Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series)

by J. A. Hornbuckle

  “Even if you don’t find true love, Bronsyn, at least you’ll have the knowledge of how it’s done so you can relay it to the Quest Committee, right?” Leah realized there were more than a few holes in her argument, but neither she nor Pam thought the man was too old to consider finding a woman with which to build another family.

  No one offered another objection so Leah decided enough was enough. She and Pam had been pretty plain in what they expected so it would be up to the men to decide if they were willing to follow the new format or not. “If no one has any more questions or concerns, then I think we’re done here. Thanks for listening.”

  Rykhan pushed himself to standing but not before dropping a quick kiss on Leah’s mouth. “I have some more work to do on the charts,” he explained and she knew he was working on assembling a map in Picari that would help the warriors on subsequent quests.

  “I’ll stick around for a while but I’ll find you before I leave.” At some point, she needed to go back to her place for clean clothes as well as to have a chance to think things through without the distraction of her warrior. As Rykhan walked towards the stairs, Leah noticed Bronsyn standing behind his chair, his eyebrows drawn and lowered as if he was in deep thought.

  It was Pam though who addressed him. Coming up to the side of the commander, the little blonde-haired woman put a hand on his forearm. “I’m sorry, Bron. I know I was…a little bit forceful and maybe even disrespectful earlier. But I think you need to participate in the quest rather than just, you know, like, observe.”

  The man tilted his chin to Pam. “I honestly had not considered it but I believe you are correct. I need to understand what the warriors are facing in their search to help prevent future problems.”

  “Then why the long face, big guy?”

  “The supreme commander of the Quest Committee has requested a meeting with the two of you.” Bronsyn swallowed deeply. Leah thought he was more than uncomfortable in extending the invitation.

  She looked at Pam to share a long look, one that communicated their confusion at the unusual request. “Okay,” Leah said at last. “When are we supposed to get together?”

  “We can see to it now if you have no other plans.” Yep, Bronsie, as Pam liked to call the longhaired, crown-wearing man, was definitely nervous.

  Pam smiled while nodding. “I’m in.”

  “Me too,” Leah replied. She couldn’t quite work up a smile since Bronsyn seemed so on edge. However, she could and did grin.

  Unfortunately, their acceptance did not seem to bring Rykhan’s boss any pleasure.

  *.*.*.*.*

  Bronsyn led them out of the big house and used the walkway towards what Leah thought of as the ‘mother-in-law quarters’. As expected, it was a one-bedroom place but was self-contained and beautifully decorated. Moreover, just as at the main residence, it was unbelievably tidy with elegant furniture but without any hint as to who lived there.

  Maybe that’s how it is on their world, she thought to herself. Perhaps Picaris don’t believe in personalizing their spaces as we do ours.

  Leading them to a desk beneath a window in the small living room, Bronsyn quickly bustled into the kitchen area and brought back a couple of oak chairs which were obviously a part of a dining suite. “Please. Be seated while I make the connection.”

  Leah looked at Pam as they sat. Bronsyn pushed a number of buttons on his console that was a damn sight bigger than the smaller communication device Rykhan called a ‘tresl’. In her opinion, it was like the difference between a desktop computer/monitor and a cellphone.

  “So how’re we gonna play this?” Pam asked on a whisper out of the corner of her mouth.

  Leah shrugged. She really had no clue why they were even there much less what the discussion would reveal. But the fact that she was suppose to meet with Rykhan’s boss’s boss carried some weight. “We can only be ourselves, right?” she hissed back.

  “Gotcha, girlfriend,” Pam returned with a wink.

  “Greetings, Earth females,” a booming voice interrupted and Leah’s eyes immediately went to the middle-aged blonde man in the holographic image before her. There was no denying the man cut an intimidating figure with his filigreed circlet and robes of varying shades of green. It was the expression in his eyes though that had Leah’s stomach tumbling.

  “Uh, hi,” Pam squeaked, obviously unnerved at both the sight and sound of the Committee leader.

  “Yeah. Uhm, greetings,” Leah mumbled, plucking at the knee of her jeans.

