Love Without Boundaries

by Michelle Howard

  “Won’t you sit down?” Leah saw he had pulled out a chair and was staring at her directly.

  Recognizing a cue when she got one, Leah eased herself down into the thick cushion before Rykhan took the seat directly next to her. “Thank you,” she murmured with a grin somehow knowing he was putting a lot of effort in trying to make her feel as welcome as possible. “This is looks wonderful.”

  After every one had a glass of something to drink and Rykhan had relaxed back into his chair, Leah decided to offer the opening salvo. “You wanted to talk?”

  “Yes, I did,” he said quietly, shifting in his chair as his thumb drew circles on the condensation of his glass. “I want to see what you have on your arm.”

  The sip of the iced tea Leah had been taking seemed to stick in her throat and she had to swallow hard to ensure she didn’t choke or sputter. But her eyes immediately shot to Pam in accusation. “You told them?”

  “I had to, honey! They were both so worried about you and were making such a ruckus, demanding the receptionist tell them what was going on.” Pam’s eyes pleaded for Leah’s understanding. “They were almost as wigged out as you were because no one would tell them anything!”

  Leah felt Rykhan’s large hand cover hers and, as he did so, the metal on her bicep again began to throb and heat even as a calmness stole over her. “Do not blame the sister of your heart, mica tisha. She wasn’t betraying a confidence but was making every effort to…how did you put it, Pam? Settle our asses down?” Leah’s eyes sought his and realized the earnestness in both his voice and words. “Will you not show me what was so upsetting that you had to seek medical attention for it?”

  She extracted her hand from underneath his, noticing the change in both the temperature of the bronze links and the loss of tranquility within her at the move. Without even thinking about it, she raised her then free hand to cover the place where the band laid embedded in her skin although she didn’t reply.

  “Are you scared? Did the sight of your wahrom cause you fear when you first noticed its appearance?” His voice, so very deep and yet so warm was a balm that seemed to coat her insides. But she still maintained a grip on her arm, covering the bronze links as she tried to hide it from him.

  “I don’t know what that word means,” she said through numb lips. “That wah-room thing.” She tried to pronounce it as he had, which was along the lines of ‘war room’ in a New Jersey accent but didn’t think she was very successful.

  “I’m unsure of the direct translation but, in essence, it means ‘the mark of the warrior’,” he responded softly, his beautiful eyes gentle and accepting as he gazed at her.

  He took a deep, deep breath before continuing. “I have one.”

  Leah continued to stare him, not responding but knew her shock at his admission was somehow evident.

  “Would you like to see it, my Leah?”

  Her lips were still stiff but she was able to move them enough to murmur, “yes, please.”

  And she watched as he began unbutton his shirt, a different shirt than he’d been wearing at the urgent care. Then he’d had on a black t-shirt, but the one he was wearing out by the beautiful pool was a light blue button down. And her eyes followed his fingers, skimming over the golden skin of his firmly muscled chest that was being exposed inch by stunning inch. His chiseled abs, sharply defined, came into view as he opened his shirt further until there were no more buttons to release. The same chest and abs that she’d been pressed against the night before.

  At the view of the real thing, Leah decided she hadn’t given Rykhan enough credit since he looked better than the pictures of men on the websites that described themselves as ‘porn for women’.

  Pushing the shirt off his shoulders, her eyes came back to his and saw determination in the steady gaze that was almost a physical touch. And as the fabric slid down his arms she dropped her gaze to his right bicep.

  And gasped.

  There it was. An almost exact duplicate of the metal she’d woken up with that morning was right there in front of her. On his arm, in almost the exact same spot on his body, albeit on the other arm.. Even the etchings within the links were identical to hers!

  Her heart began racing and she found it hard to breathe but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from what she was seeing.

  “Is yours like this, tersa blay?” he whispered as he searched her face. “Is your wahrom like mine, my Leah?”

  There was no movement from anyone at the table and Leah would’ve been willing to bet that even the very wind had stopped as she looked upon the band of bronze that encircled his huge bicep. And it seemed as if she couldn’t help her action as she twisted in her chair, sliding herself until her left side aligned to his right. Raising her eyes to his, Leah slowly drew the sleeve of her t-shirt up until it rested on her shoulder, exposing her band, her bronze wahrom that gleamed in the sunlight reflecting off the nearby pool.

  “Oh, Tsiran,” Rykhan breathed in a way that was close to a groan of a sexual pleasure. Leah saw his eyes flit to a spot over her shoulder before he gave a deep sigh and lowered his lids.

  “Have you tried touching them together yet?” The voice that floated from behind her was not one she recognized and she twisted even further to see who had interrupted such a private moment. One that was so personal that she’d even forgotten the presence of Pam and Wyst. But it was hard to tell who had spoken since there were so many men and her mind seemed jumbled in the aftermath of showing Rykhan her bracelet. It was only when Rykhan placed a hand on her forearm that she felt herself begin to settle enough to pick out individuals in the group.

  As well as to answer.

  “No, we haven’t,” Leah replied calmly. “Should we?”

