Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series)

by J. A. Hornbuckle

  Leah’s heart thrilled at the idea! “But how would we get there? Do you have a shuttle or something so you can travel back and forth?”

  “We studied how the people of your world treat things they do not understand and know that we cannot run the chance of being detected while we are here. So we used our TIPS system to travel from the Searcher to Earth’s surface.” Rykhan idly played with her fingers as he spoke, both of them unaware of the noise made by the group doing a quick clean of the kitchen after lunch.

  “Tips?”

  “Triangulated Intergalactic Particle Scrambler. TIPS for short,” he replied without missing a beat. But as he gave the full name for the abbreviations, Leah’s heart begin to pound. “Is something wrong, my Leah? Why has your face gone white and you look so afraid?”

  “I-is it like that old TV s-show? L-like that science f-fiction show from the 70’s?” Her voice squeaked and she clutched his hand tightly.

  Rykhan’s voice held the edge of humor when he answered her and Leah bristled. He shouldn’t find her fear funny! “The one about trekking among the stars or something? Yes, we watched portions of it while we were traveling. Very entertaining even if some of the ideas expressed were improbable.” He twisted his wrist until their hands were palm to palm and used his thumb to caress her knuckles. Leah experienced a wave of calmness that took away the sharp edge of the panic his explanation had caused.

  That was until he continued. “But they did very well with the teleportation side of it.”

  Snatching her hand from his grasp, she couldn’t help her, “oh hell to the no,” from escaping her lips in a rush. She pushed back her chair and stood on quaking legs, her eyes darting around the now empty room. “Where’d everybody go?”

  “Didn’t Pam say she was taking them to the mall?”

  “They left?” Leah couldn’t believe she hadn’t heard the entire group, a loud and very large crowd as it were, exiting the house. “So what do we do now?”

  Rykhan slowly rose to his feet, taking his time to stand as he used his palm in a warm caress that traveled from the back of her thigh to her neck. “I’m sure we can think of something.”

  Leah quickly glanced at him, not missing the purposeful intent of his eyes. Their sexy gleam gave her a clear indication of his intentions.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It was a couple of hours later when Rykhan, with more than a few pillows scrunched behind his head and Leah’s naked body tucked against his side, pointed to the hologram that hovered his chest. “And this portion here? That is Galaxia’s largest city, Rynx.”

  “That’s where you live? When you’re not doing your protector thing, is that where you hang your hat?” she asked quietly, her eyes on the map he’d accessed after showing her the globe of his home world.

  “That is where I was born and grew up,” he corrected. Using a finger, he swiped the floating screen and another planet appeared. “When not on duty, I actually live on Nutrol.”

  She decided that she liked Nutrol better. Galaxia, while beautiful seemed stark with its soaring, snow covered mountains and green oceans. The fact that almost every available surface on the planet had plain white buildings just made it seem cold to her.

  Nutrol appeared softer somehow, comprised of brown, greens, and a deep, deep blue. As Rykhan touched the image, it magnified and soon she could identify rolling hills teeming with forests with acres and acres of grasslands all randomly dotted with large houses. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed, watching as he brought the images into sharper focus to settle on what appeared to be a large log cabin set far away from its neighbors.

  “This is my home,” L eah heard the pride in Rykhan’s voice. “I share it with Myta and his husband Gryg who work the fields and take care of the house.”

  Arching her neck, Leah raised her face to his. She wanted to see if his expression was as homesick as his voice sounded. “You love it there.”

  “I do,” he replied thickly. “Very much.”

  Canting her face back to the image, she swallowed. “Is that where you want me to live?”

  “Yes, Tersa blay.” A sharp yearning pierced Leah’s heart with all the emotion she heard in his voice. “This is the home I hope to take you to, the place where you will give birth and we will raise our younglings.” He used two fingers in a scissoring motion and the picture turned, bringing a barn and stable into view, rows of grain bordering its back portion. “Where Galaxia is the technology center of the Picari system, Nutrol is the planet known for its crops and animals. I knew after only one visit to its surface that it was there I wanted to live out my days.”

  Leah considered his words as she studied at the photograph. She could see herself there. Could imagine her and Rykhan surrounded by children as they ran, jumped and played. Even if it was only a fantasy she’d created, somehow it felt real, like it was a memory of a time she’d already lived. But she had absolutely no desire to be particle scrambled and stuck on a tin can for six months in order to get there.

  Fluffing the sheets that covered her, Leah scooted and turned over onto her back.

  ‘This is’, she admitted to herself, ‘getting complicated’.

  Rykhan was still involved in the hologram, giving her space to think. Instead of thinking about space journeys, new planets and children though, Leah’s mind went back to when he’d closed and locked his bedroom door before turning to her. She’d been standing by the bed, her heart skittering as her body’s need for him had surfaced.

  “I want to undress you myself this time,” he’d growled walking towards her, his eyes glowing with desire. “I want to unwrap you from your clothes and feel your warm nakedness pressed against me before I lay you back, spread your legs and enter you at the exact moment our wahroms kiss.”

