The first thing that Artemis felt was a cool breeze upon her skin. Her fingers twitched as she slowly roused to consciousness, her nails finding packed earth in her struggle to move. She creaked open her eyes to a world that initially was blurry before slowly coming into focus around her. In her limited view, she saw the bottoms of trees surrounding her.

Artemis groaned when a sharp pain occurred in her ribs when she tried to sit up. Every breath was painful, followed by a raging inferno within her very core.

Every bone in her body was sore, tired, not wanting to move. She felt like shit. Absolute shit.

With a little effort, she managed to sit up. Her body protested but she ignored it while she struggled to her feet. She didn't have any idea how long she had been out, but her legs swaying a little under her told her it had been more than a few hours.

She was in a forest of some sort. Dark green vegetation sprouted from the enormous trees that made up the forest she was in. The ground beneath her was a dark brown and dotted with low lying yellow plants, ones she had never seen before. When she was able to get a peek at the sky beyond the upper canopies she could see, not one, but two moons in the sky; one moon was faint in brightness.

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore..." she wheezed, an hand caressing her sore ribs.

The last thing she remembered was Valam kneeling before her on the clan ship and gassing her with some sort of sleep gas. Him being her attacker had hurt deep within her chest, a slowly growing agony. Such a betrayal had literally been a surprise. Valam was the last person who she would guess at betraying Rhage and her.

Worry mixed with the fear. Fear for Rhage.

He had to be pissed. He would kill Valam. There would be no mercy. Just imminent death.

Speaking of Valam...

Where was he?

Had he dumped her on some unknown planet to die on? What was he planning...and why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?!

Artemis took a few timid steps forward, using a tree as her support when dizziness threatened to overcome her vision. Her stomach rumbled in protest from the onset vertigo, her insides quivering in anticipation to puke. The sensation was awful and she hated it.

She slowly made her way through the forest at a slow pace. Every other yard or so, she stopped to let her body relax just enough to keep going again, the dizziness held at bay by her slow movement.

"Artemis..."

Rhage's voice echoed through the forest, catching her attention.

There was seemingly no sign of life in the forest. It was completely silent with only the whisper of the cool breeze whispering through the fan-shaped leaves. Hearing his voice filled her with brief relief...only to realize that it could be a trick.

Rhage had once told her that Yautja used such a technique when hunting humans. They would use sound bite recordings of their companions or other humans to toy with them, sometimes to disorient them, and other times to draw them out of hiding into a false sense of security. For her to hear Rhage's voice calling out to her now...Valam was here.

Valam was hidden in the forest. Watching her.

Toying with her.

Like prey.

Only...she wasn't prey...she was one of them.

"Come out of hiding, you sick bastard!" Artemis sobbed, looking in the trees and any spot she thought he would be.

The trees...they liked the trees...

A wavy space in one of the high branches caught her attention when the light hit it funny. There was no movement but she knew it was him. That it was Valam.

"You honorless asshole! You will go down in history as the biggest pussy alive! Too scared to face a human!"

A mighty roar pierced the silence followed by the sight of the cloak falling away as he dropped to the ground a few feet away from her with his wristblades extended. Out of fear she extended her own, surprised to find her gauntlet still attached to her arm.

She never went anywhere outside her home without it.

Valam towered over her as he snarled, flexing his hands open and closed like he was trying to control himself. The muscles in his arms flexed and rippled as he stood there staring down at her. Never before had she been so intimidated by a Yautja as she was now.

Living with them had made her comfortable and blind to just how deadly they truly were. They could kill things with relative easy. Right now, even, he could kill her with one solid blow anywhere on her body and he wouldn't break a sweat. It would be easy for him. All too easy to end her life in seconds.

"I am no coward, prey." His rough grating voice was filled with malice and disgust.

Standing there, his dark scales looked lovely in the sunlight and his dull grey armor well used. It was too bad he was a traitor.

They hadn't had any time with one another one on one. For him to do this out of the blue made no sense to her whatsoever. Why did he act now and not sooner if he hated her so much?

"It seems that way to me. We barely know each other, Valam. Why are you doing this?" Artemis pleaded, taking a few staggering steps back as he advanced upon her.

He didn't waste a second answering, "I failed in poisoning you on Saqqar. I failed in getting rid of you. I have never failed anything! Rhage has kept you close and safe, never letting up on security until now, when the Queen hunt was the prime distraction! Nothing will keep me from cleansing the clan of your presence and that filthy hybrid you call Orion." Valam began to pace back and forth, his footsteps heavy.

