“Hey, my eyes are up here! How did a fucking pasty-assed pervert like you tame a gods-damned gorgon?” the belligerent woman snapped, drawing his attention to her scowling face.
She’d probably be cute if she didn’t look ready to rip my guts out with her teeth.
The young prisoner had intense amber eyes, long lashes, and delicate platinum-blond eyebrows above a slightly upturned nose. With her small mouth and perfect teeth, it all combined to form an attractive face.
Except for the foaming snarl she’s shooting me.
Gabriel shook his head at the restrained girl’s outrageous attitude.
Both of his bonded were focused intently on her, though their expressions were drastically different.
Cindra, joyful scamp that she was, had a dopey smile on her face and was trying to slip her head through the bars to get a better sniff.
Sthuza, on the other hand, glared death at the prisoner. She looked angry enough that he briefly wondered if she might overwhelm the spell shielding them from her petrifying gaze and turn the nude woman to stone.
The gorgon turned toward him, and a look of doubt flashed over her face, but she remained silent.
“Packmaster, I like the smell of this one,” Cindra interrupted before things got any more awkward. “You should make her Pack!”
Sthuza twitched. “There isss no reassson for Massster to do anything with thisss foul-mouthed harlot. She will be of no ussse to usss.”
“Hey, I ain’t no ass-licking harlot, you fork-tongued statue-fucker!” the blonde growled. She tugged violently against the thick, pliable restraints.
Sthuza snapped forward as well. Her snakes coiled and lashed angrily until Gabriel reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Calm down, my Prime.”
“My apologies, Master,” she said after a deep, calming breath.
“There is no reason to let a little human girl get you so worked up,” he said lightly.
Sthuza frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Gabriel asked.
“Who you calling little? Or human! And I’m one hundred percent, full-grown, motherfucking woman, you limp-dicked shit-licker!”
Sthuza lunged toward the prisoner, her slender hands clenched tight to the bars, as though she intended to bend them far enough to let her pass.
Growling and snarling erupted, but Gabriel ignored it as he watched his Prime.
Sthuza soon made it very clear that she was, in fact, trying to pry the bars apart.
Those things are thicker than her arms!
After long seconds filled with angry hissing and growling, she sagged at the effort and sighed.
“Yeah, that’s right, you stuck up, fake gorgon! You can’t get me, so take that pathetic tamer of yours and go fuck yourself outta he—” the woman ranted before choking off in a startled rasp.
Gabriel had been staring at Sthuza, but he turned back to the mouthy prisoner when her jaw dropped.
Cindra stood calmly next to the now gasping nude woman.
She struggled to draw breath because of the hellhound’s strong hand clenched tight around her throat.
Cindra’s strong enough to bend those enchanted bars?
Gabriel looked for any gap where she could have squeezed through, but Sthuza interrupted his thoughts.
‘No, Master… She unlocked the door.’
His eyes snapped to Sthuza, and then he slowly turned to look at the door swinging back and forth. A bloody key jutted out from the lock.
Gabriel peeked at his Prime and had to restrain his amusement.
Sthuza would never forgive me for laughing.
The gorgon’s face was a deep green as she blushed furiously. She said nothing, but he felt a surge of wild emotions through their bond.
More gasping called his attention back to the naked prisoner, so he moved up behind Cindra and patted her armored shoulder.
“It’s all right, Cindra. I think you can let go now.”
“You sure? Cindra likes her spunk, but she was kind of rude to you.”
“I’m sure.” He kept his eyes on the woman’s blue face. “You’re feeling more grateful for being rescued now, right?”
She nodded as much as she could with the large hand wrapped around her neck.
Cindra shrugged her shoulders, then relaxed her grip.
The petite woman drew in several loud breaths, then coughed painfully. Tears streamed from her small, amber eyes, and she looked away from the trio in shame.
Both monster girls continued to glare at her, though Cindra’s expression looked curious. Gabriel let the nude woman have a few minutes to collect herself before he asked any questions.
