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Dirty Laundry

Chapter Twenty-Two

By Roofles

Sloan hadn’t wanted to come to this place, no.

But his family had.

He was with his family, what few there were left of the direct Kincaid line these days. After Jeron. After their father... They had called on him, asking Sloan for his help…. And that was what family did. To do things they didn’t like or want to do to make sure the others were happy. That they were still a family. No matter what one had to sacrifice in the end to do so.

“Family before happiness.” It had been one of his father’s favorite sayings. That the family was more important than the individual. It was a classic tactic used in their line of work. And the punishment for those who betrayed or threaten the family was swift and merciless.

Even after Sloan had been kicked out, he was still family. Or so he liked to think. Or so he wanted to think.

The Pride was a family, his family. Those at work, back at the office of Inc. Co. didn’t care if he lived or breathed or if he’d die and just never show up in the office again. They barely greeted the large lion whenever he came into work. People didn’t care about him. Sloan didn’t even know any of his next-door neighbors. Everyone avoided him like the plague.

But his family hadn’t, not fully at least. Maybe his father, but that was another story altogether. Sloan had kept in contact with Jeron and to an extent Lorrell and Enzo over the years. Jeron had even shown up at his dorm once!

They were family, he was family, to them… wasn’t he?

“You can only trust family.” Mr. Kincaid, their father, had told them when Sloan was but a child. “No matter what they do. No matter what they say to you. You always have your family.” In a way, it had been a twisted form of perverse control over him. Over them. Everyone in The Pride.

A cult. Living, breathing, dying for the family.

But he still had his family…

Sloan became a lawyer. It took him years and years with his family backing, recommendations, and at time threats… to get through the bar, through school and to get certain teachers to give him a passing grade; some had wanted to fail the lion for just being a predator. Isolating Sloan even further from the world. The family had taken care of him, taken care of everything! Sloan didn’t have a single penny to pay after. They had taken care of everything… and Sloan hadn’t been aware of their claws sinking into his flesh as they did so.

He was the one indebted to them. He was the one who would go on to serve their ends and means.

Everything had been covered by the very family that had kicked him out… But their strings had always been attached. A kind hand was a lie. People didn’t give something for free. The rich didn’t give their money away. Meat wasn’t just put on the table.

Yet, because of them, Sloan had managed to get by. To survive. Because of his family…

It was a conflicting emotion, splitting Sloan down the middle on the matter. Did his family love him then? To pay for everything. His room? His school? Food or clothes or the Ferrari that had showed outside his dorm with only a simple note attached with the car keys inside…

Or did they hate him?

They kicked him out of The Pride. They forbid him from getting involved in it. To be part of the family business with threat of death or mutilation. Yet, at the snap of their fingers Sloan was to scurry back into the fold when they needed to replenish their numbers. Their father hadn’t been a kind man and Sloan knew not to push the good will the older lion had showed him. What little that was.

Cold.

That’s how Mr. Kincaid was to him. To them. To all their siblings. Anyone directly related by blood to the lion, their father, had been pushed away in one way or another. Sloan had been kicked out. Lorenzo was forced to work at the docks. Jeron had been part of the negotiations with The Pack and look where that got him... And Lorrell had been shoved aside much as Sloan had but been allowed to remain in The Pride.

Something Sloan wished his father hadn’t done.

Lorrell had been hurt far more than Sloan had been. Her pride, the very strength they claimed to have, had been hurt. Insulted. And rubbed into the ground underneath their father’s paw. Mr. Kincaid didn’t even look at her, or the other lionesses, in the eye. Even though they did all the work.

And such insult wasn’t quickly forgotten.

It hadn’t taken much to convince the other members to join up and side with Lorrell, his sister ending up using Lorenzo as a patsy to be a puppet monarch for the family. A male needed to be in charge, but everyone knew Lorrell was the one pulling the strings now. Enzo Kincaid was nothing but a fancy marionette… and yet he still was family…

Right?

Lorrell wouldn’t hurt Lorenzo to advance her own position? She wouldn’t hurt Sloan…

Right?

