Time for chapter 8, comments and votes are always a thumbs up.

Now on with the story!

It was only when they reached Kyiv's dwelling that Mark asked him more about.

"Wait, hold up, what do you mean by she's interested in me?" he asked as they sat down on the closest chairs.

Kyiv ar'Kahn gave a thoughtful sigh, tapping away at his computer wrist for a doctor to come and medicate Mark's broken arm.

"Mark, when a female gives a male one of her possessions, whether it be a weapon or trophy, it signifies that she is willing to breed with said male."

His eyes widened a little "As i-in hav-having... " he stuttered "Sex? Yes, absolutely." he finished for him.

Mark placed his head in the palm of his uninjured limb. 'God, how the hell did it come to this?'

"You seem unhappy of this revelation." Kyiv said, studying his apprentice's body language.

"Yeah no shit I am!" he snapped, standing up from the comfortable piece of furniture.

He then went on a rant, and the elite arbitrator listened to him.

Mark soon realized the disrespectful attitude he was using, and lowered his voice.

"Sorry, it's just... this is a lot to take in. It's just... I have an issue." he muttered the last part.

Kyiv leant forward, slowly clasping his hands together "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently.

The human gave a nod of reply.

"For all my life, I never had someone close to me. I never saw myself as the father type, and... I'm scared of what could happen. Honestly the idea of having a child is amazing, but I don't want to leave him alone to his mother as the Yautja tradition dictates. As a human fist and foremost, I find the action wrong, I would be demolished by guilt. I hope you can understand."

The veteran hunter grasped his shoulder "I understand you my friend, very, very much."

"I know that your race has a different mentality than ours. The only possible solution for you and the honored huntress to have a steady relationship, would to become life mates."

They both knew that the chances of it happening were very low.

"Since you have yet to partake on your Chiva, you do not have the right to sire pups."

Mark stared at the floor, his head spinning "And if even if I were to succeed, I'd still have to obey her, even if I don't want to?" desperate to find a way out of this situation. "Mark, I am almost six centuries old, and have had more than a hundred sucklings. Half of them were born out of heated sessions of rutting to which I did not want to partake. Even I, being one of the elite arbitrators, don't have the authority to disagree."

This was all theoretical, it all depended on Mark's worthiness of being a good hunter. If he hunted weak prey, Mhei r'ka-Guan along with every other female would find him an unfit warrior to continue their bloodline.

'Calm down, there's still time.' he would miss out on this mating season, but the next one would be in 9 years. This gave him plenty of time to think and meditate.

Kyiv looked at his smaller companion, and tried to comfort him "The honored elite is the best hunter and fighter of our clan. She is the offspring of the high eldress, and will most certainly be the next female to obtain the role of high matriarch." 'Well that explains a lot.' he said in his mind.

"She is well know for her intelligence and skill, she is also one of the most active hunters. Such females only desire the best in us males." he stated "For her to be interested in you speaks much about your worth and honor."

Mark was now shocked at these words. "Well..." he started, looking away almost shyly "I did learn from the best."

Kyiv responded with a laugh and gave him a friendly shove, which almost made him fall.

They then started conversing on other topics, the stress and worry leaving Mark.

The fear of being a father was still there, but at least some of it was lifted off.

Kyiv woke up when the first sun of Yaut rose in the sky.

He steadily got out of his large bed, and headed towards his armory.

In no time, he was dressed in training armor, ready to teach Mark the ways of a hunter.

What surprised him was the fact that the ooman was not present in his room.

Fearing the worst, he quickly sent a message to all of the guards, ordering the to search for the primate.

His worries were calmed with the almost immediate reply from Gruvin: "He is in your training quarters, he's been here for quite a while."

Mark was practicing with his combi stick, fending off Gruvin.

To an outsider, it would seem like they were trying to kill one another, but in truth, they were practicing on improving their stamina.

On Mark's request, the arbitrator fought more fiercely, when Kyiv asked him of his decision, he simply replied: "The serpents won't wait for my reactions now will they?"

He preferred his lance over his wrist blades: Mark found it weird to slash as if he were to throw a hook, so he didn't particularly enjoy it's use.

Both Yautja and human were careful of not seriously injuring the other, but small gashes were allowed.

Soon, Kyiv stopped the match, and Mark was proud to see Gruvin breathing hard as he was.

"Look at you; you've gotten lazy while ordering me around!" his friend's mandibles went slack for a moment, before chuckling, "And so I have."

The good hearted banter was cut short when an uninvited figure entered the training quarters.

Kyiv stood up straighter, "Elder Na Gook, to what do I own this visit?" he asked, his voice empty of warmth.

The older hunter addressed him, not even bothering to acknowledge Mark's or Gruvin's presence.

"Elite arbitrator, I have a few things to discuss." "As you can see, I am occupied with the train-" "These matters are far more important than the training of an animal!" he snapped.

