The next chapter is here! Enjoy :)
Julie woke up to someone gently nudging her.
Which was probably a bad move on their part. Because her reflexes kicked in and she reacted by quickly turning to backhand them. Instead of hitting anything though, her move was quickly blocked.
She quickly turned around with wide eyes and looked up to see none other than the alien being that was keeping her captive. He had his forearm up in front of him, blocking her arm.
Instead of being pissed though, Kata'nu just looked down at her in amusement.
"Is that your way of saying good morning? If so, that's an interesting way to do so." He said.
The young woman just narrowed her eyes at him and sat up.
"No, though it's disappointing I didn't get in a good shot at your ugly mug." She replied.
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." He stated.
"Yeah, and guess who was there when I woke up." She retorted smartly.
The seasoned warrior knew he would have his hands full with this one. But instead of dreading it, he was looking forward to it. He just saw it as another challenge.
And Kata'nu loved challenges. The harder they were, the better, in his mind.
"May want to get used to it. Because it will happen quite often, R'ka-de." He told her.
Julie rolled her eyes, "Oh joy, I can't wait. And what the hell did you just call me?"
A smirk decorated his face.
"I'll tell you, if you give me your name." He said.
She snorted, "Fuck off."
He tilted his head, "Well, that's an interesting name. What is it? Japanese?" He joked.
"No, but I certainly have quite a few choice names for you." Julie said.
"Well, before you go down this list of names you do have, let me save you the trouble. My name is Kata'nu. But as I said, Master will do too." He told her.
"I wouldn't call you that, even if hell froze over. So, you can forget it." She snapped.
"So much for wishful thinking. Anyways, there is food over there for you on the desk." He said, gesturing behind him, across the room.
After hearing the word food, her stomach practically grumbled.
Julie could only hope he didn't hear it. She tried to gage his facial expressions, but with those strange mandibles, he was quite hard to read.
She didn't say anymore to him. Just got out of the large bed and made her way over to the plate of food at the desk.
It looked like some strange kind of meat and there was something round next to it. The orangey round thing kind of looked like a piece of fruit.
The young woman was about to dig in, then paused.
Was this food really all that safe for her to eat? What if she had a bad reaction to it and got really sick?
Kata'nu walked over to her and saw her standing there in front of the plate of food, but not touching it. Something he thought was odd, because he knew she was hungry. He heard her stomach grumbling just moments ago, clear as day.
"Something wrong?" He inquires.
Her gaze slid from the plate of food to him.
"It's just...are you sure this is safe enough for me to eat? Don't want to get extremely sick or die from eating this foreign space food." She replied, concern ever present in her voice.
Kata'nu nodded, "Of course, it's safe. Wouldn't have served it to you otherwise. The meat is cooked and safe for consumption and you should be able to digest it without any problems. Same goes for the fruit next to it."
Julie gave him a brief nod. Then her attention turned back to the food in front of her.
She looked around for eating utensils but didn't see any. Which sadly meant she would have to pick everything up with her hands to eat. No doubt, it will get messy with handling the meat.
The young woman picked up one of the strips and brought it to her mouth. She cautiously took a bite out of the strip in her hands.
The flavor was tangy and tasted a little like seasoned steak, even chewy like it. Either way, it actually tasted very good. And she ended up finishing it pretty quickly, before moving onto the next strip.
While she was busy eating, Kata'nu went to the wall on the other side of the room and pressed the panel.
The wall slid open to reveal the hidden compartment once more, and he started to suit up.
Julie turned and watched him from the corner of her eye. He put one what he needed rather quickly and fluidly. And afterwards, grabbed a few weapons to attach to his armor and belt.
She'd be lying if she didn't think his arsenal and armor was quite impressive.
Her mind came to a screeching halt when the thought of him in general being impressive came to mind. The guy was a solid wall of muscle, that's for damn sure.
The young woman quickly turned and averted her gaze, when he shifted his attention back to her.
Kata'nu saw the quick movement of her head, and smirked. It was quite clear to him, that the female was checking him out. Either that, or she was trying to see if she could get into the weapons compartment and steal a weapon for herself.
"Don't be ashamed to stare. I don't mind in the least." He stated, with a grin.
Julie nearly choked on the wad of meat in her mouth. Her face turning bright red at the implication and from surprise. But at the same time, she was very annoyed by his remark.
"Don't flatter yourself, douchebag. I wasn't staring." She quipped.
'More like was trying to figure out a way to get to at least one of those impressive weapons.' She thought.
"Right, keep telling yourself that, R'ka-de." Kata'nu said.
"Stop calling me that. For all I know, it's a gross little pet name in your language. And I hate pet names." Julie snapped.
He crossed his arms over his broad armor covered chest.
"Then tell me your actual name." He said.
"Fine! If it means you'll stop calling me some other dumbass names, I will. It's Julie." She replied.
"There. Was that so hard?" He teased.
"Blow me." Was her answer.
"How can I? When you stated last night that you didn't want me touching you?" Kata'nu joked.
Oh, she was itching right now to smash the metal plate over his thick head right now.
He really was a straight up smart ass. And he was probably going to drive her insane with that witty personality of his. Yet, at the same time, it was probably better than pissing him off and facing his wrath.
"And I don't! So, your hands will be your best friends. Because I sure as hell want nothing to do with you, period." Julie snapped.
"You always this pleasant in the morning? Or is it simply getting close to that time of the month for you?" He inquired.