Sloan had only been back in the family for a couple of weeks, at most, and he could already see her hand in nearly everything that had taken place. She was sly and cunning. Playing 3d chess with opponents who didn’t even realize they were playing until it was too late. She truly was a feline at the end of the day. Sloan had wanted to see past that, to believe past that… she was family. He was her family…

Right?

The very thought weighed on his heart and soul, pushing down his shoulders as he carried the burden of their father’s death. No, their father’s murder. Lorrell had killed him. Hiring an outside party, that tiger! A tiger to exact her revenge on their father who had scorned them all from his love.

At least when they were lions… they were family? An outside party blooding their hands in their name seemed beneath them. Maybe it was the pride that his father had always drilled into him speaking… but Sloan couldn’t sit easily at that.

It should’ve been family that dealt with family.

And just as he thought things were getting better, she had brought them here. Lorrell had brought Enzo and Sloan to the very place that was feeding Enzo’s fix… and her insatiable greed and pride in the process. The perfect opportunity to showcase the Kincaid family, united as one, before all the other gangs. To showcase their power, their pride, grandstanding and loitering it over everyone else.

Sloan knew of the place. Hell, any predator who wasn’t dead or living under a rock knew about the black market! The prices in the city for meat were absurd and new taxes were being placed on the meats one could buy in the market. Sloan came from wealth and even he found the prices to be outrageous.

And people wondered why such a place as this existed in a “civilized world.” They bred and created their own monsters. Like the ones fighting for their amusement in the ring tonight. Dinner and a show. That’s all this was.

With his meal all but forgotten and ignored, the lion sipped from his wine glass focusing on the “entertainment” down below.

Sloan could detach himself from those fighting. Those dying. The blood in the air made him sick; where it seemed to fuel those around him with a bloodlust high, Sloan could only feel nauseated from the stench of iron, of blood in the air. It did little to improve his appetite.

It was nothing new to a predator. The smell of blood or of these fights. Everyone knew about these fighting rings, just as they knew about the black market. Where did the meat come from after all?

Those in the ring, the herbivores, were allowed to fight for their life. And yes, if they won, they would be set free. Their debt would be cleared, and their family name would be erased from the files… if they won. No one ever won. Every single fight was rigged against them, and the rules were free to change in case of certain mishaps taking place.

Sure, they mixed it up from time to time. Even paying herbivores to come fight and having them win. It was all staged. Like a bad play, with a lot more… bodily fluids. Sloan had seen his fair share of fights, and plays, but hadn’t ever been in one, never needing too. Never been allowed to…

Still, his parents wanted him to see this. To see how life “really was.” That reality wasn’t as kind as what they showcased on the news or in media. Hollywood was responsible for people believing that wolves and dogs could get along. Let alone all the lies they spread about lions.

Sloan wanted to drown himself in wine, to get through this day but didn’t dare dull his senses. Even his untrained nose could pick up the bloodlust from those around them. Some of it was aimed even at them. No, not from the other lions. But from everyone else here.

The Cackle, a newly formed gang of hyenas with two sisters in charge, sat directly across from them. Sloan was uncomfortably aware one of the two sisters had been staring at them the entire time, ignoring the fights. Scavengers waiting to pounce. That’s all they were. They could smell weakness, smell blood in the water. Just waiting for the opportune moment to attack.

Others here were named members of cartels or part of the newly formed union down on the docks; though a union in nature it clearly had a darker underbelly to it. It was run by a small Asian otter Sloan had never caught the name of. They had localized all the marine life under one banner, one name and taken charge just as quickly.

Mixed throughout were members of newly formed groups, such as the African wild dogs, and even a group of stray mixed breed canines that looked as sourly as they smelled.

Sloan didn’t touch the meal served to him. He just poured himself another glass of red wine, his mind drifting elsewhere. All the things he could be doing right now than wasting his day, his evening like this! He wished there was cell service down here so he could at least text. Text the man he’d been thinking of.

The only one he wanted to partake in, to “Eat” as it were. Such animal thoughts made his stomach churn as his jaw clenched. He’d never tell Logan the desires he had. Just glad the human was willing to put up with him. Just like his family…

Sloan hadn’t wanted to pull Logan into this life. Hell, he wasn’t even fully sure why he had come back! A connection long lost? Fear of what The Pride would do if he said no? It was hard to say… And here he was offering the human a chance, to what? Be part of this life? Sloan might be as sick as the rest of them, just in a different way. Wanting the human to forever remain close. And for what? For family… that had been why at first but glancing over at his sister, Sloan couldn’t feel that from her. Not now. Not after what she’d done. Enzo was too… damaged. Broken, that was the word, to be anything more than a pity case at this point.

