Hunter Hunted: Hybrid Wars

by Ghostnobody

This will be the tale of Clan Mason, from thier beginings through to thier rise as force for good in my AVP universe, new enemies will rise to join old ones, see how Jack Mason and Tik eleth will not only rise to meet them but bring the fight to them gathering with them new friends and allies in thier fight against the darkness. (Contains HumanXMultiple Alien species sex)

16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: If Your Girl Loves to Hunt.

Tik eleth raised her arms above her head and she felt her muscles go taught as iron bands, she flared her mandibles as the sensations hit her and the yawn broke free of her, as she let them fold back in she purred to herself and turned over to tightly embrace her beautiful ooman still sleeping next to her.

Only he wasn't still sleeping next to her and she found out that the wonderful torso she'd been hugging tightly for hours was in fact a damn pillow, that damn beautiful ooman of hers had done it to her again.

As tempted to throw the pillow across the room in a fit of temper at being fooled again as she was, she instead fluffed it and placed it back at the head of the bed where the shape of her beautiful ooman was still present meaning that he hadn't been gone all that long, she lifted her large head from her pillow her dreadlocks falling into place against her broad back and that's when she noticed something on her bedside table and she couldn't help but smile.

On her bedside table was a little silver tray and Tik couldn't help but laugh to herself, this ooman tradition of theirs was an oddly charming thing and it almost made up for the waking up to the pillow again, though she supposed it was for the best, if she had woken up to him she doubted she'd have been able to keep her hands off him and then she'd be late for work, so maybe a blessing in disguise, sure didn't feel like one though.

Tik leaned over to the tray and lifted the little hand made silver domed lid up that her beloved Ack had made for her specifically so he could serve her breakfast in bed, which he had done every morning that he hadn't been able to join her, it was a distinctly ooman thing to do but she couldn't help love him all the more for it, her beautiful male loved her so completely and utterly that no matter how many years had passed he would always do little things like this to show her exactly how much he loved her and honoured her.

The dome was decorated with a very elaborate hunting scene that had been painstakingly and lovingly engraved into it, it depicted her and Ack's very first hunt and victory together, the handle that stood atop the dome was a little Yautja and an ooman shaking hands that acted as a finger loop to lift it, Tik would have preferred if they were doing a lot more than just shaking hands but her Ack had just laughed and said that it might make it a little difficult to pick up.

Tik placed a large claw-tipped finger through the little hoop formed by the figures shaking hands and lifted it up, instantly her face lit up like a freedom day tree as she saw what waited for her underneath, goddess above she utterly adored this male of hers, he just knew her and understood her so well, like no ever had or had even bothered to try.

On the ceramic plate that was waiting underneath kept warm by the specially designed dome which trapped the heat was the breakfast of a true huntress, spider boar bacon and sausages, eggs with broken yolks somehow arranged so the yolk cooked into perfect hearts, mushrooms and blood pudding which Ack called black pudding which was an ooman delicacy from the shores of the region from where he hailed on Earth, a delicacy that had been eagerly adopted by the Yautja here as it was utterly delicious, finished up with three yellow triangles that Ack called hash browns, another ooman delicacy but these were made from the fresh wonderful potatoes grown and tended here by the Xeno farmers of Murphy and Aine's hive.

"Oh my Ack you always know don't you?" Tik said softly as she smiled at the lovingly prepared breakfast of a huntress, her Ack used to call it a full English breakfast but now given how many tables in Yautja homes this exact style of breakfast was served in it had renamed as the breakfast of the hunt or huntress's breakfast.

Tik wolfed the lovingly prepared food down leaving the love heart eggs till last, that in itself had become a kind of ritual to her, she always left these lovingly crafted little yolk hearts till last, to her they were proof of her beloved husbands love for her given form so she always made sure she savoured them, silly she knew but it was how she felt and she stuck to her little ritual just like she would any other she did before a hunt.

Once her delicious breakfast was done she found the little note hidden under her plate, another of her beloved husband's tricks, he knew she'd find it but only after she'd eaten her food and calmed down a little bit, her beautiful male knew her too well, she looked at the note.

'I'm sorry I left early my heart's brightest star but I have a lot to do today sorting out the Ghost Slitherers so I had an early start, I promise I will make it up to you later, find me in the mid-afternoon I'll have a surprise waiting for you, till then I will count the moments till I can touch you again my love' She read aloud to herself and clicked her mandibles thoughtfully and longingly.

"I'll be counting those moments too my love," she said quietly to herself raising from the bed and stretching herself again, she climbed from the bedsheets as naked as the day she was born, she walked into their bathroom and stepped into their large shower, turning it on and feeling the instant bite of the cold water before it heated up and soothed her muscles.

She washed herself slowly relishing the feeling of the hot water and the soap on her skin, she wished that her husband could have been here to share this with her so that she could have washed his beautiful body for him while he returned the favour to her, just the thought of her husband's hands on her flesh made her purr with want, oh she was going to find him later today alright.

Once she was clean again she climbed out and dried herself off with their shared towel, Ack had once told her of oomans odd habit of having a 'his' and 'hers' towel set but Yautja did not believe in such things, all things in a Yautja marriage were shared completely, there was no his or hers only ours, using the towel she rubbed her husband's delicious scent onto herself so not only would it always remind her of his presence in her heart but so that other Yautja females would smell it and know the joy that was solely hers.

Once her shower was done she headed back into the bedroom and got dressed, first in her underwear and then in her clan armour, her's marked her as the Grand Matriarch of Clan Mason just as Ack's marked him as Grand Patriarch, bright gold and his royal blue, though they had been debating lately about changing the Seeker armour to silver, plus she really wanted him to wear the cape just like Tan sal eleth did, she reckoned that it made him look even more dashing and fierce.

The last thing she did was attach her dread ornaments, all of them bar a handful were gifts from her beloved cubs, carved from the bones of their hunts and then set into metal by her beloved husband, just so that they could be presented to her as gift trophies, through this they shared the honour of their hunts with her the one who had bore them into this world and had made those glorious hunts possible, she also had ornaments from her hunts that she had carved with her own hands, each little charm told a story and she wore each and every one with pride, she also had a great many to choose from so she made a point to wear a different set every single day so that her beloved ones would know that she honoured them as much as they honoured her.

Once she was finished dressing Tik heard a chittering and a hissing coming from above her and she looked up at the ceiling before her face morphed into an exasperated scowl, "No matter how many times I tell those pauking cubs of Aine's they never listen" she said to herself in exasperation, she marched across her bedroom and flung open the large coloured glass doors to step out onto the balcony where her and her Ack would watch the sunset over their beautiful creation every day they were home.

Spinning around on the spot and making dreads fan out around her head while utterly ignoring the beautiful view over the growing city below her Tik's keen senses locked onto the guilty parties, sitting like a neat row of what Ack called Gargoyles on the very top layer of their roof was a line of very guilty looking winged Xenos all looking at her with the same surprised and guilty-looking expression.

"Pauking seriously you lot?" Tik said in exasperation.

"We're sorry Grand Matriarch, it's just so pretty up here, it's even prettier up here than on top of our hive, we can see the whole city from here and its really beautiful" one of the Xeno's hissed softly and apologetically, Tik growled, they weren't bad cubs really and technically thanks to Xeno growth they were fully grown adults now, though they still acted like cubs in many ways, like this one for instance.

Tik growled again, "Get on home now I'm sure you're queen has chores for you to do and if you do not do them right quick I'll be telling her where you are hiding you understand me?" Tik growled menacingly.

All of the Xenos nodded like a set of nodding dogs their long domed heads bobbing up and down on their long necks, "Yes Grand Matriarch" they all hissed and with that they spread their large black bat-like wings and took to the air, flying in formation as they headed back towards their hive in the distance.

Tik shook her head making her charms jangle among her dreadlocks as she watched them fly, "Bloody flying Xenos I swear to Paya if they start shitting on everything like the damn crows I'm going to start using them as target practice" Tik grumbled to herself as she stepped back inside and closed the doors behind her.

Heading downstairs Tik called into the armoury along her way, she snapped on her dual wrist blades and checked the trigger mechanisms making the large dark metal blades shoot forwards and then retract into their scabbards, after that she lifted one of her hunting masks up and placed it on her belt before attaching her plasma casters onto her shoulder mounts, as Grand Matriarch she had to be ready to defend the clan at any moment no matter what and Tik eleth took her duty very very seriously.

