an update from yours truly! i hope you'll enjoy this one!
leave your feedback to keep me going. the replies to the previous ones are at the end. thank you!
The warmth that rose from the jungle floor was akin the communal baths on the mothership. A lot of steam rising through the damp, humid air, which made Kali'adah sweat profusely and for grime, dirt and all things nasty to cling to her like she were a large magnet.
While she was uncomfortable and displeased, she pushed forth, behind Marc'te, following in his steps exactly and keeping her eyes sharp on anything amiss.
It didn't help that said yautja was leaving that stupid, stinking mating scent everywhere either.
There was a faint sound in the distance and even when the green hunter took a few steps through the foliage, the huntress remained unmoved, her head snapping towards the source.
Ice blue orbs darted around her, before settling on a sure path through the large trunks of the giant trees growing on the game preserve. Sensing her pause, her hunt brother halted and turned his whole body to look in her direction, his cracked mask hiding some of his features, but by the way he tilted his head, she understood that he was inquiring about her abrupt stop.
"Ju'dha," she trilled simply, gaze returning towards the direction and head angling up to sniff the air.
"H'ko, we move," he drawled, turning his back to her disrespectfully, in an attempt to finish this negotiation before it escalated.
However, that only made her hackles raise. "Sei-i. Ju'dha," she took bold steps towards him just as he whipped around in case she wanted to attack and puffed out his chest "H'dui'se. Yours. Everywhere," she bared her teeth at him, unwilling to even take another step into the jungle without bathing off the scents that made them easily trackable. The spines around his crown rose, mandibles pulled in tight together.
A few tense moments passed, until the male growled deep in his chest, prompting Kali to lift her chin up in dare.
"Nracha-dte sain'ja,"
In response, said warrior took a few steps back before showing her back to him, a respectful, polite retreat, towards the direction of the water source.
What she heard was actually a river, deep enough to come to her neck, which would facilitate a decent scrub of all the worst that stuck to her flesh. It was also a good moment to check for any open wounds, as an infection could prove deadly and humiliating for a hunter of her rank. That way only fools die.
There was a rock formation on the side, where the water was lower, to her knees and she discarded every piece of armor and cloth she had on, resting them against the side of a flat, large boulder.
Marc'te followed her lead after he surveyed the surroundings and began taking off piece after piece of his own armor, the dressing of his wound as well. Which meant he was going to re-do all of that afterwards. That was fine, they were ahead of time anyway.
Naked, exposed to the elements, the huntress slowly walked into the cold waters, river stones against her bare soles the deeper she went. How odd that it was so freezing, making her pause and hiss in delight at how it bit into her scorching skin and sore muscles.
A ripple, heavy feet splashing the water with purpose, right behind her.
Kali'adah turned in time to watch the male, completely bare to her eyes, descend after her, his mask off and bronze gaze stuck on her with a hunger she couldn't understand. The primal side of her forced her to back up, go deeper in, until the water completely enveloped her breasts and collarbones. Feeling conscious about one's body was not something yautja did. They didn't care about being bare, they mated in public and leaving it all out was never something she felt vulnerable about. Until now, that is.
Every step he took, the closer he got, her stomach would twist and her breath would quicken.
His scent was everywhere around her, making her inevitably inhale it when his abdominal muscles pressed against her ribs and her breasts, just under his chest, were crushed against his leathery skin, so much like that of a reptile. His heat was encompassing, the smell around him making her slightly dizzy with how strong it was -and it wasn't even unpleasant, it felt exotic, like a fruit she once had at one of the feasts of the Matriarch on Yaut Prime. If that fruit was ripe and ready to be devoured.
Oh, she wanted so bad to sink her claws into it.
His head lowered and his tongue slithered out to taste the air, then the flesh of her neck, where he took her scent as his tusks scraped down the column of her throat. When did she even expose her neck to him? She didn't even realize her head had lolled back with a sigh, or that he began purring to coax her to him. She shivered and his calloused hand grasped tightly at her hip, bringing her pelvis flush against his cloaca, where his hardening member emerged against her, so impossibly hot even under such cold waters.
Pauk. What was she doing? With Marc'te nonetheless! Talons trailed her flesh, pressed her harder against him, her hands laying flat against his pectorals, feeling the thrum vibrate under her fingertips with the continuous sound he was making, like a ship's engine. Her breathing came heavy as she fought to focus. Then the memory of that ooman female, discarded in the middle of the market place, mangled, after a rut, flashed before her eyes. Pupils shrunk, the huntress growled suddenly and shoved herself back, away from him, her legs kicking the water enough to force distance between them.
Taken aback, he retained a defensive stance in an instant, weary of her now, sound gone, warmth gone, only the hunter staring back at her, ready to fight her, to rip and tear.