Lorrell though, he’d hoped for? Maybe? He wasn’t sure. Not anymore as his eyes turned back towards the ring. At the boxer that had been brought out to face a Tasmanian devil. The dog was an officer of the law and those up above, from the stray dog groups, growled viciously at the cop.

He was sure they saw this other canine, this boxer, as less than anyone else here. Willingly working for humans like that.

It wasn’t them, though, that had caught everyone attention. It was the person who came barreling through the room a minute later. The person who leapt over the caged fence of the ring and landed on top of the Tasmanian devil in the next second. Sloan couldn’t hear them as they approached the boxer, clearly knowing the canine and talking with them before facing the marsupial. Something about them, maybe the way they walked, had caught Sloan’s attention though he wasn’t sure why.

“Look at this!” Lorrell had laughed, covering her mouth with a hand with long acrylic nails over each finger. “A human came to rescue his dog.”

Sloan didn’t need to hear the words. No one did. No matter what jokes the others had made. It all fell on deaf ears as everyone was silenced when that meat cleaver held in the human’s hand connected with the Tasmanian devil body. The howl of pain was shortly cut off by a blood curdling scream that gurgled out of their mouth as the cleaver connected a second, a third, a fourth fifth sixth seventh time… and they hadn’t stopped.

There was a heavy silence that hung over the room, spoiling everyone’s high. That uncomfortable sound was only broken by the wet, slurping chops of the cleaver hitting the body of the Tasmanian devil. It turned Sloan stomach. How can that, how could someone do that to someone else… it was just like the infamous butcher.

Everyone knew of the butcher. Very few had been unlucky enough to see the unhinged tiger. A man, Sloan heard, was as cold and brutal as this human was before him. They kept to themselves, always lurking and watching from the shadows if the rumors were to be believed. As cold as this human was. They didn’t flinch. They didn’t hesitate as the blood splattered on the bat mask they wore. There wasn’t a stop to the chopping motion until they decided that it was enough…

A dark thought crossed his mind and Sloan was sure several others had a similar thought… “The butcher’s assistant?” A man aiming for the butcher’s job maybe? It turned his stomach once more as he set down his glass.

The human shouted out. Mocking them, ridiculing them and calling them out. He wasn’t sure who this “Milo” character was but worried for their life if this human ever got their hands on them. It was that voice that made the lion begin to stand, wanting to get closer. Finding something eerily familiar about this stranger covered in blood.

Those in charge, The Colony of bats that ran the black market, quickly got things under control. Or tried too. Lorrell was pissed. Her bemused face turning into something ugly. Sloan recognized that look. She had most likely set up the last fight and had bet accordingly. She’d lost a small fortune because of this human’s interference and the words coming out of their mouth… it was an insult to her.

Lorrell wanted to take control of the market. It was the lifeblood of the criminal world in Seattle. It was the perfect opportunity to show up their father’s legacy and name. She would be the one people spoke of in five years, not their father. Not The Pack. Lorrell Kincaid, a female lion, would be the one making headlines in the criminal world!

And this human had single handled shifted that balance away from her. The bats were scrambling to gain control, bringing out the finale to the ring far sooner than was schedule. All the other fights and their corresponding bids were cancelled because some human had stepped into their affairs.

Sloan had to admire it. This guy. He figured he’d be strung up and bled dry for the insult they had caused them but damn if they didn’t know how to shake things up. The hyena sisters across from them finally turned their attention away from Lorrell and to the human. One of the two finding far more amusement in this than anyone else.

Just another insult to The Pride. That Lorrell wasn’t even worth watching anymore. That this human had stolen the spotlight off her grand debut as head of The Pride.

“I’ll kill him…” Lorrell hissed nearby, her face growing dark as she covered her fanged muzzle with a hand to hide the distasteful look crossing over it. A look, Sloan was sure, was the very one she had when she decided to kill their father in cold blood.

