“Nix.You stay here.It is safer.I will make sure nothing approaches the cave.I promise.”
“Okay,” she said, a little hesitantly, rising from her kneel to approach him.“Be careful, Lihvan.”
He inclined his head and she gave him a small kiss.His heart stuttered in his chest, a sensation he’d never felt before until her.Not even in the bloodiest of battles did he ever become nervous or flustered.And to think that she worried about him going on a small hunt warmed places of him he didn’t know existed.
He left her then and didn’t venture far from the cave.Lihvan made sure to cover their scents just in case any beast ventured too close and he always listened for signs of life, no matter how small.
He also scanned the skies as he waited.With every passing moment, he felt certain the Jetutians weren’t continuing in their search for them.Gribrak’s pride would be bruised after their escape, but he didn’t think the Jetutian would waste precious and dwindling fuel and resources searching for them.The planet was too vast and he’d destroyed the tracker on the escape pod.
It would, however, be easier for his people to find them.When Luxirians hunted there, a common practice during warrior training, they kept to this side of the planet, where life was more plentiful.Lihvan had tried to steer their escape pod to where he knew and he’d been successful enough.With the Fates’ guidance, Lihvan believed that his warrior brothers would know where to look for them when they eventually did reach the planet’s surface.
It could be any span now.Vikan would have alerted the council about Lihvan’s abduction and the message that Lihvan had sent to Luxiria from the escape pod would’ve been received by now.He knew that there was a Luxirian vessel journeying to rescue them.Perhaps right at this moment.
That knowledge brought relief and sorrow.They would return to Luxiria…and then he would send away his mate.An impossible thought, but a necessary action.
A shuffling sound in the vines alerted him to the presence of anotherbixaka, which was what Luxirians called the horned little beast that had provided him and Beks nourishment just that morning.They were plentiful in the area and easy enough to track.
Lihvan stilled, gripping his handmade dagger tight.Carefully positioning his body, readying it to strike, he made sure not to make any sudden sounds.While he believed thebixakawas partially deaf, the creature still felt vibrations through the ground, alerting the poor beast to predators like him.It was quick when it felt threatened and could cause serious injury with its sharp horn.
While he’d dispatched of thebixakaquite easily just that morning, Lihvan knew he made a mistake when he misstepped, startling the creature too soon and cornering it against a wall of rock.The cautious hunter in him would have stepped aside, letting the creature pass, but his mate would need to be fed to keep her strength.He needed to make this kill and soon, for night was falling quickly.He could feel the chill of it weave through the strands of his hair.
With a burst of speed, he came at the black, hairy creature from its left side, gripping its smooth horn in one hand so it couldn’t cut him.With the other, he brought his dagger down sharply.But at the last moment, right before he plunged the weapon into its side, it shook its horn loose and slashed a jagged cut down Lihvan’s arm.
Lihvan made no sound even as pain lashed him.He finished the kill cleanly, burying his knife.The creature went still and he murmured his appreciation to the beast, to the Fates, for providing him and his mate the necessary nourishment and fuel.As he said the words, he felt warm blood drip down his arm and he knew he’d need to close the wound somehow without inviting infection.
Hefting the beast over his shoulders, he returned to the cave, gritting his teeth against the hot pain.He’d had worse injuries, but any type of injury without advanced medical care was dangerous.His female might need to stitch up the wound and he wished he could’ve spared her the experience.
Beks was carefully scooping freshly boiled water into a black vine with another rock she’d carved when he returned.A relieved smile drifted across her face when she saw him and her eyes immediately went to thebixakaaround his shoulders…before dropping to his injured arm.
“Lihvan,” she exclaimed, jumping up from in front of the fire.She went to him as he dropped the creature in one corner.“Are you alright?What happened?” she demanded.
“It took me by surprise,” he admitted.“It is not too deep, but I may need you to stitch it closed.”
She looked a little sick at the prospect but his strong female nodded and said, “Yes, of course.Whatever you need me to do.But we should flush it with clean water first.”
Lihvan jerked his head in a nod and motioned toward the pile of soft moss he’d collected earlier.“Boil that to sterilize it.I can twine it together to make thread.”
“What…what will I use for a needle?” she asked, already setting to work.She poured some of the water back into the stone pot and set it to boil, packing it with a handful of moss.
“I will use my claws,” he replied.
She inhaled a breath sharply but even she understood there were no other tools they could use.She nodded and when the moss was done boiling, Lihvan immersed the tips of his claws in the water as well, grim, readying himself for the pain.Without direction, his clever female rolled and combined the moss into a fine thread that would be sufficient enough to hold his wound closed.
“Ready?” she asked quietly, worrying her lip with her blunt little teeth.
He jerked his head and sat next to her, laying his arm across her lap.“Tev.”
Gently, she used another boiled piece of moss to clean most of the blood away and she hissed when she saw the cut.“I can see bone, Lihvan.”
“I have had worse, female.Luxirians heal quickly,” he reassured her.He didn’t add that Luxirians healed quickly when there was no chance of infection.He would need to keep this wound clean, but he didn’t want to worry her.
“Okay,” she whispered, placing the fine thread against his skin.Immediately, with the sharpest tip of his claw, he pierced the thread through his skin.His stomach clenched at the burning pain but he made no outward signs of distress.The pain was manageable.
Beks pulled the thread through and it was stained with his dark blue blood.She weaved the thread to the other side of his skin and Lihvan did the same thing, piercing it through with his claws.
“Is this why you have so many scars?” she asked quietly.Lihvan got the distinct feeling that she was talking as a way of distracting him.Or perhapssheneeded the distraction.
“Not usually from hunting, no,” he replied.
