Ice Planet Honeymoon: Vektal and Georgie: A Sci-Fi Romance Novella Read online

  Ice Planet Honeymoon

  Vektal & Georgie

  Ruby Dixon

  www.rubydixon.com

  Copyright © 2019 by Ruby Dixon

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Art - Kati Wilde

  Edits - Aquila Editing

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Ice Planet Honeymoon: Vektal & Georgie

  Quick Timeline Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  ICE PLANET BARBARIANS SERIES

  Ice Planet Honeymoon: Vektal & Georgie

  What happens after happily ever after? Quite a bit, actually. Georgie and Vektal are mated, but Georgie has a few things on her mind before she settles into her new life…

  Why not have a honeymoon?

  This story is an extended epilogue for Ice Planet Barbarians and is for readers who want a little more of their favorite couple. Don’t start here! Start with book one, Ice Planet Barbarians.

  Quick Timeline Note

  If you’re wondering where this story falls in the exact timeline, Book 1 (Ice Planet Barbarians) and Book 2 (Barbarian Alien) overlap slightly with timeframes.

  While technically this story can be read after Book 1 with no problems, if we’re picking at exact timelines, it falls after Book 2’s ending but before Book 3.

  1

  GEORGIE

  I wake up to find Vektal watching me sleep. Again.

  I yawn, rubbing my eyes, and give him a sleepy smile. “Hey there. How long have you been awake?”

  The big alien shrugs, his face inches from mine. I’m snuggled under the furs in the cave that’s now my home. As with every morning, I wake up with Vektal beside me, and he’s always watching me. It’s kind of cute. He reaches out and runs his big, blunt fingers through my tangled hair, pulling it forward over my shoulders and then sliding his hand down my arm. “I have been awake for some time. It is my custom to wake up before dawn.”

  “Oh.” I grimace, because I’m guessing it’s later than that. “Am I keeping you from something?”

  “No.” He touches my hair again.

  “Then why are you staring?” I ask him with a chuckle as I settle back into the blankets, closing my eyes again. If we’re not being kept from something, maybe I can steal a few more minutes of shut-eye.

  “Because I like to watch you sleep,” he says in that delicious, deep voice of his. “It is bad to watch you?”

  “Not bad, no. I’m just not used to it.” I smile and slide a little closer. “Then again, I’m not used to sleeping with someone. Or this planet. Or any of this, really.”

  Vektal wraps big arms around me and hauls me against his chest, tucking me against him and then stroking my hair. “Does this make you unhappy?”

  I open my eyes, frowning into the pre-dawn darkness. That’s…a strange thing to ask. “Unhappy?”

  “You do not smile like the others. You do not laugh with delight. I want to hear you laugh more, my Georgie.” He says my name carefully, doing his best to pronounce the hard G sounds. “Is something bothering you?”

  Bothering me? Only a small something, really, and I feel too selfish to ask for it. So I just smile against his stomach and snuggle closer, looping an arm over his chest and tucking my cheek against his skin. I love to cuddle against his big, brawny chest. I don’t mind the thick plating that makes parts of him less-snuggleable, because the rest of him is suede-soft over rock-hard muscles.

  I sigh with contentment and close my eyes, listening to his heartbeat and his khui as it hums gently in his chest. I’m a little sad that the sound of it changed. It took me a bit to notice it, but the sound of his khui changed a few days after I first got mine, and when I asked him about it, he told me that resonance had truly been fulfilled, and both our khuis were sated. It was surprising to me because I’d thought he’d gotten me pregnant right away, but I guess not. Sometimes I miss that wild, crazy beat of his khui, but I like the contented purring of today, too.

  Vektal’s hand steals to my hair and he strokes it again. “Do you wish to stay in the furs this day, my mate?”

  “I’m just being lazy,” I tell him, tracing a finger along his chest. “Give me a few more minutes and I’ll wake up for real.”

  “Take as long as you like.” He strokes my back. “I enjoy holding you.”

  Oh, I know he does. He’s by far the handsiest man I’ve ever met. He’s constantly touching me or caressing me, as if he needs to reassure himself that I’m here and I exist. I understand it. After learning what I have of these people and of how few females there were until we came along? No wonder he’s so protective. I suspect if he didn’t have to go hunting he’d just sit around all day and watch me.

  The thought of the big, fierce-looking Vektal sitting in a corner of the cave and watching me sew clothing by the fire as if it’s the most fascinating thing ever makes me smile. It’s been a few weeks since we arrived here, but I’m not sick of him in the slightest. I worried that being the object of such attention might get tiresome, that he’d grow used to me or I’d get irked by his hovering, but if anything, we’re closer by the day. I love how attentive he is. I love how he’s fascinated by everything about me, as if I’m some sort of unique unicorn of a human instead of just an average-looking girl from Florida.

  I’m not tired of him, either. Not in the slightest.

  I press a kiss to his skin, running my fingertips along his sculpted abs. “So you’ve been awake for a bit?”

