#lion reader

Konig looked up from his phone, copmpletely silent. Horangi raised an eyebrow. What was that look about? He hadn't seen that one in a while. Without a word, Konig gave Horangi his cellphone, letting him look over the names. Horangi was nervous to look now. It took less than a second for his eyes to fall on your name, and his blood to go cold. Fuck.

Horangi sat there, his thoughts going a million miles a minute. You were in danger, and god knows where. He had to find you. Konig's eyes were still on him, so he returned the phone, not saying anything, and looking at a wall, as if you were standing there with your smug face and he was about to taunt you about getting captured. Except there was no teasing smile on him.

A couple of days passed, and Horangi got to work. He contacted laswell directly, asking if she would be able to look into the drug lab. Laswell admitted she couldn't and redirected him to a freelance intel specialist, called Click. She was willing to help, no problems there. Horangi was distracted during his training and sparring, it wasn't hard to notice. Fighting in the ring was usually left at a stalemate, but more than once he was knocked flat on his back. He was hiding in his room more often, barely eating too. Spirit had started to bring Horangi some meals and leaving them outside his door, hoping he'd eat them. At first he would, but as time went by, Konig would notice the trays sitting in the hall, and would pound on the door until Horangi opened it and took the tray.

On the fourth ignored meal, Konig had enough. He knew what Horangi was doing, but rather than talking to the rest of the team, he was dealing with it all on his own, being secretive and hiding in his room. Konig demanded that Horangi tell the others. They could help, but Horangi kept insisting he had it handled. It wasn't their fight, they didn't need to know. Konig wouldn't have it.

Same day, Horangi was collected and brought ot a briefing room with the Los Vacqueros and the 141 present. Horangi glared at Konig.

"You went behind my back?" Horangi asked. "Didn't take you fo-"

"If a Kortac member is silent for 24 hours they're presumed dead." Konig interrupted. "Y/N hasn't made contact for over that time but others from their team have. One of them saw Y/N get shot."

Horangi grit his teeth, and his fists clenched. He'd already learned all that. The question wasn't why or how, but where. Where in the world had you gone, what had they done with you? That's what he wanted to know! Horangi sighed through his nose. Konig moved closer, practically towering over Horangi as his tail went still.

"Soap and Alejandro are some of the best trackers." Konig pointed out.

"They're also Specgru. Kortac wouldn't just let them waltz in and take over." Horangi argued.

"Did you try asking?" Konig asked. The question was so simple, yet it felt like a gut punch. Horangi had been keeping it to himself, because he didn't want to be vulnerable. He liked the relationship he had with you, private and personal. The last thing he wanted was the world to know.

"Fine." Horangi sighed. He stood by Konig as Price laid out everything they knew and Horangi included any information that was overlooked.

Left. Right. Back. Back. Release.... focus.... focus. Move! Opening! Strike!

Focus... Focu-move! Pounce! Recover. Strike!

Head down. Keep it down, jaws open. Back... back. Dodge, strike! Strike!

Slam. Back. Strike

Left, left. Right. Strike.

Claw. Snarl. Strike.

Bite. Slam. Right. Rig-...get up.

Left. Right. Focu-...get up.

Cla-...get up.

Get up. You hear everyone screaming and roaring it at you. Get up. It was like a roar of wild animals around you. Get up. Get up.

Your opponent was taunting the same. Demanding you get back up. Demanding you give him a proper fight. As if you hadn't faced a number of heavy hitters before him. Your body was screaming at you to stop, give in. You stared at your opponent, begging for sympathy, mercy, anything. Whatever qualified for relief.

The other fighter, some sort of gorilla hybrid picked you up. You didn't fight back or try to stop him. You knew what was coming and it would either kill you, or convince whatever qualified as a reffree that you were done. One minute you were in the air. The next, you were swiftly reunited with the mat.

When you awoke, you were in human form again, a leash attached to the collar they put on you so you could reach the door to your cell, or kennel as they put it. It was where they had taken you. Some kind of converted underground dog fighting ring. The cells were chain link fences and wood boards. The floors were concrete. Your leash was the only thing they may have changed, because it was reinforced metal and was less worn than any of the other metal.

