"Friends! You are alive!" Ron spread his arms wide when Virginia and Annie came back to the holding cell, covered with the remains of the insectoids.

For the next match, the pair were sent against a small hive of insectoids. Thankfully, their opponents did not have a queen among them, yet at least twelve warrior critters found their demise beneath the claws of Annie and Virginia, not counting all the drones that the wolf hags stomped with their feet. A long cut was visible on the chest of Virginia, Annie herself received a small slash across her back. The insectoid warriors knew their craft, although their killing abilities were dulled in the wide arena.

"Where have you been?" Annie demanded to know, cleaning and stitching up the wound on Virginia’s chest.

"In the Halls of Pleasure, as they called it," Ron smiled, putting both arms behind his back, "My new duties are a bit humiliating, sure, and quite demanding. But I’ll live."

While the wolf hag was busy crudely stitching the edges of her back wound, Annie let Virginia clean her own wound and assessed Ron. Unlike the wolf hags Ron was dressed in a black shirt and simple black pants. He wore the same collar as the others, but his fur was washed clear and the male himself smelled pleasantly. The few cuts that he got during the pursuit were closed and healed by now.

"And what exactly are your duties now, male?" Annie murmured softly, standing up and slamming a paw into the wall near Ron’s head. Upon hearing danger in the words of Annie, the wolfkin jumped up in fear.

"Nothing serious. Some massage here, some… private things there…" Ron smiled nervously.

Annie grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up in the air. His eyes ran wild in panic when the fingers of the wolf hag grasped his throat like a garrote. He dared not to try and defend himself, while his legs jerked in fear some distance from the ground. She pushed her snout closer, sniffing him like a dog with her ruined nostrils. He smelled of honey and rich perfumes. There was also a hint of smell and the smell of something else. Annie licked his fur and spit on the floor, sensing the disgusting taste.

"You are a fuck toy for them," Annie growled, baring her fangs. Ron weakly screamed in fear, upon seeing how jaws snapped right before his nose, "You… you dare to shame our people like this?!" She threw him on the ground and sat on the bed, breathing heavily, while Ron was whining at her legs, showing his neck to Annie and the angry looking Virginia. Annie looked up at the ceiling, feigning desperation, "It doesn’t matter for now. When we come back, I’ll myself skin you for this," Ron cried out in fear, grasping Annie’s legs and crying out loud. Annie kicked him away, looking at him with disgust in her eyes, "Shut it, male. My back is sore. Show me some of… massage of yours." She spat with disgust, closing her weary eyes.

Annie heard how Ron, still whining and crying, climbed onto the bed behind her and started massaging her neck. The wolf hag growled in anger, feeling Ron’s tears on her shoulder and the fingers of the operative working twice as fast. The movements of his fingers were frantic, yet the timing of his thumbs was not. She was counting up the tapping of his thumbs against her skin, trying to count them, the timing between them, and translate it into words:

Fake. Good. Proud. Both. You. I. Found. Potential. My. Way. Name. H.E.K.A.N.T.A. Remember! Annie felt a bit of pain when Ron used tip of his claw on her skin. Not to scratch her, but to draw attention to his sign language. H.E.K.A.N.T.A. Do. Not. Kill. Pride. Arrogance. Find. Way. Humiliate. Her. Possession. Cruelty. Directed. Me. Explain. Later.

Annie hit him with the back of her head, dragging him above herself and putting whined Ron on a knee before herself. She could feel his crazy beating heart in his chest, see how fast he was breathing, and see the tears in his eyes. It made her sick, but the operative made himself clear before the mission. They are to treat him like a usual female of the Wolf Tribe treats a usual male, and even worse. This included beating and biting when necessary.

"You belong to us, you understand this?"

"I am. Please, I didn’t have a choice! They would have killed me!" Ron cried out, trying to break free of Annie’s grasp. She pushed her fingers deeper into his skin, causing him pain.

"Disgusting. Crying like a normie," Annie closed her jaws on Ron’s neck, drawing blood, and the operative screamed in fear, trembling beneath her fangs. She held him for a minute, before pushing him toward Virginia, "Be happy that you must face punishment and still have uses for me. Otherwise, I would have feasted on your guts right here. Help Virginia relax now and remember this lesson. Never again dare to show familiarity with us ever again, male."

Annie closed her eyes and pressed her back to the wall, allowing herself to briefly fall asleep, while Ron was conveying the message to Virginia. She felt herself too weak to even training, lack of water and food, along with constant fighting and a need for healing, took a toll on her body. The inner reserves of the body had to be preserved if Annie was to survive and fight on. Virginia woke her up when Ulrica, accompanied by the four guards, brought food to the slaves.