  He grunts agreement.

  “Any new resonances?”

  Vektal chuckles, and I can hear the sound as it moves through his chest. “You ask that every day.”

  “It felt like it was happening every day,” I admit. We’re up to five now—mine, Liz, Marlene, Nora, Stacy, and Ariana. Most of them happened right away, but I’ve seen how the guys watch the girls and I know it has to be on their minds as much as it is on mine.

  Vektal rumbles with laughter again. “It is a rare thing, this I promise.”

  If he says so. Doesn’t seem all that rare to me so far, but he’s the expert. I run a fingertip along the dip of his navel just because I like touching him. He shudders underneath my caress and I decide I like that, too. “Everyone settled in this morning? No crying?”

  My big alien makes a disgruntled sound in his throat. “There is always some crying.”

  “There is,” I admit. “It’s to be expected.”

  “You did not cry.” He wraps a curl of my hair around one finger.

  My smile falters. “Maybe I just haven’t cried yet,” I whisper. I’m the unofficial leader of the humans, after all. I’ve had to be strong ever since we got here, because I was the one with the plan to attack our captors, I was the one that went out to find help, I was the one who resonated to Vektal, the strong, capable—and yummy—chief of the alien tribe here. Everyone’s viewed the humans here as my tribe, and me as their chief, and even us humans have kinda fallen into that way of thinking. They come to me when they’re worried or scared, as if I’m in charge.

  Sometimes, it feels like a lot. I’m the same age they are, but I don’t get to be the one that cries about our fate, or the one that stays in b
ed all day. I have to be a responsible leader, even when I feel just as overwhelmed and helpless as they do.

  But I won’t focus on that right now. I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened since we arrived on this planet, right from the very first time I met Vektal and he was feasting between my thighs as if he’d never tasted anything so good. I squeeze my legs together at the delicious memory. “Who was crying this morning?”

  “Air-ee-yon-uh.”

  Ah. “Is Zolaya with her?” If her mate is out hunting, I should probably go see what’s bothering her, do some damage control. Some of the girls here aren’t being very welcoming to her and most of the aliens are puzzled by her constant tears. Her mate is a sweetheart, though, and I’m so glad he dotes on her like he does.

  “Yes, and Mar-lenn too.”

  “Then she’ll be okay.”

  He grunts. “I heard that Bek has been sneaking off with one of the humans, as well.”

  “That would be Claire,” I admit. I’ve heard this too but said nothing because Claire didn’t want me to. “Is it a bad idea?”

  “A pleasure mate? No.” Vektal shifts as I tease his belly button again, and I realize he’s ticklish. How have I not known this after being with him for weeks now? It makes me want to tickle more, even though we should probably be getting up. “It is just that…” He pauses, choosing his words. “Bek is a very strong-minded hunter.”

  I know what he’s saying, what he’s thinking. Claire is a sweetheart, but she’s also not a very strong-willed personality. I worry she’s going to get steamrolled by a guy and it’ll end up being a messy, volatile situation. I know a lot of these guys are coming to terms with the fact that there’s now a bunch of single women in the tribe, and they’re overzealous in their eagerness to impress. “You think I should tell her to stop seeing him?”

  “Why?” He sounds genuinely confused.

  “So he doesn’t get the wrong idea and force himself on her if she says no?”

  I can feel Vektal’s body stiffen underneath me. “No male would do such a thing, my sweet resonance. How can you think that?”

  I sit up, looking into his eyes. He’s shocked. I’ve shocked my darling Vektal. It truly has never occurred to him that someone would want to hurt a human woman. But since we just got out of an ugly situation, that thought’s on my mind far too much. I think of Dominique, dead in the snow, and the ache I constantly fight returns. I smile at Vektal, patting his chest. “Of course he wouldn’t, babe. I’m sure your hunters are as noble as you are.”

  There’s something sweet and innocent about Vektal. Despite his ferociousness and the harsh world they live in, he’s charmingly naïve and adorable for it.

  I hope he never loses it and becomes as jaded as I am.

  2

  VEKTAL

  My Georgie is distracted.

  It has been only hands of days since she and the humans arrived and changed our lives forever. In those hands of days, though, I have learned the deep breaths she makes as she sleeps, the way she shivers and jumps when she bathes herself in the morning, and the way her smile lights her eyes. She smiles this day, but her eyes do not shine with the same amusement, and I wonder what is wrong.

  For me, the day has never been so full of promise and joy. My mate—a thought which still staggers me—sits by the fire with two of her humans, sewing tunics and chatting. In her belly, she carries my kit. My khui rumbles a low, pleasant murmur at the sight of her, and I rub my chest absently, watching her from afar when I should be sharpening the point of my spear. I must go check traps soon, but I cannot bring myself to leave the cave, not when Georgie sits next to Jo-see and Ki-rah and gives her mane a little toss before leaning over her sewing once more. The curls of her incredibly soft mane rest against her shoulders and invite touching. I think of them, and how her mane feels when it spills over my thighs when she puts her mouth on me in that human way of hers that upends my world and makes me see stars.

