Love Without Boundaries

by Michelle Howard

  And was something he needed to share with his warrior-brothers. Especially since Rykhan was the first of the six to find his mate, his true and legitimate life partner. A female who would share her life with his and give him younglings that would help to rebuild his world.

  He’d known that he and Leah had taken their courtship farther than the other males, even before their kiss. Arbrynt, Tyshar and Laxon had failed in their attempts to secure second outings with numerous human females and each had cornered him to ask what he was doing with Leah that had her gladly wanting to be with him. But Rykhan hadn’t had an answer. Not really, although he spoke of shared interests and going places, doing things that made her laugh.

  If only he’d known that Tsiran had chosen Leah for him and him alone, he would’ve been able to advise his brothers to wait. Wait until they too received a sign that a specific female had already been selected just for them.

  As the car changed lanes and signaled its intent to exit the freeway, Rykhan shifted in his seat. What if he hadn’t seen the wahrom that had etched its mark into her skin though? What if she’d been wearing a shirt with sleeves and he hadn’t had the opportunity to both view and touch the intricate marks on her arm that seemed to have been caused by the connection of their kiss? What then might have happened?

  He couldn’t answer that question and soon set it aside to worry over later.

  There would be enough queries from his warrior-brothers that he would need to answer to the best of his ability.

  Even if his replies were only those of ‘I don’t know’.

  Chapter Two

  Leah was surprised when she awoke before her alarm, only marginally aware of the other residents in her complex slamming out of their apartments as they made their way to their cars. And the added feel of her phone, still clutched into the palm of her hand, gave evidence that what she’d experienced the night before hadn’t been a dream.

  Rykhan.

  She had finally met a man who was better than any dream she’d entertained or in any fantasy that had crossed her mind. And he’d seemed to be as interested in her as she was in him. Especially when he’d responded so wickedly in the kiss they’d shared.

  The kiss she’d had to ask for and one that she’d ensured went deeper than just a little lip touch.

  ‘How’s that for a fairy tale?’ her mind simpered. And Leah winced at the thought, since she’d long ago given up the happily-ever-after endings the stories of her youth promised. The ones that had insisted were the true benchmark of how girls would meet the one man that they could honestly say was the love of their lives.

  Throwing off those thoughts, Leah turned on her side while pressing her phone against her heart and closing her eyes. On any normal weekday, she would delay getting up until the last possible moment, knowing that her day was going to be the same as it had been the day before. A day filled with requests and complaints, of excuses and the denial of late fees as her customers tried to wiggle out of paying any more than they absolute had to, as required by law. People had no clue working for the DMV could suck the soul right out of a person.

  Her mind wasn’t on the day ahead but was still caught up in the memory of him, of the look on his face as his eyes had traveled over her as if she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, ever wanted to gaze upon before their lips had actually pressed together.

  And the feel of his mouth when it had finally met hers? God. It had been as if someone had poured warm, sweet butterscotch all inside her, saving the best of the heated stickiness for all her extra-sensitive parts. Spreading its hotness in every area, every crevasse, even the ones that his hands hadn’t gotten anywhere near.

  Rykhan.

  And he’d texted her within an hour of leaving her shaking and lonely in her apartment, only to say he’d greatly enjoyed being with her and couldn’t wait to see her again.

  Which she somehow knew meant he wanted to kiss and hold her again.

  Something she was panting for too.

  The phone in her hand, tucked up beneath her chin, vibrated before the two-note beep was heard announcing an incoming text message. And she smiled. No one texted her that early in the morning, not even her best friend, Pam.

  Which meant it could only be from one person.

  One man.

  ‘I dreamed of you last night’, she read. ‘And it was very good. I cannot wait to see you again.’

  Oh god! The man had his whole pursuit down pat!