  She was speechless, only able to blink, as her warrior had done just as he warned they would do the next time they made love. Their metal bracelets touched at the precise instant he had filled her, and her body had exploded harder than she thought possible. Her orgasm and its blood-throbbing pulsations, even as quickly as they had come over her, didn’t ebbed for several long minutes. Long enough for her to be aware that she had shared Rykhan’s reaction as well through their link. Time enough for her loud scream of utter and complete undoing to join and then quiet with his.

  Filled enough with emotions so raw, so primal that she knew some part of her, in the deepest recesses of her being, considered him to be her mate, the other half of her soul.

  As they came back to themselves, each back into their own body and spirit, Rykhan began to move. Slowly but deeply, he rocked himself into her, using his mouth on hers just as sanguinely as his length moved in and back in a rhythm as old as time.

  There had been no words between them. Nothing but their bodies movement, the tangling of their lips and tongues as their hands slowly caressed whatever area of skin they came in contact with. It was, at least to Leah’s mind, the perfect round two after the almost mystical, spiritual joining with their bracelets, bringing them both to the perfect pinnacle of pleasure but in a much gentler way than they’d found themselves just minutes before.

  She relived those moments with Rykhan behind her, still poring over his maps and holograms. As a next step, Leah did not know what to do, how to act or what to say in order to try to find a crack in all the beautifulness they’d built between them. Although experience had taught her there were always chasms in a relationship, the uneven pieces which caused couples to stumble and break apart.

  As was her way, Leah just chose one thought and blurted it out. At least when she was with him.

  “What does Tersa blay mean?”

  He gave out a huge yawn before mumbling, “Sweet bride.” Leah turned her head to look at him as he closed his communications device. Setting it on the small chest to his right, he lifted the sheet and scooted up next to her. “It means ‘sweet bride’, mica tisha.”

  “But we’re not married,” she countered, her own body relaxing into sleepines
s at the feel of his skin against hers.

  “Not yet, my Leah.” His jaw cracked with the fulsomeness of the yawn he didn’t hide as he wound an arm over her waist before cupping a breast. “But it is only a matter of time.”

  Leah wanted to deny it but was unable to exert the effort of speech.

  ‘We can always talk about it tomorrow’, she assured herself sleepily, snuggling deeper into Rykhan’s embrace.

  *.*.*.*.*

  Leah awoke one muscle at a time, so refreshed yet so tranquil she hated to open her eyes. Not understanding the warmth she was cuddled up against, she strained to see what was causing it.

  A broad expanse of golden skin met her gaze and when she breathed in, she realized it was Rykhan she smelled. His natural scent was a heady blend of sandalwood and another spice she couldn’t quite identify. Whatever it was, the combination was sexy as hell.

  She tucked herself securely against his back with an arm around his waist that moved up and down with his sleepy breathing. In the beautiful quiet with the heat of him against her, Leah found a peace like none she’d never known. At her admission, even if only in her mind, Leah examined the deep feelings for the man beside her. Feelings she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted, not when having them meant she wouldn’t be living the life she’d planned for herself, on the planet that was her home.

  Although when he described what he wanted, what he thought they were destined to have in the bits and pieces he’d shared, it hadn’t been so bad. Especially not when he’d shown her his ranch on Nutrol. The fantasy she’d entertained at the viewing was still front and center in her head. A dreamscape so close to her adolescent, make-believe visions of what her adult life would be like and, at the renewed thought, her heart knocked hard in her chest.

  “What are you thinking about that causes your distress, my Leah?” his sleep-filled voice broke the silence of the new morning.

  “I’m not distressed, Rykhan,” she whispered back, trying to deny the thrill she experienced when he called her his.

  “But your heart is beating very fast.” Grabbing the hand she had tucked between his side and the mattress, Rykhan turned onto his back while keeping her close. “Tersa mandai, mica tisha,” he murmured as his eyes moved over her face.

  “What does that mean?”

  Brushing his sun-streaked, sleep-tangled hair off his forehead, Rykhan took a few moments to think. “Sweet morning is the closest translation, I think. It is a traditional, formal greeting of the early part of the day in Picari.”

  She smiled and shifted until she was using his shoulder as a pillow. “Then ters-ah man-day, right back at you, baby.” Her hand slid to his chiseled abs exposed as the sheet moved down at his movements.

  He ran his hand over her back and drew Leah closer. “I very much like waking up with you in my bed. Did you sleep well?”

  “Yeah, I did,” she admitted, using her fingers to trail over the hills and valleys of his stomach muscles. She angled her head so she could look up at him. “Although I think we slept, like, fourteen hours or something.”

  “Then our bodies needed it. Which our physicians say is the best rest we can have.” He yawned again and shifted into an involuntary stretch. “I am hungry.”

  “Me, too. But I need a shower first.”

  “You are welcome to use my cleansing unit, Tersa blay,” he immediately answered and covered her wandering fingers with his hand, holding them still.

  Naughty, delicious thoughts of wet, soapy bodies crossed her mind but Leah knew she was too sore from yesterday afternoon’s physical activity to indulge them. “How about we make it a shower for two? You know, I’ll wash your back if you wash mine?”

