The next chapter is up! Enjoy :)
It's been a few days since they had a run in with the kuty'y'ae creatures.
Kayla and Than-guan have resumed training, but she made sure to take it easy with her healing leg. All while having to deal with more of the hunter's playful teasing.
She is unsure why, but she can't help but feel like in a way, he was flirting with her.
Their friendship seems to be getting stronger by the day as they spend all their time together. Because of this, Kayla feels she has been finding herself feeling more drawn to him.
The young woman kept trying to tell herself it wouldn't be good to have anything beyond friendship with the alien hunter.
The why did it bother her when she thought about him possibly dropping her off on Earth and never seeing her again? She worries she may already be in too deep with how she feels about him.
'Just my luck, I find a guy who is smart, funny, and very brave. And he happens to be an alien.' She sarcastically thought as they continued their walk.
It's around this time she noted that Than-guan either walked in front of her or several feet away from her. Every now and then he'd make a face when he got too close to her.
"Ok, what's your deal? Why you keep giving me a wide berth all of a sudden? You have been doing this now since we started walking a couple hours ago. So, what gives?" She inquired.
"Because you need a bath. Badly. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you smell like a walking corpse." Than-guan replied.
Another thing about him, he wasn't afraid to be blunt with other and tell them how he feels.
Kayla snorted, "Yeah, because you smell like a bed of roses."
"Still better than you. Because unlike you, I can't sweat." He pointed out.
"Well, we are in a part of the forest that seems to have a lot or rivers. Even saw a couple waterfalls in the distance. Perhaps, we can bathe there." She stated.
"There is a pretty large lake not far from here. At this pace, we could reach it within the next hour. Feel free to take as long as you want. Until the stench goes away." The hunter said.
"You smell like old moldy mothballs baking in the heat and you complain about me?" She mutters under her breath.
"Yes, because I'm sure these moth balls you speak of still don't smell half as bad as you do right now." He replied, his excellent hearing picking up each word she muttered.
"Still, I hope you take the time to wash up as well. Because I refuse to lay next to you otherwise, until you do." Kayla said, with a hint of finality.
"Fine, let's hope you don't kill off all the fish in the lake once you go in." He teased.
"More like, try not to scare them all away with that face of yours." She retorted back.
"My face is hardly scary. I'm considered very handsome back home." He quipped.
Kayla couldn't help messing with him about that.
"Do a lot of them happen to be blind back home? Or just desperate? She teased him back.
The large male snorted, "I'll have you know there were a couple times females fought over me during mating season. Thank you very much."
"Or fighting to get away from you." Kayla kept at it.
He arched an eye ridge at her.
"Oh, and how many males' attention did you get back on Earth?" Than-guan inquired.
He got her there. Hardly any. It's not that she wasn't interested, just a lot of people for some reason weren't interested in her. It was something that always bothered her. To the point she asked her friends if there was something wrong with her.
They always assured her and told her there was nothing wrong and she was beautiful and funny.
She did here in passing from some of their male friends that they thought her very cute. But nothing every came from passing compliments.
Nowadays, Kayla tries not to let it get to her. She keeps reminding herself there was someone out there somewhere, that actually wouldn't mind getting to know her and want to date her.
'And yet, the most male attention I've gotten so far were from the psychos that kidnapped me and one amazing warrior, who will never see me as more than a friend.' She sadly thought.
"Well? I'm waiting. How many males gave you attention back home. Four, two,...negative three?" He joked.
"Not many, ok." She snapped a little.
Than-guan eyed her for a moment.
"Bullshit." He replied.
"No, I'm being honest. Hardly any guy at home gives me the time of day. It's almost like I'm either invisible or they ignore me. I don't know why that is. But it is." Kayla said.
He found it hard to believe this brave, strong, and funny young woman didn't have a partner or didn't have males vying for her attention.
'She really is also not bad to look at, at all either.' He randomly thought
Than-guan's eyes widened briefly and he shook his head. Not knowing where the hell that random thought came from.
Most if not all his kind tend to find humans to be rather hideous. With their flat unappealing faces, with fleshy cheeks, and mouths. Yet, for some reason, he can't discredit that Kayla is attractive in an odd alien sort of way.
