AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thank you so much for reading this story. I truly hope you have enjoyed the story thus far, and I hope you will find the following chapters equally as entertaining, exhilarating, and powerful. You may have noticed so far along in this story there has been very little foul language. I believe you can make a powerful, gory, and dramatic tale without a lot of needless language.
However, this is an extremely mature story so consider this a final warning. This story is NC-17/MA for a reason. The following chapters involve EXPLICIT sexual content. I truly hope you find the rest of this story amazing and I look forward to hearing your reviews and thoughts.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Time flew by.
Weeks melded into months as summer came and slowly began to drift away.
Cassandra had gotten her routine down to an art, silently slipping away whenever R'chnt and his hunters returned to camp, which not very often. The hunters could easily disappear for three, four, five days and when they returned to camp, sometimes they only stayed put for a day.
Every once in a while, R'chnt would allow his hunters two or three days to rest and recover, and she was well aware that some of the group would return to the hovering ships in orbit via shuttlecraft to a ship in order, for more supplies. Slowly, K'Shai extended the amount of time she spent with R'chnt, and learned a delicate ballet between being with him, and avoiding being missed by the human group.
She made no pretense to the hunters about slipping into their camp. In fact, she didn't have to slip at all. Curiosity had turned into tolerance and that tolerance had turned into acceptance, but it was slow to develop. She knew most of the hunters, the Yautja, looked at her as though she was a curiosity piece.
They had little more than a fleeting interest in a peculiar situation, but on the whole, whether or not they approved of their Leader's choice of company, no one questioned R'chnt or why he allowed Cassandra to walk amongst them.
The Yautja were mighty, strong, definitely hard headed, but they looked at the human among them with curious interest and even respect. She had not quite yet figured out what the Yautja name R'chnt dubbed her actually meant, but his calling her it was good enough for her, and she happily accepted the name, which the other Yautja accepted readily as well.
She tried to learn the Yautja language. R'chnt, she learned as the weeks went on, not only spoke English, but also German, Spanish, French, and at least three other Earth languages she had no idea what they were, but she had an idea, from listening to him talk about his experiences, that they were languages that had not been actively spoken on Earth in centuries.
R'chnt, she knew already just by looking at him, was an elder. What she did not know about him was much more than that. She learned pieces of him slowly over many weeks, and not always directly from him, but from the other hunters talking of him.
She struggled to learn his native language, fumbling with her words trying to form sentences as badly as she fumbled with hand to hand sparring as he had slowly begun to teach her. He was always aware of where his hands were striking, or how hard he might grab hold of her during a particular sparring movement.
He never gripped too tightly, he was cautious to never strike or push her; he knew she was fragile and could easily and seriously be injured with little effort on his part. Cassandra was grateful for the guidance, although she wished she would have magically proven to be a better sparrer than she was.
In all the months she had been surviving, she had always done so behind the trigger of a gun. She had no fighting skills, and it showed.
Sometimes she felt as though the short time they would spend together was more for Yautja entertainment value than anything else, but she tried, and over time, it became clear that the Yautja saw and respected that.
She picked up a word or two here and there by listening to the others speak, and whenever possible, R'chnt would take the time to sit with her and teach her. Those were the moments she enjoyed the most.
R'chnt would lead his hunting party out to destroy the bug drones, their queens, and their hives, and sometimes was gone for days. Her time with him was very limited, and while he was gone, she tried her best not to think of the possibility that he would never return.
When he would teach her his language, it was almost always alone, separated from the rest of his group, far out of sight of the human encampment as well. She would sit with him in the still of a peaceful morning, watching the sun come up and listening to him speak.
He knew the human languages well enough to have a capable conversation in any of them. Sometimes he got words wrong, but his ability to speak any of the Earth tongues was still far better than she, or anyone, realized. He simply chose not to speak the languages as a matter of pride.
It was useful to him to understand the words of his enemies; of his prey, but he was Yautja and that was the only language he preferred to speak. He would speak English words to her only to help her understand and repeat a word in his own language.
As her understanding of his language grew, she understood more than just a few words and would listen quietly as he talked about hunts of the past or why he preferred a particular weapon over another. R'chnt would even complain, like a grumpy old man, about the modern technology that the younger hunters enjoyed over taking the time to learn time honored practices with a fine blade.
She couldn't help but to smile as she realized that she and R'chnt; that humans and Yautja, had more in common than either species even realized or cared to admit.
While she knew they were the exception to the rule, it was clear that no Yautja had any interest in relations with humans and vice versa. The apprehension in both races was clear, and if the two parties shared the same section of a street or room of a building, it was a fleeting moment.