  But then Leah remembered the feel of his fingers as he touched her: on her palm when he’d held her hand, on her face as he’d tucked her hair behind her ear and as he’d stroked her jaw with his eyes probing hers and knew that he hadn’t been playing her. No one, not even the smoothest, most experienced player could make those sort of moves. Not with the vulnerability she’d seen exposed, of his total heart in his eyes while he’d looked at her.

  It just wasn’t possible.

  Glancing at the clock, she realized she still had a few minutes before she needed to call in to excuse her absence. It was something that she never considered, not in a normal morning. Not even with her last bout with the flu, when she’d been so sick she was dizzy and seeing double. No matter what, Leah always, but always reported for work. But when confronted with Rykhan’s text Leah decided to take the day off.

  Slowly, carefully Leah pressed the buttons on her phone as she replied to his text. ‘If I could get out of work and we could somehow spend the day together, what would we do?’ Her thumb hovered over the ‘send’ button for more than a few heartbeats before depressing the key.

  ‘I am happy with whatever catches your fancy, my Leah’, came the immediate reply. And she quickly dialed the service that logged in her department’s absences before mentally composing her response to Rykhan.

  As she made her way to the bathroom, Leah found herself shaking her head in denial. He couldn’t be serious. There was no way a man that hot, that cultured would be interested in a little mouse like her. Yet no matter how much she denied it, there it was, clear as day in text format on her phone.

  Pulling off her tank-top, she reached for the knob to turn on the water only then noticing the metal, bronze-colored band that was embedded in the skin of her left bicep.

  What the hell?

  Leah felt a trembling start within her as she stared at the new addition to her body as her heart began to race. Raising her right hand, she allowed her shaky fingers to trail over the metal that rose up from her skin, almost as if it was a scar that had happened recently. She noticed it was cool when compared to the heat of the flesh that seemed to surround it and with that observation Leah’s vision blurred before righting itself.

  She blinked hard but the metal was still there when she opened her eyes.

  What the hell was it and how the hell did it get there?

  It seemed to be in some kind of a tribal design, looping and crossing itself much like so many tattoos she’d admired on other people. But with her abject fear of needles, was something Leah had never, not seriously, considered for herself.

  ‘No tattoo was made of metal, though’, her mind screamed as her fingers explored the design that went in a complete circle around her arm. It was as if it had come up from inside her, growing out of her while she had slept.

  “Which is freaking impossible,” she announced to no one but the tiles of her bathroom. Sitting on the edge of the bath, Leah shaking so hard she could barely breathe, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the beautiful yet unwanted bracelet.

  Her trembling fingers trailed over the metal band, seeking a clasp and after finding none just continued to stroke the beautiful brown with orange highlights piece that gleamed in the stark bathroom light. There were no sharp edges that she could find in which to pry a fingernail beneath nor a break, not even a crease that her fingers could detect, which would allow to its removal.

  It was, she finally admitted to herself, as if it was embedded in her arm on purpose. Or for a purpose but one she was c
ompletely unaware of.

  ‘Don’t freak out,’ her mind warned, the line repeating over and over again as she viewed it from every angle, using the mirror in order to see the part of it that no amount of twisting and turning allowed. She grabbed hold of the edge of the vanity as her trembling turned to full-body shakes that were so deep and hard, they left her dizzy. “You’re freaking out,” she told her reflection finally reaching for her phone that was sitting on the vanity.

  “Pam?” she greeted but then stopped because of the lump that had taken over her throat. “I need you. Can you come over right away?”

  “What’s up, honey? You sound stressed,” her bestie drawled in a sleepy voice.

  Leah tried dislodging the lump by swallowing but it was hard when all she wanted to do was sob in sheer terror. “I need you to drive me to the hospital.”

  “I’ll be there in fifteen!” Pam yelled, not asking a single additional question. That was just the kind of friend Pam was and why Leah had immediately turned to her for help.

  ....*

  ‘Pam, this is Wyst. Rykhan cannot reach Leah and is worried. Do you know where she might be?’

