because right now? I’d give anything to see her in the cave with me.

I tip the stew bowl to my mouth and to my surprise, it’s not as spicy as before. Maybe Kira’s a bad cook? Or maybe the parasite’s changing other things.

Big blue fingers reach out and brush over my jaw, startling me. I gasp and slap his hand away, ignoring the hurt look on his face. I don’t care how nice he is; he’s not getting into my pants. I’m not going to fall into his arms because he kidnapped me. If he thinks that, he’s got another thing coming. Of course, now that he’s tried to touch my cheek, everything is taking on a sinister sort of bent. This cave is awful small and has no privacy. I’m going to be alone with him until he takes me back.

After that cheek-touch? It’s pretty clear to me what he wants. He wants himself a human wifey.

And I am absolutely not volunteering.

Come and get me, Maddie. I’m gonna sit right here and wait.

I glance over at Hassen. He visibly perks up when his gaze meets mine, and I quickly look away again. I don’t want him getting the wrong idea.

I eat and pull the fur blankets tight around me again as a shield. I set the bowl and water aside and then huddle in the corner of the cave with my back against the wall, so I can’t be surprised by Hassen. His eagerness is almost puppyish the way he watches me, but then again, a puppy wouldn’t kidnap a woman. I’m not sure why he thinks stealing a girl will somehow win her heart. It’s bizarre.

I also wonder why the others let him get away with it. Don’t they care about what happens to me? Aren’t humans supposed to be precious to them? It makes me think of Rowdan, the one with the nice, kind eyes. Maybe he’s not so kind after all. Maybe this was all part of the plan.

I can’t trust anyone.

* * *

I
spend hours in bed
, watching Hassen. I’m no longer crying; now I’m just afraid. Afraid that Hassen’s going to get tired of waiting for me to like him. That he’s going to decide to touch more than my cheek. I’m alone with a strange, enormous man who clearly doesn’t have pure thoughts in his mind, so of course I’m terrified. It doesn’t matter that he’s treated me kindly so far; I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He tries to talk to me a little. He comes over and is all smiles, talking as he sets up a fresh waterskin in my reach and offers me a little bowl of what looks like trail mix. I take the food and deliberately turn my face away so I don’t read his lips. I’m not interested in hearing what he has to say. What’s he going to tell me?
Yeah, my bad, I stole you. Hope you’re not mad. Wanna make out?

He seems more and more disappointed in my reaction to him with every hour that passes. When I do bother to look over at him, he has a dejected look on his face and he rubs his chest. The moment our eyes connect, he lights up and looks at me with anticipation. It’s weird, but he watches me so expectantly that I keep getting the feeling that he’s like a kid waiting for Christmas, and I’m not sure why.

Also? I really, really have to pee and he’s not leaving. There’s a carved, covered bowl in one small corner of the cave that I can pretty much guess the use of, but there’s no privacy and I’m not about to drop trou and squat in front of him.

He waves a hand and says something, but I ignore him. “Go away,” I mutter, and pull the blankets tighter around me. How long can the human body wait to pee, I wonder. It would serve him right if I just made a mess wherever, but I don’t know how long we’re going to be here, and the last thing I want to do is shoot myself in the foot by peeing in my own furs. I squeeze my thighs tight, determined to wait it out.

A short time later, the urge to pee gets worse. I look over at the fire again. It flickers but Hassen’s gone…

I sit up, surprised. I didn’t realize he’d left me here. Immediately I charge out of my blankets and head for the screen over the cave entrance. I pull it back and take a step outside—

—Into a howling blizzard. At least, I assume it’s howling. It’s utterly silent to me, but the snow whips at my face like needles, and the wind is almost enough to knock me over. I sink, knee-deep, into the building snow in front of the cave. Shit. Do I go after him or do I wait for him to come back? I squint at the gray landscape, but I can’t see very far and that familiar, bone-numbing cold is returning.

I retreat back into the cave and replace the screen, then use the bathroom. I wash my hands with a bit of water, then sit back down in my furs and wait.

He
is
coming back, isn’t he? As much as I don’t want to be here with Hassen, I don’t know that I’m ready to be abandoned. Where would I go?

To my relief, my captor shows up again a short time later, brandishing an animal that looks like a stretched out porcupine with a catlike head. He holds it up and says something I don’t catch, then gestures at the fire. Cook it?

I lie down in the blankets and close my eyes. A response would mean I’m talking to him, and I’m not talking to him. As long as I’m not alone in this blizzard, it’s enough, for now. I can ignore him for a while longer.

I silently take mental stock of the supplies I’ll need if I’m going to run away. I’m going to need a backup plan for if something bad happens before Maddie comes to save me.

Freaking come on, Maddie!

“It’s been two days! Why is it no one can find my sister?” The human’s voice reverberates in the small cavern we have called home for the last two sunrises.

Raahosh scowls down at Mah-dee, who has her hands on her hips and is glaring right back up at him, unafraid. “Look outside. You can see as well as I can that the storm has covered any tracks.”

“So? This is your planet! You’re hunters! You should know this place! How many places can he freaking take her? Go get your happy blue ass out in that snow and find her!” Mah-dee gestures at the cave entrance.

I pause in the arrow I am sharpening and glance over to where Mah-dee stalks near the fire, furious. I understand her frustration; it does not change the fact that Li-lah is nowhere to be found, and the storm has covered all traces of footprints that Hassen might have left.

“I have been out in the snow, searching,” Raahosh grits out. “We all have. Rokan has been out searching endlessly and only stopped because I made him return. Taushen is out hunting for them even now. We are doing all we can, because we must keep hunters here to protect you and Kira.”