You were exhausted and broken. The collar forced your forms, giving your captors the option to make you shift at the flip of a switch. Quite literally. Hopefully your beat down meant you could take a break. Very carefully and slowly, you pushed yourself off the floor and moved to the closest wall to lean against. Breathing hurt, your ribs were likely cracked. There was a small ringing in your ear, and your head was foggy. You weren't sure if they'd give you medication or pain relievers or let you suffer as a form of punishment for losing. For now, you focused on yourself. Your whole body felt sore from both pain and exhaustion. Right now you needed to rest.

There was the sound of door opening somewhere down the line of kennels and you heard footsteps and someone being dragged. What time was it? You hadn't thought about it until now, how long you'd been out for. As the footsteps grew closer you didn't try to hide or seem weaker. No point. Soon enough you saw your captors dragging another "contestant" along, half concious. One of them opened the kennel across from you while the other two carried in the hybrid. After ensuring his collar was locked on the lead, they hurried out, as if the hybrid could fight back at any moment. Two left, making small talk, while the last one locked the kennel door. You couldn't see the keys or where they were stashed once he finished locking up.

Before he walked off, you called out, weakly. "Hey... Hey!"

The guy stopped before he got more than two steps away, glancing over. His face was covered, only his eyes visible and he spoke in a casual tone, as if you were a stranger asking for directions. "Yeah?"

"What time is it... how long was I out?" You asked, your eyes barely staying open.

"A couple hours. Relax, fighting is over for tonight." He said, and walked away. There was some relief hearing that. You could rest. The lighting was dim, often casting shadow into the kennels, making it harder to see the competition. You could make out sizes and loose shapes but that was it. How long had you been in these cells? How many fights had you had? The pain suggested more than you should have been.

"...new here?" You heard a laboured voice ask. You looked into the kennel across from yours. The shape was big, and there might be a tail.

"Not sure." You admitted. "Week maybe. You?"

"A few months." The voice said.

"...captured?" You asked.

"Volun-told." He said. "Pay off debts."

"Have a buddy with debts."

"Yeah?... where the fuck is he?" The voice asked.

"...safe." You said.

You hoped.

"Cabrone! Enough! You'll kill him!" Alejandro tore Horangi off of one of the collectors Horangi got in contact with. Placing bets and losing left him with enough collectors with the right bad connections. He finally paid this one off, with interest, and started asking questions. When Alejandro had revealed himself, cornering the collector, the collector got cocky, but coughed up a location. Your location. The comments he made about you, that set Horangi off. Alejandro didn't stop Horangi from kicking the collector's ass. When the claws came out, that was when Alejandro had to step in.

Alejandro pinned Horangi to the wall, who was fighting back like a wild animal. Alejandro barked for the colelctor to book it and not to show his ugly mug to anyone else. Only when he was out of sight, did Alejandro release Horangi, who shoved the colonel away from him. Horangi started to pace, trying to work out his frustration. Alejandro watched him move like a restless tiger. He was about to tell Horangi off for going too far, but Alejandro knew if the roles were reversed, he'd likely have done the same. Though he doubted Horangi would have stopped him from going too far. Rudy meant everything to Alejandro. Clearly, you meant a great deal to Horangi.

"We'll find them." Alejandro told Horangi. Horangi kept pacing. "We have a location. We'll give it to Laswell and the captain. We'll have a plan."

"Specgru will allow that?" Horangi challenged. He knew the 141 and the Vacqueros by now. By the book, that's how they worked. If Specgru said no, they wouldn't do it.

"...well..." Alejandro said, grinning deviously. "Wouldn't mind seeing some hybrid fights."

"Why?" Horangi asked, almost like he was countering an argument. Alejandro raised a brow, his grin changing to confusion.

"What?"

"Why are you doing this?" Horangi asked. "Helping me, helping them? We're mercenaries at best, isn't that against whatever moral compass you have going?"

"You're distracted." Alejandro told him. "It will only get worse as we go, the sooner we help them the better. And no doubt Kortac will owe us a favour for reclaiming some of their best."

"That's it?" Horangi questioned.

"Si." Alejandro said.

You had your back turned to the kennel gate, trying to rest on the hard cold floor. At least it was cool, helping with some soreness. Fucking hell you were exhausted. You heard the gate open and winced. You were ready to fight back, even if every muscle in your body was screaming to stay still. When you had tried to fight back, you were punished, painfully. Instead you heard the gentle clatter of a metal bowl being placed on the floor behind you. The gate was closed again, and you heard them mumbling about how a lion hybrid had been reduced to nothing. You hardly cared to talk back. The last few fights had all been heavy hitters, and you lost each one. You were practically a warm up, a punching bag for them to show off on.