Cassandra heard the same glimpses of tension and mistrust between both races, from both sides while she forged a delicate relationship with R'chnt who was guided by a wisdom that had come from centuries of his own hunting experience, some of which included human prey.
When supplies ran low or conditions demanded it, the human party would move on from spot to spot.
In the beginning, Lewis, Cassandra, and the rest of the group were keen on following the hunters, playing on their own curiosity; they did not want to lose sight of the aliens that were killing the bugs. Eventually, the humans realized the alien warriors were not going anywhere; they always returned to a close proximity no matter how many days they were gone.
No one knew or understood why the hunters constantly returned, but each and every time someone announced that the warriors had returned and curious eyes cast in their direction, Cassandra smiled and made a silent exit. It had become routine, and every time she spent hours or even a full night with him, she learned more about his language and him.
R'chnt was full of experiences, wisdom, and a spirituality she would never have suspected, but he did not always talk about himself. Rather, she gleamed bits of information about him by what some of the others in his group would say during some of the more relaxed moments when they recouped, ate, and rested, often around a fire.
K'Shai learned over time that R'chnt was considered a bit eccentric.
It wasn't unusual, from what she gathered, that when a hunter had lived long enough and had been through enough life and death situations on enough different worlds against different and deadly prey, it would change the way they viewed their world and their spiritual beliefs.
It was a wisdom that wasn't necessarily understood by the younger generations, but it was respected. Lack of respect would imply a direct challenge of the Leader's authority, and only a fool would challenge someone like R'chnt for his position, K'Shai had figured out.
He was hard headed, for certain. He was set in his ways, adhering to traditional beliefs, but why he was respected was clear and obvious.
R'chnt commanded respect and oozed authority and dominance. When R'chnt spoke, all listened. There was no question, no argument.
As K'Shai began to learn more, she did come to understand the subtle differences between the ways of the elders and the ways of the younger generations. None were wrong, and all adhered to the common belief and strict codes of Honor that the Yautja valued.
It was easy for K'Shai to begin to understand the Yautja way more and more as the weeks ticked on. She had learned much about the people and about R'chnt himself and every time he and his group returned and her heart thundered to see him.
Sometimes, the alien group returned back looking so worn and weary that curious onlookers from the human group would comment and crane their necks to see a brief glimpse before the Yautja disappeared out of sight.
Sometimes, Cassandra would wake up in the morning to find out the hunters had returned at night while she was sleeping. Each and every time she could, she made a quiet and hasty exit and soon found her way back to the Yautja camp; back to R'chnt's side.
Through all that she learned; all that she had come to understand, she still had one burning question on her mind that she had decided the next time R'chnt returned, she would finally ask him.
"You there? Hey, Cassy?"
"Wha… oh, sorry Lewis, I was… uhh…"
Cassandra smiled awkwardly, not really sure how long Lewis had been waving his hand in front of her face or trying to grab her attention as she stared off her lookout point.
"Come on, you hungry? You look like you've got the universe on your mind."
She smiled at him through pursed lips. He did almost hit it exactly.
She hadn't even realized she had been so lost in thought.
It had been three days since R'chnt left, and she was not sure how long she was lost in her own mind contemplating pressing thoughts. She followed Lewis back off the lookout point and down to the main group.
They were mingling casually around a fire pit in the middle of the floor inside a large department store, sofas and chairs and bean bag seats all pulled around in a circle, with blankets sprawled around the floor, and shelving units all cleared away to create a massive open space.
If someone didn't know any better, it was easy to think of the sight as some kind of unusual camping trip. Canned foods were warmed up and the small group dined and chatted softly while someone started up strumming a guitar and others joined in.
In almost no time, the large store echoed out with harmonious voices. Cassandra listened with a distant gaze and gentle smile on her face.
Despite all the humans had been through, their spirit remained strong, and the music and singing led to a feeling of hope and optimism that she wasn't quite sure anyone had experienced in some time; it was long overdue.
Cassandra found herself singing quietly along after some time and only just barely noticed a shimmering flickering ripple distortion along the back wall, far beyond the human group. She paused for a moment and quickly excused herself from the group and Lewis.
The hunters were back and K'Shai wasted no time in rejoining R'chnt. She smiled widely as she eyed him and stalked off with him.
He had some minor injuries, but nothing that looked too deep or alarming. She could see a large bruise on his lower left side, turning various shades of deep blue, black, and green and a few superficial cuts and scrapes. The netting that covered his body, which conducted electrical currents that both supported the camouflage system and could be used to provide their bodies with much needed warmth, had been damaged heavily.
