Her father was on his back, with the predators combi-stick embedded in his stomach. His hands were trembling, but they still clutched the pole of the weapon. Samantha shifted to her knees beside him, her breaths coming up short. She firmly pressed her hands to his stomach to slow the bleeding, but it steadily oozed between her fingers anyway. She knew he would die before he could reach a hospital.
"Heal him!"
Kain'n just stood there looming over them.
"I said heal him god-damn it!"
In the center of the abdomen, above the navel, and five inches below the skin was the largest artery in the ooman body. Severing it could result in death in as little as three seconds. Though the combi-stick hadn't completely severed it, the male was bleeding out too quick. His body wasn't strong enough to take the injection, and the enzyme cream was designed for shallow, minor wounds. His life would last only a few mere moments.
"Can not."
"Bullshit! You fucking do it right now!"
Kain'n let out a clipped growl and took a step back, refusing. He would not indulge her. His bio mask was never wrong, and it would be a waste of resources to try. Disfigurements and life-threatening wounds obtained by unhonorable actions were not to be healed anyway. The male had attacked him, and it was his own mistake that cost him his life.
Lyle's hands slipped to the floor. With one last breath, his chest stopped moving. Her fingers slowly curled around the fabric of his shirt. Her eyes began to glaze over. She blinked a few times then tightly squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to shed tears.
She swallowed hard, then lifted her head up to glare at the predator, "You did this!"
"No." He could see the fury swimming in the depths of her eyes. Kain'n purred, slow and steady.
She stood and ripped the combi-stick out of her father's body, "I don't want to see you ever again! You go back to whatever planet you came from, and don't come back!" She tipped the spear at him, "If I see you again, I'll kill you-and this time, I'll succeed."
Samantha tossed the combi-stick at his feet, then turned and trotted off. Though he felt her father's death wasn't his fault, he did feel a tinge of guilt. Kain'n bent down and retrieved the weapon, debating his next move. He needed to let her emotions settle before he approached her again, but he only only had a few hours before he had to vacate the planet. It wasn't enough time, especially if she insisted on trying to kill him again.
The differences were vast, but he tried to apply the situation as if he were on Yaut and Samantha was a normal female of his species. Her threats to kill him were of no concern. Females often acted uninterested, made idle threats, and fought back to test a male's interest in them. If there had been an altercation like this that caused the death of a female's sire though...Kain'n would have considered the courtship to be a failure, and moved on.
It took hours to deal with the police. They had her repeat her story several times, asked questions, and interrogated the staff in case they saw or heard anything. Butchy kept his mouth shut, and stuck to Samantha's fabricated story. No one else had witnessed what had killed her father. There was little evidence to prove anything either way-no signs of a break in, no fingerprints, no weapon.
As she lifted a cup of water to her to lips, she realized just how shaky she was. She quickly set the drink back down and settled in the chair as they collected the last bits of evidence they needed. Her eyes drifted to the drying smear of blood on the tile. As it turns out, the police didn't clean up afterwards-that costs extra. They only removed the body.
When everyone finally left, she trudged up to her room. She couldn't just flop down in bed, there was a pile of weapons sitting in the middle of it. The machete, iron ulu, the gun, and all her knives were there. She lifted up the cover to carelessly dump the weapons onto the floor. He wasn't in the room, so he must have returned her possessions and left for good.
She crawled into bed and hugged her arms around the pillow, "Good riddance."
Kain'n sat in front of the ship's controls, staring out the narrow observation window. He distantly ran his thumb back and forth across the brow of one of his ooman trophies. Samantha was not a logical choice anymore. But then again, his attraction to her wasn't necessarily logical. He was lured to her, drawn to her, and it wasn't for clear-cut, obvious reasons.
He'd been stuck on a particular female before, but the attraction always ended up fading. He new his interest in Samantha would diminish too, as time passed and the distance between them grew. He would apply himself to his hunts, and would cease to think about her. It was the normal course of things. As soon as the ship cleared Earth's atmosphere though, Kain'n felt a sharp sense of disappointment that he rarely experienced.
He didn't want to forget her. He didn't want to allow his interest to fade. He didn't want to loose the intense desire he felt for her. It was a conscious choice not to give up. He couldn't step on Earth's soil again, but he wouldn't let a simple technicality like that stop him.
He typed up a quick message, but hesitated sending it out. His colleagues would likely get a kick out of his request. It was an interesting challenge, and then Kain'n would owe them a favor in return. His female though, would not be so pleased. She would likely respond with hostility, and she was already upset with him.
He clicked his nails on the armrest a few times, but then hit send, "Ec oji fe'sh o'ruk, mei'hswei'l."
Samantha still went to work the next day. Once she got her stuff done, she stared out the window, waiting for all the employees to leave so she could lock up. There was a flurry outside. The wind carried the snow one direction, then suddenly another. It went back and forth like the thoughts in her mind.
When she heard heavy footsteps on the grated walkways, her heart leapt into her throat. She immediately jumped from her chair and swung open the office door. There were no employees-and no predator. She assumed it must have been a machine, or her imagination. Her chest ached some, knowing she'd never see him again.
