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You had been stupid, so stupid. You should have listened to Mi'ytiar, should have listened to him when he told you to stay on the ship during your stay on Earth while your son went hunting. You had insisted on coming with him, as you desperately wanted to see your home planet again.
Not that you missed it. You loved Mi'ytiar, loved to be his mate, loved your life with him and your son on Yautja Prime.
You had just wanted to leave the ship to get some fresh air and see the full moon, which you couldn't see in your new home, when you suddenly were surrounded by soldiers. You didn't even think about defending yourself, not in your condition. You had let it happen when they grabbed you and put you roughly in one of the black SUVs.
So many questions swirled around in your mind — how did they find you? What about the ship? What did they want with you? Would they hurt you? And what about Akail? Was he hurt?
You hadn't dared to ask the armed men who were in the car with you. They all had looked at you with different emotions on their faces — disgust, curiosity, anger. One of them wore a grin that made your skin crawl.
When they arrived at their base, you were dragged through many corridors and were examined by — and you thanked God for that — female doctors. They took your blood, forced you into a strange white suit, and put you into a sterile room.
Now you sat in a corner, huddled together. The door was in the middle of the wall on the other side of the room. A camera hung in the corner across from you from the ceiling and had an overview of the entire room. It reminded you of an interrogation room with windows to the left and right of the door, which looked like a mirror from the inside but allowed a glimpse into the room from the outside, and a table and two chairs standing in the middle.
You had pulled your legs to your chest as much as your swollen belly would allow and leaned your head sideways against the wall.
It's gonna be okay, you thought to yourself. Everything is going to be fine.
You didn't know if you were trying to calm yourself down or your pup who could sense your agitation and responded to you with kicking. You sat up straight in a cross-legged position, wrapped your arms protectively around your belly, and caressed it soothingly.
Don't worry, little one. We'll be home soon. Your daddy will come and get us out of here. You have no idea how eager we are to meet you.
Not far from you, Sean Keyes greeted Casey Bracket.
"There you are!" He said as soon as Casey stepped out of the elevator. "Welcome, I–"
Before he could continue, Casey walked straight past him to look at the two metal helmets and something that looked like a gun, everything displayed behind thick glass. None of it was human.
"Alien technology." She stated in disbelief. "Is that what you wanted me to see?" Casey's eyes wandered to the other showcases that displayed even more weapons and equipment. "Can I take a better look at it?"
"Ahh." Sean laughed, "But you haven't even seen the main attraction."
Casey tore her gaze from an interesting-looking spear engraved with intriguing carvings and looked up at Sean. He had climbed the few steps that led to a glass wall overlooking a mix of operating room and laboratory, and gestured with his head for her to follow him.
Quickly joining him, they both looked down and into the room. It was occupied by many people who, from their appearance, were scientists. There were guards, eight in total, guarding all four doors. Screens hung on the walls and desks carried computers and strange gadgets.
The only thing that got Casey's complete attention was the table in the middle of the room and especially what was on it.
"Doctor Bracket."
Casey looked away from the creature and at the man who had spoken to her.
"Would you like to meet the Predator?"
Yes, that's exactly what she wanted.
Still processing what she had just seen, she followed Sean Keyes into the decontamination chamber. She was given a suit that looked similar to the ones the scientists were wearing in the laboratory. The decontamination process didn't take long and she quickly slipped into the suit.
"Thanks for coming." The dark-skinned man, Will Traeger, said to Casey as soon as the lab door opened and shook her hand. "I'm sure you have questions."
"If I'm honest, only two." Casey answered and followed the man down the stairs. "Why do you call it the Predator?"
They came to a halt in front of the table the creature was lying on.
"It's a nickname. You know, the data suggests that it tracks its prey, exploits weakness. It seems to, well, enjoy it. It's like a game."
"That's not a Predator. That's a sports hunter."
"Sorry?"
"A Predator kills its prey to survive. I mean, what you're describing is more like a bass fisherman." Casey simply answered, taking a step closer to the table.
"Well, we took a vote. Predator sounds cooler, right?" Will laughed and received approval from the surrounding scientists. "We found him and his ship. He's heavily sedated."
Casey had long stopped listening to him. She was completely absorbed by the creature, or Predator, taking in every inch of it. The physique indicated that it was a male. His height had to be over 2 meters. He had greenish skin that resembled reptilian-like scales. Its head was big and oval in shape. Instead of hair, what appeared to be dreadlocks grew out of it. His mandibles were the most eye-catching feature about him.
Could they be used for defense? And how did the food intake work?
She noticed that even unconscious, he was making a sound that closely resembled a cat's purring.
"You are one beautiful motherfucker." She finally said.
"I'm gonna guess your second question is why you're here."
Casey looked up to Will and signaled him with a nod to continue.