They walked away from both groups and headed off to a nearby rooftop, under the cover of night and well out of sight of both curious Yautja and prying human eyes.
R'chnt sat down on the landing platform of a fire escape and K'Shai slipped in next to him close enough to allow her shoulder to brush against his as he tended to his injuries and surveyed the dark lands of the world beyond them. K'Shai raised her eyes to the sky and scanned, squinting just enough to help her to see the distant glow of the Yautja ships orbiting far above the ground.
She questioned him about the ships and how many Yautja had even come to Earth; all this time and she hadn't thought to ask.
"All the clans from every land have sent every blooded hunter. No honorable Yautja would refuse to come." He said simply, but quietly.
"Females that have not hunted in decades left their motherly duties to join this fight alongside freshly blooded youth and elders alike."
K'Shai listened quietly and shut her eyes, envisioning hundreds of thousand Yautja warriors all over Earth, fighting a battle that wasn't theirs to fight. It made almost no sense to her at all, and it was the one thing about the Yautja that no one understood, not even her.
"R'chnt, why are you here?" She asked in a whisper, barely able to form the words, not because she still struggled to speak his language, but because she knew deep inside that she didn't want to hear the answer.
She felt her body shake, her heart thunder and race. Her stomach felt weak and se suddenly felt dizzy as she braced in anticipation of his response.
She dropped her eyes and tilted her head away from him, finding sudden interest in the diamond plating pattern of the metal landing on which she sat. She could see him turn to her, but the silence that filled the air for a moment was overwhelming.
Before he even spoke, she knew she was about to hear the response that she could not accept from the beginning; the answer that it seemed every other human seemed to just know. She took a ragged breath as she tried to restrain a tear.
R'chnt extended his hand towards her and gently rested his fingers under her chin. He raised her head towards him and stroked her delicate cheek bone softly with his thumb. He did not say a word. She was sure she felt something in his touch that she had not felt before and it made her body surge.
"Why? Why would you do this to us?" She said through a shaky whisper.
He released his fingers from her chin and lowered his eyes. The Leader took a raspy breath and held a long deep sigh before he spoke. He kept his eyes away from her gaze.
"This was a crime…" he started. His deep voice slowly told her his tale.
"Three youngsters, who failed their first hunt and did not earn their right to be recognized by the clan, stole a ship with the kainde amedha eggs aboard. It was a seeding ship that was used to deposit small clusters of eggs on hunting worlds for the hunt.
The youngsters managed to sneak about like cowards and steal the vessel. They seeded your world to make the ultimate hunting grounds so they could prove themselves in the eyes of our people"
With each word Cassandra felt herself grow a little weaker. His words sank deep into her body. They pierced her heart and dug into her soul.
"What gives you the right to…. To play God like that with an entire people?" She whispered harshly back to him, her emotions fueling with anger.
"It isn't only humans you destroyed, but the animal life, too. Our world is ruined because of this. How can you think you have the right to have so much power?"
"K'Shai,"
R'chnt responded emphatically.
"What happened to your world is against everything my people have ever believed in. There has never been another incident like this in all of our history. By the time we realized what had happened to your world, it was already done. We are here to fix this, to try to redeem the honor of our people."
"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" She grunted.
R'chnt lowered his head and dropped his gaze to his own feet.
"Our people have never destroyed a planet before. This is not what we do. We came here to undo what had been done, to try to give your people and your planet a hope to recover. We will remain on this world until every last of them are dead, or all of us are. It is a matter of honor."
K'Shai sighed and shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away and suddenly found herself more torn than she had ever been before in her life.
Fueling the distrust between the humans and the Yautja was the human belief that the hunters were the cause of their suffering, and it was something that Cassandra shrugged off as incorrect.
She wanted to believe it wasn't true, especially as she had grown to know R'chnt and his people, but now, she found herself wrestling with a whole new developing set of emotions about him on top of the feelings she already realized she had.
"So what happened to the three youngsters?" She asked of him after a brief silence when she was able to find her voice again.
She glanced to him and he turned his chin towards her.
"Only one survived long enough to be hunted down by our own people and killed."
K'Shai nodded, figuring that would be the answer.
"Well, at least we don't have to worry about them anymore."
"No," R'chnt confirmed. "Their bloodlines will not poison our people anymore."
"Their bloodlines? I thought you said unblooded weren't allowed to breed?" K'Shai asked quickly and curiously.
"K'Shai, what happened here was a sin against our entire people; all of our beliefs. The ones responsible for this and everyone in their entire bloodline has been disgraced on a level that has never before been seen."
