Page 39 of Treasured By the Hunter

“Clark at Sanctuary trusts me; he’ll take whatever information I offer without question. I won’t mention any of this at all. And Heather is my friend, and she chose to stay here. I’ll never put her friends in danger willingly.”

The other hunter just stared back at her and growled. I growled back at him. There was no reason to suspect Zoey of wrongdoing without proof.

“I do not trust her. Remove her, or I’ll do it myself.” He took a step toward my female.

“Touch her, and we will fight,” I warned.

Mary came up to grab his arm. “Lok’n! Stop it. She hasn’t done anything to hurt us, and she’s right; not everyone who lives there thinks the same way. She’s trying to be friendly.”

But Lok’n was beyond reason. He took another step toward my female, and I lunged at him, shoving him against the wall.

“Do. Not. Touch. Her,” I warned again.

He whipped around and shot a fist out at me, which I evaded easily. I punched right back, catching him in the jaw. But I tempered my strength. He was still my friend. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I did want to knock some sense into him.

He snarled and swung his fists several times at me. I avoided most of the shots, but he managed to land one on my shoulder.

Mina’s sharp wail suddenly filled the air.

“Stop it, Lok’n!” Mary cried. “You're scaring our daughter.”

“It’s okay, Harb’k. Let’s just go,” said Zoey.

I vaguely felt her pulling at me.

“Stay back, Lok’n. I don’t want to fight you. But I will if you threaten her.”

But the other hunter didn’t seem to hear me or anything else around him. He reached for Zoey again, and I blocked him with my body, keeping her behind me. I didn’t want to fight if it was scaring Mina.

Another shrill cry from Mina finally snapped Lok’n out of it.

He turned to his mate and his now-wailing offspring. That was one thing about youngsters. They cried. Loudly. I wondered if Xarc’n offspring had done the same on Xarc. I’d never met a real Xarc’n child, and I never would.

All of us living now had been cloned from the original ten thousand engineered hunters. We’d all been grown in artificial wombs and spat out fully formed. I’d seen videos of Xarc’n children and babies in our archives, and they didn’t look like the mixed children I’d seen here on Earth.

“Can we go now? Please?” There was worry in Zoey’s eyes as they darted back to the stairwell from which we came.

“I will continue our tour,” I said, ignoring Lok’n’s presence. “Most of the rooms closest to the stairs belong to the humans who stay here and don’t have a shuttle to sleep in. Except for that room which belongs to that rear orifice there.” I used the English words the translator provided in my ear, which earned me a chortle. “Females mated to hunters share the big room at the end if they spend the night here instead of in their shuttles.We also have some spare rooms for guests when they visit from Franklin.”

I took her hand and started leading her past the glowering Lok’n. Another low growl ripped from his throat, making Zoey hide behind me, which I rather enjoyed. I liked being her shield.

This time, Mary had had enough. “Stop it, Lok’n. You are being a big meanie.” She shoved past her mate and came to us despite the other hunter’s protests. “This is Lok’n,” she said to Zoey. “He’s not always such a butthole. I'm sorry for his reaction. He gets super protective of us.”

“It's okay. I understand,” Zoey said. “There are plenty of anti-alien folks who’d have a fit if they saw this. But I’m not one of them. I won’t say anything. I promise.”

“Thank you.” She led Mina, who had stopped crying, forward by the hand.

Lok’n looked ready to start a fight again. His knuckles were almost white from how hard he clenched his fists.

Zoey knelt to Mina’s level. “Hi, Mina. I’m Zoey.”

Mina just waved, which is something she recently learned to do. She spent the last week or so waving at everyone and would get upset if you didn’t wave back.

“You have to wave back,” I whispered to Zoey.

She did, and Mina smiled, deciding she liked her.

Yeah, I know, young one, I like her too.

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