  “I am so glad of the opportunity to meet with you especially since you both have so graciously agreed to help our Protectors in their quest for mates.” Something about the guy’s voice and lip movements were wrong to Leah’s eyes. However, before she could work it out, Pam leaned over.

  “It’s a kung-fu flick,” her bestie whispered. “He must be using some kind of translator.”

  “I’m not sure of your customs of greeting but may I get your names?” No, it wasn’t just the overdubbing that rattled her, but the snake-oil salesman-like pitch of the man that made Leah uncomfortable. “I am Commander Gwynt Stege, supreme leader of the Gal-Trol Quest Committee.”

  “I’m Leah and this is Pamela,” Leah responded, her eyes narrowed as she watched the man’s reactions. She wasn’t about to give him any additional personal information which might encourage a background check on either her or her friend.

  “So are you, like, the top dog of this operation or what?” Pam joked. How could the woman seem so relaxed when Leah was so anxious?

  “Excuse me. My English translator didn’t understand your words.” Of course it didn’t and Leah tucked that little bit of knowledge away knowing she might somehow need it in the near future. “Could you say again?”

  Pam waved a hand as if it was of no importance. “You wanted to see us?”

  Leah was glad they hadn’t been required to meet with the man separately because the look in his eyes absolutely terrified her. There was, as the saying went, safety in numbers.

  “Yes, well,” the man replied after clearing his throat. “It is my understanding that you have offered assistance in helping our Protectors in their glorious quest.”

  Overblown didn’t even begin to describe Stege’s attitude, much less his repeated words.

  “Yeah. Your guys have a timeline but have been only exploring the tip of the iceberg in order to find women.” Leah thought succinct was the way to handle their conversation. “Since we’ve been dating a long time, Pam and I think we can help them expand their efforts.”

  “A long time? Yet neither of you have secured a pairing?” The man in the holographic image seemed to do some kind of the Picari version of ‘tsk-tsk’. “Is there a reason for that? Perhaps there is some sort of deficiency in one or the both of you that has prevented you from being claimed?”

  Leah couldn’t help her gasp at the out-right gall of the man in deciding just because the girls hadn’t snagged themselves a man that they were somehow sub-par.

  “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on,” Pam announced slow and controlled. Leah liked her friend’s attitude but wasn’t sure if that was the right tactic to take. At the confusion she saw front and center on his visage, Leah knew the translator hadn’t noticed Pam’s cursing.

  “Our rituals for pairing are different than those of the Picari. We are more selective and take our time in choosing a man to spend our lives with,” Leah explained, using more formal words than she would otherwise. “And since I have been blessed with Rykhan’s wahrom, isn’t it fortuitous that I wasn’t claimed before?”

  Pam looked at Leah, shooting her a thumbs-up at how she channeled the Picari warrior’s speech. “You tell him, sistah.”

  “Be that as it may, you seem rather old and unstudied in the ways of how a male and a female are to…”

  “Commander!” Bronsyn thankfully cut the other man off. “This is the mate Tsiran has chosen for one of our Protectors. We must treat her with all the respect her warrior’s symbo
l demands.”

  As Gwynt sat back and looked between the two females, Leah found herself crossing and then re-crossing her legs in the ensuing silence. Finally, the man responded. “My apologies for going beyond the limits of privacy. But would you be willing to show me your wahrom, Rykhan’s Leah?”

  What could it hurt? Especially if it kept the guy from going fully into the douche-bag attitude he seemed to want to wallow in. Leah nodded and reached for her sleeve only idly aware of being the center of attention. But when she slid the sleeve of Rykhan’s oversized t-shirt up to her shoulder and turned so her metal was fully visible, she was unprepared for the reaction from Commander Stege.

  “Gyed’s hair,” he breathed. “Oh dear goddess of us all, it’s not possible.”

  “See and believe, dude!” Pam’s utterance seemed to take the commander away from his awestruck perusal of Leah’s armband. With his gaze directed elsewhere, she felt comfortable enough to let go of the sleeve.