R'chnt explained and continued on in a growling whisper that resounded with anger and outrage.
"Every member of their lineage has been hunted down and killed. Any of them that chose to try to redeem any honor they could were required to kill themselves publically. Anyone who refused was hunted down."
K'Shai gasped shakily as the concept of hunting down and slaughtering an entire lineage absorbed into her mind.
"Everyone?" She whispered.
"All of them. Every father, mother, cousin, grandsire, every child. Young, old, male, female." R'chnt explained with a growl of both disgust and satisfaction in his tone. "They were all destroyed so their blood will never taint our people again."
K'Shai took a raspy, broken breath and held still for a moment, unable to even look at him as she tried to comprehend such punishment. She fell silent and did not move or speak or even breathe for an awkwardly long time.
R'chnt said nothing, remaining respectfully silent. Finally, Cassandra turned to him and he glanced to her.
"I'm sorry, I have to leave."
She stood and pulled away, avoiding his reach for her as she hurried off, glancing angrily at another member of his group who was nearby. She felt overwhelmed with more emotions than she had ever thought possible.
She fled into a quiet space of an abandoned store somewhere out of the way between both encampments and stared gloomily out a display window at her own world; at what was left of her world, trying to comprehend the words of the alien leader and wrestle with her own emotions for him and about what he had told her.
Cassandra curled into a ball and cried for hours, to the point of vomiting. She tried to focus on something else, anything else, but she could not.
She could not even pin point exactly which part of the entire truth hurt her worse. She was not sure if it was the ruthless and uncaring plans of the youngsters, or the destruction of the human race, or the Yautja people for being so arrogant as to think they should have the kind of power by which to destroy worlds that made her the most nauseous.
She did not know if she was so upset by the truth that she, and every other human, knew deep down or if she was more upset that she had been so blinded from the truth by her own imagination that she could not see it for herself.
It wasn't until Cassandra sat up as the dawn light cracked the skies and she patted down her face, and wiped her eyes, that she finally realized the one thing that was upsetting her more than any other; the feelings she could not deny that she now wrestled with.
Cassandra tipped her head back and sighed deeply.
She had hoped that the alien warriors had come to this planet out of good natured aide for a species desperately in trouble. She had naively thought there could be an alliance between the two races, a new friendship, perhaps even a way off this world to a safer haven.
None of that was to be.
If the alien hunters were successful in their goals, they would slay the last drone, the last Queen, and leave this planet and never return. They would not help humanity find their footing again, or do any of the other things Cassandra's mind had thought they would do.
Her thoughts drifted back to R'chnt and she sat for a while longer in the early morning light contemplating him and her ever growing relationship with him.
She shut her eyes and cried a little more until she was so tired of hearing herself cry that she dried her cheeks and watched the sun rise. She did not see R'chnt watching her from a rooftop on the far end of the opposite side of the street.
The orange light from the rising sun rippled in the window as the beams hit her eyes. Suddenly she saw movement. A reflection in the window, and a familiar form took shape, highlighted by the sun's morning rays.
She turned her head slightly, very much aware that her eyes and cheeks were equally as red as the morning sunlight.
"Cassandra?" Lewis asked of her. "Are you all right? What's going on? What's wrong?"
He knelt down to her and tried to comfort her against the upset she was feeling. Cassandra sighed and stared at him blurrily through her teary eyes as she wiped them once more with her sleeve.
She could feel her heart skipping beats as it jumped powerfully into her throat. Lewis's questions had such a powerful array of answers. She could not form words to respond.
Cassandra eyed him warily, considering if she should speak her thoughts to him. Her eyes widened and she could not control another tear from running down her cheek. Lewis stared at her silently, with a concerned look on his face.
Cassandra swallowed and opened her mouth. She took a deep breath, prepared her words in the back of her throat before she spoke.
She saw a myriad of possible outcomes flash before her eyes. The truth she was harboring weighed heavily in her heart and mind. No one really knew for sure the truth about the bug drones, or the hunters that slaughtered them.
Lewis did not know that she had been sneaking away for months to see R'chnt, and he certainly had no concept of the feelings she had only recently discovered for herself.
She sighed and clenched her jaws again.
The leader confessed the sins of his race to her, and now she considered another sin.
She saw a war break out before her very eyes as she stared at Lewis considering what she would say to him or how she could tell him the truth about what had been going on and what she knew.
The truth would shatter the human race no doubt, even more than they already were. She could see a resistance against the Yautja rise up and strap mankind between two powerful, brutal alien enemies.
