Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (16 page)

Chapter Eleven

“So what you’re telling me is that it can’t be
removed?” Leah scowled so hard at the doctor in front of her until
she gave herself a headache.

The doctor shook his head while his eyes
drifted back to the x-rays under review by two of his colleagues.
It seemed that she wasn’t the only person on the face of the planet
who couldn’t understand the metal on her arm.

“Not even with surgery,” one of the younger men
answered as he also stared at the ghost images on the heavy film.
“See how it’s anchored within the muscle?”

“Even when she flexed both her biceps and
triceps brachia, the metal shifted as if to allow muscle action.
Amazing!” The third doctor, some kind of ortho-specialist, was
appeared the most intrigued with the shit that had made an
overnight appearance on her body.

Leah hung her head and closed her eyes.
“There’s nothing you can do?”

“But you aren’t in any pain, correct?” The
doctor who’d performed the original examination glanced her
way.

She shook her head and sighed. “No, I’m not in
pain. I just want to know what it is and how to get it
off.”

The youngest of the three stepped towards her
with a small professional smile. “As we have been trying to
explain, we’ve never seen anything like this before. And as far as
we can tell, there is no way to remove it.”

“And since it’s not causing you any discomfort
nor any other medical issues, then I would suggest you just learn
to live with it,” the specialist finished, patting her knee before
moving to the door. With his hand on the doorknob, he stopped and
looked at her over his shoulder. “If you change your mind about
allowing me to write a paper on it…”

“I won’t,” Leah said firmly, scooting herself
to the edge of the table and hopping down. “Since there’s nothing
you fellows can do to help me, is it okay if I go home
now?”

At their nod, Leah eased out the room and made
her way back to the lobby after a nurse told her where Pam waited.
Pushing through the heavy door, Leah pulled her lightweight sweater
tighter around her chest and waist as she searched the small
waiting room. While it held more people than it had when they’d
arrived, it wasn’t a large space yet Leah didn’t to see Pam
anywhere. Just as she’d decided to go look for her outside, Pam’s
distinctive giggle caught her ear. Leah glanced at the two broad
backs were turned away from her and shook her head.

“Let me show you, Ryk,” Pam’s voice trilled
before a very feminine hand bunch the hair at one of the men’s
necks and held it aloft. Rocked to her core, Leah slowly walked to
where the group sat, only just then realizing to whom the broad
backs belonged.

Rykhan leaned his head to the side, his eyes
following Pam’s finger as Wyst twisted his head away. Pam
practically straddled Wyst’s thighs in the chair, the view shooting
Leah’s eyebrows up sharply at the sight. “See that vine there? It’s
on his right but on the necklace, it’s on the left. But that’s the
only difference I think.”

After crossing her arms on her chest, Leah
cleared her throat again. All three of them were caught up on a
subject pertaining to Wyst’s neck. They were so deep in their
conversation, her noise hadn’t even given them pause. “Excuse me?”
she said finally and saw all of their eyes shoot to her.

“Leah!” Pam yelled and jumped up off Wyst’s lap
to hug her tight. “How are you? What did the doctor’s say? Are you
alright?”

Rykhan and Wyst stood as well, towering over
her much more than she remembered from the times previously, but
she’d been wearing heels then instead of her favorite pair of
flip-flops. As well as dressed for going out instead of wearing a
pair of pink sleep pants and a matching tank top. Thank god she’d
put on a bra and grabbed her sweater before they’d left the
house.

“There’s nothing they can do,” Leah muttered,
patting her shorter friend on the back before jutting her chin at
the two large bodies that were standing shoulder to shoulder. “What
are they doing here?”

“I became worried when I could not reach you on
your phone cell,” Rykhan said, his Caribbean-blue eyes searching
her face. Deep concern crossed his features and matched the
emotions Leah could sense rolling off of him.

“He means cellphone, I think,” Pam
corrected.

Wyst added, “I called Pam and she said you were
seeing a physician.”