  It took Gwynt more than a few moments before he pulled himself together. “You have his armband, that much is true. Which more than signifies that you and Protector Rykhan are mates. But I would like to learn more as to why the two of you Earthlings feel it’s important to aid us in our quest.”

  Leah and Pam looked at one another after they had each done a comprehensive eye-roll at the acceptation and assumption that Leah and Rykhan were destined for one another.

  “Because you pay better?” Pam’s answer was honest and to the point but was given in such a flippant tone that Leah found herself giggling and joining in.

  “With better hours and a work environment that can’t be beat,” she announced. “I mean just the scenery alone is enough to get any ‘unpaired’ girl’s engine started.”

  Gwynt’s eyes sought out Bronsyn’s. “They again speak words that make no sense.”

  Leah turned to look behind her and caught Bronsyn’s sparkling eyes and the tremble of his mouth as he surpressed a smile. “It is their cultural colloquialisms which we are all trying to learn and understand, sir.”

  “Well, make them stop and speak to be understood!” Gwynt demanded on a huff. The man needed to pull the stick out of his own ass and just get down to whatever it was he needed to do. All his arrogance and formal posturing meant diddlysquat to her.

  “Listen, your supreme-ness or whatever your title is. I just wanna help your guys meet women. Girls they can connect with in order to make a family. Your plans were for shit and didn’t even skim the surface of the available bank of women looking for men.” Leah spoke from her heart, hoping to stop things before they made a left turn into a bad area.

  “Pam and I are convinced we can help you succeed. We know things you don’t. Know how Earth’s females, as you call us, think and react. Of what the women of my area want in a man and how to mold your warriors into something every girl will crave to be around. So aren’t we all on the same page?” Leah sat back and Pam gave her another thumbs-up in approval, although she wasn’t sure if it was because of her speech or her bravery in dealing with the problem directly.

  “And you two think you are the best the Earth can offer to help our males?” Stege’s tone alone let both the women know he more than thought they were nowhere up to the task. “Please. You who think you are Rykhan’s, have only had one relationship and it was with a male who decided you were not enough to help him reach his political goals.”

  Christ! How had the man learned of her time with Tony and how the scumbag had summarily dumped her, explaining that she did not fit the physical mold of a potential senator’s wife?

  “As for you, Unclaimed Pam?” The dripping sarcasm more than foretold of the zinger Bronsyn’s boss was gonna spew forth next. “Is there a male left in your city who hasn’t been between your legs? Gyed’s locks, but you are the worst of womankind on any planet! With the right provocation, you’ll join with any sort of male who finds you even marginally enticing. I believe the most interesting English word for your sort of behavior is one of ‘whore’.”

  He sat back in his chair satisfaction written all over his face. “What? No protestations? No denial of the type of females I’ve discovered you to be?”

  “You have no right…” Pam sputtered as her butt came out of her chair.

  Leah though took a different route.

  “So you’ve investigated us, tried to find things in our pasts in order to bring us into line.” She was deadly calm as she spoke to the man who was millions of miles away. “And, yeah. We might have experienced things you don’t find acceptable.”

  Swallowing a sigh, she glanced at Pam’s flushed face. Damn, this conversation had gone to hell in a hand-basket. “But this is Earth,” she said firmly. “Our ways aren’t yours. And you have no right…I repeat, no right…to make us feel bad about ourselves while you try to decide if we are ‘worthy enough’ to help the Picari warriors fulfill the goals of your mission.”

  Glancing again at Pam, Leah found her courage, her center. “To my way of thinking, you need us a helluva lot more than we need you. Yeah, we Earth people may not be the best of the best. Especially us Earth girls in my part of our planet. Nevertheless, it was here that your warriors landed! Right in my own backyard. According to your group, Tsiran placed the metal bracelet on my damn arm. So I guess we’re the ‘females’ you’re kind of stuck with, douche-bag! Maybe it’s time you and yours got over that particular fact.”

  “God, Ley…” Pam breathed, finally settling her ass back in her chair. “Preach it, girlie.”

