For the first time in what felt like… since landing in this hellhole, Mark took the chance to try to more carefully watch things. Being brash had gotten him nowhere, and plans to escape were dead ends. What else could he do?

With a grunt, he glanced upwards, at the rocky ceiling of the large hole that the fox kept calling ‘base’. The dirt was compacted and almost looked smooth, almost like it’d been polished. Someone had made this hole in the middle of nowhere and had done a very good job at it.

It struck him as odd. For what was clearly an illegal enterprise of some sort, it was well made. How long ago?

Turning to the side, he saw his two captors as they bickered with each other over some theory or strategy or something. From what he could pick up of the conversation, they were trying to decide on a course of action. It felt as if their time was running out.

Mark didn’t feel such pressure.

There was an odd lightness in his chest at this realization.

The time spent locked and tied up in this hole in the ground had given him an opportunity to calm down. What could he do in this kind of situation? Currently, he couldn’t escape, not in the true sense of the word. Even if he made it out the door and gave them the slip, he’d go back to the wilds and get eaten by those ‘ferals’.

Mark’s eyes lingered on the crate with the ‘fivers’, then moved towards the third party. If those metal disks worked on how they’d claimed, then… he shook his head slightly. How to test them? If he fucked up using one on them, it would bite him for sure.

His eyes turned towards the third maiden.

Noah.

The former human male and now female maiden were unconscious, face swollen and red, legs bent at odd angles. Her black hair had been ripped off in clumps, her thin, waifish body littered with angry red bloody strips. Brye and Shery had yet to heal her from the last round of torture, having left her tied up to the wooden post with wire that wrapped around Noah’s wrists and throat.

Could Mark use her to get out of the clutches of the other two? Maybe testing the fivers wouldn’t be such a bad idea if it meant a chance to wipe the smirk out of the fox.

“You’re looking awfully thoughtful, pet.”

Brye had appeared on his lap, popping into existence out of thin air, her weight pressing against his thighs. The clothes she’d been wearing a moment ago were gone. Her naked pale skin was fully on display. The maiden’s grip on his shoulder was soft but firm, the smile on her lips a promise of amusement for herself and verbal torture and rape for Mark.

The young man held back from doing more than growling. With his arms tied behind his back, it wasn’t as if he could shove her off, anyway. He doubted he’d manage even if he wasn’t tied up. He’d need her to lower her defenses.

“Brye, come on.” Shery complained. “We’re not done here.”

“It’s not like we have a better option.” The fox shrugged, gold eyes never turning away from Mark’s gaze. Her lips toyed with an ever growing smirk. “We don’t know what the plan was and Noah’s not sharing.”

Mark’s brows twitched slightly. “The plan was probably to get a sample out to whoever has been buying these things for the last while.” His hips thrust to the side, twisting in a failed attempt to knock the fox over.

Brye’s amusement died as she frowned, shifting to standing to keep her balance. “We figured out that much already. Our issue is ‘where’.” She flicked a finger against his nose. “That is the little tidbit we’re missing.”

“Didn’t you listen?” The young man grunted. “This shit’s been happening for long enough. They had a metal bullshit vault door installed.”

The proclamation made Noah squeak. The mouse became tense, her chipped round ears abruptly standing up and aimed at them. Brye had not missed it, her eyes having darted towards the Mousegirl and a wide smirk forming on her lips. “Oh?”

“Think you could track a trail?” Shery asked.

“No, it’d be too old.” Brye turned thoughtful, tapping her chin.

“Fuck… you…” The mouse squeaked the words, wheezing in a high pitched hiss.

“Don’t you have some map?” Mark frowned. “Wherever the place is, it can’t be too far away.”

“Hm...” The fox’s black tail swished back and forth, her ears twitching. “True, if Noah only had me and Shery, then wandering around for too long would’ve meant some feral could pop up and take a bite out of his ass.” Her attention returned to Mark, lips parting into a wide smile. “Handsome and smart. You’re quite the catch, pet.”

His jaw clenched hard enough to hurt, a light growl playing in his throat.

Rather than answer, she tapped his nose playfully. Mark lunged froward to bite it, teeth pressing around her first knuckle, but stopped when he realized she hadn’t even tried to pull away. Brye cooed. “Go on, try.”

Mark remembered he’d done this before and failed to do anything but amuse her. Growling, he spat at her, refusing to meet her eyes as she broke off into a loud chuckle, finger running down his throat and teasing his shoulders. Her eyes followed her digits, appreciative of his figure in the same way a wolf enjoyed looking at a piece of beef.

“Hey, cunt for brains, we can’t just stay around and do nothing.”

“I’ve got some ideas in mind on how to spend the time...” Brye declared, hopping off of Mark’s lap and vanishing, reappearing next to her clothes and moving to put them back on. “Even if we do know that the meeting place must not be too far away, it’s unlikely it’s in their territory. That would be too much a liability.”

The words made the gray skinned maiden blink, nodding numbly while rubbing the back of her head. “Then I guess this means we go back to square one?”