  A man who seemed older that the others chuckled and stepped to the forefront. “The legends caution against doing so in front of witnesses. As I understand it, the move could prove…embarrassing on a number of levels.”

  Leah felt her lips lift in a small smile. “Good to know.” Her eyes shot to Rykhan before turning back to the older man. Was he wearing a crown? “And you are?”

  “My name is Bronsyn Llent,” came the proud reply which was accompanied with a chin lift.

  Pam leaned over Leah’s shoulder and she heard her friend’s excited voice as she whispered, “ask him if he’s royalty!”

  Turning away from the man but towards Pam, she quietly told the woman to ask him herself.

  “But he’s only talking to you, Leah!” Pam argued.

  “Mr. Llent, meet Pamela Swain.” Leah made sure her voice was as clear and strong as he had sounded when he’d broken into her moment with the man who shared her metal. “She would like to ask you a question.”

  “Bitch,” came the snappy whisper.

  “Coward,” Leah whispered back just as quickly.

  Pam sat back but swallowed loud enough that Leah could hear it even from over her shoulder. “Uhm hey there, Mr. Llent. I was just, ah, you know. Like, wondering if that thing on your head meant you are, you know, a part of the royal family or something.”

  Leah saw a look of confusion cross the other man’s features. He looked to both Rykhan and Wyst first as if seeking info but when none was forthcoming, he turned and looked at the men who stood behind him. As he moved, Leah took notice of his long dark hair. Hair that went all the way down to his waist and with that she knew exactly who the man was and knew exactly how to answer Pam’s question.

  On her first meeting with Rykhan for coffee, he’d confided that he was in the States with his ‘warrior brothers’, a phrase that she hadn’t understood.

  “Does that mean you’re in the military?” she’d asked. At his head nod, she’d pressed further somehow sensing the affirmative he’d given hadn’t been the whole truth. “The U.S. military requires their troops to keep their hair short, but yours is long.”

  “I am not in the U.S. military,” had been his only vague response. “My commander’s hair is down to his belt.”

  And at
the sight of the long hair on the older man, Leah knew that Rykhan had not been lying in the least.

  “My friend asked if you were a king,” Leah spoke with a laugh. “But after how Rykhan described you, I know you’re the leader of this group, right?”

  The man still looked confused. “Why would she consider me a monarch?”

  “Because of your circlet.” Pointing to her forehead and moving her finger from side to side, Leah indicated what she had, at first, considered to be his crown.

  Rykhan’s caress on Leah’s knee drew her eyes back to him and she smiled as he gave her a nod of approval. The look combined with the tranquility his touch always brought, made her almost go boneless in her seat.

  “Yes, Pamela Swain. I am the mission leader and what you see on my head is my ihrom, which signifies my command on this quest.” Even though Bronsyn’s words were very formal, his tone wasn’t.

  Enough so that Pam felt free to blurt out, “it still looks like a cool-as-shit crown, though. Does it come off?”

  The men who stood behind Bronsyn looked shocked, which attested to the level of respect awarded him as their leader. But Bronsyn only smiled at Leah’s blonde friend. “No. I cannot remove it.”

  There were a couple of beats of silence before Pam spoke again. “Bummer, dude.”

  Which caused Leah to twist around and shoot an exasperated look at her friend before her eyes traveled to Wyst. But he seemed to find something in the pool too interesting to preclude his participation in the conversation.

  “Must be a real bitch to deal with when you wash your hair,” Pam continued on a teasing note and a wide smile.

  Bronsyn’s laughter rang out across the huge expansive of the backyard before he finally found voice enough to answer. “You have no idea.”

  Chapter Four

  Rykhan watched as Leah slowly drew into herself even as Pam began to laugh and joke with the other men. From the way his mate’s eyes made their way back to each of their wahroms he knew he needed to speak with her in greater detail about it. But the thought of having such a conversation in full view of both his commander and brothers made him uncomfortable.

  “Can I give you a tour of the house?” Rykhan thought it would be the easiest way to pull her away from the crowd and get her alone so that he could answer the many questions he saw lingering in her eyes.

  “That’d be lovely,” she murmured, placing her palm into the hand he’d extended without thinking. As they moved away, Rykhan was aware the other males immediately snagged the empty chairs in order to sit next to Pam and engage the effervescent female in conversation. Where Leah was quieter and spoke from a thoughtful place inside, her friend didn’t seem to have a filter and just said whatever crossed her mind.

  Which, in any other circumstance, might have been momentarily entertaining, if he hadn’t known Leah was the person Tsiran had chosen as Rykhan’s one true and legitimate mate.

  He walked through the bottom portion of the huge house, pointing out the different rooms downstairs and reciting the names of each, much as the realtor had done before Bronsyn had signed the lease. And Leah seemed appreciative, uttering little murmurs of enjoyment at the furnishings, the decorations that adorned each room.

  Although she hung back a little when it came time to move upstairs.

  “I would very much like for you to see where I sleep,” Rykhan explained, plainly seeing the hesitation in her eyes. But he realized that wasn’t the full truth. Dropping his voice, he used the hold he had on her hand to pull her closer to where he stood at the bottom of the stairs. “Actually, I would really enjoy sharing another kiss with you but do not want to be disturbed.”