  It was more than apparent Commander Stege took umbrage at what she’d spouted but he didn’t take her to task. Instead, he only glared at her before announcing, “You have three of your Earth weeks in which to accomplish your goal. If things have not improved you will be summarily dismissed, wahrom or no.”

  Leah did a quick calculation in her head. Three weeks on Bronsyn’s payroll equaled almost three months of what she had been making at the DMV. More than enough time to look for a better job if she and Pam failed.

  “Just to make it interesting, what’s your idea of ‘accomplishing our goal’?” Pam asked with a challenging chin lift. Yep, her bestie had caught on the same verbiage Leah had.

  “We need another two warriors paired,” was the stern reply.

  “Done,” Leah averred.

  “Done,” Pam firmly shouted with a fist pump.

  Without looking at each other, Leah and her friend stood in unison. A move not calculated but brought their so-called ‘meeting’ to a close nonetheless.

  Leah thought it was the most gracious exit of her life.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Welcome to the first seminar of Picari/Earth Dating Techniques!” Pam’s voice rang out as the last of the men lowered themselves into chairs at the large table directly across from where the two women stood at the bar. The unfortunate part was that the last man entering was Wyst, causing Pam’s voice to wobble.

  “Welcome, fellas,” Leah offered, moving off the stool in order to stand before the group. “We have an aggressive target. One your Commander Stege has ordered. And that is to get another two of you paired within the next three weeks.”

  “Yep!” Pam’s chipper voice picked up where Leah had stopped. “It’s a dare and one that I wouldn’t bet money against because Leah and I are determined to help you meet that goal.”

  Leah nodded, glancing around the large table and noting the different looks on each of the men’s faces. Gyard was scowling while Laxon looked confused. Tyshar seemed calm but Arbrynt was twining his fingers. While Rykhan was smiling up at her, poor Wyst wasn’t focusing on any specific thing in the room.

  And Bronsyn?

  The leader looked uncomfortable. It was the first time Leah had seen him since the god-awful meeting with Commander Stege. The one where she’d finally confronted someone and had let loose in refuting his summation of whom or what she was. It had been a glorious moment for her, one that had found her reveling in her newfound backbone in the face
of the man’s opinions.

  What had been the backlash though?

  Had the supercilious man placed the burden of blame of her and Pam’s behavior on Bron?

  “So our goal today is to take you through the initial contact, the first meet and then a subsequent date, if you feel a particular lady is a match for you,” Leah continued, avoiding Rykhan’s admiring gaze. She didn’t need him to get her all hot and flustered. She had a job to do.

  Pam picked up a stack of notebooks. “So here’s how we’re gonna work it, okay? These are your dating binders. In them, you will find questionnaires regarding the physical and emotional qualities you are looking for in the mate you are hoping to meet. The second tab contains your weekly schedule of what activities you’ll be doing and when. We’ve even included suggestion sheets with talking points based on your interests and things that you might want to touch on with the women who capture your fancy.”

  Leah watched as each man opened the covers and looked over the first page of what Pam had placed in front of them but not one of them, not even one man, licked a thumb to turn to the second page. When the spritely blonde made her way back to the breakfast bar to grab the box of pens, Leah frowned at the tinier woman. “Why aren’t they doing a paper shuffle?”

  Pam looked over the upturned faces before glancing back at her bestie. “Because they’re anti-tests, charts, and spreadsheets?”

  Leah glanced at Rykhan but he, just like his brother warriors looked at the two women instead of their binders. “Is something wrong?”

  Bronsyn was the one who broke the silence first. “You and Pamela have put much work into these papers.”

  Pam and Leah exchanged a confused glance before Pam responded. “Yeah, we have. Plus there was the printing and all that kind of stuff…”

  Bronsyn said something in the Picari language—the one that sounded like a bunch of grunts dispersed with some throat clearing—and a couple of the men shook their heads. Rykhan only shrugged. “My apologies. I just assumed you knew. While we can speak the English language, we cannot read it.”