Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (41 page)

“Just point the way home, honey.”

Chapter
Twenty-Nine

The reunion of the two human females and the
Picari warriors was a joyous one even if it initially started in
the dusty garage on the large North Troon estate. Rykhan smiled to
himself as he remembered how both his mate and her friend were
passed around until every single warrior was given a chance to hug
each of the females in welcome.

However, he had been the first to hold his Leah
as well as the last.

Even then, a couple of hours later, she was
still snuggled against him as everyone gathered in the main sitting
room of the large house. His eyes drifted over to Wyst and saw his
brother who darted glances at his little mate, sitting across the
room as she straddled the arm of one of the couches. He only hoped
the two of them could work out their differences and put whatever
acrimony they had behind them.

“Now that you have returned,” Bronsyn started,
interrupting the various conversations that filled the air. “We
needs discuss how to move forward.”

“Agreed,” Tyshar intoned with a firm head nod.
“I don’t think this is a safe place for either of the females any
longer.”

“Wait! What?” Pam cried and quickly turned to
Leah before looking at the group of males. “But we’re back on Earth
and you guys can protect us, right?”

Gyard replied and to Rykhan’s thinking the
warrior’s words were offered as an affirmation. “The Committee
still wants access to the youngling Rykhan and his mate have
created. This will not happen.”

“They want our baby?” Leah screamed, her eyes
seeking Rykhan’s as her hand nervously stroked over the mound of
her stomach.

Rykhan caressed her arm as he sent
her feelings of calm and well-being. “We will speak of this
later,
mica
tisha
. At the moment, we need to
determine our next course of action.”

“Since we discovered a portion of what our real
mission was to be, I’m wondering how we can balance our allegiance
to the Protectorate and our quest, while pitting ourselves against
Stege and his Committee’s plans.” Bronsyn haggard appearance and
voice spoke of his obvious stress. Raising his head, the mission
commander speared Rykhan with a stare. “I need to know where your
loyalties lie.”

Rykhan swallowed deeply as he thought. He knew
he needed to choose his words carefully so there would be no
misunderstanding of his new loyalties.

“I am a Protector first and
foremost,” he began slowly. “But my duty is now to my
blay
and our youngling.
While I’m a Picari, I feel no dedication to Stege’s cause or his
machinations. I most heartily object to his plans to reseed our
planets.”

He glanced down at the beautiful
human female in his arms. “I am devoted to my
plyca
as well as to my
warrior-brothers, to the well-being and safety of everyone in this
room. Much more, so very much more than to the Picarian
Protectorate and our former noble quest.”

Rykhan raised his eyes back to his mission
commander’s and he only hoped the resolution in his soul came
through in his next words. “If that makes me a traitor, so be
it.”

The ensuing silence lasted for more than a
couple of beats and Rykhan wondered if the other warriors were
thinking of ways to end him so as to eradicate his treasonous
words.

“Then you must be away, brother,” Arbrynt
offered softly.

Gyard raised his head and shot an unfathomable
look towards Rykhan and his mate. “They know your weakness is your
female, and they want your youngling. If you stay here, they will
stop at nothing to achieve that goal.”

Laxon nodded, the youngest of them agreeing to
the truth of what Gyard had stated so plainly.

“Where will we go?” Leah asked quietly as she
looked around the room before she brought her face up to her mate’s
once more. “Where can we go, baby, in order to hide from those
god-awful people on that freaking Committee?”

He fully sensed the fear that flared within her
but he did not have an answer. It was one thing to imagine
spiriting her out from under Stege’s scrutiny but another when he
thought of where they might eventually end up.

“With Tyshar’s help, we have amassed
a nice sum of what you humans call money,” Bronsyn announced,
bringing everyone’s attention to their longhaired leader. “After
Stege spoke of the
Rysling
, I used some to purchase what
is described as a ‘ranch’ in the state named ‘South Dakota’.” He
looked at each of his warriors, one by one. “I thought we needed an
undisclosed location if our mission went awry.”

Pam gasped and Leah sat up, leaning her elbows
on her knees. Truly, Bronsyn’s idea held merit and captured the
imagination of each of person in the room.

“If I understood you correctly,
Protector Rykhan, you are willing to do anything to secure the
safety of your
plyca
. Therefore, my suggestion is to take them to this new,
unknown location.”

“What the freak is a
plyca
?” Pam’s question
exploded in the stillness that had overtaken the room.

“I believe you humans call it a family,” Tyshar
responded but Rykhan could tell the warrior was distracted. Turning
to Arbrynt, the dark warrior voiced his thoughts. “How soon could
you program a vehicle in order to reach Bronsyn’s intended
destination?”

“A matter of
lesps
,” was the deep and serious
reply.

“And how much time would you need to collect
your belongings?” Tyshar’s look was almost dagger-like as he
focused on Rykhan and his mate.

Leah shrugged. “I only have the
clothes on my back. All my other stuff is up on the
Searcher
.”

“Fifteen
lesps
or less,” Rykhan shot back
quickly. Turning back to his commander, he could not help asking,
“Truly? This is what I need to do? To take my Leah away and hide
from the Committee?”

Sorrow etched Bronsyn’s gaze as he nodded in
the affirmative. “I can think of no other way, warrior.”

“It is for the best, my brother,” Gyard
averred.

However, Laxon’s words gave full disclosure to
the future Rykhan was facing. “By making this choice, you are
making a choice to remain on Earth for the rest of your natural
days. To never return to Picari or any of our worlds. But know that
whatever you make your mind up to do, I will continually consider
you as a part of the Protectorate and a warrior-brother who will
always reside in my heart.”

