Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (37 page)

No warrior responded but Rykhan saw agreement
in their eyes and faces.

“So what’s our next step?” He liked
that they were all united in belief that the
Rysling
in and of itself was simply
wrong on every level. The fact that they, the most loyal of all
Protectorates were willing to go against orders, was
mind-boggling.

“To get your female off the
Searcher
is the number
one goal at the moment,” Wyst voice was a dark, firm growl. “The
pixie said she would make your mate aware of what is
happening.”

Bronsyn’s
tresl
beeped and he looked at the
screen. “Commander Stege has requested a meeting with you, Rykhan.
I suggest you take the call in my quarters.”

Rykhan swallowed thickly. He had never met with
the Committee leader but with their new knowledge, he found the
timing of the request suspicious. “Certainly.”

As the two men walked away from the others,
Bronsyn clapped a hand on his warrior’s shoulder. “You need not
meet with the male alone. I will remain in the food-prep area where
our leader will not be aware of my presence.”

The nod Rykhan gave felt like more of a jerk.
The situation must be much more serious than he originally thought
if Bronsyn was offering to act as a witness.

Soon the image of the blonde leader, the
supreme commander of their quest, filled the large screen in
Bronsyn’s tiny house. As promised, Bronsyn was tucked out of view
of the screen. Rykhan gave the formal Picari greeting and the
gesture of abeyance to the man, but his movements were ones of
rote, not given out of any measure of respect.

“It has come to my attention that your female
refuses to give her approval for the harvest of her eggs,” the
older male started without preamble.

“Yes,” Rykhan quickly answered. He wanted to
get through this meeting as fast as possible. “According to our
laws, she is allowed control of her body, to do with it as she
wills. My mate has every right to deny the request.”

Commander Stege glared into the
screen. “Not once we evoke the writ of
Rysling
. Once in place, your human
female mate will have no say in the matter now will she?” There was
no denying the sneer in Stege’s voice.

“She is not Picari, therefore not subject to
our laws,” Rykhan asserted as calmly as he could, but his response
only gained him another narrow-eyed glare.

However, Stege swiftly changed his attitude and
Rykhan watched as a self-satisfied smile replaced the scowl. “She
is if she is aboard a Galaxi vessel.”

Rykhan’s stomach dropped to his
knees and he gripped the table edge until the wood groaned in
protest. Oh
Tsiran
! What was his commander planning? Moreover, how would Stege’s
plans affect his beautiful Leah?

“Therefore, I have withdrawn your
access to the TIPS system,” his leader continued, in a voice both
haughty and seemingly proud of the power he was able to wield.
“Until your little, fragile female has given up the right to both
her youngling and her ovum, you are banned from the
Searcher
and are to
remain planet-side.”

“Our youngling?” Rykhan stuttered in
bewilderment. “You cannot possibly think you have any rights to the
life she and I have created.”

“Both can and will, Protector Rykhan.” The
gleam of triumphant in the supreme commander’s eyes turned the
warrior’s stomach. “I have the wherewithal to make any and all
decisions for this mission. And I have plans for the tiny female
hybrid you’ve planted inside your human mate.”

Rykhan could not take a deep enough breath with
which to voice his objections. Not that he had any that were viable
in order to stop Stege from doing exactly as he wanted. No, by
remanding Rykhan to the surface and keeping his Leah as prisoner,
Rykhan had no way of fighting the man.

Not realizing it had been several moments since
Stege had spoken, Rykhan jumped when the voice boomed again. “I’m
waiting for you to accept my orders, warrior.”

At the manner the Committee leader demanded his
acceptance of a directive not based on the vows of the Picari
Protectorate and all that they stood for, Rykhan straightened,
staring directly back at the screen. “You can force me to remain
here and you can hold my mate hostage. But you cannot expect my
approval for an order that negates my allegiance to the Picari
Protectorate credo.”

“We’ll just see about that,” the other man spat
before he disconnected abruptly.

As the screen faded to black, Rykhan was unable
to stand and dropped back into the chair as Bronsyn swiftly moved
towards him.

“What are we going to do,
commander?” Rykhan asked on a shaking voice. “What in
Tsiran’s
name can we
do?”

*.*.*.*.*

After relaying all that he had overheard,
Bronsyn sat back in his chair and allowed the voices of his
warriors to swirl around him. Listening to Stege without giving his
presence away had been the hardest thing he had ever done. The boy,
the friend he had known in his youth was nothing like the crazed
male who controlled their mission. Bronsyn was absolutely certain
the supreme commander of the quest was insane, drunk on the power
he now wielded.

Bringing himself back into what the
warriors were discussing, Bronsyn saw Arbrynt bent over his
tresl
, his ever-present
case of tools on the table in front of him. Perhaps the warrior
needed something to occupy his hands as he thought, because Bronsyn
was also feeling the need to do something…anything!

“I still vote for transporting up to
the
Searcher
and
snatching Rykhan’s mate from beneath their very noses,” Gyard
ground out. “Who is going to fight against us? The crew?” His snort
of derision scoffed at the idea of the much smaller crewmembers
battling the elite of Picari’s finest warriors.

“Since the writ has yet to have been approved,
I think we need to contact the presidents of both Galaxia and
Nutrol and advise them of our situation.” Tyshar’s voice was as
calm as ever and made Bronsyn sit up in his chair.

“You think they are unaware of what the
Committee is doing?”

Tyshar looked directly at his mission commander
and nodded firmly. “I do. And I believe once our governments learn
what we suspect, of the measures Stege is precipitously taking,
they will be able to circumvent the Committee’s plans.”

“Do you think your cousin would be willing to
gain us an audience?” Bronsyn thought quickly. Did he know anyone
on Nutrol who could get him an appointment with the president of
the agrarian planet?

