Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (25 page)

Bronsyn was not sure which warrior
gasped at Rykhan’s admission but all the men had tensed at the
large male’s words. “I realize it is a private matter, something
only discussed between a male and his
blay
. But there is so much at stake
that you need to report about your coupling.”

With his gaze dropping back down to the
tabletop, Rykhan swore in Picari. “It was…it was exactly how we
have seen it done on Earth’s internet sex sites.” He sighed deeply,
audibly before continuing. “Only with a lot less noise and a lot
more emotion involved.”

“What do you mean emotion?” Tyshar, ever the
scientist, had more curiosity than the rest of them combined. “It
wasn’t just physical then?”

“No although the physical portion was…amazing,”
Rykhan confirmed. “I don’t know if I can describe it adequately but
while we were…when we were joined, I felt all sorts of different
feelings that went above and beyond the physical excitement of the
moment. Tender and protective as well as territorial about her. And
when she experienced her own pleasure—“

“What?”

“Human females can experience pleasure in the
act of…”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing!”

The voices around the table held equal measure
of disbelief and awe. Tyshar was the one who looked to their
commander. “Was that true of the Picari females as
well?”

“Not to my knowledge but Leah’s
warrior’s metal marks her as Rykhan’s one true mate. My pairing was
not of that nature.” Bronsyn admitted to himself that he had often
wondered if the almost mystical quality of true and legitimate
pairings spoken about in legend and song were different from what
he had had with his Maryll. To keep the discussion on track,
Bronsyn turned back to the other warrior recognizing his own envy
at the man’s experience and tucking that feeling firmly away. “Did
you bring your
wahroms
into play during your joining?”

“We did although it happened
accidentally.”

“And? Was the outcome as described by the
elders?” Bronsyn again felt the envy beat within him. What must it
be like to not only join with a female pre-ordained for you but
whose body’s adornment could intensify your connection?

Rykhan nodded and confirmed it verbally. “It
was.” His eyes took on an unfocused look. “The entire experience
was…it was...indescribable On every level.”

There seemed to be nothing left to say as each
man mulled over the Galaxi warrior’s words.

Bronsyn called an end to the meeting and as he
made his way to the little house he had appropriated, he wondered
if keeping his knowledge unspoken was a wise move. Especially in
light of Rykhan’s experience. The younger man had told of feeling
both protective and territorial about his mate during just the
simple joining.

How then would the loyal warrior react if his
mate was vilified and rejected when they arrived back on
Galaxia?

Chapter
Seventeen

“So I was thinking the categories of the
spreadsheet would be their different efforts, like dating websites,
singles events and places they’ve either gone or plan to go in
order to meet women,” Leah announced, looking over her notebook
she’d balanced on her lap. Pam had insisted on driving again the
following morning and after a quick stop at Cleo’s where they’d
armed themselves with more caffeine than they probably needed, were
making their way back to the ‘house of warriors’, as Pam called
it.

“You’re gonna have to do some research as well
because I don’t think our boys are tapping the entire good ass in
the area, if you know what I mean.” Pam shot her friend a huge
smile that accompanied a waggle of her carefully shaped brows. Both
women were again in jeans and girly t-shirts, but Pam’s read, “It’s
Only Kinky the First Time” in sequins where Leah’s was emblazoned
with the name of a local bar. Since that day had been specified as
an info gathering session, neither one had either the drive nor
felt the necessity to dress to impress.

“Noted,” Leah agreed, applying pen to paper.
“Did you get the magazines?”

“Yep but do you know the ratio between women’s
fashion magazines to men’s is almost ten to one? Geesh, don’t
editors know that guys need just as much help and encouragement
with their looks as we do?”

“But how many men are willing to be seen going
through the check-out with that stuff?”

“You might have a point,” Pam conceded, taking
one of the last turns into the exclusive area of Troon North a
little too fast. Fast enough that Pam clutched the steering wheel
as the car leaned sharply to the left. “I’ll do an internet search
too, just to see if I’m missing the crap all guys secretly want to
know but are too studly to purchase.”

Leah tucked her notepad and pen into the tote
bag she’d brought along for their first official meeting with the
Picari warriors. She’d brought along her laptop, hoping to be able
to put her findings into her computer to track each man’s progress
in securing a mate. Bronsyn had let it slip that his group was the
first of several missions that the combined Galaxian and Nutrolite
council had approved. Leah figured by documenting their efforts,
any subsequent quests might have a better advantage if the men knew
what worked and what didn’t. “Did you bring your
camera?”

“I was just going to use the one on my phone,”
Pam replied, pulling into the long, long driveway and stopping
before the then closed gates. Rolling down her window, Pam peered
up at the camera mounted on one of the high walls before she called
out, “little pigs, little pigs, won’t you let me come in?” gaining
an honest giggle from her dark-haired passenger.

“They don’t know our nursery rhymes,” Leah
mumbled in her mirth.

“Yeah, well. It made you laugh, didn’t
it?”

As the gates opened and the SUV went the last
fifty or so yards to the front door, Leah saw they had a welcoming
committee that included every warrior in residence. Each and every
face wore a smile. “I think they’re glad to see us.”

“Wouldn’t you be? I mean, from what they told
me, our gender is the stuff of dreams to them,” Pam shot back
before quickly exiting the car and running to the stairs. Rykhan
broke away from the group as he came to greet her.

And what a greeting it was! Yanking open her
door, he didn’t even wait for her to unlatch herself from the
seatbelt before settling his lips over hers. Not that Leah
complained. Even though, when they finally disengaged, she murmured
an, “Impatient much?” through swollen lips.

