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The stink was so strong it was palpable. Amelia breathed through her mouth as they advanced through the dim corridors. 15703 - She read the ID number over and over. The large tattoo on the back of Marc's neck, designed to be read from a distance in battle, it stood out even in the dim light. It kept her from thinking about where they were. She could focus on this job. Rescue, liberate. This wasnt her first bust of this size. They passed opaque barred windows that only let in diffuse half-light. More than enough for the puma keepers, but disorienting for the Minotaur and Human slaves. Amelia prepared herself for the entry into the main breeding facility as she, Marc, and the other officers moved quietly. They were armed, though they hoped not to need the guns holstered at their sides. They would arrest and secure the puma staff, and once they were secure, they could move on to rescuing the breeding slaves. Marc opened the door slowly, and a wave of hot, laden air hit them. The long corridor was lined with cages. Sounds assaulted them, effecting each of them as they absorbed the lowing of pain, fear, anger, and hopelessness. There was a babble of Puma, Common, and Minotaur as male and females came to the bars, asking questions, begging for help, or angrily attacking the bars, mistaking them for their keepers. "Minotaur holding." Marc said into his radio, seeming calm, though no doubt the cacophony of suffering effected him too. They would get back here. As soon as it was safe to do so, they would be freeing these prisoners. Amelia couldnt hold back as easily. "-Everything is going to be ok.-" She whispered in Puma. They had practiced phrases in preparation for this raid. Her voice was drowned out by the shouting. She met a few frightened gazes, but every time she did, it felt like a kick to the gut, and she almost couldnt leave them to suffer in that cage. One caught her eye and she stilled. He hadnt approached his cage bars. He lay on the concrete floor, his eyes dull. All she saw was hopelessness. He was built to be large and muscular, but his skin was stretched tight over bone and marred with a lifetime of whip marks that fell so thickly that his coat was just a road map of suffering. His Horns had been sawed off, he was naked, and swollen scars crossed his belly from being opened up again and again to bear children hed never see. He was near the end of his life as a breeder. She couldnt help but imagine in him the parents she never knew. She had been born in this hellhole. Any of these miserable creatures could be her parents. She approached the bars and he lifted his eyes to meet her. He looked at her with a spark of....something, and lifted his head, squinting in the dimness to see her. He might have gotten up, but at that moment, Marc put his hand on her arm. "Lets go." He ordered. Amelia hurried to catch up to the squad, taking up her position behind Marc. With the noise their presence had set off, they could expect to meet the staff, and they might not go quietly. - Amelia was panting with adrenalin as she handcuffed the last staff member in this section. Some had surrendered, others had tried to run. No shots had been fired. Having seen only the minotaur pens, she already hated every one of them. The wildcats had seemed shocked and angry to be arrested. What immoral beasts could see the suffering here every day and not care? "Our lawyers are going to tear you apa-OW!" The puma in her hands yelped as she tightened the handcuffs and yanked him up more roughly than neccesary. "You give them a call. Go ahead!" She challenged. Marc gave her an approving sidelong look before he gestured to the officers, splitting them into groups. "Amelia and I will clear the offices. Howard and Scooter you escort the prisoners, Spiral and Lyla, clear the whelping pens and human holding." He ordered, looking at the motley crew of humans, minotaurs, deer, and badger. All of them had been liberated from facilities like this, from farm or factories, or been kept as domestic pets.Marc led the way into the dim corridors of the empty offices. Theyd chosen to attack on a holiday, relying on the skeleton crew to make things easier. They wouldnt take down the higher ups today, but there was far less risk to the slaves in the building. Their safety was the priority, not arrests. They cleared each room silently. They both froze when they heard a cry from a room nearby.There was a voice, taunting, but speaking in Puma words neither of them recognised. The tembre of the voice was clearly one of the big cats. Marc glanced back at Amelia, and she nodded. They slowly advanced towards the door. The puma didnt seem to get an answer, but there was rythmic slapping of skin on skin and each slap drawing a whimper from the other. Amelia chilled when she recognised they were listening to a rape.Amelia saw the first slip in Marc's professional facade that day. He bared his teeth in anger, his fangs glinting in the half-light and a deep growl coming from his throat. They all knew that slaves were used sexually. Most of them had been left with those emotional and physical scars from their own captivity, Marc and Amelia being no exceptions. Feline owners were particularly cruel however, as their hooked penises ripped the insides of other species, making any rape impossible to simply endure passively. Every thrust was fresh agony.As they neared the door, the sounds suddenly stopped. The Puma spoke, suspicion in his tone. He got a breathless reply from his victim. The voice didnt sound like it came from anything large enough to be a Minotaur. Human then. Marc and Amelia took positions on either side of the door, guns drawn, before Marc turned the handle and they burst in. "-Hands up! You are under arrest!-" Marc yelled in Puma. The cat startled, and hissed, bearing long fangs, claws drawn. His human had taken shelter behind him, but as soon as he saw the gun, he bolted for another door, disappearing into the darkness. Marc kept his weapon trained on the cat, but looked at his partner. "Go after him!" He ordered. "I have this one!" Amelia ran after the human. "Wait!" She called. "-We're here to take you someplace safe!-" She used another of the stock phrases they had learned, but the human continued to run. He ducked into an office, and she followed, trapping him there. Holstering her gun, she showed her empty hands, moving slowly and calmly. "-I'm Amelia. I'm not going to hurt you.-" She promised. The light was so low that she could barely see him in the far corner of the room, but blinding him with a flashlight after he had no doubt lived for years in this twilight would only terrify the human. He was naked like the others. Puma clearly didnt respect their slaves enough to give them even that dignity. He hissed and said something sharply in Puma. She stopped. "I dont understand. Im sorry." She responded. "Amelia." He repeated. "Yes. I'm Amelia." She replied, taking a slow step forward."Dont." The human said shortly, and let out a warning feline growl that made her shiver. "Dont come close." He said in Common, struggling with words he probably hadnt used in years. "You're safe now. I wont hurt you." She didnt move any closer. Now that her eyes were adapting to the dark offices, she could see he was shaking, and he was holding his neck, dark stains hinting he was bleeding. "What are you?" He asked."We're with the police. This place is cruel and illegal. We are here to free you and take you somewhere you can recover." She explained. "Whats your name? Are you hurt?" He leaned back against the wall with a thump. "Police." He said, his voice shaking. "I never thought..." He started to slide to the ground. Amelia closed the distance between them, and crouched down to meet him on the floor. "By morning this will be over for you, ok?" He looked at her gratefully. "I knew I'd die here." "Well you won't." She said. "Let me see your neck." He slowly removed his hand. It was hard to see, but it looked like bites, the new wounds impossible to tell apart from recent scars and healing scabs. Layers of them covered his neck and shoulders. Felines also bit their rape victims to keep them still. She supressed a shudder, and pulled out an absorbant pad to help suppress the bleeding. "Hold this against the bites." She ordered, and guided his hand to hold it tightly. "You'll be fine.""Eric." He said softly. "Hm?" "My name. Is Eric." He said. She smiled for the first time that night. "Nice to meet you."