A harsh clicking made her heart speed up and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She rapidly scanned the machinery, searching. As soon as her eyes landed on his cloaked form though, anger weighed down her heart. It was wrong of her to still want to see him. What he'd done was unforgivable.
She'd told herself before never to get involved with a murderer like her father had been. Samantha tore herself away. She only got a few feet before his blurry outline stepped in front of her, blocking her path. He'd moved unusually fast even for him. One second he was on the top of the machinery, the next he was right in front of her.
She sidestepped past him, going to the door. As soon as she got it open, he was outside, standing directly in front of her. It gave her goosebumps. Something wasn't right. As she stared at his cloaked outline, she could swear that he was taller now.
He stomped towards her, and Samantha automatically backed away. She bumped into something hard and muscular behind her. It's massive chest took in a breath, rocking her forward. She spun around, seeing three cloaked figures now. The one behind her pushed the door shut, and she heard it latch.
It felt like her blood was being replaced by adrenaline. She grabbed the knife from her hip and the gun from her calf, "Who's first?"
The ship shuttered then groaned as the other vessel docked. Kain'n tensed, almost unable to stay in his seat. He was too eager to see her. He had to remind himself that she was not his yet. He could bring her on the ship against her will, but not to Yaut without her consent. This was his last chance to woo her.
There was a whoosh as the door opened, and he leaned forward in his seat. Kain'n expected to to see his beautiful female escorted to him by his hunt brothers. Instead, he watched as one of his comrades was carried on a stretcher past him. There were bullet wounds in his neck, but the injury that caught his eye most was the two severed dreds. They immediately headed to the medical bay with him.
Before he could ask what had happened, he heard a familiar voice. Samantha was huffing and cursing. The last male came into view, dragging his female in a net behind him. She struggled onto her knees, but when they hit the bump between the two ships, she pitched forward onto her face. She squirmed in the tangle of netting like something demented and feral.
Sweat beaded on her forehead from the heat inside the alien vessel. A fog swirled around her, thick, and slightly disorienting. Just as soon as she got to her knees again, her captor sharply jerked the net forward, and she flopped to her back. She extended her arms, holding the heavy netting off her. A familiar onyx-skinned predator suddenly hovered over her.
Her eyes bored into him, "You!"
He purred, well aware that she was still angry with him.
"I said I never wanted to see you again!" She pressed her eyes closed and shook her head, "I told you...I told you not to kill him."
"I did nott kill yuur sire."
"Bullshit! You're a monster, a killer! Now let me go!" She struggled to get out of the netting.
Kain'n helped to untangle her even though she tried to slap his hands away. She didn't calm once she was free. Kain'n clamped a hand on her shoulder to keep her still as he removed his mask. Her eyes studied his for a second, then she swung and slugged him in the mouth. Kain'n grunted like a gunshot, taken off guard.
He flexed his mandibles, finding they weren't damaged, then said, "Wa'tch."
She cringed as he placed his bio mask over her face, expecting him to lash out after hitting him. For all she knew, he intended to suffocate her with it. She twisted her body away and brought her hands up to remove the mask, but stilled as soon as a video began to play. It was in a sort of 3D heat vision, but she could make out enough details to know what was going on. It was the fight between Kain'n and her father.
After they dissapeared around the corner, they wrestled to the floor again. Kain'n had a chance to kill Lyle, but didn't take it. That's what gave her father the opportunity to grab the combi-stick. He stood with the short spear-like weapon in his hands, but he didn't know how to use it. Lyle's finger hit a button and it sprung open from its collapsed form with surprising force, and plunged into his torso.
She hung her head. Lyle had killed himself. If he had just listened to her, and not attacked Kain'n, he would have still had a heartbeat. Her only consolation was that he had seemed to do it to protect her. She had thought her father didn't care about her-he always treated her like another employee. In the end though, he'd given his life for her.
Kain'n slowly took the mask off her face with an ardent purr, "See, no kill."
When he reached out to stroke her cheek, she leaned away. The fact that Kain'n hadn't killed him after all was barely comforting at the moment. If he hadn't been there in the first place, Lyle wouldn't have felt the need to protect her. Kain'n was still the one that got her into this whole mess. He'd killed her friends, got her arrested. Now he'd even kidnapped her.
The ooman suddenly snatched the smartdisk from the holster on his thigh and sprung to her feet, "I told you that if I saw you again, I'd kill you."
Kain'n let out a snort, "Can tr'y."
Kain'n rose to his full height above her, with his back straight and his chest puffed out. He stood with confidence. Samantha saw it as arrogance. He thought she couldn't beat him, and that just made her more tenacious. Her storm-grey eyes expressed heavy dose of determination as she settled into a broader stance.
She attacked without warning, rotating her wrist with each slashing motion to maximize the blade's contact with his skin. She'd lost much of her fear of him since meeting. Without it, she was less hesitant to get close to him for a strike. Usually her anger made her sloppy. Now she fought with calm, collected focus-like a yautja.