“I have missed you, my Leah,” he breathed,
pressing his forehead into hers. With her sitting in the SUV and
him standing outside, they were almost eye-to-eye.

‘And I couldn’t have a better view,’ Leah told
herself, but aloud said, “Good morning, baby. How are
you?”

Rykhan laughed in answer and quickly had her
and her tote out of the car as he guided her along the driveway. “I
was impatient for you to arrive.”

With only the hand he had pressed to her lower
back as if to help her up the stairs, Leah’s armband heated,
beginning to beat in small pulses like it also was happy to be near
him again. “What is in the bag, my Leah?”

“Things that I hope will help you and your
group,” she replied, smiling in greeting at the other men still
standing outside the front door. Pam leaned against Wyst but held
the fingers of Laxon on one side and Tyshar on the other. Raising
an eyebrow in query as she walked by, Pam only responded with a
grin accompanied by another eyebrow waggle.

Making her way to the huge dining room table,
Leah took her bag from Rykhan and plugged in her laptop. Arbrynt
stood next to Rykhan watching her every move.

“What is this device?” he asked his eyes
shifting from the computer to Leah before trailing back.

“A portable computer,” Leah said, glancing
around the room for the nearest plug. While she’d brought an
extension cord, she didn’t want to use it if she didn’t have to.
After locating the nearest outlet, she pulled out the chair closest
to it, opened the device, and pushed the power button. “I thought
I’d use Excel to document your dating efforts to see what works and
what doesn’t.”

Both Rykhan and Arbrynt’s faces scrunched in
confusion at her carelessly tossed out words, so Leah did a bit
more explaining.

“This device holds a program that is a
spreadsheet. I believe that in order to quantify the results of
your quest, documenting what methods you’ve employed in order to
meet the highest number of…ah females, and which areas you have not
yet used, would help identify what efforts have the highest
percentage of success in your quest.” While she felt like a total
ass spouting off the techno-speak, both the warrior’s faces relaxed
in understanding and at the view, Leah thought she’d won some kind
of contest. She waved the men over and pointed to the screen that
was just then lighting up in front of her. “See?”

“What is this thing?” Arbrynt asked again as
Leah pressed some keys while she pulled up a new, empty Excel
workbook. His eyes went to her before settling on Rykhan. “It is
old, slow and only has this plastic piece to view the
information!”

“Hey, wait a second! I just bought it right
after Christmas and I happen to know it’s the top of the line!”
Leah countered heatedly, watching the blonde giant as he blithely
closed the cover and disconnected the power cord. Scooping the unit
off the table, he tucked it under his arm and thumped his way to
the hallway, quickly disappearing around the corner.

Leah turned to Rykhan with her hands on her
hips while she sputtered, incredulous at the other warrior’s
imperialistic actions. “What the hell was that?”

Rykhan gathered her in his arms and
as soon as he touched her, she felt her frustration begin to ebb.
“He is just going to make it better,
mica
tisha
.
It will take him only a little time to improve it. Trust me when I
tell you your computer will be better when he returns it. More
superior to any other computing or communication device you can
purchase here on Earth.”

Somewhat mollified by Rykhan’s explanation as
well as the calm that had spread, Leah relaxed into his embrace and
gazed up into his clear blue-green eyes. “How long will it take
him?” she asked, feeling their shared look down to her
toes.

Seeming to catch on to her train of
thought, Rykhan pressed her closer. “Twenty
lesps
would be my guess.”

“And a ‘
lesp
’ converts to what in Earth
time?” she breathed, feeling the pulsations of her bracelet begin
to beat in a number of sensitive places on her body.

His eyes flash and the look in them began to
build her desire even before he answered. “One Earth minute, give
or take. So Arbrynt should return your unit in ten to fifteen
minutes.”

“Oh, goody,” she breathed, lifting her mouth
towards his, but just before their lips touched there was a flurry
of movement at the front door as the others came inside the house.
Grabbing her hand, Rykhan moved quickly into the little den that
they’d met with Bronsyn the day before.

As soon as the door closed, she was again
within the circle of his arms their mouths fused, tongues
undulating as they allowed their passion to flow between them.
Several minutes passed before Rykhan lifted his head. “That couch
looks comfortable.”

Turning her eyes away and training them on the
large piece of furniture covered in plaid, Leah decided not to play
coy. She wanted him too much to play any kind of game. “It
certainly does. But you could always bend me over one of those
armchairs…”

The light in his eyes flared as he caught onto
her suggestion and just as he shuffled her to the area behind the
pair of large cushioned chairs, there was a bump on the door. They
both stared in the direction of the sound before the door crashed
open as Pam and Wyst tumbled in a flurry of tangled
bodies.

It took Leah a couple of seconds before her
sex-crazed brain made sense of the scene, but once it did she
quickly covered her mouth to hold in the laugh that wanted to
escape.

Wyst was fully supporting her petite friend. He
had to, because the smaller woman’s legs encircled the large
warrior’s waist while her arms wrapped around his neck in what
appeared to be a death grip.

Apparently Pam’s protestations of the night
before had been just a denial regarding marriage and had not held
the truth in her feelings for Wyst. Not if what Leah was avidly
watching was true. In how the two couldn’t take their mouths off
each other long enough to determine if the room was empty or
not.

“You need to take yourself and your female
elsewhere, brother,” Rykhan announced on a low drawl and Wyst’s
eyes shot to where Leah and her warrior stood even though Wyst
still didn’t disconnect from Pam’s mouth.

“Honey, please,” Pam begged against his lips,
wiggling in supplication as she pulled Wyst’s t-shirt up. A move
Leah figured was a pretty difficult thing to do considering the
hard-pressed twining of their bodies.