Love Without Boundaries (19 page)

Leah nodded and took a deep breath.
 
“Yes, I suspected it anyway.”

The leader of the warriors dropped his feet to the floor as he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, never dropping his gaze.
 
Leah found herself pressing back into the cushions in order to maintain the distance between them.
 
“In all of our planning and preparation for this mission, no one, not a member of council
nor
even our most respected scientists foresaw you, Leah of Phoenix.
 
No.
 
You are something that we, in even our wildest dreams, could not have anticipated.”

“I don’t…” her eyes swung between the two men as her heart been to hammer in her chest at the intensity in the older man’s stare.
 
“I don’t understand.”

Rykhan moved his farthest hand to the inside of her elbow before sliding it up, underneath her sleeve to the arm band that was beating and warming at their skin-on-skin contact.
 
As his fingers skimmed over its surface, Leah was overcome with another wave of sexual desire so powerful it stole her breath away.
 
It was as if his fingers had stroked her directly in her secret, womanly places instead of the metal that surrounded her bicep.
 
When his hand moved back to her arm, the feelings stopped and she was again able to breathe, even if it was only in panted breaths.

“You’re talking about the thing on my arm, aren’t you?” She couldn’t help the sharpness of her tone or the trembling of her voice.
 
“The thing Rykhan called ‘the mark of a warrior’.”
 
As both men nodded, Leah began to shake her head in the negative.
 
“That can’t be true though, because God knows I’m about as far from a warrior as a person can get!”

“Yet there is no denying the gift
Tsiran
has bestowed on you,
mica tisha
,” Rykhan murmured from beside her and Leah’s hair moved at how quickly she turned to look at him.

“I don’t know any Seeran or what that name you keep calling me is!” she snapped as fiercely and as firmly as she was able, given the alarm Rykhan’s words had initiated.
 
Even his touch didn’t reduce the panic that was beginning to sweep through her.

“Do not the people of Earth believe in the one true god?” Bronsyn’s voice sounded incredulous at just the thought.

“Some do, some don’t,” Leah mumbled through tight lips.
 
The constant change in subjects as well as all the emotions warring inside her had her nerves jangling.
 
“Are you saying that’s your word for God?”

“Yes.
 
And
mica tisha
simply means ‘my own’ in English,” Rykhan explained serenely with another caress of her arm.
 
The touch provided only a brief moment of respite in the storm brewing in her head.

She searched his face because there was no way he could be serious in claiming her as his.
 
They hadn’t even known each other a full month, for hell’s sake!
 
But he honestly seemed to believe the shit he was spouting.

And she needed to that shut those sorts of thoughts down immediately!
 
“Listen, mister.
 
You’re extremely hot and really sweet but just because we sport the same arm jewelry and have amazing sexual chemistry doesn’t mean we are fated to be together or anything!”

“Oh but it does!” Bronsyn’s bellow was loud in the small room.
 
Loud enough to cause the background noises in the kitchen to immediately cease.
 
“That is exactly what it indicates!
 
And the fact that you, as a human female, bear the identical mark of a Galaxi warrior only proves that you are Rykhan’s one true and legitimate mate.”

Leah’s head spun and she tried to pull out one thought in which to argue such a ridiculous statement but there were so many swirling that she floundered.
 
That was until she latched onto two words that Bronsyn had said.
 
Words that the other warriors also used frequently.

Two measly words that brought ice to her veins and wide, shocked eyes back to the older man.

Earth.

And human.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, unable to even blink as she stared at him.
 
Her mind was providing other items to the list, preparing an argument so wild that she caught her breath.
 
The way all the guys in the house called women ‘females’ was one.
 
But she couldn’t believe it, couldn’t wrap her head around the crazy idea that they were…that the warriors she’d been interacting and laughing with were…

“Aliens,” she murmured on a stricken whisper.
 
Neither man moved a muscle or spoke a word to correct her.
 
So she tried more in the hopes they would jump in and immediately correct her errant thoughts.
 
