Barbarian’s Taming by Ruby Dixon

5

MADDIE

Oh yeah, I needed that.

My toes curl, and I utter a sigh of pure contentment. Itch? Scratched. Antsiness? Gone. Worry about the future? Can’t worry about it when you’ve been boned into next week. Loneliness? Nah, I’m good.

Over me, the big barbarian wheezes as if I’ve killed him. I give a little wiggle, rather proud. I just rocked this guy’s world, and it was pretty awesome. Of course, it was also awesome to be on the receiving end. That had to be the best sex I’ve ever had. It’s like his equipment was made to pleasure a girl—ribbed penis? Yes, please. That wonderful, terrible spur that dragged alongside my clit with every thrust he made? Yes, please. That muscular body covered in velvet? Yes, yes, and yes, please.

I’m definitely glad I decided to shuck caution to the wind and get me some of that.

I reach up and give Hassen’s arm a little pat. He’s sweaty, his velvety-feeling skin slick with perspiration. “You okay, big guy?”

“You…” he breathes. “That was…there are no words.”

I chuckle, because I know exactly what he means. Of course, laughing means that my body shifts, and when my body shifts, I can feel his spur press against my clit, sending more ripples of pleasure through my body. “Yeah, that was pretty awesome.”

He props up higher on his elbows and gazes down at me. From this close, his face looks craggy and hard and utterly alien, the ridges on his brow pronounced. I want to reach up and trace a finger over them, but that might be an invitation to round two, and I’m not sure I have the constitution for that. He strokes my cheek with one big finger. “I am honored that you have chosen me to be your pleasure-mate.”

It’s like I can practically hear the record-scratch in the air. “Um, what?”

“I am glad that we are pleasure-mates,” he says again. “I will speak to my chief about acquiring a cave for the two of us, alone. It might be this one, but I do not mind.” His mouth crooks in a half-smile. “Much of these supplies will disappear in the brutal season.” He leans in and nips my shoulder. “And this place will now hold special meaning for me.”

Oh dear. He thinks we’re mates? I try to wiggle out from under him, but it’s impossible with his larger arms caging me and his cock still buried deep inside me. “No, no cave necessary. This was just a fling. An itch-scratching.”

His hard brow descends, and he frowns at me even as he cups one of my breasts and begins to play with the nipple. “No, we are pleasure-mates.”

“If you mean we ‘fucked’ then yes, yes we did. That’s all it was.”

“All it was?” Hassen looks at me, incredulous.

I push his hand away from my tit before he can get me all hot and bothered again, which, really, wouldn’t take long. But this is an important conversation to have, and we need to set some boundaries before we fuck again. “Your people only mate when there’s resonance, right? Pretty sure we didn’t resonate just then.”

“We did not. But my people take pleasure-mates.”

“Okay, and explain to me how that works. Everyone that fucks automatically mates?”

“Well, no—”

I fling my hands up. “Okay, see? So why do you assume we’re mates? Why can’t we just be fuck-buddies?”

A possessive look crosses his face and he cups my breast again. “Because you are mine, Mah-dee. I am claiming you as my female.”

“Whoa, whoa, back up. No one said anything about anyone claiming! We’re just going to be friends.”

He scowls. “Do you do this with all your friends?”

“Only the ones with magical spurs.”

A look of alarm crosses his face. He sits up, and I want to weep with disappointment when his cock leaves my body. He grabs his loincloth from where it has fallen on the floor and starts to put it on again, an indignant look on his face. “You would pleasure-mate with any hunter in this cave? I am not special to you?”

Jeez, he sounds a little hurt. If I had known there’d be this much drama, I’d have rethought things. Most Earth guys are happy to hit it and quit it, but it seems that Hassen wants a freaking wedding ring. “If it makes you feel better, you’re the only one I’ve pounced.” And now that I’ve pounced him, I’m disappointed that there won’t be future pouncings, because damn, that sex was amazing.

But it seems that it also comes with a side dish of possessiveness, and that’s not what I want at the moment.

He scowls down at me. “But you will not be my pleasure-mate.”

“I don’t think the timing’s right,” I say, trying to keep my voice light. I sit up on the furs, and my muscles are deliciously stiff. Gosh, I need a nice bath. Maybe tonight after we’ve gotten a day of hunting lessons in. “You understand, don’t you?”

Hassen stares down at me, and then turns and stalks out of the cave.

Well, poo. Looks like our lesson has been canceled by Hassen’s show of manly jealousy. I roll my eyes, hoist my well-fucked body off of the furs, and dress again.