His armor glinted in the rays of light that broke through the upper canopies; that same light reflecting off his wicked curved wristblades that looked twice as long as any she had previously seen. They were significantly longer than hers, something that would be a problem if she had to fight him off.

"Orion is a baby! My baby! The only cleansing that will be done is you from existence when Rhage finds us!"

"I know he will find us. I will fight him to the death for his throne." Valam chuckled, "He is old and growing weak. I've seen him inspect himself daily. Age is catching up to the old pau'jit."

Artemis glared daggers at him and held her arm up to attack him. He was faster, a single finger enough to push her to the ground. She fell in a heap against the base of a tree, the pain in her ribs burning through her body momentarily with the sudden change in position.

She couldn't believe that Valam had been behind her poisoning and not one of Zen'tukte's men. It was him all along. The villain in the shadows. The one who had been waiting and abiding his time.

"Patience is a Hunter's greatest weapon."

Rhage had said it so many times and she failed to listen. She never expected that to be relevant right now.

Now of all times!

At that moment she wished she were in the safety of Rhage's embrace with Orion against her chest instead of here, on whatever fucking planet Valam had taken them to, and staring up at him as he bided his time for Rhage to arrive. She wanted to smell her mate and feel his warmth. There was nothing more she wanted than to be back home on the clan ship surrounded by people who actually cared about her. Hell, even Dhare had made time to come see his newest sibling.

She wanted to pester him some more about how he would have to accept her being his step-mother.

Rhage, Orion, Dhare, Leonie, Mira...

There were so many that cared for her and none of them would betray her like this. They would never stoop so low as to attack a defenseless woman and harm her. Orion had more honor than Valam did, and he was a newborn!

"He will kill you. The Destroyer will devour you like you deserve..." Artemis growled, her anger cut short as she groaned in pain when the sharp pain returned. It was nauseating but she endured, as she always did.

Valam scoffed, retracting his wristblades and watching the sky. "I will hunt with Cetanu. Oomans know not what the gods intend. You think that by appealing to my honor and religion that I could go easy on you or give you any semblance of mercy. Unlike you, I am not a pup in the grand scheme of time. My lifetime is twice that of yours and will only extend further once I run the Blue Spear clan and eliminate Rhage's entire bloodline."

He was insane! He was literally insane! To do so would be genocide. There was also the fact that Rhage's mom was the literal ruler of the planet.

He would never be able to fight and kill an Ancient.

Sha'ani was huge compared to him. He stood no reasonable chance!

"You're a monster..." Artemis whimpered, clutching her side when she took in a lungful of air.

The traitor scoffed, his mandibles flaring open in a snarl. "Better a monster than weak prey like you."

Sunlight streamed through the trees more when a breeze rustled the leaves and cast a sharp gleam upon Valam's bio-mask. His mask was simpler in design than Rhage's, the look of it menacing despite this. There was so much about the Yautja that was hidden in shadow beneath his calm and collected confidence he exuded. In another life she hoped they were friends instead of enemies, the shining light cast upon a friendship instead of wasted on such a dark-souled monster.

Rhage needed to come faster.

The sight of Valam so callously standing there like he had done nothing horrible filled her throat with bile.

Just the sight of him filled her with fear and disgust; all at once.

• • •

The drop ship hadn't even landed when Rhage lowered the bay door and leapt into the forest down below. Dirt flew up when he landed on the ground, standing up to his full height with the grace of a dancer. He scanned the area for any signs of Artemis and Valam. He searched for any trail or something that showed they had been in the area.

Rhage switched through different modes of vision while the ship landed some feet noks away. He could hear the search party exiting the ship as he turned a slow circle looking for anything, even a small sign, of the two.

There was a cool breeze that blew across the exposed parts of his skin heading westward from the south of where he was. It was enough to make the jewelry in his locs tinkle when he stood still. The ground beneath his sandaled feet was a near perfect balance with hard packed dirt and loosely covered with a soft topsoil layer sprinkled with specs of white from plant pollen.

Bet'mar was a reservation planet owned and nurtured under their care. It was lush with Earth-like biomes and a wide variety of native species that had been carefully selected long before Rhage's time to flourish. This was one of the many safe planets for him to take Artemis to, only now, it would be sullied by Valam. He decided, as Dhare crouched next to him to look for tracks, that he simply wouldn't tell her.

Some things were better left unsaid. He would tell her if it became of importance, but she had experienced enough trauma.

He didn't want to add to it.