"Our test results yielded something a little… odd."
Sean, standing next to Casey, handed her a device. She looked back and forth between the two men before accepting it. The screen showed a more complex DNA structure than that of a human, without a doubt that of the Predator.
"Is this a joke?" She questioned in disbelief.
"We ran the genome sequence ten times. This specimen has–"
"–human DNA." Casey finished stunned.
"Yeah." Will nodded, "Look, we know about spontaneous speciation. Mostly plants and insects but–"
"But some mammals. The Red Wolf, for example, a hybrid of the coyote and the grey wolf." Sean interrupted him this time.
"It's possibly some form of recombinant technology." Will added.
"I get it. You want to know if someone fucked an alien." Casey summed it up, finally knowing her purpose here.
"Not necessarily."
Casey looked questioningly at Will. "Meaning?"
"Meaning, we have a rough idea. We would just like to know the detailed procedure."
Casey's eyes widened and she looked at him in bewilderment. "You don't seriously expect a woman to procreate with that thing. There's no way that–"
"Oh, there is no need for that." Sean assured her, "Like I already mentioned earlier, we found his ship thanks to his equipment. But not only that."
He turned to the largest screen in the room and nodded to a man who started typing on his computer and turned the screen on. It showed some kind of interrogation room. It wasn't long before Casey spotted a woman sitting cross-legged on the floor, slowly rocking back and forth.
"Who is that?" She asked and inched closer to the screen in curiosity.
"His mother." Sean answered matter-of-factly, folding his hands behind his back.
Casey slowly looked from the screen over to the Predator, then back. "You're kidding me, right?"
"Not at all." Will chuckled. "His DNA matches with hers. Although the father's genetic heritage is more dominant than hers, you can still see differences between this one–" He nodded to the unconscious alien, "–and a homozygous Predator."
"Wow." Casey mumbled and returned her gaze to the screen.
The woman now walked in circles through the room, stroking — and the biologist had to do a double take — her growing stomach.
Holy hell, she was pregnant!
"Wow indeed. And not only that, but her human DNA has been altered to resemble that of the Predator."
"We believe it's a kind of adaptation to the living conditions of his home planet." Sean started, "According to the blood tests, and we did several because we didn't want to believe the results, this woman is over a hundred years old. We think she was born in the early 1900s, although she looks like she's in her mid-twenties."
Casey's mouth fell open, her heart pounding against her rib cage. "I want to meet her."
He nodded and smiled at her. "That was the plan. No one has spoken to her yet, not even the nurse who brought her food or was taking her to the bathroom."
"While science can answer many questions and give us great insight into our being, there are still things that remain unanswered." Will added, "We don't know when she left Earth or how it was possible for her to reproduce with an alien. We don't know how her DNA changed, and because of that, we don't even know who she really is."
Casey nodded. "And you want me to get the answers to those questions from her?"
"Indeed."
Casey was watching you through the one-way window. You were still pacing, one hand supporting your back and the other stroking your stomach in a circular motion. Even though you seemed nervous and scared, you also looked like a proud lioness ready to attack to protect her baby.
"Ready?" Sean asked.
Casey looked briefly at him and nodded.
"Great. We will wait here to watch and listen. In her condition, I doubt she will attempt anything for the sake of her child, but if she does it will only take a second, and security will rush the room."
"Good to know." She mumbled before heading to the door.
With a deep breath, she pushed down the door handle.
You caught that movement in the corner of your eye and turned to the intruder. "What have you done to him?!" You immediately demanded hysterically, growling at her like a wild animal. "Where did you take him? Where did you take my son?"
It was good that Casey was the first to speak to you. Probably no one out there had the slightest decency to treat you like a real person and would have strapped you to a table, too, careless of harm to you or your child.
"They took him to a lab and are holding him there. Nobody hurt him, I swear it." Casey said, raising her hands to show you she meant no harm. "They just want to know more about him and his kind and why he is here, that's all."
You stared at her, softly caressing your belly as you pondered her words.
When there was no reply, Casey continued, "I just want to talk to you. We want to know how you… why you…"
"Why I got knocked up by an alien?" You suggested bluntly.
Casey nodded. "Yes. It's practically unthinkable to come across an alien hybrid and its mother."
"Where I went after his father took me from earth, it's more of a rarity than unthinkable."
Casey took a step forward and hastily asked, "Do you mean you're not the only one? Are there other humans who procreate with them? Are they also studying hybrids and their traits?"
You laughed at her eagerness and walked over to the chair closest to you, sitting down on it. You waved your hand at Casey to do the same, as if you were hinting you were going to cooperate to answer her questions. The biologist glanced back over her shoulder at the reflective window where Sean and Will were watching the conversation. She sat down in the chair opposite of you and looked at you expectantly.