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"I can still smell it on me. That place." Amelia said unhappily, rubbing her hair dry with a towel as she came out of the bathroom. She was half minotaur, half human, and she had to duck to clear the doorway as she walked naked into the main room of their little studio apartment. Her coat was reddish brown, matching her long hair, and disarranged by her towel. It normally sat smooth across her body, ending in bare flesh beginning at her throat, the bare human skin continuing over her ample breasts, with bare pink nipples, down her belly and between her legs. The rest of her was furred apart from the palms of her five fingered hands, and the long whip scars on her back. "It doesnt feel right to leave them in that airplane hangar of a place while we sleep here." She sighed, looking at her partner, flicking her long ears with unease. Marc nodded. "I know." He said, speaking with a French accent. He was a lean man, wearing only black boxer briefs, and sitting on their bed on the floor. His skin was dark, and he had a permanent 5'o clock shadow on his cheeks. His black hair was cropped short and his soft eyes dark brown. "But they arent in the facility anymore. They're safe, and we're back tomorrow." His fangs showed when he spoke. They were implants, installed as soon as he was 12 years old and old enough to begin his basic training for war as a disposable soldier for the Armee De Terre. It gave him another weapon, to bite and tear the enemy. "But we have so much." She said, looking around their apartment. It was a tiny place, with barely enough room for their bed and a tiny table in the living area, alongside a kitchenette. Their bed was a thin mattress on the floor, on which Amelia had to curl up slightly lest her feet stick over the end. They owned almost nothing. Their clothes were folded neatly against the wall, two uniforms and a few changes of civillian clothes. To the eyes of established people, it looked bare, but to them, this was their dream. As slaves they had been able to own nothing. Marc had his own fatigues in the Armee De Terre in France, but even Amelias clothes had belonged to her master on the farm she worked since she was a tiny child. Now, they rented an apartment with their own earnings. They spent their leisure time however they wanted. They chose who to love. So Amelia was unused to this feeling of guilt, that they were comfortable here in their home while the freshly liberated minotaur and human slaves spent the night in a hangar, with clean clothes, fresh food and water, and medical treatment.... but still caged. Still not free.Marc reached for her, tugging her down to the bed. "They have a chance now." He said, running the tips of his fingers through the fur of her jaw, along her long snout and down her neck. She leaned in for a kiss, lingering on his lips for long seconds before pulling away and looking at him. "Was I like that when you met me Marc?" She wrinkled her brows. "...Dead inside? Soulless?" "No Amelia. Never. You /ran away/. You had so much soul. Right from the first day when you wouldnt let them lock the door on you." He smiled. "That you werent going anywhere but if you were bloody well free then you werent going to have a locked door you didnt have the key to." "So you gave me the key." She smiled at the memory, but her large dark eyes were still distant. "But I was different." She said. "Of course. Of course you were. Fresh out of captivity, we were all different. You never met the scared, angry, messed up alcoholic I was. I couldnt function when I was first brought here." Marc said, thinking back to his first years after being rescued from combat. His Wolf masters hadnt even had a word for shellshock, PTSD, or combat fatigue. He'd "given up". He was just a "coward". It had taken him a long time to realise what had really happened, and he was worth the work it would take to get sober."What was I like?" She asked. Marc frowned, looking to the side as he remembered meeting the abused young woman for the first time. "You were pissed." He chuckled. "Well the highway patrol had just picked me up, barefoot and thirsty and just dumped me in this place with cages and other un-owned animals! You bet I was pissed!" She snorted. "But I mean...really.. What was I like?" "Scared. Scared to go back, scared you couldnt survive outside of slavery." He said, tucking some of her long hair behind her ear. She nodded thoughtfully. "Thats what it was. I was so scared. Just to be on our own, and we didnt spend almost our whole life in a cage." She said, thinking about that day. Some of the minotaurs refused to leave their cages. It was all they knew. "Amelia, I dont want to obsess about work tonight." Marc said, his hand drifting down to her thick thigh and rubbing his thumb on the inner side. "We did good today. You did good." "Phrase that as an order, Captain and you might get further." She teased, using his former rank in the Armee De Terre. He caught his lip with a fang, biting softly, and gave her an indulgent smirk. "On your back, soldier." He said sharply. "Yes Sir." She grinned, pulling him into a kiss and tugging him on top of her as she lay back.
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"So why minotaurs and humans?" Spiral asked. He was half Amelia's height, but the his wide stocky build, sharp teeth and long claws made him a fair opponent. They were in the hangar, walking between lines of cages, each with one minotaur or two humans. They were transporting palettes of rations, labeled clearly based on species. Minotaurs were only fed vegetable and grass based bars, the humans a more complex mix of protein, vegetable, and bean products. Amelia had eaten the bars herself, and been hardly impressed, but it was a step up from what the freed prisoners had eaten in the breeding facility. "What do you mean?" Amelia asked, having to pause to fix her loading jack as it stalled. "Why a whole place just making half minotaurs?" Spiral waited for her."Oh thats easy. Minotaurs are the strongest species for farm and factory labor. Supposedly we take orders easy.""HAH!" Spiral barked. "They didnt meet you!" "I got that from my human side." She smirked, the two of them setting off again, and beginning to unload the boxes when they reached the 'kitchen' area. "But Minotaurs produce almost no women, and it takes expensive hormone treatment to make males fertile." She explained. "And pure Minotaurs have to eat proper vegetables and grasses." She said, hauling a box off the top of the stack. "Expensive." "Right. So minotaurs are a bad investment. Can barely breed em', hard to feed em'." Spiral summarized, taking the box and shelving it. "Half-humans on the other hand." "Right! Right!" Spiral crowed. "Humans breed all over the place! Males! Females! All boning all the time, all of them getting pregnant!" He found no end of amusement in the fairly unique human feature of both genders being able to get pregnant. It was only about 50% of males who were born fertile, but it was enough to amuse the Badger. "And still big, still tough." Amelia added."And humans can eat any garbage around." The badger added. "Yes exactly." "What do you get when two half minotaurs breed?" He asked, taking another box from Amelia's hands. "I dont know. Another half minotaur?" "Thats not always how it works!" Spiral thrashed his tail with voyeuristic interest. "Ill let you know if I ever find out?" Amelia shrugged. "I thought we were going to see a 3/4 human from you! Cute little horn and tail on a human kitten!" He let out a cackle."Thats none of your business!" She raised an eyebrow, and threatened to bring a box down on his head. "And they are called babies not kittens!" Their play was brought to an end suddenly when they heard a snarling and yowling break out in a nearby cage, followed by a crash. Both officers dropped their boxes and ran down the row. Amelia fumbled for her keys to get the door open. The two humans inside were at one another's throats. "Knock it off!!" Spiral yelled, but the two humans ignored him.The blonde human slammed his opponent to the ground, grabbing his hair before punching him hard across the face. "Traitor!" He screamed. "Whore to the cats!" His opponent struggled, landing a punch to the other's gut, giving him just enough time to kick him off before Amelia got inside. The half-minotaur grabbed the blonde off the floor, lifting him up easily and holding him as he struggled. "Quit it! What do you think you're doing?" She demanded. Spiral had hauled the other to the other side of the cage. He had dark hair and paler skin, and Amelia realized he was the human who had run from her the night before. Cleaned up and clothed, he looked far less vulnerable. "I had no choice!" He spat back. The blond human struggled to get at the other. "We all had a choice! Whore! Murdurer!"Amelia held him hard by the arm and pulled him out into the hall. "I'm getting you a nice quiet place of your own to chill out for a while!" She said, dragging him down to the end of the pens. "He could have let us out but he never did! He was their pet! Let me back in there just for half an hour while nobody is watching!" He tugged back towards the cell, but Amelia was unstoppable and he just found his bare feet lifted off the floor before he was pushed into an empty cell. Amelia locked the gate. "You will be fine here. Buddy none of that matters now. We do what we have to to get through it, and you both survived! That puts you on the same team!"The blonde came to the bars. "Not everyone survived. Ebony was in the cell beside me, and he didnt. He died from infection from the whipping Eric gave him. He killed him. Not the cats." He growled. "Do you get it now? Why Ill kill him if I ever get the chance?"