“Big mouth,” Leah muttered low but loud enough
for her best friend to hear. “Well thank you for coming but I’ve
got to go home now.” Turning away, she picked up her purse from the
floor and headed to the nearest exit.

“Leah, wait!” Rykhan caught up to her and
placed a hand on her shoulder. “I think we need to
talk.”

At his touch, the metal on her arm increased in
temperature and her insides began to unknot.

Ignoring those changes, Leah huffed and met his
gaze. “I don’t think this is a good time, Rykhan. I’ll give you a
call and we’ll get together later in the week, okay?”

“No, Leah,” Pam cut in. “I think you’re going
to want to hear this.”

Wyst threw in his two cents as well. “It might
even make you feel better.”

Was it team up against Leah day?

“Listen, folks.” Leah’s bit out a little more
forcefully than she intended, but she couldn’t help it. “I’m tired,
I’m frustrated, and more than a little freaked out. This means I’m
not in the mood to socialize. So if you’ll excuse me and Pam, she
can just drop me off at my place and then you all can go back to
whatever it was that you were doing.”

Each of them blinked in surprise and Leah knew
she’d made her point, maybe a little too well.

“Now you listen to me!” Pam whispered fiercely,
going up onto her tiptoes to point a finger up at Leah. “You got me
up at the butt-crack of dawn, scared the shit out of me to boot and
made me wait around for hours, all without a drop of
caffeine!”

Uh-oh. In her distress over her new body
jewelry, Leah had completely forgotten how Pam could barely
function without her morning ration of extra strong coffee. Amends
needed to be made and fast. “We can stop at Cleo’s before you drop
me off. My treat.”

Arched brows dipped low over glaring eyes but
Pam pulled back her finger. Leah could tell Pam was still pissed as
hell. “That’d be a start. But you are going to listen to what
Rykhan and Wyst have to say!”

Leah bristled at Pam’s bossiness, especially
after everything she’d been through this morning. “Fine! Only not
here. Anywhere but freaking here, okay?”

Turning away from the group and stomping
towards the doors, she stopped and twisted back over her shoulder.
“But I need a shower and breakfast first!”

Rykhan rused to her side and pushed open the
door. Leah didn’t even glance at him as she stormed passed aware of
the whispers between Wyst and Pam who followed. Spotting Pam’s SUV,
Leah made a beeline for it, unconcerned if Rykhan kept up with her
long strides.

Surprise held her immobile when she stopped and
glanced behind her to see all of them again looking at her with
worry in their eyes. Huffing as she adjusted the purse-strap on her
shoulder, she frowned at them. “What?”

“Erm, Wyst and I decided that Ryk will take you
back to your place and I’ll go with Wyst on his motorcycle.” Pam
chewed her bottom lip then rushed out the rest of her latest
scheme. “We’ll pick up coffee and breakfast on the way.”

Leah couldn’t believe the words coming out of
her best friend’s mouth. “So I’m just supposed to make Rykhan wait
as I take a shower and then you two will join us later? And somehow
the promise of you bringing coffee and breakfast is supposed to
make me feel better about everything because you’ve spent a couple
of hours flirting with each other in an urgent care waiting room
while I was losing my ever loving mind?” She almost, but not quite,
screeched at the end of her speech, but damn! Pam’s choice of
activities was too much!

Pam glanced up at Wyst, and Leah couldn’t help
but wonder at their newfound unity.

“Your suggestion has upset her,” Rykhan
declared, crossing his massive arms over his chest surprising the
woman now standing open-mouthed by his side. “What would make you
feel better, my Leah?”

“Oh, ah,” she stammered, more than a little out
of her depth and a little bit ashamed at creating such a scene,
especially when Rykhan was being so solicitous of her feelings.
“Can you guys give Pam and me an hour? Then we can meet someplace
and talk.”

“Easily done,” Rykhan rumbled giving her a
small grin. “I will phone you in an hour and we can decide our
destination then.”