She gulped the meat and water down like a madman, without even chewing. Both she and Virginia left Ron a single cup of water and a small piece of meat, as per his instructions.

Soon after, the pair were taken away for another round in the arena.

****

Virginia growled from anger when the guard hit her in the back. She turned around, wanting to bite the woman, but discharge from the slave collar brought her to her knees, while the guard laughed softly, waiting for the wolf hag to stand up.

In the past few days, Annie and Virginia have gotten some understanding of the rules in this abominable place. Each aggressive move or rapid move against the walls, doors, items, or other people without slave collars was rewarded with an electric shock from the collar. Slaves were free to try and attack each other at any given opportunity, it was up to their owners to stop them. The only exception were the pleasure slaves, upon coming into one of the many hallways leading to the section of the base know as the Halls of Pleasure, the slave collar was removed from the necks of the slaves. Annie noticed Ron entering one of these corridors, the vile odor coming from within was thick with the smell of narcotics and some incense burning in the air. Even from the hallway, Annie could hear the cracks of the whips and the moans of pleasure coming from inside the section.

Annie helped Virginia to stand up. Even now, this idiot was trying to bite the arena’s guards at every opportunity, while people were amusing themselves, by riling her up to willing self-punishment caused by the collar. Annie figured out their game a long time ago and warned Virginia. Some of the guests clearly paid the guards, hoping that the wolfkins would injure themselves badly enough prior to the match. It was cheap play, but the stubborn idiot kept falling into it. Sometimes Annie wasn’t sure if Virginia was playing her role this well, or if she was a simple buffoon. For the sake of her own sanity, Annie decided to assume only the best about her partner.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Roll and a few mercenaries waited for the wolf hags further along the corridor. Ulrica stood with them, speaking with someone. He was standing with his back to Annie, dressed in a crimson fur coat and light-colored pants. The sleeves of his fur coat hung at his back while the arms of the man gesticulated in the air. The man was bowing to Ulrica, speaking in an ingratiating voice:

"Please think about my proposition, miss. Why would you stay here, in this cruel place? Your fur will regrow in my humble establishment, you will be dressed in silks. You will be surrounded by other beautiful girls! And I do have standards, all my beauties are in perfect health and eat only the most delicate dishes," He spread his arms wide, and Annie saw countless golden rings and bracelets on his thin, without a trace of muscle on them, arms, "And my clients of the highest stock! Oh gentle flower, no one will ever dare to harm you."

"I am sorry, but no," Ulrica looked at the floor, red with shame. Her white fur began to regrow in some places on her body, tiny white hairs were now visible on the lean body, but she was still nearly naked, "I am… I am quite content with my fate."

"Don’t say such things, my dear. You deserve to feel the warmth of the sun, not the cold and lifeless electric lights of this grave in the ground…" The man extended his arm toward Ulrica in a pleading gesture.

"You heard the lady, whoreson, so paws off." Annie barked at him.

She wasn’t sure what happened next. Virginia growled, releasing her claws. Annie felt her fur on the back of her neck stand up. The feeling of dread fell on her, similar to the one that she felt upon leaving the Pearl City. The man still stood with his back to Annie, Ulrica looked at the wolfkins in confusion, while all Annie wanted was to jump at the man from behind, burying her fangs into his neck in a desperate attempt to kill it, before the beings before them killed her and then everyone. She knew that Virginia felt the same, Annie could fear that even this idiot was wary of this… this creature before them. And yet, everyone else was calm. When the man turned around, she saw the small-looking and afraid man, who was nervously licking his handsome lips. He opened his mouth, showing pristine white teeth, to say something, but only swallowed nervously upon seeing two wolf hags before him. Upon seeing this miser, Annie felt herself relaxed.

"Keep your animals away from Yabor, unless you want to have them culled." A calm voice said. Across the corridor came a strange man. His skin was the color of pale snow, traces of hoarfrost could be seen on his face, despite the hot temperature within the corridor. A white jacket was over his shoulders, beneath it was a black shirt with a blue tie. On his feet, he wore boots made of lizard skin, a black belt held tight white trousers. One of his pale hands was in his jacket pocket, while the other hand played with a small piece of ice. His eyes were hidden away behind pitch-black sunglasses.

Roll put a hand over his pistol and looked at the newcomer: "Keep your threats to yourself, Galfo. Your man bothered us first."

"Remove your hand from the pistol or lose it." Galfo simply said, throwing a casual look at the wolf hags. Annie tensed, sensing how the man was sizing her up, looking for weak spots for a potential attack. She could practically feel the cold that was emanating from him, as if he was a frozen corpse and not a living person. He was dangerous, sure, but Annie was unsure if the fear that she felt just a moment before was coming from this man. Roll frowned but put his hand away from the weapon, and Galfo cracked ice in his palm.

