Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series)

by J. A. Hornbuckle

  “Tersa mandai, Dr. Jyrl,” she greeted just as she’d done each day for the four days since she’d been injured. It was because of that injury, the physician insisted on performing a daily examination.

  “Tersa mandai, Rykhan’s female,” the doctor replied with a small smile. “Your accent is getting better.”

  “I think it’s just because I’m getting more practice.” She went to the chaise that took up one corner of the large room. The space used to be the observation deck onboard the Searcher but was refurbished as her and Rykhan’s living space. Lying back and closing her eyes, she relaxed into the chair and let both it and the handheld device Dr. Jyrl passed over her body to do their scans.

  Actions that, at first, had completely wigged her out but once both the physician and Rykhan had explained were to help both her and the baby, she’d seen the benefit of it.

  A baby!

  Every time she even thought about her pregnancy, she got a little thrill and had to fight the need to stroke her fingers over her stomach. Who knew that Rykhan’s swimmers were strong enough to overpower her birth control pills after only sharing sex twice? Although she hadn’t been so thrilled when remanded to stay aboard the star-cruiser, not allowed to go back to Phoenix. Every argument she’d mounted against being confined on their ‘damn tin can with thrusters’ until they left to return to the Picari system, was lost as soon as anyone reminded her of her pregnancy. It was one thing to take chances using the TIPS when it was just her by herself, but the unknown effects it may have on their unborn child didn’t warrant the risk.

  “It all looks as it should,” Jyrl announced, closing the portable tech-med before helping her get out of her chair. It seemed her center of gravity had shifted over the last few days and simple moves were a struggle to maneuver.

  “Do you have any idea how long until the baby comes?” she asked, just as she did after every daily exam. She extended a hand in invitation towards the tiny two person table and the teapot and cups she’d set out earlier. It hadn’t taken long for her to discover Dr. Jyrl had a weakness for chamomile tea with honey and she always tried to have some waiting.

  “I have been studying the gestation cycles of a human fetus and comparing them to the old notes in the Picari archives. If I understand it correctly, it takes a human baby forty werts to develop whereas a normal gestation for my species is only twenty. Since we still have not taken a sample in order to read your younglings DNA, I would hate to make an approximation. However, the scans indicate that your baby…did I say that correctly?” At Leah’s nod, Dr. Jyrl continued. “Your baby is developing faster than what the human models indicate.”

  “She’s still healthy, right?”

  “Oh, we do not know the gender yet! But your youngling appears to be in very good health as it grows,” the doctor replied before shifting his eyes to Leah pouring a measure of tea into both cups, handing him one after performing a quick stir of the hot liquid. “Rykhan’s mate? I know that you have said no in the past but I do not think you realize…”

  Holding up a palm and frowning, Leah bit out, “Shut it, doc”, before bending her face to her cup and sipping. The damn man never let up even though she’d explained it again and again. “I said no and I meant it.”

  “But it would help by speeding up the process, allowing the males in pairs back on Galaxia and Nutrol to complete their families. To enjoy their own younglings. And the procedure is very simple, quite painless…”

  “What part didn’t you understand? They are my eggs, located in my body and I’m not about to let you nor anybody else harvest them, all right?” Slightly shorter and much leaner than any of the warriors, the doc sighed and looked disappointed as always by her refusal while he sipped his tea. Leah softened her voice. “I really wish you wouldn’t ask me for them again.”

  “And I would prefer you stop asking as well,” Rykhan’s deep voice growled as he stepped into the room. “You only upset my Leah with your constant requests.”

  “You know her eggs would help. Especially since we know that your mate’s ovum can join with our life-force. We might not be so lucky with other human women.” The doctor’s whole demeanor was fervent. “The need is so dire that I must do everything I can to convince her of our desperate circumstances, warrior.”

  Rykhan came to stand next to her and her ire at the doctor’s words drifted away at the soft caress her warrior slid over her back. Gazing into her eyes, the man she was beginning to think of as her mate rumbled a soft, “she knows, Jyrl. Believe me, she knows.”