Maybe I’ll just bathe and stick around the cave today after all. One thing’s for sure, I refuse to feel guilty about his reaction.

* * *

The main cavern’sempty of all but a few of the new moms, so I take a quick dip in the community hot tub in the center of the cave and wash my hair. I’m still not a hundred percent used to the whole ‘bathing in public’ thing, but it’s easier when the vast majority of the tribe isn’t around to notice the size of my thighs.

Not that Hassen said anything about my thighs. He seemed to like them.

Okay, so maybe I’m moping a little over the fact that he turned out to be all possessive. Why couldn’t we just be fuck-buddies? Friends with all kinds of benefits? I don’t need a mate right now. Hell, I’m still figuring myself out. I don’t need to drag another person into my headspace, mostly because my headspace is way too much of a mess. I don’t know how these other girls handle being mated lickety-split. I heard Georgie and Vektal were a couple the moment they met. I can’t imagine.

Then again…I think of the spur and Hassen’s big, ridged cock shuttling in and out, his big body looming over mine as we had sex, and I feel another quiver of arousal sliding through me.

Okay, maybe I understand it a little.

But seriously, why’d he have to get so…attached? All I wanted was to get all the stress out of my system and to feel the touch of another human being, er, alien. I didn’t realize how lonely and isolated I was until I touched Hassen, and then I found myself craving him. I wanted more.

He apparently wants a lot more.

It’s clear to me that I’m obsessing, so I get out of the bath, dress, and head to my cave before someone can stop me and start a conversation. I’m actually disappointed that we’re not hunting today; I was really looking forward to that.

Maybe Hassen will get over his butthurt by tomorrow and we can pick up our lessons.

In the meantime, I guess I’m stuck with—ugh—Asha, Miss Cheerful herself. I guess I can change my clothes, since these smell a bit like sex and I don’t know that I want to get caught smelling like arousal and leather.

I head back to the cave. Surprise, surprise, Asha’s got the privacy screen up. I ignore it again and head in, moving to my furs. I have a change of clothing and I dig around in the small basket of my possessions, all the while trying to ignore my roommate. Asha is in her bed. Again.

She sits up when I start to undress, though, studying me. “What are you doing?”

“Changing.”

“Why?”

“These leathers smell. Who are you, my mother?”

She’s silent at that, and so I pull my new tunic over my head and glance over at her. There’s a knowing smirk on her face.

“What?” I demand, and I can feel my face heating up. What is it she thinks she knows?

“If you take a pleasure-mate, I suggest that you learn to be quieter.” She fluffs her pillow—one that she’s stolen from my bed, it seems. “You and Hassen woke me up.”

Oh, god. Guess we weren’t all that quiet. It’s even more embarrassing to think about considering that the storage cave is a fair distance from my cave. Whoops. Guess that cat’s somewhat out of the bag. “You heard?”

“I would have to be deaf not to.” She smooths a hand along her blankets. Before I can ask if that’s a dig at my sister, she continues, “I do not think anyone else heard, though. I did not see others around.”

I relax a little at that. “So are you going to blackmail me with that bit of information?”

Her head tilts. “I do not understand.”

“Use it against me. Make me do what you want so you don’t say anything.” I cross my arms over my chest. “I was kinda hoping to keep things quiet about the whole situation.”

Asha gives a delicate snort. “Then you must learn to be quieter. As for manipulating you, I have no need. I do not care if you mate with all of the unattached hunters.” She shrugs. “It is your business, not mine.”

She’s got my back? That’s…nice. Unexpected, but nice. “Thank you.”

Asha shrugs. “I was the same, once. Before I resonated, I had my pick of the hunters. They all wanted me. It was enjoyable.” Her expression grows sad again. “Then everything changed.”

I say nothing, because I know she’s thinking about the mate and baby she lost. And really, what can I say to her that she hasn’t heard a million times before? Chin up, kiddo?Everything’s going to work out for the best? Somehow I doubt Asha wants to hear that.

She twists her hands in her lap for a moment and then glances up at me. “I would choose more carefully if I were you.”

“Choose?”

“If you are going to mate with the hunters, pick the ones that will be grateful for any attention. Taushen is young. He will follow where you lead. Harrec, too. Vaza is older, but he will be discreet if you wish it, I imagine, simply so he does not have to compete with the younger hunters.” The look she gives me is calculating. “Hassen is a poor choice in a lover.”