Sloan had half a mind to sneak away in the ensuing chaos. That was until he saw it. Saw the human take off his mask… and shout out his name.

“I am Logan Smith!” The human called them out in front of every eye watching them. “You killed my brother. Prepare to die,” or that’s what Sloan heard as his jaw dropped seeing the man, his assistant, standing there.

His chair clattered to the floor and he didn’t care at all the looks he got from his fellow lions. This family wasn’t what he thought it was. This place they had dragged him too didn’t matter. It could burn down just like the docks had for all Sloan cared for in that moment. None of it matter. No one, not even his supposed family mattered. It was the man standing there, fighting for his life, in the ring that caught him up from the very day he’d stumbled into his office and crawled under his desk...

“Logan!” Sloan tried to say but his voice was drowned out by those around him sneering at the human. Calling for this human’s execution.

Was Logan going to die too…?

“Sloan.” Lorrell hissed at him, chasing after her brother. “Sit down!” She ordered and Sloan pushed past the table in his way to get closer to the edge of the arena.

“Brother…?” Enzo just asked, confusion and worry written all over the good side of his face as he tagged along with his sister like a lost child.

Sloan ignored the two as he stared down into the ring to make sure it wasn’t a trick of the light. That he hadn’t somehow misheard the human. To make sure that Logan was who he said he was. His fears, his worries, his doubts all began bubbling to the surface as Sloan had to make sure. Had to make sure it wasn’t Logan…

But it was.

The human had been tackled to the ground with the muscle-bound pit bull on top of him. He struggled, Logan was struggling, and Sloan could feel his nails extending as his jaw tightened as he watched the life being strangled out of the human, his assistant. His lover. His friend and confidant. His family…

“Sloan, get back here this instance!” Lorrell ordered and two guards moved forward to collect her brother. Sloan just looked back at them. His eyes lingering on Enzo before he jumped over the edge and landed in the ring on heavy paws.

Pins and needles shot up his legs from the fall and the lion had to push through it as he ran over to help the human being pinned. Hands grabbing the pit bull, Sloan grunted and growled out, a roar building in his chest and exploding from his mouth as he tossed the canine off his assistant who took several grateful breaths, red in the face after being freed.

“Logan.” Sloan was pissed and he wasn’t sure who it was at. At Logan for lying. For the human being here… in this place. At Lorrell for bringing him? Or maybe at the pit bull that was scrambling back to their feet, their lopsided body making it hard for them to stand being far too top heavy.

“The hell do you think you’re doing!” Lorrell shouted out from above as she grabbed the railing, nearly lurching over the side after her brother before stopping and collecting herself. Every eye was on her, in this moment.

Sloan fussed with his tie, undoing it as he shrugged off his jacket. As if on instinct, he tossed them to Logan, his once secretary, and lifted his hands as he squared off with the pit bull.

“Protecting my own investments….” Sloan muttered aloud as the pit bull looked between the lion then over at the human and back. Drooling pooled from Hercule’s lips tinged with red as the canine let out a broken whine, unsure what to do. Who to fight first. “Come at me,” Sloan just motioned with his hand. “I’m right here. Big hunk of meat for you to sink those pretty fangs of yours into.” The lion snarled, showing his own fangs.

Sloan hadn’t a clue what the fuck he was doing. He just wanted to protect Logan… and now really wished his parents had taught him how to fight.

“It looks like there are now two heavy weights in the arena!” The announcer just called out already spinning the situation into a favorable, profitable, advantage for the market. Trying to gain control. Sweeping it all away from Lorrell as everyone all but forgot the lioness in charge…

The canine turned on Sloan, snarling low and deep as Hercule took a step forward. His body was heavy, every breath he took shook his massive frame. With a wide barrel chest, bulging arms and a thick neck all being supported by muscular legs, Hercule was a beast. Hercule could even rival Sloan, maybe not in height, but in size. Gritting his teeth Hercule let out a roar of his own matching the one Sloan had given him after ripping him off Logan.

“That’s the spirit.” Sloan’s tail flicked as the canine charged.

Blindly, Hercule ran forward. Blinded by rage. Blinded by anger, hatred or something more Sloan couldn’t tell as he prepared himself for the fight.