Samantha knew better than to aim for his hair, neck, or wrists now. He seemed trained to protect those areas. She knew of less common, but just as life threatening areas to target on his body anyway. One of them was the median nerve in the crook of the elbow. She waited for a clear opportunity, then jerked the blade of the smart disk across the area. The disk must have been sharp-it sliced into his tough hide like butter.
His mandibles flared as he retaliated. With his first few punches, she was able to twist her shoulders or turn her head away. When she couldn't dodge them, she rolled with the punches so his fist didn't hit her so solidly. One strike came for her stomach though and all she could do was brace herself. She exhaled as she tightened her abs, and allowed the blow to push her backwards so it didn't hurt as bad.
Though hadn't rendered his one arm unusable, he rested it at his side after each punch. It was weakened. He had so much muscle, but slice the right nerves and they were useless. Another vital area was a located in the inner thigh. He took a step forward, providing her with a shot. She dug the smartdisk into his leg as she dropped to the ground, sliding on her hip.
On the floor, she was more vulnerable. She knew ahead of time that he'd try to get her pinned though. Samantha would never be able to take him down on her own. By getting him to drop to the ground, he was doing all the work for her. She just had to act fast. She desperately twisted around, having to avoid getting trapped under his weight at all costs. If she got pinned, it was game over.
She felt his hands close on her, and her heart jumped. She quickly made a horizontal cut across his lower back. The area was dense with nerves. On a human at least, the injury would result in massive pain and loss of motion in the upper torso. From the howl that tore from his throat, she was betting it hurt him.
Kain'n wouldn't take it easy on the female any longer. He grabbed a hold of her legs then body slammed his shoulder into her chest, bringing her to the floor. He straddled her then, knowing there was no easy escape from that position, especially with his weight advantage. He didn't realize that he'd just given her her next opportunity. Before he could pin her arms down, he felt the smartdisk dig into his armpit.
There was a large nerve close to the skin in under each arm. A simple blow to the nerve could cause severe pain and partial paralysis. A blade inserted into the armpit however, could prove to be fatal. It was the location of a major artery that lead to the heart.
Blood dripped down from the wound, and began to paint her hand in florescent green. The blade was close. It was possible that she would sever the artery before he had the chance to disarm her. His only option was the shoulder cannon. As soon as it lit up in red, her eyes narrowed.
"Sub'mit, or I will kill yuu."
"Don't think I won't do the same."
His chest pulsed with a deep growl as he debated his choices. A tie was not an option. It just wasn't the yautja way. Neither was giving up-there were yautjas that would refuse to submit, even if it meant their death. She would have to surrender, or they would both die.
Problem was, she was far from eager to submit. Her heart was pounding, and her breaths were fast and untame. Her arm that held the smart disk was shaking with spent adrenaline. Her eyes were locked on the plasma castor with a fiery intensity.
"...Gor'geous." He purred.
Her eyes flickered to his for a moment, then back to the shoulder cannon.
"Sub'mit."
"No."
Kain'n admired her resolve, so much like a yautja. Females of his kind would only submit for a short time during the mating season. He didn't know what standards to hold Samantha to-yautja or ooman. If she were yautja, it was unlikely that he would have managed to straddle her and get the plasma castor in her face. Still, if it did happen to occur and a yautja female refused to submit, Kain'n would back down.
His reputation and pride would be at stake if he yielded to an ooman. He had picked her for the strong female that she was though. Ooman or not, if he was persuing her like a mate, an equal, he had to treat her like one. He grumbled to himself with the decision, but powered off the shoulder cannon.
Samantha immediately droped her arm to the tile with a huge sigh, and let the smart disk slip from her fingers.
Kain'n lifted one arm across his torso and thumped his fist on his chest, "Yuu have my hon'or."
His hunt brothers departed as Kain'n tended to his wounds. Then he used his wrist device to direct the ship back to Earth. Cloaked, his ship hovered on top of a four-story building. The sunrise bathed the inside of the ship in an orange glow as the doors opened.
"Yuu are free to gow."
The ooman sauntered past Kain'n, without even giving him a second glance. Her eyes were set on the gentle fall of snow outside the ship. He steeled himself. Females made the mating choices, not males.
When she made it to the end of the ramp though, she suddenly spun around, "Take me with you."
Kain'n almost staggered.
Her voice grew more stern when he didn't respond, "That wasn't a question. I demand that you take me with you, wherever you're going. Ok?"
His chest rumbled, "Sei-i."
His female spent her time roaming the ship, and staring out the observation window. It wasn't long though before her body needed rest. Kain'n directed her to his bed, then watched her bundle herself up in the furs. A lump formed in his throat as he stared down at her, and his loins stirred with a burning urge. He had to stifle his arousal. He would wait for her indication that she was ready to mate, like any yautja female.
~Yautja translations~
Ec oji fe'sh o'ruk, mei'hswei'l - Bring her to me, brothers
Sei-i - Yes
