Love Without Boundaries

by Michelle Howard

  They continued on for a few more miles, each seemingly caught up in what they’d heard earlier.

  “So you gonna do it?” Pam finally asked, glancing to Leah before training her eyes back on the freeway. “Help them out, I mean. Because I can pretty much figure your answer to the whole ‘marry me’ speech was a big ol’ ‘hell to the no’ like mine was.”

  “I, ah…” Leah started. “I can’t believe I asked them why, if the need was so great, they didn’t just do a snatch and grab to obtain women to mate and replenish their worlds with.”

  “I know, right?” Pam’s blonde curls bounced in the light coming from the dashboard as she nodded her agreement.

  “Bronsyn said, and I believe I’m quoting him almost verbatim,” Leah started before lowering her voice in a weak imitation of the leader of the wickedly handsome warriors. “We are protectors, not thieves.”

  The laughter that rang out between the two women bounced off of every surface of the car’s interior.

  “Honest to god, though, I don’t have any worries about those guys finding women. Because any woman with a pulse is gonna have wet panties when just one of those men drop trou’.”

  “You’ve seen them naked?” Leah’s voice, her question, was given in the upper registers that was in stark contrast to how she’d spoken earlier.

  “Yeah,” Pam offered with a shrug as she leaned an elbow against the edge of the doorframe. “There at the end when we were getting ready to leave. Ty, Shawn and Gere were doing a Magic Mike at the edge of the pool. And let me tell you sister, my corneas still hurt. Whew! Those hunks are hotter than hot!

  Leah smiled when her bestie turned towards her with a huge grin and waggling eyebrows.

  “And since they don’t have any hair below their cheekbones it was a complete and total ‘yowsa’ moment for this girl, to be sure!”

  Leah found her mind rushing to the time when Rykhan had paused with his knee on the bed after removing his clothes. She had been so caught up in her own emotions that she hadn’t taken notice in anything other than his gorgeous nakedness. And as her mind reviewed each and every inch of skin that had slowly made an appearance, she found her thighs pressing together with just the memory.

  She caught Pam’s smirk before hearing, “makes a girl want to do a bit of grooming herself, you know?”

  But then another thought intruded, strong enough that Leah felt she needed to say it out loud. “Do you think they’re all virgins?”

  There was a shrug and another sigh before Pam spoke again. “According to Brent, some of the fellas on their planets are mated to other males. But for our set of guys, none have taken that little turn in the road. Nope, our boys have been truly and scientifically proven to be straight.”

  Leah envisioned a scene from one of the many sci-fi and fantasy movies she indulged in, imagining a plethora of wires and electrodes connected to machines and the specific, nether parts of the warriors. “How do you think they did that?”

  “I dunno,” came the response into the quiet space. “The guys didn’t get into detail about it.”

  The silence came up and claimed them again but Leah didn’t mind in the least. Her head was spinning with everything even though it felt amazing to have someone to review the experience with.

  Pam was the one that broke the stillness first. “Still and all, I don’t mind being on their payroll and helping them to fulfil their quest. But, I can’t and just don’t see myself moving in. I mean, they’re gorgeous as all get-out but, geez! Living with a whole stable of studs? Uh-uh. That not my particular cup of tea.” She briefly shifted her eyes from the road to her friend in the passenger seat. “What about you?”

  Leah found herself hesitating over her response. “Bronsyn and Rykhan seemed to think the unexpected and surprising bling on my arm somehow means that I’m automatically Rykhan’s one and only love.”

  “Seriously?” And Leah found herself grabbing for the passenger strap for the first time since she’d gotten in the car as the vehicle swerved. She saw Pam’s eyes were darting between both her and the road which told her of her friend’s distress. “Neither Wyst or Ryk said anything like that when Wyst showed me his wahrom. Which, I might add, is in the exact color of my totally amazing eyes.”

  Leah swallowed and tried to put her spinning thoughts into some kind of objective order. “Then maybe it has something to do with the design.”

