"Drop the gun." The cheetah demanded, in a dangerously calm voice.

Louis did as he said, slowly raising his hands in the air.

Bill whirled towards him, eyes wide. "Louis—"

The lion caught Bill in the same chokehold, holding him firmly.

"You took your fucking time, Derek!" The lion growled at the cheetah, his grip tightening on Bill as he continued to struggle.

The cheetah—Dereck—chuckled. "You're fine, you grumpy old fart. Now, let's hurry up and finish this." He pressed down on the trigger, squeezing it—

"Don't, you fool," the lion snarled out, "they'll be worth more money alive. Go and take care of the two herbivores."

Derek glanced down to the pistol on the floor and then back to the lion, raising a brow. "You don't want to just handle this with your gun?"

"No, I can do without," he said, and a small, cruel smile grew on his lips. He glanced down at Bill, who was still struggling in his grip, eyes becoming a shade of red. "Fighting that white wolf made me realize how much I miss being able to beat an animal into submission with my bare fangs and claws."

The lion then spun and released Bill, pinning him against the open-cell doors.

Derek, holding Louis tightly in his grip, looked over to Ellen, who was just barely recovering from being slammed to the floor. He gazed over her, a wide, lustful grin dancing on his lips. "She's a pretty one," he mused, softly.

Louis heard his words, heard the intent behind them, and he saw the memory of that black wolf strangling Juno… saw the horrific photo of Juno Legosi had showed them… and all those strands of black fur in his lover's underbelly coat.

"Don't you… dare… touch her," Louis managed to get out. It was all he could do with his weak, herbivore body, with the cheetah's gun being pointed to his head.

Once again, he was too weak to protect the animals he cared for.

Once again, he was too weak to even fend for himself—

The cheetah chuckled. "Don't worry, I promise to be gentle with her."

Rage and horror and disgust blazed within him at those words.

But Louis's attention perked up when he felt the cheetah lift the gun from his head and tuck it back into his holster.

Now's my chance!

Louis gripped his knife, the leather of the handle straining against his skin, and stabbed it right into the cheetah's leg.

The cheetah screamed, releasing him—

Louis pushed off of him and clumsily whirled, lifting his knife as he aimed right for the cheetah's neck.

But the cheetah dodged Louis's strike and disarmed him of his knife in just two movements.

The knife clattered to the floor.

And the cheetah snatched Louis by the neck and threw him against the barred wall of the open-cells.

Louis's bones groaned at the impact, his head pounding, throbbing, his ears ringing.

He slumped against the barred walls as the lion had been and he slowly slid down on his side, consciousness fading away from him.

::::::::

"Fucking herbivores," Derek hissed, massaging the wound on his leg. Luckily, the knife didn't stab too deep into his flesh, but it was just enough to where it would be a major pain in his ass later. "Why does all this shit have to happen while I'm off work?" But he glanced over to the female zebra, who was kneeled in front of the elevator, her hand placed on the side of her rib cage as she slowly tried to pick herself up.

A grin danced on Derek's lips and a hardness begin to grow in his pants. "At least a female as pretty as that will make it all worth it."

::::::::

His vision swimming and his head pounding, Louis cracked open his eyes. He saw the cheetah walking towards Ellen, that same, lustful grin plastered on his face.

The red deer reached out a hand, as if he could stop him, grab him by his ankles.

But the energy completely drained from his body and his hand fell limp on the stone floor. His eyes slid shut, his vision going completely black as his mind gave into unconsciousness.

He'd failed to protect the ones he cared for—again.

::::::::

Black spots were beginning to appear in Bill's vision, exhaustion a looming presence over his body and mind.

Every swipe of his claws, every swing of his fists, every lurch of his jaw forward, the lion would dodge or block or even counter his attack with an even stronger one.

It all beat down on his stamina, taking it away piece by piece, leaving him little to work with.

He grunted fiercely in pain when the lion clawed him across the face and kicked him in the stomach.

Bill stumbled back against the barred wall of one of the cells, leaning his weight against it, the bars pressing into his back.

He panted heavily as he kept up some form of a fighting stance, his legs trembling beneath him.

