Chapter Four

<You are late> A message in red hieroglyphs appeared on his wrist gauntlet the moment he stepped out from the ship. He growled as he quickened his pace. He had spent the majority of his time in the training room on board his ship, but the female kept pestering him, he was pleased to get away from her and eager to join the hunt.

Gahtan had complaint about his late arrival but Bau'jah quickly diverted his attention. They were stalking a large male bearlike beast surrounded by two females, the plan was to kill the beast and let the females live. The male was big, thick furs with sharp long claws and teeth, mass muscle demonstrated the alpha status, it would be tricky as both females will attack as well, a perfect prey.

"First one delivers the fatal blow earns the skull." Gahtan whispered to his brother.

"Be ready." Bau'jah trilled in excitement as he reached his combistick.

All three beasts came at them at once, Bau'jah ducked the female's claw and gave it a solid punch in the torso, this earned him a minute to focus on the male, Gahtan already drew first blood from the beast, he dashed in to push the male beast away, the roars of the creatures sent pure thrill into his veins, he roared back as he charged in. These creatures were incredibly agile and fast, after a couple of rounds of restraining the females and attacking the male at the same time - his brother Gahtan slashed the male's throat with his sharp clawed hand. The females ran when their male fell. Bau'jah growled as he yanked his spear out of the creature's arm.

"Nice trophy for my wall." The green Yautja, Gahtan purred proudly as he cut down the head.

"Indeed, brother. Next time, I shall be victorious." Bau'jah crouched to sever the claws and fastened them to his netting.

Ray was so bored she did a couple miles of run inside the ship and relaxed herself in the observatory, she was covered in sweat, looking out - there was nothing outside but trees and plants, she sighed. A loud thumping broke her muse, she could feel the floor trembling beneath her feet. She quickly moved to the exit near the bridge. Red was back but covered with the blue substance, she noticed the huge claws fastened onto his waist, and a ghastly gash on his right chest, leaking out luminescent green blood.

"Oh my god, are you hurt?" Ray asked in concern as she ran up to him, she was on an alien ship and had no clue where she was nor how to operate this ship, if he died that meant she was also doomed, she realized how much she relied on him now. "Red, you are bleeding, are you ok?" She asked again.

"Stop insulting me, female." Bau'jah snarled, he found her question offensive, as an elite hunter - how dare she question his skills!

Wait...what? Ray was totally lost at his outburst but still followed him into the weapons room, she watched him placing the claws on a metal slab and began to clean it. He used a laser emitter device to remove its furs, and once the creature's skin was exposed he reached another device to remove the gnarled skin with a perfect dexterity. Ray pouted her mouth in disgust and then her eyes brightened.

"Red, can I use one of those...um... laser emitter thing? The one that you used to remove the fur?" She asked cautiously. Red moved his gaze up from his task and stared at her. She knew he was waiting for an explanation from her. "Uh...hm," She cleared her throat before continuing: "I-I need to shave." Her voice came out almost inaudible.

"Why do you wish to shave your head?" His gaze followed to her hair and furrowed his brow.

"What? No, it's not that!" She blushed with embarrassment, no way she would tell him she needed to shave her pubic hair and underarms, but she really needed to keep her personal hygiene in check. "Look, it's a human thing, I-I can't explain it, I swear I will not use it against you, or do anything stupid. I'll return it to you shortly." She could feel her cheeks burning now. Red was still hesitant.

"Do it here." He tossed the device at her direction.

"No! I can't!" She exclaimed. "I need to use the sonic shower." Afraid of he might change his mind, she quickly exited the room with the device clasped in her hand as Red's gaze followed her. Oh my god, that was so embarrassing!

Bau'jah didn't follow her out, but he definitely noticed her odd expression - she felt embarrassed, for reasons he did not know nor did he care. He returned his attention to polishing the claws.

Ray exhaled once she was at the sonic shower, she went behind the partition for some privacy - a piece of wooden panel she found in the storage area. She stepped in naked and let the sonic shower clean all the sweat on her body, she was still amazed at this new tech, it was so weird taking a shower without water, she tried the laser on her arm first to make sure it would not cut into her skin and she found out it worked perfectly on her body, the device shaved her body clean in less than a minute! This thing is sick! She wondered what other high-tech alien shit he had. Stepping out - she grimaced as she putting on her ragged T-shirt and jeans, she needed some clean clothes, too. One thing at a time she said to herself. Red came in later after she was dressed.

"Here you go, thanks." She tried to return the device to him and her face burning hot when Red's eyes flickered to her hair with suspicion.

He did not reach for the device in her hand as the idea of any physical contact with a prey displeased him. "Place it on the floor, and get out." Bau'jah commanded as he walked to the edge of an empty pit, a metal panel extruded from the wall in his presence, his hand moved across the surface a few times then clean, hot water started spilling into the pit in the ground - he needed a hot bath to relax after the hunt.

Is that a pool!? Ray gasped, all these times she thought it was some kind of hidden basement or something else in that matter. "Red. Can you show me how to use the bath? I need to wash my clothes." She knew she was pushing her luck, but he seemed pretty reasonable today.

"Get out." He repeated and began to dismantle his armor.

