Predator: The Invisible Prince

chap 18

The shrill alarm went off simultaneously on Ravki and Rakkah's gauntlets. They did not spare one another even a glance as they raced at blinding speeds off the ship and into the abandoned city Following the frantic pulsing sensor, Rakkah landed heavily on the palace's terracotta roof tearing easily through with his weight. Dropping effortlessly to the floor, the scent of blood struck him first before his eyes landed on the bloody sight of his mate.

Ravki slid to a sudden halt at the door as the roar pierced the air. Just for a second, he didn't react. For that one second, he took in the scene before him. Laying on the ground in a dark pool of blood, Ahzma lay at Rakkah's feet with an object of some kind protruding from her chest. Dropping to his knees, Rakkah, slid his hands underneath her body visibly flinching at the painful sounds of protest that she made. Knowing what his leader intended, Ravki turned and raced back to the ship jumping over the human buildings and up through the ship's bay doors.

By now the other hunters were in high alert watching as their leader came up behind him at a slower pace. It only took seconds to snatch the confused human doctor from her room forcing her to join their own medical overseers in the medical bay. The human doctor's cry of shock was the only sound from the room when Rakkah burst through the door. Laying Ahzma on the medical table, Rakkah stepped back in almost trancelike steps as the human doctor along with another yautja medics worked to remove the little bit of clothes on her body before placing her into the medical sarcophagus. Ravki watched as his leader said nothing as the human doctor and the medics argued about the course of treatment.

"No! We must not be too aggressive with it, if we put too much ephemoralh12 in it would cause her to miscarry," she shook her head emphatically. "We must pull out the blade carefully and slowly with the surgical drone while the gel solution tries to repair the heart damage and the entry wound. The biggest problem will be the loss of blood..."

Ravki watched as his leader's head shot up at the woman's confession. She wasn't looking at either of them and she didn't see Rakkah's hands tighten into fists. Ravki looked from his leader and back to the female now floating in the tank. Her long black hair was suspended in the gelatinous healing fluid of the medical sarcophagus, the mask over her face hid her eyes as it pumped oxygen into her. Stepping forward, Rakkah stared down through the glass of the medical sarcophagus for a long silent moment before turning and grabbing the small silver gauntlet on the table and leaving the room.

#

The Tani woman was tracked by the Koga's hounds and found running along the beach. Rakkah watched in silence as the large group of Upran humans surrounded the woman. Tears streaked their cheeks as anger warped their once happy faces. Led by the male human who danced with his mate and the female called Lyra they beat and halfway drug the woman back to the city. They told her she would live until her child was born and once delivered, they would find a sharp piece of metal and drive it into the woman's heart just as she did their princess.

#

A week went by and Ahzma's condition was finally stable. There has been two primary concerns: the loss of blood and the life of the fetus. Though Ahzma's blood type was rare there was no shortage of volunteers from her people to offer up their own. The puncture through her heart was at seventy percent healing completion by the sarcophagus's readouts. Sitting by the sarcophagus with their arms hooked to the transfusion machine, both Imani and Lyra stared through the glass as the floating woman and offered up their tear filled prayers.

The biggest obstacle however in Ahzma's recovery was Rakkah. Until now, Esmerelda had always seen Rakkah as a quiet, level-headed leader amongst brash blood thirsty savages. But now she found the lead hunter unrecognizable. When she proposed they keep Ahzma in suspended healing longer to give the fetus a larger chance at survival he had grabbed her by the throat. Frightened and pulled to the tips of her toes, Esmerelda gasped at the powerful pressure around her throat as he brought her closer to his flexing mandibles.