He had been in many fists fights before whilst out partying and drinking with his friends, and he tended to win most of them—thanks to the boxing classes he'd taken in his middle school years.

But those were against angry, drunken males who had a base-level knowledge in fighting.

This lion was trained. And knew exactly how to fight.

It was evident in his precise movements, in his devastatingly brutal attacks, both well-timed and well-placed.

But Bill noticed, upon getting his first actual look at his opponent, that there were bruises and cuts that already marred the lion's face—as well as a few small claw marks in the leather of his tactical gear.

Though, non of those bruises and cuts were from him. No, he had barely been able to land a hit on the lion since he started fighting him.

But they could've been from Legosi, he thought. It was a high, high chance in his book, mostly because of the words he had heard the cheetah speak to Louis—So, I'm guessing you three are the ones that gray wolf texted out to, right?—and the fact that the lion had snuck up behind him right at the entrance of the elevator.

But more than that, Legosi utterly surpassed him in terms of combat, fighting.

He had realized that fact the moment he saw that dumbass take down a raging brown bear in just a few strikes, his movements like that of a trained assassin.

He could imagine Legosi giving the lion and the cheetah a difficult fight before he was eventually beaten down and captured.

But where was Legosi?

Bill took in a breath to ask the lion that very question, as a way to buy himself time, to let his body rest.

The words froze on his tongue, though, when some unknown feeling had him looking to his left, down the open cells that were beside him.

At first, he only saw the multiple sets of bars that completely blocked his view of the inside of the other cells—at least from the angle he was in.

But then, Bill noticed a blue jacket sprawled out on floor before one of the cells at the far, far end.

He recognized that jacket. It'd been the same one Legosi had been wearing when he first met him at the black market.

His eyes widened and he craned his neck to look into the cell—

And that's when he saw him.

He immediately noticed the blue-gray fur and the creamy white underbelly.

Legosi…

But there was a bag placed over his head and he was hanging from the roof of the cell by a chain and hand cuffs.

He was being tortured, Bill realized, upon seeing the bruises and cuts and splotches of blood that covered his torso. Interrogated.

He needed to get Legosi and free him somehow, and hope that the wolf wasn't unconscious—or too injured to fight. He wouldn't be able to beat this lion alone, even with the injuries Louis and Ellen had already given him—

Bill only saw a flash of the lion's movements in the corner of his vision before he was pinned to the barred walls again, his head rattling with the impact.

He felt the lion's breathe against his ear as he whispered, "don't worry about your friend, tiger. We'll be shipping all four of you straight to Carnal Island once we're done here."

And as the lion whispered those words to him, Bill cracked open his eyes and saw Louis's unconscious body slumped against the barred walls and the cheetah sauntering towards a still-recovering Ellen.

True, blood-chilling terror shattered into his heart as he watched the feline snatch her by the neck and throw her into the elevator cabin. And Bill only saw a glimpse of the cheetah's sadistic, lustful smile before he followed her into the elevator cabin and close the metal doors behind him with a single arm.

Bill's eyes widened, his jaw gaping. "ELLEN!" He roared. He stomped his heel down on the lion's toe, slammed the back of his head into his nose and elbowed him directly in the kidney, breaking from his grip.

He didn't hear the grunt and the vulgar curse the lion gave as he sprinted towards the elevator doors, only the roaring of his own heart—and the pleading cries his mother had made as his father assaulted her.

His mother's cries still sounded when he stuck his claws and fingers into the seam of the elevator door, his jaw clenched as he tried to pry it open.

He could hear Ellen's screams from inside the cabin, could hear the tearing of fabric and the pounding of bodies against metal—

The lion was behind him in seconds, faster than he could react.

He pinned Bill to the elevator door by the back of his neck and slammed his head against the metal—again and again and again and again—until a deep dent formed, until a drop of blood slipped down his temple.

His body was begging him to give into unconsciousness, to rest, but it was the sob that he heard from inside the elevator—Ellen's sob—that had him denying his body of any of that.

"Let me… go," Bill rasped out, his vision darkening.