She could see raids taking place against resting groups of alien warriors, and hundreds more human slain for their attempts. She could not see anything positive out of telling Lewis, or anyone else, the real truth of the matter.
Cassandra lowered her eyes and fought her heart back into her chest, out of her throat.
"Everything's fine. Sorry, I'm fine." She whispered as she stared out of the display window at the street outside. "I just still can't believe it's all gone."
Lewis clamped a hand supportively on her shoulder and helped her to stand.
"Come on. Let's get back to the group."
Cassandra nodded and walked with Lewis back to the human group.
She did not realize until sometime later in the afternoon that R'chnt was gone. He had taken his group away again and she only just vaguely just wondered if he was ever going to return at all.
She tried to convince herself as the evening set, that she did not care. She repeated it to herself, and eyed the alien weapon he had given her months ago, that she had not even used because she did not want anyone to know she had it.
She ran her fingers over its sleek ridged shaft and let her mind slip away.
"Where did you get that?" John asked, suddenly snapping Cassandra back into the current moment.
"Oh… uhh… I found it." She said quickly as she slipped the weapon around behind her, trying to shield it from John.
"Found it? I've never seen those big ugly bastards leave their weapons lying around." John eyed her suspiciously.
"It uh…. It was on a body I found on a run a few days ago."
"Hmm…" He grumbled. "Well that's a powerful weapon for a little girl. Let me see it." He stepped forward sharply as though he had commanded a servant to obey.
Cassandra leaped up to her feet and jumped away from him and he stopped suddenly, smiling.
"Whoa there, easy. Just relax. I just wanna' see the weapon, Cassy."
"Everything alright?" Lewis called out from the doorway and Cassandra felt relieved.
She stalked away and headed off with Lewis, but said nothing. She remained quiet for days, avoiding John at all costs and eyeing the group around her suspiciously.
She did not know if John had told anyone else about the weapon she possessed and she was more concerned about explaining where she got it than anything. Every time she tried to force a thought about R'chnt from her mind she found herself in an exhausting mental wrestling match that went on for days.
There were criminals amongst man, but that did not make all humans evil.
The more Cassandra thought about it, the more she contemplated the overwhelming display of goodwill and hopeful spirit that she viewed as the power behind the human race, during the harsh and impossible times that had consumed the planet.
She knew that humans, at the very least were suspicious, if not all together despising of the Yautja, and much the same was true in reverse. She felt caught somewhere in the middle between her anger towards them for playing God the way they did, empowering themselves over other species, and all that she had learned over the last several months about R'chnt himself and his people on the whole.
She would have hated the idea of R'chnt feeling negatively about her because her people were capable of terrible acts of terrorism that she had nothing to do with. Although the warriors were not specifically there to save mankind, that was exactly what they were doing, and Cassandra knew it.
They were there to fight their own fight, which just happened to involve the entire human planet, and R'chnt had made it clear many times that he intended her no harm.
The hunters had been gone for five days, one of the longer times they had gone. She had gotten used to R'chnt only being away for three days, maybe four, before he brought his group back to the area to rest before heading out again.
Now, she sat questioning everything that had happened from their last conversation and worried that he would be gone for good. Morning rose on the fifth day and there had been no sign at all of the hunting party returning.
The group's supplies were slowly dwindling and they were beginning to discuss leaving the area, without any thought or concern for the hunters. Throughout the afternoon, tensions seemed to be on the rise as people butted heads with their conflicting opinions of what to do come morning light.
Cassandra avoided the commotion and stayed silent, finding herself scanning the buildings all around as much as she could, from rooftop to street surface, looking for R'chnt to no avail. She feared that the group would choose to move on before he returned. She feared he wouldn't return at all.
"Hey! Hey! If you want to, then go ahead, and get yourself killed! I for one am done! DONE! I'm staying right here! Hold out; hold them off, for as long as possible. We keep making runs. We're in a good spot, and haven't had an encounter with the drones in weeks now. Weeks."
"Yea, thanks to the hunters." Cassandra heard someone add in.
"Well, they're gone. Who knows if we'll see them again? Who cares." John grumbled. "They've probably cleared this area out and they've moved on, which means we are safe here."
"You don't know that!" Another argued.
"Lewis?" Carlos glanced to Lewis, looking for his opinion.
Lewis glanced to Cassandra who only briefly looked his way and then immediately went back to scanning the streets for R'chnt without even realizing it.
"Let's hold here for now. We still have enough supplies to get through a few more days if we can. We will reassess in the morning and try to organize another run."
The matter seemed to be settled for the moment and the group dispersed to mutter amongst themselves. As summer days wound down to an end and evening came a little earlier, Lewis watched Cassandra scan the darkening sky as he approached her.