“No, I think I have an idea. Noah’s going to help us.”

If the angry squeak and half-wheezed hiss from the Mousegirl was anything to go by, then it meant they had a definite answer in that regard. From Mark’s perspective, the constant beatings followed by slow healing sessions had done little to dissuade Noah from her clear desire to sabotage the endeavor. Or rather, it had emboldened her resistance further.

Still, Brye did not seem dissuaded, sauntering her way towards the entrance and diving behind some of the crates. As she rifled through the objects found therein, she eventually appeared to discover what she’d been looking for and vanished, reappearing in front of Noah.

The mouse squeaked and twitched, choking on the wire that held tightly around her throat before she forced herself to calm down or else risk self-suffocation. Brye had her back turned to Mark, but the wag of her tail spoke volumes about how amused this made her. “I’ve got a gift for you~.” She sang words that were followed by the Mousegirl squealing and thrashing, trying desperately to pull away.

Not successfully, it seemed. The next moment, Brye pulled away, clapping her hands with a gleeful smirk while watching her handiwork. There, adorning the mouse’s neck, was a green collar. “What do you think?”

Though the question had been aimed at Shery, the fox’s eyes darted towards Mark right as her lips parted further.

“You sure about this?” The gray skinned maiden questioned, quirking a brow and looking between Noah and Mark, rubbing her chin in thought.

“Oh, I’m sure.” Brye had vanished again. Her voice spoke from behind Mark.

The human tensed, shuddering as her breath blew against his ear. But whatever his thoughts were, the sound of snapping rope and loosening wrists had him instantly scrambling to stand up. The human wobbled as he hastily put some distance between himself and the fox, her golden eyes almost glowing in the dimness of the cave.

Brye watched in amusement but did not chase, moving to sit down on the vacated chair, crossing her legs with poise. With her shoulder pulled back, she gestured at Noah with one hand. “It’s actually very simple. She has a submission collar. All our little pet has to do is bond her. Then we hear her sing.”

“I meant whether we can trust him.” Shery replied.

“Oh? That? HA! Yes, we can.” Brye nodded, tail wagging. “He’s smart. He wants to get out of here. His plan is to gain our trust so he can look for a chance to use the fivers on us.” Golden eyes lingered on Mark’s own. “After that, he’d have three empty maidens to order around and keep him safe from the ferals. Isn’t that right?”

Mark’s eyes widened. Had it been obvious? How!?

“So this is how it’s going to go.” The fox gestured at Noah. “She’s unbonded, so all our cute little fuck-pet has to do is bond her and order her to answer our questions. Of course, if he waits until she goes feral, it’ll only be easier.”

A loud clap of her hands followed, the sound a sharp retort that made Noah squeak and curl up slightly.

Shery nodded. “Noah starts singing, we give the goods to the client, head back to the Boss to report, and we get our big fat reward for a job well done.” Pausing, she glanced at Mark. “And what do we do with him in the meantime?”

“Keep him nice and shaved?” Brye laughed. “If he gets to put a fiver on our face, we fucking deserve it.” She reached down, grabbing Mark’s clothes and tossing them at the human. “I’m going for a walk. Need some of the purple to get the rat patched up, no sense in wasting any more of the good stuff.” A wink was thrown Mark’s way. A cruel edge came upon her lips. “I’m placing bets you’ll shove the bond down the rat’s throat before she fully goes feral.”

The young man’s eyes narrowed, a growl forming in his throat as he watched Brye vanish into thin air. It was as if she’d been nothing more than an illusion. A heartbeat of silence, Mark’s eyes lingering on the empty spot the fox had occupied only moment prior.

“Fucking finally, privacy.”

The words sent a shiver down the human’s spine. He turned to look at Shery.

The gray skinned woman sighed and approached, her feet thudding not so much out of a menace but purely from the sheer density of her body. As if she were made out of stone. She wasted no time to reach down and pull off her baggy brown shirt off, exposing small perky breasts capped off with dark blue nipples. The young woman smiled at him with a cock-sure edge that made his stomach drop as she came to a stop only a meter away.

Mark was cornered against the wall.

“I don’t do mind games, I just want my itch scratched.” Fishing into her pocket, she tossed him something round and purple. It was hard to miss what it was. Mark’s jaw clenched. “We do this the easy way or the hard one?” Her head cocked towards Noah’s battered and bruised form, the message loud and clear before she focused on him entirely.

Mark’s nostrils flared, brows knitting as he snarled. He knew he could try running, maybe try making a mess before she caught up. Would she break his bones if he did? Could he achieve anything currently?

“Fuck you.”

Reaching for the purple fruit, he popped it into his mouth and bit down. The gush of medicine-like flavor tingled down his throat, warming his body with its unnatural heat, a lance of arousal exploding forth as a tightness in his loins and a sudden fluster all over. He refused to become lost in it, however, anger flaring and forcing him to clench his fists until his knuckles turned white.

Shery grinned. “Good.”