He couldn't fall unconscious, not here, not when all of their lives were at stake—

Not when Ellen was going to be—

The lion's only response to him was slamming his head against the metal again, harder this time, to the point that he felt the impact clang through his body.

He was leaning fully into the elevator door now, his feet no longer strong enough to support him.

The lion must've noticed that shifting in his body weight, because he removed his hand from the back of his neck and allowed his body to slump to the ground, his head crashing against the metal floor.

And it was that last impact on his head that sent Bill into unconsciousness.

He could only hear Ellen's screams from within the elevator as his vision went black.

I'm sorry, Ellen…

::::::::

A Few Seconds Earlier

::::::::

It was Louis's scent that ripped him from unconsciousness.

Legosi gasped awake, looking frantically in every direction, but his predatory vision was only met with darkness.

That's when he felt the thick fabric that enveloped his head, his muzzle, making his every breath vaporize over the fur there.

A bag had been placed over his head, he realized.

And he could feel the cold, hard press of metal against his wrists. They were twin bands that threatened to dislocate both his wrists if he even slightly shifted his weight on his toes—

Suddenly, the memory of everything that had happened before came to him.

The two felines that had broken into the apartment and attacked him, beating him until he could barely stand—

The quick, desperate text he had sent Bill once he saw the lion enter in the passcode to the elevator—

The ferocity in which he had fought the felines off as he tried to escape—but only succeeded in destroying Juno's phone, protecting Louis, Bill and Ellen from being tracked—

The bag the felines had placed over his head before they strung him up and tortured him, demanding him to tell them who he had contacted—

And now he could smell Louis's scent clearly—too, too clearly.

As if he were here—at this unknown place the felines had brought him to—only a few feet away.

No. That was the case.

Which only meant that they had followed him here, to save him, because they had realized he'd been kidnapped.

I'm such an idiot. I'm such a fucking idiot!

What was he thinking?

He should never have sent that text message to Bill, should've known that they would follow his tracks once they realized he had been captured. The destruction him and the two felines had left in the black wolf's apartment was telling enough.

But regardless of that... where was Louis…. where was Bill and Ellen…

Had they been captured, too?

Were they even still alive?

There was the sound of something slamming against a metal surface from his far, far right, and Legosi's ears flicked up from beneath the bag, his eyes wide.

That slam sounded again and again and again, and it wasn't until then that Legosi realized someone was being slammed against a metal surface.

Dread coiled in his stomach at the thought of who was being attacked, at the thought of who the was being forced against that metal surface—again and again and again—

And then, even as far away as he was from the sound of that slamming, Legosi heard a whisper, a low, gasped-out whisper.

"Let me… go."

As distant as the voice was, Legosi recognized it immediately.

It was Bill—

That loud pounding of flesh against metal sounded again—only once this time.

Silence.

And then he heard a body slump to the floor, hard, the sound echoing through the large space.

No! NO!

He had to get himself free. He needed to help them.

And although he knew how to pick a pair of handcuffs with his claws—courtesy of the short yet thorough lesson Gohin had given him in picking locks—he didn't know whether he was in the lion or the cheetah's field of vision.

But he needed to take the risk, regardless of the consequences. He absolutely refused to stand idly by while his friend's lives were put in danger.

Even if that meant that he would have to sacrifice his own.

Slowly, cautiously, Legosi shifted his weight on his toes and stuck his claw into the keyhole of the handcuffs, his ears perked in high alert as he began to pick the lock.

::::::::

Still panting from his fight with the young tiger, his nose bloodied and his hand clutching his side, Isaac sneered up at the elevator door, where Derek was still busying himself with fucking the female zebra from within the cabin.

Fucking—because he could still hear the pounding of movement that came from inside, as well as the zebra's sobs as she screamed and cursed at Derek.

Normally, he would've scolded Derek for raping the prisoners, knowing it would lessen their value, but with the young female wolf they had brought in last night, who was apparently Akio's long-lost daughter, he could care less.

Indeed. The boss had paid Mark very, very handsomely for his finding and Issac was expecting his rightful cut of the payment. That's all that mattered to him now.