The last thing she grabbed was the new war spear her husband had forged for her last birthday and she tested the release mechanism, causing the long trident like prongs shot out and she spun it in her hands like a warrior ballerina, her Ack had always said she somehow seemed to make fighting look like dancing, well unless someone threatened their cubs, then she made it look like someone had forced an entire war inside one skin and unleashed it.

She clipped the spear to her belt so that it sat above her arse and then flicked her dreadlocks back over her shoulders so they were tucked behind her casters, it was time to go to work, she had an entire clan to serve and Tik took that service very seriously, in a clan every member looked to the Grand Matriarch and Patriarch to set the example and she was determined that Clan Mason would be every bit the shining beacon of hope that she believed it was and with her beloved Dream Warrior husband right there at her side she would stand tall and proud at its head, leaders lead from the front, you never gave a job to someone else that you were not willing to do yourself, that was the difference between a leader and a boss, a boss told you to do something, a leader showed you how to do it themselves.

Tik stepped out into the bright sunlight of the new day and she filled her lungs with the fresh clean air, she blew out the breath and smiled to herself, there was nowhere else in the whole universe that she would rather be than right here, this was her home.

Tik decided that she would head through the main city over to the Hunter's proving grounds, as she walked people stopped to salute her and pay respect to her and her station, Tik always returned the salutes with enthusiasm, if someone took the time from their day to greet her and pay respect she made sure it was returned.

About halfway across the city she spotted five very familiar faces, or rather she spotted four familiar faces and then the fifth tucked in between them and she smiled warmly as she approached as Seeker Dimondscale snapped to attention and presented a crisp salute.

'Good morning Grand Matriarch" he said and she saluted him back.

"Good morning Liam, you and your pack out for a morning stroll err slither are you?" she asked and Liam smiled at her and shook his head.

"Not quite Grand Matriarch, we were actually just taking a look around the city and doing a bit of planning, then we were going to head over to the Hunter proving grounds to find yourself" Liam sad and Tik cocked her head curiously.

"To find me?" she asked and he nodded.

"We were discussing where a good spot would be for the Serpentinus embassy, the kind Xeno's of Yoshi and Citrus's hive has promised us that they can build it in a single day which I must admit is a feat that both astounds and excites me to see, our beloved husband was showing us potentially good sites within the city for it to be situated so that it could be easily accessible to all" Celia said nuzzling her husband gently.

This made Tik smile and nod, "While he and Celia we doing that he was going to drop us off at various places throughout the city, I was going to queen Zara and king Cortez's hive to do a medical exchange with your Battle Angels, there is just so much I believe we can learn from each other" Leba said happily and both Sev and Veme nodded in agreement as they waved their little tounges at their husband.

"An excellent idea young Seeker, a cultural exchange is always good for our people and I am pleased that you would seek me out to discuss the matter of the embassy, as it happens I have just the place in mind," Tik said and she gestured with her hand for them to follow her.

"You have an amazing and beautiful world Grand Matriarch, I see now why everyone that I have spoken to refers to it as paradise made real, I have never in my life seen such harmony," Celia said and Tik clicked her mandibles happily and proudly.

"Thank you ambassador it pleases me you think so, we have worked so very hard to build this place, it is the truest labour of love that you can imagine but every step we have taken has been worth it and every day we grow larger and stronger, I know in my heart that I will be here the day that this Clan that we have built spreads beyond this world on which we now stand, but I also know that the principles on which it was founded will travel even further and nothing makes me prouder," Tik said smiling as she saw the pride shining in Liam's face as he hung on her every word, for it was already happening and he was walking talking proof while his loving pack were slithering proof of the unbridled power of unrestricted and pure love.

Tik led them to a spot that overlooked the large park where the parent of all the races had already gathered to let their beloved cubs play together, it made Tik's heart swell with pride to see that there were Serpentinus cubs among them already, their parents were happily watching them as they made new friends among other races.

"Here would be perfect, it's a straight shot to Citrus and Yoshi's hive as well as Zara and Cortez's hive and it is big enough that a landing pad can be built here for diplomatic travel, I will see to it that Serpentinus military craft is granted allied status in our airspace though I would ask you to restrict civilian travel here until we have something concrete and ratified in place to allow monitored travel, we will do the same obviously," Tik said and Celia nodded in agreement.

"Very well Grand Matriarch, I will need communications systems to be able to contact my people," she said and Tik nodded.

"From what I understand Yoshi and Citrus's lot are already working on a communication system that will allow our two planets to communicate in real-time, we already have very sophisticated long-range comms but the distances involved create a significant challenge, we can use relay satellites for now but they will always be vulnerable to attack or hacking, but rest assured we will have something in place for you," Tik said and Celia nodded.

"Thank you Grand Matriarch, then I will happily accept your offer," Celia said offering her hand in the ooman sign of friendship and trust, Tik smiled and took it shaking it as she did.

"Excellent I will contact the hive and tell them to get their engineers over here right away to begin construction, it is my distinct hope that very soon we will have Serpentinus happily slithering about all over our world sharing in our love and our freedom," she said and Celia smiled.

"As I hope to see Yautja, Humans and Xenos walking across mine with the same joys that we hold as our own and I agree with my pack sister, there is just so much we can learn from each other," she said making Tik click her mandibles happily and nod.

She lifted her wrist comp up and made the call to the hive and she conferenced her beloved daughter in on it as the Saviors combat engineers were the best in the business and even before she had finished speaking to queen Citrus, Xeno engineers dressed in Saviour overalls were streaming down from both the hive and from the Savior building, there were both humans and Yautja among them of course but they were outnumbered four to one by their Xeno brothers and sisters.

While Celia and her pack watched in utter astonishment hard hats began getting dished out and Xenos began rolling out plans and blueprints and began screeching at one another and pointing, teams began to erect a cordon and seemingly out of nowhere four shuttles carrying building supplies arrived overhead.

"I must leave you now ambassador but please feel free to remain and to oversee the build and do not hesitate to inform the engineers of any special requirements your people need like basking rooms for example," Tik said and Celia nodded and smiled then Tik turned to look at Liam, "I understand that you are overseeing a mate hunt this afternoon young Seeker?" she said and Liam nodded.

"That's right the arbiters called me this morning to confirm the hunt is on for young Marcus, should be quite the show I know quite a few Yautja girls are interested in that boy," Liam said and Tik chuckled to herself and nodded.

"Yes so I hear what do they call him over at the proving grounds now, the ebony angel is it?" Tik said and Liam laughed and nodded.

"That's the one, goddess above that boy is in for the run of his life I know he's got at least four full-blooded huntresses after him," Liam said and Tik roared with laughter and nodded.

"Well they do say that that boy can run, I remember when my Ack caught him looking at my rear as I trained while he was cleaning the training blades for us," Tik said with a chuckle and Liam roared with laughter.

"He told me that story, he didn't know what Markus was more afraid of, our Grand Patriarch catching hold of him or you finding out," Liam said and Tik grinned all over her mandibles.

"I was utterly clueless as to what was happening, I hear this loud squeak of I'm sorry Grand Patriarch I will never do it again and suddenly he's running across the compound like his arse is on fire, I was so very tempted to put him on the track team as an instructor, suddenly my beloved one appears smiling like an idiot and he tells me what's happening as we both watch Markus run clear across the city to hide at home, such an innocent boy at times, I know this is biased but I do hope a huntress catches him, he obviously knows a quality huntress when he sees one," she said proudly and Liam grinned at her.

"You know our Grand Patriarch has not let him live it down, that was three years ago and he was only fifteen but even now when he sees him he still waves at no one and yells hey my beloved one while looking behind him to watch him freak out and spin round and no matter how many times he does it Markus still turns white and spins around like he's about to end up a skull on your trophy wall," Liam said making Tik roar with laughter.

"He only looked that is not a sin, if he had touched however then it wouldn't be me he'd need to be afraid of, my Ack would have nailed both the offending hand and his dick to my trophy wall before I'd have been able to blink," she said with a purr of pride and love in her voice that made Liam smile and nod.

"Being a Dream Warrior has its benefits Grand Matriarch the biggest of which is the power to protect the ones we love from whatever comes even when they don't need it because to us it proves who we are to the ones who's opinions count to us" he said and as he said it she saw him looking at Celia and his pack who had now seemingly all acquired hard hats that were designed for Xenos so they stuck to their smooth heads as they went over the plans for their new embassy.

Tik waved her farewells to Liam and his pack and headed off towards the proving grounds, as she was walking towards the outskirts of the city where the proving grounds were located to keep them away from the main urban areas she heard an earth-shattering scream and her blood went from hot to cold in an instant before she even knew it Tik had her mask on and her spear in her hand, her casters were up and spinning and she was running full tilt towards the source of the sound.