She was probably just being rude as a defense mechanism. There’s no telling what horrible things they’ve been doing to the poor girl down here.
While she recovered, he gave the room a more thorough inspection. Besides the large cage and the frame she was strapped to, there were numerous other unpleasant contraptions in the sinister chamber.
Several sets of shackles hung limp against the stone walls. Off to one side was a padded table with leather straps. Racks of knives, whips, and worse filled the other side of the wide room. Organized and clean, they were no doubt intended for the baron to use on helpless beastkin.
And apparently human ones as well.
The baron’s reputation toward beastkin was despicable, but not unheard of among humans.
Never caught a hint of him enslaving human women. How did he hide this?
‘Master, pardon the interruption, but she is not human.’
Gabriel froze and turned to Sthuza. “She’s not?”
Sthuza shook her head slightly. “No, Master. She is a lycan.”
Maybe the baron makes them shift? I’ve heard of potions that can force a lycan into their hybrid form.
While not truly related to the many humanoid races with animal aspects that make up the traditional beastkin, most people lumped the various lycan breeds in with them. Given the fact that both groups merged animal and humanoid, it wasn’t too surprising.
“Of course I’m a damn lycan! You think that fur-sniffing shithead would touch a human girl?” their new friend called out, letting him know she’d recovered.
A smirk spread across his Prime’s face as Gabriel laughed loudly.
“Hey! Why are you laughing, you stupid monsterfucker!” the prisoner snarled.
That caused him to laugh even harder, though Sthuza’s fading blush flared up again.
“Oh shit. You are a monsterfucker!” the woman said. She sounded more subdued this time, almost introspective. “You must have a huge fucking cock if you managed to bed a gods-damned gorgon. Or at least balls as big as a minotaur’s.”
Gabriel shuddered at the mention of bovine monster balls and thought back to his battle with Gromp.
“Please don’t talk about minotaurs in a sexual manner. Ever,” he said.
“Packmaster’s penis is the biggest Cindra has ever seen!” the happy hellhound pitched in.
Looking up, Gabriel noticed the nude prisoner eyeing him very differently now.
“Hmm, still not my type,” she muttered after several seconds of intense staring. She turned away, her tanned cheeks heating slightly.
Sthuza snickered, and he saw that she now looked amused rather than furious.
“Okay, so you’re a lycan, which is why the baron has you locked up here in his creepy sex dungeon,” Gabriel said in an attempt to get everyone focused.
“Yeah, so if you three can just finish whatever you came in here for, I’d like to get back to being the helpless fucking victim again.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gabriel rocked back at her strange, surly response. “You want to be trapped in the sex dungeon of a man who tortures beastkin women?”
The restrained woman glared at him and nodded. “Yes! Why is it so hard for you to understand? You think those creepy shit-licker twins would have caught me if I didn’t let them?”
He
watched her for a moment. The strange intensity in her eyes bothered him, but he couldn’t figure out the reason.
“I believe he is more curious about why you are eager to be abused, Miss…?” Sthuza said to draw the surly lycan’s attention.
“Reyna. My fucking name’s Reyna,” she said after a moment of hesitation. “And I’m not planning on being raped! Well… unless that’s the only way to…” Reyna trailed off, muttering to herself.
“But you are aware of the disgraceful man’s proclivities?” Sthuza asked.
Reyna sighed dejectedly and slumped against her restraints.
She replied in a deathly quiet voice, “Yeah, I know exactly what happens to the girls that go through here.”
Gabriel flinched at the raw pain in her voice. Cindra let out a sympathetic whimper and reached for the nude woman, but stopped when Reyna flinched.
“You wish to punish him for what he did to someone close to you,” Sthuza stated while ignoring the hellhound who vacillated next to the bound lycan.
Reyna turned away and glared at the far wall.
Gabriel frowned at the sight of tears leaking from her angry eyes.