Issac dropped his hand from his side as he looked over to the red deer slumped against the barred wall, then to the gray wolf still hanging from the roof of the cell at the far end of the space, and then back to the tiger still sprawled out on the floor.

Three young, healthy-looking males, as well as one female—if Derek hadn't already ripped her apart. Two of them were herbivores and two of them were carnivores, and all of them looked to be around the same age—the age that most buyers would bid very, very high for.

He would definitely make a fair amount of money from this lot, all he needed to do was prep them for transport to the island and wait for the next convoy to come in.

Despite that, Issac still found himself grunting deeply in annoyance.

Once again, he was left doing all the work while Derek just fucked around and did nothing to help.

As a section commander, he sometimes wondered why he hadn't requested for the cheetah to be fired…

Well, he actually already knew the answer to that question: Derek would always hook him up with the hottest females at the club, and each one of those hook ups had been a pretty good fuck, if he was being honest with himself.

It was enough to keep him from requesting to have Derek fired outright, he supposed.

Though, he still grunted in that same annoyance as he grabbed the young tiger by underneath his arms and began to drag him over to one of the cells.

But his is ears perked when he heard the clinging of a chain, along with the light, swift pattering of footsteps against stone—

Issac's eyes shot wide and he whirled around, dropping the young tiger from his hands.

And he only saw a flash of white and red before he felt a fist connect with his jaw, sending him off his feet and back towards the elevator door, the full weight of his body crashing against the metal.

::::::::

A Few Seconds Earlier

::::::::

The moment he silently freed himself from the handcuffs and pulled the bag from over his head, Legosi raced out of the small cell and only took a few seconds to examine his surroundings.

His heart stopped for a single beat when he saw Louis slumped against the barred walls, his body unmoving, a small puddle of blood pooling beneath his head.

His eyes flicked over and he saw a lion dressed in black tactile gear—the same lion who had attacked him in the black wolf's apartment, Legosi realized—dragging Bill across the stone floor by his arms.

But… where's Ellen…

Legosi shoved the thought into the back of his mind, albeit reluctantly so.

He needed to focus on rescuing Louis and Bill first.

He just hoped that they had left Ellen behind before coming here.

Legosi sprinted towards the lion on his bare feet, the cuts and bruises that marred his body screaming with every movement.

But adrenaline had him numbing out the pain.

Before the lion could even fully turn to face him, Legosi slammed his fist directly into the feline's jaw—

The lion flew back, crashing against the elevator door, slumping to the ground.

Legosi sprinted up to him again, meaning to plant his knee right into the lion's temple, knocking him out—

But his knee only met the hard metal of the elevator door as the lion dodged his head to the left and—

Legosi heard screaming from inside the elevator cabin. Ellen's screams…

And when he then heard the familiar voice of the male cheetah, his blood turned his ice cold—and he froze in shock.

For too long…

It gave the lion enough time to snap his jaw forward and sink his fangs deep into Legosi's side.

A killing blow.

But it was the remnants of Gohin's training that saved him, that had the lion's eyes going wide when he realized his fangs couldn't penetrate all the way.

Though, Legosi still felt the strike and the heavy toll it took on his stamina.

He struck the side of the lion's head with his elbow, over and over, his jaw clenched as the feline's fangs strained against his flesh.

The lion growled in annoyance as he ripped his fangs from Legosi's side and shoved the wolf away.

And because of his depleting stamina, Legosi tumbled from the shove and fell right on his tail, the pain of the cuts and bruises and internal wounds throughout his body returning to him, his adrenaline fading.

The beat down he had taken in the black wolf's apartment and the torture he had endured before passing out… he wasn't going to last in this fight much longer.

But he still had to try.

His bones aching, his muscles screaming, Legosi sprung back to his feet, forcing himself to hold a strong fighting stance.

The lion, despite panting and slouching in exhaustion, was upon him in an instant.

The feline broke Legosi's fighting stance with two jabs to the muzzle and then aimed straight for his chin with an uppercut.

But Legosi managed to block that final, finishing strike, if only barely.

