Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (9 page)

Pam smiled at her reflection before moving her
eyes to Leah’s image. “Yeah, that part wasn’t so cool but I think
he was nervous and just talking shit.” She stepped back to allow
another girl to squeeze in for some mirror-time and pulled Leah
with her. “That first guy, though? Mister tall, dark, and
oh-my-god? He was seriously hot.”

“Yeah?” Leah really couldn’t have cared less at
this point and was just hoping to make it through the rest of the
evening without yawning.

“But he couldn’t see me for nothing. Every time
I looked up at him, he was eyeing you!”

Wait…what?

Leah frowned and glanced at her
friend.

“And he was still trying to catch your eye when
we got up for break!” Pam didn’t sound disappointed, though. “Put
the man out of his misery and smile at him or something, would
you?”

“Has he been to my table yet?”

“No, silly. He’ll be your last partner of the
evening with the direction they’ve got the guys moving.” Pam yanked
the restroom door open but continued talking over her shoulder as
they left the crowded lavatory. “Let’s get a refill and see if the
second half is better than the first, shall we?”

Leah leaned down a bit, trying to adjust her
stride to Pam’s much shorter pace. “Could you point him out to
me?”

Pam lifted an eyebrow before a giggle broke
through her newly shined lips. “Of course, honey. That’s a
wing-girl’s job!”

Leah had no clue what that meant but if there
was someone out there who was tall, dark and oh-my-god as well as
even remotely interested in her, then she’d like the chance to see
him before he hit her table.

Keeping her fingers crossed that maybe, just
maybe the night wouldn’t turn out to be a bust after
all.

Chapter Seven

Rykhan and Wyst stood on the outer fringes of
where the humans gathered in the bar and sipped at their drinks as
they talked quietly. Making a point of speaking in the more formal
Picari dialect, they did not care if others overheard but kept
their voices low nonetheless.

“These females seem different than the ones on
the sites we studied.” Wyst’s frustration came through his tone.
“And act different than those on the vid feeds we
received.”

“The vids were of females engaged in sexual
pleasure. The ones on the sites are looking for mates.” Rykhan was
frustrated as well but not for the same reason as his
warrior-brother. As soon as he had walked into the vast room dotted
with small tables, he had felt her. Had absolutely known beyond any
doubt that his mate, his legitimate and true other half had been
present. Moreover, when he had seen her, had caught the light
floral scent of her skin, had been hard-pressed not to gather her
to him and escape the confines of the event.

“There’s a difference? Does that mean that
these Earth females who are seeking a pairing won’t want to join
with us?” Wyst’s voice growled in low rumble with every question he
threw at his warrior-brother.

However, Rykhan did not allow the other male’s
demanding tone to temper his reply. “No and for you to ask means
you need to do more research.”

Wyst had been instructed to study the culture
of Earth, or more specifically the Phoenix portion of the state of
Arizona in the United States of America in the northern hemisphere
of the planet Earth just as he and the other males on their quest
had. True, Wyst was not a scholar and preferred to be in motion
rather than simply sitting and analyzing data. Nevertheless, it was
not Rykhan’s job to ensure what the other warrior knew or did
not.

That was up to Bronsyn, their quest leader and
as far as Rykhan was concerned, Wyst needed to take his questions
to the older man. Allowing Rykhan to get on with plotting how to
ensure he left this ridiculous meeting with his one true mate in
tow.

“How can I pore over all the
information, Rykhan, when it is so dissimilar to the females I’m
meeting here tonight? I mean, my
tailpor
was at the ready when we
entered the room but as soon as I began talking with them,
breathing in their aromas, my excitement left and I felt almost
physically ill. Did they lie about themselves on the dating
websites and video-feeds?”

Rykhan’s eyes took in Wyst’s posture
and knew the male was not over-exaggerating, because he had felt
the same at the beginning of their first venture out. At first, he
too had felt his
tailpor
’s excitement in anticipation
of meeting the females of Earth face-to-face. As he had moved
through the tables though, their voices grated on his nerves,
seeing greedy eyes move over him and the other males as if judging
Nutrolian cattle until his desire had left him.

Most of the humans in attendance did not smell
particularly pleasant. As if somehow knowing that their body odor
was offensive, many of them added some kind of overlaying scent to
confuse the nose. In the case of the Picari Alliance warriors,
whose sense of smell was only one in their arsenal of skills as
Protectorates, it was all too much. When combined with the
aggressive approach of some of the females, Rykhan had felt his
stomach turn.

Until he had caught a whiff, just the barest
aroma that had both teased and settled him at the same time. He had
moved with the other males, in and around the tables, as he had
tried to determine which female projected the luscious
scent.

Once his eyes had zeroed in on her, he had not
been able to keep them away for any length of time.

She seemed unaware of him, as she had
interacted with the others. Her inattention to him had only allowed
his gaze free reign as he studied her. There was no denying she was
beautiful but Rykhan could not determine exactly what set her apart
from the other beauties in the room. Was it her creamy skin not
covered in as many of the artificial colors the other females wore?
On the other hand, perhaps it was the sparkle of her smile she
seemed to flash so freely that captured his attention?

He had wanted to push the other males aside to
be the one who sat across from her, who had her full regard and to
find out if her voice was as beautiful as the rest of her. Instead
of getting closer, he had been force to move further and further
away. The distance between them had made him tense, curt in his
speech. So much so, his temporary partners seemed to take his
frustration personally.