  Leah’s eyes remained on her friend until a blaring horn signaled Pam’s SUV had drifted too far into the right lane.

  “Yeah, well. Just because his symbol, that the wahrom thingie, is almost a complete replica of Granny’s pendant doesn’t mean shit in my opinion. I mean, who the eff considers themselves bound to an alien, even of the beautiful behemoth variety. And especially because of some kind of symbol?” But Pam didn’t sound as positive as Leah wanted, needed, her to be. “But even Wyst seemed relieved when I turned his proposal down. Seriously, though. No girl likes to think of an arranged marriage even if the one doing the organizing is God.”

  Leah had to give her friend props at her thought processes. So, holding up a fist, she aimed it towards her shorter and blonde-haired counterpart, while muttering, “I hear ya, darlin’.”

  After their fists met and Pam had pulled onto Leah’s street, the effusive woman turned to her companion. “You gotta admit, these are some exciting times though, right?

  “Maybe a little more exciting than I’d anticipated,” Leah offered on a mumble as she released the seatbelt.

  Pam’s laughter, though, stilled her hand and caused her to look at the woman who was more, so very much more, than a friend. “So tell me, Leah. How fast are you turning in your resignation?”

  With a rueful grin, Pam’s passenger muttered, “Who said shit about submitting a form to the DMV? All a person has to do is not show for three days and they’re a goner.”

  Pam shot her fist into the air, head down and lips clenched as she pumped it again and again. “That’s my girl!” the blonde cried while Leah extradited herself from the car.

  “So what time should I pick you up tomorrow, Pam?”

  “Is eight too early for a person without a job?” Leah’s bestie was grinning from ear-to-ear.

  She shrugged and said, “at least it’s better than the six that Bronsyn suggested.”

  Pam tilted her head back and crowed, “That man as a freaking lot to learn about Earth girls.”

  There was no other way to respond but a fervent and heartfelt, “You know it. And we’re just the ones to teach him.”

  Slamming the door with a giggle, Leah watched as Pam’s car took off before turning her eyes to the night sky. Wrapping her arms around herself she wondered which direction the Picari system was, even though the lights of Phoenix didn’t allow her to see many stars.

  Could it be true? That the armband that had grown overnight while she’d slept foretold of her destiny, her one true and perfect match? According to both Bronsyn and Rykhan, she only had approximately six months to decide since their star-cruiser could only sustain a holding pattern on the dark side of the moon for that long.

  Six short months to figure out if the man who had already swept her off her feet could truly be the man destined for her.

  Leah smiled at her own musings as she stepped up the stairs, trying to keep the thuds of her boots quiet as she moved. But it was just as she was slipping into bed, washed and moisturized, that Rykhan’s text message came through.

  ‘Every hope I’d ever entertained, every dream I’ve ever allowed, is nothing compared to the completeness of you, mica tisha. I know of your hesitation. But I swear, I vow, you are everything I’d ever hoped to have in my life.’

  And while Leah pulled the covers up to her shoulder as she settled into her pillow, she realized her wahrom mate had said it plainly.

  That there just might be the fulfillment of a dream in the simple knowing that he was around and maybe, just maybe had been destined for her.

  Leah didn’t realize
her lips were tilted in a smile as she drifted off into sleep.

  Chapter Seven

  “So I was thinking the categories of the spreadsheet would be their different efforts, like dating websites, singles events and places they’ve either gone or plan to go in order to meet women,” Leah announced, looking over her notebook she’d balanced on her lap. Pam had insisted on driving again the following morning and after a quick stop at Cleo’s where they’d armed themselves with more caffeine than they probably needed, were making their way back to the ‘house of warriors’, as Pam called it.

  “You’re gonna have to do some research as well because I don’t think our boys are tapping all the good ass in the area, if you know what I mean.” Pam shot her friend a huge smile that was accompanied by a waggle of her carefully shaped brows. Both women were again in jeans and girly t-shirts, but Pam’s read “It’s Only Kinky the First Time” in sequins where Leah’s was emblazoned with the name of a local bar. Since that day had been specified as an info gathering session, neither one had either the drive nor felt the necessity to dress to impress.

