Xai’an was still in a foul mood after the ooman male approached the little female. He was a large male for their species, but she hadn’t seemed interested. He still found it annoying that he was relieved about that. The more he listened, the more he realized that she had rejected him as a mate some time ago and the male was desperate to prove his worth again. The very thought was infuriating. He clearly had no worth! He didn’t even show the little female any trophies of honor! He simply strutted up to her like an un-blooded male with his first need to rutt. Had there not been so many oomans around, he would have killed the male for his insult to his little female.

Once that thought went through his head, he realized he liked it. He liked it a lot and the more he thought about it, the more he was sure in his decision. His female. He watched the male reach for her and it took everything in his power not to kill the male right then. He had to restrain himself for now. He would hunt the male later to rid himself of any potential competition, for he knew no ooman male would be able to best him, but his female’s desires were foreign to him. So, he'd destroy all competition for her affection until he could find it. He was a hunter after all. Instead he reached for the whip on his hip and used it to pull the male down on his side. It was almost worth fighting his bloodlust to see his female struggling to contain herself from the joy of the male’s humiliation. Almost. Right now, he needed to focus on the problem at hand.

During one of her many stops on the trip, Xai'an managed to grab the little female's hand held device through the little window in the back. He was able to access the 'wifi' in it and download the map of Harrisburg to his mask before she returned to notice it having left her cup holder. That combined with the Bad Bloods information, he now knew the best way to get to the Queen would be to enter the mines to the east side of the town. The oomans ceased production for their primitive fuel four years ago apparently when there had been a collapse.

He also found that during his journey with her that he liked the sound of her voice when she sang. Yautja's did not see the need for any art except for the hunt, but hearing her voice made him want more. Other than her singing, she did not speak. Something he noticed was different from other female oomans they encountered. They all seemed to want to chatter needlessly. Sometimes even when they had no companions. His female seemed at peace with the quiet. Comfortable.

Once moving again, her vehicle played more of the ooman war songs that he grew to like. His little warrior through and through and he found himself more and more attracted to her. His desire to hunt her quickly turned to fascination and desire. He meant to claim her and he would display the bones of her enemies at her feet to prove his worth even though he knew the others would ridicule him for his choice. It wasn’t unheard of, a yautja taking an ooman as a mate. They could still produce full blooded Yautja warriors with only their eyes showing betrayal of their lineage. They did not have Yautja amber eyes. So, it was shamed despite the declining females. Though that was little deterrent for him since he was already shamed for his very being. He never preferred the Yautja mating courtships anyway.

The females of his species normally were the aggressors when it came to looking for mates. They sought out males they found worthy and they battled until she either chose to submit for the mating or the male was able to rut her and calm her into mating with their natural stimulating lubricants. If she found the male to be a worthy advisory, she could choose to keep him as her mate. Most often, right after the mating, the female would thrust the male out violently. Sometimes they did not even live after the mating.

He knew that oomans were different with their courtship. Males persued females. Strong males with the most to offer a female were the most likely to obtain a mate. It was their job to provide protection for their mate and their offspring. He would pursue her. He would have her. This he was sure of.

He meant to leave her the moment they reached her destination, but he couldn’t pull himself away from her. He quietly followed her into her dwelling, barely managing to dash inside before the door she kicked closed hit his shoulder. Luckily his cloaking device was not impared. As she sighed heavily, she walked so close to him that she almost pressed against him. It took everything in him not to growl his pleasure at it or to reach out and touch her. She would surely reject him right now. He had done nothing to prove his worth to her yet.

After she felt confident the door was closed, she bent to pick up her bag and walked further into the structure. He followed her, this time being sure to avoid being hit by any doors. He had to hunch because the structure was built for ooman height. Not yautja. There was a small animal growling and his rage that anything would dare bare malice toward her incentivized him to follow her and- see the smallest mammal he had ever seen. What even was it? Surely it was not a canine? Whatever it was had the audacity to snarl at his female.