Tik's footfalls on the sidewalk sounded like thunder as she ran towards the source of the noise and she wasn't the only one others who had heard the scream was also joining the run, Yautja, ooman and Xeno got on her tail and ran towards the sound without hesitation, as they arrived at the edge of the forest they found a hysterical looking ooman woman looking utterly frantic and she was staring into the forest.

"What's happening?" Tik demanded approaching the woman and she snapped towards her and the look of sheer relief on her face spoke volumes for the regard that everyone here held Tik in.

"Oh, Grand Matriach thank the goddess! My Luca! I can't find him! He was playing in the garden and I only stepped inside for a moment to get us some drinks and when I came out he was gone! Please Grand Matriarch you have to help me! He's only five years old!" the frantic ooman woman cried her voice filled with a hard note of panic.

Tik's mind instantly went into overdrive, the forests here were no joke, both Hunters and Saviors not to mention their own eco conventionalists patrolled the area around the city to prevent the fauna entering the city, Tik spun to the group that had followed her, "Alright people we have a lost cub I want a search party out right this instant and out and we will find him!" she roared and the whole group despite being non-military snapped to attention and began to form into a search line.

She turned back to the mother, "Fear not we will find your wayward cub I swear it to you" Tik said softly and the mother grabbed her hands in her own.

"Oh thank you Grand Matriarch goddess bless you!" she cried.

Tik released her and instructed one of the group to take care of her before activating her wrist comp and triggering the comms, "Tik eleth calling all nearby Hunter, Savior and Seeker units lock onto my position we have a lost ooman cub and a potential threat to life, get here immediately!" she roared.

The response was instantaneous, voices began replying and it was only seconds before a team of blue-suited Saviors rounded the corner sprinting at full tilt towards her followed only thirty seconds later by golden Hunters who must have been on their way to the proving grounds for morning training, their boots echoed through the streets, "Hunters on me! Saviours fan out and direct the search using the civilians!" Tik roared and everyone instantly went to work and the team of four full-blooded hunters fell in behind her as she turned and marched towards the forest.

Tik turned on her thermal vision and her and her hunters took to the trees as the search party fanned out below them and began calling he ooman cub's name, they looked like yellow and red figures moving through the blue-tinted foliage below them as the Hunters scaled upwards into the branches and began running along the thick vine-covered branches, "Grand Matriach look there! Footprints!" one of her Hunters said pointing over to their right Tik followed his finger and began to run along the branch leaping deftly to the next one over and using her claws to steady herself, Hunter boots had claw caps in the toe for this exact reason so the Yautja didn't lose their climbing ability.

Tik ran with her Hunters on her tail leaping through the trees following the footprints below them until they just came to a stop and Tik's thermal vision revealed a dark mass in the ground, switching back to normal vision Tik spotted why the footprints stopped, there was a large hole in the ground which indicated to her that the cub had either fallen or bagged into the hole, but she was leaning towards the former as there were no other tracks around so with a mighty leap Tik jumped down fro the tree landing with a boom next to the lip.

"Lucas!?" Tik called leaning to look into the hole and she saw a shape moving at the bottom of the hole which looked to be about 20ft deep, "H-H-Hello? Please help me! I fell down and can't get out!" a very small and scared sounding voice called up and Tik flicked her thermal vision up again and she saw a small yellow and gold shape at the bottom.

A loud snarl suddenly burst from the foliage ahead of them and all five of them looked up to see a large shape lumbering out of the underbrush, Tik snarled at the Red Cave Bear at the huge creature reared up to unleash a bellowing roar at them which both Tik and the other Hunters returned in kind, every one of them readied their weapons and formed up on their Gran Matriach ready to fight to the death for her and the lost cub causing Tik's pride to swell in her chest.

Priority one was to defeat the bear then they could safely extract the lost cub from the hole, Tik jumped the hole in a single bound and her Hunters swarmed around the sides coming at the bear from all sides at once in order to confuse the large animal, it worked perfectly because now finding itself surrounded on three sides and with an angry Yautja female charging right at it the bear faltered, a fatal mistake often made by large predators as they do not often expect their prey to charge them rather than run away, working without instruction but as a perfect single-minded organism just the way they were taught her Hunters hit the bear from three sides at once with her leading the charge.

Two Hunters hit the startled bear from its flanks while Tik hit it from the front, the other two acted like bulwarks using their wrist blades to deflect the bear's swipes from its huge claws while Tik leapt at it's exposed underbelly plunging her wrist blades into the centre of its chest and piercing its heart with a single incredibly heavy punch to its rib cage accompanied with a huge angry roar.

The punch was a killer blow and the bear's eyes rolled up into its huge skull and its huge body wavering for a moment before falling flat onto its face as the Hunters leapt clear, Tik growled at it, normally she would have been the first to be taking a trophy from such a splendid beast, but today there were bigger priorities, "Mark the body for pick up and transport it to the butchers and tanners" she said to the nearest Hunter a male ooman by the name of Danny who saluted and immediately made the call.

Tik turned back to the hole and with a single leap dropped to the bottom of it where she instantly found the young ooman cub cowering against an exposed tree root, he looked up at her with a huge bright blue set of eyes that instantly reminded her of her own beloved ooman, she tapped her wrist comp, "This is Grand Matriarch Tik eleth Mason, we've located the lost cub, cancel the search and get everyone back to the city" she said and was instantly acknowledged.

Tik crouched down and lifted her hunting mask from her face and clipped it back onto her belt before smiling warmly at the frightened cub, "It's alright little one, you're safe now no one would ever dare harm you while I am here" she said softly as she reached out a large hand to him.

"Y-Y-Your the Grand Matriarch aren't you? My mommy told me that you're really strong and pretty and you fight all the bad things" Lucas said in a soft voice and Tik couldn't help but smile brightly.

"Then your Matriach is wise and what she says is true, so you see the little one you are safe now, come now and I will take you to her, she must be very worried about you," she said and Lucas nodded and moved forwards so fast that when he got older she was definitely recommending him for Hunter training as he threw his arms around her neck and hugged her tightly.

"I was so scared that no one would find me, I'm sorry Grand Matriarch I didn't mean to run off, I-I-i saw a Clover fly and it was just so pretty that I followed it before I knew it I didn't know where I was and then I fell in the hole..." Lucas said sobbing as he spoke Tik wrapped her large muscled arms around him.

"It's alright little one, it's ok now, I'm here and you're safe, come now I'll take you home," she said and with that, she lifted him up and with a mightily leap she jumped clear out of the hole landing on the lip with a heavy thud.

Her Hunters were still waiting at the lip of the hole standing guard against any other potential threats, she nodded at them and they all fell in step with her as they headed for the edge of the forest, as they emerged they found the crowd that had helped search for the wayward little cub waiting with his Matriach helping to keep her calm as soon as they saw Tik emerging cradling the cub in her arms they began to clap and cheer their collective joy and relief evident in every face present, there was not a single thing one of these people and indeed any of the people of Clan Mason would not do to protect an innocent cub, they were the Clan's greatest treasure and were to be protected at all costs.

"Lucas! Oh, thank the great huntress above! You found him! You found my baby!" his Matriach wailed running forwards to take her cub from Tik and to clutch him tightly to her chest showering him with kisses while at the same time scolding the sobbing cub for running off, before finally looking up at her.

"Thank you Grand Matriarch I don't have the words to even thank you here for what you've done, may the great huntress herself bless you're every hunt and day," the relived woman said and Tik smiled at her.

"You are most welcome, keep him safe and keep him close young one," Tik said and the woman nodded.

"I will, I swear it to you Grand Matriarch," she said and with that, he carried her still sobbing cub back towards their house while the gathered people began to disperse and head back to their business leaving Tik and her Hunters standing on the street.

"Good job all of you, we Hunters must always remember that while soldiers of the Clan we may be we are Guardians first and every one of these people is under our care, from the weakest to the strongest we protect them all, every pauking one of them, never forget that," she said and as one each of the Hunters snapped into a crisp and proud salute.

"Yes Grand Matriach!" they bellowed proudly and she nodded happily but before they could turn to head up to the proving grounds Danny stepped forwards.

"Permission to speak Grand Matriarch," he said and she nodded and gestured for him to continue, "I took the liberty of requesting that when our collection team picks up the bear carcass for transport to the butchers that they instruct the butcher to remove its head and deliver it to the proving grounds, you made the kill Grand Matriarch and you should have a trophy to celebrate it especially as the prize was so substantial," he said and Tik clicked mandibles happily.

