Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (27 page)

“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?”

Rykhan slowly rose to his feet, taking his time
to stand as he used his palm in a warm caress that traveled from
the back of her thigh to her neck. “I’m sure we can think of
something.”

Leah quickly glanced at him, not missing the
purposeful intent of his eyes. Their sexy gleam gave her a clear
indication of his intentions.

Chapter
Eighteen

It was a couple of hours later when Rykhan,
with more than a few pillows scrunched behind his head and Leah’s
naked body tucked against his side, pointed to the hologram that
hovered his chest. “And this portion here? That is Galaxia’s
largest city, Rynx.”

“That’s where you live? When you’re not doing
your protector thing, is that where you hang your hat?” she asked
quietly, her eyes on the map he’d accessed after showing her the
globe of his home world.

“That is where I was born and grew up,” he
corrected. Using a finger, he swiped the floating screen and
another planet appeared. “When not on duty, I actually live on
Nutrol.”

She decided that she liked Nutrol better.
Galaxia, while beautiful seemed stark with its soaring, snow
covered mountains and green oceans. The fact that almost every
available surface on the planet had plain white buildings just made
it seem cold to her.

Nutrol appeared softer somehow, comprised of
brown, greens, and a deep, deep blue. As Rykhan touched the image,
it magnified and soon she could identify rolling hills teeming with
forests with acres and acres of grasslands all randomly dotted with
large houses. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed, watching as he
brought the images into sharper focus to settle on what appeared to
be a large log cabin set far away from its neighbors.

“This is my home,” L eah heard the pride in
Rykhan’s voice. “I share it with Myta and his husband Gryg who work
the fields and take care of the house.”

Arching her neck, Leah raised her face to his.
She wanted to see if his expression was as homesick as his voice
sounded. “You love it there.”

“I do,” he replied thickly. “Very
much.”

Canting her face back to the image, she
swallowed. “Is that where you want me to live?”

“Yes,
Tersa
blay
.”
A sharp yearning pierced Leah’s heart with all the emotion she
heard in his voice. “This is the home I hope to take you to, the
place where you will give birth and we will raise our younglings.”
He used two fingers in a scissoring motion and the picture turned,
bringing a barn and stable into view, rows of grain bordering its
back portion. “Where Galaxia is the technology center of the Picari
system, Nutrol is the planet known for its crops and animals. I
knew after only one visit to its surface that it was there I wanted
to live out my days.”

Leah considered his words as she studied at the
photograph. She could see herself there. Could imagine her and
Rykhan surrounded by children as they ran, jumped and played. Even
if it was only a fantasy she’d created, somehow it felt real, like
it was a memory of a time she’d already lived. But she had
absolutely no desire to be particle scrambled and stuck on a tin
can for six months in order to get there.

Fluffing the sheets that covered her, Leah
scooted and turned over onto her back.

‘This is’, she admitted to herself, ‘getting
complicated’.

Rykhan was still involved in the hologram,
giving her space to think. Instead of thinking about space
journeys, new planets and children though, Leah’s mind went back to
when he’d closed and locked his bedroom door before turning to her.
She’d been standing by the bed, her heart skittering as her body’s
need for him had surfaced.

“I want to undress you myself this
time,” he’d growled walking towards her, his eyes glowing with
desire. “I want to unwrap you from your clothes and feel your warm
nakedness pressed against me before I lay you back, spread your
legs and enter you at the exact moment our
wahroms
kiss.”

She was speechless, only able to blink, as her
warrior had done just as he warned they would do the next time they
made love. Their metal bracelets touched at the precise instant he
had filled her, and her body had exploded harder than she thought
possible. Her orgasm and its blood-throbbing pulsations, even as
quickly as they had come over her, didn’t ebbed for several long
minutes. Long enough for her to be aware that she had shared
Rykhan’s reaction as well through their link. Time enough for her
loud scream of utter and complete undoing to join and then quiet
with his.

Filled enough with emotions so raw, so primal
that she knew some part of her, in the deepest recesses of her
being, considered him to be her mate, the other half of her
soul.

As they came back to themselves, each back into
their own body and spirit, Rykhan began to move. Slowly but deeply,
he rocked himself into her, using his mouth on hers just as
sanguinely as his length moved in and back in a rhythm as old as
time.

There had been no words between them. Nothing
but their bodies movement, the tangling of their lips and tongues
as their hands slowly caressed whatever area of skin they came in
contact with. It was, at least to Leah’s mind, the perfect round
two after the almost mystical, spiritual joining with their
bracelets, bringing them both to the perfect pinnacle of pleasure
but in a much gentler way than they’d found themselves just minutes
before.

She relived those moments with Rykhan behind
her, still poring over his maps and holograms. As a next step, Leah
did not know what to do, how to act or what to say in order to try
to find a crack in all the beautifulness they’d built between them.
Although experience had taught her there were always chasms in a
relationship, the uneven pieces which caused couples to stumble and
break apart.

As was her way, Leah just chose one thought and
blurted it out. At least when she was with him.

“What does
Tersa
blay
mean?”

He gave out a huge yawn before
mumbling, “Sweet bride.” Leah turned her head to look at him as he
closed his communications device. Setting it on the small chest to
his right, he lifted the sheet and scooted up next to her. “It
means ‘sweet bride’,
mica
tisha
.”

“But we’re not married,” she countered, her own
body relaxing into sleepiness at the feel of his skin against
hers.

“Not yet, my Leah.” His jaw cracked with the
fulsomeness of the yawn he didn’t hide as he wound an arm over her
waist before cupping a breast. “But it is only a matter of
time.”