His eyes flashed a warning and that’s when the small thing spotted him and froze on the spot. His mask ran over the biological structure of the animal and sure enough it was a canine. He had no idea their canine species could be so small. The last time he was on Earth he was almost positive they didn't have anything this small. This miniscule animal's instinct however, seemed fully developed unlike his tiny body. The little male was normally the Alpha of this dwelling and didn't like anyone coming into his territory. Even female. But he was spotting a bigger predator than he had ever encountered before and he quickly submitted to Xai'an's territorial musk.

"Okay…" His female said in quiet confusion. She had no idea that the canine was fearfully submitting to Xai'an as the new Alpha. But she understood the canine's behavior was abnormal. She followed the animal's gaze directly to him and approached him, still oblivious to his presence.

She was so small that her head barely reached his pectorals and her waist was smaller than his thighs. His need to touch her almost pulled a purr from him but he steeled himself. He needed to get away from her before he lost control. Him. Xai'an. An Elite Hunter and warrior of the Yautja. Then his little female did something he least expected.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Her pleasured sigh lit him on fire because she was taking in his natural scent and she liked it. Liked it so much, in fact, that she began to mumble to herself and crawl around looking for him. He nearly had to reveal himself more than once with how persistent she was with it. Where he moved, she followed.

When she finally gave up, he was almost sad. He liked that she desired the scent of him. Would she be this persistent in her desire to mate? The very thought sent fire to his loins. Oh, he would enjoy rutting her. Feverishly.

Xai'an shook his head, touseling his dreads over his massive shoulders. He had to put distance between them. This was not what he came here for. The fact that he even momentarily forgot about the Kiande Amedha was shameful. No matter how honorable the desire to seed a female was. The Hunt always came first. He would leave her. He had to. But he would come back for her.

Xai'an meant to leave through the door she left open, but again he found himself captivated with watching her. Oomans were such expressive creatures who were easily amused. When she danced for her meal, he found it most endearing. So much that he watched her finish three bowls of the concoction. He admitted it did smell appealing. If he didn't recognize vegetation in it, he would have been curious to try it. Yuatja were strictly carnivorous.

He didn't need to use his bio scan to see she was suddenly tired. Her whole body drooped with it. He almost forgot that oomans required amazing amounts of sleep. Counting on ooman measurements, he only required about two hours of sleep to their eight. Even then he only needed it once every seven of their days.

He followed her to make sure she didn't fall where she stood. When she went outside to collect the canine, he thought it best to avoid its path. He didn't want the animal to claw out of her arms at the sight of him. He would slaughter anything that spilled her blood.

Xai'an found himself walking down further into the dwelling, following photographs that lined the walls. Oomans had such attachments to their mated packs, going as far out of their way to never put them in danger. Which he found odd. Yautja's had pride, but with their way of life, death was not only inevitable. It was honorable. There was no room for love or coddling. It made you weak. Easy to kill.

After a few moments his female came down the narrow passage only to turn into a room he had walked past. He had to bend his knees and turn sideways to follow after her.

Immediately, he felt himself puff up as he noticed the many images of ooman males pinned to her walls. He didn't like the idea of her desiring any other males.

She grabbed a remote to turn on a screen display before she crawled onto the soft mattress. She seemed to really like the softness and he made a mental note to find as much softness for her as possible. He'd line his bed for her on his ship once he got back to it.

Her deep, even breathing signaled to Xai'an that she was asleep. He found that he liked her sleeping form as much as her conscious one. The vulnerability of her in this state flared his need to protect her. To show her that he was worthy of guarding her while she was so vulnerable.

Dark curls covered her face and he reached to gently push them out of her face. Her hair was much finer to his fingers than that of her male species had been. Was it to attract mates, he wondered?

Unable to resist himself, he found himself tracing the line of her jaw. Again, it was much softer than the males who often grew coarse hair here. Another biological evolution to attract mates, he supposed.

She suddenly sighed out, "Sean...you idiot."

