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

  A familiar face is there, round with the same green eyes I have, and a wealth of messy blonde hair. It’s Maddie, her full lips pressed into a hard line. She touches my cheek and says something, but in the shadows, it’s hard for me to make it out. Lila? You okay? I think she says.

  I’m not. I’m so not okay. I do the ASL gesture for ‘can’t’ and then tap my ear quickly.

  Maddie’s eyes widen and her hand goes to my ear, looking for my implant. She realizes it’s gone and then signs to me. We will figure this out.

  I feel a surge of relief and nod. Maddie’s got me, no matter what else happens. I huddle in the blankets, feeling small and like that isolated twelve year old I once was, not the twenty-two-year-old grown woman I am. I watch as Maddie surges to her feet and confronts the nearest person. I can’t hear any of it, but I’m guessing Maddie’s yelling. Her body is stiff with anger and she shakes a fist as she speaks.

  I’m not strong, not like Maddie. My first instinct isn’t to fight. It’s to hide. I’d give anything to be able to hide right now, I think as I watch my sister.

  Since her back is to me and she’s standing in front of the person she’s yelling at, I can’t read lips to try and follow along. I glance at my surroundings, trying to make sense of them. At first I think we’re in a cave - I can see an opening up ahead and what looks like snow blowing in, which is bizarre. Maddie and I live in Arizona.

  This…is not Arizona.

  I don’t think it’s a cave, either, as I look around. Everything is super square and the floor under me feels like metal against my skin. I’m sticking slightly to it, like my fingers do when I touch a wet ice cube, and I shudder inwardly. The big cave-room-whatever seems to be pretty empty. There’s no lights, but there is a warm fire built up in the middle of the room. There are people sitting near it, though - big people. Basketball-player sized people with enormous shoulders and curling horns sticking up from their heads. Are they really blue or are the shadows playing with my mind? I look at them again, trying to calm myself and logically make sense of what they are. I see tails, and horns. Their skin seems rough and rippled across the breastbone and on the lower arms. One watches Maddie with intense emotion, but most of them are scowling, probably because my sister only has one volume - loud. I see one demon with long hair and thick muscles watching me with a rather creepy intensity and pull the blankets closer to my body. This can’t be real, can it? If I close my eyes, maybe it’ll all go away.

  Even as I question my sanity, I make eye-contact with another one of the demon-men. His eyes glow light blue, like they’re lit from within. It’s eerie, and yet his expression isn’t cruel. He watches me with a look of concern and empathy, not the skin-crawling interest that the other one does. He crouches near the fire, his features lit up in inhuman shadows, but from what I can see, his chest is bare and he doesn’t seem bothered by the cold. How can he not? I’m freezing and I’m wrapped in a fur.

  None of this makes any sense at all.

  My sister makes another angry gesture, drawing my attention back to her. One of the scowling males hands her a blanket, and my sister turns and storms back toward me. As she does, I see for the first time that there’s a human woman - how did I miss her? - with all the devils. She’s average looking except for the weird glowy-blue eyes she has, just like the devils. She wears furs like the men do. Why is she here with them?

  Maddie kneels at my side and begins to sign. You are not going to believe this shit.

  What? I sign back.

  The other woman comes forward and squats near my sister. Maddie looks pissed that we’re interrupted and pauses before she can tell me what’s going on. The stranger looks at my sister, and then at me. She begins to speak and I read her lips. Can she not hear? Is that sign language?

  Back off, Maddie tells her, and I can just imagine my sister’s bitchy tone. It makes me smile, weirdly enough. Maddie speaks again. We need a moment.

  The woman’s brows draw together and she nods, giving me a fragile smile. She retreats, hugging her fur clothing close to her slim body and moves to the side of one of the devils, saying something to him. He puts an arm around her shoulders and kisses the top of her head, and I realize that she looked about my size when she knelt, but next to the demon, she looks tiny—

  Fingers snap silently in front of my face.

  I look over at Maddie. Focus, she signs.

  Sorry. I’m freaking out.