Guess her luck ran out today, her face turned red again when he began stripping. She held back her complaint and hurriedly left the room. Maybe try again tomorrow. She walked to the storage room and was hoping to find some gauzes or other absorbent materials, her period would be due at any day now, but there was nothing here. Uhhh! Being a human woman is so hard - she grunted, she only found some rags and furs, definitely better than nothing, she took the materials back to the bed chamber and sighed, surviving with an alien on an alien planet was harder than she anticipated.

Another week on this alien planet - Ray stretched her back and lay back on the floor in the observatory, this had become her favorite spot on the ship now, she thought about her family a lot lately, they must be worried sick about her, or maybe they thought she was dead, it'd almost been a month since she was gone, she wondered how they would cope with it, but thinking about it would only make things harder for her, and not helping her current situation at all, pushing her thoughts away, she sighed again.

She had a pretty good idea about his daily routine by now, Red would go out every day before she got up and bring back body parts with him, then he would clean and hang them on his trophy wall for exhibition, then training, polishing his weapons, and repeat. She saw his trophy wall once when she followed him in, Red would not allow her to touch anything on the wall, like his life was depending on it - it was packed with claws, skulls, spinal cords and teeth, some of them were humans, and the biggest skull in the center was almost as tall as her, and she was five foot four - not tall for a human, but still...she couldn't even imagine how he managed to kill these alien creatures, she was both impressed and terrified, he obviously liked to hunt, a lot!

She grimaced when the familiar pain registered below her belly button, running to the bed chamber she grabbed the rags and furs she had prepared and placed them in her underwear, she hoped they would last long, but she doubted. She curled up in a ball on the bed when her menstrual cramps started, this was the worst part because her cramps normally would last for two days. Now she could really use some peaceful rest and privacy.

Bau'jah came back but the female wasn't here to pester him like she always had, he suddenly felt a little bit odd without seeing her waiting for him. Odd feeling, indeed. But he knew there was no way she could escape his ship without him knowing. Searching for her, he scanned around the ship and headed for the bedchamber, the moment he walked into the room, the smell of blood assaulted all his senses, and it stirred something primal in his body immediately, he saw the female was lying in bed like a pup and a whine came out of her, is she injured? He lowered and checked her body as she groaned, oddly he didn't find any obvious injuries on her, but her blood scent was so strong, it was overwhelming. This was strange.

"You are bleeding, female. Where, and what happened?" He demanded, with a look of confusion on his face.

"Stop it, Red. I'm fine," She said gruffly and swatted at his hands. "I'm a human female, this is normal for us, we bleed when our menstrual cycle is here. I'm experiencing the side affects, that's all." She could't believe she was explaining human anatomy to an alien.

Bau'jah paused and tilted his head at her with curiosity, standing upright he scanned her body with his bio-mask for a thorough explanation, he discovered the internal bleeding was from her uterus, and more information unfolded before him, then he suddenly was struck silent - her body is preparing for the mating?! He inhaled deeply out of instinct, a sweet scent mixed with blood lingering in the air - faint but unmissable. He purred instinctively as he stared at her for a long moment, then stormed out.

"Eat." He placed a plate with meat and fruits next to her on the bed, she needed energy.

Ray raised her head and groaned to sit up. "Thank you." She replied feebly, her hand paused over the cooked bluish meat, it didn't look very tasty, she skipped to grab the colorful fruits.

"You need protein. Eat." His clawed finger pointed to the meat, refuse to be denied.

He was right and she complied, taking a small bite, she chewed the meat slowly. Surprisingly, it tasted better than she thought, it tasted nothing like the meat on earth of course, but with more texture like tofu. After finishing her meal, she lay back down with hands covered over her belly for warmth.

Bau'jah took the empty plate and exhaled after he exited the room, he appreciated the clean air without her blood scent, she got him so riled up earlier he needed to regain his focus. He did few sparring sessions with his holograms and cleaned his body armor thoroughly, after he'd finally calmed down he placed the body armor neatly on the weapon shelf, he then went to his medical kit and found the gel patches.

"Take these, it absorbs blood when I don't have time to attend my wounds during the hunt." He placed the gel patches beside her.

"Thank you so much, Red." She looked embarrassed but was too weak to care, she touched the gel patches and was surprised at his kind gesture. Maybe he's not that bad.

She immediately went to the washroom to replace the bloody rags and furs she'd been using, and disposed them into the incinerator, she was pleased that the gel patch felt amazingly soft and perfectly fit, at least one major problem was out of the way. Walking back she saw him already lying down on his side of the bed, she lay down on the other side quietly like a church mouse, the cramps were killing her, she tried her best not to whine but she tossed and turned constantly on the bed.

Bau'jah could hear her groaning with pain, whining like an injured suckling. He purred to soothe the female out of his instinct, but suddenly stopped when he saw her moving towards him, inch by inch.

"Don't stop, keep purring." Ray said languidly, she was drawn to his soothing sound and rolled closer to hear him until she touched his bulging arm. He was so warm, she clung her whole body next to his, his purrs reminded her of her cat - Midnight - she missed him so much.

She felt him turning to face her and pulling her further into his chest, his clawed hand combed through her hair and gently stroking her back, she moaned with content, pressing her belly tightly against his abdomen, she sought his warmth to calm her cramps, until eventually she fell into deep sleep.