Leah wanted to deny it but was unable to exert
the effort of speech.

‘We can always talk about it tomorrow’, she
assured herself sleepily, snuggling deeper into Rykhan’s
embrace.

*.*.*.*.*

Leah awoke one muscle at a time, so refreshed
yet so tranquil she hated to open her eyes. Not understanding the
warmth she was cuddled up against, she strained to see what was
causing it.

A broad expanse of golden skin met her gaze and
when she breathed in, she realized it was Rykhan she smelled. His
natural scent was a heady blend of sandalwood and another spice she
couldn’t quite identify. Whatever it was, the combination was sexy
as hell.

She tucked herself securely against his back
with an arm around his waist that moved up and down with his sleepy
breathing. In the beautiful quiet with the heat of him against her,
Leah found a peace like none she’d never known. At her admission,
even if only in her mind, Leah examined the deep feelings for the
man beside her. Feelings she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted, not
when having them meant she wouldn’t be living the life she’d
planned for herself, on the planet that was her home.

Although when he described what he wanted, what
he thought they were destined to have in the bits and pieces he’d
shared, it hadn’t been so bad. Especially not when he’d shown her
his ranch on Nutrol. The fantasy she’d entertained at the viewing
was still front and center in her head. A dreamscape so close to
her adolescent, make-believe visions of what her adult life would
be like and, at the renewed thought, her heart knocked hard in her
chest.

“What are you thinking about that causes your
distress, my Leah?” his sleep-filled voice broke the silence of the
new morning.

“I’m not distressed, Rykhan,” she whispered
back, trying to deny the thrill she experienced when he called her
his.

“But your heart is beating very
fast.” Grabbing the hand she had tucked between his side and the
mattress, Rykhan turned onto his back while keeping her close.
“
Tersa
mandai
,
mica
tisha
,”
he murmured as his eyes moved over her face.

“What does that mean?”

Brushing his sun-streaked, sleep-tangled hair
off his forehead, Rykhan took a few moments to think. “Sweet
morning is the closest translation, I think. It is a traditional,
formal greeting of the early part of the day in Picari.”

She smiled and shifted until she was using his
shoulder as a pillow. “Then ters-ah man-day, right back at you,
baby.” Her hand slid to his chiseled abs exposed as the sheet moved
down at his movements.

He ran his hand over her back and drew Leah
closer. “I very much like waking up with you in my bed. Did you
sleep well?”

“Yeah, I did,” she admitted, using her fingers
to trail over the hills and valleys of his stomach muscles. She
angled her head so she could look up at him. “Although I think we
slept, like, fourteen hours or something.”

“Then our bodies needed it. Which our
physicians say is the best rest we can have.” He yawned again and
shifted into an involuntary stretch. “I am hungry.”

“Me, too. But I need a shower
first.”

“You are welcome to use my cleansing
unit,
Tersa
blay
,” he immediately answered and
covered her wandering fingers with his hand, holding them
still.

Naughty, delicious thoughts of wet, soapy
bodies crossed her mind but Leah knew she was too sore from
yesterday afternoon’s physical activity to indulge them. “How about
we make it a shower for two? You know, I’ll wash your back if you
wash mine?”

A flare of heat ignited in his blue-green eyes
before his lids lowered until they were half-hooded. “I’ve never
shared my daily cleanse but it sounds…inciting.”

“I think you mean ‘exciting’, baby,” she
corrected with a small giggle.

He lifted one eyebrow with suggestive grin.
“No, I believe I said it correctly. To incite means to cause an
action, yes?” The arm around her back tightened. “And I like the
actions we have between us, my Leah. Especially when we are locked
alone in my sleeping quarters.”

“I do too, Rykhan,” she breathed, holding his
gaze and feeling her pulse begin to pound in the tender, aching
flesh between her legs. “But if we’re gonna use the shower
together, we have to have a couple of rules, or I swear I won’t
survive it.”

He nodded once in curious
acquiescence.

“First off, no sex.” She almost laughed at the
disappointment that claimed his face. He looked like a little boy
denied access to his new favorite toy. “And secondly, we have to
keep our bracelets apart. No touching, brushing up against or
coming in contact even on accident. Okay?”

“Why no sex? Is joining in the morning
something that humans do not do?”

“No,” she drawled. Of all the conversations
they could be having, Leah decided explaining how her body was too
sore was one she mostly definitely didn’t want to engage in.
Knowing him, he’d probably ask to see the offending body part to
assess the damage. However, she somehow knew she wasn’t going to
get out of it unless she told him. “I’m too sore down there
to…”

“You are experiencing pain,
Tersa
blay
? Did I hurt you in our
pleasure?” He shot straight to sitting and grabbed at the sheet to
pull it off her body. “Are you bruised? Bleeding? I am so
sorry…”

She seized the bedcovers and wiggled away from
him and his impatience to ‘view’ the area affected with an
embarrassed giggle. “Stop it, Rykhan. I’m fine. Really. It’s just,
you know, I need time for my body to recuperate.”

“We have a tech-med unit here in the
house. I will get it and it will tell us if we need to transport to
the
Searcher
in
order to heal any damage…” he sat on the edge of the mattress,
reaching for his clothes before Leah place a hand in the middle of
his back in order to get his attention.

“Stop, please!” she cried, but her uncontained
giggles made her words sound different than the demand she’d
intended. “I’m fine, baby!”

He twisted his torso to capture her gaze. “It
hurts me to think of you in pain, Leah.”