Page 97 of Mated on Live

Korvii ripped his face away, snarling at him as his long, fleshy tail lashed. “Don’t tell me-”

His voice suddenly cut off. His eyes rolled back. He dropped.

“Shit!” Serval turned, searching for someone who was attacking.

He didn’t see them, but he did feel the tiny pinch of pain suddenly hit his back. Numb heat immediately spread into his body. Moving so quickly, he barely had time to take a breath before he dropped. He didn’t even feel himself hitting the ground.

***

It was the noise that roused him from unconsciousness.

An angry, annoyed, desperate shuffling filled with growls and curses in a language he didn’t recognize that made him acutely aware of the ache in his head. It pulled him harshly and nauseatingly out of the inky blackness of unconsciousness.

Serval forced his eyes open, trying to move his head. To relieve that horrible pressure he could feel pulling on all of his olules at once. He could feel the harsh restraint tying them back, out of danger but cutting into the sensitive flesh.

What happened…

He blinked the dark room into focus. Not that there was anything to focus on. Just an empty room with a solid, metal door locking him in.

Them in.

The annoying noise was Korvii. He was gagged, arms and tail bound together behind his back, legs bound at the ankles. Thrashing against the ground. Goggles gone, replaced by a large gash across his forehead, a crazed look in his eyes.

Serval groaned, sitting up. In contrast to him, only his arms and olules were bound. He had no gag and, aside from a general pain and the ache of his olules being constrained so roughly, he didn’t feel any worse for wear.

In a sitting position, he slumped back against the wall. The only source of light was a dim strip in the center of the ceiling. But it was enough that he could see the shine of Korvii’s eyes as he focused on him.

He began trying to say something through the gag.

Serval closed his eyes tight and then opened them wide in an attempt to force them to focus on his blurry face.

“I guess you must have woke before me at some point,” he said.

Muffled shouting.

“I don’t know what you’re saying.”

Korvii was on his belly now, head up, giving him a desperate look. Deliberately, loudly, he forced out a prolonged-

“Eh-ah!”

It took a few repetitions for Serval to realize he was trying to say Hela’s name.

“Your mate,” he said, prompting encouraging grunts of affirmation. “I don’t… is she here?”

As though answering him, from the distance, a loud feminine shriek ripped through the air. Korvii roared into his gag as Serval’s gut tightened in fear.

Cursing in the deep tongue, Serval used the wall to balance himself as he pushed up onto his feet. He only wobbled a bit as the drug drained from his system. Whatever it had been, at least it faded as quickly as it came on.

“Any way out but the door?” He asked, earning a single, negative grunt. “Right. Don’t suppose we have the good luck of it being unlocked.”

He approached the metal door. There was no way he could see of opening it. There wasn’t even a control panel on this side. As though he needed any proof that it was a prison cell.

Drawing back, he slammed his boot against it. The sound echoed loudly outside, but the door didn’t move in its frame.

In the distance, Hela screamed again. He couldn’t tell if it was pained or angry, but it hardly mattered. She was in danger, and hearing her distress twisted his guts up. He tried to kick it again, and a third time, but his efforts produced no results.

Korvii had redoubled his struggles, but he only succeeded in wiggling around on the floor.

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