Prey

Chapter 12 - Earth

She was waiting when I returned. A myriad of different emotions crossed her face as I walked up the ramp and tossed Zobelle at her feet. The ooman looked at her with wide fearful eyes and tried to escape but I broke his ankles with my feet. He cried pathetically while Leoni glared down at him.

I passed her my smallest blade, one I keep tucked into my greaves, and left her to it. Shutting the door I headed down the hall where I cleaned and put away my armor and weapons. Once I was satisfied I headed back to the common area where I found Leoni whispering harsh words to the doctor. With an impressively quick flick of her wrist his neck sliced open.

Blood pooled in the open wound as the male tried to not choke on his own lifeblood. She gave him no mercy, not even with his dying breath.

"I hope he rots in Hell." My mate hissed as she passed me the long serrated dagger I loaned her. I quickly ejected the corpse out of the docking chute and she was finally cleansed of Dr. Zobelle.

"He will be forgotten as all honorless people are. Come, we are both in need of a cleansing."

Leading her to the cleansing room, I quickly showed her the commands to work everything and left her to it. I wanted to stay and watch to see her naked but I decided it'd be foolish. My own cleansing could wait. Her comfort was my concern and priority.

I'd changed into a clean loincloth when I sat in the pilot's chair starting the protocols to leave the planet. The gentle hum of the engines made me realize how long I'd been on this backwater planet in pursuit of the little hybrid. Unlike many, she gave the longest run while others had simply given up.

Killing her wasn't something I could do, even if I tried. The thought of not seeing those bright yellow orbs with such curiosity pained me in places I hadn't felt pain before. This was all new and concerning. My superiors wouldn't be happy, but I didn't care. As an Elite hunter I would have more forgiveness from the Clan Leader Rakar.

He would simply have to deal with my decision.

"It's nice to take a shower after so long. I hate being gross and dirty."

I turned to see Leoni standing a few feet away dressed in a white outfit I had failed to see in her belongings. It reminded me of one of the ooman healer uniforms called scrubs. They loosely hung off her small body hiding the curves of her waist and hips, much to my annoyance.

Her face practically glowed with happiness and relief, something I wasn't accustomed to seeing on her. I liked how I was potentially the reason for it.

If she's happy then I'm happy.

"Sit. It is better to be seated during the exit of a planet." I gestured to a chair along the wall to my right where she promptly sat.

"Where are we going?"

"Space." I ordered the sequence to engage the thrusters and the ship began to rise in the air above the tree line.

Very quickly I activated the cloaking mechanism and rotated my hands counter-clockwise to angle the ship where it quickly ascended into the thick white clouds. Leoni gasped with interest to my right who sat watching the view outside with wide eyes. I gave her the Yautja equivalent of a smile.

"Hold tight."

She quickly bobbed her head up and down clinging to the seat she sat in. "There's no seatbelts!"

"There is no need."

"What?! No need?!" I only chuckled. The little hybrid had no clue of the scope of Yautja technology.

"There has not been a need for a thousand-plus years, Leoni. Patience."

The forces started to put their pressure on the ship as we entered one of the layers of the atmosphere and I activated the anti-gravity drive. Immediately the heavy sensation disappeared followed by the small sigh of relief from Leoni.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, that was weird. I bet it's even worse on Earth's astronauts." She shook her head as if she hoped to shake the sensation out of her memory.

"Yes. Your kind has not yet advanced to such technology. If your kind does not destroy themselves first, however." Oomans were a wild species who still had much to learn before they could advance to even close to my own and others out in the universe. Perhaps one day, should they stop trying to kill their home-world, they would do so.

Even though it had been mere minutes we finally broke from the atmosphere and away from the gravity field.

"It is safe to move around n—"

Before I could even finish the sentence she bolted from the seat and ran to stand in front of the wide window I had activated along the empty space of wall near the docking area. I spun the seat around to watch as she stood with her hands planted on the window watching Earth in awe. She reminded me of a suckling gazing with such awe and wonder. Something about the sight was intriguing.

"It's so...beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice." Her voice trembled slightly, "Earth. My home."

"The sight is beautiful indeed, little sain'ja." I moved to stand beside her so I could see her expression.

It was different than I pictured. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears as she smiled.

"I once wanted to be an astronaut and see this. That hope died a long time ago, at least, until today. I owe you a great debt." Those shining orbs met my curious gaze briefly before turning back to gazing at the planet of swirling white with blue and green.

Earth was beautiful but it had nothing compared to the little hybrid who stood beside me.

She thought she owed me a debt, but her mere presence was enough recompense.

"You owe me nothing but your companionship." Turning away I returned to my seat where I set the course for Yautja Prime making sure to set up a jump for a stop at a planet on the way.

"I'm okay with that, but I'll still find a way to repay it. It's a human thing."

Nodding, I accepted this and wondered how she could repay me even though I didn't need it. "I will have me in your debt further with our stop along the way. We will arrive in minutes time. Come."

"Can we look a little longer?" She turned to with pleading eyes.

That look on her face was so hopeful and would be my downfall. Sighing to myself, I cancelled the sequence to jump.

It wasn't every day her kind was able to just see their home like this. This was one of many things I had already and would do for her. I was changing because of one little amber haired hybrid. Since I had time to get myself together, I decided a cleansing was in order.

"Wait!" Her little feet ran after me as I turned to exit the door. I immediately found myself in her arms.

Leoni threw her tiny body at me and wrapped her little arms around my torso as far as she could with her cheek resting against my abdomen. My greater height had the top of her head towards the lower end of my front, almost too close to an organ that very much tried to greet her despite the layers I had applied to hide such a thing. She hadn't noticed since she was so busy doing that ooman gesture.

I was...surprised. No one ever done such a thing. Not even my mother or father as an Unblooded suckling.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

Pulling back she smiled up at me, "Showing me the stars."

With that she turned and padded her little bare feet to the window where she sat cross-legged to watch the Earth outside. The long amber mane I had come so much to admire cascaded down her back in soft waves where they ended in the middle of her back. Seeing her sit there with her back to me was unnerving. Foreign emotions filled my chest.

Shaking my head I turned to go cleanse my mind and body of the carnal thoughts that invaded my mind. A certain organ had to be depleted or I felt like I would surely perish from that alone.