  The curly blonde was sitting in the urgent care cubby that Leah had been assigned as she waited for Leah to return from being x-rayed. With nothing to do but guard Leah’s purse, she was almost thankful for the interruption of her cellphone. Maybe it was because no metal had grown out of her arm in the middle of the night, but Pam didn’t think it was anything to worry about. Much less obtain medical attention for!

  Actually, in Pam’s mind it was beautiful and suited Leah’s coloring to a ‘T’.

  And if it brought Wyst’s attention back to her, so much the better!

  ‘We are at the doctor. Leah has an issue she needs to have seen to. I will have her call Rykhan when she’s finished.’ Pam wasn’t sure if Leah wanted to withhold the info about her new addition from her new boyfriend but Pam didn’t think it was her place to spill the beans. Especially to said boyfriend’s friend that Pam had been crushing on.

  ‘Is she okay?’ Came the next text. ‘Rykhan is very worried.’

  ‘Yes. Not in pain but very scared.’ Which Pam thought was putting it mildly. Her friend had been in full meltdown mode when Pam arrived—wailing and crying so much that Pam hadn’t understood a word the other woman had been saying. When she’d finally pieced it altogether, Pam had spent more than a few minutes of trying to find an opening in order to take the armband off. There wasn’t even a gap around the edge and it appeared that Leah’s skin had somehow grown over the edges of the metal itself.

  But if a girl was going to get stuck, in the literal sense, with a piece of jewelry you couldn’t remove, the bronze bicep bracelet was cool as shit, in Pam’s opinion.

  Her cellphone vibrated and she opened the screen again. ‘We have your location and will be there momentarily’. Pam stared at the words, reading them again and again. What did that mean? How had they know where the women were and why did they feel the need to join them? In Pam’s experience, guys didn’t run to a girl’s side when she was at the doctor, especially not those they met just a couple of weeks before! ‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Leah is pretty wigged out.’

  ‘We are on the road. Estimated arrival in 7.5 minutes.’

  Seriously? Pam looked up from her cellphone not really noticing the activity that was going on in the hallway of the facility but was wondering who would race to get to her if she felt the need to hit the urgent care for something or another. Outside of Leah, there really wasn’t anyone she could think of, no one that would drop everything and come rushing to her side.

  The pair were so much more than friends, albeit ones of the long term variety. Pam had been raised by her grandmother who had passed on just two months before Leah’s parents had been killed in an automobile accident when they were both only twenty. And since that time the two women had become closer, more like family than just simply friends.

  “Excuse me, miss?” A nurse stood near the curtain of the cubby and Pam raised her eyes. “There are two men in the waiting room that are demanding information about your friend.”

  Pam wondered how many traffic laws Wyst and Rykhan had broken to get to the clinic as she grabbed both purses and followed the nurse to the door that led to the waiting room. She saw Rykhan was arguing with the receptionist behind the glass as Wyst paced with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Hey, Wyst.”

  He raised his head before rushing up to her. “Is she okay? Rykhan is practically out of his mind with worry and no one here will give him any data concerning her condition.”

  She patted Wyst’s shoulder before making her way to where Leah’s large boyfriend stood as he loudly instructed the receptionist to tell him where ‘his Leah’ was even as the other woman argued back only using sentences that included ‘the police’. Pam grabbed onto Rykhan’s forearm and pulled. He glanced down at her hand with a frown before lifting his eyes to her face. As he opened his mouth, Pam started talking. “You’ve gotta shut up now, Ryk. Just sit down and be quiet, okay?”

  “But I need to know what has happened to my female!” His demanding voice echoed throughout the small, almost empty waiting room.

  “And I’ll tell you but you’ve gotta chill, dude!” She cast her eyes to Wyst silently asking for help. As Wyst moved to stand next to Ryk, Pam continued patting his arm as she steered him to a bank of seats. “That’s right, big guy. Just cop a squat here and settle for a minute, okay?”

