The Tracker

Nix woke slowly, her body rejecting the idea of moving from this comfortable place. She felt as if she were sleeping upon air.



Something large and heavy was wrapped around her waist and chest, and her back was against a wall.



Odd…she thought. Her body slipped into a dozing state again. She felt miles better then she had before, almost as good as she had when this whole fiasco had begun. Only a short two weeks ago, she had started a mission with four Marines, two death dealers, and wimp of a fucking doctor who could have used the grease in his hair to oil a large bit of machinery in its entirety. It was a mission that she had not expected to live through, and she had. Barely.



She yawned and stretched, her body bowing backwards. The wall behind her moved and the things that were wrapped around her tightened slightly.



Nix opened her eyes and glanced behind her. An unfamiliar face assaulted her eyes. She had never seen this predator before. Granted, the coloring was familiar, but she struggled in his arms none-the-less.



His eyes shot open, staring fixedly at her as she attempted to free herself. They were dark violet eyes with a strange, almost crimson flame like pattern along the outer edge of the iris. Frightening, but beautiful at the same time, and Nix caught herself stilling her escape and looking right back with fascination.



The predator shifted her so she was on her side, and then, very gently, brushed his top right mandible along her cheek, a quiet trill leaving his mouth. Nix recognized the voice at least.



“Lik-ha…” Nix breathed, almost embarrassed at the proximity of the large male. She vaguely remembered asking about his name before she passed out. She felt herself start to shrink away to her own space. Unfortunately for her, his arms were still tight.



“Li’ct-ha.” He corrected, and then he blinked. “Teddy.”



“Teddy?” Nix grinned. “Where did you get that name?”



The predator tilted his head, his arms loosening around her. Nix was grateful for the freedom and took the chance to move away from the Youngblood. She slid off the large cushion and stared at him.



After a moment, the Predator pointed at her. Her own voice played back at her, strangely altered by the predator’s own underlying graveled bass.



“I think I’ll just call him Teddy. My Teddy.” Nix heard. So she had given him that ridiculous name. Nix smiled vaguely and looked around the large room. It was similar to the room that Blade and ‘Teddy’ had stolen her away to eat in.



“Where is Blade?” she asked, looking back at the Predator. He definitely didn’t look like a teddy bear. Teddy Bears did not have strange, tough skin the color of heavily creamed coffee, or mottling the color of burnt sienna. Teddy bears did not have muscles that rippled with the slightest movement, or wear bronze cod pieces and belts with hooks on them to hold various body parts.



In the bright lights, she could actually see that his dreadlocks were not the black she assumed, but a dark, warm brown. With his eyes the color they were, she found him almost as strangely beautiful as she had found this White Paya. It was funny to her that she had never taken the time to really look at her two Predator companions. Then again, she hadn’t really had too much of a chance, between everything that happened in the jungle, and all the incoherent, blurred memories of the past couple of weeks. Maybe it was being dead for a minute or two that sharpened her awareness of the things around her. Maybe she was softening up.



The thought that she was softening so quickly made her angry. A couple of weeks ago, she could have cared less about what color a creature was or the softness and warmth of the cushion she had just gotten off of. She wouldn’t have given it a second glace if the predator showed up with rainbow coloring and a sign with something ridiculously vulgar or stupid written on it. In the past two weeks, she had allowed something she knew next to nothing about to touch her, and repeatedly at that. Harmless touches that were meant to comfort or help, but touches nonetheless.



Yes, she could blame it on the drugs that they must have pumped into her to dull the pain, and she decided that that was exactly what she was going to do. From here on out, she would exercise a little more control.



I am woman. Hear me roar.



Her face hardened with determination as she stared at the Youngblood. His mandibles twitched and he looked beyond her to the intricately design-carved door behind her. Nix glanced over her shoulder and nodded once she remembered she had asked a question.



“Please don’t sleep so close to me again, Teddy. It makes me uncomfortable.” She said quietly. She couldn’t make her voice as sharp as she wanted. This male had saved her life, and despite his obvious kindness, she knew that it was not a good idea to press too far with such a volatile species as his.



“Uncomfortable?” Teddy mimicked, inflecting more of a question at the end of the word.



