Chapter 22: Bonds of Blood.
As it turns out Yaujta pregnancy is very similar to human, as she moved through the cycles and grew in size Tik demolished every type of food that Jack could provide. She also developed her own rather unusual cravings, he once watched her eat an entire leg of this six legged deer like creature that lives in the forest… dipped in cream that he made from a docile animal that had kind of reminded him of a deer crossed with a cow but with two heads and massive udders.
Like their ooman counterpart's, food cravings weren't the only thing that Yaujta females got while pregnant. Her sexual appetite, while it had always been healthy, had been turbo charged, she had taken a liking to hunting him while he was out on a hunt of his own. Just so she could have the thrill of catching him and making love to him.
Jack had lost count of the amount of times he felt her presence and her intentions through his Dream Warrior abilities. He heard a telltale rustle in the trees above him, only to look up and get pounced on by the large huntress. In fact, he'd known she was there every single time as his abilities meant he was perfectly tuned into her spiritual signature. Which meant he could also see her aura even when she was cloaked, not that he needed to see her aura to see what tree she was hiding in, the bending tree limb from the amount of weight she'd gained gave her away… not that he was brave enough to tell her that however.
So he just let her have her victory, to be fair he rather enjoyed being the object of her desires and the fact that she would go to all that effort just to make love to him thrilled him. But he had lost track of how many times he was forced to repair his clothes and sew up the claw gashes on his shirts and pants where she'd gotten a little carried away.
The mood swings were by far the worst thing; you think your girlfriend was bad during her pregnancy? Now imagine your girlfriend is 6ft 10in built like a brick shit house and able to tear you limb from limb. He was constantly having to hide all the weapons in the house, as well as himself on more than one occasion, which isn't easy when your life mate is a seasoned huntress. It was only thanks to his abilities that managed to save him on multiple occasions. In fact, it was a good thing that he liked building things as he had to repair and rebuild all the furniture on more than one occasion. Though on the other end of the emotional spectrum Tik was rather adorable and would cling to him, requiring almost constant cuddles which he loved providing.
But eventually they got her through it and then came the distinct joy of labor, fortunately Jack had seen this coming a mile off and had made himself ready. Still she did manage to crush one of the armored gauntlets that he'd made for himself to hold her hand while she was giving birth. But fortunately for Jack's health, Tik's labor wasn't long and soon they were the proud parents to twins. A boy and a girl, both perfect Yaujta/human hybrids.
The boy they named Ryan after Jack's late father, the girl they named Sela eleth after Tik's mother. Both of them, despite having a blend of Yaujta and human biology, were perfectly healthy. Both had their mother's mandibles, despite having mostly their father's facial layout, they both looked rather human in that department… except for the mandibles and the large brows. They both had their mother's large forehead complete with ridges but no dreadlocks as they both had their father's hair. Both had their mother's skin colors but their fathers texture, meaning it was very soft to the touch. Sela eleth had her father's ice blue eyes, but Ryan had his mother's bright purple eyes.
Jack and Tik eleth couldn't have been prouder as they cradled their little miracles, neither of them had believed it could have been possible for them to be parents as they were so completely different in biology but here they were. Jack cradled his little daughter proudly as he watched her flex her little mandibles and start to suck her thumb and it melted him inside. Then he glanced over at Tik who was cradling Ryan, smiling at her before leaning down to kiss his life mate. Both of the children had the purest of white auras that he'd ever seen and just like theirs, it swirled around them like fire. Standing in the corners of the room Jack noticed both Sandy and Tan sel eleth both standing proudly with huge smiles plastered on their faces as they observed the family in their most tender moment. Jack smiled at them as they both showed their happiness at the products of their love, "Now we are a true family my mate, bound in blood for all time" Tik said, diverting his attention back to his loving mate. He smiled at her as her words touched his heart, "Let's teach them the ways of human love and Yaujta honor" he said and this made her smile now, here they had the chance to show them the best of both worlds. This made both Sandy and Tan sel eleth both smile as broadly as they could.
