King of the Hive

Chapter 16: Family

Taran’ar stroked Rak’dor’s cheek gently, surprised at her appearance.

“How long was I resting? You are enormous!” he exclaimed. Indeed, she towered over him now. He almost felt threatened, but he knew in his heart that she would never harm him. Rak’dor nuzzled his shoulder.

“Xenomorphs grow fast, silly. You were only asleep for two hours,” she told him. Taran’ar suddenly felt someone tap his shoulder. He whirled around, only to come face-to-face with Jake. Taran’ar cocked his head when he realised Jake was hanging upside-down from the roof.

“Hi,” he greeted casually.

“Hello?” Taran’ar replied, rather confused. Jake appeared to chuckle. He dropped gracefully to the floor and prowled around the room, sniffing every so often.

“You haven’t had sex yet,” he commented, more a statement than a question, but Taran’ar answered anyway.

“N-no.”

“Daddy!” Rak’dor protested. Jake chuckled again. Then he paused and seemed to stare directly at Taran’ar, but his lack of eyes made it difficult to tell.

“Seriously though, Advena’s getting anxious. Once you have mated, you will truly have bonded and she can stop being so up-tight. Really, she’s giving me hell. She thinks you’re gonna reject Rak’dor or something. It’s funny, for humans we would normally be pushing for our daughter not to be so hasty about sex. It seems Xenos are quite different. Not to worry though, I’m sure you can’t get her pregnant. There’s a room down the corridor to the left.” Here Jake paused to indicate the direction with his tail. “It should be private enough. I’m going to have a shower, and hopefully you will have mated by then, and I’ll be able to get some sleep.” Jake then sauntered out of the room, humming to himself. The tune sounded terrible due to him lacking the ability to make any noise other than hisses and screeches, but he didn’t seem to notice. Rak’dor blushed and stared down the corridor where Jake had indicated their room was. She turned back to Taran’ar.

“Should we, er...?”

“I wouldn’t dare to disappoint your father,” Taran’ar assured her, only half-joking. Rak’dor laughed softly and pulled him along with her tail.

Jake exited the cave and basked in the sunlight for a second. As amazing as Xenomorph architecture was, he hated being in the cave system they had developed. It gave him the creeps, and felt a lot less homey than his human house, though he wondered how he was going to get a new house big enough to fit three Praetorians comfortably. He was probably going to have to move in soon. He shuddered at the thought, the warm sunlight interrupted by the shiver that went down his spine.

“Well?” Advena demanded anxiously. “How is she? Are they mated yet? Oh god, Jake! That thing might try to kill her! It’s all their species does – kill things! I should go in there...” Jake silenced her by kissing her. He rubbed her back gently, marvelling not for the first time how convenient it was to not have back spines. He was thinking of getting his removed someday, how was the question though. She calmed down a bit and nuzzled her face into his chest.

“They’re fine Advena. Come, let’s find Ostea. She’s been wandering a lot recently... Who knows what kind of trouble she’s gotten herself into?” Advena eased up a bit, and even managed a laugh.

“Okay Jake... I’m just worried, that’s all.” Jake wrapped his tail around her waist and pulled her closer, placing a gentle kiss on her magnificent crest. She purred and together they marched off to find Ostea.