Lifting his head, Rykhan spied his female
across the room, surprised she was taller than most of the others
in the room.

Beauty and height worthy of a Protectorate
warrior, his mind supplied and he had to hide the smile that wanted
to escape. Even his body agreed as he again felt himself becoming
aroused while he watched her from his dimly lit corner. Admittedly,
he did not approve of the attire she wore, but the skirt and
sparkled top covered more of her flesh than those of the other
females. The two warriors did not care for skin, especially of the
breast flesh, that the human females freely displayed.

He liked her shiny, spiked shoes though. Liked
the way they caught the light and drew his attention to her
breath-stealing legs. Long, long curvaceous legs that ignited a
fire low in his belly and made his hearts beat very
fast.

She turned slightly at the waist as
she looked around the room. As their eyes caught and held, Rykhan
felt something snap into place between them, almost as if their
shared stare was something biological, a living connection that
united them from their places on either side of the room. With
their link beating between them, Rykhan discovered a faint knowing
of what she felt, of curiosity edged in expectant optimism that
coursed inside her. It was that, along with her alluring scent and
the throbbing of his warrior’s
wahrom
on his right bicep that had
him straightening to his full height. Stupefied by the three
components coming together all at the same time and all because of
one female, he felt chills of desire break out over his
skin.

Her raked over him and Rykhan
wondered if she found him pleasing. Until then, his appearance was
never a consideration, but at that moment, he was very aware of the
differences between himself and the other human males in the room.
His light brown hair fell to his shoulders in gentle waves and
although Wyst’s hair was even longer, he knew it labeled them as
‘different’. The females he had met had also commented on the
blue-green of his eyes, one even called it ‘Caribbean blue’
whatever the
Posket
that meant. It was only from the admiration in her voice he
had realized the female had given him a compliment.

Nevertheless, their attraction to
one another physically was only one small portion of the equation.
The connection, the link of their emotions and the pulsing of
his
wahrom
held
much more sway.

He had heard the tales from the older ones, the
Galaxian stories of finding your legitimate and true other half, of
the signals and signs which became a knowing deep inside a warrior,
but Rykhan had not believed them.

Not really. Not until that very
instant.

It was a moment that went on and on as the
sounds of the many voices dropped away, as even the other human
bodies ceased to exist in his concentrated regard of his female.
And she didn’t seem to want to look away from him either, didn’t
play a game of flirtation, the pretend coyness or false shyness
that he’d been subjected to while moving amongst the other females
seated at their tables. No, her clear gaze lacked pretense and he
wondered at her courage in staring down a Picari warrior in his
prime and well caught in the middle of his quest.

Almost without his volition, his
feet moved and he wound his way in and around the various clusters
of humans standing between them but their connected gaze never
faltered. As he made his way closer, her shiny, full lips part as
she wet the bottom one with her tongue. His already full
tailpor
flexed at the
subtle, yet innocently alluring gesture.

He finally stood in front of her and he could
not help breathing deep in order to take in more of the heady
fragrance that exuded from her skin, any more than he could help
searching her dark eyes for any sort of recognition of what they
were to mean to one another. Finding none and wanting to get
through the introductions as quickly as possible, he spoke without
any sort of preamble.

“I am Rykhan of Galaxi,” he pronounced
carefully in English.

She smiled slowly and he found he liked the way
her eyes crinkled at the corners as she did so. “I’m Leah from
Phoenix.” She blinked and dropped her eyes to the smaller female
standing next to her side. “And this is my friend, Pam.”

He pointed his chin in the general direction of
the other female but his eyes never left the beauty of his Leah’s
face. It was all he could do to offer that little bit of
acknowledgment for the other one when the vision, the connection,
and the aroma of his mate consumed him. However, at the confusion
he sensed from her, he knew he needed to speak again.

“It is nice to finally meet you,” he ground
out. Each of his carefully chosen group had been studying English
as well as the cultural greetings and goodbyes but the actual
speaking and interaction with the humans was still new enough to be
uncomfortable

“Finally? Well, okay. But you would’ve
eventually met me,” she said softly with a tilt of her head.
“Probably in the next round of musical chairs.”

He tried to make sense of what she said, of the
meaning of her words but he was unable. There must have been
evidence of his struggle because she went on.

“You know, like the kid’s game? That’s what
this thing feels like to me anyway,” she explained, pointing her
thumb over her shoulder at the open doorway.

“Will you be staying until the end?” He had to
know if there was any possible way to separate her from the others
now beginning to surround them. Her feelings seemed much more
relaxed the more they spoke together

Leah’s eyebrows rose slightly as their gaze
again caught and held. Her emotion morphed into something that held
more caution. “Well, I did pay for the experience. I guess I’m kind
of stuck here until it’s over.”

Rykhan’s impatience rode him hard but he
planned to make his intentions clear before allowing her to get
away. “May I take you out afterward?”

“I think they have rules against that,” the
smaller female, Pam, advised. “I think you turn in a piece of paper
of the people you want to see again and then you’ll get an
email.”

What a torturous thought! To wait until someone
else provided him with his own mate’s contact information? Not
while he lived and breathed! “That will not…work for me,
unfortunately. Surely we can simply go for…” Rykhan tried to
remember the correct sequence of events as expected by a human
female when being pursued by a male. “…a coffee when you are
finished here?”

“You aren’t going back inside?” Her voice gave
evidence of the surprise he felt along their connection. He
wondered if she had a sense of what he was feeling as well,
although he could not be sure. Was she unaware of the link already
growing between them?