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It was a few hours later when Amelia met with the medical tech who had looked at the human the night before during his entry exam, as well as today. The slim gazelle was flustered. "I'm sorry Amelia I only have a few minutes. Spirits, I barely slept last night." She took a gulp of the coffee in her hand. "He'll be fine. I reset the broken nose. He'll be sore for a while. Eric, right?" She flipped through the cardboard box of files. "I have 40 more entry exams to do today. I'm seeing everything here. Its coughs, eye infections, infected wounds, sexually transmitted infections, its brutal Amelia. Just the neglect." She sighed angrily. "There was absolutely no need for it! A few of the worst cases are hanging on by a thread. I just finished with a Minotaur who looks at least 150. Can barely get up for the infections, but when I examined him closely.... He cant be more than 40. Just a young man." She found the file. "Ah hah! Here we go." Dropping it on the table, she scanned the single page. "Eric... Oh yeah! I remember him! The back scars." She bared her teeth in a grimace. "Mid 20's. Couldnt say own age. Likely a stud as there wasnt much sign of previous pregnancy.""So he's fertile?" She asked curiously. "No idea! He wouldnt let us do an internal exam, but its a fair bet. Most of the humans are fertile males. Doubles your output if you can be studding and pregnant at the same time." The medical tech explained. "Oh. Spirits, thats horrible." Amelia said, digesting the thought of being forced to couple with one of the minotaurs here while pregnant yourself, and how painful it would be for a human to carry a minotaur baby, given the size difference of the species. "Yes. It is." The gazelle agreed. "Clean bill of health once the wounds clear up. In fact, in excellent condition. Feisty. Still some spirit in him! I have him marked to come back to for the rest of the exam." She shrugged. "Sorry Amelia, thats all I have." "Thats fine." She reassured her exhausted coworker. "Thats a lot more than I had." Amelia sat down across from the nervous human. They had tried to dress up the screened-off interview room a little bit, to make the new arrivals comfortable, but the fold-out chairs, plastic table, and rolling screens were only made more uncomfortable by the flowered tablecloth and single potted plant sitting on the floor in its plastic bucket. It still felt like an interrogation room, and Eric looked as nervous as if he had been dragged here by the police. He sat tensely, watching her in between following the sounds of movement outside the walls. /Hypervigilance./ The word floated to the top of her brain from her training, but she recognised it instinctively from many many animals that had passed through her care. There was never a moment he felt safe. "Would you like a coffee or water?" Amelia asked. "Coffee?" Eric repeated, looking back at her. "Can I?" "Of course. How do you take it?" She smiled, trying to reassure him. He licked his lips uncertainly, maybe even suspiciously, and she realised he was surely unused to consideration or gifts, especially ones which didnt have strings attached. "Cream and sugar is common. Does that sound good?" Eric nodded. "Thank you." His Common was getting more fluent, coming back to him after the interviews and exams he'd undergone last night. Once they were settled with their coffees, she watched him for a moment. He held the cup close to him, protecting it, still alert to everything around them. He seemed less concerned about her than what could be happening where he couldnt see, beyond the screens. Amelia hoped this was a good sign, that he trusted her not to hurt him. She cleared her throat to regain his focus, and took a sip of her coffee. "So, I want to start with some stuff you heard last night, but it bears repeating. You're safe here." She began. "We try not to let stuff like this morning happen. Nobody here will hurt you, and the aim is that very soon you wont be caged at all.""How did you find us?" Eric interrupted.
"I was part of the investigation. We knew the facility was there, but we needed proof of what was really happening, so we sent someone in undercover to get video and photographs. This was over a year's work, but as soon as we could, we got in there to get you all out." Amelia replied. "Marc was part of it too.""The human from that night. With the gun." Eric said. "Yes, he's our captain." "I'm sorry... For running. I thought..." He looked down at his coffee. "I thought he would kill us." "We were there only to arrest the Puma staff, and thats completely ok. Its natural to run in a situation like that, and you didnt go far.""What did they do with Samson? The Puma I was with." He asked. "He is in jail right now, and the authorities will decide what to do with him. Thats actually one thing I need to know today, is what was going on when we came in." "They didnt hurt me. Samson, he-" He looked Amelia in the eye for a moment, but then he looked away, unable to defend the Puma. "And dont believe what that blond asshole Speed said to you. I wasnt their pet! It was never meant to be that way!" He hissed, gripping his cup. The way he bared his teeth and looked back towards the pens reminded Amelia so strongly of the big mountain cats that had been Eric's keepers that the hair stood up on the back of her neck. "Calm down. Eric. Please. I dont understand, so lets start at the beginning." She spread her hands soothingly. "How old were you when you came to the facility? And where were you before?" --"Nearly 13! Look how big you've grown!" His father congradulated him in Puma. He put a gentle paw on Eric's chest and held him against the door frame as he marked off his height. Eric turned around when he was released and examined ths markings. There were other names there, Francis, Aaron, and Tyler. They had been before him, and he put his finger on his own marking, at the very top of the height chart. None of them went past the birthday he was about to have. His father slid his arms around Eric from behind. "You are almost a man now." He said, pulling him close against his chest. The Puma's warm fur felt nice against Eric's skin, but the little boy tensed at both the touch and the words. "Dont send me away. Please?" Eric asked. He spoke smoothly in his first language, that of the big cats. "Father. I dont want to leave." "There is a whole life out there for you. Jobs and other owners and other humans to meet. You dont want to spend forever in this old house with this old cat." He purred encouragingly, nuzzling his human boy. "I'll be better." Eric said, turning around and sliding his hand down to the big cat's belt, his nimble young fingers beginning to undo it.His father grabbed his wrist. "No need for that. I'm not sending you away because of anything you did. I love you and I always will." He held Eric's hand in his own, squeezing encouragingly. "Ill help with the new boy! I'll show him what to do! I'll teach him what you like! I dont want to go!" He begged. "I wont be any trouble!" "Shhh..." His father's loving tone suddenly became sharp, and he grabbed Eric by the shoulders. "I dont want to hear any more of this nonsense! Act your age! This is how things will be. I have already arranged everything and you will be going in a week!" He hissed. The young boy was silent, and looked at the ground submissively. His father loosened his paws slowly. "Now." The cat said. "Lets enjoy the time we have." He tucked a pad under the boy's chin, bringing up his gaze to meet the yellow eyes of the predator. "Come." He stood up and offered his hand, taking the boy towards the bedroom they had always shared. -- Back in the interview room, Eric scratched at the peeling designs on the coffee mug, his fingers pressing so hard that they whitened. "Thirteen. I was thirteen when I went there."