“I don’t know if my girl parts agree with that.” I squeeze my thighs together because, mercy. I’m still all noodly on the inside from the sex. Poor choice in lovers? Not in my book. “I thought he was pretty dang great. I mean, untrained, sure, but I can work with that.” Actually, I kind of like that, because I can teach him to lick a fierce pussy for hours and I won’t hear any bitching if I take too long to come. I dated a guy once who went on and on about how long it took me to get off compared to his previous lovers. It was a real pain in the ass, so he got the boot. Hassen’s a blank slate in bed. I’m kinda turned on by that.

Not that we’re going to have round two, of course. Not if he’s going to be all Mr. Clingypants on me.

Asha rolls her eyes at me. “He is a poor choice in a lover because he is going to want to claim you. That one desperately wants a mate and a family. He is lonely. He will not take whatever scraps you toss him and be content. He will want more.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek as I consider her words. She’s not wrong. There’s a ferocity to Hassen, an almost brutal eagerness. He held me down on the furs and plowed into me like the world was ending around his ears and he had to get his rocks off right then and there. And as he held my hips, there was a wild possessiveness in his eyes, and so much damn satisfaction. Like half of him getting off was entirely due to the fact that he was possessing me. And not just any chick. Me.

A little shiver moves through me. Okay, for all that it’s not smart to toy with a guy that wants to be mates after one romp in the furs, he was hot as hell to play with. “Hassen doesn’t know me very well,” I tell Asha. “If he wants more, he’s going to have to let me call the shots, not him.”

She just shrugs her shoulders as if to say ‘whatever’ and lies back down in bed, amused.

* * *

Hassen avoidsme for the rest of the day. Which, okay, isn’t exactly hard given that I’m hanging around the cave and he’s out in the wild, being an exile and doing exile stuff. He doesn’t come around, and I’m pretty sure he’s avoiding me.

His absence does mean that I spend most of the day hanging around Stacy, Josie, and a few of the other women. They’re all nursing and baby-crazy, (except for Josie, who’s just pregnant and baby-crazy) so I feel like an outsider, even though I know they’re doing their best to include me. I don’t belong with the Baby Bunch, and after a few hours of talk about milk production and the best way to keep a baby’s tail clean, I’m starting to wonder if I should go hide in the cave with Asha.

I’m bummed that I didn’t get to go on hunting lessons with Hassen. Did I fuck everything up by having sex with him?

The next day, I decide to get one of the spears from the storage cave and go out and find him. If he won’t bring the lessons to me, I’ll go to him.

I sneak out—like the terrible person that I am—shortly after breakfast, when the fire pit is empty and the girls are putting their babies down for mid-morning naps. Hemalo and one of the elders are working in the main cave on a large leather hide, but they aren’t looking in my direction, their backs to me. I grab the spear I hid near the door and race out, hauling my cloak and snowshoes along with me as I go. I’ll dress properly for the elements once I’m out of sight of the cave itself.

Of course, once I’m out of sight of the cave, I’m greeted with nothing but endless snow. The area that the main tribal cave is in is relatively flat, and behind me there’s nothing but steep cliff walls. Ahead of me, it’s rolling hills of white dotted with some pink trees that flutter here and there. In the distance, I can see cliffs, and even farther away than that, the hint of mountains. The day is clear and cold, and the two weak suns are doing their best to give off some decent sunlight, but it’s still not enough to warm the place up. I trudge over a nearby rise, slogging through the snow, and when I’m far enough away that I don’t think anyone’s going to race after me and drag me back to the cave, I stop to put on my snowshoes and wrap an over-cloak around my body.

And then I walk. The last time I went out to try and hunt, Hassen bitched at me about following footprints, so I’m going to do as I’m told. I find fresh tracks leading away from the home caves and figure they have to belong to one of the hunters. Using my spear as a ski-pole, I trudge along, looking for Hassen.

Or another hunter.

Or animals, I guess, since I’m out hunting.

Of course, the farther I get away from the cave, the more open and vulnerable I feel. Last time I ventured out, it wasn’t like this. Last time when I set out, I hadn’t been attacked by a metlak and one of those ugly, skinny cat-things, though. I remember them and the fear and anger on Hassen’s face when he realized I was out. That’s when I figured I was in danger. Now, I watch the snow, worrying that there are hidden dangers I’m not seeing behind every fluffy white hill.

I’ve been gone for maybe an hour when a large figure appears in the distance and starts stalking toward me, distinctive black hair fluttering over blue shoulders. Twin spears are crossed over his back. Yeah, I know that guy. It’s Hassen, and he looks pissed.