Sloan put up his guard and still felt the impact of the pit bull hitting him, forcing the lion’s feet to skid backwards as the truck of muscle and meat covered in a red dyed furred hide hit him square on.

Hercule wasn’t a skilled fighter. He was just used to it. To fighting in this place. Locked away in a cell, away from the light of day as they fed him food laced with different kinds of stimulants and drugs. Beating him, training him, conditioning him not to attack those wearing masks. Shooting him up with every known drug on the market. And that was even before the bats had taken over the market. They just shot the nameless, forgotten canine up with whatever they could get their hands on. All in order to help him win.

They’d pull him out of his cell, the only home he knew, and toss him into this ring. He’d fight and if he won he got to eat. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t. It was that simple. His brain was broken down, rebuilt, broken down, rebuilt and broken down so many times Hercule didn’t even understand his name, not anymore. Hercule wasn’t even his name. It was what they called him. The pit bull didn’t even remember who he was before the humans had locked him away in this place. Even his pain receptors seemed to be as addled and broken as his mind had become, unable to fully register his sliced open bleeding arm.

Survival wasn’t what matter. That hadn’t been beaten into him. Winning. Winning was all that mattered to the canine even if it cost him his life.

Who he was, what he was none of that mattered. Only the fights. Only winning. Only food. Only the fights. Only winning. Only the food…

“Don’t swing wide!” Logan called out as Sloan lifted his arm, turning his body as the pit bull closed in on him.

Sloan wasn’t quick enough and felt the stinging pain of a hit connect with his side. Then his chest. Then his other side and the lion had to retreat from snapping jaws that bit madly, wildly at his arms and face causing the lion to retreat. The pit bull was foaming at the mouth and even the lion took a step back at that.

“Arms in! Stick and move! Stick and move!” Logan tried to coach quickly but it was hard to hear him over the crowd above. It was hard to focus while being wailed on. It was hard to practice something Sloan had never been taught.

And thus, the predator, fell back on the one thing he did know. Instinct.

It had been a long time since Hercule fought against someone who could match him in strength. And the blow that hit him didn’t just have strength behind it but claws. Sloan lifted his arm, taking another hit, before swinging wide in an arcing haymaker that he threw all his weight and strength into. The lion’s swiped out with his hand, nails springing forth as it smacked the pit bull in the face with the hardest slap he’d ever received before. An iron weight of a paw slammed against his muzzle, the nails dug into his cheek, pulling down before ripping free as Hercule’s body stumbled to the side from the powerful blow.

One hit had nearly knocked him unconscious as the pit bull turned around to face the lion once more who looked just as surprised as Hercule was.

A single step was all it took for him to be in range for Sloan to swipe again. The lion rearing back and swiping forward with his hand. Hercule easily saw it coming and blocked the blow with his bloody arm. It was useless to him; he’d just use it as a shield at this point.

Sloan hit the arm three times in quick succession before pulling back allowing Hercule to retaliate. A punch that swung wide just as Sloan’s did but with enough power to nearly level the lion who took it to the side.

Sloan stumbled backwards, coughing out eyes going wide from the blow. It felt like Hercule had swung an iron pipe instead of a fist. That pain only fueled the lion’s fury and Sloan lifted his arm up, muscles flexing through the silken shirt he wore and with a roar swiped out with his hand once more.

And once more, Hercule blocked it with his bloody arm. He just wasn’t expecting the lion’s nails to sink into his bloody hide, nails gripping at the loose flap of hide Logan had cut free.

Grabbing the wound Sloan roared out as he ripped and pulled it open and despite the drugs pumping in his system, Hercule felt it when his furry hide was ripped from his arm like wet tissue paper to expose the muscle underneath. The sound of it filled the ring as Sloan roared out both in fury and disgust as he just pulled with all his strength. Hercule howled in anger and pain once more as the lion’s other hand came around to hit the other side of his face.

Logan had seen lion’s fight in his line of work but watching Sloan now made even the human take a step back. Sloan looked feral. Eyes wide and contracted in a very cat like fashion with fangs bared, claws extended as he reared back on his legs and brought his hand back down in the hardest slap Logan had ever seen in his life.