"Thank you Hunter you honour me and the ways of the hunt," she said and he smiled and nodded happy that she was pleased, with that they all turned and walked up to the proving grounds together.

As they walked through the entrance of the proving ground compound Tik drew her mandibles up into a large smile, no matter how many times she saw this sight it filled her heart with joy and pride, there were new Hunters in training or Young Bloods as they were fondly referred to as being drilled and instructed by Drill Sargent's like Montgomery Duffy who was currently running the new recruits a quarter of his age around the parade square dressed in their PT gear and looking like they were dying, while he looked like he'd just stepped out of a summer meadow.

In fact, it was Monty who first spotted Tik as she walked in, "Grand Matriarch on deck! Recruits ATTENSHUN!" he bellowed in a voice so loud Tik swore it probably just scared the hell out of Paya herself, but then her beloved Ack had always said there were two things that every good Sargent Major could do, fight like demons in a blood rage and shout louder than god.

Every single person in the entire compound snapped cleanly to attention and saluted her, "At ease Hunters as you were" Tik said saluting back and all of them carried on with their training and tasks, some were on the range, some were running the urban assault course learning how to deal with house to house fighting, some were doing hand to hand combat using a mixture of ooman and Yautja techniques, it was a glorious sight to behold and filled her with immense pride that every single one of these sons and daughters of Clan Mason wouldn't even think twice about giving their very lives to protect it, they were like her surrogate cubs.

There were two faces she did not expect to see here as well which made her curious, she walked over and both of them snapped into a crisp salute, "Grand Matriach good morning" Seeker Vermone said crisply.

"Good morning Seeker Vermone I must say I'm surprised to see you here, what can me and my Hunters do for you this fine morning?" Tik said saluting back.

"Well this beautiful little Draconis here has decided he wants to be a proud serving member of the Clan and has decided to join the Saviors, he wants to wear the shield upon his chest with pride and Matriach Sela eleth has already passed him for entry as a combat engineer, so he's here to stat his Hunter training and I said I'd bring him up here today and watch over him while he starts his training," Analise said proudly as she smiled at the happy looking Draconis male to her side and instantly Tik saw the connection between the two as clear as day, there was love in both their eyes.

"Excellent, most excellent indeed, this makes me very happy and proud Kelmar, I will make sure you have the very best training here when you return to your soon to be Savior brothers and sisters I will ensure that you will be every bit the credit to them that Seeker Vermone knows you already will be," she said.

"Thank you so very much Grand Matriarch! I will make you all proud of me! I swear it on my soul before you all" Kelmar said and Tik nodded.

"We already are young one, it takes true guts to stand up after what you've been through and to fight for the ones you love," Tik said and Kelmar's smile lit up his scaly face.

Tik made arrangements for them and both Kelmar and Analise thanked her as they were led away for Kelmar's training to begin, Tik herself headed to the personal training grounds reserved for her own Hunter team, Hunter one and no sooner had she walked into the large underground area than all of her team snapped to attention and saluted her.

"Good morning Hunters so what have we got scheduled for today?" Tik said saluting them before they fell at ease.

"Well after the recent training battle with the Seekers and with what happened on the Serpentinus homeworld I thought a little orbital drop and assault training would be good for us, work on our response time from both ends of the spectrum, we could get Hunter one to play facility guards and we assault and then reverse the roles and they hit us," V'Lek said looking at her hopefully and Tik smiled brightly and nodded.

"Sounds good to me, let's get it set up, contact Shena and let's get Hunter two geared up and we'll all head out to the test area," she said and the whole team snapped to attention again and saluted.

"Yes Grand Matriarch!" they all chorused and Tik smiled, this was going to be fun, nothing other than a good hunt got the blood pumping like a combat exercise, well other than chasing her husband through the forest anyway.

A couple of calls later and everything was set up and ready, "Ok listen up, here's the plan, our job is to reach the control room and download the sensitive data, it is a stealth infiltration mission but it comes with a complete by any means clause, a perfect completion is done without them ever seeing or knowing we were there, but unlike normal I'm not calling it a failure if we are detected, so it is a combat efficiency test as well, to see how we do under combat conditions and pressure, so its weapons free but set to stun only obviously and triple-check that fact before we leave I want no accidents on this mission, first we will drop the orbital drop pods down close to the base, this will cover our assault" Tik said and V'Lek looked curious.

"We won't be inside them Grand Matriarch?" he asked and she grinned and shook her head.

"No they will be filled with Screamers which will drive their sensors crazy and sow confusion allowing us to enter undetected," Tik said with a devious smile.

Now Screamers were technically called XCWHP's they were a distraction drone designed to throw detection sensors utterly haywire, they created heat blooms everywhere using micro plasma flares which rendered thermal imaging useless, they fired off micro chaff which made both radar and motion sensors useless, plus not just all of that but on top of that they were cloaked and created all sorts of screeches and hissing noises to distract people, they were utter chaos in a can, they looked like little robotic spiders that could stick to any surface.

Now no-one outside of Citrus's hive actually knew what XCWHP stood for so they just called them Screamers because of the noise they made, though the running joke was XCWHP stood for Xenos Caught Watching Human Porn, because you pretty much got the same result, lots of running in all directions and screaming, thought to be fair none of then had understood what that meant someone explained to them what porn was, there was a lot of confusion and embarrassment to mention laughter that day.

"We will be following the pods down using the orbital wingsuits, if the Seekers can do it so can we," Tik said passionately and proudly and her team all nodded in agreement, Tik pointed at the layout of the compound on the holographic map, "Ok this is our landing spot, they will not expect us to drop right in on top of them, that's why our crazy Seekers caught us so off guard, we never expected them to drop in so close, so we'll take their tactic and put it to good use, if it's good enough for them it's good enough for us," Tik said and again there were lots of nods.

Twenty minutes later they were in position in orbit of the planet and her team were checking their orbital armour, Hunter armour was all-purpose but it was the add ons that could be bolted to it that made it so very adaptable, like for instance these orbital drop wings and manoeuvring thrusters, which was essentially a highly modified wingsuit to allow them to fly in space and glide in atmosphere, it allowed for rapid deployment anywhere on the planet even without the drop pods.

"Ten seconds!" Tik said as the rear of the shuttle vented atmosphere and went full vacuum, her team lined up on the door with her at the front, Tik gave a thumbs up and every one place a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them to show that they were ready, she counted down the final five seconds on her hand before hitting the door release on zero and pushing off.

It never failed to take her breath away, the view of their beautiful home from space just utterly inspired the soul, her HUD kicked in and began displaying her glide path towards the planet, a huge ball of green and blue floating in an ocean of black, her team formed up on her sides and in a wing shape with her at its tip they all flew towards the planet using their thrusters to control their flight.

"Deploy the pods now," Tik said over the comms and from the second shuttle a series of drop pods were released, they were following a specially programmed autopilot sequence that would land them all around the compound at a distance that would convince Hunter two that they contained their adversaries, well right up until the Screamers went off and like a room filled with Xenos caught watching something rather risque with the lights suddenly turned on, the Screamers would be off screeching and screaming in all directions and driving them nuts.

The pods streaked passed them creating huge golden-red streaks of flame as they entered the atmosphere, soon they were leaving their own streaks as they too hit the atmosphere and began to angle downwards to increase their decent speed using gravity to pull them into a steep dive, once they cleared the outer atmosphere they deployed their wings and a jolt of force pulled them upwards robbing them of their speed, "Deploy cloaking" Tik said and as one the whole team vanished being replayed with white outlines as their configured visors revealed them, granted Hunter two also had the equipment necessary to see through their cloaking tech but it wouldn't do them much good if they didn't know where to look.

Their head's up displays lit up to inform them that the pods had deployed and the Screamers were off causing chaos, which by the little moving shapes on the ground was exactly what was happening, Tik could see little figures running around trying to figure out what in the bloody name of hell was going on and why the place sounded like it was filled with pissed off Xenos, all the while above them Hunter one glided down silently following their glide path right up untilthey deployed their thrusters to make a landing on the building roof, well right after Tik hit their sniper with a pair of well-placed stun shots from her wrist launcher.

As part of the training, both teams had their energy shielding disabled to make it more realistic, as stun shot would have utterly zero effect against a shielded opponent, they had three different types of it on them if you counted their projectile weapons, about six each if you counted their melee weapons, the point wasn't to injure their opponents but to simply take them out of the fight, when her most beloved one had introduced this idea to her many years ago when they first built the Clan Tik had thought he was crazy, Yautja really didn't take prisoners often and those they did take got made slaves, or basically living trophies which was now a practice that Tik utterly abhorred.