"I wouldn't worry. There are billions of males on your world. Odds are at least one of them will be interested." He stated.
Though the thought of it made him feel a pang of jealousy. Another notion he tried to quickly dismiss and shake off.
'I've been on the run now for a while. It really must be starting to get to me.' He thought.
"Yeah." Was all she said in reply.
It was about an hour later that they finally reached this large lake that Than-guan was talking about.
They pushed aside some shrubs as they walked through to the outer bank of the lake. Kayla paused and looked around in wonder.
They lake was pretty huge. And it was quite a beautiful sight. Being surrounded by dense foliage and there were even a couple waterfalls that fed into it. There were also some large boulders that lined the lake.
A couple large boulders were pretty close to their position. One of the waterfalls was too.
"This place is beautiful." She said, with a small smile.
The hunter standing next to her silently agreed.
Kayla then turned to face him.
"Ok, I'm going to the other side of the boulder to bathe. There aren't any dangerous animals around or in here I should worry about, is there?" She asks.
Than-guan shook her head.
"No, have been to this lake a couple times before. Nothing dangerous in it. Sometimes, animals use it for a water source. But I carefully scanned the area and haven't seen any dangerous ones nearby. We are good." He assured her.
"Ok, I'll just be over there then." She said.
Then Kayla walked around the large boulder until she reached the other side. The good thing was, the other half of it jutted out into the water quite a bit, to give her privacy as she washed.
She looked down at herself. This may actually be the first time since coming here that she would consider stripping to wash. Probably because she felt very vulnerable out here doing so.
Plus, they hardly ever ran across lakes during their traveling. They mostly stopped at rivers or streams to wash off. And even then, she'd duck herself in, fully clothed. Most of them really weren't all that deep and she mainly had to squat down to full submerse herself.
But here, she really felt the need to just shed her clothes and let herself soak. She could always toss her clothes in afterwards to wash off the dirt and sweat.
With that in mind, Kayla pulled her tank top off. This was followed by her sports bra. She kicked off her slip-on sneakers and socks. Then pulled off her shorts and underwear.
At least this place was always warm and humid. She'd hate to have to do this while the air was cold and damp.
Kayla placed her stuff on a small rock by the boulder. Then she walked into the lake.
The sandy body of soft and the water cool against her hot skin. She leaned back and submersed most of her body except her head, with a sigh.
This water truly did feel amazing. She really does hope that Than-guan was honest when he told her initially, to take her time.
She closed her eyes and leaned back further, letting herself float a little near the surface. Something that only lasted a few minutes before she thought she heard a disturbance in the water not far from her.
Kayla froze and was worried it was some kind of large fish or other dangerous animal that decided to come here within the last few minutes.
"Well, at least you don't stink nearly as bad now." Came a familiar voice from off to her right.
She let out a startled yelp and her hands flew to cover her chest as she clumsily stood upright in the fairly shallow water.
"Midnight, what the hell!? Why are you over here!?" The young woman blurted out.
He gave her a questioning look, wondering what the problem was.
Kayla then noted he wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. And the water line sat dangerously low on his waist. She could practically make out an impressive prick right below the surface, jutting out from his lower half.
"And your naked! Go back to the other side of the boulder, Now!" She practically yelled, while covering her eyes and turning around.
Than-guan just continued staring at her like she was nuts.
"Don't see what the problem is. This is one of the biggest bodies of water we came across since coming here. So, of course I was going to take the opportunity to enjoy it and get a good bath in." He stated.
"And that's perfectly fine. If you're on the other side of the boulder and not on the same side as me. I don't know how it is in regard to your kind, Midnight. But on Earth, people who hardly know each other don't bathe together." She tried to explain, with her back still turned to him.
"We've been traveling together now for a couple months. I think we know each other well enough. I'm sorry, if I still don't see what the problem is." He said.
"Let me rephrase it then. We are friends. We are not together beyond friend capacity. Only couples see each other naked. Is it finally making more sense to you now?" Kayla slowly explained.
"Perhaps, but this really isn't all that uncommon on home world. Yautja could care less about seeing others naked at a bath house or out on a hunt.