  Me too. Her mouth flattens and she thinks for a moment, then continues signing. Do you remember anything that happened?

  I shake my head. All I remember is falling asleep watching Castle, I think. Then I woke up and we’re here and it’s silent. What’s going on?

  It sounds ridiculous but, Maddie pauses, then starts to sign again. I think we’ve been kidnapped by aliens.

  ROKAN

  Even though I know the females are uncomfortable, I cannot help but watch them. They sit in the back of the cave, bundled in furs. That is the only help they will take from us; they want no fire, no food, nothing but to be left alone right now. Kira says we should give them time, but looking at Hassen and Bek’s hard faces, I worry they will not be given time. Already they are disappointed that neither female has resonated yet.

  It is clear the females are frightened, though. They are silent, shooting furtive glances over at us when they think we are not looking. Their hands move frantically and they give each other worried looks. The big one with the yellow mane will do well here, I think. She is a fighter. She has already bellowed at Kira in a way that would make even Leezh proud. It is the other one - the female with the dark mane - that worries me. She seems fragile compared to the other, and cannot stop shivering. I think of the thick snow outside, the sky-claws that dive from above, the harsh weather, the metlaks, and a hundred other dangers. This is not a world for those that are fragile. Everyone in the tribe knows that; the weak do not last long.

  But there is something about her that draws my gaze, endlessly. I cannot stop staring, even though I know it worries them. I think of the human and her dull eyes that do not shine with a healthy khui. There is something about this female that pulls me to her. My chest is silent, and so is my ‘knowing’. If it is not resonance, what is it, then? Maybe it is protectiveness; she still shivers despite the fact that neither of them will approach the life-giving warmth of the fire. I glance at the stew-pouch. There is still plenty left. Kira has eaten, and the other hunters avoid it, as we prefer our meat raw. Should I offer them food? Will they take it?

  Hassen makes an impatient noise in his throat and jabs the end of his spear into the fire. “Their teeth are clicking again.”

  “It’s cold,” Kira says in her gentle voice. “They don’t have khuis to warm them. When they’re ready, they’ll come join us. Right now I think they need more time to adjust. The kindest thing we can do is leave them alone.”

  “The kindest thing we can do is drag them to the fire,” Hassen snarls and tosses his spear down onto his blankets. “They are too valuable to the tribe to let them freeze out of stubbornness.”

  I glance over at the females again, then back at the stew. If they will not come to us, perhaps I should give them a peace offering. I get to my feet and pull a small carved bowl from my pack and scoop it into the pot, then cross the cave toward the females. Hassen and Bek make angry noises, but I ignore them, my gaze focused on the two small humans huddled in the blankets. I deliberately make myself as un-threatening as I can, dropping my shoulders and walking slowly. When I get closer, they scoot back against the wall, and so I drop to a crouch and offer the bowl to the dark-haired one.

  “Food,” I say in the human language. “It is warm.”

  She gazes at me with frightened eyes, glancing over at the yellow-maned one. At the other’s nod, she reaches one hand out, and I hear the rumble of her stomach. A surge of protectiveness moves through me, and I want to do more for this small, frightened female. I want to keep her safe, to show her we are friends. I hold the bowl
steady, because I know any movement will terrify her.

  Her fingers twitch and then her gaze flicks to something over my shoulder. She shrinks back and the yellow-maned one pushes in front of her, a snarl on her face.

  Feet move to my side, and I glance up to see Haeden snarling down at me. “Leave them alone, Rokan.” In a lower voice, he murmurs, “You are giving Hassen ideas.”

  I swallow my annoyance. Haeden means well, but he is protective of his task; he promised his mate he would bring the females back safely, and he is determined to do so. I nod - again, slowly - and set the bowl down on the floor in front of the females, and then unhook my water skin and leave it as an offering as well. Then I get to my feet in unhurried motions and walk away with Haeden. I do not look back to see if the females pick up the food. I know they will; they have no choice. A pang of sympathy makes me feel uneasy at my role here. Of course they are terrified - if their story is like Kira’s, they woke from their furs to this strange place with no explanation. To them, we are monsters. It will take much convincing.