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"I could see they liked me from the first. I was scared, and it was all I knew how to do." Eric shrugged, recalling his teenage self, desperate to find safety in this strange and terrifying world. "I was so scared. Father had said... Other owners, maybe a work site, another house. He lied." He hissed softly at that thought, baring his teeth, which were chipped and jagged from his using them in fights, and being punched and abused himself. The effect was to make him look even more predatory. "...Or he didnt know. He didnt look..." Eric now looked distant, as he had many times when talking of his former home. Amelia had struggled not to show her revulsion when the human had spoken of his early sexual use by his 'father'. The fact that the old cat had raised him in place of a son, only to discard him, made it more painful to listen to. Even so, she had kept a calm and professional tone, which she used now. "Can we go back to what you said a moment ago? About them liking you from the first? What did you mean?" "In the first month I was there, I figured out they wanted exactly what my father had. I offered. I..." He paused, trying to remember the common for the act he was describing. "...sucked off Samson first. He was just nicer than the others. He scared me less. Word got around fast." He shrugged, wrapping an arm around himself protectively, the other still around his coffee, which he had carefully drank half of now. "It was good. As long as I was willing, I was safer. Samson let me sleep in his room a lot. He's not a bad Puma. I want that written down. He never forced me." "I am hearing he was kind to you." Amelia said, struggling now to keep her composure. "But could you have said no to him? Or any of them?"Eric subtley drew back, hunching into his coffee. He shook his head. Amelia took a deep breath, unable to supress a little quaver. She examined her charge. They hadnt gotten far, hadnt gotten the information she wanted, but she wasnt sure she could continue, and he was showing signs of shutting down. His body language was scared, protective, and the raccoon-eye bruises from his broken nose had formed fully. He had to be in pain. "Thank you for all this. How about we take a break and pick it up tomorrow?" She asked. "We can find a single pen for you tonight." "I want to be with Marshall." Eric said suddenly. "Is he one of the other humans?" She asked, noting down the name. "No, he's a -cow-." Eric used the Puma word for Minotaurs, considered a harsh racial insult, but he had no way of knowing that."Minotaur." Amelia corrected gently. "I'm not sure we can do that, its policy in case of accidental pregnancy, but if you two are friends, maybe you can be put near him." "Can you at least tell me if he is ok?" Eric asked. "He was sick. Very sick." "I can definitely do that." She promised, but even as she promised, she was afraid his friend might have been one of the ones lost just from the trauma of the liberation. A good 20 minotaurs and 7 humans hadnt even made it out of the transport vehicles. "I'll find out for you. Was there anyone else you would feel safe with? To be housed with?""Just Samson." He replied quietly, and inwardly Amelia shook as the man in front of her identified his primary rapist as one of his only friends. "Ok. I'll find you somewhere to sleep tonight, and get back to you about Marshall. Are you going to be ok?" She asked. He shrugged and nodded, distracted again by the activity outside, tension showing in his body. The sooner she got him behind locked bars, likely the sooner he could relax. "Ok, come on, lets get you set up." She waved him to follow her. She walked along the aisles, trying to find a manager who could assign Eric a new pen. She turned over his words in her mind. A lifetime of rape. It brought back bad memories of her own slavery, which she tried to push away. She was so deep in her own head that she wasn't watching their surroundings. They turned a corner, and she found herself face-to-face with a huge minotaur, taller than her by at least three feet and he jerked back with fear. His coat was pure black and he was heavily pregnant, more reasons to be defensive. He backed away a few steps, snorting angrily, while the medical tech who was leading him tried to calm him, speaking to him in Minotaur as she made gestures for Amelia to back off. The massive creature looked at the tech, and then past Amelia's shoulder, spotting Eric and narrowing his eyes. Amelia stretched out an arm protectively, stepping between them, pushing him back slowly. The tech became more insistant, and tried to get his attention back, but it was too late. The minotaur bellowed out his rage and charged. Amelia yelled out and grabbed for Eric, but he was gone. She barely managed to get out of the way before it smashed past her. "Take cover!" She screamed.
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Eric raced down the aisle, able to hear the snorting behind him and listening to the bellowing in minotaur as it gained on him. He swore beathily in his native tongue, nearly ramming into someone as he slipped on the concrete floor. "Out of the way!" He yelled. He heard screams as staff and rescued dove out of the way of the enraged bull, but could only think of his own safety as he ran. There was a flash of green in his peripheral vision and he turned to see a truck pulling in, opening a door to the treed outside. He changed directions suddenly and bolted for the door. He heard shouts of alarm, running feet, and the truck began to pull back. There was the sound of metal and wood being violently hit, and Eric turned around for a moment to see the bull had careened into the interview room, sending the screens flying and smashing the table. Eric slowed down, trying to catch his heaving breath as he saw officers and vet techs rushing towards it. His reprieve didnt last, as he saw it pull itself out of the mess of metal and fabric and plastic to glare at him. It charged, taking out an officer with its horn-less but still battering-ram-like head. Eric took off again, running towards the door to the outside, only to see it closing rapidly. He cried out and raced towards it, reaching it as it slammed shut. Panicking now, almost able to feel it's breath on him, it's hooves battering the concrete floor, he dove for the first opening he could find. He didnt know where he was, only that there was a cage door propped open. He leaped inside, slamming it shut behind him and scrambling backwards until his back was against the wall. The enraged minotaur slammed it's head into the door at full speed, bending the metal inwards. A vet tech beside him screamed, and put her arms protectively around the Minotaur who resided in the cage. Outside, the jet black animal backed up and rammed the cage again, bending the metal further. Eric panted with fear, looking to the young sheep and her large charge helplessly. There were shouts from outside as the officers caught up with him, but their presence only made the minotaur more angry, and it feinted towards them, forcing them back. It turned back towards Eric in the cage, and charged again, the door shuddering inwards. Eric stared at the bent lock. Another hit and the bull would be inside with them, and they would be dead. "Whats happening?" The vet tech whimpered. "Please, please, please..." She clung to the minotaur who was lying on the floor of the cage. He hadnt moved until now, but he now pulled his feet under him, and with a painful groan, he forced himself slowly to his feet and let out a shout. The angry black bull paused, his attention snapping to him. His sides were shiny with extreme exertion and heaved with his panting breath. "-Get out of my way.-" He wheezed in minotaur. "-No.-" The minotaur said. His feet were planted wide apart and his sides beginning to shake from the effort of standing. His long brown hair had been shaved off by the vets, his reddish coat was torn apart, and his shoulders and hips showed through his thin skin, but he was determined to stand in the large bull's way.Eric stared up at him, recognising him suddenly. "Marshall?" He gasped. The black bull lowered its head to charge again, and took off, pounding towards them. It seemed to falter suddenly, nearly tripping, but recovered and slammed into the door clumsily. It thrashed, screaming out in rage and confusion. Legs failed, and it slid to the ground, revealing to Eric's eyes the tranquilizer dart that was buried in it's shoulder. The black bull lowed mournfully, trying to stand but just tripping dizzily back to the ground. Marshall sighed and colapsed slowly, panting. He had just enough strength to turn to Eric and smile slightly.Eric almost cried with relief. His body was shaking. "Marshall." He whispered, and crawled to his friend, taking his face in his hands, leaning down to nuzzle him. "-I cant believe its you. He was going to kill me.-" Marshall closed his eyes and nuzzled his friend weakly. Outside, Amelia was running towards them, and tried to force her way in. "Are you three ok?!" She cried. "Eric?" The vet tech trembled, her wooly coat vibrating with the backwash of anxiety. "We're ok!" She gasped. "Right?" She looked between Marshall and Eric, neither of them responded, too wrapped up in their own shock. She ran her two fingers through the wool of her head. "We're ok!"
