Chapter 150: The Elder
Au’dtair watched as the Saalistaja female fell into the cold snow, her head separated from her shoulders.
"You know I have to report this to the rest of the Elders, right," said an older Saalistaja, coming to stand beside him. He looked at the male beside him and snorted.
"You do what you think is best, Elder," he shrugged. The Elder was able to reply when an enraged Njeriuujk pushed himself between the two males.
"What the fuck were you thinking?" snarled Midnight, clearly not impressed with what he just witnessed. She was the last of her species, but more importantly, his mate, and yet the Saalistaja let her fight to the death?! No wonder her kind died out if that was the type of males they called.
"We can’t get between two females," said Au’dtair, not caring about the other male. "It is law."
"Law, is it?" sneered Midnight as he watched his mate standing still over top of the female. "And when she is killed, that is fine as long as another female does it?"
Au’dtair shrugged his shoulders, not sure how he was supposed to respond. "I have honor," he said after a moment of thinking. "I come from a long line of honorable males. I will never break the sacred laws of the Saalistaja."
"Understood," nodded Midnight as he turned away and strolled toward his female. "Then you cannot blame me when you are alone at night, and your female is with me instead."
Midnight’s steps slowed down until he reached Mei Xing. "I am sorry," he said softly, kneeling in front of her. He ignored the blood seeping into his pants and just stared at his mate. "I am sorry I didn’t stop this."
She shrugged her shoulders and turned to look at him. "At least I know that my armor can take a hit and keep on ticking," she replied. Midnight wished that he could see her but didn’t want to expose her to the elements again.
Coming to his feet, he picked her up into his arms and strolled back into the ship, shoulder-checking Au’dtair and the Elder he was talking to.
"Female?" asked the Elder, looking at Au’dtair confused. "She is female?"
"She is," said Au’dtair. "Everyone return to your ships. The law has been upheld. There is nothing more to be done."
"That wasn’t a clean kill," snarled the first male.
"The fuck it wasn’t," sneered Au’dtair in response. The words of the other male were starting to weigh down on him, especially when he considered exactly how small his pet really was in comparison to the Saalistaja.
"She had armor; no female of ours wears armor," pointed out the Elder, trying to be diplomatic.
"The female knew she had armor before issuing the challenge. It is not my female’s fault that yours ignored that," pointed out Au’dtair.
"That is because she thought she was challenging a male cub," retorted the male, not letting the matter drop. He was days away from being chosen as her mate, and now he was going to have to restart at the bottom again to attract another female.
"Because that makes it better," snorted Au’dtair.
"Maybe not better, but more understandable," shrugged the Elder as he turned to look at the fighter craft behind them. "May I meet her? I need to confirm that she is, in fact, female. The other elders will demand an explanation."
"Send the rest of the males away, I will ask her. But Elder," said Au’dtair, already heading toward the X96. "The other Elders can demand whatever they want; that doesn’t mean that she has to comply."
The Elder grunted as Au’dtair walked away and closed the hatch behind him. He was clearly not going to make things easy on him.
"Da’kea," growled the male as he approached the Elder. "You cannot let this slide. Our women are the most important part of our civilization. If any cub thinks that he can challenge a female and kill her, then he needs to be declared a dishonorable male and be killed without mercy."
"I didn’t see you interceding in the fight," pointed out Da’kea as he turned to the rest of the males gathered around. "Take my daughter’s body back into the ship. She will be buried back on her home planet," he said, dismissing the males before he turned around and went to the other ship.
He would need to explain to her mother why she died in the middle of the Hunt, and he needed to get those answers. The last thing he wanted to deal with was that female irritated.
He stood outside the hatch and pounded on it. It took a second before it started lowering. Once it was fully on the ground, he boarded the vessel and looked around.
There was a bot cleaning up the green blood on the floor as well as the severed arm of his daughter while the Saalistaja male he was speaking to outside was rushing around. He turned toward the nest, and his entire body froze.
There was a second Saalistaja male at the helm of the ship, and the Njeriuujk male was tucking the armor-clad figure deep under the blankets.
"We need to get this place warmer," growled the Neriuujk.
"No shit," growled back the second Saalistaja. "But between the female and the ice buildup, the environmental controls are shot."
"Fucking female," growled the first male as he pushed Da’kea to the side. The Elder noticed that there was a steaming mug of something in his hands, and he was bringing it to the pile of furs. "Here, some hot chocolate."
"Can’t drink it right now; we have company," replied the armor-clad being in front of him. An armor-clad female if the other male was to be believed.
"Fuck him," growled the first male, and Da’kea let out a snort. "I can rewarm up the meat if you want. No, that won’t do. I’ll go out and hunt something else for you. I should be able to find some konjin."
"Konjin would take too long to find," disagreed the male at the helm. "We will reheat the current meat so she has something to eat, and then we will let her sleep. Midnight will guard her, and you and I will find the konjin."