Inhaling deeply, a small grin of relief crossed
her face. She liked that he was so willing to be flexible and
seemed to understand her need to process both her morning and his
unasked for, unexpected appearance.

“Good! Now that we’ve got that settled, can we
get this show on the road?” Pam cried, throwing up her hands. “I’m
going through withdrawal here and am in desperate need of coffee,
people!”

Leah glanced at Rykhan and silently mouthed,
‘thank you’ before climbing into the car. Te warmth of his
responding smile throbbed deep within her, taking away some of the
stronger emotions of her morning.

*.*.*.*.*

Leah felt even better when she and Pam climbed
back into the car a little more than an hour later. The coffee,
food, and shower had gone a long way in almost calming her into
accepting the presence of the band on her arm.

She’d spent several minutes in the bathroom
looking at it in the mirror and replaying all the different tests
and the doctor’s reactions to it before deciding the bracelet
really was very pretty in a badass sort of way. The physicians had
used several instruments to try to find any opening in the links or
between her skin and the metal, but they had been just as
unsuccessful as she and Pam were earlier.

They had even tried to get a scraping of it,
explaining that perhaps if they knew the composite of the metal,
then they could determine the best way to remove it. Instead of
obtaining a shaving, their scalpels had broken every time they made
an attempt. The x-rays had been their last resort.

Well, that and the request by the specialist to
study it further in order to submit a paper on it. However, once
the man explained that while she believed it had simply appeared
overnight without her knowledge, he’d needed her to take a
psychiatric evaluation first.

Leah knew she wasn’t crazy.

She just wanted the damn thing off.

“Are you sure you’re okay with us meeting with
them in their backyard?” Pam wove her car in and out of the small
amount of daytime traffic on the 101 freeway. “I don’t think I
could take two freak-outs in one day.”

Leah ran a hand over her still drying hair and
looked at her friend with a rueful grin. “It seems to meet all my
requirements.” Raising her hands, she ticked a point on each finger
of the demands she’d made. “It’s outside…”

“Good thing it’s finally starting to cool off
or that little item would have had me objecting!”

“…
with other people
around…”

“Even if those ‘other people’ are the other
warriors, the ones we haven’t met yet?”

Leah nodded. “And we can come and go when we
please without a set schedule.”

Pam’s giggle had Leah turning to look at her.
“You drive a hard bargain, honey.”

“I know I’m being a pain in the ass but I’m
just not as trusting as you, Pam.” Leah spoke the absolute truth.
Her dating record was spotty at best, discovering whatever guy she
thought was a prince often turned out to be a lying, lazy player or
a frog. Providing solid evidence her instincts weren’t always
good.

Especially when it came to men.

“Oh my god,” Pam breathed, driving through an
open set of gates and staring up at the mansion in front of them.
“Is this it?”

Leah checked the address Rykhan had texted and
compared it with the numbers she’d seen on the stone pillar just to
the right of the driveway. “I think so.”

“Holy cow,” Pam muttered, unbuckling her
seatbelt while barely even blinking as her eyes roamed over the
very, very large home in front of them. “I knew they were suave and
dressed nice, but damn! Are they rich too?”

Even Leah had to admit to being impressed. Many
of the people she knew who were well to do usually made a point of
making others aware of their affluence straight away. But neither
Rykhan nor Wyst had ever alluded to their financial status when the
girls had been out with them.

Climbing out of the car, Leah pulled up her
jeans with a small hip wiggle and then checked to make sure that
the sleeve of her lightweight t-shirt covered her new bicep
bracelet. She’d considered dressing up a bit more but finally
decided that she needed to be comfortable for whatever the men
wanted to talk about in the meeting she’d been almost forced to
attend.

As Pam came to stand beside her, Leah asked her
again for a hint about what the subjects were going to be covered.
“Like I said before, Leah, I don’t think I’d explain it right.
Moreover, it’s just too damn important to get wrong straight out of
the gate. But it’s nothing to worry about and might help you get
some answers.”