"What's going on Cassandra?" He asked of her flatly. Carlos looked on next to Lewis, but stayed silent.
She looked over to them, pulling her eyes away from the dead still of the warm night and pursed her lips.
"You have barely said a word in days. You clearly have something on your mind." Lewis tried again, leaving trailing off sentences to allow her to fill in the blanks, but she remained silent.
"I'm fine." She looked at him intently, acknowledging the curious and concerned look on his face, but said nothing further.
"Look!" Someone called out, pointing down the street through one of the front windows.
Curious people suddenly ran to get a look at whatever was being pointed out. Cassandra could not see anything from the wrong corner of the store on the opposite side, so she immediately bolted into the back stock room and through the rear exit door with Lewis and Carlos leaping to catch up to her.
She felt suddenly excited, sure that finally R'chnt had returned but as she rounded the corner of the building and got a view down the long street, she felt sadness, disappointment, and despair well up in her again.
There were no hunters to be seen, but a raging fire somewhere in the distance filled the early evening air with an orange glow; the black plume of smoke was only just barely visible against the dark backdrop of night sky, gray clouds, and a shadowy mountain far in the distance.
"That isn't that far away." Carlos said quietly. "Maybe five miles…."
"Do you think it was the hunters?" Lewis asked.
Cassandra stepped forward a few feet, eyeing the blaze, and looking about the streets all around. If it was R'chnt or any Yautja, she did not see any of them at all.
"Let's get back inside," Carlos urged Cassandra and put his hand on her shoulder to guide her away.
She glanced again down the street, and the building rooftops all around them before she turned to head inside, feeling lost and mournful, wondering if she would ever see R'chnt at all again.
Cassandra stayed up well into the middle of the night while most of the others slept, and only a few kept watch. She tiptoed outside and walked the perimeter of the building, staying close to the encampment, but eyeing the buildings around her in silent worry and anticipation.
Suddenly she saw a familiar shimmering ripple in the night from a rooftop some distance away and her heart leapt and a smile filled her face.
She bolted away from the human group, not noticing or caring if anyone saw her leave the area. Her eyes were set on the decloaking body of R'chnt and she quickly made her way to him, popping into the nearby building and making her way to the stairwell to access the rooftop.
She emerged on the roof and found R'chnt alone, sitting on the concrete ledge, watching the fire burn in the far distance. She approached him slowly, surging with emotions after the events that transpired the last time she saw him and her relief that he was back.
He was taking a moment to remove his helmet, which clattered to the concrete floor and he glanced to her.
K'Shai smiled widely at him.
"Hello R'chnt. I'm so glad you're back." She whispered softly and walked over to him, stopping her body just inches from his.
He popped out a round container from the back of his armor, and offered it to her first. The coppery metallic colored tube looked quite similar to a thermos, and Cassandra popped the lid panel open and took a sip of the sweet drink it contained.
She extended her hand to return the flask to him and as he reached for it, she did not let it go. He glanced to her and she stepped closer to him still.
"I was afraid I wasn't going to see you again, R'chnt." She whispered to him and released her grip on the flask.
R'chnt finished up the contents but said nothing, he simply watched her with a calm gaze.
"I know…" she started and cleared her throat, "that last time we talked.. it… we…" She stumbled over her own words, trying to form a coherent thought.
"That was hard to hear," she finally said, placing her hand on his and gently caressing his fingers. He sat on the concrete wall to the roof, motionless, but she could feel the tension in his strong hands and hesitation coursing through his body. She sighed softly.
"But I am so glad you told me."
She smiled awkwardly at him as he stared at her in silence.
"I just wanted you to know that." She added in quickly, as though that was the only thing she wanted to tell him.
He nodded, but remained silent. Her hand slid over and along his right arm gauntlet which housed a deadly set of two foot long blades. She stroked along the alien armor and moved her hand idly up towards his elbow where she stopped and gently ran her fingers over a scrape on his lower bicep that had begun to heal.
"I would like to ask you…" she whispered.
She kept her eyes shifted down, staring at his arm as she tried to form one more burning question on her mind.
"You told me about this huge dishonor, and about how your people handled it. I…" she paused and raised her eyes to meet his. "I was wondering if…your friendship with me puts you at risk?"
He clicked his upper mandibles together and paused, his upper tusks lightly tapping against each other making an audible tick. She watched him, holding her breath, anticipating one response, but her heart was racing, hoping for another.
"No, K'Shai, there is nothing you would do that would cause dishonor."
