Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (26 page)

“Sorry,” Wyst offered, but Leah could swear it
was on a moan as he backed out the door, snatching and missing the
handle as if to close it.

She turned to look at the man standing behind
her and couldn’t repress her smile. “So we aren’t the only ones,
huh?”

“I do not think their attraction is
the same as ours,
Tersa
blay
,” Rykhan intoned
slowly as he caressed her waist, lifting a hand to indicate
her
wahrom
.
“Perhaps you could warn your friend that Wyst…”

“I can’t warn Pam about shit, baby,” Leah
interrupted, fully moving to squash herself against the man who was
beginning to ensnare her heart. “She’s got her own mind, her own
way of deciding what’s good and what’s bad. Between right and
wrong.” She looked back at the still opened door with a sigh. “And
if she’s set her sights on your Wyst, then…”

“He has stated many times that he will join
with as many human females as he can before he is required to pair
with just one, my Leah.” His voice reflected the concern she was
able to see in his face. “I do not wish the sister-of-your-heart to
become hurt by his inability to settle.”

Raising her observation from his mouth to his
eyes to see pity reflected and decided she needed to warn him as
well. “What happens if she breaks his heart, hmm? My girlie likes
men and isn’t shy about her need for variety.”

His eyes took on a steadier gaze, one that
spoke of his thoughts and almost warned her of his next question.
“And you, my Leah? Are you the same about needing variety, several
men to assuage your needs?”

She stared up at him, shocked Rykhan could even
entertain that particular notion after what they’d done in his bed
yesterday. As she opened her mouth to blast him and his thoughts
all to hell, she heard Arbrynt call. The blonde warrior was
bellowing, “Rykhan’s female? Where is Rykhan’s female?”

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

Just as she cleared the doorway Rykhan’s
explanation came 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 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. However, she still didn’t care for the way Arbrynt had taken
off with her largest and still yet-to-be-fully-paid-for
purchase.

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

The other blonde warrior 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 and tore into the spongy, yeasty pieces.
Without thinking, Leah moved to stand next to him. She took the
knife from his large fist, held it and then subtly turned it until
it was canted on an angle. “You need to smear the butter onto the
surface, Brent,” she murmured, hoping she hadn’t overstepped her
bounds in helping the large man. She handed the knife back with a
small smile and the warrior’s frown eased.

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

‘And find happiness in bed’, her mind squealed
so loud she giggled. Darting a glance at Rykhan, she let her eyes
rest on the gorgeous man who claimed to be her destiny.

What was it about him that held her so
enthralled? Yeah, he was hot as hell. Sweet too, which was a huge
bonus. However, there was something else, something that downright
connected them in a way she didn’t understand.

Reclaiming her seat to shut down the
programs, Rykhan grabbed her hand to get her attention. “The way
you approached Arbrynt was perfect, my Leah. He is a prideful man,
unbending in his ways. And yet, you guided him,
mica
tisha
.
Allowed him to retain his dignity as you taught
him…gentleness.”

Leah lifted her gaze to Rykhan before shifting
it to the other men around the table. When her eyes met Bronsyn’s,
the older man nodded as if he’d heard Rykhan’s softly uttered
words. Tyshar too was looking at her with consideration and a small
smile. 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 thingy, myself.”

“But you shared it with us, our Leah of
Phoenix,” Bronsyn murmured firmly. “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 and pointed her chin at the ceiling as she
yelled, “Lunch is damn-well served, dudes. Come and get it while
it’s hot!”

The men eyed the beautifully painted tureen as
well as the platter piled high with the wedges of sandwiches but
made no other move. Leah stood and reached for Rykhan’s bowl.
“Seems you guys don’t know about the passing of plates. Therefore,
here’s how we’re gonna work it. You hand me your bowl first and
then give me your other dish.” There were a couple of embarrassed
expressions before she dropped her eyes to her hands as she ladled
the thick soup into Rykhan’s bowl. She handed it back to him and
accepted the smaller plate that soon filled with several sandwich
triangles.

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? With
your blays?” Laxon asked, breaking the comfortable silence in a low
voice.

“Yes.” Bronsyn’s held so much yearning in just
his one word answer. His eyes stared into 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 loss found all of us grieving. Without our females,
the togetherness…” The commander’s regretful voice wound down
slowly.

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

Pam wiped a tear from her cheek and Leah
thought her friend was just as affected by Bronsyn’s words as she
was. The other woman called a halt to the sadness as 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 Committee 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 turned to 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. Are you sure your search is over,
though? As in, you don’t want to see anyone else?” While she liked
the fact he had just admitted they were a couple, she wasn’t sure
that he should put all his hopes on one girl. Especially because
he’d zeroed in on the one girl reluctant to marry him and move to
another galaxy.

Rykhan leaned until his mouth rested 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 with his breath on her skin and the beautiful words he
used. It was overwhelming the way the man made her feel. Deciding
there was a definite 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 your people? 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.”

Her confusion brought her eyebrows
together and at the sight, Rykhan explained in more detail.
“The
Searcher
is
our star-cruiser, the one Bronsyn mentioned yesterday. Now, 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?”

“Not any of measure,” Rykhan agreed. “Galaxia
is famous for our amazing technology.”

“
I can imagine,” Leah murmured
her head spinning 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 had 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
idly played with her fingers as he spoke, both of them unaware of
the noise made by the group doing a quick clean of 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’s 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 squeaked and she
clutched his hand tightly.

Rykhan’s voice held the edge of humor when he
answered her and Leah bristled. He shouldn’t find her 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.
She pushed back her chair and stood on quaking legs, her eyes
darting around the now empty room. “Where’d everybody
go?”

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