But taking prisoners of war that was a different concept and Tik saw the value in that, potential allies and sources of intel, so they had designed all of their weapons to have a stun setting which when they fired magnetically sealed pockets of superheated plasma gas was easier said than done as plasma was pretty much designed to melt through armour or flesh depending on what it hit, it also meant that the rail guns were out of the question due to the power they hit with, so instead the clever Xenos of Yoshi's hive had redesigned their weapons to have a stun setting.

Now the standard rifles used by the Clan were combination railgun and plasma casters as both weapons use the same principles to fire their projectiles, lots of electromagnets in a row forming a barrel formation, in rail gun mode the magazine-fed small tungsten slugs into the breach which were then accelerated down the barrel by the magnets with very little recoil, while the plasma caster system fed gasses from canisters located in the buttstock, the whole weapon was configured to be a bullpup weapon to condense the length and maximise the accuracy.

They Yautja plasma casters used a similar process except they extracted gases from the atmosphere which was achieved during the 'spin up' they did before firing, this gave them limitless ammunition but meant they required more power to run, in stun mode, they fired a electrical charge that had a far shorter range than the plasma shot and a hell of a lot shorter range than the rail guns, but they didn't kill.

The wrist launchers fired a series of darts with interchangeable payloads that could do everything from set your target on fire, to explode, to punch through armour like a miniature SABOT round, or in the case as they had today deliver a super high voltage shock to the target shorting out their nervous systems and rendering them unconscious, just like Hunter two's sniper who was now laid flat on the roof.

As the team landed their wings collapsed and folded into the containers on their backs and under their arms and between their legs, they adopted a circular defensive formation, Tik used hand gestures to indicate for her team to move up to the door, they stacked up and Tik scanned it for sensors and instantly found two of them and she grinned, Shena was crafty and that made her proud her beloved cub had chosen well with his huntress she was a true asset to the Clan.

Gesturing with hand signals to the team what she had found and immediately Vez stepped forwards and attached a small sensor device to the door which she controlled from her wrist comp, she was the team's electronic warfare expert, she immediately began hacking the sensors and disrupting them, now if Tik knew Shena and she did she'd have safeguards against that, so the trick wasn't to take them offline but to disrupt them for a few moments, just long enough to allow the team to pass through, which is exactly what Vez did, as soon as her thumb went up they went through.

The next thing they had to deal with was laser grids, Shena was really going all out here but then she was going up against Hunter one and Tik eleth herself which made Tik feel pride, her daughter in law took her very seriously, fortunately, the next-gen cloaking tech that they used bent light around the wearer which allowed them to walk right through the lasers without setting them off, fortunately, these lasers weren't the kind that cut you into meaty chunks but just tripped an alarm.

They moved silently through the compound while their Screamers caused chaos outside but Tik knew that by now Hunter two had realized what was going on, the team reached the control room which was located on the upper levels, as they rounded the corner they saw the door and again they saw more sensors and Tik indicated them for Vez to step up and she began hacking them which took her seconds.

As soon as her thumb went up they opened the door and burst in and no sooner had they done so the world opened up on them causing them to have to dive for cover and deploy their wrist shields which they were allowed to use as they could be overloaded by the stun weapons, Tik had not been expecting to find Shena herself set up beyond the door in the exact same way she herself had been when the Seekers had hit them and they most definitely could not move like Seekers could.

Shena's plasma minigun and twin plasma casters unleashed an absolute barrage of fire on the doorway as the team burst inwards their shields taking hits making the blue shields look like the surface of a lake in the rain as each shot that hit them sent ripples along them, the entire team unleashed a barrage of fire on Shena but she'd been smart here and had set up two shields on the ground in front of her which deployed the moment that she'd begun firing, but she hadn't been counting on Tik eleth's level of crazy as while her entire team had taken cover to return fire Tik herself had leapt clear across the room on a huge flying dive, Yautja had incredible leaping strength which really helped them when leaping through trees when hunting.

Shena's masked head began to lift as Tik flew over her head but Tik had timed her dive perfectly and before Shena's casters could spin around to target her Tik had already flipped over and kicked off the far wall and she hit Shena in the back with her stun wrist blades which were modified to act like large tazers so they wouldn't pierce like normal blades would as they were little more than large rods that shot forwards and delivered a huge shock as she made contact with Shena's broad back.

There was a muffled roar from inside her mask and Shena went right down like a sack, Tik rolled over and flipped back onto her feet rising just in time to see the utterly stunned looks of her team as they rose from cover, Tik simply flicked her sealed dreads and smiled, she was not Grand Matriarch for nothing.

"Hunter one three grab the drives, everyone else fan out and cover, this just went loud" Tik barked at her team and they split up and assumed a defensive formation if Tik was right a second before she began firing Shena would have sent out a distress call to her team, so they would be on their way to them right now, V'Lez began to remove the drives and when she had them all bagged she gave the thumbs up, Tik charged forwards and stepped out into the corridor where her team was waiting, "Pack it up people were leaving!" she exclaimed just as they heard the running footsteps of the rest of Hunter two converging on them, but they were too late, Tik's team full-on sprinted back to the roof where the waiting shuttle was just arriving after Tik's signal and just like that they were in the air watching the rest of Hunter two burst out onto the roof and Tik could practically hear them yelling in frustration as they watched the shuttle vanish into thin air.

Shena was not amused when she woke up but she still congratulated Tik on her victory, but like any good leader she didn't hold the failure against her team she just insisted they learn from it, the teams switched places and reran the sernario this time with Tik's team holding the control centre and this time Tik's team repelled the assault or what they thought was the assault, turned out Shena had her entire team launch a massive assault on the compound from multiple points while she took a tip from Tik and came in through the roof, she got all the way to the control centre and very nearly got the drive out untill Tik figured out what was happening and caught her just before she got onto the shuttle, Shena was snarling the whole time she was let out of the net she got caught in just three feet from the shuttle door but to be fair she did manage to throw the drive into the shuttle bay, so she did manage to complete her mission.

"Good jobs out there today people, you all made me proud out there, Shena that dummy assault was excellently executed and I hadn't been high enough to realise that there only four source of fire coming in on us then I'd have never realized that you had snuck past us, it was just bad luck that I got to you before you got on the shuttle and your team vanished, but to be fair you were the only one of your team to get hit and you did secure the drive, so the mission was successful and you proved to me that you are an excellent leader as you were willing to be the one too take the mos risk and lay down your life for your team" Tik said planting a hand on the taller but younger Yautja female's shoulder.

Shena lifted her head and smiled softly, "Thank you Grand Matriach" she said and Tik smiled and nodded.

"Alright people, you are dismissed for the day, I'm heading out now to find my beloved husband, he told me he'd have a surprise waiting for me if I came to find him in the mid afternoon and i do not intend to miss it, so unless i call you you are dismissed for the day" Tik said to her own team and they snapped to attention and then fell out while Shena debriefed her own team, Tik herself shrugged herself out of her battle armor and got her regular gear back on before heading quickly over to the Seeker temple where her most beloved one would be waiting for her.

Tik reached the Seeker Temple in record time and when she got there she was amazed by the progress that had already been made, in the Temple training grounds instructors were putting Ghost Slitherers through their paces, there were some groups being led in deep meditation in order to better discover their nature and their power, there were groups being lead in exercise slithering laps around the grounds, surprisingly right in the middle of it all was the rescued Scalathor female, she had three Dream Warriors with her.

It appeared that she had imparted all the knowlage she could to the Seekers and was now in the process of being integrated, the Seekers really didn't mess about when it came to this kind of stuff, a good many of their number had once been Nightmare Assassins so to them this was a standard thing and they knew exactly what they were doing, the first thing they would be doing with her would be teaching her how to protect her mind from invasion by dark forces because once bitten they were at high risk, so their fellow Dream Warriors would sit with them and teach them how to fortify their minds.

Tik didn't even pretend to fully understand the utter mysteries of the universe that Dream Warriors were privy to, what was utterly amazing and beyond words to most people was their every day, but that's why they were Dream Warriors, the chosen ones of the gods.

Someone spotted Tik and a shout went up, "Grand Matriach on deck ATTENSHUN!" and every one of them snapped to attention just like her Hunters, even the Ghost Slitherers stopped and snapped to attention saluting with them.

"At ease, has anyone seen the Grand Patriach?" she said looking around herself untill one of the Seekers broke ranks headed into the Temple at incredible speed and then returned holding a small box with a bow on it.

"He headed out about half an hour ago Grand Matriach but he left this in my care and said that you'd be along to collect it, he said you'd know what it meant" the young Chinese variant human male called Xu said presenting the box to her.