She knew what he was trying to do.
There were no available yautja females so he was trying to rut with her, just to get rid of the need. Tough luck, then. Panting, she sneered at him. "H'ko!" she would not become some useful, warm place for his dick while they were stranded. Never.
Just the thought felt vile on her tongue and in her mind and in retaliation, she smacked the water surface towards him, splashing him whole with the freezing temperature as she hissed spitefully at his grunt of discomfort.
"Scrub off the smell," as she snarled this at him, she swam further away, only to let herself sink into the depths of the river, kneeling and holding her breath so she could soak properly and get her stupid mind to focus on the important matters at hand.
When she broke surface, Marc'te was already making his way to the shore, completely wet and sparing her a glance and a huff, clearly angry about her rejection. She wasn't happy with what he pulled either. What did he think this was? An invitation to fuck her out of boredom? Consider her scorned.
...
Thankfully, the trek through the dense, lush jungle began again, the fog that rose above ground proving to be no obstacle. She kept her distance from him, this time. Merely followed where he led, since there was no reason to get them lost. He wanted to get to their camp as bad as she did, if only to get some rutting done with some female there -even though, Kali painfully realized, he probably tried that with her because she was a weaker target in his eyes, small, easy to subdue in the throes of mating by her size and strength.
And while it ached to know that, she didn't blame him, she was simply irritated that he tried that in the midst of all this.
His pace was brisk, fast, urgent, which made their journey harder for her. With their longer legs and near limitless stamina, it was no surprise she couldn't keep up endlessly, pausing ever so often to take in their position and drink water from the flask at her hip. She never used it before to this extent, almost feeling humiliated when she had to, ashamed that she had to, but as biology had it, her kind needed to hydrate, otherwise she would be useless. Yautja, they could go for a very long time without nourishment or water, they were built that way, with stomach that stored for later and used bits and pieces when energy was lowest.
And she envied them for how flawless they appeared in her eyes. Making her aspire to become like them, even if...that was a foolish suckling's desire.
The red suns high above made her squint against the light as she shielded her eyes with a hand.
Not yet sunset and they were close. They only needed to climb the side of the mountain, go around the lake at the base and they would find the sacrificial chambers. Marc'te clicked his mandibles together, having turned to look at her, a chirping sound coming from behind his mask. He was treading carefully now, using softer sounds as to not risk her ire. As if that would be possible. Female yautja could kill a male easily, but her? Well, she certainly could try, but the odds were never in her favor.
There had been no incidents so far and she couldn't feel like they'd been tracked, neither did her hunt brother, therefore, she wanted to keep it that way. Without any word, she moved forth, past him, having already pinpointed a good path to take.
Because the terrain was steep, they chose to use the trees instead, leaping from branch to branch, as they were all sturdy and thick enough to hold them easily.
Ooman fatigue began settling into her muscles little by little. And Kali'adah was frustrated by how her stomach demanded sustenance and how her legs would quiver every once in a while, missing the landing once when her leg simply gave out and Marc'te had to arch back to catch her by the elbow.
"Need rest?"
"H'ko!" she had hissed as soon as she was back on her feet, crouching to make the grumbles of her stomach fade as she pressed both hands against it. How humiliating. When she hunted, she made sure to always eat from her prey after she took her trophy, it's how she kept herself in peak shape. She took small breaks, in which she simply stalked or observed from afar, had short naps, the kind that rested her eyes but kept her conscious enough in case of predators lurking by. Now? It had been a while since she slept properly, and the back of her skull throbbed something fierce, she had nothing to eat for three cycles now and her body was beginning to fail her.
She was literally a burden to her hunt brother, keeping him back from reaching the camp sooner.
Just before she was about to ask him to go on without her, the male crouched in front of her, with his back turned and arms backwards, signaling for her to get on. "H'ko!" -that was out of the question. It was humiliating, insulting, embarrassing! Marc'te turned his head back, his tresses snapping over his shoulders as he snarled "Ki'cte! Get on, nracha-dte mei-jadhi," and he made himself clear that he wasn't going to negotiate this. His mandibles flared at her, showing how irritated he was already.
He also, never called her hunt sister before. Since the moment they trained together for their chiva, he simply refused to call her anything other than human or in the most respectful way he could, warrior. Never acknowledging her as part of his hunt pack.
Heat rising to her face and neck, Kali cooperated for once and slowly, so slowly, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, just as he rose up and grabbed at her thighs, to force her legs around his waist. Every ounce of him was muscle, his back tense, flesh undulating under her chest, his musk still present but much subtler than before. While she felt like a helpless pup being carried around like this, prompting her to hide her face into the strap of his breastplate at his back, where it normally connected with the medkit pack and the combi stick's sheath. A quick glance at his hip made her realize he moved the whole contraption there, where it hung over the side of his thigh.