"That's it!" She yelled.
The young woman charged at him.
Kata'nu was pretty surprised at her speed. But braced himself as she came at him. If she wanted to blow of some steam. Then so be it. It was pretty gutsy of her to attempt even lunging at him.
Once she got close enough, she surprised him when she somewhat bypassed him and tried to go for one of his weapons on the wall behind him.
The reddish yautja quickly turned around and grabbed her right before she made it there. The young woman thrashed in his grip and cursed him off again. Then she managed to wiggle one of her arms loose and twisted her upper body, elbowing him in the face.
It hurt a little, because her elbow bone hit and dug into at least one of his mandibles.
He wasn't angry at the hit though. She really was a rather strong and aggressive female. She could rival any yautja female, that's for sure. And by the few moves she was able to pull between last night and just now, he could tell she was certainly a fighter of sorts.
Julie's elbow hurt quite a bit from that move. Hopefully, his ugly ass face hurt just as much.
She wanted to hit him again, but he grabbed her free arm and pinned it back down with the other, believing this would put a stop to her hitting him. Instead, she did something else.
She threw her head back into his, headbutting him.
Something she was starting to regret, because it hurt like hell, and she felt something sharp dig into her scalp and possibly puncture the skin. Probably his tusks on the end of his mandibles.
Kata'nu grunted, when he felt the blow. It certainly surprised him. But he still maintained his hold on her. Shifting one arm to rest behind her head. So now, she couldn't do that again, because his wrist and part of his forearm was preventing her from doing so.
"Goddammit! Let me go!" She shouted.
"Not until you calm down." He told her.
"Let the fuck go! I hate you! You stupid son of a bitch! Put me down!" She continued.
By now, tears started to stream down her cheeks.
She hated how weak and helpless he was making her feel right now. And she sure as hell hated being restrained by him and wanted him to let her go. The fact that he was refusing, just amped her up even more.
It was like her body was in full on survival mode right now. Doing everything she could to escape his grasp.
Then among all the thrashing and small sobs, Julie heard a strange sound coming from behind her, and his body was doing something weird. It felt almost like it was very faintly...vibrating?
The sounds gradually intensified, and the only thing she could think of, it sounded like a gigantic cat was purring.
Julie's struggles gradually grew weaker from exhaustion. Not only that, but she also found herself surprisingly calming down. It was like that odd purring sound was rather...soothing to her in a way.
Kata'nu kept up his purring until she stopped fighting him completely.
Her heart rate started to steadily slow down. Though her breathing was still coming out in harsh pants. He lowered her down his body slightly, and gently removed his lower arm from behind her head.
She leaned it back against his chest plate, still coming down from the adrenaline rush coursing through her system.
He then used his free hand to lightly brush back some of the long dark locks away from her tearstained face. Then ran his knuckles lightly over one of her wet cheeks.
It was natural for a male to purr to a female in distress. And it apparently works on ooman females as well.
Julie felt like her body was made of rubber at this time, and the only thing holding her up was the large alien male behind her. Even so, she still wanted him to put her down.
"Please...put me down." She said, barely above a whisper.
Kata'nu actually abided by her request and started to carefully lower her to the floor.
Once her feet touched the floor, she had to steady herself, otherwise she'd fall. Luckily, he kept one arm lightly around her just in case so she wouldn't collapse in a heap.
The hunter only let her go, when he felt she could finally stand on her own feet again.
Though once he did, he reached over her and pressed the panel on the wall, closing her access off to his weapons to be safe.
Julie stood there for several seconds, facing the wall. Before she finally turned around to face him. The petite woman had to crane her neck all the way back to do so, since he was as tall as a fucking tree.
He noted her eyes were blood shot and could still see some wetness on her cheeks from her tears.
It tugged at him a little. But there really wasn't much he could do now. She still had to come back with them. Especially now that she knew of their existence. Something they still wanted to keep unknown to the rest of the ooman populace back on Earth.
Her voice broke the silence that filtered the room.
"Am I to be stuck in this room for the duration?" She asked.
Kata'nu shook his head.
"Was actually going to have you accompany me to the kehrite for a little bit." He told her.
Julie furrowed her brows, "What's a kehrite?"
He gave her a small, lopsided grin.
"You'll see...R'ka-de." Kata'nu said.
Then he started leading her to the door at the front of his quarters.
She sighs, "Are you going to at least tell me now what it means? Though I can promise you, I'll kick your ass if it means something like 'Baby' or 'Pet'."
He trilled a little at her little threat.
"It means, 'Fiery One'. And I think it suits you." Kata'nu replied.
Julie didn't really say anything to that. As far as pet names go, it wasn't all that bad. Better than Baby, Sweetheart, Doll, or Honey.
She didn't harp on it for much longer. Because he put in the code on the keypad and the door slid open to allow them out. At this time, she was just happy to be out and be able to somewhat move around freely again.
Kata'nu was a little surprised she didn't run off once they entered the hallway. But then, even she must've known that there was nowhere for her to go or hide.
He did note she was constantly looking around. Whether it was due to fascination or looking for a means to escape, he was unsure at the moment. But he was prepared to chase her down if she did bolt.
Either way, he was still glad to have chosen her. He doubts he could've found another that shared her spirit and fire. And the last thing he wanted was a meek, mild, and fearful servant.
Even now as she looked around, she still had fire in her eyes.
Yes, she certainly was a good option.
Until Next Time ;)