It was the most he had ever heard the young
warrior speak and his words hit Rykhan hard. But as soon as his
gaze fell on Leah’s, he knew without a doubt what his decision
would be.

*.*.*.*.*

As Rykhan raced upstairs, Leah wove through the
long, thick legs of the warriors who were sprawled over the couches
in the over-sized living room. As soon as she reached Pam’s side,
she couldn’t help pulling the other woman in for a hug.

“I guess I’m moving,” she whispered into the
blonde curls underneath her face.

Pam gave off a soft laugh. “And too fast to
celebrate kicking some serious alien ass.”

“As soon as I get there, I’ll let you know
what’s doing, okay?” God, it was breaking her heart at the thought
of a future without having her girlie by her side daily.
Nevertheless, Leah knew once Stege found out about how they’d
escaped his clutches he’d be plotting his revenge.

Leah heard a wet sniff and pulled away in order
to look down at her best friend’s face.

“Who’d have thought it?” Pam’s murmur was
accompanied by a stream tears that dribbled down her cheeks. “Just
a few weeks ago we were just a couple of girls on the prowl,
remember? Now you’re a fugitive and gonna have to be on the lam.
All because you got knocked up with some kind of alien/human girl
child. Christ! We lead exciting lives, don’t we?”

“But we’ll always have each other,” Leah said
firmly, holding up her smallest finger as she waggled her eyebrows.
“No matter where I am, there you’ll be too.”

“Forever and always, sistah,” Pam sniffed,
winding her own pinky finger around Leah’s. “Never forget it. We
are and always have been a kick-ass, mother-freaking, team of total
‘girl power.”

Neither one of the two women noticed the
warriors who remained in the room and were glued to the sight of
the two females as they clutched each other tightly. If they had,
they would have seen more than one of the huge warriors turning
away as their eyes leaked, or their movements as the burly males
brushed the moisture away.

*.*.*.*.*

“I’ve set the coordinates,” Arbrynt said,
reaching a large hand around Leah to point at the GPS system in the
Escalade. In Leah’s opinion, the SUV had every bell and whistle
known to both man and Picari. Which since she was the designated
driver, was more than a little intimidating. “You needs not do
anything but to appear as if you are steering.”

Leah’s ears caught on Tyshar’s voice coming in
through the open door on the passenger side. “Here’s three thousand
of human currency. You need to stop and get your mate clothing and
to secure rooms when she gets tired.”

Rykhan accept a large stack of green that he
folded and put into the inside pocket of his leather
jacket.

Arbrynt drew back sharply and his
move caused Leah to twist back to him so fast her hair swung.
“Their
tresls
!”
His deep voice was loud in the darkness of the night. “They need to
surrender their
tresls
so they cannot be tracked!”

Leah bent to pull her purse from underneath her
knees, feeling for her cellphone in depths of her bag. After
snagging her device she handed it over to the large blonde warrior
who filled the car’s doorway. He smiled at her as he tucked into
one of his trouser pockets.

“So how’s she gonna call me, shithead?” There
was no mistaking the don’t-mess-with-me tone of Pam, that came from
somewhere around Arbrynt’s elbow. “Jay-sus. You guys are freaking
clueless when it comes to women!”

“We’ll buy a couple of those pay-as-you-go
things,” Leah offered. “Your number hasn’t changed in, like,
forever, honey. I’ll send you a text from the road.”

There was the sound of a huge sigh before Leah
heard her friend chuff, “you betcha ass, you will.”

As the doors to the large vehicle slammed shut,
Leah was aware of the lump in her throat. She was leaving the only
city she’d ever known with a man, an alien, one she still
considered a kind of stranger.

What the future would bring was anyone’s
guess.

*.*.*.*.*

Pam stood in the street and watched until the
lights of the Escalade went around the corner, her insides
hollowing out as they faded from view. Making her way back to the
house, she kept her eyes down, watching her feet as she maneuvered
each step.

“I can hear your thoughts, little
pixie.”

Pam turned to look into the shadows of the
porch and found Wyst leaning a shoulder against a post, his eyes
fully trained on her.

“So?” she shot back and winced at the snotty
tone that escaped without her approval.

He stepped towards her stealthily,
almost hesitant as he continued on, his golden eyes boring into
hers. “I heard them when you were battling onboard the
Searcher
.”

“And that means what, exactly?”

He stopped and stared at her. “You know what it
means.”

She planted a hand on a canted hip while
deciding her best response. “I think you need to cough the
explanation up, big guy, because I’m getting nothing
here.”

He took a stride forward, cutting their
distance by half. “Why do we need to deny it?”

“Deny what, douche-bag? That I don’t like you
and you certainly don’t hold any affection for me?” She was pleased
to note that she was almost growling, thrusting out her chin
towards the man as she challenged him.

But the big gorgeous alien didn’t stop coming
towards her.

Or cease talking.

“We share the
Mycalyte
connection between us,
pixie.” He halted not a foot away from her, and she tilted her head
at a very uncomfortable angle in order to hold his stare. Her belly
released a bevy of butterflies at the heat his eyes
contained.

“I don’t know that word and we have no
connection, Wyst,” she grumbled, but she couldn’t look directly at
him as she lied. Parts of his stare had absolutely singed her with
its passion, leaving her throbbing with physical need.

Luckily, just as he shot out a hand to reach
for her, the front door opened to reveal Bronsyn.

“I know it’s late and we should all be in our
beds, but we need a discussion,” the older leader
announced.