  And somehow we have to gain their trust and convince them they both need a khui, or else they will die.

  “Stay by the fire,” Haeden snaps. He picks up his spear and goes to talk to Raahosh, and then the two of them move to stand midway between the females and the fire. Their backs are to the new females and it is clear to all that they are not there to keep the females back, but to keep us from harassing them.

  I return to my seat, torn between irritation and resignation. I want to speak to the dark-haired one, to ease her fears, and now I am treated as if I am just as much trouble as Hassen and Bek? I glance over at the two males and they have their heads together, whispering and scowling as they converse. They shoot glances over at Raahosh and Haeden.

  Haeden is right to be wary. My ‘knowing’ sense tells me that Hassen and Bek are hatching a plan, though it does not take much to guess that. It is plain on their faces.

  And perhaps my action has made things worse.

  Casually, I glance back at the bowl I left. It is gone, and so is my skin.

  That is something, at least.

  “Maybe I should bring more food over,” Kira says in a soft, worried voice.

  I pull a bone cup out of my bag and offer it to her.

  She gives me a grateful look and gets to her feet, then dips it into the stew pouch. “We’ll give them tonight to adjust. I can’t imagine how terrifying this is. When Nora and Stacy and the others came out of their pods, they had a bunch of humans to help them acclimate. Right now it’s just me, and I feel inadequate.” She sighs and then taps her temple, near her eyes. “This isn’t helping, either.”

  “The khui?” Aehako guesses.

  She nods. “We look different. Probably scary. And I think one of the girls can’t hear.”

  Bek crosses his arms. “A khui will fix that. We need to find a sa-kohtsk to hunt before the females get too weak.” Taushen and Hassen nod.

  Aehako glances over at Haeden and Raahosh. “I am sure a hunt will be soon.”

  “It needs to be very soon,” Bek continues. “The females will not last long if they shiver inside the warmth of the cave. There are metlaks and sky-claws to think of, as well. This place is dangerous. We must get them khuis and get them to safety.”

  “You just want them given khuis because you want them to resonate,” Aehako muses. “Do not disguise it as your concern for their comfort.”

  Aehako and Bek start to argue loudly, Aehako with his hand on his mate’s shoulder protectively. At my side, Kira sighs and gives me a frustrated look. “I’m thinking it might have been smarter to bring mated hunters along on this trip.”

  “They are needed by their families,” I tell her. My brother’s mate’s face is drawn and unhappy. “We will get them back safely. That is all that matters.”

  “Yes, and until then, everyone’s going to bicker over the girls until they resonate.” She sighs again and gathers her blankets, then gets up from the fire to go visit the females.

  As she gets up, Hassen glances over at the spot she’s vacated. He tosses a bit of bone into the fire. “You have been silent, Rokan. What does your knowing tell you? Will the females resonate?”

  “I sense nothing about the females,” I tell him honestly. “Perhaps because they have no khui.”

  He nods slowly, and then fixes his gaze on me. “It does not matter to me about the yellow-haired one. But the soft one? She is mine.” A possessive look glitters in his eyes.

  My jaw clenches and I fight back my anger at his bold statement. “Resonance decides, not you.”

  He narrows his eyes at me and then shrugs his shoulders. “Then you will watch me resonate to her. One way or another, she is mine.” He gets to his feet. “And I do not need a ‘knowing’ sense to realize this.”

  He leaves to go to the front entrance of the cave, and I am left stewing in my own anger. Why does the thought of him claiming the ‘soft one’ fill me with such rage? She is soft, and gentle, this is true. Someone as bold and blunt as Hassen will storm all over her. Is that why I am angry at the thought?

  Or because I want her for myself? I force the idea out of my mind. It is wrong to be possessive of the females. Resonance chooses a mate, not me. I have waited many, many seasons to take a female to my furs, because I am waiting for resonance. I am not like Bek, who had Claire as his pleasure-mate before she resonated to Ereven. I want resonance, and resonance only. When I take a female into my arms, I want it to be for forever.