The sound of it connecting against the canine’s face filled the silence that had set in the room. The jeering laughter and mocking voices had died down as the lion’s fury took control and that wild, untamed feral instinct took over.

What Logan had always feared stood before him as the lion lost control.

Sloan let go of the wet slab of fur and pushed forward, roaring out as he let it all out on the pit bull that had hurt his assistant. Letting out the anger of being here. Anger of watching his father skull being smashed in. The anguish and sorrow and pain bleeding out from the lion’s strikes just as the pit bull bled in front of him.

The lion pounced on top of this other canine and let it all out.

Sloan swiped out against the pit bull’s face, against Hercule’s body. Against his arms and shoulders and chest. It didn’t matter as Sloan’s massive hands came down hard against the pit bull who was pushed back against the corner with the lion on top of him. His hands stung. His palms were growing numb and his fingers tingled and still the lion didn’t stop. Nails bit at Hercule’s flesh as Sloan snarled at the canine. Blood flew in the air and covered the maroon silk shirt Sloan was wearing, dying it an even darker shade of red.

It didn’t matter that Sloan didn’t know how to fight. In that moment animal instinct took over and it was clear that a lion outweighed a pit bull when it came to size and power. And in the end, survival of the strongest came into play. In the wild, the lion was king. Hercule’s blood loss wasn’t helping the canine either.

Logan had to look away, Clem cowering with him as the two turned away as the lion began ripping the pit bull to shreds in a bloody rage. Bits of fur and flesh flew in the air as the lion tore into the canine, reminding him, and reminding everyone watching, who was on top here.

Hercule’s skull hit the cement wall and Sloan was more than happy to knock it against the wall several more times as he roared out into the dog’s face. A sound that filled the entire room, made everyone’s fur or hair stand on end as the king of the beasts laid his claim before them all.

There was a reason why The Pride was run by a male lion at the end of the day and it was something Lorrell both envied and hated about her brother there and then in that moment…

Everything from the past month was pouring out of Sloan as he gritted his teeth, clenching them painfully tight as he clawed and ripped at the body in front of him. This dog didn’t have a name. He wasn’t a person in that moment to the lion. He was nothing but a means to vent the anger and frustration out inside, taking it all out on someone who truly seemed to deserve it.

After everything he’d lost.

His brother.

His father.

And almost Logan…

It was too much to bear. The thought of losing him, too, despite it all. Despite everything!

“Sloan!” Lorrell shouted out, snapping him back to his right mind several minutes later. “Enough!” She hissed out, covering the side of her face from the gruesome mess and looking away.

Sloan took several heavy breaths as he looked down at the carcass in front of him. It didn’t even resemble a canine anymore. And Sloan just lifted his blood soaked hands up before his face to stare down at them as if they belonged to someone else.

His blood was pumping, the sound of his heart drumming in his ears as he took another step back away from what he had done.

After what Logan had… who Logan was… did he even…? So many thoughts ran through the lion’s mind as he took a tentative step backwards looking at the mess he had made. He glanced over at Logan and was ashamed to see… the human he had done this for, was looking away from him. Logan unable to meet the blood covered face of the lion who might as well have feasted on the pit bull before them all.

Sloan, in the end, was nothing more than an animal being contained in a suit…

His blood was pumping. Pounding loudly in his ears as if threatening to burst. His vision was red. He could smell blood and his hands were covered in it. He was nothing more than a murderer that they had trapped in this ring, this cage. The walls were closing in on the lion and he began to hyperventilate as it all came crashing down around him.

Work. His father. Family. Home. Life. Future. The society that put him in this cage. Built him up for this moment, breaking him down. Broken pieces trying to stay together as everyone seemed to be against him.

“Open this cage!” Sloan snarled at the announcer, letting that anger guide him further. “I demand you open this cage, immediately!” He bared his fangs, bloody claws extending as he stared wide eyed at the bat watching everything. “As the eldest son of the Kincaid family, I demand you release us!”

Such a claim shook The Pride above. The other lion’s weren’t looking at Lorrell anymore for guidance but looking at this male, her brother, before them with newfound respect and admiration. Bloody, cruel and cold just like their father.

And Lorrell hated it.

