#forced mating

Extra details: First thing first, in this AU Kallus is Zygerrian. I know that in canon the Zygerrians are slavers; but this is an "after the Empire takes over" kind of AU. And in an Empire in which humans try to destroy every other race, I just think it makes sense that the Empire would not only take over the Zygerrians' slave empire, but enslave the Zygerrians themselves to sell the to the highest bidders. And with how they used to enslave other people, they would actually be considered somewhat of an expensive "merchandise".

SO, in this AU both Kallus and Zeb are prisoners, soon to be sold as slaves to the highest bidder. This is basically after they attacked Lasan, which mean that Lasats are somewhat of a rare catch. Zeb is kind of tired when the "hunters" find him, but he still tries his best to take down everyone he can before they manage to actually restrain him. As a revenge, his capturers throw him in the same cell of a very feral Kallus. At first Kallus growls at him in an aggressive way, so Zeb hisses back and they start circling each other in the cage they are trapped in. But as soon as Zeb realizes that Kallus is very hurt and doesn't understand the few words Zeb said to try to reassure him he's not gonna attack, Zeb tries to show he's not a danger by basically submitting (like, maybe showing his neck and whining instead of growling or talking). It works. Mostly Zeb thinks it's because despite being mostly out of it, Kallus still know he's not strong enough to take down the other predator in his cage with how wounded he is.

As long as they are on the cage inside the ship of he "hunters", Zeb basically takes care of the Zygerrian, hoping that he'll snap out of whatever shock made him so feral that he can comunicate only in whines and growls. But before he manages to help Kallus enough to be back in a clear headed state of mind, Zeb overhears the "hunters" talking about an auction they are taking them to, and he kind of panics at the idea of what would happen to his cellmate when they realize he's too feral and wounded to be anything but food for wild beasts in some wild beasts arena or something. And the only way he knows that would quickly make the Zygerrian snap out of it, is a mating bite, so that Zeb himself would become an anchor to sanity for his cellmate (at least until one of them dies and the one that survives goes feral at the loss). He obviously doesn't really want to force the bite on someone that is not in the right state of mind (who knows, maybe the Zygerrian is in that state exactly because he lost their previous mate), but he also thinks that his cellmate would prefer to be bonded with him for the rest of their lives instead of just straight out dying a horrible death. So he bites Kallus.

They barely have any time to talk about it, when they get both taken out of their cage and dragged in a room with a bunch of other prisoners to be sold at the auction. Despite Zeb's efforts, Kallus still appears very much wounded and confused, even if he's aware enough that something bad is going on. But it just makes him start to panic back into a feral state. Which means it's up to Zeb to "fight" for Kallus as well. So when they try to buy only Zeb to make him fight in fighting pits, he speaks up (despite being aware that they would punish him for that) and tells the buyer that Kallus is his mate, and a fighter as mighty as any Lasat, maybe even more dangerous that he his because Kallus is faster, even with his leg injured like it is (basically, he tries to bullshit is way out of it). That talking back catches the buyers interest, because after the Empire had to fight on Lasan there are rumors about Lasat's mate pairings fighting like beasts and taking an entire platoon of troopers to take them down. So he decides to buy them both. Because even if the Lasat is lying, he knows for a fact that when one from the pair dies, the other goes feral. And the buyer thinks that it would interesting to see what a feral Lasat is gonna be able to do in a fighting pit.

I know I've rambled for a long time, but basically this is just the beginning of the story. There's much more that can be done with this. Like, the two of them finally getting a chance to talk. Because, like, at this point I imagine they barely know each other's name, since Zeb was very conflicted by the idea of forcing the mating bit on the stranger he was trapped with; so he literally waited untile the very last minute to do it. And there's the whole complicated relationship to explore after this; maybe with Kallus resenting Zeb at first, since Kallus actually preferred death instead of a life stuck as a slave (after all, he's well aware of what happens to slaves). But at the same time the bond between them makes Kallus very protective of Zeb when they are thrown in the fighting pit for the first time, even when it's just a training session for the master at the pit to decided who is gonna fight against who (or what). And Zeb always takes care of Kallus, no matter how much he knows Kallus hates him, because at the end of the day they are still mates and he at least wants to try to be happy with Kallus despite their situation.

Also, of the two it's Zeb that always tries to convince Kallus that there's a good chance to escape that situation. After all, they have to keep them strong enough to actually put up a nice fighting show. They even allowed them to use bacta to heal the worst wounds! If they plan it carefully with the other fighters they might manage to get free and run away from their slavery. Of course there's even space for Kanan and Hera to come to their rescue, because why not make Kallus a Spectre from day 1 at this point?