The Hunter's Song

20: Supreme 🔥(E'pire)

The room smelled of her.

Her scent was reminiscent of standing beside a cold mountain river in the morning after a hard rain.

I opened my eyes to find my mate's long, black blue-tipped quills resting beside me. She was naked. Breathing softly on her side, I trailed a claw along one of her longest quills, musing on her vast collection of high-ranking markings acquired over the centuries. Male quills dry out when they reached this stage, but a female's will shine and soften.

I arrived late last night, technically morning, and I didn't want to wake her.

"I take it the drop-off went smoothly," Oru spoke from over her shoulder.

I clicked softly in agreement.

Oru rolled to meet my gaze and stroked my exposed hip.

"Mourning Crow's Dread Rite commences as we speak," I tugged Oru closer. "If all goes as I expect, we should receive her signal in a few days. The jump-point is only an hour away."

"I'm surprised," Oru snaked her long quills into mine. "Normally, you remain in orbit to observe."

"All five of our pups were all males," I snickered. "Also, it's different being the Oath-sworn mentor, and not an invested parent sitting on the sidelines."

Oru chittered in amusement.

"That human lunar colony was a good choice for an alternative," I added. "Between the civil war and sandstorms, there's no shortage of adversaries to test her honor."

"Jahaa gains a new formidable female warrior," my mate grinned amiably. "And if a certain pesky exo-suit specifically designed to kill our kind gets destroyed in the process... Then we will have even more to celebrate."

"No doubt sending a razkur will confound all of their accumulated data," I dragged my hand up Oru's muscular side. "All of those assumptions about our anatomy and our tactics rendered totally useless."

"I look forward to witnessing the recordings," Oru ran her hand up my arm and nuzzled her face to mine. "A warrior who lures and taunts her adversaries with song will be most unexpected."

Her skin felt tight and supple, like a ripe plum still clinging to the tree, and I knew she tasted just as sweet on the inside.

No longer captivated by the folly of humans, I growled and rolled on top of my mate to burrow my mouth into her slender neck. She growled and hooked her legs around my waist when the tips of my tongue touched her blue and orange striped skin.

Oru wrapped her arms over my shoulders and thrummed as I made my way lower toward her collarbone and, inevitably, between her breasts, where I lingered long enough to savor her nipples and make them bristle to attention.

I met Oru during a joint clan assault on a human outpost station where they were performing experiments on captured Zhaguai and developing anti-Zhaguai bio-weaponry. Her fury and precision were unparalleled, but it was her sapience that enticed me.

My sisters and I, along with volunteers from half a dozen other clans, came prepared to fight to the bloody end, but Oru maneuvered our squads with such efficiency that the massive human operation was neutralized in a matter of minutes. I was prepared to give up everything, even my faith in Av'dona, for the slim chance of making her mine.

I traveled down past her navel, licking every inch of her thoroughly, then delved between her silky thighs. Every well-defined muscle in her solid torso quivered as I peppered her skin in delicate kisses. I knew the area could both excite and make her ticklish. Some days she resisted the extra attention, but this morning she stretched her legs over my shoulders.