  And he knew it was the right thing to say when her eyes came to his and a flare of heat appeared in the dark green depths. Without another word between them, they slowly ascended the stairs. Moving quickly to the hallway on the right, Rykhan continued on in silence passing several doors until he stopped next to the one at the end. At his pause, Leah looked up at him in question.

  But he had no explanation for his hesitancy in opening the door to his bedroom, only knowing that having her in his private space was going to change things, to shift something between them on such a level he knew he’d never be the same. And with that knowledge, that sureness, he had paused to give her time to decline.

  But she didn’t, choosing instead to be the one to open the door to the large room, stepping into it with a confidence that stole his breath away. He followed and only remembered at the last moment to close and lock the door behind him.

  Rykhan followed her gaze as it settled on the different furnishings, trying to see it through her eyes. A king-sized bed, covered in a teal and brown comforter and dotted with a myriad of pillows took up most of the space. It was bracketed by two small chests, each with a gold lamp that was topped with a teal-colored shade. There was a desk and chair seated underneath the largest window, with two doors on its right. One that went to a large walk-in closet and the other that contained the cleansing unit.

  “You could almost fit the whole of my place in just this room,” she said into the quiet area as she ran a hand over the top of his larger communication device. She glanced out the window that looked over a portion of the large backyard and the small house that Bronsyn had appropriated as his own.

  Rykhan stepped up behind her and swept her dark, chestnut layered hair to the side, exposing her sweetly vulnerable neck. Pressing his lips against the pulse-point he could see was beating an erratic rhythm, he wrapped his arms around her small waist from behind. The feel of her against his chest, the aroma of her lightly fragranced skin had his tailpor lengthening. He moved his lips, sliding them over her skin and felt her tremble.

  “I need to kiss you again,” he urged, nipping and sipping at the flesh exposed. Skin so sensitive that he could feel how his movements made her shudder.

  “Isn’t that what you’re already doing?” she breathed as she shifted, dropping her head back onto his shoulder.

  But Rykhan wasn’t going to be deterred from his goal. “I want to be in your mouth in the way we were kissing last night.”

  “Liked that, did you?” Her throaty question caused his tailpor to flex and he couldn’t help pressing it into the rounded flesh of her bottom.

  “Yes,” he growled, impatiently turning her body until they were chest to chest. “I dreamed of it and you.”

  “I know,” she responded with a sultry smile as she dragged her fathomless green eyes up his. “You said so in your text this morning.”

  That was all the invitation he needed before his mouth crashed into hers, already opening in order to plunder, to seduce her in the only way he knew how.

  But he soon recognized that she, in the little responses she gave, was the one who was performing the seduction with nothing more than almost inaudible sighs and wiggles as if to get closer to him. The way her tongue tangled against his, sliding and twirling as it moved, set off a reaction that he couldn’t seem to control.

  Stepping, leading her without ever disconnecting his mouth from hers, they were soon next to the bed. When they next came up for air, Leah glanced over her shoulder before a small, shy smile appeared on her swollen lips.

  “While I’m on the pill and it’s been a couple of years,” she started. “I’m guessing a guy like you probably has some condoms put away for a happy, unexpected occasion.”

  Rykhan was aware of what a condom was since there was so much talk of how males needed to use them on the internet of Earth. There were even vids on how to put on one in a special website, but since Rykhan had never had sex and had absolutely no intention in preventing pregnancy, he’d only given the instructions a passing glance. “I do not.”

  Leah seemed startled and then crestfallen by his confession. “No glove, no love, big guy,” she announced with true regret evident in her voice. Luckily he’d heard that distinctive American saying expressed on another vid and knew he needed to assure his mate of his sexual history.

&nb
sp; “There have been no other females,” he said firmly, dropping his forehead to hers. “I’ve never joined with anyone else, my Leah.”

  And when she straightened in shock, he found the need to tighten his arms around her. “But you…I mean, a man who looks like you do…”

  Rykhan shook his head, the skin of their foreheads rubbing together with his move. It was important for her to understand that she was his one, the only one that he could ever be with. “I have been waiting for you all my life.”

  She pulled back as far as his arms would permit her to move. “That’s crazy! Are you trying to tell me that you’re a virgin, for Christ’s sake?”

  He was surprised at her tone, amazed that she seemed almost stunned at the thought that he’d waited. Had postponed being with anyone until he’d found what he’d always wanted. While other men’s needs had been strong enough to urge them into a male/male pairing even to joining, it hadn’t been that way for him. He’d never found arousal in the thought of being with another male even if it was sure to have caused a break in the abject loneliness that had surrounded him throughout the years.

  “Yes, that is exactly what I am saying, mica tisha,” he answered on a sigh. He tried to bring her back into his embrace but Leah sank to the edge of the bed, slipping out of his arms.

  Feeling her astonishment, he turned and sat down next to her. He knew she needed quiet in order to think but he couldn’t understand her distress at his confession. Hoping to re-establish their connection, Rykhan reached for Leah’s hand. And while she didn’t actually respond, she didn’t pull away and he took heart.