"Before I say another word, I want to see that my son is okay." You demanded, trying to suppress the tremor in your voice, the very first sign of weakness.
Casey turned back to the windows and waited for someone to come through the door. Instead, the reflective surfaces of the windows turned into screens showing one and the same image — the captured Predator, still tied to the table and asleep.
There was a whimper coming from behind her. When she turned back, she saw tears building up in your eyes and one hand pressed to your mouth. It was surreal to Casey for a human to have such an emotional reaction to an alien creature. On the other hand, this was his mother, unbelievable and absurd as it may seem.
You seemed to calm down, your eyes still fixed on the screen. You nodded to yourself before tearing your eyes away to look at Casey. The windows had returned to their normal state.
"We're going to start with some easy questions, okay?"
You nodded again.
"Great. First, I would like to know your name."
“(Y/N) (L/N).” You answered.
"Would it be okay if I call you (Y/N)?"
"I would appreciate it." You said, "It's a nice change from all the other names I've gotten so far."
"What do you mean?" Casey inquired.
"Alien fucker. Alien whore. Desperate little bitch who thought a man's dick isn't enough for her. Nothing I didn't expect from men." You shrugged, "It just proves once again that Yautja males treat their females with far more respect and honor than a human male could ever comprehend."
"Yautja?" Casey asked, leaning forward, arms crossed on the tabletop.
"You call them Predator, but their kind is actually called Yautja." You explained.
Casey nodded and started to play with her fingers, her next question burning on her tongue. "How did you get into this whole thing? How did you get in contact with them?"
You huffed. "It's quite ironic, you know. On the contrary what you may have expected, he saved me."
"Saved you from what?"
"Again, men. Four of them. They had followed me into an alley and tried to…" You had to pause for a second.
Almost 90 years ago, you had been afraid when Mi'ytiar had taken you from Earth to bring you to Yautja Prime. But looking back, that fear hadn't been as great as what you had felt at the thought of what those men would have done to you if he hadn't intervened.
"He protected me from those monsters… my own kind." You let out a humorless laugh. "Yautja take their prey as a trophy after each successful hunt, you know. Not only did he rip their heads off and their spines out, but he also took me. I expected him to hurt me, to keep me as a slave, or… or to do what these men wanted to do to me that day in that alley. I found out later that I was really lucky that he, of all other Yautja, rescued me. It's incredibly rare that one of them takes an interest in a human being. Usually, they kill every last of them. Humans are too weak and too soft, but that's exactly what he loves about me. That's why he kept me alive."
You let out a sigh, considering how much you should reveal about the Yautja culture.
"On the contrary to me, a Yautja female is rough and large, even larger than a male. After all, they are the ones who carry their offspring and ensure the survival of their kind. The males have to fight for dominance, and if the male wins, the female deems him worthy enough to mate and submits to him."
Casey shifted in her seat. "Did you… did he expect the same from you? Did he force you into submission to…?"
"Never." You growled protectively, "He never forced himself onto me. Never. He was more patient and understanding than all the human males I ever met in my life. He treated me like I was the most precious thing he had ever seen. Never did he touch me without my permission."
"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." Casey soothed you.
She had to be more careful and had to see this whole situation through your eyes — you were separated from your son and held at a facility that was examining you both while you had to worry about your unborn baby.
"Do you want to tell me about your relationship with him? Your, uhm…"
"He is my mate. My Life Mate."
"Life Mate?"
"Female Yautja can mate with multiple males and give birth to their children, but some also choose a permanent mate. You could compare it to one-night stands and marriage, only you can't divorce. It's not called Life Mate for nothing. You are bonded to each other for the rest of your life and they live for hundreds of years."
"Can I know the name of your Life Mate?"
You eyed Casey briefly, looked over her shoulder at the reflective windows, then at the camera in the corner, and then back at her. "His name is Mi'ytiar. He is the leader of his clan."
Casey sat up straight. "They live in clans? Like wolves in packs or horses in herds?"
You nodded. "With similar hierarchy dynamics, yes. There are many clans on their home planet, each living peacefully on their own. Sometimes clans visit each other, hunt together, celebrate together. That's how I found out that I'm not the only human on this planet." You said, "But apparently, I'm the only one who mated a clan leader. Most of them are expected to have a strong successor to take after them and Mi'ytiar, of all Yautja, ended up with a weak little human to bear his pups."
Jackpot, Casey thought.
She finally got to the part that intrigued her the most — how was it humanly possible that you got pregnant, how was it possible for you to carry the child of an alien, and how did it not kill you?
"Since Mi'ytiar has fully committed himself to me, it was up to me to bear his offspring. The Yautja of his clan never dared to say anything. I'm the clan leader's mate, after all. But I noticed it in the way they treated me and looked at me. They knew it wasn't possible for me to carry his children."