“Extraterrestrials.
 
Spacemen.
 
Creatures from another planet.”

“I don’t know if I would call us ‘creatures’ since our species are so similar to your own, but the rest of what you spoke was correct.”
 
Bronsyn sat back in his chair and glanced at Rykhan, giving the man seated next to her a level though unfathomable look.

Since Leah was beginning to hyperventilate though, she could pretty much figure that Bronsyn was wondering at her reaction to his calmly uttered words.
 
Her head turned so she could look into Rykhan’s beautiful Caribbean-colored eyes.
 
She knew most of his emotions were visible in the depths of his blue-green orbs but she couldn’t find hint of a lie there.
 

She was willing to pay every dime in her bank account for him to announce, ‘just kidding!’
 
Even a good old-fashioned, ‘psyche!’ would’ve been perfect in that moment.

But the large warrior calmly sat next to her, unmoving and without speaking.

“I gotta go!” she announced as she tried to find her feet, but Rykhan wrapped her body in his arms and brought his mouth to her ear.

“You must calm yourself, my Leah.
 
There is much more, so very much more you need to know,” he whispered and she wasn’t sure if it was the contact between them or how very fervent he sounded that made her stop in her tracks.
 
“We need your help.”

“My help?”
She knew her question was given in a squeak but it only reflected the insane situation she found herself in.

“You are
Tsiran’s
choice for helping us in our quest, my Leah,” Rykhan replied firmly.
 
“And the
wahrom
he has allowed you to wear is testament of it.”

It was the most ludicrous thing anyone had ever said to her but as Bronsyn began to speak, Leah soon forgot what Rykhan had said.
 

Mainly because the story the commander relayed was too fantastic, too mesmerizing to not give all of her attention to.
 
Of how a comet’s trail had contained a gas which settled over two of the three closest planets to their sun, settling in the lungs of every female, killing young and old alike.
 
And how all their medical knowledge, all their skills couldn’t save any of them.

He told of the shadow that fell over both Galaxia and Nutrol that was not only from the horrific grief of the males left behind but from the smoke of the all the funeral pyres as they released their beloved mates and female younglings into
Tsiran’s
ether.

And of the droids that had been sent out to explore the universe in order to discover other worlds after being turned away by their neighboring planets.
 
Because the Aterians and Casticians had denied the decimated societies the opportunity to find suitable mates within their planet’s populaces.

It was when Bronsyn spoke of the surprise and joy when one of the long-range droids had sent back a transmission of Earth that Leah began to truly engage in his tale.
 
His words painted such a clear picture that she could almost see the council chambers as he described it:
 
the silence he and the other members maintained as the president allowed them to both view and hear videos plucked from Earth’s internet.
 
Ones from an online dating websites, where female after female spoke of actively looking and seeking men to marry and create families with.
 
And the wild euphoria and hope that raced through the room as the males realized they’d found the answers to their prayers.

Because without females, the two planets were dying.
 
In painfully hopeless and lonely, slow measures.

“How long ago was this?” Leah asked quietly and was amazed to find wetness on her cheeks.
 
She hadn’t known when she’d begun to cry at Bronsyn’s tale, but she couldn’t deny the horrific sorrow she felt.

“For which incident?”
Bronsyn asked kindly, seemingly moved by Leah’s unspoken emotions.

“Both, I guess.”
 
She wiped her face with her hands before scouring her palms on her jeans.
 
Rykhan was still holding her but not quite as tightly as he’d had to before.

Bronsyn’s eyes dropped to the floor.
 
“We lost our cherished females over twenty-five
yons
ago.”

He paused and Leah wondered how such a simple silence could feel both deep and yet respectful.

“And the transmission?”

“Eighteen
merts
.
 
Our scientists and experts in galactic travel had the
Searcher
built in a little over a
yon
,” Rykhan supplied.
 
“It took us six
merts
to travel here.”

Leah shifted so she could see his face.
 
“I’m guessing a
yon
is a year and a
mert
is a month in my language?”

