9. Discovery
The blood spurted everywhere, on my arms, on my face, but I continued to sink the knife into the throat of the Bad blood until I was absolutely sure of his death, only then I pulled out the knife from his flesh; the body, lifeless, spilled to the ground; I looked at the sky and let out a scream of victory, my muscles relaxed and I fell down like a dead weight on the grass, now exhausted. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, as the adrenaline decreased I was starting to feel the pain of my wounds, my arms were burning for the cuts, my back was even worse and only thanks to the anesthetic that still circulated in my blood I wasn't screaming in pain for the broken wrist, not to mention the bite of the hound; I wasn't really in my best shape, I was tired but I could already consider myself pretty lucky to be alive. When I opened my eyes Ate'yo was on his knees next to me and stared at me blankly; those eyes...I loved those eyes
"Hi..." I said smiling
"I believe I have already said several times but..." he was so close that I blushed instantly, he whispered in my ear "...you must be mad, Ooman"
"You said it" yes, I was crazy...for him
"Just out of curiosity, I'd like some explanation on that hound who can't wait to devour me" he pointed to a direction; I turned my head and saw that Talion paced back and forth and growled to Ate'yo but without attack him; perhaps it had realized that he wasn't an enemy but it was still concerned about my safety
"I called it Talion...can we keep it? Pleeeeeeease"
"And when you've trained a bloodhound?"
"A couple of hours ago?" I smiled amused
"...what kind of Ooman are you?" he looked at me puzzled, I guffawed at those words. I sat on the ground, my head was spinning; he took my right arm and looked at the broken wrist
"It shouldn't be a problem heal it, but your bone structure is too different from mine and I don't want to risk making some permanent damage; we return to the ship and come back home, surely someone else will take care of you"
"We can't; the others unblooded could be in trouble; we have to go find them"
"You've done enough, you're not in the mood to fight again; I carry you back and then I'm going to look for them"
"No, it isn't enough...I want to pass the rite of passage, I failed"
"Why do you think so?"
"Ate'yo, thank you for saving my life, really, but if you hadn't intervened I would be dead; you have weakened the Bad blood and just for this I was able to kill him"
"Elders will decide what was right and what wasn't when I will refer them what happened"
"But…they could accuse you of interfering; you didn't have to save me, you had to be on the ship... why you helped me and why you didn't remain there?" my questions seemed almost allegations, but I was just worried about the consequences of his actions; if he had deliberately ignored the orders I didn't dare to imagine what could happen; I saw him hesitate for a moment before answering
"It was revealed an anomaly that has begun to disturb our sensors; I knew immediately that something was wrong and I went out to look for the origin of the disturbance; I found you by sheer luck and, yes, I shouldn't interfere but no unblooded can even hope to beat a bad blood; It was an emergency situation, so there shouldn't be too many repercussions" I looked at him as he got up from the ground "and now we return to the ship, and I don't want to hear discussions about this" Ate'yo approached the body of Bad blood and extracting a knife cut off his head, a good trophy; as he put the head in a bag I said
"If you hope that I will not come with you you're wrong; I have no intention to go back empty-handed, especially now that I'm starting to fight seriously" I saw him stand in front of me and look at me with altered expression; I returned his gaze, I wouldn't have succumbed so easily
"Ooman, this is the last warning; I let you get back to the ship with your legs, don't force me to take drastic measures"
"Ha! As if your words could...aaaaaaaah!" Ate'yo lifted me off the ground and put me on his shoulder, blocking my waist with his arm and starting to walk towards the ship; among all the things he could do this was the last I expected! I tried immediately to free myself, he was unimpressed and held me even tighter; even if the contact with him was extremely pleasant at the same time it was something very humiliating! I tried in every way to escape, with my good arm I started to give him some punches on the back
"Put me down, put me down! Or I swear that I order Talion to bite your ass!"
"Oh really?" the slap came so fast and unexpected: he had spanked me! I tried to turn around to look at him, I was shocked; when he turned to stare at me...he smiled, my heart skipped a bit "stop fussing or I'll hit you even harder, and don't you dare ever again to threaten me, understand?" I didn't answer, but I stopped moving; I looked Talion who followed us a few meters away and I felt exactly in the same way: a dog that obeyed his master. After some time, I couldn't say how much, our march continued in silence, but I couldn't stop staring at him; I definitely lost my head for him ...how much longer I would have been able to control these feelings? Heck, I was a huntress, stay calm Elise, stay calm...A sudden signal from the device on my arm caught my attention, Ate'yo finally decided to put me on the ground and to help me to see what it was
"It's a signal from Teylar, he is returning to the ship" he stared at me a moment "and so we have the order to return, I guess now you have a reason to walk alone"
"What a shame, you know I was getting used to admire the view" I said ironically
"If you want I can do it again"
"Ah-ah-ah, very funny" but I couldn't suppress a smile. During the rest of the trip the anesthetic began to lose its effect and the wrist began to ache, but I didn't want to give the impression of being so sensitive and I resisted as I could. A sudden noise made us turn abruptly, Ate'yo pulled his spear and remained in guard, and Talion began to growl
"Just stay behind me" but there was no need to fight, because Teylar came out of the vegetation along with another Yautja: he was wounded and covered in blood, but he tried not to show signs of weakness, unlike his companion who was advancing with difficulty, he too was seriously injured. We approached him, and I felt growing in me the urge to help him (stupid human feelings), but I held back because I already knew how he would react; Teylar stared at me just a second before turning to others
"We return to the ship and take care of our wounds, we will discuss later of what happened"
"And...the others?" I dared to ask; he looked at me, I quickly realized: we were the only ones left; I prayed for the souls of my fallen companions. Just returned to the ship (thanks to Ate'yo I was able to get permission to bring Talion with me), Teylar and the other unblooded retreated to their rooms; I went with Ate'yo in what could be called the infirmary and I sat down on one of the metal tables; I washed away the blood and he took care of my wrist, but unfortunately he could do no more than inject more anesthetic and bandage it well to avoid any further damage; then he picked up some sort of disinfectant and began to rub it on my wounds... and fuck, it burned!