Your neighbour, the one across from you hadn't given you much hope for escape. He told you the food was drugged and infrequent. Painkillers or opioids, fogging your mind and dulling your pain. Leaving the food alone wasn't an easy option. If they found you weren't eating, they forced it down. You'd already tried. Your neighbour had tried to escape more than once. In fact he was sure some of their methods were because of his attempts. One the brightside, he made for a decent conversation partner.

You awoke to banging against the kennel gate. Not again, you thought. Footsteps behind you but you didn’t fight. One of them tried to shake you awake but you didn’t open your eyes. You just tried to nudge him off. Instead he pressed something on your collar and you were forced into your lion form. You groaned, wanting five more minutes. Instead they tugged at your leash, and dragged yourself up.

The walk to the ring was long and slow. You swore you smelt sulfur for a second. Probably just your opponent. Then you slowed your pace. The air was hazy. A different hazy than smoking and dust. It was still in the air, but it seemed thicker. A hard tug from the lead forced you out of your hopeful trance. Right. You were a pit fighter. No time to get sidetracked. Yet you found your ears twitching about, trying to cancel out the loud roars and cheering, to locate the sulfur smell over the booze that was being spilled everywhere, including on you. Maybe a good match would grant you a shower, or at least a hosing down.

Deep breath. Do the fight. The odds of getting out were slim to none.

Then you saw your opponent. Fucking hell, when did he get here? Someone brought in their own hybrid, or the hybrid was desperate for something. So far most of your opponents had been shifters, full animal ones, like pumas, dire wolves, bears, etc. but this one... how was this a fair fight? A nagual? So you don't get to have opposable thumbs but your opponent does?!

The fighting cage's door was shut behind you, making you jump. Clearly someone wanted a good show, to bring in a heavy weight like a nagual, so you batted at the cage. It wasn't just for show, the nagual is bigger than you, has more mobility, more strength, more speed, and... wait. What was that smell? You stopped your escape attempt, and looked at the nagual who was keeping an even distance from you even as you had been trying to break the chain fencing. Was your opponent trying to cheat? Cat nip?

You properly faced the nagual, growling and staring him down as you started to circle the ring. The nagual continued to keep an equal distance. It was waiting for you to make the first attack, but you knew that could be a death sentence. It growled back at you, a challenge. It felt like a solid minute of the two of you just circling each other. The crowd was starting to get restless, and your exhaustion was catching up with you again. Everything was growing foggy. The nagual's growling seemed to lessen. Son of a bitch, was it making the haze thicker? You let out a threatening roar, fainting at the nagual before back off before it could try and strike, but it didn't give in. It just roared back. Your move did get the crowd excited. The haze was growing thicker, the smell of cat nip was still faint, and you swore there was another scent. You tried to write it off as nostlagia trying to trick you.

There was a loud bang, one that turned the roars and taunts of the crowds into shouts of fear and panic. The nagual looked away for only a moment and you took your shot. If the noise was a distraction, you weren't going to let it go to waste, whether it was meant for you or not. Your claws out, you swiped at his chest, jaws open. The nagual cried out, as you clamped down on it's bicep. He didn't have a collar. It tried to shake you off, but you only took a moment to readjust your grip. With whatever strength you had left, you yanked the hybrid into a stumble, before tossing him somewhere into the cloud covered arena. Wait? Clouds?

The crowd was dispersing, fleeing. They were in a panic, tripping over each other, trying to get away as more ruckus could be heard through the fog. It was so loud that you lost focus on the fight. Soon the door to the ring was forced open and a gun was trained on you, sending you into a crouch, ready to bolt.

"Stand down, we're here to help." The man said. He had a spanish accent. Still, you didn't soften. You were practically cornered, and your fight or flight reflexes were on fire, knowing that somewhere in the fog was a nagual. You fainted at the human, who only adjusted his footing. You tried again, only to get put in a headlock. Son of a bitch! You fought, kicking and claw, trying to twist your head to escape. Then you heard it.

"Leo!" A voice you thought you wouldn't hear again. One that made you pause, and gave the nagual enough time to shove a small pouch of catnip into your face. Your body relaxed, despite trying to fight back and you were carefully lowered to the floor. The human holstered his weapon, and the nagual made sure you were still breathing. You tried to look through the fog for him, see if he was nearby, but your senses were dulled. Rest. You wanted to rest.