“My mother’s sister was married to the male who
now holds the Presidential gavel on Nutrol,” Laxon offered. “I can
contact him if you wish.”

“Do you think he will take your call?” Wyst
asked sharply. “How long has it been since you’ve spoken with
him.”

The younger man’s blush was a deep, bright red
as he replied. “He came to see us off, remember?”

Arbrynt’s device went off on a series of beeps
interrupting all the different conversations on the
patio.

“What the
Posket
are you working on, brother?”
Gyard demanded. “Can’t you see we’re trying to come up with a plan
of action here? Why aren’t you contributing instead of playing with
one of your toys?”

Taking no umbrage at Gyard’s harsh rebuke,
Arbrynt slowly smiled. “I’m not playing. I was simply trying to
find a way for Rykhan to communicate with his mate. And do so in a
way that will allow him to warn her without any of the crew or the
Committee knowing his words.”

Rykhan face held a look of incredulity as he
turned to Arbrynt. “You can cloak my speech?” He’d been beating
himself up over the fact that he couldn’t even talk to his mate
without others avidly listening and recording. There was no way to
warn her without giving away information he somehow suspected might
cost both of them their lives.

Arbrynt shook his head and then turned away
before nodding. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”

Wyst rolled his eyes. “Why can’t you ever speak
plainly, Arbrynt?”

The other warrior kept his smile in
place as he slid his
tresl
towards Rykhan.

Rykhan looked at the screen and
scowled. “I can’t read this! It looks like English, for
Tsiran’s
sake.”

“Exactly,” Arbrynt said with a waggle of his
eyebrows. “But your mate can.”

*.*.*.*.*

Leah was worried. Rykhan had never been gone so
long before and Pam claimed she didn’t want to leave her
unattended.

“I don’t trust that Jerry dude, Ley,” her
friend had finally admitted. “I’ll just stick around until your guy
gets back.”

Checking the clock on her computer, Leah saw
Rykhan had been gone for over three hours. “You don’t think
anything’s happened to him, do you?”

“Like what?” Pam asked distractedly, her face
never rising from her cellphone. “Geez, honey. No one’s gonna mess
with that group!”

“But what if he fell or hurt himself? What if
he had a heart attack or caught one of our earth diseases and can’t
move?”

Pam’s eyes shifted up to her friend without
lifting her head. “Jay-sus. Paranoid much?”

Leah couldn’t sit still and began to pace never
realizing she wrung her hands as her feet led her up and back in
the only open space in the room. “Do you think he’ll be back
soon?”

“Dunno,” Pam replied with a sigh. “But I do
know that you seem to be riding that hormonal highway all pregnatos
seem to hit at some point. Calm down, girlfriend! He’ll be here
when he gets here.”

Leah knew her bestie was only trying to help
but Leah felt something along her connection with Rykhan that told
her things were not right. He was very worried, but the worry was
edged in helplessness. Maybe her interpretation was wrong. Her
Rykhan was decisive and strong, the only man who could quiet her
fears, calm her with only a touch. He was not a worrier and she’d
never seen him helpless. She paced for more than a few
minutes.

“They’re gonna complain if you wear out their
carpet,” Pam eventually stated into the silence. “Plus all your
pacing is making me dizzy.”

“I can’t just sit still and…” Suddenly the
opening bars of the Star Wars theme filled the room and Leah raced
for her cellphone. Rykhan! But it wasn’t a call, just a text. As
she put in her security code and went to her messenger menu, she
wondered why he didn’t just talk to her direct. She knew with all
the kick-ass enhancements Arbrynt had made to both hers and Pam’s
phones, Rykhan should’ve been able to reach her even on the other
side of the moon.

“Oh my god!” she exclaimed as the full message
came up. “When did they learn to write?”

Pam ran to her friend and grabbed the phone,
tilting it enough so she could read along.

My Leah the text began. My orders
are to stay on the planet and not return to the
Searcher
. You are to remain onboard.
Your friend must help you escape immediately. Wyst says to use
girl-power. I await your arrival and pray for your
safety.

“Well, isn’t that sweet?” Pam announced loudly,
staring up into Leah’s friends face as she bugged out her eyes. “A
little Earth-side sexy-text to let you know he’s all right.
Seriously cool, girlfriend!”

Leah felt her eyebrows draw together until she
realized what Pam tried to silently convey. The message, written in
perfect English, gave no clue how Rykhan had accomplished it.
However, she more than understood the warning.

They were keeping her man from her.

While holding her and their child
hostage.

Leah read the message again before she took a
stab at speaking. “He’s so romantic.” Moving to the table, Leah
grabbed the pen and pulled the pad of paper towards her. “That’s
one of the best things about those guys, don’t you think? That
they’re all just a bunch of softies at heart?”

“I guess,” Pam replied dubiously as she trailed
after her friend. Reading the words Leah wrote, Pam quickly got
with the program. “A lot more than the human guys I
know.”

Do you know the way to the TIPS room? And how
willing are you to kick some alien ass if the need
arises?.

Pam’s sapphire eyes caught on Leah’s dark green
ones. She nodded once and then gave her reply. “Yes! These warriors
are better than most of the men I’ve dated. Well, with the
exception of that dude from Hawaii. He was seriously off the
charts.”

Leah bent down and removed her shoes while her
eyes moved over all her possessions scattered around the room. As
far as she was concerned, she had nothing onboard she considered
irreplaceable.

Wait! Maybe her cellphone. She might need her
phone in the future.

Tucking it into the deep cup of her bra, she
watched as Pam removed her shoes and secured her own phone. Taking
a deep breath, Leah pulled her tinier friend into a hug. “For good
or for worse, we’re in this together,” she whispered fervently,
proud her voice only shook a little.