Parenthood turned out to be rather taxing for both of the new parents, human/Yaujta hybrids seem to have all the strengths of both species but none of the weaknesses. For example, they have human grace matched with Yaujta speed, so chasing running toddlers that have learned to run before they can walk was rather fun for both of them.
Though Jack had to admit it was rather funny when it was Tik's turn to chase them to watch the Yaujta equivalent of a Scooby Doo cartoon with a massive huntress chasing them from room to room. Though he'd inevitably see one of the twins dash out of a room waving a massive sword around and he'd end up joining the chase.
Having said that neither of them would have traded a single second with their little miracles for anything in the universe. One of Jack's favorite memories was walking silently upstairs and peering into the twin's room to find Tik sat between the beds singing a lullaby to them, but the best part was the fact that she was singing it in both Welsh and Yaujta. Since he'd started learning it through his connection to some of the Celtic weapons he had rescued from the bad blood clan ship, he'd started getting visits from Celtic spirits and they'd been teaching him.
Since Tik loved the sound of the language she'd started learning from him.
He stood in the doorway listening to the traditional Yaujta lullaby being sung in both Welsh and Yaujta, he'd never felt so happy and proud in his life as he watched this incredibly beautiful scene of mother and children. Plus, Tik's singing wasn't half bad either, which was a rather pleasant surprise.
Fourteen Years Later.
"Remember to breathe slowly, inhale, hold and release, feel the tightness of the trigger, watch him, at this moment you are closer to him than anyone ever has been. Know his movements, predict them, feel the breeze he feels, smell the scents he smells. Feel him and know him and when ready release" Jack said, the big AS50J roared for next to him as Sela fired, the large buck roamer deer didn't even have a chance to lift his head before the massive round blew his heart out the other side of his chest. His six red furred legs splayed as he went full on Bambi learning to walk and collapsed. Sela eleth looked up happily at her father as he grinned down at her proudly, "Nice shot, a clean kill and that was easy seven hundred meters, you're learning quickly" he said proudly, Sela beamed broadly and drew her mandibles up into the smile.
"Thanks to your teaching father" she replied, he reached over and stroked her head affectionately and she purred gently happy at the praise from her beloved father.
"Let's go and collect the kill" Jack said, Sela nodded happily and they both stood up from their hidden location, throwing off the extra camouflage they'd padded out their hide with, even at only fourteen his daughter was nearly as tall as he was, her body was more distinctly human than Yaujta in its shape. But her muscles were solid just like her mothers, her long blonde dreadlocks trailed down the side of her slim head as she shook them out, her father smiled at her proudly as his eyes took in his beautiful proud daughter and his heart swelled with pride, before he turned and headed over to the dead roamer deer.
Just as Jack had finished bagging all the meat and skin from their deer a distant roar that was immediately followed by a second one was heard. He turned to Sela, who had up until that point been making a small trophy necklace from a piece of the antlers, they both looked at each other and smiled, "Sounds like we'd better go and see what your mother and brother are up to" Jack said and his daughter nodded smiling. They quickly gathered their gear and packed it all up, Sela tucked the little necklace into her pocket sure that her brother would love it, then she turned and hurriedly followed her father into the forest.
Following the trails through the forest they eventually came to a break that opened into a massive set of plains, it was easy for Jack to find his mate where ever she was. His spiritual connection to her always gave him a trail to follow, it was like a trail of white smoke that no matter where she was hiding always led him right to her. Though this sometimes frustrated Tik as she'd always prided herself on her stealth abilities, so the fact that he could see through her camouflage and tactics so easily annoyed her now and then. But it also solidified her love for him in other ways, because she knew that no matter what he would always come for her, a point that he'd proved many times over when she'd got into trouble while hunting only for him to appear out of no-where because he'd felt it and had come running to her aid.