"Ate'yo thanks, but I can also do alone" he didn't answer, he continued to rub the liquid on my arms and little by little cuts and bruises disappeared visibly; I called his name to get his attention, when our eyes met he seemed very surprised
"Is nothing short of amazing" I looked at him with questioning eyes; he touched my arm with his fingers and stroked it gently, I blushed "really, I never realized how fragile your body was"
"Oh thanks! Also you now? Teylar reminds me every day!"
"It wasn't an insult, it is a fact that the human body is weaker than ours…but I didn't expect so much; I never had a chance to verify it" it was true, he never had a reason to touch me and look at my body except on the shoulders to greet or congratulate me, but now that my arm was in his hand it had to be a different sensation
"let me see your back" he said; I turned and moved the hair from the back "definitely you don't have nothing broken, but you have a large bruise covering the entire lower back and one side of the spine" he touched some points to be sure of my condition, I felt a sharp pain when he pulled out something near the left side: a piece of wood, nothing serious. He continued to touch my back, and even if it hurt, feel his hands on me was pure pleasure
"You killed a bad blood with a body like that, I've never fought a human male, but if his constitution is more robust than the women you were really skillful"
"Thanks, but can you stop to remind me?" I turned to him with frustrated expression; it began to be frustrating to hear every time that my body wasn't like them, it reminded me how much I was different...especially from him; to my great surprise Ate'yo patted my cheek
"It bothers you? I don't understand yet when physical contact is appropriate or not; you humans have a strange conception of decency "evidently he was referring to the fact that I didn't want take a bath with him or show me naked; the Yautja instead didn't have problems of this kind. I let his hands touch my face and my neck; I knew that he was only looking at my body structure, but I couldn't stop my heart from beating so strong nor avoid being excited; I was surprise when he handed me his left arm
"Try to feel the difference in our body structure, you will realize why I'm so surprised" it really wasn't difficult to guess that their strength was greater than humans and that their skin was much stronger than ours, besides I had already had this opportunity, even if only once; but now I could look at him closely so I slid my hand on his arm, touching his fingers, his claws...it was beautiful, I loved it; his hand ran through my hair, I looked up and saw him bend down to me to allow me to touch his dread; I grabbed one and stroked along its length, my breathing was accelerating and the breast began to ache for the thrill
"Elise...are you ok?" he said my name gently; when he puts a finger on my lips I arrived at limit of endurance; with a trembling hand I was about to touch his mandibles, while my thoughts kept telling me kiss him stupid woman, kiss him!
"If you have finished wasting time I expect to find you in the control room in less than two minutes"
I whirled around and instinctively moved away from Ate'yo; Teylar took two syringes and left the infirmary; fuck, when he entered?! I blushed with shame
"Better if we hurry" said Ate'yo; I get off the metal table and together with him I went into the control room. When we entered Teylar was sitting in front of the control panel and checked that the route was correct; the other unblooded was already there. We took stock of the situation: four Bad blood; Teylar had killed two, another had died thanks to my companions but they didn't survive the battle and the last was dead because of me and Ate'yo (and this news left Teylar quite puzzled); Teylar would send a message to the Elders to immediately send a group of warriors to control the hunting ground and be assured of its safety; once back, he and Ate'yo would do a full report and only then I would know something about the possibility of being accepted or not as an official member of the clan, despite the skepticism of my master. After the meeting at last I was able to retire to my room; I was really tired and I couldn't wait to get home to get me a nice bath in complete privacy and have some news on the outcome of my rite of passage; I let Ate'yo retired to his room and bring with him Talion, in order to accustom the hound in his presence; before going to sleep I made a detour to the common room to eat something
"Ooman" Teylar came alongside me, probably headed in the same direction
"If you're going to insult or denigrate me, master, please do it now, I'm too tired for a long discussion" I expected a reproach or a cold response, but he didn't say anything, merely walking by my side. I turned to a passage leading to the common room and in that instant I felt grasp firmly by the shoulder and thrown against the wall; the bruise on my back caused me severe pain. Teylar stood in front of me and before I could say anything he covered my mouth with one hand and with the other blocked both my arms; I tried to free myself but he pushed his body against mine and prevented me any movement; I was totally helpless; my breathing quickened suddenly. Our eyes met; I wasn't scared, I was rather angry to be treated in that way; he brought his face close to mine
"If I was an enemy you'd be dead" he whispered and came even closer; a shiver ran down my spine when I heard his mandibles touching my neck, he took a deep breath: he was sniffing me; when he looked back to me I glared at him but he didn't care, his ice-blue eyes wouldn't stop staring at me; he seemed…relieved
"No matter how I figure it, I can't understand why; why I should care about a small and insignificant creature like you, why I resent the idea that other males can leave their musk on you and above all, why, in the name of all our gods, now I can't keep control over my actions..."
I couldn't nor want to believe what I had just heard: Teylar, one of the most Yautja assholes that I had met was experiencing in person human feelings, but he couldn't understand them...at that moment I thought that we were very close, he and I: I also often wanted to understand the behavior of the Yautja but I couldn't, I would never be like them in every way even if I wanted it terribly; I was trying to live in two different worlds, but who or what was I really? I jumped when I felt his teeth biting my ear, his body pressed against mine, his breathing accelerated...oh, shit...
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