  As Rykhan sat down, Pam straightened and shot Wyst a look. There must’ve been something in her demeanor that told him she wasn’t willing to put up with much more because he slowly and quietly sat down next to his friend.

  “Okay, here’s what’s going down.” Due to Rykhan’s obvious distress, Pam felt she had no choice but to tell him what was happening. Besides, it was just some kind of weird metal band on Leah’s arm, not a girlie issue by any stretch of the imagination. “Leah woke up this morning with a bronze bracelet on her upper arm. It scared her and even though we tried to get it off, we couldn’t. So we came here to find out what it is and see if the medicos can help.”

  Rykhan and Wyst had gone still as stone, their eyes wide and unblinking as she’d explained. “So as you can see, there’s no reason for you two to be here or anything. It just suddenly appeared and she got scared, maybe even more so when we couldn’t get it off…” Pam let her voice trail away because she didn’t think the men were paying her or her explanation a damn bit of attention. Not from the way they were then staring at one another. A look that they shared for more than a few heartbeats.

  Turning his face back to her, Rykhan swallowed. “She did not like her wahrom?”

  “Her what?” Pam wasn’t sure that even Rykhan knew what he’d said. Not when his eyes still held more than a measure of wildness. “I don’t even know what that means.”

  Without saying anything and without taking his eyes from her face, Rykhan slowly lifted the sleeve of his t-shirt.

  And at the sight, Pam’s knees crumbled as the world swirled to black.

  ....*

  Wyst caught the much smaller female before her body slid to the floor and gathered her onto his lap. “What did you do to her Rykhan?” he demanded with a glare as he shifted her closer, tucking her head under his chin.

  “I didn’t do anything except show her my warrior’s mark. Is she okay?”

  Wyst twisted to look down at the female’s face only he couldn’t see anything because her blonde curls covered her features. Using a hand he pushed them aside and as soon as his fingers touched her skin, she moaned. “Pam?” Wyst’s voice was gentle as he called to her softly and relief spread through him when he saw her eyelids flutter. “Are you alright, pixie?”

  “Mmm,” was her mumbled reply but it appeared she was trying to open her eyes.

  “That’s it, little one,” the large warrior encouraged as he began to rub the skin that covered her spine. He didn’t know if his touch wo
uld help her come back to herself but it sure as Tsiran’s beard helped him!

  Soon her frosted blue eyes were blinking up into his hazel ones and Wyst felt his face split into a grin at her befuddled look. “What happened to me? And why are you cuddling me on your lap, Wyst?”

  “I do not know,” he confessed. “One minute you were looking at Rykhan’s wahrom and the next it appeared you went unconscious.”

  She tried to sit up a little straighter but he stopped her movement by placing his cheek against the top of her head. “Shhh, little Pam. Be still and allow your body to come back to itself.”

  He could feel her breath against the opened collar of his shirt and decided he liked the feeling. Just as much as he liked having her on his lap and within the circle of his arms. Even though he’d met her the same night and at the same venue where Rykhan and Leah had met, he and Pam were only friends who sometimes accompanied their friends on their dates.

  “Okay, so I fainted. Guess there’s a first time for everything,” she whispered and Wyst found he liked her summation and how it seemed as if she was speaking for his ears alone. “But you gotta admit that for both Leah and Ryk to have the same damn bracelet is hella weird, right?”

  “It is normal for our males to have the warrior symbol.” Wyst was uncertain if his reluctance in going into any greater detail was a good thing or a bad thing. He waited to see if she demanded more information.

  It took a couple of seconds but she pushed back to again look him in the eye. It appeared she did, indeed, wish to talk about it but not in the direction he’d anticipated. “Do you have one?”

  “Certainly,” he agreed, having no knowledge that he’d nodded his head as he gave his one word answer.

  Her fingers glided over his biceps through his long sleeved shirt as her eyes remained on his. “I can’t feel it.”