There was a moments pause as the bat spoke to someone on his earpiece. Sloan wasn’t sure how they had reception down here. Everyone else didn’t. It must’ve been one of the means they used to keep control over this neutral ground.

“Of course.” The bat gladly offered him the chance after confirming it over the radio. “But only after the human and dog are dead.” And there were jeering laughter at that from everyone around. Uneasy laughs as everyone tried to keep up the fun they had going and struggling to do so.

It was different seeing a predator for what they were. What they all pretended not to be while knowing fully well what they were. This was supposed to be a means of turning the tables, to see the herbivores as the wild animals they were not… not this.

No one wanted to look in the mirror and see the monster looking back.

Lorrell only shook her head, covering her face as she backed away not even offering Sloan any support in the matter.

“Lorrell!” Sloan called out, his voice softening as he pleaded for his sister to do something. She must’ve known. Known what Logan meant to him… after all, she was the one trying to pull his strings too.

“If you don’t, all three of you will be killed.” The bat just explained, loving the show they were putting on. “Tick tock. The time is ticking… Better choose quickly. Your life. Or theirs…” The announcer voice was filled with amusement as if it were the simplest decision he’d ever had to make.

Sloan snarled at that.

“What about your other brother,” Logan spoke up inching over towards the lion but giving Sloan plenty of space. Sloan turned on him quickly, causing the human to back up.

Sloan was still breathing heavily, chest rising and falling as his eyes bore into Logan. The tension, that Kincaid anger he’d inherited from his father… began to die down after seeing the bruise marks on Logan’s neck. Logan was still holding his side and one of his eyes were beginning to close, the cheek underneath it growing puffy and turning a darker shade of color than the rest.

“Sir…?” Logan voice was so soft Sloan almost didn’t even hear it. “Sloan…?” The human said once more, the meek sound coming from him pulling on the lion’s heartstrings unaware of what a puppet he’d become for the human pulling his strings…

And Sloan was already falling back into Logan’s web.

Humans were, in the end, such fragile creatures… even their wounds were visible for all to see, unable to hide it away under their fur like everyone else could. And Logan knew that. Using that against Sloan as he pleaded for help. The lion’s heart sunk seeing the damage that had been done to Logan’s handsome face. The human was so fragile in the end… like porcelain. To be seen, to be valued but never touched for fear of breaking them…

“Lorenzo!” Sloan called out. “You can’t leave me down here,” he said, glancing over at Logan who just gave a single nod.

“Think of Jeron…” Logan hated coaching him, hated feeding Sloan the words the lion needed to say to get them out of here.

“Lorenzo! Think of Jeron…” Sloan repeated what Logan said and the lion could practically feel the human pulling his strings at that moment. He shook the thought away. There was so much to ask, to say about this. All this… “I’m still here!” Sloan said aloud, parroting what Logan told him. “You can make a difference, this time. Think of Jeron. I’m your brother too!”

“Don’t,” Lorrell hissed at Enzo when the youngest Kincaid tried to creep over to help. Enzo covered his head as if afraid his older sister was about to hit him. There were several choice words she shouted at him in Italian.

“He’s our brother!” Enzo just shouted back now. Everyone seemed to be eating up the drama, giving Logan plenty of time to catch Sloan’s attention as the lions fought up above as the others watched.

“Toss me.” Logan just said, getting a look from the other two. “I’m lighter than Clem. I can get up there and get out of here,” Logan just stated. “Aim for the bat… I got a few things we need to discuss.” He glared at the announcer who was now placing bets on which of the two sibling lions would come out of this alive.

“I’m not,” Sloan started up, his mane sticking out as his fur raised up at the idea of tossing the human.

“Do me then!” Clem swallowed his fear, stepping forward. “I’m only a bit heavier… Logan’s injured,” he added stopping the human from saying anything. “I can do it. I can do this!” The boxer begged the lion he’d never met before.

Logan hated to admit that Clem was right. He didn’t like to putting others in the line of danger. Not those he cared about and despite his efforts, Logan didn’t want to see Clem or Sloan hurt in all this. The human was feeling it though and needed a moment to recuperate after nearly being choked to death.