  Sighing heavily, Jyrl sat his teacup on the small table. “I must get back to the med station. I have been exchanging emails with an obb-gen on Earth who is helping me in my research.”

  It wasn’t until after the med-leader left that Leah understood what the man had meant. “Oh my god!” she giggled. “He meant an OB-GYN!”

  Rykhan wandered over to the desk that sat underneath the large viewport, but turned back at the sound of her mirth. “Is all still well, mica tisha?”

  “Yeah, baby.” She crossed the room to wrap her arms around his waist. “Our youngling is great.”

  “Of that I have no doubt, Tersa blay,” he countered, as he pulled her closer, pressing his forehead to hers. “I was just inquiring after his health.”

  “That ‘he’ just might turn out to be a ‘she’, you know.” It was a playful discussion that happened often and one neither of them seemed to mind engaging in repeatedly.

  “I do not care whether our youngling will be a male or a female, only that you and it remain in good health.” Leah could tell by Rykhan’s firm tone their on-going discussion was over for the day. “Your property is now at the warrior house and the keeper of your apartment building is in receipt of the monies owed on the remaining portion of the lease.”

  “Thanks for taking care of that,” Leah murmured before disengaging herself and moving to the bed. To tell the truth, she was a little sad that she’d had to give up her apartment but it didn’t make sense to hang on to the rental when she wouldn’t be living there any longer. “I know we can’t bring the furniture but what about the rest of it?”

  “I have asked that it be secured in the storage area here on the Searcher,” he replied as his eyes followed her movements while she stretched out on the bed. “You will have your things with you on Nutrol, my Leah.”

  Draping an arm over her eyes, Leah yawned. “I appreciate it, Rykhan.” She didn’t use to be someone who needed to nap but over the course of the last couple of days, she got sleepy right about mid-day. “Give me a half-hour, baby, and we can review the updates.”

  Rykhan’s fingers stroked her toes as he moved to get to around their large bed. “Take as long as you need, mica Tersa.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, Gwynt, but I have news that couldn’t wait,” Bronsyn began. He was not sure of Stege’s reaction to his message but he absolutely knew if he had delayed, he might face repercussions along the yons he had left in service to the Protectorate.

  Gwynt’s holographic face appeared flushed, attesting to his level of drunkenness, substantiated by the half-filled glass of Galaxian wine the man held to his mouth. “So, get on with it!” Stege was slurring and if the visage of the quest Committee’s leader weaving in his chair was any indication, the man was well and truly in his cups.

  “The supreme commander of the Searcher’s medical unit has reported that the youngling is a female.”

  “As if I had not heard that bit of news more than two heras previously,” Stege mumbled before his lips again met the rim of his glass to take a deep, long drink. “We are celebrating their joining and the youngling’s gender, Bron. With fervor, if you must know.”

  As well as every Picari involved in the first quest would be, Bronsyn thought. The fact that a Picari sperm cell had actually penetrated an Earthling’s ovum and created the first ever Picari/Earth zygote was cause for celebration on both Galaxia and Nutrol. To discover the youngli
ng was female would undoubtedly put the festivities over the top.

  “Be that as it may, I respectful request how you wish me to proceed with our mission.” Bronsyn’s stomach clenched as he tried to hint none of them on quest knew the full scope of their duties.

  Smacking his lips, Stege peered into his device as if to spear Bronsyn with his gaze. However, the man was too drunk to perform the action with any level of authority. “You are to go on as you have been doing. Your females still have yet to complete their assignment.” The male took another sip of what was in his glass before speaking again. “And it is not your place to ask questions…”

  Bronsyn decided it was time to get to the truth. “Oh, but it is! As the commander of our quest while on planet, I need to know and understand the full scope of this mission.”

  Stege’s image showed the drunken sod blinking deeply.