Jack who was now carrying his AS50J dropped to his knee and scanned the plain with the scope, to his right his daughter did the same with her own rifle, Jack had managed to make his daughter one of these guns by replicating his own gun using the forge as well as some Yaujta tech to improve them both. The results were a pair of lighter, stronger, and far more powerful rifles that could easily pick off a target up to three miles away if you had the skill to use them. Something which he and his daughter most certainly did, she unlike her brother possessed the eye to be a sniper and the tactics better suited her personality. Ryan on the other hand was much more hands on like his mother, preferring to get up close with blades and spears, suddenly Jack stopped, "Got em" he said pointing. Sela followed his point and immediately spotted them out in the middle of the plain, her mother and brother were standing over the body of a fallen Kaux beast, these things were like a cross between a wolf and a boar with really nasty tusks on their face and a lean powerful body. Ryan was holding his spear aloft in stance of victory as he stood over the body and Tik eleth was beating her chest plate with her fist, both Jack and Sela glanced away from their scopes to each other and grinned. Snapping their attention back to the duo on the plains, suddenly Sela froze, "Father to their right I don't think they see them!" she exclaimed, Jack turned his scope to where his daughter indicated, there were a pair of Manx Rhino approaching the pair of hunters on the plains, these things were massive weighing in at about two tons of solid muscle. Their hides where jet black and solid being nearly impervious to most weapons save for the AS50J's and Tik's plasma caster which she, unfortunately, wasn't wearing at the moment, their heads were long and low with massive horns decorating their faces. Not to mention they also had razor sharp teeth, they were a rarity as they tended to stay in their own hunting grounds which were far from here. But every so often a mated pair would wander off to find a breeding ground of their own.
"Pauk we have to do something" Jack breathed, his daughter looked at him expectantly she knew her father would come up with a plan. He always did, she always admired how cool under pressure he was. No matter what was thrown at him, he could always analyze the situation and figure a plan out, she had always tried her hardest to be just like him. She was certainly the most level headed of the twins, Ryan was much more like their mother; being all fire and passion. Her father's eyes glimmered and she knew he'd come up with a plan, he looked at her, "Swap out your ammo for those red tipped bullets I gave you" he said, she looked at him curiously,
"The ones you told me not to use?" she said, he nodded,
"I told you not to use them unless it was an emergency remember? Well I think this counts" he said swapping the magazine in his own gun and ejecting the round in the chamber before rechambering with red tips. Sela eleth did the same as her father, she extracted the large red tipped bullets from her pouch and looked at them. They were sharp tipped with a coat of what looked like blood over the tip. She swapped the ones in her gun for them and re-cocked it,
"Ready." she said looking back through her scope at the approaching Manx Rhinos,
"Ok you have the one on the right I got the one on the left, range for one mile." her father said adjusting the dials on his scope, she did the same taking the windage into account and making the appropriate adjustments, "Ok, on my mark fire at its right front leg at about knee height." her father said, Sela eleth zoned in and got a good view on the massive wide leg of the Manx Rhino,
"What's so special about these rounds?" she asked,
"You'll see" he replied before starting his breathing exercises, she did the same fully oxygenating her blood, deep breath, hold it, release and repeat.
"Fire when ready" her father said, and with that both rifles fired in almost perfect symmetry.
The massive red tipped bullets whizzed through the air at incredible speed before slamming into the knees of both Manx Rhinos simultaneously, there was a massive plume of yellow blood and bone fragments blown out of the other side as the hyper velocity armor piercing rounds punched straight through their intended targets. Jack didn't like to use these things as they weren't exactly sporting, and while most people would think that using a .50 caliber rifle wasn't sporting the size of the game, not to mention the viciousness of the predators on their new home world, more than made up the balance. Both creatures roared in pain as the rounds smashed their way through their legs, Tik eleth and Ryan both heard the boom of the massive guns followed by the roars and turned to look, as soon as she saw them Tik eleth put herself between her son and the massive creatures. With their front leg's hit, the Manx Rhinos were unable to charge their quarry, but they still made a bee line for the pair, "Fire at will choose your targets for weak spots, go for their eyes and their organs!" Jack roared. He began firing on the massive creatures that were threatening his beloved life mate and his son. To his right, his daughter opened up on the other Rhino threatening her mother and twin brother, the Manx Rhinos didn't know what the hell hit them. Round after round slammed into their hides and punched through it like it was made of paper, in fact it was these creatures that Jack had designed these bullets around. They had copper jackets and cores made out of the metal that he'd found on this planet that was like uber strong titanium. In fact, the stuff was so hard when tempered that it couldn't be shaped as it was beyond any tools, even ones made of the same metal. The coating made it so that it cut through the hides like butter, it was similar to coating the bullets with Teflon so that things didn't stick to them and slow them down.