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"What happened?" Marc took Amelia by shoulders. "Tell me how this happened." He ordered. She pulled away, covering her mouth with her hand. "I messed up." Amelia said in horror. "I almost killed three, four, five people." "Yes, but we got lucky. Spiral only has some broken ribs. Badgers can take a hit, and the bull is going to be fine." He reassured her, watching his young officer and lover. She was staring back towards the building, haunted. "Amelia, come here." He ordered, softly, and pulled her into a hug. "Nobody died today." She buried her face in his shoulder for a moment. "I wasnt thinking. I know better! I should never have been walking Eric through the pens knowing he had death threats! I caused this!" She pulled away again, turning and angrily searching around the ground before she found a rock to kick viciously across the parking lot. "I was distracted! I shouldnt have let it happen!" "Thats not like you." Marc observed. "Tell me." Amelia turned to him, opened her mouth, and closed it again. She looked back towards the building. "It was some of the things he said." She shuddered gently. "It just brought stuff up." "Hank. The Farm." Marc replied quietly."The Farm." She agreed. "I shouldnt have let it get on top of me!" "It happens." Marc said, catching her and pulling her close. He took her shoulders, squeezing them tightly. "After this, you will never ever let it happen again. You'll be too careful." "Will I lose my job?" She asked quietly. Without this job, she wouldn't know what to do. "I'll figure it out. We all make mistakes. I wont let anyone get rid of you." He promised, sliding his hands up to cradle her jaw. "You are a good officer." She nodded silently, leaning forward to press their forheads together. "Ok. Now go check in with Eric." He let go. "I'm sure he needs it. I'm going to see how we can clean up this mess."
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It had been a long day. The light outside the hangar windows had faded hours ago. At last, things seemed to have been settled. She had spent hours doing paperwork, helping clean up, and getting a dressing-down from their boss, alongside the vet tech who hadnt announced she would be moving the sensetive, nervous bull. Amelia had helped build an enclosure beside Marshall's, and he and Eric were sleeping separated by the regulation inches, but they seemed content to be able to see one another. She watched them sleep. Marshall huffed softly in his sleep. His brown muzzle was pressed against the bars, as close to Eric as he could get. The human had pulled his blankets from the cot in his cell and was curled up on the floor against the bars, his chest moving slowly as he breathed in peaceful sleep. She wondered how they had become friends in the extreme situation they had lived in, but she felt a little less guilty about today knowing that it had brought them together. Amelia heard soft footsteps behind her and turned with a smile. Marc moved quietly even now, a trait she imagined he had picked up from the wolves who bred and raised his human line. Most other humans seemed to stomp about as loudly as a bull."How are they?" He asked, coming up beside her. He had changed out of his uniform at last, and wore a black hoodie sweater with a band logo neither of them recognised. It and the comfortable jeans made her want to touch him in the soft, loose fabric. "Unhurt, a bit freaked out." She shrugged and smiled a bit. "But together, so thats something." "This is the Minotaur he mentioned in interview?" Marc asked. "Would you like to get dinner here at the mess or just head home?" "Yeah. Marshall." She replied thoughtfully and looked over at her lover. "I just want to change and head home if its all the same to you. I'm exhausted." "That works for me." He nodded. "I'll meet you at the door." Amelia and Marc walked slowly along the aisles. The hangar was quieter now, but never silent. There was a general murmur of many voices. The high human voices punctuated the background of low, melodic Minotaur. The screaming and desperate crying had trailed off since the first night, but would probably never entirely disappear until all the liberated had been moved from here to better places. They split up by the changing rooms, and Amelia headed into the womens locker room. She quietly stripped off her clothes and hung her uniform, which was amazingly still clean despite the long, hard day. She paused, looking around to make sure she was alone before stepping over to the spotted and cracked full-length mirror and taking a moment to look at herself. Amelia frowned, able to see in this image everything that she felt was wrong with her. She didnt look like a human woman, or a minotaur. She ran her hands over her too-round, unfurred belly, and the hips she felt were too large when she looked at the petite human women around her, and too small when she compared herself to the powerful minotaur women. Marc told her she was beautiful. He told her every day. He told her that every inch of her was perfect, but deep down she worried he might be lying; that he was telling her what she wanted to hear. She worried that he saw all her flaws just as starkly as she did, but would never tell her. She just couldnt see what he saw, so didnt trust it really existed.Amelia sighed, and shook her head, heading back to her locker to grab her civillian clothes. "Whats with you today, girl?" She said out loud. "Head in the game tomorrow." She pulled a thin white sleeveless undershirt on, and covered it with a checkered long-sleeve shirt, buttoning it up half way. She pulled on black pants underneath, and closed the locker with a feeling of relief. Maybe she could finally leave this day behind.She met her lover outside, and they walked slowly towards home. It was a ten block walk, but they both welcomed the distance to decompress. "How is Spiral?" Amelia asked. Marc had gone to visit him in his Complex suite while Amelia finished her paperwork. The Badger still chose to live in transitional accomodation in The Complex, and would be within easy reach for visits and medical care until his injuries healed. "He says the next pub night is all on you." Marc smiled. "He is sore but fine. Marathoning Pretty Little Decievers when I arrived." "I'm glad he is going to be ok." She said with relief. "And I might owe him more than one pub night!" "He will be just fine." Marc replied. "I'm so glad the rain stopped." He said, stopping for a moment and looking up at the few stars peeking out. "Cant see the stars in the city, can you?" Amelia stopped and looked up as well. "No. Not like you should." She said, recalling being able to see the expansive river of light that made up the milky way when she was growing up on her isolated farm. "In the desert, the atmosphere at night is so thin, you could see every star." Marc said quietly. Amelia listened. Her lover rarely spoke about his time overseas. He had his hands in his hoodie pockets as he looked up thoughtfully. "Totally different set of stars. Except for Orion, which we called The Hunter, it is the first wolf." He pointed to the constellation just barely visible at the height of its orbit. "Canis Major is what I think its called here, cant see it here, but the first wolf - his name doesn't translate... He is chasing the rabbit whose blood made the world when he catches him." "Thats beautiful." Amelia said. "But very violent.""We were wolves." Marc replied. "It didnt occur to any of us to be any different." He was still looking up at the sky. Amelia tore her eyes from the sky to look at her partner. She couldnt imagine him as anyone but the gentle, authoritative person he was today. The rare times he spoke of his life in combat, she felt a dissonance, as if he was talking about someone else, in another life. Maybe he was.
