Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (39 page)

“Frack
!”
Gyard exploded. “That’s more than the
Searcher’s
full crew!”

Tyshar looked to his commander. “Do you think
Captain Pryntal is a part of it?”

“Not if he had to work with Dr. Jyrl,” Bronsyn
replied with a twist to his smile. “Pryntal hates the male and
avoids all contact with him if he can.”

Something about those words niggled
in the back of Rykhan’s mind. He remembered how often he had seen
Bronsyn and the
Searcher’s
captain talking together on the voyage to Earth.
Finally, the idea clicked and he tapped his fingers on the
tabletop. “Do you think the captain would help in getting Leah and
Pam off the starship?”

Bronsyn’s eyebrows arched sharply
upward. “I don’t know but I can ask.” He pulled out his
tresl
and pushed a couple
buttons.

Rykhan sat back and shared a tight grin with
Wyst. Tyshar slapped Rykhan on the back as if in congratulations
for figuring out who else could help them. The other warriors were
sharing smiles and fist bumps although Rykhan thought it was still
too early to celebrate.

“Wait! I can’t hear you,” Bronsyn yelled into
his communication device. “What’s all that noise?” Swiping his
fingers over the small screen, Bronsyn activated the speaker so all
could hear what was happening.

“Someone or something activated the emergency
alarm system on deck five,” Captain Pryntal yelled. “Although our
sensors aren’t finding any evidence of the cause. There is no fire,
hull breach, or problems with the life support systems on that
floor. Hold on!”

Rykhan looked at Bronsyn. “That’s the deck
where Leah and I were staying.”

“The sensors just reported multiple
high-arcing
tresls
were activated in the corridor outside the observation
suite!”

Bronsyn growled. “Can you get the ID on who
they are?”

Captain Pryntal was quiet for a moment before
he mumbled, “That can’t be right.”

“What is it?”

“Why would four members of the
medical staff be on that deck and have their
tresls
set to kill?”

Rykhan and Wyst shot to their feet in
unison.

Both their faces bore identical expressions of
horror.

*.*.*.*.*

Leah couldn’t believe that in the space of a
heartbeat all her fear left her as she cowered into the corner of
the doorway. Sure, the claxon was still bleating, the lights were
still strobing and the dull thuds of booted feet were still coming
her way.

Nevertheless, she was inexplicitly
calm.

It was almost as if Rykhan had reached out and
touched her somehow.

Just as the bodies of four men passed by her,
she heard Pam’s, “psst! Apps.”

Leah leaned in order to watch the group as they
navigated the corner. It was weird how they all remained in step
even while performing a turn. Not to mention how they hadn’t spied
her in her hidey-hole against the doorway.

“Leah! Turn on your apps!” was Pam’s the next
hiss. Even though Leah twisted behind her, squinting to try to spy
her light-haired friend, she couldn’t see anything but the recesses
of doorways.

Shrugging, Leah dug deep into her bra and
pulled out her phone. Wiping the sweat off it, she pushed a couple
of buttons to access the different applications Arbrynt had
uploaded.

“It’s the inverted vee with all the dots,” Pam
whispered next and Leah found herself frowning as she quickly
swiped through the various screens.

“What does it do?” she whispered back over her
shoulder without taking her eyes away from her
cellphone.

“It’s a stun gun.”

“What? What? What?” Leah could hear the Picari
making their way back towards her position. One that had her
quickly shifting to the other side as she clicked off her phone and
went into statue mode.

The sound of grunts and a couple of throat
clearings met her ears. The Picaris searching for her and her
friend were talking among themselves. She only hoped that their
language conveyed frustration and disappointment in not locating
the two women.

At the sound of running feet coming from the
opposite direction of the searching aliens, Leah again moved to the
opposite corner only to find herself face-to-face with her friend.
“Whew, that was a close one,” her friend gasped before she leaned
out into the hall for a quick peek.

“Okay, here’s the dealio.” Pam moved until both
the women’s fronts were touching, each of their hands holding their
lighted cell phones. “Arbrynt put one of their stunners on our
phones. The symbol is the vee and the dots, got it? And you can
change the amount of charge by pushing your volume
buttons.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Leah voice was a quiet
mumble as she used her thumb to bring the app up. “He didn’t say
anything to me about it.”

In the reflected glow of the lights from their
phone’s screens, Pam’s eye roll couldn’t be missed. “So? He still
put a weapon in each of our hands. And from what those other dudes
were carrying, I’d say that was a good thing.”

Pam leaned out again before pulling her head
back into the recess. “We have four more corners before we even get
near the elevator that will take us down to the TIPS room. You
gotta be on your game, Leah. Absolutely one-hundred-percent
committed to our goal of getting off this damn ship. Are you with
me?”

Leah nodded and received a frown in
return.

“Are you with me?”

“Sure, I am,” Leah answered while performing
her previous nod. She didn’t know what Pam expected but the
repeated question was starting to piss her right the hell
off.

Pam pressed in tightly, her chest firmly
against Leah’s ribcage and raised both her chin and her cell so
that the light of its screen poured over each of them. “Are. You.
With. Me?”

“Get me off this fucking tin can with
thrusters.” Leah hissed hotly through clenched teeth. “I have a hot
alien to get to and a baby to save.”

Pam’s eyes crinkled and her teeth gleamed with
her wide smile. “Damn straight. So let’s go evade some aliens,
yeah? And if we can’t, we zap their tight Picari asses!”

*.*.*.*.*

“
She’s telling me there are a group
of Picari who are waiting for them around the next corner,” Wyst
mumbled and Rykhan automatically reached to touch the shoulder of
his brother-in-arms. Despite the other male’s protests, every
warrior was very aware that Wyst and Pam had somehow and in some
way joined. Wyst’s ability to hear her thoughts only proved it to
be true.