Mark started to dig his nails into his palms, knowing not to provoke the already irate looking predator.

The arbitrator stomached his resentment and replied "Very well, meet me in my personal office honored elder." with that he left the room, moving forward at a slower pace than his normal stride.

Only then did Na Gook acknowledged Gruvin with a nod, but still did not return Mark's bow.

He had enough "It is not considered honorable to ignore others." he signed.

The elder flared with anger: "You shall cease your insolence at once, or I shall have you whipped-"

"Elder! You forget that you are unjustly threatening my apprentice on my own grounds, you would do well in stopping your actions!" Kyiv ordered, still present in the room.

The asshole merely huffed and walked towards the elite, it was only when he was out of sight that Mark's eyes lost their hatred.

"You really do enjoy angering the elder, do you not?" his friend asked squaring off against his human companion once more.

He sputtered in shock "Wh-what?! He keeps disrespecting me! How the hell am I at fault?" and he yelped as Gruvin knocked his feet out, sending him crashing to the ground.

"You best not get distracted now." the yautja told him, resuming his stance.

When he settled in one of his office rooms, Kyiv noticed a crate in the center of this room.

He looked at the elder, "What is this?"

The older yautja paused, before speaking: "If I am to tell you, I must make sure that this secret shall not leave this room." Kyiv tapped his computer gauntlet, disabling the cameras.

The elder placed his palm on the scanner.

When it recognized his handprint, it opened with a hiss.

Kyiv felt his mandibles go slack when he slowly reached his hand out to grasp the black colored metal rock.

The elder gave him solemn eyes.

"Yes it is cetanium." he gestured to the other rocks in the large case.

Cetanium was the strongest substance known to the Yautja race, and was one of the rarest as well.

The material had the unnatural ability to maintain it's shape thanks to the extremely close knitted molecules.

It also was not affected by temperature and it did not rust and it had the added bonus of being acidic resistant to Xenomorphs blood.

In short, it was a godlike metal, hence the name.

Due to it's rarity, it was treasured, stored in the clan's vaults.

The Fire Skull clan was one of the few that possessed it, but it was never retrieved in such big quantities at a time.

"How did you find this?" Kyiv asked.

The other yautja was quick to respond "A group of bad bloods were traversing some of my hunting grounds, I so happened to stumble on the by the sheer luck of the gods."

The elite arbitrator gave a sigh a relief, profusely thanking Lilka.

It was unlikely that the bad bloods would have been able to work the metal, but the thought still made him shudder.

"Who knows other than us?" "Our honored matriarch." a burning question presented itself to him.

"Why bring it here?"

Na Gook leaned forward "I fear that there are still other pauking bad bloods intent on retrieving it. After speaking with the high matron, she ordered me to bring it to you, so that it would be hidden somewhere unlikely to store it."

Cetanium was to be forged into weapons that were to be gifted to primal hunters.

The status of primal hunter was one that very few achieved, to have such a title was to show that one had taken part in many hive cleansing and had at the least more than 5 Kiande Amedha queen skulls.

Those who did get to such honor were legendary hunters, their names would echo in history.

The only primal hunter in the Fire Skull clan was Mhei r'ka-Guan. Her rank gave the clan much honor and pride, for it could boast of having one the 7 living primal hunters in the universe.

Kyiv's mind was still processing everything as he poured some C'ntilp in his glass.

Mark sighed, rubbing his arms, trying to soothe the soreness in them.

He had just finished his training and was walking to his room. As he passed a guard, he noticed a shimmer in the distance.

He quickly realized that it was a cloaked yautja, to his disbelief he then saw it pull up the the masked skull of another hunter!

He turned to the guard and signed "There's a bad blood over there!" his masked eyes snapped to where he was pointing and alarms started blaring.

Mark followed the yautja who was running, only to to be tackled to the ground by a bad blood.

The human rushed forward with his knife, and drove it through the enemy's throat. He then helped the guard back up.

Grabbing the bad blood's compi stick, he ran towards the noise of fighting.

Using his speed just as Kyiv taught him, the marine assisted the honored warriors in eliminating the bastards.

He then received a kick and wast sent to the floor.

Luckily, the fucker got trapped with a net gun. The primate looked and saw that it was the guard he saved earlier that helped him.

Nodding to him, he started sprinting, trying to find Kyiv. He then jumped out of the way of a plasma shot.

Mark tried to get up, only to have two scaled hands wrap around his neck.

He started struggling for air, the fucker darkly grinned, enjoying his pain and desperation.

"Di-ie!" he tried to curse him, uselessly slamming his fists into those reptilian like arms.

His vision started to darken, but then a pair of wrist blades erupted from the bad blood's chest with a spray of blood.

The body was then yanked off him, allowing him to suck in some much needed air.

As he regained his breath he focused his sight on the imposing figure above him.

He recognized the huntress, "Yurli?" he asked.

She all but purred at him, "Hello Mark."