Suddenly the right hand one went down hard as a round hit it square in the left eye, blowing a hole clean through its head. From his right he heard his daughter squeak in triumph, his own was still moving but his final round sorted that out as the creature turned slightly. Allowing him to put a round straight through its massive heart, blowing it to pieces inside the beasts' chest. The creature did a sort of very ungraceful twist on its rear legs as it reared up and slammed back down on its back, he breathed a sigh of relief. But as he did he was assaulted by Sela slamming into his side grabbing him and hugging him tightly, "We did it father!" she exclaimed, he hugged his daughter and smiled,
"We sure did kiddo" he replied. Then they both stood up and he lofted his rifle above his head and in true Yaujta fashion let loose a mighty roar of victory, which instantly his daughter joined in on doing the same with her own rifle, from the plains came two roars of recognition and shared victory. Jack and Sela eleth picked up their gear and hurriedly made their way away from the woods and onto the plains to join their family.
Jack found his life mate and his son standing over the massive Manx Rhinos as he and Sela approached, as soon as she saw him Tik eleth flew over to him and embraced him, "A good hunt my mate" she said nuzzling the side of her beloved mate's face. He returned it and gave her the sight that always fluttered her heart even now, his smile.
"No one pauks with the ones I love and lives to tell the tale" he said glancing at the massive fallen creatures, Tik eleth purred as she nuzzled her beloved male and noticed to their left that Ryan and Sela eleth were sharing their own embrace as the twins greeted each other.
"Awesome shooting sister" Ryan said looking over at the dead Manx Rhino, Sela eleth drew her mandibles up into a smile revealing her distinctly human teeth underneath.
"Like I'd let anyone or anything take my brother from me" she said, then she remembered the necklace. She broke their embrace and plunged her hand into her pocket and withdrew it, holding her gift out to her brother, "A trophy from my hunt brother" she said. Now it was his turn to smile as he accepted his sisters gift and placed it around his neck. He retrieved something from the pouches on the rear of his armor and held it out to her,
"It seems that we really do think alike" he said holding out the small but razor sharp tooth from his kill to her, he'd cut and thread it into a necklace just as she had with the antler, Sela eleth smiled broadly as she accepted her brothers gift and placed it on.
Both Tik eleth and Jack smiled at this little display, "The honor of the victory is shared" Tik eleth said, Jack nodded then he glanced at the two Manx Rhinos,
"Well I think we should get something from those two as well, those horns will make some nice dagger handles, or maybe a sword?" he said to himself thoughtfully looking at the bodies. Tik eleth purred at her mate, she loved just how much he'd embraced the spirit of the hunt and how he was an absolute natural at it. He would have made an exceptional Yaujta, but she was glad that he wasn't as then he wouldn't be the Ack that she knew and adored. All four of them turned and as a family thy began to harvest the kills totally unaware that right at that moment they were being silently observed.