"Thank you Xu" she said and the young Seeker saluted then as they had been stood at ease went back to his training picking up his sword and joining his training partner and his wife a huge Yautja female called B'Tess who had won his mate hunt when he'd come of age, young Xu had been rather popular among the girls and Tik remembered there had been quite the queue at the arbiters office that day.

Tik took the bow off the white little box and was surprised to find that inside was nothing but a little note, Tik frowned as she unfolded it and read it though to her surprise it was written in Yautja, looked like her beloved one was practicing his language skills, though she had to admit it was beautifully written, it seemed to be a set of directions that lead her out towards the jungle, she had to admit she utterly loved where their home was located, it was at the epicentre of so many different biomes, it was like the joining force that linked all of these vastly different areas together.

So off she went catching a shuttle from the Temple to the edge of the jungle area before following her husbands directions that led her to an absolutely huge tree with a hole in it, right above the hole she found a bow and she chuckled to herself, she couldn't help but love her husbands flair for the dramatic, leaned down and looked inside the hole and there was another box but this one much larger and upon opening it she found another note that simply said 'Wear me.'

Inside the box was a set of traditional Yautja hunting garb complete with mask, infact it was her oldest mask the one she had when they first came here and Tik's mandibles drew up into a broad smile as she looked at it, this male of hers just knew her so well, he just utterly knew his way around her heart and soul, so guessing that he was probably lurking somewhere nearby using his Dream Warrior abilities to hide himself form her sight she decided to give him a show, she slowly stripped her Grand Matriach armor off till she was wearing naught but her underwear and she made sure she bent over nice and slow to withdraw the hunting gear from the box before easing her body into it.

When she was done Tik flexed her muscles and smiled, it felt good to wear this stuff again it had been too long since she could just be Tik eleth Mason, huntress, rather than Tik eleth Mason Grand Matriach, she admired her legs through the fish net like leggings that she wore along with the hip and loin armor, their traditional hunting armor was so much freeing and liberating compared to their combat armor which while it did an incredible job of protecting them and was as flexible as possible without compromising strength, it just didn't have the feel of their traditional hunting gear.

Tik looked down and felt herself smile again as she she raked her now bare toes through the soil and leaf litter and she sighed heavily.

"Nothing like the simple feel of dirt beneath your toes huh?" a voice she instantly recognized said from behind her and she spun around just in time to see her beloved husband decloak right next to her, he must have been stood there the whole time watching her get dressed and when she saw how he was dressed a surprised purr escaped her, he was wearing traditional male Yautja hunting clothes, complete with war paint making stripes like red slashes down his bare chest, he even had a scaled down hunting mask on.

Tik's eyes roamed down her beloved husband's bare body drinking in every single inch of him and another purr burst free of her, "I thought it has been too long since me and you got to do something fun together, just the pair of us, not Grand Patriach and Grand Matriach, not clan leaders, just Tik and Jack husband and wife" he said softly and her heart went crazy in her chest, feeling like it had turned into a chest burster trying to escape.

Without a second through she stepped forwards and picked him up into the tightest hug she could muster without hurting him, placing her forehead against hers and making their masks clank together as she purred into hs face showing him her love as she knew how, this man knew her heart and he cherished it every single day.

When she put him down Jack patted her huge thigh and then turned to pick up something else that had been hidden by the box, he pulled out a large Yautja style bow and a quiver, these things looked like over sized ooman composite bows but fired arrows the size of javelins infact if Ack hadn't been a Dream Warrior he'd have no hope of drawing it let alone firing it, but Tik had taken great pleasure in teaching him how to use traditional Yautja weapons in their early days here and Ack being Ack had taken to this weapon like a Goose to chasing Canadians.

"Lead the way my love, lets hunt" Ack said with determination in his voice and Tik grinned as she activated her cloak and leapt into the trees relishing the feel of the moss beneath her feet as she ran along the branches with her beloved husband right behind her, unlike her she was wearing a kind of sandal with spiked toe caps that allowed him to grip the tree bark like she did, his ooman toes and fingers weren't exactly meant for traveling through the trees at speed, despite having evolved from monkeys which were expert tree climbers, but despite his handicap he never faltered, that incredible Dream Warrior balance of his kept him on track as they ran together.

Tik slowed up and pointed silently as she spied her rey through the canopy, Ack nodded silently and began to circle around her target, she watched him leap gracefully from branch to branch untill he was behind the target, she saw him draw and with a hiss the huge arrow struck the armored lizard in the back of the head, normally for a target this size it would take for or five Hunters but she Knew her most beloved one could take it down on his own infact she'd seen him do it, but now they were working together as a the team they had always been.

No sooner had the huge creature felt the arrow strike it reared up on it huge back legs and let out a bellowing roar which Tik immediately answered with a roar of her own, she began to run along the branch she was perched on just in time to see another arrow from her husband's bow strike the side of it's neck causing it to turn to see where the shots were coming from, it was timed perfectly because as it's head turned Tik reached the end of the branch and leapt into the air.

Tik sailed through the air stretching her body to maximise the distance she traveled through the air, till with a heavy thud she landed right on the creatures back, her presence did no go unnoticed and immidiatly the creature began to thrash and buck to try and get her off, Tik immidiatly flicked her wrist blades out and slammed them into its exposed back to hang on.

The creature let out a bellowing roar of pain and redoubled it's efforts to try and dislodge Tik from its back, its long, thick, spike tail came up like a whip and joined the fray trying to hit her off its back with hitting itself with the long spines, Tik ducked and rolled under it before stabbing her wrist blades back into its back again earning her another bellow, she heard a series of hisses followed by thwoks and along its long neck a line of arrows appeared, it was her beloved Ack circling, he was dashing through the trees at incredible speed and firing when he got the chance and then Tik grinned under mask, he was making her a ladder.

Tik waited for her chance and just after it whipped its tail at her again Tik rolled under it and spirited along hits long back as the dino dozer as Ack called them thrashed, she jumped and grabbed the nearest arrow, its long barbed head held it in place and she began to climb, more arrows appeared ahead of her building her ladder as Tik climbed hand over hand till she was right on the back of it's thick armored skull, thanks to her Ack she knew this tremendous creature's only weak spot, she had to hang on tight and tuck in as it smashed it head against the trees in one last effort to try and dislodge her, but it was too late for it, with one hand Tik flicked her wrist and her spear extended and with a tremendous roar she drove the huge war spear right through its eye and into its brain.

Tik jumped clear with her spear just before the huge creature slammed into the ground with a crash that shook the ground, Tik gathered herself up and held her spear aloft and let out a bellowing roar as she pulled her hunting mask from her face, from the trees an answering victory roar came and a moment later her beloved husband hit the ground and rolled into a crouch right next to her before drawing himself up to his full height.

Tik rushed forwards and tore the mask from his face so she could pull him into a deep meaningful and passionate kiss, her senses were electrified and it felt like sparks were bouncing around inside her head and heart, nothing got her going more than a good hunt with her husband at her side, there was no glory or feeling like it.

As they parted her beloved Ack grinned at her as she stroked his face with her mandibles, "I think this one will make a mighty fine trophy for your wall" he said and she shook her head.

"For our wall my beloved heart, we worked together for this prize and just as you have said before, we share the glory, always" she replied and he smiled then glanced at the Dino Dozer.

"So tusks or teeth?" he said and she grinned.

"I want those tusks, they'll look great hanging over our bed" she said.

Tik used her laser cutter to removed the huge tusks and then bagged them slinging them over shoulder, she also called in the kill for collection, the meat from this thing would feed the people for a decent amount of time and the butchers would seriously have their work cut out with this thing, it wasn't often they had a kill this big to work with.

As they were walking back through the jungle Tik felt a fire spreading through her nerves like hot electric, every one of her finely tuned senses was lit up like a freedom day tree, she heard every sound, felt the softness of the earth between her toes, tasted the salty sweet scent of her male's scent drifting on the hot humid air to her, a familiar and welcome fire began to burn brightly within her and suddenly she knew what she wanted more than anything else in the world and he was right where be belonged at her side and soon he would be under her.

Tik spun and launched herself at Ack but he was ready for her, those Dream Warrior senses of his had lit up and alerted him of her pending sneak attack, so with little effort he caught her and flipped her over his shoulder onto her back dropping on her and using his strength to pin her down as she squirmed and fought him, he growled and snarled and bit down on her shoulder sending electrical pulses through he body making every muscle tense, Ack tore her chest sling off and exposed her breasts to the air.

