Barbarian's Choice (Ice Planet Barbarians, #11)

by Ruby Dixon

My own mother is twenty-seven turns older than my father. It can happen, as long as I am patient.

I could live up here all the time, I think. Just lie down in the snow and let the sunlight bake my bones.

I retreat backward into the ship, flexing my artificial arm. The metal can handle extreme temperatures, but it still feels colder than the rest of my body.

Oooh, a Bucky copy???👀👀👀

His body is covered by some strange, thick gray leather, but he is tall, so tall. Taller than anyone in the tribe, even Raahosh. His head is exposed, and I can see he has blue skin, like mine, but paler. He also has a sweep of arching, proud horns that gleam in the sunlight. Strange. His mane is shorn close to his scalp, but it looks to be black, like mine.

Gods damn it, I think I just shot her keffing pet. I put my blaster away, tucking it back into its holster as the strange, nearly naked woman sobs over the furry herbivore. I’m disgusted that I overreacted. Now that I have a moment to catch my breath, I realize that the thing is a four-legged plant eater, shaggy, ugly, but harmless. I just saw it charging toward us and reacted like a soldier. But I’m not a soldier any longer, and I keffed up. Bad. The woman sobs over her pet, stroking its nose as the creature wheezes its final breaths.

Hate can always be flipped back to friendship, but disappointment lasts forever.

88% match - Old Sakh. Holy kef. Old Sakh? From the Old Sakh Empire? No one’s spoken that language in a thousand years.

It’s impossible to work without thinking of Farli and her wide-eyed wonder. She’s beautiful, and there’s something so pure about her that I feel…hungry for.

The others stare. Aehako starts to grin, and Pashov smirks. Bek just rolls his eyes.

“Pheromones,” Niri says, saving me from an awkward explanation. “It’s a primitive biological way of marking a female as belonging to a particular male. The spur secretes twice the pheromones that the rest of the body does.”

Do I choose my mate or my family and my tribe? I have no answers. I only know that if Mardok leaves, he takes my heart with him.

“I am your mother. I will love you and honor whatever decision will make you happy.” Her eyes shine with tears of her own. “Even if it takes you far, far away from me.”

we’ll be up early to hunt some big creature and get a khui for me. For some reason, I’m calm. I’m no longer panicked like I was before at the thought of being left behind. I’m not, not really. Everything’s here. With Farli at my side, I’m never truly going to be alone ever again.

More than anything else, I’m looking forward to being with Farli, now and forever. And, all right, I’m looking forward to impregnating her. What man in his right mind wouldn’t?