You looked down at your baby bump and returned to caress it. It seemed to keep you calm.
"At that point, that fact made me really upset. I got to know their culture and learned everything there was to know about them. I even started learning their language. I fulfill any task assigned to a clan leader's mate. I make my mate happy and proud. But I couldn't give him a child."
You looked up and into Casey's eyes.
"Mi'ytiar is very attentive and he soon noticed that something was upsetting me. Apparently, he was the only one who hadn't thought about his offspring at all." You paused for a second to smile, remembering his reaction when he found out that you wanted to carry his pups. "The second he knew he wanted to keep me around when he took me away from Earth, he injected me with his blood. No matter how many times I've been called fragile and puny, the human immune system can sometimes work wonders. His blood had slowed down my aging and allowed me to survive on his planet. So we visited a healer to finalize my life as his Life Mate."
Your cheeks flushed as you thought of how Mi'ytiar hadn't hesitated to drag you home and how you both had spent several days in your bed, or nest as he called it. There had been hardly a moment when he wasn't inside you. The image of his beautiful mate, his love, carrying his pup in her belly had made him feral.
It hadn't been long before his seed took. The other Yautja had a surprised but satisfied reaction when they saw that their leader was about to become a father. That's when they finally started to treat you like a part of the clan. You had fully proved yourself, proved you could provide for the clan. You were finally one of them.
Akail's birth was hard. It felt like he was tearing you apart from the inside out. But thanks to the injections of Mi'ytiar's blood and the additional help of the tribal healer, your body strengthened enough that you didn't die, even though it felt like it. You were crying and smiling with your mate at your side, holding your little bundle of joy in your arms.
He looked just like his father, no indication that his mother was human. However, his animalistic features were a little softer, difficult to recognize unless you were the mother. While you were being tended to, Mi'ytiar took his son in his arms to proudly introduce him to his clan.
Fondly, you thought back to one moment, a core memory — Mi'ytiar, lying on his side with you snuggled against him, both naked and partly covered in fur, and little Akail, just ten hours old, resting on your chest. At that point, you were so incredibly happy.
It sounded weird and absurd that this was your life and no human could ever understand, but you would never trade it for anything in the world.
"What's the catch?" Casey asked after a while of watching you quietly stroking your belly.
"Huh?" You looked up.
"I don't think you're telling us all this without an ulterior motive. So what's the catch?"
"I want to quench your thirst for scientific knowledge and in return, I hope you will release my son and me. There is no need to keep us here if you get all your answers from me."
Casey started to shift back and forth in her chair. "I don't think that will be possible. There are still things that we–"
"Listen, I have cooperated in the hope you will let me and my son go if you have what you want. You won't like what will happen if we are not soon to be freed."
Casey glanced over her shoulder for what felt like the hundredth time, unsure of what to do or what to say.
"I promised him to contact him every day, you know. My mate." You said, pride permeating your body. "And do you know what it will tell him? The silence?" Your question was obviously rhetorical. "It will tell him that something happened to me and, therefore, also to his son because Akail would rather die fighting for his mother and his father knows that."
Casey gulped. The threat was clear as the day.
"He will come and not alone. Do you really think you stand a chance against them?" You laughed, now more confident. "The human nature is arrogant, thinking they are superior to everyone. Eventually, that will be the reason for your extinction. Your haughty stupidity will be the death of you."
"(Y/N)–" Casey tried, but she was interrupted.
"No, you will listen to me just like you've been doing for the last twenty minutes now. I have lived among them for decades, almost a century. I learned from them, I'm one of them. Stand between a Yautja and their Life Mate and it will end deadly for you. Stand between a Yautja and their Life Mate who's pregnant and I promise you, you will beg for them to kill you."
"(Y/N), there is nothing in my power to help you. I was simply summoned here as an expert to examine this Yautja, your son. I can't–"
"You will. And I'm not just talking to you in this case." Your eyes wandered from her face to the windows and you nodded to the people you assumed to be standing behind the glass, watching you. "I'm talking to them, the ones who have the power. Set me and my son free and I promise you nothing will happen to any of you."
Suddenly, a blaring alarm sounded, startling both Casey and you. Instinctively, you wrapped an arm around your stomach in a protective manner.
"Code Red. Subject Predator is on the loose."
A shuddering sigh of relief left your lips as you slowly began to smile. You knew they couldn't keep Akail immobilized for long.
One of the things he had in common with his father was that he was just as protective over you as he was. He would come to look for you.
Casey had already jumped out of her chair and was talking frantically to the people on the other side of the one-sided window.
You began to talk to your pup again, "Your mei'hswei is coming, sweetling. Soon, the three of us will be back with Daddy."