"No visible tracks nor scent trails." Dhare noted, rising to his feet while he tapped away at his gauntlet. "Tare said he would send me the necessary information should she be injured. He remains on the bridge as instructed, sire."

"Good. Her beacon is pinging. It is likely a trap."

His eldest sighed, "Valam always loved to spring a trap for his human prey."

Valam preferred to use...questionable tactics that were just honorable according to the Code that they followed. He had always pushed the boundaries and sometimes to the limit. It would be the first time that he had truly broken the Code so egregiously...and with no reason.

His Chief Military Advisor was the last person he expected to stoop so low.

Rhage had made an example of Zen'tukte's male, which had been different, but since it was his own friend the punishment would be much more severe.

No one dared harm his life mate. He just hoped he wasn't too late.

Turning to the small party of four he gave his orders, "Fan out. Stick to the trees. Report any sight or sound of her. Should you find her, immediately send her coordinates. Valam is to be left alive. I will be the executioner." He threw his hand out to the forest with his fingers extended, the signal the mission was a go.

One by one the party cloaked and took to the trees with Rhage in the lead. Two went off to either side of him to establish the perimeter and ensure a wide sweep of the dense forest. The animals of the forest silenced their sounds when they sensed the deadly predators afoot, choosing to hide in their burrows or camouflage themselves. Nearly all of the forest silent except for the hush of the fan-shaped leaves rustling against one another in the mild breeze.

Beams of sunlight poked through the upper canopies here and there, some of the plants bathing in it with their wide open leaves, hungry for whatever nutrients they could get. Various plants were bright red but most were different shades of green, a vibrant deep green.

Rhage noticed every detail of the flora as he made his way through the forest, climbing and descending trees in his search for his mate. He noticed even the subtle breaths of the fearful animals of the forest as they hid in their burrows. Every color could possibly be a piece of Artemis's clothing or even red splotches of her blood. Nothing escaped his noticed.

Nothing.

Traveling through the trees once again was euphoric. A reminder of his glory days when he was young and full of hunger to prove himself.

His sire was one of the greatest hunters in recent history, so he had much to live up to. It was his own ambition and drive that proved himself a worthy pup of his sire's. One who would one day lead the clan as he did now.

He would build it into something bigger and stronger; vibrant with skilled hunters even.

It was his strict guiding hand that earned him the name he now carried, Rhage. His birth name was long forgotten. Something with no significance. A piece of the old him.

Many Yautja had learned that he was not to be fucked with.

Today Valam would face that rage that festered inside him. He would face the wrath of Rhage.

Valam would feel the true power that rested within and why so many respected and adored him.

He dug his claws into the bark of a tree and scaled it, his body still perfectly remembering the exact movements to ensure a quick and speedy climb. The tree branch groaned beneath his weight when he stepped onto it and jumped off, his muscles tightly wound to land on another branch that was slightly lower and a few noks away. His locs flew behind him in the wind and swayed wildly about when he landed with the grace of a jungle cat.

Rhage relished in the adrenaline pumping through his veins and the feeling of his muscles being worked under the exercise. It felt good.

The years were coming upon him but he didn't feel addled by time just yet. His body still moved like a well-oiled machine. His strength was still there and his energy higher than ever.

With age had come wisdom and honed tactics. He looked to be his age but he didn't feel like it.

One of his main worries had been that Artemis wouldn't want him anymore if he were weak and old. What if he had trouble performing as Zen'tukte had teased? What if he could one day no longer protect her? Who would keep her safe and happy should he die? What would he do if she died?

There were too many variables and not enough time to fully worry about them.

In the present her life was in danger. The now was of the highest importance. He had to find her and bring her back to the safety of his arms. There she would be the safest.

The most protected.

He scolded himself for not sending a trusted escort, like Dhare, wherever she went. After this, there was zero chance that she would ever allowed to be alone.

She was a free person, but her safety overrided her want for total free movement. There had to be a compromise — one that she would understand quite well after this one. A legitimate reason why.

Her safety.

Yautja were bigger and stronger. She was no match in a fair fight. Artemis had some training in fighting but it was nothing compared to a Yautja that had been trained from the time they could walk to fight and kill. Humans didn't need those skills unless they needed them, so the majority had either none or very little training when it came to self-defense.

An alert came through his bio-mask, stopping his thought process and him in his tracks.

Dhare had found Artemis and Valam. They were sixty noks northwest from his current location.

He plotted a course via his bio-mask and began the journey to reclaim Artemis.

This is the mask I base Rhage's off from the game I play, Predator Hunting Grounds. I cannot recall the name of it, but it definitely wins the style points!