Rykhan allowed his eyes to close so he could
better follow Leah’s emotions, wishing he had the ability to read
her thoughts as well. She seemed inexplicitly calm and he could
feel her determination.

“You!” Wyst shouted as he twisted to glare at
Arbrynt. “You did something to their devices, did you not? Tell me
you did not arm them!”

Rykhan again felt himself tense as he realized
what Wyst meant. Had his brother-warrior provided the females
access to Picari weaponry?

Holding both palms both up and outward, Arbrynt
made a calming motion. “I only gave them the ability to use their
phones as one of Earth’s tasers. That is all. And I only explained
it to your mate, Wyst.”

“She is not my
fracking
mate,” came the heated reply
but to Rykhan’s ear, Wyst’s disavowal sounded hollow.

To circumvent any argument, Rykhan jumped
between the two men. “So Leah cannot actually kill anyone?” If she
killed any of the Picari crewmembers, death would be her sentence
as well, at least according to the laws of the Galaxian government.
Since she was currently, as Stege had so succinctly phrased it,
onboard a Galaxi star-cruiser, his Leah had to obey all Picari
laws, rulings, and edicts.

Whether she was aware of them or
not.

Ignorance was never a valid defense in any
Picari court of law.

“No.” Arbrynt’s gaze was clear and his voice
firm, and spoke of the man’s honesty and sincerity. “Their units
will only stun and can only do so from a distance of ten of Earth’s
measurement of ‘feet’ away.”

“Oh
Gyed
,” Wyst moaned and Rykhan found
himself offering his own silent prayer to
Tsiran
as well.

Rykhan sought out Bronsyn’s eyes in the crowd
of warriors standing as if they could not remain seated with all
that was happening so far away. “At least they have something to
protect themselves with.”

As assurances went, Rykhan thought it was
weak.

Nevertheless, it would have to do because it
was the only thing providing any measure of hope.

Chapter
Twenty-Eight

Leah stared at the black marks
marring the pristine walls of the
Searcher’s
hallways, blinking at the
heat she could still feel emanating from them. For the moment, she
and Pam were safe, tucked in and behind a barrier that bisected the
hall from its corner.

She didn’t like the scorch marks.

Not at all.

Because if any one of those blasts had hit her
skin, she was sure she would’ve been toast.

And that realization had sent her into the dark
area of abject terror, causing an numbing of both her mind and
body.

“Are you gonna freaking stand there with your
tongue in your mouth or are you gonna help me here?” Pam’s strident
demand brought Leah back to awareness and forced her to turn to the
men Pam was facing.

She couldn’t freeze up and allow her bone-deep
fear to incapacitate her. Nor could she allow Pam to battle the
Picaris all by herself. Get with the program, Leah, she chided
herself. If you want to stay alive and get back to Rykhan, you had
better get with it.

“Drop down into a crouch,” Leah advised,
straddling her friend’s much smaller form. “I’ll hit high and you
hit low.”

“Got it!” Pam confirmed and Leah saw another
beam of light take down the first of the Picari shooting at
them.

Aiming her own cellphone at the tallest male
facing her, Leah hit the lighted circle like she was simple taking
a picture. However, the shot hit three feet in front of her friend,
sparking off the metal on the floor. “Goddamn, Ley! Point the lens
at the freaking target and shoot them, not me, all
right?”

Leah adjusted her grasp and a thrill went
through her when the male she’d aimed for fell down. “I did
it!”

“Yeah, two down and only two to go,” Pam
drawled over the sound of their opponent’s charges ricocheting off
the walls. “But I don’t think their guns are the stun
kind.”

Leah stopped the movement of her thumb as she
cycled through Pam’s meaning. “You think they intend to actually
kill us?”

“I don’t think this is the Picari version of a
dinner invitation,” was the snarky rejoinder. “Wyst is telling me
we need to smoke their asses.”

Leah didn’t hide her smile as she zeroed in on
the next male and pressed the lighted circle, causing him to
collapse to the floor in an instant. She knew Pam and Wyst had
gotten together and her friend’s words proved it!

“Take that, dickhead!” Pam yelled as her
cellphone took out the last of their wardens. “Oh god, my power is
only at fifty-percent!”

“I’m at seventy-five. According to Arbrynt, you
only need a few seconds to re-charge.” Leah looked around corridor.
“So you and Wyst, huh?”

“Stop. Just stop.” Pam’s voice sounded tired
and more than confused. “He’s not my Rykhan, okay? And these
freaking units are solar-powered! Do you actually see any sunshine
nearby?”

With the full weight of her friend against her
legs and the peace Rykhan sent her to hold her steady, Leah
chuckled. “Yeah, right. And denial is not just a river in
Egypt.”

Sighting movement from one of the downed men,
Leah aimed and fired again. She smiled as he slipped back down to
the floor. Why did she view the males on the ship as aliens when
Rykhan and his group seemed to so…human?

“I think you’re just prevaricating in order not
to the face the truth,” Leah countered into the silence. She
wondered how long the Picaris would be out because the thought of
them coming around when she walked around them...she involuntarily
shivered without even completing the thought.

“I hate when you use twenty-five cent words,”
Pam sighed, but Leah was quick to note that the small blonde
leaning against her legs hadn’t negated her claim out of
hand.

“I think you need to simply accept your fate,
pretty girl,” Leah finally said after ascertaining none of the men
on the floor were moving. Yet. Yeah, yet was the operative word.
“You could and have done worse than Wyst.”

The other woman sagged against her thighs. Leah
felt Pam take in a long breath before releasing it. “I know, Ley. I
do. But he doesn’t want me.”