Barbarian's Taming (Ice Planet Barbarians, #8)

by Ruby Dixon

Lately I’ve been feeling very, very lost, and I hate it. I’m tired of feeling this way. I’m tired of feeling like everyone’s got their shit together but me.

“Your cunt is so tight, Mah-dee,” he tells me, rubbing his nose against my cheek as he slowly pushes deeper. “It is where I belong, is it not? Deep inside you?”

other sister? Are you mad? Has being in exile made your brains turn to meltwater?” “She wants to be with me,” I grit

Sometimes you have to work through things without people talking to you and asking you questions.

My Hassen. It feels weird to say that, but right now, I kind of feel like he’s mine. He snatched me from the cave and saved me from certain death. And I realized as people gathered, flocking to family, that Hassen has none. He is one of the many that has no family surviving the khui-sickness from so many years ago. He’s completely alone. So I’m claiming him. He’s mine now.

Okay, mentally I’ll bitch, but I won’t say a thing aloud.

You can only be strong for so long before you crumple on the inside.

Instead, I focus on Mah-dee. I pull her against me, and she turns immediately against my chest, nestling close. I wrap her in my cloak and hold her tight. My cock aches with the need to be inside her, but it is reflex only and easy to ignore. Right now, all I want to do is feel her pressed against me and know that she is safe. I tuck her head under my chin, wrap my arms around her, and try to sleep. Tomorrow will be a difficult day.

Change is good. It’s not always easy, but it’s good. And it’s time I made a few changes.

My heart aches for him.

And even though I’m quickly getting exhausted and this is just the first afternoon in what promises to be weeks of a journey, I’m still glad I’m here, because he needs someone. He can’t go through this alone.

Sometimes you need to be in your own head to process things, and nagging him won’t help.

He can’t retreat from me. I need him. He needs me. I can’t let him push me out.

Am I just clinging to him because he needs me? Is he latching on to me because he wants someone? Anyone? But I can’t turn him away. Not when he’s clearly hurting and I want to comfort him. So I’ll skip the words for now. They can come out later…if at all.

I want to show him just how much I care. Show him how much he’s needed. That he’s not disposable in my eyes.

If she does not have an answer, she will make one. To her, there is no crying over what has happened, only the need to come up with a solution.

My heart has chosen wisely, even if my khui is silent.

I feel a swell of affection for Mah-dee. My heart. She is strong and pushes herself to her limits because she wishes to be a good partner. Her pack would be as big as mine if I let her, but I watch out for my mate and make sure she is not straining herself.

To her, there is no problem that cannot be fixed.

We mate most nights, but sometimes she is too tired, and that is fine, too. It is enough to hold her close and inhale her scent. It is enough to hear her laugh, or to see the smile cross her funny human face.

When she is with me, I think that even the destruction of the cave is not so bad. It is not something that will destroy us. We will survive and go on.

I will not leave Mah-dee behind. I will die first.

I like to tease Mah-dee. She teases back, unlike her sister, who cried and wept if I so much as looked at her. Not for the first time, I curse the day I grabbed the dark-maned sister instead of the yellow-maned one.

I feel a surge of affection for her, along with intense possessiveness. Mah-dee is mine. No female has ever been as strong, as smart, as clever, as sweet, or as giving. No female is as perfect for me as her. I think of Li-lah and her weeping, and curl my lip with disgust. I was a fool.

“I will keep you safe,” I vow to her.

She smiles up at me. ...

“You are my heart, Mah-dee. Without you, I am nothing. You saw me as an exile and still took me to your furs. You are kind and giving.”

You made a mistake, but that doesn’t mean you should be punished forever.

“My mate,” I tell her softly. “What would I do without you?”

Her eyes go wide. “Your mate?”

“You have been since the day you claimed me.” I stroke my thumb over her soft, strange, pink mouth. “There is no oth...

“Not even my sister?” Her voi...

I snort. “Your sister is my greatest mistake. I do not think I have ...

Mah-dee bites gently at my thumb when I stroke it over her mouth again. “You might want to learn to lik...

“Because she is your family, I will t...

Mah-dee giggles. “That is a terrible thing to say, and I...

“You should laugh. You should laugh all the time. I love to hear it. It makes me happy.” I lean in...

Her smile dims a little. “It feels awful to be so happy when things are so rotten for so many. Can I…” Her expression changes to one of worry, and she clutche...

“What?” I feel nothing but the warm, content rum...

“I think it’s another ea...

The panic in her voice makes me pull her protectively against my chest, and I hunch my shoulders over her smaller form, trying to shelter her with my body. We are not safe ...

A long moment passes, and I wait to feel it. I feel nothing under my feet, though, just the warmth of her pressed against me, and th...

She stiffens against me and then pulls back, a frown on her face. “Okay, this is going to sound weird…” Her hand presses to the center of my chest. “But you’...

I do not ask what she means. Now I feel it, too. The building, slow thrumming in my chest that is spreading warmth throughout my body. I…dare not hope. I drop to my knees an...

“Oh,” she breathes, just as her chest begins to resonate. “Oh. I think…I think the ground isn’...

“And me,” I tell her, utter joy racing through me. I hold her tightly, burying my face against her as I listen to her khui begin its song. It ...

“Let it happen,” I murmur to her, stroking her back. “We are meant to be, Mah-dee. Even our bodies know it.”

I want to hear the song in her chest as loud as the one that is rumbling through mine. I want to feel her warmth. I want to lick at her nipples and taste the juice of her cunt. I am hungry for her with my entire body. I need her. Right here. Right now.

This is my home. Mah-dee is my home. Here, inside her cunt, it is where I belong.

“My happy does not wait for later,” he tells me. “My happy is now. Here. With you. I need nothing else.”