She smiled widely and stepped in closer to him yet, lowering her chin slightly and idly dropping her gaze along his chest and abdomen and belts.
"Nothing?"
She confirmed to him coyly, her nervous grip tightening slightly around his muscular bicep as she slid her other hand up to his shoulder and took a soft, deep breath.
Her body tingled wildly and without further hesitation, she pressed her lips softly into his cheek.
She was surprised by what she felt. The sides of his lower jaw were adorned with small, thick, quill-like hair protrusions, a beard as she took it. Though those little hairs were somewhat rigid the skin of his face was smooth, though tough and battle worn, but still elegant to touch.
She shut her eyes and quivered for a moment, allowing a rush of feelings to overtake her.
She could feel the tension in R'chnt's body suddenly increase as he sat balanced on an eighteen inch wide concrete wall three stories above the street.
He seemed to suddenly become so rigid it was unnatural, like he was going out of his way not to move or breathe or make a sound.
K'Shai nudged his lower jaw with her face softly and held onto a raspy, nervous breath as she put her lips against his skin once more, softly kissing along his lower mandible. She could hear her own heart pounding inside her breast as she succumbed to the thrilling feeling boiling up in her.
R'chnt held as still and rigid as the concrete wall he had his back pressed up against and K'Shai pulled away slightly, eyeing him widely with uncertainty.
"Please say something," she whispered, alarmed.
Her nerves shot up to the stars.
If there was a way for her nervousness to physically radiate out of her body like projectiles, she was certain this was the moment they would. Her heart thundered wildly far beyond any control she could muster over it.
She watched him hold stiff and still and she feared, for the briefest of moments that seemed to drag on for a week that 'nothing' didn't include this. She feared she had gone too far.
She pulled her head away from him slightly and retracted her shoulders, her grip loosened from him and she lowered her eyes and tipped her head sideways. He turned his head towards her and stared at her curiously.
She wondered if she had overstepped her bounds, scaled over that invisible solid wall that had separated his kind from hers; crossed the barbed wire line that was not meant to be approached.
The Leader did not move and for a moment, neither did she. Cassandra could feel her body begin to shake, her hands started to feel the effect, and they trembled softly as she stared at him. She took a soft, deep breath.
"R'chnt, I…." she started to whisper, but couldn't continue.
She did not know what to say.
Suddenly, and without a word, he reached for her and placed one hand completely around her body, pulling her towards him with his strong grip. She could feel his body relax a little more and she exhaled a pleased groan, reaching for his cheek once again, more feverishly.
K'Shai kissed and tasted his skin between her lips and against her tongue as she ran one hand along his powerful chest and felt his warm body rising and falling as he breathed.
She brushed his long, beaded gray locks aside and extended her other hand further behind his body, stroking his back along the cold metal armor he wore and up along his neck, running her fingers through his thick strands of hair down to his skin.
R'chnt leaned against her as she reached her lips further back along his lower jaw, brushing carefully against the side of her face and top of her neck with his tusks. Her hand on his chest slipped back down his abdomen and settled over his waist, which spurred a pleased clicking sound from R'chnt.
K'Shai smiled and lowered her head, tracing her lips along his shoulder, past his armor to the exposed skin on his chest and pressed her lips and body into him.
R'chnt growled softly in what almost sounded like a purr as he shifted his position to allow her as close to him as possible, while balancing awkwardly on the thin ledge.
Gasping for a deep breath as her body churned wildly, K'Shai pulled away from R'chnt with an excited smile and lightly laughed.
"Why don't you come down off of there? You're making me nervous."
She put both hands on his shoulders and shifted sideways to allow him to slide off the rooftop ledge. His deep voice offered an amused chuckle as he slid down along the short wall and sat on the cold concrete roof.
K'Shai immediately straddled him and took a deep, aroused breath as she resumed fondling his body with her hands and lips and tongue. R'chnt tipped his head back and suddenly, following a long, deep breath, relaxed completely under her, letting the moment sweep over him and absorb into him.
She felt like he was melting into her. He growled softly with around pleasure and wrapped his arms against her as she lowered her body against his.
His skin was smooth and thick. It wasn't as soft as a human's, but despite the reptilian-like faded gray diamond pattern on his arms, legs, back and sides, his skin felt nothing like a reptile's.
K'Shai savored every inch of his body and sides and abdomen and cheeks as she kissed and tasted him everywhere she could. She moved her hips and pressed herself against him as both of their bodies raged in synch.
She moaned and breathed deeply and leaned back, grinding herself slowly against his hips as she removed her shirt. R'chnt placed his strong hands against her bare sides and stroked her chest and body softly.
