Love Without Boundaries (21 page)

“Why won’t any of them say my damn name, for god’s sake?” she chuffed, unwinding herself from Rykhan’s grasp and stepping towards the door.

And just as she cleared the doorway, she heard Rykhan’s explanation from behind.
 
“Because to call another man’s mate by her name before they are sealed is the worst sort of offense.
 
It means a challenge as to the validity of the proposed union and expresses the intent to fight until there is only one victor who remains to claim her.”

Stopping dead in her tracks, she turned and skewered Rykhan with a glare.
 
“That’s the most barbaric thing I’ve ever heard you say.
 
Women are not a prize to be won!”

“They are on Galaxia and Nutrol,” he muttered in correction as he approached.
 
“And the most worthy one a warrior can fight to attain.”

*.*.*.*.*

Leah had to admit her new and improved laptop was the shit, with its speed and the way she only had to point to an area in the holographic image that rested above the keyboard to access it.
 
The fact that it had its own power source was amazing as well.
 
But she still didn’t care for the way Arbrynt had taken off with her largest and still yet-to-be-fully-paid purchase.

As Pam led the group in comprising a grilled cheese and tomato soup lunch, Leah began building her spreadsheet, finding that it was so much easier to navigate than how she remembered.
 
And in expressing her delight, Rykhan explained it extremely succinctly.
 
“Arbrynt makes every sort of mechanical thing better.”

Shifting her gaze to the other blonde warrior, she saw he was staring at his huge hands as he attempted to spread butter on the slices of bread spread out before him.
 
But the softness of the squares caught on the knife he wielded, tearing into the spongy, yeasty pieces.
 
Without thinking about it, Leah went to stand next to him.
 
Taking the knife from his large fist, she held it and then subtly turned it until it was canted at an angle.
 
“You need to
smear
the butter onto the surface, Brent,” she mumbled, hoping she wasn’t overstepping her bounds in helping the large, proud man.
 
And handing him the knife with a small smile, she saw the warrior’s frown ease.

‘Maybe Bronsyn was right’
, she told herself as she took in all the activity within the large kitchen.
 
Maybe she and Pam could be the ones to help the alien men navigate the slippery shores of Earth’s culture in order to find women that would not only provide them with children but who could also help rebuild their planets.

‘And find happiness in their fucking’
, her mind continued in such a snarky tone that her lips curled into a smile.
 
Darting a glance at Rykhan, she let her eyes rest on the gorgeous man that claimed to be her destiny.

What was it about him that held her so enthralled?
 
Yeah, he was hot as hell.
 
And sweet, which was a huge bonus.
 
But there was something else, something that downright connected him to her in a way she couldn’t understand much less
explain
to herself.

Reclaiming her seat, but determined to shut down the programs as she shared a meal with the group, Leah found Rykhan grabbing her hand to get her stop and pay attention.
 
“The way you approached Arbrynt was perfect, my Leah.
 
He is a prideful man, unbending in his ways.
 
But you guided him,
mica tisha
.
 
Allowed him to retain his dignity as you taught him…gentleness.”

Leah lifted her gaze to Rykhan before allowing it to slide to the other men that had taken their seats around the table.
 
When her eyes met Bronsyn’s, she saw the older man nod as if he’d heard Rykhan’s softly uttered words.
 
Tyshar too was looking at her with consideration and a small smile.
 
And she felt a need to push their compliments, both verbalized and unspoken, aside.
 
“It took me a while to work out the whole butter-to-bread thingie, myself.”

“But you shared it with us, our Leah of Phoenix,” Bronsyn said with a firm nod.
 
“It is a wise female who corrects a male without causing him to feel the loss of honor at her instruction.”

Leah closed her eyes and dropped her head.
 
It was too much for her to take.
 
Their scrutiny was one thing but when combined with their acceptance and gratitude for a gesture that was so simple…she didn’t know how to react except to retreat into herself.

Luckily, Pam picked up the slack directing everyone’s attention to her as she sashayed into the dining room carrying a large tureen.
 
“It may not be up to the Cordon Bleu’s standards, but I declare this lunch a success,” she giggled as she twisted to fit herself in between the warrior’s in order to place the large container in the center of the table.
 
Dusting her hands off as she stepped back, the woman Wyst liked to call ‘pixie’, and pointed her chin at the ceiling as she yelled, “Lunch is damn-well served, dudes.
 
Come and get it while it’s hot!”

And as the men eyed the beautifully painted tureen as well as the platter piled high with the wedges of sandwiches, Leah couldn’t stop herself from standing and reaching for Rykhan’s bowl.
 
“Seems you guys don’t know about the passing of plates.
 
So here’s how we’re gonna work it.
 
You hand me your bowl first and then give me another dish.”
 
She caught a couple of
embarrassed
expressions before she deliberately dropped her eyes to her hands as she dished out the thick soup into Rykhan’s bowl.
 
Handing it back to him and accepting the smaller plate, she placed a couple of toasted triangles on it before shoving it his way.

Soon, everyone had the food before them and all talk within the room quieted as each began to eat.

“Is this as it was in the time before?” Laxon asked, breaking the comfortable silence in a low voice.

“Yes.”
 
Leah wondered how Bronsyn was able to convey so much yearning with just his one word answer.
 
His eyes were trained on his bowl as he continued.
 