Back at the house later Tik eleth prepared the meats, most of which she stored in their solar powered chilling device for later, she kept some prime cuts out for their celebration dinner that night. She glanced out of the window and caught sight of her beloved male as he toiled at his forge, he was making a set of swords using that metal that he'd found that made exceptional blades that cut like nothing she'd ever held. These thing were far better than even the strongest Yaujta blades, he was making a pair of matching swords for the twins to celebrate their first true hunts. She watched him as he wiped sweat from his brow before rising up to his full height, she noticed he wasn't wearing his shirt, his sweat covered torso shimmered in the sunlight and Tik eleth felt a growl of desire emanate from her. She had plans to celebrate their victory with him when they were alone tonight, the simplest thought of her male making love to her sent a shiver of pleasure and passion down her spine. Suddenly an ear splitting scream filled the air and was just as quickly silenced, it snapped Tik eleth out of her nice day dream. She dropped the meat she was holding and charged full tilt in the direction of where it had come from.
As he worked on the swords Jack could feel Tik's eyes on him from the house and it made him smile because he could also feel the desire in her gaze, the longer that he'd been a Dream warrior the more he'd learned to use the abilities that it granted him. At first it had all been mostly used on instinct, but after fourteen years of it he'd learned how the abilities worked and what boosted them or dampened them. It was unusual skill set to have but a damn useful one, he could always sense someone's intentions even just at a glance now, if he wanted to find someone or something he was always guided right to them. His reflexes were also now lightning fast as he could see things that were about to happen before they did so he actually had time to evade or prepare, it had also taken his and Tik's love life to the next level. Imagine being able to experience love making from both sides at once, feeling what both you and your partner feel at exactly the same time. Plus, because of his ability to directly connect with someone, he was able to allow her to experience it from her own perspective as well as his at the same time. The first time he'd done this for her, she'd experienced a mutual orgasm from both sides at once and she actually passed out from the intensity of it. But after that it had become something that they did on a regular basis, she'd also never asked him if it felt good for him to be within her ever again because now she knew it did, just as he knew the joy she got from him being there.
Tik had asked him once if he was connected to all things all the time and if so, how the hell did he cope with all the noise?
He'd had to reply no it wasn't like that, more like some parts of it were dormant until he activated them while others were on all the time. For instance, he could always sense her emotions no matter how far away he was from her, but that was because she was his mate and they were of one heart. But with the kids he had to focus on them for the connection to be made and for their emotions to flood his mind.
Another example he used was what he used when he went hunting, he would switch on one of his abilities that allowed him to sense life around him. This way he could feel all the life around him, but without a focus it was like a mass of indistinguishable noise. You wouldn't be able to tell a deer from a Yaujta, so to block out all the other animals and to focus on one he had to find something like tracks or some fur that would allow him to focus on one particular individual and to track them. Otherwise they simply blended into the background noise of all the other life. So in short, if he wasn't looking for something in particular, they blended in with the other life around them.
Suddenly his mind was flooded with cold malicious feelings and a darkness that he hadn't felt in a long time, it was so intense that he dropped the hammer he was holding and fell to his knees as it over whelmed him. Something was wrong, very very wrong, he could feel fear and pain and as he searched for the source he got a brief flash of his daughter's emotions. It was pure and raw fear, then he heard the scream, he grabbed the swords and ran full tilt towards the house.
Tik eleth's heart pounded in her chest as she ran, the voice had been distinctly feminine and had belonged to her beloved daughter. A second set of running footsteps joined her own and Ack burst in through the side door, a pair of swords ready in his hands. His eyes locked on to Tik eleth and he instantly threw her one, which she caught without breaking her stride, both of them charged up the stairs and towards the twins' bedroom. They both burst in, weapons at the ready only to find the room turned upside down and totally empty, both of the twins were no-where to be seen, "Sela eleth! Ryan! Where are you?!" Ack yelled but got no answer and he held up his hand obviously trying to feel them. Tik eleth's eyes quickly roamed the room before coming to rest on something that made her blood run cold, she charged across the room and seized the small object and holding it up for Ack to see, his face said it all. A look of utter horror, fear, and anger crossed his features all at the same time. "Bad bloods" he hissed as he saw the residual black fire of the aura print swirling around the item, Bad bloods had somehow gotten in undetected and taken their beloved children.