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Early the next morning, Thierry was checking through her list of tasks for that day. She sat at her desk in the improvised medical office, what had used to be a storage area off the main hangar. The fluorescent lights buzzed softly above her, barely audible above the penetrating sounds of Minotaur and human outside in the main bay. Her fur was damp from the pouring rain outside and she flicked away a rain droplet from the tip of her long tan ear. The entry exams were thankfully all finished. The healthiest rescued would begin moving on to rehabilitation groups across the country, wherever there was room for them. There, they would learn the life skills they had never had a chance to learn in their cages. It would be a long hard road for even those ones who appeared to have made it out physically and mentally healthy. The gazelle medical tech hummed and sipped her coffee, there was still a long list of followups and treatments, and when she had made her notes, she headed to her first patient. Her patient was a followup on the swollen jaw aquired in a fight the day before. "Good morning Speed!" She said cheerily from outside the cage. The blond human didnt stir. He was curled up at the back of the cage. She flicked her ears worriedly. "Speed?" She raised her voice. He still didnt respond. She entered the cage quickly, calling his name again. "Speed? Are you all right?" As she approached, he suddenly came to life, backing into the corner and baring his teeth. "Stay away from me!" He hissed. "Stay the fuck away!" She startled, but keeping calm, she knelt down outside of striking range. "Whats wrong Speed? Has something happened?" "Liars! You're liars!" He was panting, and she noticed dried blood streaked on the floor and the balled up sheets of the bed. Her stomach knotted up. Speed couldnt fold himself any further away from her. "You said it was safe here, but its exactly the same!" He shouted angrily."Speed? What happened?" Thierry asked quietly. "If you tell me, we can try to help." "I was done being raped." His voice shook. "You all said it was safe here." He ran his hands through his blond hair and his voice became a sob. He curled up, his arms around his knees. "It was one of you. Dont pretend you dont know!" Speed was shuddering with sobs now. "They had a key!" --"Amelia!" Marc shook his partner gently. "Amelia, we have to go in." "What?" She asked groggily. She blinked at the digital clock on the floor beside their bed. 0530hrs. "Why?" She groaned. "So early..." She muttered, even as she hurried to get up and find clothes. "Not sure." Marc replied. "Emergency but it sounds like they only called us." He pushed a cup of coffee into her hands, which she drank rapidly in between pulling on her clothes. She looked out the window. "Shit, look at that rain." Now more awake, Amelia began to worry as she and Marc hurried through the rain to The Complex. What had happened? They were almost never called in like this. They changed rapidly into their uniforms and jogged to the medical office where they'd been told to meet. Their boss, Mr. Bakshi, was sitting on a desk, arms crossed, listening with a frown to Thierry. The tiger was taller than Amelia, and nearly as wide. He dwarfed Marc and Thierry. "Good. There you are. Ayari, Steir, close the door." He ordered with his deep resonant voice. He was the only one to call his employees by their surnames. "There has been an extremely serious incident. One of the rescued humans has been sexually assaulted." Amelia's eyes widened. "What!" She gasped. "By his cellmate?" "No." Mr. Bakshi said darkly. "He is alleging it was a member of staff, which is why I want you to investigate it completely. He claims that whoever attacked him had a key.""Is it possible that a master key was stolen and used?" Marc suggested. "That is possible. I want you to interview the victim. Both of you I trust to do it, so whoever has a better rapport with him. I dont have to tell you to tread lightly." He warned. "Check the cameras, not that we likely caught anything useful." He sighed. "Maybe this will finally convince them we need proper security." He growled. "A little too late for our victim." Amelia suggested. "Yes." The tiger nodded. "The victim's name is Speed. He is in lane 2, cage 6." "He's the one who attacked Eric!" Amelia exclaimed. "In that case, Marc you had better interview him." She looked at her partner. "I had to drag him off to his own cage. He may not want to talk to me." Recalling the day before, she realized suddenly that her placing him alone at the end of the row, instead of with another human, had probably made him the perfect target. It felt like a punch to the gut.Mr. Bakshi continued. "Check every single staff member who has a master key, see if they are all accounted for, and keep me absolutely up to date." He finished. "Got that?" "Yes Sir." Marc said. "Of course." Amelia agreed. Mr. Bakshi got up. "Miss Storms will update you on the medical condition. The moment you know anything, come straight to me!" He called over his shoulder. The tiger disappeared quickly out into the aisles. The three staff members couldnt help watching him through the window. He moved so quickly for something so heavy, and the cages fell silent as he passed, the rescued humans and minotaurs trained to respect and fear large cats. All of their management were predators. The openness of the organization didnt mean it wasnt of this world, where nearly all herbivores and many omnivores were born into slavery and predators occupied all top positions. It was simply the way things were, and even Amelia had only begun to question it recently.Marc looked back at Thierry. "So what do you think happened?" He asked. "There was blood in his enclosure. I gave him a sedative, and left one of my trainees with him so he would feel safer. Once he was calmer he gave permission for an exam." She explained. "He is fertile, so there was a vagina as well as penis, and thats where the rape took place. There was fresh tearing from rough sexual contact. It should heal on its own as long as there is no further sexual activity. I also gave him emergency contraception so there is no chance of pregnancy." she said. "He should be fine....physically." She sighed. "But will he ever trust us again? Who knows." Marc had listened tensely. "Did he say anything about the attacker?" He asked. "Not really. Human sized. But he said they got him from behind and he didnt see them." Thierry replied. Amelia paced between the desks. "How could there be a predator here? Among the staff? I know everyone who works here and I cant imagine anyone doing something like this!" Marc leaned against a desk. "We dont know for sure it was a staff member. Lots of people have access to those pens. There are lots of keys." "But what if it was?" She asked. "You would have to be a monster to take advantage of those vulnerable people out there!" "You would." He agreed. "But lets concentrate on solving this mystery and getting whoever did this. Before this happens again. If we are looking for a monster, we could miss the actual perpetrator." Amelia frowned, irritated by Marc's calm. She paced to the window and looked out at the rows of pens. "Right." She said angrily. "Right." She took a deep breath, and calmed herself a little, but she still nursed a ball of rage inside of her chest. When they tracked down the perpetrator, she didnt intend to hold back. He would get exactly what he deserved. "Lets go."
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Marc slid into the chair opposite Speed. He was out of uniform, wearing a neat grey sweater. The interview room had been wiped out, and so they were meeting in what must have been an office when this was a functioning commercial building. It had a dusty couch, a chair Marc had brought in, old file boxes stacked against the wall, and most importantly, complete privacy. "Speed? My name is Marc Ayari. How are you doing?" He asked. "How the fuck do you think I'm doing?" Speed responded. "Probably pretty crappy considering what happened last night." Marc replied. "Can I get you anything? Coffee, tea?""'Crappy'" He imitated angrily. "No, whatever. I just.... I just want to get this done." Speed sighed. He had been starved when he arrived, underweight even for a lean, athletic human line. Common was his first language. In his interview, he'd told them how he came to the Breeding Mill late. He'd grown up 20 years in a factory, doing fine electrical work and climbing through tiny spaces as a child, and moving on to heavier work on the assembly line as an adult. It was dangerous work, and he worked 18 hour days, but he'd had a family there. None of them were related, but the humans took care of one another. It had been an injury that had them selling him on to the hellhole he was found in. Speed had slipped and fallen into moving equipment. He now walked with a limp, and had a hard time standing too long. It wouldnt keep him from working and living, but in the factory, there was no credit given for twenty years of hard work. He had been offered a cane here, but refused, his pride not letting him admit it might help. That had only been in the Mill for five years, so the acceptance of the status quo hadnt been beaten into him. He had told them everything he could and agreed to testify when it was time. Hopefully this didnt change that. Marc had a pen and notepad. "Ok then. We can cut to the chase if you want. I'm going to take notes. Tell me what happened if you can." Speed chewed his lip nervously, glancing at the door as if to reassure himself it was still there. "I was asleep. The door opening woke me up...""Do you know what time it was?" He asked. "I dont know!" Speed snapped back. "I just know they had me by the wrists, they were- they pulled down my pants. I was on my front so I didn't..." He swallowed, running his hand through his blond hair. "They had dark hands, like, furred maybe... Five fingers I think." He swallowed, opening and closing his own hands on the table, and then looking at Marc's as the older man took notes. "Go on." Marc prompted gently. The window was open slightly, and a faint cold breeze wafted over them both, carrying the scent of the damp pavement, the plants, and the scents of the two humans in the room. Humans didnt have the powerful sense of smell other species did, but they could still read a lot about another in close enough quarters. Speed shivered in the cold breeze. He watched Marc cautiously, and looked to the door. "Would you like me to close that?" Marc asked, gesturing to the window with his pencil. "No. It's...nice. Smelling the trees..." Speed replied, his eyes drawn to the greenery outside. "There werent any windows at the Mill...None that worked." "All right, but let me know if you get cold. You said they had a key." Marc reminded him. Another breeze blew in, strong enough to rifle Marc's hair slightly. "Maybe I was wrong." Speed faltered, looking at the ex soldier. "How did they get into your enclosure then?" Marc challenged gently. "I didnt hear a key, so maybe it got left unlocked." Speed was shifting unhappily now. Marc put down his pen. "Speed. If it was staff, I want them put away as much as you do. Its ok to tell me the truth. There wont be any retribution. Nothing will come back to you." Marc met his eyes. "This is to keep anything like this happening again. Amelia and I want to protect you." Speed watched him, with the glassy silence of prey deciding whether to bolt. "...I was wrong. I didnt hear a key. Anybody could have gotten in."