“It was the small everyday interactions that we all discovered we missed the most.
 
The sharing of meals, the conversations in the quiet of the evening after the younglings were in bed was when the ache for our females was most felt.
 
The togetherness…”
 
His voice wound down as if he was unable to continue.

Leah realized that while the men could’ve hidden their thoughts from her and Pam, most of the speech she’d heard that day had been in English.
 
Or the Picari version of it anyway.
 
And she realized that in speaking a dialect that Rykhan had admitted had been so hard for him and his warrior brothers to learn, using it in front of the women was their way of including her and Pam into their lives.

And seeing Pam wipe a tear from her cheek, Leah knew her friend was just as affected by Bronsyn’s words as she was.
 
But Pam seemed to think they’d all had enough sadness for the day and she clapped her hands together.
 
“Listen up!
 
After lunch we’re all going to the mall.
 
Time for trendy threads and
help
with the hair, boys!”

“I’m sorry I cannot attend,” Bronsyn said.
 
“There is a scheduled council call I must attend.”

“Leah and I won’t be going either,” Rykhan explained as he slid an arm around the woman seated next to him.
 
“Since my search is over, there is no need to change myself.”
 
He stopped and looked at Leah.
 
“Unless you think I need to.
 
Would you like me to cut my hair?”

“Nope,” Leah replied with a slow smile.
 
“I kind of like you just the way you are.
 
But are you sure your search is over?
 
As in, you don’t want to see anyone else?”
 
While she liked the fact that he had just admitted they were a couple, she wasn’t sure that he should put all his hopes on one girl.
 
The one girl who was reluctant to marry him and move to another galaxy.

Rykhan moved until his mouth was next to her ear.
 
“Did you not understand my text last night?
 
Of how I confessed that you are everything I’ve ever hoped to have?”

Leah held her breath as delicious shivers began to roam at the feel of his breath on her skin and the beautiful words he used.
 
It was almost overwhelming the way the man made her feel.
 
Feeling a need for a change in the conversation, she quickly started in on the first subject that came to mind.
 
“How’s Bronsyn going to be able to communicate with the council?
 
Aren’t they still on Galaxia?”

“Yes,” he drawled, handing his empty bowl and plate to Laxon before turning back to Leah.
 
“The signal he uses goes first to the
Searcher
and then they boost it to hit the relays that we set in place on our journey here.”

She must have looked confused because he further explained.
 
“The
Searcher
is our star-cruiser, the one Bronsyn mentioned yesterday.
 
At the moment, it is avoiding detection by idling behind your moon.
 
Bronsyn’s transmission will go first to the star-cruiser where it is amplified in order to reach the first of the relay beacons, there the signal will be amplified again and bounced to the next relay, and so on until it is picked up in Galaxia.”

Leah tried to imagine how it worked but couldn’t quite see it in her mind’s eye.
 
“Wouldn’t there be a time delay?”

“There is,” Rykhan agreed.
 
“But not more than twenty lesps during any communication.
 
Which means that Bronsyn’s meetings can be very lengthy.
”

“I can imagine,” Leah murmured as her head spun with the new knowledge.
 
“What is the
Searcher
like?
 
I mean, you said that you’d been on board it for what?
 
Six merts or something?”

She took his smile to mean that he liked that she remembered the finer points of yesterday’s conversation.
 
Either that or because she used the Picari word ‘merts’ instead of saying ‘months’.
 
“If I could get permission would you like to see it?
 
Maybe do a…what do you call it?
 
A tour?”

Leah’s heart thrilled at the idea!
 
“But how would we get there?
 
Do you have a shuttle or something so you can travel back and forth?”

“We studied how the people of your world treat things they do not understand and know that we cannot run the chance of being detected while we are here.
 
So we used our TIPS system to travel from the
Searcher
to Earth’s surface.” Rykhan had been idly playing with her fingers as he spoke, both of them unaware of the noise made by the group as they cleaned up the kitchen after lunch.

“TIPS?”

“Triangulated Intergalactic Particle Scrambler.
 
TIPS for short,” he replied without missing a beat.
 
But as he gave the full name for the abbreviations, Leah felt her heart begin to pound.
 
“Is something wrong, my Leah?
 
Why has your face gone white and you look so afraid?”

“I-is it like that old TV s-show?
 
L-like that science f-fiction show from the 70’s?”
 
Her voice was a high squeak and she found herself clutching his hand.

Rykhan’s voice held the edge of humor when he answered her and Leah wondered why he found her absolute fear funny.
 
“The one about trekking among the stars or something?
 
Yes, we watched portions of it while we were traveling.
 
Very entertaining even if some of the ideas expressed were improbable.”
 
He twisted his wrist until their hands were palm to palm and used his thumb to caress her knuckles.
 
Leah experienced a wave of calmness that took away the sharp edge of the panic his explanation had caused.
 
That was until he continued.
 
“But they did very well with the teleportation side of it.”

Snatching her hand from his grasp, she couldn’t help her, “oh hell to the no,” from escaping her lips in a rush.
 
Pushing back her chair, she stood on quaking legs, her eyes shooting around the now empty room.
 
“Where’d everybody go?”

“Didn’t Pam say she was taking them to the mall?”

“They left?” Leah couldn’t believe she hadn’t heard the entire group, a loud and very large crowd as it were, exiting the house.
 
“So what do we do now?”