No sooner had he exposed her teats to the humid jungle air than they hardened into bullets on her chest as she fought with him, her arousal was burning hotter than the sun in her core and she fought with all of her strength managing to succeed in flipping him onto his back as she now tore his clothing from him, his chest rig and shoulder pieces were thrown to one side and she bit and licked his bare chest relishing the salty taste of his sweat on her tounge, "I want whats mine!" she snarled loudly.

"Then earn it!" her beloved Ack snarled right back and the fight was well and truely on, as with a deft movement he flipped her again and this time he took her hip armor and loin cloth with him, some how he'd managed to utterly strip her underwear off along with it, but he wasn't the only one with quick hands because she managed to grab his from him as well leaving them both as naked as they day they were born into this universe right there in the middle of the jungle where anyone could stumble upon them if they were brave enough to venture out this far.

Tik lunged at him and grabbed him their fingers interlocking as her countered and she saw his eyes bright and glowing with such a vivid blue that it utterly set her heart on fire, her husband was not going down easy this time, if she wanted the prize that meant more to her than anything, she was truely going to have to earn it.

Tik utterly live for this, the thrill of battle and of the hunt with promise of not only glory but the sweetest prize and trophy of them all for the win drove her on, this beautiful ooman not only embraced her Yautja heart but understood it perfectly, like no one else had ever even bothered to try her entire life she had utterly succeeded in winning her completely, he understood that to her a prize must be won through hardship and struggle and he gave her both right when she needed it the most, their bodies both utterly soaked in sweat and glistening in what light made it through the canopy clashed over and over as they threw and wrestled with one another right there in the open of the jungle floor.

Now she knew that if he truely wanted her down there would be very little she could do to stop him, he could move faster than thought and could see her moves before she even made them, but he fought fair, he reigned in his strength so that it was comprible to her own and didn't use a single one of his Dream Warrior powers to aid him, so no multiple Ack's appearing out of thin air all around her no vanishing into thin air before her only to reappear behind her, no getting her head and making her see things that weren't there like giant snakes, she made the mistake of insisting he unleashed his full strength once and she'd been so utterly beaten that she hand't even had a chance to grab him a single time.

Tik flung Ack over her shoulder and twisted as she did, dropping her shoulder into his chest as he landed on his back with a whoosh of breath, before he could react she grabbed his hands and pinned them above his head forcing down with her body weight onto his pelvis where she felt the evidence of his arousal pressing into her abdominal muscles and making a growl of want escape her, she was careful there not to hurt him, the last thing she could ever bare would be to accidently hurt her beloved male especially in such and intimate way, plus the pair of them had a rule for these matches, no forced couplings, they would only couple once one of them had surrendered and were able to be claimed as the others prize, till that point the fight was on.

But just because they couldn't couple that didn't mean her beloved one couldn't steal kisses from her and pauk was he good at doing that, he struck like a pauking sun cobra grabbing her mandible in his teeth and running his tounge over her tusk sending star bursts into her brain, he managed to get each of her mandibles one after the other before she could respond by grabbing his beautiful face with her mandible tusks and running her tounge over his lips, she knew he wouldn't deny her and she was right, he opened his mouth and let her tounge into roam, she felt his hips buck under her and a deep throaty growl emanated from his chest, she felt a smile in his lips even through the kiss and her heart soared, she knew that she had won, she had earned her prize.

"You are the only person who will ever hear me say these two words because you are the only person worthy of them, I yeild" Ack said in a soft voice that made her heart bounce and her knees shake, she'd won, she'd earned her prize and now she would claim what was owed.

Now in many Yautja Clans after a dominance battle like this the loser would ofteren be humiliated while being mated, but such a thing disgusted and reviled Tik, even the thought of humiliating her most beloved one filled her heart with rage and made her sick to her stomach, she truely believed that only people that had never felt the truth of love could do that to someone that they would share themselves with, no her Ack was a prize, her prize and he would be treated as such, her win meant that he would give her what ever she desired and that was a gift, one to be utterly cherished and cherish and relish him she was going to.

Tik released her hold on hiss wrists and pulled him into another kiss, her long dextrous tounge roaming his warm wonderful mouth, flicking over each and every one of his teeth and she felt his much wider and flatter tounge running over hers stroking it with both love and passion, Tik's mind swirled with possibilities but above them all was the one thing that her beloved human would do for her that untill she met him she never even knew existed, but now she yearned for just as much as she did feeling him inside her.

"I want you to taste me my prey" Tik growled deeply in his ear and she felt him shiver under her which exited her all the more, nothing turned her on more than knowing that even after all these years he still burned and yearned for her in the same way that she did for him, slowly Tik began to turn around while still mounted on his body, keeping him pinned below her.

Once she was facing down his body Tik felt his hands run over her rear end his fingers biting into the meat of her arse and squeezing deeply as he grabbed two handfuls and separated her cheeks making her growl as she could positvly feel him admiring her rear and her most sacred treasures, she slowly pushed herself backwards untill she could feel his hot ragged breaths washing over her sensitive flesh, just before the most incredible sensations tore through her loins like a bolt of lightning as she felt her beloved male's tounge run right over her sensitive lips.

The sensations took Tik's breath away as she felt his tounge worming its way between her sensitive outer lips, squirming its way between them invading her most sacred area, licking, tasting, delving deeper and deeper with every single lick, her beautiful male was so unrestrained in his passions for her, he never shied away from servicing her just as she never shied from the same, she might be in control here but that didn't mean that her most beloved one would go unforfilled for his joy and pleasure were more important to her than her own.

Tik leaned forwards opening up her flower to him and letting him worm his tounge deep inside her mating tunnel tasting her inner walls as it moved and squirmed inside her filling her with heat, her outer lips made a perfect seal over his mouth sealing his tounge inside her, but she wasn't intent to just sit there and take without giving, she flared her mandibles and leaned down extending them to trace her husband's most sensitive flesh.

Tik always reveled in teasing him like this, tracing the pounding veins and arteries that filled this beautiful part of him with hot, red, ooman blood, she felt it jump and twitch as it it was prey trying to escape its determined huntress, but like any good huntress she cornered it and trapped it, moving her mandibles in from four sides to trace up from its roots to its senisitve tip, thats when she deployed one of her special tricks that she had learned from the many years of loving this amazing ooman that drove him wild.

She pushed the four tips of her tusks together right at the very opening of his foreskin,then with a slow deliberate movement the opened them forcing it to peel back over his tip exposing that swollen bright purple tip that radiated heat from his blood, Tik extended her tounge and coiled it around his shaft and began to use it to feed the tube of masculine flesh into her waiting mouth being careful to avoid her spiky teeth before clamping her mandibles shut around it and sealing it in her mouth.

As the pleasure arced up his body her beloved Ack responded in kind by mouthing and nipping at her clit with his blunt teeth sending a star burst of white hot pleasure into her brain, that was the main thing about her husband that she utterly adored, even when he was beat he was never out, he always pushed back, even in surrender his will was always still his own, wild, powerful, unbridled and free, exactly as she always wanted him to be, her hearts brightest star and a joy that was hers and hers alone.

Tik tasted the first pearl of salty pre that leaked from him while she knew that from the hot liquid feeling inside her squirming among the shots of pleasure that she was bathing him in her essence and she wasn't even close yet, nothing fired her engines like this male, he just knew every button to press and he just mashed them untill she couldn't stand it or hold herself back any longer.

But Tik knew how to play that game too, using her long tounge to great effect she began to pump his manhood mercilessly inside her mouth using her mandibles to tickle the fleshy orbs suspended below it as she sucked on him relishing the sensations of him twitching in her mouth.

The pair of them worked on each other with such unbridled passion that neither of them lasted very long under the other attentions, with Tik being the first to let go of the pleasure bomb her body had been holding onto, white hot burning pleasure seared every single nerve in her body and turned her brain to utter mush sending every one of her senses haywire.

Tik roared despite having a mouthful of suculant sensitive male flesh, which only a second after her own explosion tore through her body, exploded in her mouth sending jet after jet of hot ooman essence down her throat which she swallowed greedily, over the years she grown to utterly adore this taste and this feeling, it was the sweetest thing in the world to her, the taste of her male's joy.

But just like it always did the taste of her male's essence didn't quell her passion, far from it infact it doubled or even trebled it, it was like the purity of this essence drove her senses crazy and sent her want and her need into over drive, Tik jumped up and spun on the spot before dropping back onto her beloved male pinning him to the dirt floor and without a second thought she clamped his face in her mandibles and plunged her tounge into his mouth coiling around his and letting their essences mingle together as each of them tasted one another in the deepest of kisses.