  “My warriors have been questioning why our star-ship has one full level dedicated to medical while their quarters, that are supposed to house both them and their mates on our return trip, are so small.”

  “You don’t know anything, Bron.” His commander and long time friend was drunker by the minute and Bronsyn sensed he only had but a few lesps to speak plainly before Stege passed out.

  “Tell me what’s going on, Gwynt. As the mission commander, I need clarification of the Gal-Trol plans.”

  “Let’s just say now that Rykhan and his human female have successfully mated, all our dreams for the future have come true,” Stege muttered, tipping the last of his glass into his mouth. “The Picari Alliance will never again have to worry about funding or the infestation of humans as we move into the future.”

  “How so?” Stege only wavered in his chair at Bronsyn’s harsh demand. “Tell me, Gwynt! Why don’t we ever have to worry about funding or the humans?”

  “Because you and your males will never bring the stench of a human female back to either Galaxia or Nutrol!” The high-pitched, singsong voice of the male hovered in air of the room and made the skin on Bronsyn’s arms and legs crawl. “No. We will secure any and all of the hybrid offspring, bring them back to our worlds to be raised by those who have the deepest pockets and the brightest futures.”

  “You’re talking about selling the younglings that might result from a mating of our warriors to the highest bidders or to those of the elite of our planets?” Everything within Bronsyn rebelled at Stege’s words.

  “Of course! The hybrid little of Protector Rykhan and his disrespectful female has already been promised to the pair who leads the technology sector on Galaxia.” Stege’s chin was almost on his chest and the male drooled as he spoke. “We’ve already received over five hundred thousand credits in payment for it.”

  Bronsyn’s lips were ice-like, but he needed to press on, to discover as much as he could. “You have already sold Rykhan and Leah’s youngling?”

  “Gyed’s veil! Isn’t that what I’ve been telling you?” Stege’s head bobbed up, but his eyes didn’t focus on any one particular thing. “We’ve even got the necessary equipment in place on the Searcher in order to transport the hybrid.”

  “What else? What else don’t we know about?” Bronsyn leaned into his unit and only realized the pain his fingernails generated as they dug into his clenched fists. A pain that seemed to help center him somehow.

  “There might also be the matter of a Rysling,” Stege’s voice drifted off into a snore.

  Bronsyn hit the disconnect button on his unit and sat back.

  A Rysling?

  Everything within him stilled as he considered the consequences of the old edict.

  It was the stuff of legends and used if there was no other recourse. But to reduce their mission to nothing more than one of a…oh Tsiran, a Rysling?

  The longhaired commander dropped his face into his palms as his mind roamed over the implications of what that meant.

  Moreover, what it would mean to every human female his warriors encountered.

  *.*.*.*.*

  Leah entered the all white, sterile cleansing unit tucked into a corner of her and Rykhan’s space aboard the star-ship parked deep inside one of the moon’s crater. As the mist of the water came through the nozzles, she offered up her face allowing its flow to shower down over her face, her hair before it hit the skin of her chest and the rest of her body.

  She liked that the moisture was neither hot nor cold but seemed to be set at the exact heat of her skin.

  There was a brief moment in the stream, she pushed back her hair, and blinked only to see Rykhan’s naked form stepping in, a move that reduced the small shower space by more than half.

  “Hey, baby,” she offered softly.

  “I am here, mica tisha,” he announced before reaching for the nozzle and directing its mist to his body. “I am here for you and our…what word do you call our youngling again?”

  “A baby, Rykhan,” she muttered against his chest as he pulled her against him. “What’s growing inside me is our baby girl.”

  “Bay-bee,” he said slowly and she somehow knew he was committing the word to memory even as is hands began to trace the water droplets that skimmed the surface of her skin. “Isn’t that the same endearment you call me? Do you see me as a human youngling?”

  Leah laughed as she ran her hands over his wet shoulders. “You know that’s not how I mean it, Rykhan.”

  “I more than like how your wet skin feels against my palms, Tersa blay.”