“Vicky’s here.” Logan said catching Clem’s attention. “The wolves will be knocking soon…” He added, getting a look from Sloan. “We need to get those out of here… that matter.” Logan stressed his words. “It’s going to be a blood bath,” there was no point in hiding things. “We really are on a timer.”

Logan side hurt, he felt tired and he really needed some coffee…

“Right.” Sloan just nodded as if understanding quickly enough. “Uh…” Sloan stopped, looking at the boxer.

“Clementine.” The boxer offered with a hand that Sloan took.

“Sloan Kincaid. I’m Logan’s boss. Er, boyfriend. Both?” The lion added, glancing over at the human who really wasn’t in the mood to talk about that right now.

“Right…” Clem awkwardly shook his hand, not meeting the lion’s eyes or Logan’s as he looked to the side. “How are we going to?” And the boxer yipped as Sloan moved forward.

Wrapping his arms around the boxer, the lion hoisted him up before, with a grunt, tossed him in the air a bit to catch his legs and once more to push up his feet. It happened within seconds and Clem ended up being tossed up and over the edge of the cage as if he were a log in a log toss.

The boxer hit the fence hard and winced as he forced himself to his feet. Several noticed and got up to either beat up the officer, kill him or maybe just push him back into the ring. Clem was having none of it… and took off running over the cage with several chasing behind him, piling over each other as they tried to get first dibs, or first grabs, on the boxer.

“Logan!” Clem just called out making the human groan, covering his face now. “What do I do?”

“This is why I told you to toss me…” Logan muttered, wiping a hand down his face and watching as the boxer somehow managed to avoid every single hand trying to grab at him. He was sure it was because he was used to avoiding the other canines at the doghouse but still, he was impressed. The cowardly boxer had a trait all his own.

“Aim for the announcer!” Logan just shouted up, wincing at the stab of pain that shot through his side. Sloan helped support him.

“You’re bleeding!” Sloan said in concern.

“Relax. Not my blood.” Logan just waved it off though as he watched the boxer above with a half closed eye.

“Hey now!” The bat turned on the boxer running past him. “Get back in the ring!” They said with a laugh before Clem caught sight of them and their smile turned upside down. “No!” And the bat flew backwards as the boxer leapt off the cage to grab at him.

Clem managed to snag one of their legs, pulling the bat and the boxer down to the ground in the middle of the ring. The two plummeting back to the earth like a rock in water. Clem was already on top of the bat, forcing him to call it in.

“Release us or so help me I will bite your wings off!” Clem snapped his jaws, getting a look from Sloan.

“He won’t, he’s all bark and no bite.” Logan just said, wincing as he held his side, walking over towards the two. There was chaos above but Logan tried to ignore it.

“He won’t. I will.” Sloan threatened, showing his fangs and the bat quickly called things in seeing the blood soaked lion and watched after what he’d done to the pit bull. Logan had to admit, Sloan could be very intimidating in the right light… also covered in blood.

“Jodee, it’s Klaus… open the side exit, towards the kitchen…” The bat just glared at the two before cowering away from the lion.

“We won’t have much time; you better hurry up.” Logan threatened but didn’t need too as the nearby gate began to open for them. “Bring him,” Logan just said moving ahead of the two. Clem was more than happy to oblige as Sloan followed behind with a sunken head trying to wrap his mind about all this.

“Sloan!” Lorrell called out, stopping the lion in the entrance. “If you go through that door…” She threatened.

Sloan stopped then and looked back, feeling split again on the matter. That was until a helpful hand touched his and he looked over at the human.

“Come on,” Logan just said. “We’re going home.” He smiled then and the lion couldn’t have said no even if he wanted too as Logan quickly pulled him into the dark tunnel. “I think you’ll like Thanksgiving. My friend, Alan, is getting everything ready….” Logan continued, holding the lion’s bloody hand with his own as they walked further into the dark tunnel, ignoring everything behind them.

“Our little family just keeps growing, huh?” Clem offered with a large smile at the two as he strong armed the bat forward.

“Family, huh…?” Sloan glanced back one last time thinking of those he called family.

“Let’s go. We need to hurry.” Logan just pressed and no one was willing to argue in that moment as they continued into the black market as their night continued to tick by. They were after all on a timer, Logan knew.

And the wolves were sure to come knocking.

Just as all hell broke out above…