"Well, what do we have here?" A deep voice woke up Kyle, looking up to see a man grinning at them from a few feet away. He was wearing a cotton shirt and a vest, a golden cross stitched onto the shoulder of his shirt.
Kyle sat up only to remember that both he and Kira were naked- and he was in his human form. It was night, and Jasa was silent as always without the sun. "Who are you?" He growled.
The man only smiled, looking down at Kira as she stirred. "A man who's found his prey. I see the little witch found a man to spell to protect her."
Kira's eyes shot open at that, and she looked over at the man, squeaking in fear and scrambling toward Kyle for protection.
Kyle wrapped his arms around her, determined to keep her safe. He had no claws or fangs to fight with, but he still had his fists. "Stay the hell away from us." He growled angrily.
"Or you'll what, little man?" The hunter laughed. You're both coming with me." Other men arrived behind him, walking over and dragging both him and Kira to their feet, throwing their clothes at them. "Get dressed, and don't try to fight. You'll lose."
Kyle looked at the men with hatred burning in his eyes but put on his pants and shirt, knowing he couldn't fight against three men at once. One on one he might be able to win because of his martial arts training, but three? No, especially not while they were on horseback.
Kira let out a soft sob behind him that broke his heart as she clung her clothes to her chest, tears running down her cheeks. He turned around and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly, ignoring the men as they scoffed at him in disgust.
"It's alright, baby. I'll protect you. Don't you worry about a thing- I'll get us out of this." Somehow. He'd work something out- he was a smart guy, right? He'd graduated college, after all.
Yeah, in art school. That was going to be useful in this situation. Maybe he should distract them by painting for them.
She nodded weakly and put her clothes on, the man waiting for them impatiently to finish dressing before tying their hands into tight bindings of rope. Damn, now even if he did turn leopard, he would still be at a disadvantage without his claws.
He followed after the man as he led them through the forest, his mind racing with ideas of how to escape as Kira continued to whimper beside him.
Whoever these people were, he was going to rip them apart.
When sunrise came, they were in the basement of some dingy old house in the outskirts of a city. He could smell the smoke from the large billowing smokestacks he had seen in the distance, and it made his nose burn painfully.
The men had tied them to the wall, only a short distance away from each other. It was close enough that Kira was comforted by his presence, but far enough away he couldn't touch her or hold her like he yearned to. She had stopped crying, but she still whimpered occasionally. Whether it was from fear or from something else, he didn't know.
"Are you okay, baby?" He asked gently, looking over at her in the darkness.
"I'm sorry." She said in a sad voice. "I got us captured. They were after me, and now you'll be hurt too." She whispered, looking over to him with wide blue eyes. "I never wanted you hurt."
"I know, Kira. It's not your fault at all. Just because these people don't understand you doesn't mean you should blame yourself for their actions."
Kira looked down and nodded, though she didn't look convinced.
Sunlight broke through the small window that was high on the far wall, much too small for them to crawl through. The shaft of light illuminated the inside of the basement and Kyle groaned and twitched with the transformation, the bindings making the change more uncomfortable than it usually would be. He didn't want to raise suspicion from his captors though, so he kept as silent as possible.
When Jasa stretched in his mind the leopard seemed to instantly detect that something was wrong. Not too surprising, considering he was tied to a wall.
What has happened? Why are we held captive? Jasa growled, obviously not liking being tied up.
"The hunters found us." Kira said softly beside him. "After… the mating." She flushed at the fact they had fallen asleep after it. "We shouldn't have stayed out so long."
"We'll figure a way out of this." Kyle insisted. "And ideas, Jasa?"
We are tied to a wall, in a strange house and probably near a human city. The only asset we have is our tail, but they will likely tie that to our leg once they find out we're a shifter. The only hope we have is to try and fight our way out if we get a chance.
He liked that idea. It gave him the opportunity to knock some heads together in revenge. "Do you think you can do that, Kira? You may have to use your magic."
Kira shook her head and bit her lip. "If I take life with my magic, it… gets tainted. I probably could, but I'd pay for it later on."
Kyle didn't like the sound of that, and neither did Jasa. "Well, then we'll only come to that if we need to. Let's just concentrate on trying to get out of these bonds, or waiting until one of the idiots unties us for some reason."
Kira nodded, and Jasa growled uneasily. I do not like the idea of waiting.
"Neither do I, but I don't really see another choice in the matter." Kyle whispered angrily. "We're kind of stuck."
The leopard paced back and forth unhappily until the door opened and they all froze in shock. Luckily the light was casting shadows along the wall they were tied to- Kyle was mostly obstructed from view by the person who was looking down at them from the top of the stairs.
"We've spoken to the council of elders." The man said gruffly, as if he was unsatisfied with something. "They want me to ask you for a last request."
Kira looked up in surprise and immediately said. "I wish for him to be let go."
Kyle growled unhappily at her answer, the man at the top of the stairs laughing in amusement.
"You want to get your spellbound pawn out of here, then? Feeling bad for involving an innocent?" The hunter looked down at her with disgust. "It's about time you showed some morals."
Kira ignored his insult and looked to him firmly. "If you let him go, then that will be my last request. Or are you going to tell the elders you denied a dying woman's wish?"
The man glared at her suddenly before grunting and walking down the stairs. He walked over to Kyle, freezing when he saw him close enough to see the fur.
"Holy shit, he's a shifter! A leopard!" He brought a knife out in alarm. "No way am I letting him loose."
"It's my last wish!" Kira said angrily, her eyes glowing green in her fury. "If you don't let him go, I'll take down this whole house- maybe even the city if you piss me off any more."
The man seemed to get the hint. Kyle wasn't sure if she could really bring down a house and especially not a city, but this man seemed to believe she was that powerful. Let him believe it.
Kyle. You must let me have control. I will get us out of this. I have… a lot of experience with hostility.
Fine by him. Martial arts only went so far- but if Jasa had actual experience that was by far more preferable. The man didn't notice Kyle's eyes shifting from dark green to bright yellow, his fur bristling angrily as he bared his fangs. As soon as the ropes were untied Jasa lashed out with his leg, kicking the man to the ground before slashing him in the chest until he gasped for breath, bleeding on the ground as his chest lay ripped open.
Holy shit. Did Jasa need to go that far?
"I did what needed to be done. If we let him go, he would have alerted the others. Now we have time." Jasa's smooth voice came from their body. It was kind of freaky how easily they switched back and forth, now. For some reason it was starting to get almost like it was natural for Kyle to do so- and that kind of scared him a bit.
"This is no time to think about your past." Jasa growled in frustration, leaning down to untie Kira's bonds. "We have to get out of here." He walked past the man on the ground, his body way too still for Kyle to be comfortable with. Had he just killed someone?
Kira seemed to think about that for a moment too, staring at the body before looking away without pity for him. "What do we do now?" She asked, trusting Jasa's experience as well.
"We need to find an exit. The window is too small, but if we can pry boards from around it, then we can squeeze through. Or at least you can." He looked at Kira over his shoulder.
"I'm not going anywhere without you." She hissed in protest. "If I'm going, you're going."
Jasa seemed to debate something for a moment before shaking his head in frustration. "Fine. Get one of those pipes over there and we'll pry these boards apart. We'll see what's outside and go from there." He picked up a steel pipe from the corner of the room, flipping it easily in his hand with a practiced movement before walking over to the window.