Horangi got the fog to dissipate once the room had been cleared, and the other hybrids were taken out of their kennels. They were being loaded into vehicles both miltary and emergency so they could be treated and return to their families or units. He made his way to you, while Alejandro and Rudy waited close by. Even from a distance, Horangi could see your chest rise and fall from your breathing. Hopefully, you were okay.

Horangi got into the ring while Alejandro and Rudy stepped back.

"Your chica can fight." Alejandro commented, human and wrapped in a blanket to cover himself. Horangi nodded and crouched in front of you. You could barely stay awake, adrenaline gone from your body and the cat nip next to your face. You let out a soft groan as Horangi reached out and scratched your neck. If you could chuff, you would.

"Yeah. They've dropped me more times than you." Horangi said, looking over his shoulder at Alejandro. Alejandro saw that as a future challenge. You needed to recover first, and to have your collar taken off. Very weakly, you tried to claw at it, to push it off but it's too tight to go over your head. It would shrink down when you shifted back to human, or rather when they flipped the switch. Horangi's attention returned to you, his mask and glasses hiding his face, but you could see past the lenses, just barely. Eyes filled with something you didn't see from him yet. "Get some rest. You're safe now."

Horangi kept checking in on you. The paperwork was a shitshow, one he took responsibility for and found easier to go through while at your side. The rest of the team had taken some of the load, as they were required, writing reports and contacting the families of anyone who wasn't in Kortac. Horangi was fine with taking the brunt of it, because it meant he got to sit with you and work. He got to watch over you. You hadn't woken up for a while, or at least he hadn't seen it. You moved a little, and your wounds were pretty bad. The drugs in your system dulled the pain, but according to the doctors, the painkillers were experimental. At least the collar was off, and you were back to humanoid.

"By the time you wake up, I'll be knocked out." Horangi commented, stifling a yawn. Reading and not a lot of moving made it hard for him to stay awake. He set the paperwork aside, standing up from his chair and stretching. Maybe he needed a walk. It could help. Before he could step away, he saw another fighter approaching your bed. Horangi tensed slightly, knowing some of the fighters had tried to take advantage of their rivals' weakened state, and a lack of separation. The one approaching was a large hyrbid, with a large build, and dark skin. He had a similar build to Alejandro's with more muscle. Certainly looked older, but that could just be an exhausted expression. At first he seemed to examine Horangi before shutting his eyes and taking a breath. He seemed to soften. "You alright big guy?"

"Fine. Tense." The man said, his tail whipping from side to side. A tiger, with a significant amount of black striping. Horangi offered him to sit, explaining that he was heading out for a bit. Clearly the tiger hybrid was tense, as was Horangi. "This is Leo? That's what they called themselves."

"Y/N. Leo is the callsign." Horangi clarified. The man nodded, keeping his eyes on you. "You met then?"

"Kennel across from me." He said. "We talked when we could."

Horangi looked back at you, still resting. Were you always so cute when you slept?

"You the buddy with the debts?" The man asked. Horangi looked back at him. Why did he feel nervous suddenly? Like this man was your dad, and he was assessing Horangi like a potential suitor for you.

"Yes." Horangi answered. "Horangi."

"Rasha." The man said, still looking at you before turning to offer a handshake to Horangi. Horangi took it. "Stretch your legs. I'll watch them."

Without another word, Rasha stepped past Horangi and sat in the chair that had been offered earlier. Rasha's expression was unreadable as he sat down, watching over you. Horangi saw more scars on his arms, and even a fresh patch of gauze taped over his jawline and neck. When Rasha noticed Horangi staring, he gave a slight smirk. "Yeah. Y/N's work."

Horangi chuckled, and left the room. Damn his legs were stiff.

When you woke up, your whole body felt stiff. At least the drugs were flushed out, with morphine dulling your pain instead. Good. You hated the way the other stuff made you feel. turning your head you saw a familiar, cheeky face looking over some papers. Your movement alerted him, making him look up. Immediately the papers were set aside and he moved closer to you.

"Hey." You croaked out.

"Missing for almost a month, and then out for a week..." Horangi told you.

"Shit... did I miss anything?" You asked, eyes half open.

"Not much. You saw me save your ass. I would say that was the most important thing." Horangi told you, grinning. Cheeky bastard.