K'Shai leaned into him once more, and put one hand on his chest, the other on his cheek. She kissed his face and brushed her lips and tongue over his tusks as she settled deeply against him and took another breath.
R'chnt stroked her bare back, tracing his taloned fingers down her spine and around her hips and down her thighs. He grunted with delight and she smiled excitedly as he quickly reached for his belt that held on his groin piece.
"Are you OK?" She asked with a wide smile and soft laugh.
He grumbled something about discomfort, but before he could unclick the belt and free his swelling masculinity from its confining housing, a voice startled them both.
"What in the holy fucking hell?" John said with an exasperated and disgusted tone.
"Oh my God!"
K'Shai leapt up off R'chnt as he growled loudly and angrily and jumped up to his feet before K'Shai could barely react.
John, stunned, raised his gun and pointed it between K'Shai and R'chnt unsure where to aim first. K'Shai eyed John wildly and tried to calm him down.
"John! Don't! Just relax…"
"What is going on here, Cassy?"
He said shakily, waving the gun around as R'chnt loomed tall, growling, wrist blades out and ready in a flash.
"Stay the hell away from me," he warned R'chnt as he turned his gun away from K'Shai and towards him,
and in an instant, despite K'Shai's attempts, the situation was over.
John pulled the trigger and the gun went off.
K'Shai instinctively leapt sideways to avoid being shot and she glanced around to see if R'chnt had been hit before even realizing that R'chnt had impaled John in a fraction of a second with his wrist blades.
K'Shai clapped her hands over her mouth and watched two other hunters from R'chnt's group appear on the opposite corner of the rooftop, quickly hurrying towards the sound of the gun shot. They stopped abruptly as they surveyed the situation, probably trying to figure for themselves exactly what was going on, too.
R'chnt ejected John's limp corpse off his wrist blades and the blades retracted with a metallic chink back into their housing. K'Shai glanced around, realizing she had no shirt on.
She grabbed up her clothes and quickly redressed while the two hunters questioned aloud what was happening.
Suddenly, gunfire rang out from elsewhere, a few blocks away and screaming voices echoed up through the night. R'chnt growled to K'Shai to get back to her group and stay safe.
He turned to leave with the other two hunters, but before he made it a few feet, she called him back briefly and darted forward, halfway leaping off the ground so she could reach her arms over his neck.
She embraced him quickly and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the warmth of his heated body for the briefest of moments before she kissed him softly and wished him a safe hunt.
He lowered her to her feet quickly, but delicately and spun around, securing his bio helmet to his head as he disappeared over the side of the building and rejoined the pack as to head towards the commotion.
K'Shai thundered down the stairwell inside the building and out onto the street, joining up with Lewis and several others as they headed towards the fray themselves.
She couldn't help but feel an internal bit of disappointment that the evening had spiraled so suddenly away from the direction she had hoped it was going to head, but in a moment more, drones were coming into view on the sides of the nearby buildings and rooftops, and a battle quickly followed.
She only barely saw R'chnt fighting two drones by himself while the rest of his outnumbered group was busy with their own opponents as some of the human group evacuated others from the area while a small group including Lewis and Cassandra offered some assistance to the Yautja.
For the first time, K'Shai used the weapon R'chnt had given her so long ago.
"Where did you get that?!" Lewis asked her and she smiled and shook her head.
"Long story," she said simply and left it at that as the battle began to wind slowly down.
"Where's John? Have you seen him?" He asked quickly and she felt her heart skip a beat.
"He's… uhhh… he's not joining us anymore."
She responded vaguely. She spoke slowly, trying to come up with the words for a suitable explanation.
Lewis shot her a quizzical gauge and noticed her hands shaking slight.
"I shot him. I had to."
She spoke sharply and curtly and turned her back to Lewis, jogging away quickly to return to the group far ahead of them.
Lewis tracked after her and they caught back up with the remainder of the group. She glanced back towards where she had last seen any of the hunters and only barely noticed that they were heading away in the opposite direction.
She glanced to a roof top, only just barely visible in the dark distance, and noticed R'chnt quickly decloak, glanced her way, cloak again and disappear.
"Cassy? Come on!" Lewis got her attention back and she turned to head away.
She noticed him glance down the street, but she doubted he saw what she had been looking at.
She stayed quiet, and Lewis did not question her further as to what had happened. She moved on with her group, knowing that as soon as his work was done, R'chnt would return to their location.
She found herself spending most of the rest of the night, until the group found a new place to make camp, excitedly anticipating his return, before he she finally fell asleep sometime in the early morning hours.