Nix sighed. Could he even understand her? If he did, how did he manage to learn the human language so soon? It didn’t matter. She turned, her fingers fumbling over the metal of the vials of her necklace, a habit she had almost completely forgotten about. She reached for the door, her hand pausing over the handle when the Youngblood spoke.



“Why uncomfortable?” The words were a mad jumble, pronounced so badly that Nix a hard time trying to decipher it. Maybe he could understand her. She looked back at him.



Just be as nice as you can, and get this over with, Nixlyn. Smooth let down, then turn and walk away.



“Well, for starters, how old are you?” she asked slowly.



“My year is seven of Ooman year. My age is forty-five.”



Nix blinked. 315 years old by human count. Jesus Christ. Okay, so he was definitely older than her. So much for the ‘I’m too old for you’ bit.



“Alright. Look, Li—…Teddy. I’m Human. You’re a Predator—“



“Yautja. We are called Yautja. Others call us Hish.” The predator corrected.



“Well, we call you Predators. Either way, look at us. Do you see how different we are from each other? I mean, races are a different matter, as long as it is within the same species. We aren’t of the same species Teddy, and it makes me uncomfortable being so close to you…well…because there is nothing on earth like you. I feel like your intentions aren’t strictly platonic.”



“What is that?” He asked, violet eyes narrowing in confusion.



“Platonic? It means nonphysical. Nonsexual. Friendly, but not romantic. It means friends, but it’s something that doesn’t lead to mating. That’s platonic. I feel that you don’t want to be platonic with me. You want something else.”



Nix watched his eyes and his face change through several different expressions, almost comical on a face that didn’t seem capable of changing so much. Then, his face seemed to droop and he closed his eyes.



“Ugly Mother fu—“ He started, his palm pressed against his chest.



“No.” Nix interrupted. “Actually, for something so alien and frightening, you’re…”



She couldn’t say it. Her mind froze looking for a lie to cover the truthful path she had started to walk down, trying to make the Youngblood feel better.



The large Yautja was stepping towards her. His hand lifted and his fingers gently touched the side of her face. The touch sent a bolt of electricity through her body, an unwanted and long-forgotten feeling subtly warming between her legs. She immediately began her ‘platonic’ spiel to herself in an attempt to halt the feeling.



“What am I?” he asked, his butchered words sounding better than Nix wanted them too. It didn’t help that she hadn’t been touched like that, let alone allowed anyone to touch her like that in such a long time, Fagan’s pre attempted rape-touch not counted of course. The Yautja’s fingers trailed down her jaw to her neck, and suddenly Nix’s mouth was too dry. It shouldn’t feel so damn good.



Stop it! Stop it, get a hold of yourself! Remember your point! Easy let down, than get out before you have sex with an alien creature who will probably break you in half in the process--



“Beautiful…your eyes are almost human and so beautiful, just like your body…” she whispered, feeling herself hypothetically beginning to raise the flag of surrender. Her mind was cluttered and dazed now, and she half wondered if she had been dosed with another drug.



The predator’s hand came to rest between her breasts. With his other hand, he tilted her chin up and took her hand, placing it in the center of his own chest. Nix felt a quick, hard beating here.



“We both beat inside. We feel in here.”



Nix looked at her hand on his chest.



“So do cats and dogs, but they can’t mate either.” She didn’t say that that didn’t stop them, though. When she was in her early teens, her mother, before she died, bought her a Chihuahua. Nix had a love-hate relationship with that dog. On one hand, it could be a good lap-warmer in the winter and semi-okay company, but it was so annoying and ugly, and it preferred to be outside. Unfortunately, her little dog was constantly mounting her next door neighbor’s cat. He ended up getting hit by a car two years later when he dug a hole under the fence. Nix could honestly say she hadn’t missed him much at all.



The Yautja didn’t speak.









Li’ct-ha watched the Ooman woman as she argued with herself. She had been hard to understand, but he had managed to decipher all of what she had been saying. He was grateful to Zazin for loaning his several recordings of her language. He had spent quite a few days listening to it and trying to learn it so he could at least understand some of what Nix was saying.