  “Noted,” Leah agreed, applying pen to paper. “Did you get the magazines?”

  “Yep but do you know the ratio between women’s fashion magazines to men’s is almost ten to one? Geesh, don’t editors know that guys need just as much help and encouragement with their looks as we do?” Leah thought Pam had a point.

  “But how many men are willing to be seen going through the check-out with that stuff?”

  “You might have a point,” Pam conceded, taking one of the last turns into the exclusive area of Troon North a little too fast. Fast enough that the smaller blonde seemed to clutch the steering wheel as the car leaned sharply to the left. “I’ll do an internet search too, just to see if I’m missing the crap all guys secretly want to know but are too studly to purchase.”

  Leah tucked her notepad and pen into the tote bag she’d brought along for their first official meeting with the Picari warriors. She’d brought along her laptop, hoping to be able to put her findings into her computer to track each man’s progress in securing a mate. Bronsyn had let it slip that his group was the first of several missions that the combined Galaxian and Nutrolite council had approved. So Leah figured by documenting their efforts, any subsequent quests might have a better advantage if the men knew what worked and what didn’t. “Did you bring your camera?”

  “I was just going to use the one on my phone,” Pam replied, pulling into the long, long driveway and stopping before the then closed gates. Rolling down her window, Pam peered up at the camera mounted on one of the high walls before she called out, “little pigs, little pigs, won’t you let me come in?” gaining an honest giggle from her dark-haired passenger.

  “They don’t know our nursery stories,” Leah mumbled in her mirth.

  “Yeah, well. It made you laugh, didn’t it?”

  As the gates opened and the SUV went the last fifty or so yards to the front door, Leah saw they had a welcoming committee that included every warrior in residence. And each and every face was wearing a smile. “I think they’re glad to see us.”

  “Wouldn’t you be? I mean, from what they told me, our gender is the stuff of dreams to them,” Pam shot back before quickly exiting the car and running to the stairs. Leah saw Rykhan break away from the group as he came to greet her.

  And what a greeting it was! Yanking open her door, he didn’t even wait for her to unlatch herself from the seatbelt before settling his lips over hers. Not that Leah complained. Even though, when they finally disengaged, she murmured an, “Impatient much?” through swollen lips.

  “I have missed you, my Leah,” he breathed, pressing his forehead into hers. With her sitting in the SUV and him standing outside, they were almost eye-to-eye.

  ‘And I couldn’t have a better view,’ Leah told herself, but aloud said, “Good morning, baby. How are you?”

  Rykhan laughed in answer and quickly had her and her tote out of the car as he steered her along the driveway. “I was impatient for you to arrive.”

  With only the hand he had pressed to her lower back as if it guide her up the stairs, Leah again felt her armband heat and begin to beat in small pulses as if it, too, was happy to be near him. “What is in the bag, my Leah?”

  “Things that I hope will help you and your brothers,” she replied, smiling in greeting at the group that were still standing outside the front door. She saw that Pam was leaning against Wyst but was holding the fingers of Laxon on one side and Tyshar on the other. Raising an eyebrow in query as she walked by, Pam only responded with a grin that was accompanied by another eyebrow waggle.

  Making her way to the huge dining room table, Leah took her bag from Rykhan and began plugging in her laptop. Arbrynt was standing next to Rykhan watching her every move.

  “What is this device?” he asked, his eyes going from the computer to Leah before trailing back.

  “A portable computer,” Leah said, looking around the room for the nearest plug. While she’d brought an extension cord, she didn’t want to use it if she didn’t have to. After locating the nearest outlet, she pulled out the chair closest to it, opened the device and pushed the power button. “I thought I’d use Excel to document your dating efforts to see what works and what doesn’t.”

  Both Rykhan and Arbrynt’s faces were scrunched in confusion at her careless tossed out words, so Leah did a bit more explaining.

