Free Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) by J.A. Hornbuckle Page B

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