Her heart was pounding against his hand, and he could smell the pheromones that rolled from her body in waves. They tugged at his control and his sudden need. Now that he was a blooded warrior, he could mate.



He had seen her fully unclothed the night before. He had helped Zazin bathe her and change her clothes. She had been a dirty, bloody, and unpleasant smelling mess, but afterward, her scent was clean, unfettered, and sweet. He hadn’t expected someone like her to smell sweet. Almost spicy.



Blade had washed her with a detached expression, quickly moving over the spots that Li’ct-ha wouldn’t have minded pausing at.



His mind was arguing with his body, now that he was alone with her and she was healthy. His body insisted that there was a female in deep heat that needed to be attended too. His mind roared that it was the last thing on the small female’s mind right now.



He wanted more than anything to pick her up and take her back to bed. Who cared about the shame of bedding prey?



The other clan had taken them in when they were walking to their ship. It was a great honor, as the clan had always been particularly secretive, and Yautja didn’t generally allow unknown outsiders to actually stay on their ships.



None of them would really care if he took the Ooman woman. After all, one of their greatest warriors bedded that Ooman female Lex nearly every night. The female reeked of Xyhax’s mating hormones.



Li’ct-ha moved his hands so that he was gripping Nix’s arms. As carefully as he could manage, he turned her around and moved her backward towards the bed.



Nix went haltingly, her amber eyes glazed. Li’ct-ha bowed his head over her neck and breathed in her scent. He let his mandibles graze her skin and she shivered, her hands gripping his waist.



“Is this platonic?” he asked as he pulled her closer. His clothing was very uncomfortable right now, especially in his loins.



“No.” she replied, the answer coming through clenched teeth. Her hold on him was tight, as if she were getting ready to push him away.



“This isn’t right.” She muttered almost inaudibly. Her hands released him and she moved away, putting a great deal of distance between them. Li’ct-ha watched her go, her face a mask of torture. He realized then what he might be putting her through. An Ooman woman that had and lost a mate and a suckling, and still hadn’t healed from it. A woman that had just gone through the trauma of losing her companions, was brought onto a hostile ship, died from an infected wound, and was thrown back into a goddess-healed and marked body to live for a purpose yet unknown. And now, one of the two aliens that had stood by her despite all her weak Ooman troubles was trying to mate with her, or at least wanted to. Did she think he expected it after helping her?



Li’ct-ha took a couple of steps back away from her.



The door slid open and Zazin entered the room. He was without his mask, and he seemed happy.



“The elders of the Broken Tusk have decided to take us into the clan after a twelve day cycle. The time before is for them to see how well we come together.”



The large Yautja looked from Nix to Li’ct-ha. He could feel the tenseness in the air.



“What has happened? What have you done?” He looked at the Youngblood.



Li’ct-ha stood a little straighter.



“I would like to be excused from the room, Zazin. Nix has made her discomfort around me known, and I do not wish to cause her any more annoyance.” The Youngblood was pained to say this.



He had had her in his hands, had felt her heart and tasted her scent on his tongue as he breathed it in, and he wanted more of her. He wanted to feel her beneath him as he thrust into her. He wanted to see her body glisten with sweat as they mated, and he wanted to hear her voice say his name as she reached her Ooman climax. He wanted to take her over and over again until no Yautja could doubt whose she was. Even stranger still, he wanted to see her big with his suckling, and a second one and a third. His kind did not mate for life, but he would if she had him, he knew. Ooman’s mated for life, so it must not be too difficult, and they could be just as violent as the Yautja when they wanted.



Now that he had said it, though, Zazin would most likely not allow him to be in a room alone with her. He would not be able to have the things he wanted, or see the things he wanted to see.



Zazin waved his hand and excused the Youngblood.



“We will talk, you and I. Boundaries must be addressed.” He said as he sniffed the air. He could smell Hormones from the both of them. Li’ct-ha nodded and left, glancing one last time at Nix, who was smiling at Zazin in a relaxed and almost relieved manner. She reached for the older Predator and asked him something that Li’ct-ha couldn’t hear.



He felt a flash of hatred for his mentor, but it passed as the door slid closed.