  “Do you?” was the only response she could give accompanied by a shiver at the feel of his hands running over her skin. There had never been a time where she hadn’t found delight when his skin met hers. “Touch me more, Rykhan.”

  “I need talk to you, my Leah,” he started inveigling himself against her almost as an afterthought. “But I have another more pressing need beforehand.”

  He rubbed his hard, thick length over the skin of her stomach, creating fissures of fluttering in the secret places within her and Leah decided she agreed. They definitely did have pressing needs to deal with before any sort of conversation could begin.

  One of his hands gripped a butt cheek as the other scooped to capture the fullness of her breast. Suavely moving over its fullness, she found herself gasping as his thumb teased the tip. “And your ‘need’ is to work me up?”

  He grinned and she watched as his heated eyes held his agreement although she’d already felt his capitulation to her along the connection they shared. She just figured it was because he’d discovered her naked.

  And wet.

  “Open for me, mica tisha, and expose all that beauty you hold within,” he rumbled on a firm note.

  “You want me to open my legs?” His face showed a resolution she’d never seen before. In fact he was a lot more demanding than he’d ever been in the few times they’d actually had come together. “Would it turn you on if I parted my legs?”

  There was a rush of sensation on her insides as his eyes flared again. Although all he gave her was a simple, “yes” as his hand slid slowly down her belly.

  He’d taken the time to get to know her body and knew exactly where to circle and rub for best effect. What aperture needed the sublime stimulation of his thrusting fingers. A move that never failed and made her close her eyes in order to fully enjoy the sensations he created.

  Grabbing the top of the tiles in one hand and the stem of the showerhead in the other, Leah balanced her body and wrapped her legs around Rykhan’s waist. She angled herself in order to drag her swollen wet folds against the steel of his shaft, only to look down at where their bodies touched at the last moment. It was then, at that exact moment that she saw the three chevron shaped nodules on the tip of his manhood. Ones that added an element of pleasure that she’d never experienced. Then, she’d never been with a Picari before either.

  Rykhan leaned down, capturing her mouth in a soul-searing kiss as he eased himself into her tight, moist channel. Wrapping his arms around her waist, she felt him change the angle in order to go as de
ep into her as possible. “Oh Rykhan,” she moaned against his mouth as his hips began to churn, her own body began a countermove in reply.

  In and out, back and forth, their bodies both gave and took pleasure in one another. Their movements created a beautiful tension, one filled with delight at the dizzying heights of passion they were building between them. Just when Leah didn’t think she could take anymore, Rykhan deliberately rubbed his wahrom against hers.

  The moment the metals met, their mutual orgasm exploded fiercely between them causing both to cry out their shattering bliss. As ever, it took a long time for the residual pounding of their passion to cool and even longer before Leah felt strong enough to slide down Rykhan’s body and stand on her own.

  “I did not know we could do that standing,” Rykhan murmured as he kept her within the circle of his arms. At some point during their joining, the mist of the cleansing unit had shut off, but Leah could tell he still enjoyed the slickness of her skin.

  “I’m not sure how long we’ll be able to use that position,” Leah cautioned with a smile and ran her hand over the swelling of her stomach. “But it’ll give us something to look forward to after our baby girl is born.”

  Rykhan’s eyes took on a tender look. “I still cannot believe we created a female youngling, mica tisha.”

  “And I can’t believe we got pregnant at all!” Leah shot back, pulling out of his arms and reaching for a drying cloth. “Are all you guys so fertile?”

  Rykhan shrugged as he wrapped a towel around his waist. “I don’t know. But I remember I had to supply the doctors with a lot of samples of my ejaculate during the selection process.”

  Leah raised her eyebrows at his casually given answer. Neither he nor the other warriors spoke about selection process the warriors had undergone for their mission. “How many men applied for your quest, Rykhan?”

  “I’m uncertain of the exact numbers but I believe it was in the thousands.” He ran a hand over her wet hair as he thought. “Perhaps even a million.”