Boundless

Snake's Coil

Deep and steady, Ah'kaedh's purr rolled out of his chest, crushing his Girl's emerging conscience.

Ah'kaedh, who would usually derive enjoyment from this, found himself scanning their surroundings in quiet exasperation, as remnants of last night's aggravation intruded on his morning.

Green.

Not as bright - the blood was not as fresh. Smudged and spread.

Mostly his own.

If the Yautja were to allow his Girl some lucidity, she would have questions. Questions Ah'kaedh didn't feel like answering, at least not yet.

He shifted slightly, pressing his torso against Lance's back, lowering his maw to her neck. Dragging his pelvis up, the male felt his shaft swell as he nuzzled the hair away, rocking his hips as he positioned himself.

Lance sighed, limbs stirring.

The male inhaled deeply, burrowing his face into her hair. Ah'kaedh extended his mandibles, bared his fangs, opening his jaw just enough to capture the column of his Girl's neck. And bit down.

Lance mewled, contracting her neck and shoulder reflexively - locked under his weight, purr, scales, and teeth.

***

"Challenge, uhn?"

Ah'kaedh nodded in response to his brother, the razor sharp focus locked onto the projection of his Girl.

"And here I thought it would lift your spirits," Lar'jar observed, eyes shifting from the ooman figure to the live feed of data. Weeks of work had by now painted a detailed portrait of Lance's evolution.

"The gossip?" Ah'kaedh grumbled.

"The skull ," The Medic retorted, uncaring of the many extra ears around them. "He did covet your ooman, didn't he?"

Lar'jar cast a quick look around. Oh, every single Yautja present, all were well aware whose skull he was talking about. It was not every night an outsider would kill a Dark Blade Hunter in their own pyramid grounds. And then proceed to find shelter in the visitors quarters.

(But a challenge was a challenge.)

The Medic had received the news second-handedly, first thing in the morning - the gossip of the pyramid's corridors had laid it all out for him.

After the first challenger, so many weeks ago, Lar'jar had an inkling more would follow.

However, Ah'kaedh's lack of a response – which, to Lar'jar's prodding, was not really unusual, nor was his behavior: unrelaxed although entirely focused on his ooman – concerned him. Ah'kaedh's demeanor was not exactly unaligned with what he would come to expect after such an incident.

And yet... there was something slightly off. Lar'jar frowned, unable to place exactly what.

At first, he had dismissed Ah'kaedh's tension - it was more than justified, considering he had just killed a hunter of the Clan hosting them. Plus, his younger sibling would always be agitated when Lance was concerned. Ah'kaedh had been quite on edge for their entire time with the Dark Blades. But...

In the face of subsequent challenges, he would expect his brother to behave more aggrieved.

So this underlying sense of abnormality had left Lar'jar mildly unsettled.

Trying to swat away the intrusive line of thought, Ah'kaedh's older sibling wrestled his focus into present matters - refraining from the impulse to dissect everything that crossed his way (Ah'kaedh's behavior included).