"Galfo!" Yabor ran behind the back of the man, putting his hands on his shoulders and trembling behind him, "Let’s leave, please. These people are scary."

"Tch. Is this what passes for a brothel owner nowadays?" Roll asked with disgust, "In my time they were made of sturdier stuff."

"Yabor is my property and thus has no need for bravery. Any fool who dares to lay a hand on the cartel's property will lose both hands." The ice man replied to the mercenary, still looking at the wolf hags.

"Sorry for the fuss, no disrespect was intended!" Yabor glanced from behind the back of the pale man and smiled nervously, "You see, the girls who come from the immigrants all look more or less the same. Now, don’t you dare think that they are not pretty or not hard workers!" Yabor let go of his guardian and waved a finger in the air, "All of them are wonderful and beautiful people. But my customers want someone a bit more… shall we say, exotic from time to time…"

"Thus, we came here to buy some slaves." Galfo yawned, putting a hand to his mouth. A white mist came from his mouth upon exhaling.

"Best of luck then," Roll said without baiting an eye, "These ladies are already owned by our commander."

"Everything can be bought, if the price is right," Virginia’s growl turned into a muffed groan of pain when one of the guards behind her pressed at the terminal. Galfo ignored it, looking at the mercenary, "One would think that your merry band would choose a better master than another lousy doggy."

"Mind your words, please, sir," Roll once again moved his hand toward his weapon, "We consider a new breed as a leader as a sing of… good luck. That and the commander pays us generously."

"One new breed is as good as any other new breed. And there are always more pleasurable ways to get more cash," Galfo closed the distance between himself and the mercenary in a blink, looking into the surprised eyes of the man, "The cartel is always hiring. Do keep this in mind, that’s all I ask. Yabor! We are off to look elsewhere for new slaves for you."

"Please, don’t imply that my honeys are slaves," The small man pressed his hands together in a pleading gesture, "They are very valuable workers…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Hurry up already, this place bores me." Galfo dragged the man by his hand away from the crowd.

Annie felt the smack on the back of her head and turned her head to look at the guard behind her. The woman pointed further across the corridor and thinly smiled.

"They belong to the commander," Roll said in an exasperated voice, "Don’t rile up our possessions."

"Everyone belongs to the cartel here, friend," The woman looked at him, unbothered to keep the wolfkins in the rifle scope, "And you would be wise not to forget this."

"If you say so, slave," Roll snapped his fingers and turned away from the enraged guard. His men surrounded the wolfkins, pushing them to walk further down the corridor, "We will take it from here."

The mercenaries escorted the wolfkins to the balcony owned by Ultis. The mercenary leader was sitting at the edge of the balcony, looking down on the battle that was happening in the arena. A group of armored people were doing their best to try and shoot the enemies in power armors, the same enemies that were part of the group that captured Annie and her fellows. Long capes flowed in the air, while steel-clad enemies dodged the desperate people's aim, closing in on them and slicing them with long claymores, leaving wounded people and a red-painted arena in their wake as they darted away. There was a hill in the middle of the arena with a long pole stuck in it. A yellow flag could be seen on this pole, and the group of people desperately tried to reach it. A lone figure in the power armor stood on this hill, holding the long spear in the right arm. It looked at people before itself, making not a single move to help others on the team. Yet they didn’t need any help.

Annie guessed that they were the caravan's guards, and their opponents were new breeds. The foes were already faster and stronger to begin with, and the power armors only meant that strugglers had no chance. The crowd cheered as claymores sliced through flesh and bone, leaving dead people on the stone floor. A figure in a crimson cape appeared before three slaves armed with shotguns. She turned into a whirlwind, allowing her weapon to bite the foes around her before they could back off or fire. One slave had his shotgun sliced and fell to the ground with two deep cuts on his knees. Two others received cuts across their shoulders and fell with a cry. The figure lifted her weapon triumphantly to the person on the hill, while two more slaves sneaked behind her, aiming at her back with their rifles. The shots never came, their weapons were sliced in two by another figure in a blue cape. The figure hit the slaves with the side of her sword, knocking them out, and walked away, seeking new prey. Annie noticed that only the black cloaks bothered to kill their opponents, the figure in the red cape seemingly enjoyed cutting her opponents and leaving them alive, while the figure in the blue cape prided itself on weaving around the aim of the foes and knocking them down.

Ultis put a glass of wine on a table filled with various foods next to her. Annie's nostrils caught the tasty smell of the roasted cusack, and her stomach rumbled against her will.