He took a moment to process the words. Sean. A males name. Idiot. Lacking intelligence. A growing suspicion told him she was referring to her rejected mate. He knew that she wasn't awake despite her whispered words. Oomans had these things called 'dreams'. He knew of them but Yautja did not experience them. He was unsure how he felt of his female dreaming of another male, even if it was to insult him.

He would take great pleasure in hunting that male if only to prove that he was the superior mate for her. Xai'an turned to the large window, momentarily wondering if she understood the dangers before climbing out. Oomans were such simple pleasure driven creatures.

Safely closing the window, he quickly made his way to his destination, noting the small stature of this ooman city compared to the one he and his female just traveled from. He prefered the simple nature of this place with it having so many trees. It made it easier for him to sneak past the unsuspecting oomans who went about their mundane, honorless lives.

It took him only minutes to get to the massive pit that the humans called a mine as he was faster on two legs than most ooman vehicles. He growled, mandibles flexing as he looked at the blackened destruction left from their digging. The soil here was tarnished. Absolutely littered with filth and chemicals from their primitive explosives. The crater here was large enough to swallow his ship and according to the map he found of the mines maze, there were miles of tunnels.

Before humans evolved on this planet, it had been very similar to his home planet. Yautja Prime. Lush with vegetation and life. The only reasons oomans weren't wiped out like the parasites they were was because they made for the best breeders for Kiande Amedha and sometimes it was beneficial to mate with them. Like his female.

Xai'an scanned the site until he found a small ooman sized hole. He jumped the several hundred feet drop, not needing to use the ramps the oomans did to get in and out.

Inside the tunnel he had to hunch over again because it was made for small ooman height. He hated having to hunch, but he didn’t allow it to halt his pace. His mask was able to scan the tunnel walls, giving him perfect night vision even in the pitch darkness.

He kept this pace for several hours, picking up no sign of anything unusual, but he had yet to clear all the tunnels. As he went further in, the smaller the tunnels became, some of them impossible for him to fit through because they were meant for small ooman males to crawl through. His shoulders were simply too large and his mask noted that if he were to force his way through, it would compromise the stability of the mine. He did not fancy being buried alive.

He was almost at the very end of the last small tunnel that he could fit through when he saw it. The language of his people carved into a massive stone of the tunnel. It was small enough to have been done with a nail and inconspicuous enough to be mistaken for grooves in the earth by oomans had they been here. It clearly read 'For Glory of the Fallen and Forgotten'.

He ran his nails over it and pushed in. The stone easily fell back, worked by technology not from ooman minds. When he stepped inside he could stand to his full height without having to bang his head. This tunnel, unlike the ooman's pitiful dirt ridden one, was encased in pure stone and sloped downward, making it easier for him to gather momentum and run at faster speeds.

When he reached the bottom, he was not prepared to see what he found. Hundreds of unopened eggs surrounding the sleeping queen. Her massive egg sack that hung off the sides was still producing the eggs even as she slumbered.

That wouldn't have bothered him much if he didn't see the bodies of four ooman males with their chests open on the other side of the stage. They were freshly opened, which meant that he had Kiande Amedha to deal with, but how had they gotten out?

He scanned the area to find no other life aside from the eggs and the Queen. The ooman's bodies still radiated heat so even if they had foolishly discovered this lair, the Kiande Amedha could not have slipped past him undetected. There had to be another-

There.

Above the Queen, there was a small hole that reeked ooman excrement; easily large enough for the serpents to pass. They had escaped into the sewers which explained where the ooman males came from.

He growled, but he knew he was going to have to terminate them all. He hated the idea of killing a Queen without using his own skill, but had had bigger problems to deal with. It was rare, but it was possible one of those who escaped above was another Queen. Anak would approve of his actions. He had to contain this.

Xai'an opened his wrist guard and started the initiation of the bomb. This would not only kill the Queen and her offspring, but it would likely take the mine down so he had to hurry. He wasted no time in tossing the active bomb into the mess of the eggs, already blossoming open at the presence of another life and turned back the way he came to run out of there. One thing and one thing only was on his mind.

He had to make sure his female was safe.