  I know all this about her. And I know when she is distressed over something. It is in the way she takes a little longer to answer each question, in the small furrow between her brows when she sews, the way she stares at the fire a little too long.

  She says that she is happy with me but…is this a lie? Am I not enough for my beautiful human? Because she is everything to me.

  Georgie looks up from her sewing, and her gaze catches mine. The smile she sends in my direction is genuine and full of affection, and I am even more pleased when she puts a hand to her mouth and purses her lips. This is called “blowing kisses” and it is meant as to mimic a mouth-mating from afar. I do the same, putting my hand to my mouth and then I lick it long and slow so she may know exactly what parts of her I am thinking of mating.

  Her cheeks flush bright red and she ducks her head, but she is smiling. Whatever it is that troubles her, it is not our mating, then. Pleased, I pick up my spear and get to my feet. Time to hunt.

  Nearby, Haeden looks at me with disgust. “Did you just lick your hand?”

  “It was for my mate,” I tell him, as if that explains everything.

  He just grunts, shaking his head at me.

  He does not understand what it is like to be freshly resonated to such a female. He never will, and for a moment, I feel pity for him.

  But pity will not fill my Georgie’s belly, so I go hunting anyhow.

  That evening, after my traps have been cleared and reset, the game cached and a fresh kill brought home and (disgustingly) cooked for my Georgie, we retreat to our private cave. I immediately put the privacy screen up, and my mate just cocks an eyebrow at me in that strange human way.

  “You going to wash up?”

  “No. I am going to mate my sweet human’s cunt with my tongue,” I tell her, dragging her into my arms and pulling her close for a mouth-mating. I kiss her, teasing her with tiny licks and loving the little sighs of need she makes as I hold her. “It has been far too long since I have tasted my mate.”

  Georgie laughs. “You tasted her just this morning.”

  “Far, far too long,” I agree, dropping to my knees in front of her. I pull on the laces of her leggings and then notice that she has another pair of very short leggings on underneath. “What…what are these?”

  “Those are leather panties,” she says proudly. “I made them myself.”

  “But…why?” There is a drawstring at the waist and they end just below her hips. “They do not seem warm at all. Are these parts of you cold?” I look up at her in surprise. Is this something new I must worry about for my mate? That her cunt gets chilled easily?

  “Um, because that’s what you wear under pants?” She shrugs, her expression embarrassed. “It’s kind of like the breast band.”

  Another thing I have yet to understand. But this is distracting her away from the mating, so all I say is, “Ah. May I take them off of you?”

  “Of course.” Her hands go to my face and she caresses my jaw. “I missed you today.”

  “I was not gone long.” Even so, I missed her, too. “Soon I will have to go out on a longer hunt. It will be my turn.”

  “I know. I’m just trying to prepare myself.” She runs a finger along my lower lip. “Until then, we have fun, right?”

  “When I come back, we will have so much ‘fun’ you will not be able to walk straight for days.” I undo the strange laces on her short leggings and slide them down to reveal the delicate tuft of curls between her thighs. “Ahhh. I am home.”

  Georgie chuckles. “Is that your home now, babe?”

  “Why would it not be? My tongue fits here perfectly.” I wrap an arm around her hips and lick the seam of her cunt. “My fingers fit here perfectly. My cock fits here perfectly. Where is this if not home?” I look up at her. “You are my home, Georgie. Wherever you are, that is where I want to be.”

  Her expression grows soft. “I love you.”

  Humans always say such things, as if speaking the words aloud somehow makes them more real than actions. “I love you too,”
I say back, because I know she values hearing such things. For my Georgie, I can pleasure her body for hours, tend to her every need, and share my most secret thoughts with her…and yet she must still hear the words. It is something I am learning to say aloud, because I do not like the look of hurt on her face if I forget. “I love all of you.”

  “But certain parts more than others?” she teases.

  “No,” I say solemnly. “I love all of you equally. There is no part I would rather have than another.” I press another kiss to the tuft between her thighs. “Lie down so I may taste all of the parts of my mate that I love.”

  She tugs her tunic over her head and lies back in the furs, her eyes shining. I love the sight of them, so bright with life, so bright with her khui. It is so different from my first sight of her, when her eyes were dead and without color. But she is strong with khui now, and my kit is rooted into her belly. We will have a family eventually. The thought is humbling.

  I press a kiss to my mate’s soft belly first, where our kit awaits. “I love this,” I tell her. “So soft here.”

  Georgie squirms under me, her hands going to my horns. She loves when I touch her all over, but she is always impatient, my mate. She wriggles underneath me like a hopper caught in a snare, and I move higher, because I want to see her teats jiggle. Even though she is not nursing a kit, they are large and full, and I love the sight of them.

  “You are even softer here,” I murmur, pressing a kiss to one dark pink tip.

  She sucks in a breath. “They’re getting sensitive.”