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Amelia sighed. She was bone exhausted. She changed into her pyjamas quietly. Marc was already asleep, rolled in the blankets by the wall. Her pants were overlarge and comfortable, printed with an abstract pattern of blues, and her top was a faded tshirt bearing the logo of The Complex. It had been the first thing she had ever owned outright, given to her the day of her rescue from the side of the road. She had guarded it jealously since. Marc had spent hours off and on with Speed. There had been breaks for tea and food, but Speed maintained that he'd been wrong. He retracted his accusation that it had been staff. This worried both of them. Marc didnt process aloud the way Amelia did, but she could see the interview had upset him. Amelia had spent the entire day tracking down every last master key. Several were missing, their owners too emberassed to admit the loss, or reported it but the report had been misfiled. Since the possibility of an unlocked door had been raised, the suspect pool was now every single employee and rescued who didnt have an alibi for that time period of several hours. She and Marc had both been alone during that time. Thierry had been devastated. Herself and her team were the ones who would have been going in and out of that section that evening. If the door had been left unlocked, it was entirely possible it had been her or one of her trainees that created the safety breach and allowed the rape. Amelia climbed into bed, snuggling up to her partner. Marc woke up partially, and made room for her, muttering a sleepy goodnight before she could tell he had drifted off again. His breathing was so quiet, she found herself holding her own to listen. Thoughts kept spinning round and round in her head. Who could be the culprit? How could they have hurt someone in a cage, attacked them in their sleep when they were most helpless? Had someone gotten to Speed, convinced him to keep quiet?Anger tightened in her chest, anger she had been carrying all day. She rolled over, trying to silence her mind, trying to relax enough to sleep. Amelia closed her eyes, and tried to visualize the stars. The First Wolf chasing the Rabbit through the night sky. In her imagination he never caught the rabbit. It escaped by jumping and weaving through the constellations, hiding in the milky way. She drifted off to dreams of being hunted through a glimmering forest by a wolf made of starlight. Suddenly, Amelia heard a howl of anger and terror. She woke in panic, convinced the First Wolf had finally caught her. She caught a hard blow to the face. She cried out and scrambled away, escape all she could think of as she shook off the disorientation of sleep. Chest heaving with fear, she grasped her face with one hand while her eyes focused on Marc.She saw him just in time to defend herself when he leaped at her. Grabbing for her throat with powerful hands. She screamed at him to get off, baffling him with two arms before throwing him hard. He hit the wall to her left, and the wind was knocked out of him. The man groaned, pulling himself to his hands and knees. He yelled orders in French to men long dead. "Marc! Wake up!" Amelia cried. "Wake up!" She looked around for a weapon, not daring touch him again lest he attack her. She felt blood trickling down her snout from the blow that woke her. "Love, this is a dream!"She grabbed the broom that had been knocked over in the scuffle, and used it to gently push him, trying to wake him. Marc snapped at it with a canine snarl, his teeth sinking deep into the bristles. If that had been her hand, his teeth would have sunk all the way through the flesh to meet in the middle, crushing the bones.It must have been the strange, dissonant taste of straw and floor dust that woke him, because he spat it out instantly, and looked around, sick with disorientation and fear. He swallowed, sitting up, holding his chest, unable to remember hitting the wall. "A-Amelia..." He choked."I'm here." She crawled over to him, shaking slightly from the adrenalin. "You're ok. It was just a nightmare." "I thought-" He grabbed her arm as soon as she came near, reassuring himself she was real. His breath was short, terrified. "We walked right into it-" He slipped into French, and Amelia tried to understand. Words she recognised spoke of his old squad, of which he was the sole survivor. "Marc its over. It's all over. We're home. Our home." She soothed, carefully hugging him, and when he didnt react back, she tightened her arms around him, nuzzling him. He looked up. "What happened to you? Did I do that?" He asked guiltily, seeing her bloody nose and reddening bruise for the first time. "You hit me by accident." She admitted. "It's nothing." Amelia shook her head, wiping at her nose, coming away with fur sticky with blood. "It's not nothing." Marc sighed. "I'm sorry." He was still shaky, but he got up, busied himself with getting a bag of ice for her snout. She watched him move around. He slept shirtless, and in the dim light cast by the bathroom light, she could see the pale gunshot scar in his side, newer than his othe combat wounds. "What was it this time?" He wrapped the ice bag in a clean teatowel slowly, thinking about answer. "Jaldak. It was... We were being held down by gunfire. I thought you were-" He looked at his partner, bringing her a warm washcloth to wipe off the blood before giving her the ice pack. "Did I just punch you? Or was there more?" "You went for me. Tried to strangle me. Marc, dont blame yourself. You werent aware of what you were doing." She cleaned off her snout, and held the ice pack to the sore nose and jaw. She wanted to minimise it, protect Marc from his own guilt, but the blow had been meant to hurt. She would be going into work with a serious bruise the next day. It wouldnt be the first time. Marc was quiet for a moment, stroking her hair unsteadily. "I'm still sorry. You should be safe in your own bed."She just sighed. "I love you.""I know." She replied.
