Page 36 of Treasured By the Hunter

“So what’s this Pip was saying about your new lady friend being a traitor?” Mo asked after I’d described the island and the human researchers setting up there.

I’d had my shuttle replay the last bit of Pip and Zoey’s conversation on our trip to the island, so I now knew the source of Pip’s concern. And now that I knew Zoey was my mate, my one and only, I understood it too. But that wasn’t fair to her; I’d known of her plans to reach Sanctuary from the very beginning.

I explained what had happened.

“I believe I understand,” said Kat.

Mo’swife, the human word closest in meaning to ourmate, had hair the color of starlight, just like my Zoey, but it was straight like dried grass and not like the ocean waves. According to the humans, she had an accent, but I couldn’t tell.

“It must be tiring for Sam and Kan’n to deal with an emotional shuttle,” she said.

I’d also replayed the conversation between Zoey and my shuttle, where my shuttle explained that it stayed with her and helped her because it was part of its programming to help me. I was glad that despite my shuttle's apparent intelligence, it was not, in fact, a PIP model. It might have picked up some odd behavior from Pip, but it hadn’t been converted.

Which brought something to mind. “Zoey interacts with my shuttle in ways I have never thought to, asking it to make up new ideas. It was my shuttle’s idea to scoop up the Object with the container.”

“Interesting.” Mo scratched his beard.

I was glad Xarc’n hunters did not grow facial hair. It looked itchy.

“Perhaps you should bring it up with Sam and Lenny. They could figure out if this was inherent in the model or if it was from spending time with Pip.” Mo stood. “Well, that’s it then. We’ll get it all written up and send in a report.”

I made a face at the mention of a report.

Kat laughed. “I know. I know. That is why we will do it for you. We’ve made the mistake of asking hunters to write reports already.”

Not all hunters can write well. We all have basic literacy, enough to do our jobs and communicate with each other. But our shuttles kept detailed records of anything vital to our fights on each planet.

The first time they’d asked me for a report, it had been short.

Scourge located. Met humans from Sanctuary. Hostile. Scourge eliminated. Humans released.

It had created more questions than it answered.

With my debriefing done, I went in search of my female.

There was the scent of freshly cooked food in the air, a rich stew made from the meat of the bovine animals, by the smell of it. But my female’s delectable scent pierced through the delicious aroma, and I followed it to the war room where the opening credits to a movie were playing on the large screen on the wall.

It must be Friday. Friday was movie night. I didn’t usually keep track of the days of the week since it was a human construct and something hunters weren’t accustomed to, but there weresome days that were worth keeping track of, like Taco Tuesday. I liked Taco Tuesday.

Our war room had once been a place where humans sold medications and other personal hygiene needs. They’d moved everything out of it, and now it consisted mostly of one long table with chairs surrounding it for our meetings. There were also a dozen or so couches pushed along the walls. Every Friday, they pushed the giant table over to the side, lined the couches up to face the screen, and used the projector to play a movie.

At first, I’d thought these movies were instructional videos, like the ones the Xarc’n military had left for us, or perhaps retellings of historical battles. But the humans had assured me that they were all fiction, even the ones that claimed to be inspired by real-life events.

My female was sitting on a couch with Heather and Nov’k. Heather was in the middle, and Nov’k looked unhappy that he had to share his mate with her friend.

I stepped in quietly and scooped Zoey into my arms. She made a small sound of surprise but muffled it when she realized she was not in danger. I sat down on an empty couch and nestled her into the dent made by my body.

Since most of the fighters and the warriors were away, the vote had skewed far from the action movies and landed firmly into what the humans had called “chick flick” territory. It wasn’t the type of movie I was interested in. There was very little fighting and absolutely no explosions, but for my female, I would endure anything.

Chapter 17: Zoey

It didn’t matter how many awardsThe Notebookhad received in its heyday; it was impossible to pay attention to any of it with Harb’k right next to me. I had no idea what was going on on the screen, but I knew exactly where each part of Harb’k’s body was.

I was glad Heather had chosen couches at the back of the room so that her mate Nov’k wouldn’t block the view. I’d only met these people briefly before the movie started, and I didn’t want their first memory of me to be us all cuddled up while Harb’k’s horns blocked the screen. That wouldn’t be an ideal first impression, especially after my little mishap with Pip.

Myfirst impression of this base was that it was a lot smaller than I’d expected. Unlike Sanctuary, which spanned a suburban block, this base was only a single intersection consisting of a shopping plaza, and kitty-corner to it, an old farmhouse that had once been converted into a daycare. There was also a barn and a few sheds.

From the air, I’d noticed that they’d cleared out a large nearby field, which still had much of their winter crops covered in clear plastic tunnels.

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