And I don't know why you're so flustered. I've seen plenty of naked females before. Maybe never a naked human female. But it's not like your anatomy is much different than my kinds' females." He stated.
Her face was still growing more red. And she was a little unsettled being here naked with him. For some reason, it brought up not so pleasant memories of the young bad blood that tried to rape her.
Kayla just had to keep reminding herself though that Than-guan wouldn't hurt her. It's just like most humans, being naked and out in the woods like this, certainly made them feel vulnerable. And she was not an exception to that either.
Than-guan could see she was tense and seemed uncomfortable as she stood with her back to him. He could see her hands on either side of her biceps like she was trying to hide herself or protect herself from something or someone.
"Why are you afraid, Kayla?" He asks.
She stiffened a little, and slightly looked over her shoulder.
"Who says, I'm afraid. It's just...awkward." She replied.
"Because I can see that you're very tense right now. And you have your arms wrapped tight around you as if someone is going to jump you and attack you." The hunter pointed out.
If there is one thing he learned well over the years, it was how to read body language. And right now, hers indicated discomfort and fear. He bet's if she weren't mostly submerged in water right now that he'd be able to smell her fear too.
"Just...I don't know, I feel kind of vulnerable right now." Kayla said, before pausing.
My mind...kind of went back to the time I was almost raped by that bad blood you saved me from. It reminded me how vulnerable I felt then at the time. And...I don't like it." She admitted.
It clicked with him then. Being naked right now triggered the same vulnerability she had with that bad blood. She may not have been naked at that time.
But if he hadn't gotten to her, she would've been naked, on the ground, with that disgraceful young male on top pf her rutting her like an animal.
She must still carry that fear with her, even today.
Than-guan needed to explain to her that she was safe. That he wouldn't hurt her like that. The question was, how?
Neither of them said anything for about a minute.
Then Kayla heard the sloshing of water behind her and realized he was approaching her. She tensed up even more and gripped her biceps tighter with her crossed arms over her chest.
"Kayla, look at me." Than-guan said, softly.
She didn't move at first.
That's when he moved around in front of her. He got down on his knees in the water to be closer to her eye level.
Now, she was looking at a pair of forest green eyes with a hint of blue to them. They were filled with concern and what appeared to be sincerity.
Than-guan slowly reached up and cupped the side of her face. And she felt herself starting to relax.
"I know, you been through a lot. But I'm not them. I will never hurt you. Especially, not like that. You don't have to be afraid anymore." He assured her.
Kayla studied his face, as if she were trying to look for hints of deception. But she found none. Instead, it was nothing but sincerity and care.
A small smile slowly appeared on her face.
How could she ever be afraid of him in any way? He saved her, twice. And stuck by her. He never once abandoned her this whole time they were stuck here.
She slowly approached him, closing the small gap between them. Then she reached up and rested her hands on his broad shoulders. Then leaned her head on his collarbone.
His hands went to circle around her torso, and he embraced her as she leaned against him. Than-guan then started to purr for her as he held her close.
Here he was, an honored blooded warrior. And he had this small ooman female in his arms. It was frowned upon to care for another that wasn't even their race.
But he no longer cared. Kayla was special to him. This he realized from the start. He was drawn to her tenacity, strength, and will to live. And he'd be lying if he didn't find her beautiful.
All these qualities, how could he not fall for her?
He tightened his embrace and lightly rubbed his mandibles over her forehead, before he could stop himself. It sent a feeling rushing through him. Something he never felt before with a female.
Kayla felt nothing but safety and security in his hold. Then when he nuzzled her forehead and the top of her head, she felt warmth shoot through her.
She's unsure what possessed her to do what she did next. But she tilted her head up a little and pressed her full lips to his lower left mandible.
Than-guan felt her soft lips press to his mandible. And it sent what felt like a small electric current shooting down his spine.
Just what was this strange feeling? He mated many a times before with different females. But he never felt this feeling before in his entire life.
And all she did was press her lips to his maw in a small soft kiss.
Yes, she was definitely special. And he wanted to make sure she survived this hunt in his pursuit for Lar'nix'va. Because he didn't want to even think about the possibility of losing her.
They stayed there like that for a while. Enjoying the cool water. And each other's company.
Until Next Time ;)