Okay, he also looks pretty badass at the moment and it’s making me go sploosh in my non-existent panties. Because seeing that arrogant swagger? That angry stalking thing he’s doing? It makes me think of our intense little round in the storage room, and my body is screaming for round two.

I’ve never thought of myself as a particularly man-hungry sort of girl, but Hassen? He does it for me. Which is why I fooled around with him despite knowing it was a bad idea and knowing that he was the douche that stole my sister.

Plus, out of this entire happy tribe of do-gooders and mommies, he’s an outcast. And boy, can I relate to that. He’s the one that doesn’t fit in, that doesn’t belong when couples are gathered around the fire and being cozy. He’s the one that never gets what he wants, and he sure isn’t the hero.

That kind of makes him my people, though, because I know how all of that feels.

So it hurts that he’s angry at me after what we shared. What we had yesterday was pretty awesome. I’m down for more awesome, but not if it comes with him trying to claim me. God, what would Lila say? She’d look at me like I’d lost my mind. And maybe I have. A quick throwaway fuck is one thing. Shacking up with a guy as a replacement to my sister is another.

And no matter what Hassen says to me, I know what it’ll look like to everyone else.

It just reminds me that I’m making the right choice. That he might be good to sleep with on the down-low, but it can’t mean anything—to him or to me.

As he approaches, I try to look cool. Like I’ve got things all handled and I know what I’m doing out here. “Oh, hey, Hassen. How’s it going?”

“What do you do out here, Mah-dee?” He crosses his arms over his nearly bare chest, emphasizing the pectorals I didn’t get enough time to lick yesterday.

I smile brightly. “I’m going hunting, of course.”

“Again you are by yourself? What games do you play?” Hassen’s frown is so dark, I swear people cringed three states over. “This world is dangerous.”

“No games. I want to help out. I want to learn to take care of myself. There’s no one at the cave except for pregnant ladies and elders. Everyone else is busy. And I had a teacher, but he got all butthurt and changed his mind about showing me how to hunt, remember?”

He steps even closer to me, and now we’re practically touching. My breathing becomes quicker, because I’m thinking about yesterday. About his big body covering mine. About his cock pushing into me, and the way he kissed me, and—

“You changed things between us, Mah-dee.” His voice is low, husky. Wounded.

Damn it. “Don’t guilt me. You could have said no.”

“How could I say no?” The look he gives me is devouring. It makes me prickle all over, and a familiar pulsing starts between my thighs. “I wanted it.”

“You want a mate. I just want a bit of fun,” I correct him. “It was never about commitment. It was about mutual need and pleasure. That’s all.”

“I do not want one night of you in my furs. I want you in them every night.” He reaches out and caresses my cheek. His fingers are incredibly warm and feel delicious against the biting chill.

“I’m not saying it just has to be one night,” I amend quickly. I know I wouldn’t mind another round. “But I’m not committing. No girl in her right mind is going to sleep with a guy once and then move in with him.” When he keeps touching my cheek, it takes everything I have not to lean into his caress. “Haven’t you heard of casual sex?”

“No,” he says bluntly.

Gah. “People don’t sleep with other people just for fun in your tribe?”

“Sometimes they do. I am not one of them.”

No, I guess he’s not, considering he was a virgin until yesterday. Still, the whole ‘needs commitment’ thing could have come up before I had my hands on his dick. He could have said something and then I would have found someone else to play with.

Except…I don’t think I would have. Hassen’s perfect for my needs because he’s solitary. He’s not heading back to the hunter cave to bro-down with the others to gossip. And he’s an exile, so he knows what it’s like to be lonely. And with this timing…it just made sense.

All right, the fact that he’s the hottest guy on the ice planet doesn’t hurt things, either. I mean, overall as a race, the sa-khui are good-looking. They’re tall, muscular, well-formed, and if you can get past the blue, the tail, and the horns? Oh, mama. In my eyes, Hassen puts the others to shame.

So, okay, maybe I wouldn’t have found someone else to play with. I just wouldn’t have played at all. I haven’t been attracted to anyone else like I am to Hassen. “You’re ruining what could be a good thing,” I tell him, since he’s sticking to his guns. “We could have fun together.”

“Yes, we could.” He caresses my cheek, and his thumb skates over my lower lip.

I have a feeling we’re not talking about the same thing. Damn it. And I wish that his touch didn’t feel so incredible or make my nipples as hard as diamonds. “I’m not changing my mind. I’m not mating. Not you, not anyone.”

Hassen’s hand drops.