"I WANT whats mine, I NEED whats mine!' Tik snarled deeply as the fire in her belly and her loins became a raging inferno, Ack smiled up at her showing off those warriors teeth of his making her heart blaze with the same fire that was burning through her.

"Than take whats yours my love, whats only yours, you won your hunt so take your trophy, its waiting to be claimed by the huntress worthy of it" Ack purred making Tik growl and snarl with want.

Thanks to being a Dream Warrior her beloved Ack didn't really have a refractory period after his orgasms, his stamina was seemingly as endless as her love for him, as she began to grind her sopping loins against him leaving a trail of her fluids over his soft ooman skin she felt his maleness already engorging with blood as it batted against her arse till she lifted up just enough to trap it between them, then she began to grind on it pumping even more hot ooman blood back into it, he was right, this was her trophy and she was going to claim it.

Tik snarled loudly as she felt his boiling hot, swollen ooman flesh parting her equally hot Yautja flesh, it forced its way inside and began burrowing its way towards her molten hot core, every bit of that delisiouss friction set every nerve on fire, she gripped his shoulders tightly as she felt his hands grip her hips and the two became one, right there on the jungle floor, in the richness and wildness of nature, with the power of mother nature and Lady Paya all around them, it was like none of it existed anymore, all that existed to her was this utterly radiant ooman male between her legs and she could see in his saphire blue eyes, that she was the only thing in his universe.

Tik felt Ack take a hand full of each arse cheek and squeeze as she controlled the pace of their love making, but all real pretence of control or domination was ended, the pleasure in her beloved male's eyes was her truest joy, though feeling his swollen ooman flesh filling the gap in her body so utterly perfectly that it was obvious that her flesh had been sculpted by the Lady of the hunt just for him as he had been sculpted for her was just too obvious to both of them, nothing in her life had fit her as perfectly as him, he was made for her, born to love her to a star far from her own, fate and the will of the goddess had brought them together and had made them from two lost halves into one perfect whole and right now with him buried to the hilt within her, she was whole.

Tik's pace increased her flesh gripping and pumping him furiously, trying to ring her purest joy from him, the beautiful friction between their slick alien flesh sending burning beautiful pleasure through each of them, Ack's moans and growls were utter music to her ears just as she knew her own growls and snarls were music for his, but then came the sweetest part, her truely favorite bit of their love making, when Ack opened himself up to her, it was a soft thing, a gentle thing, a quiet thing but with it came the whole weight of the universe, because she felt his very soul wind into hers and join them, so not only could she feel the please of him withing her but the pleasure of what it felt to be within her, it sent their passions wild.

Her beloved Ack gripped her so tightly as he began to drive upwards into her sending shockwaves of pleasure rippling through her as she got the sensations of not only feeling his tip smashing into the neck of her womb but of the sensations produced by his hitting her there rippling through him, this was what it was to love a Dream Warrior, because with them two truely were one, it became a frenzy, the pair of them crashing into one another over and over their flesh producing lewd wet sounding slaps as they met over and over again untill neither of them could hold on for a single second more and with a roar that shook the very earth on which they coupled their climaxed as one.

Ack stroked her dreadlocks playing with her little charms as he stroked the sensitive rubbery tubes on her head as she clung to him, her head was nestled on his bare sweat soaked chest and she was raking her dull claws across his tanned white flesh watching white lines appear and fade with every stoke, "By the goddess above I love you Ack" she said softly nipping his chest gently with her mandibles.

"As I love you my heart's huntress, there is nothing in this life or the next that I wouldn't do to prove that to you" Ack said softly as his fingers raked through her dreadlocks sending little shivers along her skull.

"My Ack you never have to prove you love for me, you already do so in very action you take, to me its as clear as day and i want you to feel the same in mine, because I would kill this entire universe with my bare hands if I thought it would make you smile if only but for a second, you are the father of my cubs and the bearer of my soul, when i first saw you on that planet all those years ago i did not know what to make of you, all I'd ever been taught were that oomans were a weak prey species, but then I saw you take down one of the very creatures that we just took down together on your own, a creature that i myself was worried to hunt alone, at that moment I knew you were special, but i never suspected that you were meant for me, but in only the few days that I knew you then you showed me more respect than I'd felt ina life time, you honored me in ways I'd never believed possible and you alone showed me the truth of love, that it doesn't wear the face you expect it to, it wears a face that only your heart knows, now here we are with our very own Clan and a beautiful family and I know a joy that I never dare to dream possible, all because i found myself a beautiful ooman Dream Warrior on a far away planet and hunted him" Tik said.

Ack looked up at her and right into her eye and she watched at what looked like two little galaxies swirled in those beautiful blue orbs, "And I am the happiest trophy in existence, when I call you my hearts star i mean it Tik, you guide me and you ground me, without you I'd be a lost soul or a trophy hanging on a Bad Bloods ship, you gave me the strength to become who I was meant to be, without you i am nothing but a lost soul adrift in the vast emptiness of space, but all i ever have to so is look at your beautiful face an I exactly know what to do, you guide me like the North Star of Earth guides sailors to this very day, my hearts brightest star" he said and for one of the very few times in her life Tik felt tears begin to sting her eyes, her Ack felt it just as she did and his protective comforting arms wrapped her and protected her, with him here she could show this side of her because with him there was no judgement, she didn't always have to be Tik eleth the breaker of chains, legendary huntress, with him, she was just Tik, woman loved.

Eventually the pair of them walked back through the jungle both as naked as the day they were born as they had kinda destroyed their hunting clothes in the heat of their passion, but fortunetly they'd left their armor behind and it was waiting right where they'd left it, once dressed they walked back together hand in hand, Tik was looking forwards to adding the two tusks she was carrying to her collection, they took a short cut back through the huge park and both of them turned as they heard yelling and screaming, they instincts and reflexes reacting both in perfect unison, both went for their weapons and readied themselves, right up untill they saw a little Yautja girl running away with a young ooman boy over her shoulder and another three Yautja girls in hot pursuit.

"No fair Lexxie! It's my turn to play huntress!" one of the girls in hot pursuit yelled as the girl called Lexxie tried to make her escape with the rather confused looking ooman boy on her shoulder and both Tik and Ack relaxed and chuckled together.

"Goddess they start young around here" Ack chuckled and Tik grinned at him.

"Never underestimate the power of the Yautja heart my love" she said proudly as they watched the girl finally get cornered and then the three others dove on her wrestling the surprised ooman boy from her and another making a break for it carrying him.

Tik stepped infront of them and the group screeched to a halt and looked up her with their mandibles wide in shock and awe, "Y-Y-Yur the Grand Matriach!" the girl carrying the boy stammered.

"Yes I am, now put that ooman boy down" she said and the girl did so at once, Tik moved over and knelt down next to the young boy and placed a huge hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her with wide green eyes, she instantly saw why they were chasing him, he was going to grow into quite the Yautja heart breaker.

"Are you ok?" she asked and he nodded.

"Y-Y-Yes Grand Matriach, we were just playing" he stammered and she nodded.

She nodded and looked up at the girls, "I know that you want to play ooman huntress trust me its something I can fully understand having the most beautiful of oomans at my side myself, but you must always and i mean always respect your ooman, they will only be your greatest treasure and brightest trophy if you utterly respect them and treat them right, so only ever do something with their permission and never ever mistreat them because this Clan never tolerates ooman abusers, you maybe bigger and you maybe stronger, but no one loves harder than them and if you want that then you have to earn it, understand?" she said sternly but also proudly.

All of the girls nodded in unison, "Yes Grand Matriach" they said in unison and Tik nodded proudly and happily.

"Good now of you go and play" she said and already the ooman boy was up and running before the girls mandibles fell open and they shot off in chase while Ack roared with laughter, "Nothing scarier than momma bear Tik eleth" he said grinning and Tik swept him up in her arms and kissed him not caring a single shit who saw.

"Come on my love before i chase you around the park" she said patting his rear through his armor and then taking his hand in hers.

"Promises promises" Ack said leading the way back to their house.

But before they even managed to get through the door their comms started going crazy and instantly they were both on alert, Ack answered his first, while Tik did her a second later, "Go ahead" she said.

"Grand Matriach we have received a relayed message through our fleet net, the Serpentinus have relayed to us a distress call from the Raptorians, the Scalathor have launched a full scale invasion of their planet!" the young sounding voice of the intelligence officer on the line said and Tik's eyes met Ack's.

"Looks like we're going to war my love" Ack said and with that the pair of them turned on their heels and ran towards the intelligence office.