“Were you captured by a band of four adventurers? An elf sorceress, two human twins, and a dwarf?” Gabriel asked. He was confident she had been, but he needed to hear her say it.
She continued to glare off in the distance, but finally turned and nodded. “Yeah, those damn murder hobos brought me back and sold me to that ass-faced baron a day or two ago. I’m not sure how long I’ve been here.”
Gabriel smiled. It was the most civil exchange they’d managed so far with the abrasive lycan.
Now that she wasn’t glaring at him, or at least she looked less surly, he noticed her odd hairstyle.
The top of her head was covered with long, white-blond hair. The thick, unruly mess had initially distracted him from the fact that the black hair on the sides of her head was shorn rather short.
He held her angry gaze. “You want revenge on the baron, right?”
“Yeah, I’ve been dreaming about it for months now. I’m gonna rip his balls off and make him eat ‘em,” she growled. Her eyes gleamed with unshed tears, but she refused to look away.
Gabriel nodded at her words and smiled.
“Master, while I respect your attempt to charm the prickly… girl over, we need to hurry. I do not know if the alarm the guard triggered was only for the prison or if it alerted soldiers in the castle proper.”
“Shit. Thanks for reminding me. So look, I’m willing to help you with the baron if you can help us track down the adventurers that captured you.”
Reyna grimaced. “They didn’t capture me, I got myself caught!” she snarled reflexively. “But if you’re willing to swear that you’ll help me hurt that shitbag, I’ll do the same and help you track down the hot elf and her butt-sniffing buddies.”
He wasn’t quite sure how to respond to her descriptions of his former allies but figured it didn’t really matter.
“Okay. We’d have to deal with the baron eventually anyway,” he said aloud. “Sthuza, Cindra, do either of you have a problem with this?”
“I like her, she should join Pack.”
“Let’s just try friends first, Cindra,” Gabriel replied.
Need to see how she gets along with Cindra and Sthuza before I even think about bonding with her. Check with Meri too.
Sthuza sighed. “Perhaps I should have been less specific when we discussed prohibited races before. Still, you have my full support, Master.”
He grinned at his Prime but had the decency to blush at the not-so-subtle reminder that she had issues with furred races.
Not that she seemed to mind when Cindra was kissing her.
Gabriel and Reyna exchanged a quick Soul Oath to seal the deal, and he learned that her full name was Reyna Keenclaw. Once they’d finished, she glanced around and grumbled again.
“So, now that we’re all super lovey-dovey butt-buddies, are you going to cut me loose before more guards show up?” She glared at each of them for a moment, then continued, “Cause I can’t chop my own limbs off up here.”
“Wait, what the hells are you talking about?” Gabriel asked.
“Unless one of you have that creepy prick’s rape wand, how else are you getting me outta this fucking goo?” she said. “Shit’s tougher than steel, and it shifts around me if I try to escape.”
Sthuza sighed. “I have never encountered this substance myself, Master, but I believe it is designed to absorb kinetic energy. It is unlikely that we will be able to remove it quickly enough to escape.”
“Yeah, so just get the doggy over there to gnaw off one of my arms. Or if the bitch is too-weak stomached for that, grab a sword and lop it off for me. I can take care of the other three myself.”
Gabriel stared at the deranged lycan for several long seconds.
Maybe we shouldn’t free her? She’s clearly insane, and I’m not sure I want to endanger you and Cindra with this nutjob.
‘I doubt she is insane, Master. Most likely, Miss Reyna let herself be captured to get close to the baron, but her simpleminded plan to attack him failed when they restrained her so thoroughly.’
He exhaled, rubbed his face, then sighed again. “Okay, let me just try to remove them with magic first.”
Reyna’s eyes widened at his words, but she shook her head. “Nah, that crap won’t work unless you’re secretly some kind of archmage. This crud will absorb magic almost as well as it does physical energy.”
We can’t waste any more time. Bet that miasma spell will cut through it.
He stepped over to the bound beastkin, uncomfortably aware of her fully exposed body, and tried to ignore how sexy she was up close.