  It might be one of these females. It might not. Warrek is three times my age and has never resonated. Maybe I will never have a mate.

  But that does not mean that I cannot be a friend to these females.

  The soft one? She is mine.

  The deadly words repeat in my mind, and my jaw clenches every time.

  3

  LILA

  So apparently a lot happened while Maddie and I were unconscious. It seems that we were kidnapped by one kind of alien, who also kidnapped the human woman here. Then the ship crashed and we’ve been asleep in some sort of stasis for over a year and a half, until another human found the remains of the crashed ship and realized we were still in hibernation in the wall.

  It’s all a little muddy to me. The aliens here that look like demons? According to Kira’s story, they’re not the bad guys. She even shows us the frozen corpses in the front half of the crashed ship to back up the ‘there’s more than one kind of alien’ story. And even though it’s completely crazy, we don’t have a choice but to believe her. When she says the part about how she and her friends were taken and examined, and one girl even was given an abortion because the alien captors didn’t want her pregnant? I think of my missing cochlear implants and realize it’s probably all true.

  I’m more than a little horrified by all of it. To think that aliens kidnapped me and examined me and operated on me, all while I was unaware. To think that we’ve flown halfway across the galaxy and crash-landed, all unaware.

  To think that if it hadn’t have been for a stranger randomly finding the remains of the ship, we might have slept for a lot longer than a year and a half. What if…what if no one ever came to find us? The thought makes my gurgling stomach even more ill at ease.

  Kira and Maddie talk for hours, with Maddie passing along info to me. She’s doing her best to remember to sign, but sometimes the conversation gets away from her and I only get a few half-assed hand signals. It’s all right. It’s a lot to take in and it’s been ten years since Maddie had to be my interpreter. And sometimes I think I really don’t want to hear more of what they’re going to tell us.

  Kira seems nice enough. She keeps the others at bay, even though she says one is her husband and she loves him. She says she has a half-alien baby back at ‘home’ and that the reason why her eyes glow is because she has something called a ‘symbiont’ - Maddie spells it out with her hands because there’s not an ASL sign for something like that. It’s something that lives inside the b
ody and helps it adjust. She pauses in her explaining to build up a small fire near us for warmth, and her mate - one of the biggest of the aliens - brings over her blankets. It seems Kira is going to be staying with us tonight. I steal a glance over at the main fire. The alien men are there, and they’re all watching us. It’s really unnerving.

  Maddie taps my arm, and I tear my gaze away from the fire Kira’s building. What do you think? She signs.

  It sounds like a parasite to me, I reply, worried. A parasite and we’re the host.

  Me too, but what can we do? She says we have to have one. They all have one. Did you see the part where she said there’s a poison in the air? She sniffs dramatically, and I admit I take a deep breath myself. Tastes like normal air, if damn cold.

  Do you think they’re lying? I ask, hesitant.

  Does it matter if they are? We’re outnumbered, we’re not dressed for the situation, and we don’t know what’s going on. Like, I would think it’s a prank except I got close enough and those guys aren’t wearing makeup. Her hands fly as she signs, agitated. She doesn’t like this any more than I do, but like she says, we don’t have a choice. Their eyes really are glowing, and there’s a lot of damn snow out there so we’re definitely not in Arizona anymore. And Kira says that there’s only twelve humans and thirty-something of the blue guys, not including babies. If this place is what she says it is - an ice planet - there’s no cities.

  I feel tears threaten. Well, fuck, I sign back. Why couldn’t we get stuck on a tropical planet?

  Maddie throws her head back and laughs, and everyone turns in our direction again. This is how we deal with things - Maddie laughs, and I cry. I swipe at my cheeks, because it feels like if I do cry, the tears are going to freeze to my face. I’m so cold. This is awful. I hate all of this. I want to go home, back to my stupid desk job and all the stupid credit card bills I’m behind on. I want to go spend Friday night sitting at the hotel bar watching Maddie sling drinks and pointing out all the drunks. I want to curl up on the sofa and finish watching season two of Game of Thrones.