“Yes,
mica tisha
, although the timing is a little different but not enough to mention.”

She didn’t take her eyes off him as she wondered how to ask her next question.
 
But when she opened her mouth to speak, Leah felt
a tenderness
well within her that she knew tempered her tone.
 
“How long has it been since you’ve seen a woman, then?”

He closed his eyes and when they opened she was struck by the deep pain she saw evidenced there.
 
“I have no memory of one except through holographs and vids.”

“My mate was one of the first to succumb,” Bronsyn added quietly.
 
“First my Tela and then my youngling, Sera.”

She seemed to have no control over the hand that moved to cup Rykhan’s cheek, nor the sweet thrill she received when he again closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss it.
 
“I still don’t understand how I can help, though.”

Leah was quiet on the drive back, caught up as she was in the churning of her own thoughts as she tried to process all she’d learned and experienced through the day.
 
Even Pam seemed subdued and wasn’t driving as if she was going to win the Indianapolis 500 on nothing more than a suburban freeway.
 
Something for which Leah was more than thankful since she didn’t think she could take anymore hair-raising surprises.
 
She’d had enough in the last twenty-four hours, what with the appearance of her armband that was a smaller but perfect replica of Rykhan’s, the unbelievable sex they’d shared and then Bronsyn confession and admission that the warriors were actually aliens who needed her help.

Although she had to admit, some parts of what she’d gone through had been better than others.

Like when Rykhan had pulled her away from the crowd after their dinner of delivered pizza and had done nothing more than
hold
her closely against his chest.
 
It had only seemed natural that her fingers had sought out the hard metal of his wahrom as she’d pressed her face into his neck, just as his hand had found hers.
 
And if his reaction was any indication, the caresses she’d given his armband caused just as much of a response in him as she felt when he stroked hers.
 
It had even gotten to the point that he’d pressed the hard length of himself into her hipbone, clearly indicating he was more than amenable to going back upstairs for a round two.

And perhaps it was because of his behavior she believed him about never seeing a real, live girl until they arrived on Earth.

But she’d gotten just as aroused, had been seriously tempted when he caressed her
wahrom
as well.
  
And at the memory of how their combined orgasm had almost shattered the two of them when their arm jewelry had collided, Leah turned toward the passenger window to hide both her blush and her smile.

She’d known both he and Bronsyn had been more than disappointed that she’d repeatedly denied that her destiny had already been written and that Rykhan was her ‘true and legitimate mate’.
  
Leah had tried to explain it, had cited that while she wasn’t against marriage in any way, shape or form, there was no way in hell that she was getting legally tied to a man she’d only recently met.
 
And she’d been glad she’d objected early on because the more she found out about their plans on how they were to meet women that might be willing to join with the
warriors,
she’d realized how little they actually knew about the fairer sex.

Was there a difference between the Picari females and Earth women?
 
Because in Leah’s opinion, the answers she’d received to her questions had been sadly lacking.
 
Especially in the areas of career opportunities and outside interests for those of the feminine persuasion on either Galaxia or Nutrol.
 
That was, once she got over the shock that the warriors actually expected their brides to blithely climb aboard their star-cruiser and relocate to a planet nobody had ever heard of!

“Ridiculous!” she muttered, not realizing she’d spoken out loud.

“Naw, I think it’s just flat-out sad,” Pam answered with a sigh.
 
“I mean, imagine coming all this way and trying find your other half using the stupidest of all human stupid stuff like speed-dating or find-your-soul-mate-dot-com.”

Leah’s eyes flew to her friend.
 
“They told you?”

“Oh hell, yeah.
 
When you were all getting all up-tight and personal with Bronsie and Ryk in the den, the boys took me out to the back garden and laid it all out.”
 
She sighed again and didn’t speak for a time.
 
Leah however, rode the edges of incredulity since she’d somehow believed that she was the only one privy to that knowledge.
 
“It had to have been the most depressing thing I think I’ve ever heard.”

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.