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5 years before:Marc loosened his hand from his semi-auto rifle, reaching for the water on his hip. He frowned as he noted the tremors in his hand. He swore quietly in French. He felt sick to his stomach, shakey, and it wasnt from the night spent in the cold, pounding rain. The weather had kept them from making their escape by darkness last night, but this was something just as dangerous.He was shaking because they'd run dry this morning suddenly. He was sure the supply of concentrated gin provided by their Lupine masters would stretch, but in the storm last night, the last of their ration had been wasted, a puncture washing it away in the rain. He didnt have time to contemplate how it had happened. If he didnt get some kind of alcohol in his system, he would be in serious withdrawl within hours. He drank steadily through the day just to maintain. Without it, he was in serious trouble. He glanced towards his men, and caught the eye of his Beta, Laroux. The second-in-command was a tall dark-skinned man with closely shaved black hair and broad shoulders. He'd been watching his Alpha, and tilted his head up challengingly. Marc met his gaze, staring him down until Laroux looked away. Marc turned back towards the rocky, cold mountain landscape, baring his fangs in a worried grimace. He had to get his men safe, and do it fast. The last thing he needed was for his Beta to make trouble.The stark mountains he watched would normally be beautiful. The air was thin, chilled, and clear. The sunlight seemed to come more strongly through the thin air, and it caught the packs of snow among the black rocks, lighting them up in spectacular contrast. If it werent so dangerous, and if he werent so sick, he might be able to enjoy the view.The pack was laying low in a sheltered rocky area at the bottom on the valley. They were pinned down by shooters he could only just see moving around among the cliffs. "We should have moved last night." Laroux said quietly in the language of the Armee de Loup: french. Marc glanced over to look at his Beta, who had crept up beside him, keeping low and out of sight of their enemies. "It wasnt safe." Marc replied shortly."The pack dont like waiting." "Well they wont have to. We will be moving within the hour." Marc said, turning and sliding down the rocks to the ground level. "What?" Laroux Demanded. "We have to wait until nightfall. Moving in daylight is foolish!" "Dont argue with me!" Marc snapped back, glaring at his beta as the soldier followed him. He was completely aware of how dangerous it was to move in daylight, but he was on a short timeline and so were they. If he waited until nightfall, he would be so sick they would have to leave him behind, and the enemy fighters had known where they were for days. They were creeping closer every hour and wouldnt wait until dark to attack.He didnt want anyone to die today. He didnt want to die today. Laroux didnt back off. "We should wait until nightfall." He repeated.The alpha turned on his subordinate. Marc kept his tone low. "Do we have a problem here, Laroux?" He asked, lifting his lips in a snarl. He was in no condition to argue this bullshit."Look at you." Laroux raised his head, looking down at the shorter Alpha. "You're sick. You're a drunk and you dont have your fix." Marc realized he had let go of his weapon when he spun on the other, and his tremor was clearly visible. He flushed with anger and shame, clenching his fists to extinguish it. "Sick or not, if we wait for nightfall, we all die. You dont make the decisions here!" "Maybe I want to." Laroux pushed him hard. Marc was forced back a few steps. "Now is not the time for this!" Marc snarled. "Why? Because you know you'll lose?" Laroux challenged. "You cant lead us anymore! You are putting us in danger because you need a fix!" He roared. "You've put yourself before the pack!" He pulled off his weapon and placed it aside. The whole pack had heard the challenge. Marc couldnt refuse it.Marc swallowed. He had handed Laroux his ass many times over the years, but things had been getting harder to handle. Marc knew he had a problem, but the battle nightmares, awake and asleep, were more frightening than the alcohol. He did what he had to do to stay in battle. Was Laroux right, was he putting himself before the pack? Was he sending his men to their death? No. Marc knew these mountains. They could do it. Laroux was putting them all in danger, challenging him when they were in open combat. If they both wound up injured, who would lead?Marc pulled off his weapon and handed it off to the nearest soldier, ordering several soldiers into lookout posts. He stared Laroux in the eyes. "You'll never be an alpha Laroux. You dont have what it takes." He taunted. Laroux charged, and leaped for the centre of Marc's chest. Marc dodged and swung his fist at the back of Laroux' head as he stumbled past. It connected, and Laroux let out an enraged yell, and spun on the older soldier. They were instantly at one another's throats. Their snarls echoed off the stones around them. The pack gathered tensely to watch. Marc took a series of hits to the face, and was forced back to get his breath. He was foundering. He knew it, and it felt like a pit was opening up at his feet that he was about to fall into. Everything in his body hurt, his punches felt weak, and his stomach twisted in knots, and it had nothing to do with the fight. He wiped blood from his lips. Laroux waited for him, watching his captain and Alpha with a smirk. "Done already?" He asked. "You do not get off so easily." Marc growled, and came at him, swinging his fist powerfully. Each of their futures hinged on this battle, and each was desperate to win. Marc sank his teeth into Laroux' arm and tore away a chunk of flesh. The beta howled, and grabbed Marc by the throat. Marc's fist made contact over and over with Laroux' face, but he wouldnt let go. Marc's back collided with rough stone behind him and suddenly he couldnt breath. He kicked viciously, but Laroux forced his body flush against him, pinning him. Laroux' breath was on Marc's face as the alpha struggled. "I am going to enjoy showing you what it feels like to be under your alpha." Laroux smirked, loosening his grip around Marc's throat for a heartbeat before slamming his head against the stone behind him. Marc didnt even have the breath to cry out as his vision went dark. He woke to the feeling of being carried. Before he could get his barings, he was dumped on the rocky ground. His men didnt give him a chance to get his breath before they were on him. His belt was undone, his fatigues jacket and shirt ripped off him, and his pants ripped down. His ass was exposed to the cold mountain air and he shivered. He pushed them away as his stomach betrayed him and he retched on the ground. He hadnt been able to eat, so all he spat was water. "Disgusting." Laroux said from above him. "Now this squad has a real alpha, that will put it first!" He cried, putting his fist in the air. The rest of the pack howled in agreement. Marc put his head down in shame. His shoulders shook from the cold and withdrawl. He didnt need to look up to know what would happen. He had done to same, violently, to Laroux and other challengers. There was no better way to establish dominance than to mount the loser. It had to be done where the pack would see. He felt Laroux press against him, bare flesh to bare flesh. Marc bit his lip to keep from making any noise. Marc's ears filled with the howls of his men, no longer /his/ men. His fingers clawed deeply into the ground in pain and humiliation. He closed his eyes tightly as his hair was grabbed, dragging his head back and forcing him to look at the squad. He couldnt.It was then that a shot rang out."Incoming!" A panicked lookout shouted before he went down with another crack of a rifle. Marc was suddenly alone as Laroux bolted for his weapon. It was pandemonium as they came under fire. Marc struggled back into his uniform and searched for the idiot he had given his rifle to, but he was nowhere to be seen. Marc took out his handgun in desperation, just in time for a grenade to land in the centre of their sheltered camp. Marc shouted a warning and ran. The steep stone walls contained the blast, magnifying it. Marc was thrown down hard, and could hear screams, primal, uncontrollable screams, when his hearing cleared and he was able to get up unsteadily. He staggared towards the injured man, yelling to be heard above the howls of absolute pain and shock. There was blood everywhere. It took several seconds to recognise him. "Laroux!" Marc tried to rouse him. "You cant die! This squad needs their fucking alpha!" He didnt hesitate to help the man who had been raping him moments before. The pack was brutal, but it protected its own. Marc suddenly felt like he was punched in the ribs, and he jerked forward, searing pain blooming below his chest. He threw himself out of the line of fire, sheltering behind a rock. He couldnt get breath, and his hand went to the site of the pain, coming back covered in blood. He craned to see where his men were, able to see nobody, but the exchange of fire and the continuing screams told him they were being destroyed. He forced himself to his feet, gasping, making for the radio. He colapsed to his knees at the machine, and managed to send a cry for help. The blood was soaking his shirt now, and he found his legs wouldnt support him when he tried to force himself to his feet. He registered only dully when another grenade landed only a short distance away. The last thing he remembered was covering his head from the blast and feeling it go off.