Page 44 of Ice Planet Barbarians

The thought staggers me with misery. I press my face to her stomach and hold her against me, seeking a measure of peace. To think that I might lose my sweet resonance so soon after finding her. I cannot bear it.

“Oh, Vektal,” she says softly. Her hands stroke over my horns, a tender caress. “I wish it was just me that I had to think for. Then this would be easier.”

“It is easy,” I tell her, pressing my face to her leather-covered body. Even through her coverings, I can smell her wonderful scent. I long to taste her again. “Accept the khui. Accept me.”

She’s silent, but her hands continue to touch me and smooth over my skin and stroke over my horns in what feels like a loving embrace. She must care something for me. She must. But she only says, “Something has to be my choice,” she says softly. “So many things have been taken from me. I need to claim something for myself. For now. Grant me that.”

I look up at her, at her sad face. “You know I can refuse you nothing.”

Her smile is sweet. Sad. “I know.”

GEORGIE

I ponder my choices all day as Vektal plods relentlessly through snow drift after snow drift, carrying me on his back.

Even though I am doing my best to deny it, it’s entirely possible that we’re never going to be able to get home. If Vektal’s ancestors were stranded here, then we probably can’t get home, no matter how hard we try. Our other option is to wait for the little green men to come back and try to hijack their ship and force them to take us home.

Or we can leave the ice planet when they return, taking our chances as cattle.

Or we can get the parasite—excuse me, symbiont—and make the best of things here with Vektal and his people.

I feel like if I were making an individual choice, it would probably be an easy one. Though the thought of leaving Earth and friends and family behind hurts me, a life with Vektal could be sweet and full of pleasure. I already am starting to look forward to the sight of his smiles, the feel of his skin against my own. I love the rumble of his laugh.

I love knowing what he’s saying now.

If it were just me? I’d definitely be Team Vektal.

But I feel like the humans have to make a decision together. I don’t want to influence the others. I lucked out and got Vektal, but if we stay here, we might be condemning ourselves to a life of hardship and snow, and who’s to say that the others in Vektal’s tribe—the sa-khui, as he calls them—will treat everyone as wonderfully as he has me?

And who’s to say that the little green men wouldn’t sell us to someone on a nice Tahiti-like planet full of sexy men who want nothing more than company while drinking Mai Tai cocktails? No one can say for sure. The odds are likely against that . . . but it’s another reason not to influence the others. Whatever we decide, we’ll decide as a group. We’ll be making decisions not just for the six of us remaining but the six still tucked away in the wall, slumbering.

Before anyone decides anything, we need to talk it out.

If they want to stay, we’ll figure stuff out together. If they want to fight the aliens for control of the returning ship, we’ll need weapons and a plan.

My bad wrist aches and throbs, reminding me that we’re all battered and wounded from the crash. Taking over anything seems like a horrible idea. Maybe that’s just me being negative. I shake the thought away. I’m with my girls. If Liz, Megan, Tiffany, Kira, and Josie want to fight for our freedom, the least I can do is join the cause. Staying back and rolling in the furs with my big sexy alien seems disloyal after everything we’ve been through together.

“There,” Vektal says, rousing me out of my dark thoughts. “Home is just ahead.”

My arms tighten around his neck, and I peer through the drifting snowfall. There’s nothing ahead but another rocky cliff, this one barely peeking out of a deep thicket of the eyelash-like pink trees. “In there?”

“The entrance is hidden and guarded to prevent metlaks and other predators from entering. Do not worry. We will be safe and warm there.” He pats my arm. “No one would dare harm you.”

Am I tense? I must be tense for him to throw out a comment like that. It’s just that for so long, it’s only been Vektal to have to worry about. Now I’m about to be dropped in to meet thirty-odd others. My arms tighten around his neck. What if they all hate me? What if they all think I’m gross looking? What if—

“Ho,” a deep, sonorous voice calls out.

Vektal raises a hand high into the air in response. I cling to his back, worry thudding through my body as another big body appears in the distance.

“That is Raahosh,” Vektal tells me in a low voice. “He must be back from his hunting treks.”

The other male jogs through the snow toward us, churning a path through the drifts. The pink, flimsy trees wave overhead, and the entire scene looks ludicrous. I try not to stare at Raahosh as he approaches, but, well . . . I’m staring. Where Vektal’s horns are big and thick but sleek, Raahosh’s horn-crown is a busted mess. He has one that juts out and then arches back high above his head. The second is broken off, a mere jagged stump. As he gets closer I see scars covering one side of Raahosh’s broad face. His skin, er, pelt, er, whatever is a deeper gray than Vektal’s…like dark smoke. And if I thought Vektal was fearsome looking, Raahosh takes things to a new level.

He grins and raises a hand as he jogs out to meet us, and then his steps slow as he sees me. “I thought you were burdened with the hunt, brother. I was about to come and relieve you.”

“I have much to tell,” Vektal says, and I can hear the pride in his voice as he gently lowers me to the ground. His chest starts to vibrate with a loud, incessant purr.

Raahosh’s eyes go wide, and he looks at Vektal then at me. “Her?” He gazes at me up and down. “What . . . what is she?”

---