He stumbled back once more, nearly losing his footing entirely. But he managed to catch himself and regain his footing—

The lion came at him with another jab, straight to the nose.

Legosi weaved under that punch, pain stabbing at his side, and struck the lion right in the jaw, his muzzle curled.

The lion bared his fangs in anger, throwing out another punch, the very movement laced with feral rage.

But Legosi weaved again and landed a blow right on the lion's side.

The lion lost his footing entirely—

Legosi stayed on him, his limbs trembling with every forced movement, landing jab after jab on the lion's muzzle and stomach.

A spark of hope ignited within Legosi, a flame growing, blazing.

He could win this fight, he could beat this lion and save the others.

But just as Legosi threw a heavy uppercut towards the lion's chin, the lion caught his punch—

Legosi ripped his fist away from the lion's grip and threw another punch.

But the lion countered, smacking that punch away with enough force to completely throw him off balance.

Legosi planted one foot outward, catching himself, his fatigue body shaking. He tightened his core and lifted his chin, readying himself to throw another punch.

But a fist slammed into his muzzle, a chilling crack sounding from his nose with the impact.

It knocked Legosi off his feet and onto his tail, a stream of blood pouring from his nose and onto the floor.

His vision swimming, his limbs trembling and useless, Legosi felt his stamina drain from him, leaving him sprawled out on the floor, exhausted.

And suddenly, his sense of smell vanished, and with his canine instincts relying so heavily on scent, he felt as if he'd been blinded.

Despite that, he tried to stand to his feet, in hopes that he could somehow win this fight.

But the lion slammed his boot right into Legosi's broken nose, knocking him to the floor again, the wolf writhing in pain.

The lion looked down his muzzle at Legosi, sneering. "You're too much trouble to keep alive, wolf."

Legosi didn't respond. He only grunted as he attempted to sit up on his hands and knees, coughing up his own blood.

Stone-faced, the lion walked up to him and shoved Legosi over with his foot, forcing the wolf to roll onto his back—exposing his belly.

He then mounted him, pinning his arms down with his knees, the wolf making low sounds of discomfort as he struggled against the lion's weight.

"But at least I can make a decent amount of money from your pelt," the lion remarked, and slipped a knife from its sheath.

Legosi's eyes widened at the sight of that of blade, his heart pounding when he realized what the lion was going to do, and the pain he would experience.

He had to keep fighting, HE HAD TO KEEP FIGHTING. Bill, Louis and Ellen were all going to die if he…

But as Legosi helplessly watched the lion angle that knife against his throat, pressing the blade hard enough into his skin to draw blood, Legosi saw his life flash before his eyes:

The sensation of his mother embracing him for the first and final time before she took her own life…

The first time he'd met Jack…

The night he'd attacked Haru, holding her in a strong, inescapable grip as his claws bit into her flesh…

The first time he'd actually talked to Haru on the garden rooftop…

The sight of Louis holding out his delicate hand, commanding him to stand upon that stage…

Saving Haru from the Chief Lion…

The tears Louis had shed in front of him as he begged him to eat his leg…

His grandpa's smile…

Fear—fear like he had never felt before pressed down on his chest, his heart, his very soul.

Time slowed.

And in that moment, as Legosi felt the lion slit the knife across his throat, a thought echoed through his head…

I don't want to abandon them.

So many times before he would put himself in life-and-death situations, carelessly, gambling with his own life as if it were worth nothing more than a few gaming chips at a casino.

But now—now, it was as if maturity had finally come to him and struck his mind like a baseball bat to the skull. Because, for the first time in his life, he realized—truly realized—the amount of pain his death would cause the ones he loved.

Jack… Jack would be damaged beyond repair by his death and might actually commit suicide this time—with no one there to save him.

His grandpa would be alone, truly alone, with no family left.

And Haru… Haru…

Inside, Legosi began sobbing.

Haru… he didn't want to leave her. He didn't want her to be alone. He didn't want to abandon her like this.

I don't want to abandon her like this.

I DON'T WANT TO ABANDON HER!

Please.

But in the end, he knew his pleads meant nothing. It was too late.