Fate's Encounter

Chapter 7: Family Reunion

Xai'an looked down at his female curiously. She was bolder than he thought. Her outright refusal to mate him wasn't unexpected, but he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He would find what attracts her and he'd use it. 

He was surprised by her anger. She was like a tiny female Yautja with that fury and he suspected that she was holding back. He liked that. He also respected the fact she took the new information with grace. Well, everything except the fact that she seemed frightened of the act of mating. He knew his anatomy was not much different from the male ooman. True, he would have to be careful with her small frame so as to not hurt her, but he was prepared to be gentle with her. He'd tell her that later after she opened up to him a bit more. 

When he heard her deep breathing go even, he thought about the Kiande Amedha and how they had reproduced far more than he anticipated. There had been more ooman bodies in the sewers on the other side of the town and now it was a matter of time before the city caved in. He had to get his mate out of here. 

She shuddered against her box, her flesh prickling up, a symptom when oomans were cold. He decided to risk her wrath by gently pulling her to nuzzle against his side. She didn't wake, but she did curl arm around his middle. He purred at the contact which seemed to ease her even more. He rather liked the feeling of her at his side and he ached for it to be in his bed, but he'd wait. All in due time. 

Once his brothers got here, he'd make sure nothing was left of this town. No witnesses. Then he'd proclaim his mate before Anak so she would be safe from death or any advancements from other males. Ooman females were not as high status as female Yuatja, which meant that they could still be fought over and claimed by other males, where female Yautja chose whom they mated. No one has ever bested him in a challenge though and since no one ever survived either, he didn’t get many challenges to begin with. No one would fight him for his female.

He'd also have to ask Anak for a larger dwelling. If he was going to provide offspring for the clan, he'd need more room for them and his mate. One of the reasons female ooman's were tolerated as mates were because they could breed every year and if not pregnant, were fertile 12 times out of the ooman calender year. Female Yautja could only breed once every five to ten years. 

He went to a cousin clan many years ago with his father. Before he was a blooded Elite. There he met a small Yautja who had mated an ooman. She was different than his female. Her skin was much darker, lips much fuller and her hair was a coarse texture. He actually learned quite a bit about ooman's from the Yautja. Why they laugh, smile and how they show displeasure. The Yautja even went as far to tell him the females mated for the pleasure of it. That had been shocking to him. Though the mating act was pleasurable at times, there were many who were too focused at not dying at the hands of their female Yautja to really enjoy it. The idea that a mate would come to him for the sure pleasure of it was foreign. 

This female ooman had birthed the Yautja warrior 72 offspring. When Xai'an had asked how that was possible, the Yautja told him that their blood, once ingested or mixed with ooman blood provided not only healing properties, but extended the ooman lifespan to near Yautja like times. He did warn not to inform any potential ooman mate of this until it could not be denied. They did not handle the loss of their short lives very well. Something about mourning family members they outlived. Again, a foreign concept to him since he had many brothers who had fallen before him.

He wasn't sure if the amount of blood he used was enough to give his female a longer lifespan, but that was something he would take care of later. 

A noise pulled him out of his thoughts. It sounded like something walking on the rooftops. His retinal scan couldn't detect any heat signatures, but he figured that could be because the ooman's used so many materials that got in the way of his scan. How they managed to survive for so long was beyond him.