  “This device holds a program that is a spreadsheet. I believe that in order to quantify the results of your quest, documenting what methods you’ve employed in order to meet the highest number of…ah, females, and which areas you have not yet used, would help identify what efforts have the highest percentage of success in your quest.” While she felt like a total ass spouting off the techno-speak, both the warrior’s faces relaxed in understanding and Leah felt like she’d won some kind of contest. She waved the men over and pointed to the screen that was just then lighting up in front of her. “See?”

  “What is this thing?” Arbrynt asked again as he watched Leah press some keys as she pulled up a new, empty Excel workbook. His eyes went to her before settling on Rykhan. “It is old, slow and only has this plastic piece to view the information!”

  “Hey, wait a second! I just bought it right after Christmas and I happen to know it’s the top of the line!” Leah countered heatedly, watching the blonde giant as he blithely closed the cover and disconnected the power cord. Scooping the unit off the table, he tucked it under his arm and thumped his way to the hallway, quickly disappearing around the corner.

  Leah turned to Rykhan with her hands on her hips while she sputtered, incredulous at the other warrior’s imperialistic actions. “What the hell was that?”

  Rykhan gathered her in his arms and as soon as he touched her, she felt her frustration begin to ebb. “He is just going to make it better, mica tisha. It will take him only a little time to improve it. Trust me when I tell you your computer will be better when he returns it. More superior to any other computing or communication device you can purchase here on Earth.”

  Somewhat mollified by Rykhan’s explanation as well as the calm that had spread, Leah relaxed into his embrace and gazed up into his clear blue-green eyes. “How long will it take him?” she asked, feeling their shared look down to her toes.

  Seeming to catch on to her train of thought, Rykhan pressed her closer. “Twenty lesps would be my guess.”

  “And a ‘lesp’ converts to what in Earth time?” she breathed, feeling the pulsations of her bracelet begin to beat in a number of sensitive places on her body.

  His eyes were heated and only added to the desire building within her as he answered. “One Earth minute, give or take. So Arbrynt should return your unit in ten to fifteen minutes.”

  “Oh, goody,” she breathed, lifting her mouth towards his but just before their lips touched there was a flurry of movement at the front door as the others came inside the house. Grabbing her hand, Rykhan moved quickly
into the little den that they’d met with Bronsyn the day before.

  As soon as the door closed, she was again within the circle of his arms, their mouths fused, tongues undulating as they allowed their passion to flow between them. Several minutes passed before Rykhan lifted his head. “That couch looks comfortable.”

  Turning her eyes away and training them on the large piece of furniture covered in plaid, Leah decided not to play coy. She wanted him too much to play any kind of game. “It certainly does. But you could always bend me over one of the chairs…”

  The light in his eyes flared as he caught onto her suggestion and just as he was shuffling her to the area behind where the pair of armchairs sat, there was a bump at the door. As they both stared in the direction of the sound, the door crashed open as Pam and Wyst tumbled in a flurry of tangled bodies.

  It took Leah a couple of seconds before her sex-crazed brain made sense of the scene, but once it did she quickly covered her mouth to hold in the laugh that wanted to escape.

  Wyst was fully supporting her petite friend. He had to, because the smaller woman’s legs were clamped around the large warrior’s waist, her arms encircling his neck in what appeared to be a death grip.

  It seemed Pam’s protestations of the night before had been just a denial regarding marriage and had not held the truth in her feelings for Wyst. Not if what Leah was avidly watching was true. In how the two couldn’t take their mouths off each other long enough to determine if the room was empty or not.

  “You need to take yourself and your female elsewhere, brother,” Rykhan announced on a low note and Leah saw Wyst’s eyes shoot to where she and her warrior stood even though Wyst still didn’t disconnect from Pam’s mouth.

  “Honey, please,” Pam begged against his lips, wiggling in supplication as she pulled Wyst’s t-shirt up. A move Leah figured was a pretty difficult thing to do considering the hard-pressed twining of their bodies.