Free Barbarian's Taming: A SciFi Alien Romance (Ice Planet Barbarians Book 9) by Ruby Dixon Page A

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.

    * * *
    H assen avoids me 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