  A flare of heat ignited in his blue-green eyes before his lids lowered until they were half-hooded. “I’ve never shared my daily cleanse but it sounds…inciting.”

  “I think you mean ‘exciting’, baby,” she corrected with a small giggle.

  He lifted one eyebrow with suggestive grin. “No, I believe I said it correctly. To incite means to cause an action, yes?” The arm around her back tightened. “And I like the actions we have between us, my Leah. Especially when we are locked alone in my sleeping quarters.”

  “I do too, Rykhan,” she breathed, holding his gaze and feeling her pulse begin to pound in the tender, aching flesh between her legs. “But if we’re gonna use the shower together, we have to have a couple of rules, or I swear I won’t survive it.”

  He nodded once in curious acquiescence.

  “First off, no sex.” She almost laughed at the disappointment that claimed his face. He looked like a little boy denied access to his new favorite toy. “And secondly, we have to keep our bracelets apart. No touching, brushing up against or coming in contact even on accident. Okay?”

  “Why no sex? Is joining in the morning something that humans do not do?”

  “No,” she drawled. Of all the conversations they could be having, Leah decided explaining how her body was too sore was one she mostly definitely didn’t want to engage in. Knowing him, he’d probably ask to see the offending body part to assess the damage. However, she somehow knew she wasn’t going to get out of it unless she told him. “I’m too sore down there to…”

  “You are experiencing pain, Tersa blay? Did I hurt you in our pleasure?” He shot straight to sitting and grabbed at the sheet to pull it off her body. “Are you bruised? Bleeding? I am so sorry…”

  She seized the bedcovers and wiggled away from him and his impatience to ‘view’ the area affected with an embarrassed giggle. “Stop it, Rykhan. I’m fine. Really. It’s just, you know, I need time for my body to recuperate.”

  “We have a tech-med unit here in the house. I will get it and it will tell us if we need to transport to the Searcher in order to heal any damage…” he sat on the edge of the mattress, reaching for his clothes before Leah place a hand in the middle of his back in order to get his attention.

  “Stop, please!” she cried, but her uncontained giggles made her words sound different than the demand she’d intended. “I’m fine, baby!”

  He twisted his torso to capture her gaze. “It hurts me to think of you in pain, Leah.”

  The area in the center of her chest tightened at the tenderness in his voice and the care visible in his face. “I know.”

  He swallowed thickly before continuing. “I value you, mica tisha. Value you more than I can describe in your language.” He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side before he brought his gaze back to hers. “You have taken up a place in my heart and I find that the thought of you injured, hurts me as well.”

  Leah had no words, absolutely no words to say to him because of all the emotions swelling within her after he’d spoken so honestly. Yet she completely understood what he was saying, because even if he hadn’t expressly used the four-letter word, the look on his face definitely showed what he was feeling.

  Rykhan was falling in love with her.

  And the thought scared her almost senseless even as it delighted her.

  *.*.*.*.*

  Rykhan followed behind Leah, smiling at how he had to watch his feet, so as not to trip on the edges of the sheet she had wrapped around herself. Although his cleansing unit was only a little distance, she had snagged a portion of the bedclothes to protect her modesty.

  This seemed silly to him in light of all they had done together. Things he knew she had more than enjoyed. Rykhan could not keep his eyes off her as she adjusted the stream of water in the stall she called a ‘shower’ while he positioned drying cloths close by. Even fresh from sleep with her hair wild around her shoulders, she was as beautiful as anything he had ever seen.

  She self-consciously dropped her covering and his breath hitched. She was more glorious than anything he had ever viewed or could have envisioned. Her skin gleamed like the inside of the malyx shell growing in the Galaxian oceans and her soft curves were a perfect fit for his large hands, calling to him to touch and caress in a wordless demand he couldn’t res
ist.

  While he was enthralled with her body, her mind intrigued him the most. She was very intelligent but did not seem to know it. She was insightful in a way that even Tyshar wasn’t, as evidenced by her outburst in their meeting with Bronsyn. Plus her humor went a long way in softening the edges of her thought-provoking questions and statements, although he did not always understand her speech. In his opinion, Leah referred to ideas and conjectures far outside his field of knowledge, but he stored the words and phrases she had used so he could look them up later.

  Yes, his Leah was the perfect choice as a mate for him.

  As if catching his thoughts, she glanced at him over her shoulder with a shy smile before she stepped into the shower. Moving behind her, he allowed his hands to follow the water as it slid down her skin.

  Neither one of them spoke as they took turns beneath the overhead spray, silently passing the soap and hair-cleanser back and forth. However, it was a good kind of quiet, something both gentle and accepting. Rykhan prayed it would always be that way between them, especially after he took her to his home.

  He was more than aware she had no desire to travel back to his world. For her, Earth was the place she wanted to live out the rest of her life.

  Did she expect him to stay on her planet?

  Because he could not imagine a life without her. He held a commission to the Protectorate, one that could not be broken until he retired. His oath to the Protectorate consumed him, one he had taken so many yons before, which was an avowal that could not be broken without severe repercussions and would brand him as a traitor to the corps as well as all Picaris.

  How could he live if he could not convince her to formally mate and travel back with him?