Ice Planet Honeymoon: Raahosh & Liz (Ice Planet Barbarians, #2.5)

by Ruby Dixon

He turns as we approach and his gaze locks onto me with that possessive, overbearing way he has. Like he wants to snatch me up and shield me from anyone who dares look in my direction. Like he wants to devour me whole just so no one else can have me. Like he wants to throw me down on the cave floor and nut all over me just so everyone knows I’m claimed. Maybe it shouldn’t be so thrilling, but I fucking love that look in his eyes. Like I’m his everything. Like he’d become unhinged if anyone tried to separate us ever again.

“You could learn to be quiet.” I blink. The fuck did he just say? It’s like he knows he messed up. He looks over at me and sees my expression, and his changes. “Not like that,” he amends with a scowl. “Though you could learn that, too. I meant I could teach you how to be quieter when you are on the trail. Your feet are noisy.”

Liz is loud, yes. And pale. And skinny. But she is strong, and graceful, and lovely. She is free with her kisses, looks at me with lust in her gaze, and is utterly loyal to me and me alone.

Zennek is quiet like me, but where I am quiet because I am awkward and ugly and a loner, Zennek is just silent in nature.

And I am ugly and an outcast and I do not know if I can keep her satisfied. I keep those terrible thoughts to myself.

“Every day is special with you, my Liz. Every day is ‘hot damn.’” She smiles, her arms going lazily around my neck. “Do you even know what hot damn means?” “It means I have the most beautiful, gorgeous mate in the entire cave. It means that she is insatiable. It means that even though she has an ugly male for a mate, she makes him feel as if he is a chief in the furs.”

“You…thought if you reached hard enough, you could pull a tail out of there and we’d match?”

“It has to be more. I must be more. You need a good mate, a worthy one. I know I am not kind, or easy to live with. I know I am not attractive. And now I am in exile. I do not want you to feel as if your khui has chosen poorly. I must do more to please you and keep you satisfied.”

“I love you,” I whisper to him. “I love all of you. I love looking at you. I love your scars and your unique horns. I love your scowl. I love that stiff way you hold yourself. I even love when you thump your tail all angry and pissy.”

She can be the bold one. I will be the rock, the protector, the shield. She can be the arrow, launching itself forward. I will be the bow—the brace, the stability that the arrow needs to speed ahead.

“It is already the best of honeymoon ever because I am here with you,”

“I am thankful you are my mate and no one else’s.”