When he began moving, it felt incredibly different from her own pace, fast, sharp, strong. Every leap felt effortless on his part, every time his talons would sink into bark, felt natural, like he was already born with the muscle memory that allowed him such feats. His whole body moved in tandem with his mind, she could feel, and everything he did was completely and utterly raw, innate and instinctive. While her body moved like it was taught, against the tide, every action forced by what she knew had to be right. Nothing came so easily to her. Nothing.
She was feeling sick to her stomach, bitter and sick.
When they reached the lake, he let her slide off his back and sit in the red-green grass, watching the ripples on the water surface. Mar'cte checked his wrist computer again, looking over the terrain, the direction to go in next, before his head angled down at her, making her look up at him. Was he checking her through the mask?
"Sick," he grunted, finally, right before she could ask "Weak vital signs," he added, with a click and a trill.
That made it clearer. It wasn't just her body failing her for nothing, her health was going to shit as well. She groaned and leaned forward, rubbing her face with both of her hands, pressing against her temples and between her eyebrows.
"We must get to the camp. Suns are almost setting," she stated simply, taking a deep breath and moving to get up. From now on, the terrain was flat, safe, so she could walk on her own, but the male lingered a bit longer, before turning to lead the way again.
Suddenly, static buzzed all around them and in response, Marc'te stood tense, a step back, covering her. Four yautja warriors dropped their camouflage in a large circle pattern, surrounding them and making her bristle at how easily they snuck up on the both of them.
Marc'te relaxed, however and she realized quickly that they were hult'ah, set to watch the perimeter and signal back the camp in case of threats. More importantly, they were from the clan, they were on their side.
A breath of relief left Kali's lips.
The camp, just as she assumed, was not far away, and it was right next to the sacrificial chambers. What threw her off was the fact that there were yurts rose all around the area, varying in sizes, where hunters took shelter. Surely they didn't build these, it looked like they'd been there a long time before.
Flanked by two of the hult'ah, both her and her hunt brother were greeted by Ye'sta, the arbitrator and by the grave look that furrowed his brow, she knew that he did not have good news to share with them.
"Sain'ja, Marc'te, I am content that you made it,"
What was happening? Lar'ja came behind the arbitrator, from one of the yurts, sporting a new scar across his hip, fresh green and when his eyes met hers, she felt as if all air had been sucked out of her lungs. "Sain'ja is sick. Needs sustenance," the green yautja stepped forward, with a drawled out retort that made both the other males fix him with their gazes.
Kali herself was taken aback by how boldly her hunt brother intervened.
"Marc'te, I am well," she quickly trilled by his side, a hand instinctively reaching out to touch his bicep. It only took that to have the firstborn roar and level up with the daring male, mandibles spread and chest puffed out, ready to pounce. At the abrupt reaction, she let go and took a step back, eyes widened by how aggressive Lar'ja became.
And how dare he? After the whole ooman pup incident on the mothership too!
In submission, the green yautja lowered his head and eyes. Ye'sta having had enough of all this, came between the two with a warning snarl.
"There is no time for such foolishness! I will see to the well being of the female myself,"
The younger males both made to retreat, with Marc'te being the first to do so, and Lar'ja stubbornly lingering behind, catching her eyes and bristling noticeably. "Firstborn!" the reprimanding growl of the arbitrator snapped him out and he turned away with a huff, finally leaving.
"Follow me, sain'ja,"
Ju'dha = water
H'dui'se = yautja musk
H'ko/ Sei-i = no/yes
Nracha-dte sain'ja = relentless warrior
Ki'cte, nracha-dte mei-jadhi = enough, relentless hunt sister
pauk = fuck
hult'ah = observer/watcher
REVIEWS
equipagan : thank you so much for this review. i'm truly happy that i managed to do this, i do try my best to keep things as realistic as i can, and i try to develop characters with flaws and their own stories. i do like to build up on what i can, i want people to feel like they can empathize with characters and understand choices they make orz there is still a lot i want to bring in for them as a culture as well! hope you enjoyed this chapter too!
Arbitrator11 : i'm so sorry it takes me so long orz hopefully this time it wasn't so bad, haha. your reviews really had me going, to be honest! i'm also glad to know that i'm keeping a tight leash on the yautja as a species, their ways and the differences, it's something i always keep going over, to re-do or re-write because i'm worried it might do them no justice. that said, yes, everything will be explained in due time, you'll have to be patient, haha ; as fo the blue and green, hope you enjoyed the little rendezvous in this one! thank you for the review! it was a delight to read it~
Lovily2079 : here you go! a new chapter. hope you enjoy!