Definitely a fully grown woman.
Reyna’s bust was smaller than Sthuza’s, but her breasts were quite eye-catching given her tiny frame. Still, the lycan might as well have been flat compared to Cindra.
Gabriel focused on the heavy wood frame and the magical goo that bound her hands and feet.
Restraining her this much is ridiculous, even if she is a lycan.
‘Master, please tell me you are not planning to—’
Don’t worry, I’m only going to form a small blade this time. It’ll be fine.
He closed his eyes and drew a trickle of mana, then worked it into the dark magic he’d first used against the ghasts two days ago. Since that first cloud of miasma, he had used it as magical darts against Kelith, and then as a spear against the saurian adventurer.
He still couldn’t decipher the glyphs involved, but he knew enough about spell structure to remove a few of them. Withholding the glyphs that would turn it into a projectile made it far less horrible. Forming the spell circle still sent a shiver down his spine and gave him a mild headache, but he could handle that much.
As he’d expected, he found it easier to alter the spell into a tiny blade. The spell seemed to respond to his desire. It was one of the most instinctive magics he’d ever worked with, but the sinister nature worried him.
It feels almost natural… even as it makes me want to vomit.
Someone gasped, and Gabriel felt fear spike across his bonds. He opened his eyes and stared at the slender shard of purple-black miasma that floated just above his open hand.
He shifted it back and forth with a gesture. After a few seconds, he had a feel for the unsettling energy and turned toward the restrained lycan.
“Wait, keep that shit away from me,” Reyna said. She stared at him with wide eyes. “Jus-just have the mutt cut off one hand. It’ll grow back quick. I promise I can get loose on my own after that. Won’t slow you down or nothing.”
Sthuza smirked at the ranting lycan. “Now, dear, that is quite rude. Master is saving you from extreme pain and suffering. You should get down on your hands and knees to grovel once he finishes.”
Gabriel ignored their odd back and forth. Instead, he walked up to the restraints and experimentally brushed the flickering blade o
f shadowy death against a gooey blob.
The material displayed incredible resilience. It took almost five seconds to shear through, and when Gabriel finally split the gunk, he had to pull back as the spell ate into the heavy wood frame like it was made of warm butter.
The cut material hardened in seconds. He didn’t know if it was because he’d damaged the magical force that kept the goo pliant, or a side effect of the strange spell he’d used. Whatever caused it, the stuff soon turned to powder and fell away from her bruised wrist.
After seeing the results, he removed the other three blobs, all the while ignoring the lycan’s muttered pleading to pull the foul magic away from her and let her claw her way free.
Gabriel freed her and canceled the spell within thirty seconds. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the sinister magic faded from reality.
That was nowhere near as bad as using it as a weapon. But… why should that make a difference?
Gabriel pushed the thought aside when the still nude Reyna stomped over.
She glared up at him. “You better not expect me to call you Alpha or any shit like that. Just cause those two worship your dick doesn’t mean I’m gonna. I’ll join your damn adventuring party, but I won’t be part of your harem.”
“Thought never even crossed my mind,” he said. His Prime grinned, but Cindra looked disappointed.
“Not that I’m worried about your scrawny ass trying anything, but do any of you have some clothes for a naked bitch?” Reyna asked as she rubbed feeling back into her discolored extremities.
Gabriel started to reply but paused when he saw the smug grin on Sthuza’s face.
And a similar, if more amused looking one on Cindra’s.
“I believe we did, in fact, find a single set of clothing that should fit your… frame nicely,” the gorgon said.
Reyna looked over eagerly, then slumped at the clothes on display.
Cindra held up a richly trimmed, black-and-red corset and skirt on one long arm. A scandalously tiny set of lacy lingerie was draped over the other. The silk fabric was so obviously crafted for the sole purpose of titillation that Gabriel blushed almost as brightly as the nude lycan.
There is no way that can be comfortable. The back of those panties is just a silk string!
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