Claws

La La Land

Sexual content in this chapter. 18+ readers ONLY

APOLLO

     A hearty thwack sounded out and my body screamed in pain. Broken ribs still ached and complained, but that didn't stop me from running the agility course behind the mansion.
     I practiced sans Luka today. He had forfeited his right to be around me through harsh words.
     It was impossible to forgive him, to forgive myself, to forgive Blizzard. All I could do was run until my legs caved in from underneath me.
     This time, a hurdle took me out. I knocked it over and cascaded to the ground, screeching when I landed on my bad side.
     The pack wanted nothing to do with me. Estranged birds cast dirty looks my way, hissed, and snarled from a distance. From the way they expressed their newfound distaste for me, it was evident that I was no longer welcome in their pack. Even Atlas was participating.
     Then there was Blizzard. I hadn't seen but an outline of her in the sky as she hunted with Joan out past the cow pasture.
     I missed her. I knew I shouldn't, but that didn't stop my heart from aching in my chest, and the aching in my chest didn't stop the burning in my calves, or the throbbing in my ribs, or the stinging in my tail feathers.
     My body gave out on me much sooner than usual. Only an hour passed, but the abuse I had taken took its toll on me. As I laid on the rubber padding of the agility course, I watched clouds fly by in the blue noon sky. The moon was barely visible close to the horizon, and light wind made the summer sun bearable.
     Not for the first time in my life, I was lonely. I longed for my pack, new and old, for my master, for my would-be mate and for my partner.
     A deep breath entered my chest. Before I knew it, I was hyperventilating, and I wasn't sure if I was having a panic attack or about to howl. My answer came soon in the form of an ear-splitting sound of pain, both physical and mental. I cried out for Roomba, for Fig Newton, for Onyx and Obsidian, for Atlas and Ember, and most of all, for Blizzard.
     I wasn't surprised when not only did no one show, but there wasn't even an answer. Save for a particularly unwelcome human speaking through my radio collar.
     "Luka to Apollo, do you read me?"
     I remained silent. Luka continued anyways.
     "I know you're hungry. We just got fresh meat delivered. It looks reaaaally juicy."
     A growling stomach gave me away. Laughing came through the two-way radio.
     "Seriously, Apollo." Luka said with a lighthearted tone, "If you don't come back home within the next ten minutes I'm sending a search party after you.... Again."
     Ten minutes came and passed, and I hadn't moved from my spot. Ten became fifteen, fifteen became twenty, and still no dice.
     Was I doing this for attention? Maybe. Was I doing it to spite the human? Absolutely.
     "Hey, Apollo." A familiar voice called from a few yard away.
     "Hi, Roomba." I tried not to let me tone betray my happiness at the company. "I didn't even hear you touch down."
     The brown-and-tawny-winged bird took a seat next to me on the rubber matting. We sat in a comfortable silence for several minutes. When Roo eventually broke it, he said, "Apollo, is everything okay at home?"
     "Not really." I confessed, "What about you?"
     "Not really." He admitted, "My mistress is considering selling me."
     "What?" Shock leaked into my voice.
     "She thinks I'm useless." The other bird soughed, "I haven't done as well in tracking as she'd like."
     "I'm so sorry, Roomba." I wasn't sure what else to say, but settled on, "You found me, though."
     He cracked a minuscule smile. "That's because your scent is all over this place."
     "See! I could never figure that out myself." I encouraged him.
     Roo's tone grew dark again. "Doesn't change the fact that I might not be here much longer."
     "Don't say it like that." His words made me feel on edge. "It sounds like you're saying you're going to get slaughtered."
     The bird stayed quiet.
     "Roomba?" I asked fervently.
     "I don't know." He admitted, "A useless bird is frequently a dead bird, or worse."
     I had no idea what to say to that. Instead, I chose to embrace him. Arms and wings wrapped around the worried bird, squeezing tightly. My head rested on top of his while he sighed contently.
"It'll be okay." I told him. Whether or not that was true was to be determined.
A single word came through the radio on my collar, effectively spooking Roomba and I.
Luke growled, "Apollo."
"Yes?" I hummed politely, hoping to tick off the human.
"If you're not home within five minutes, you're getting punished."
A single laugh left me. "Sure." I replied sarcastically.
Electricity buzzed against my neck. Annoying, but definitely drowned out by everything else that was wrong with me. It was a lone burst anyways.
Roomba peeked out of the feather burrito I had placed him in. "I don't know how you get away with all that. My mistress would skin me."
"There's nothing that Luka can do to me that's worse than what I've already gone through." I replied truthfully.
"What're you talking about?" Morbid curiosity seeped into Roo's voice.
"Let's see," I started a list. "Tortured, raped, molested, brutalized, experimented on, etcetera."
My friend's eyes looked like they were about ready to pop out of his head.
"It's like collecting Pokémon cards, really." I joked.
Roo clamped a hand over his mouth and let out a little chuckle.
Another annoying zap came through my collar. This time, I let Roo go, unbuckled it, and threw it all as far as inhumanly possible. It landed about a quarter mile away towards the cow pasture, just past the treehouse.
At the awkward silence, I asked, "What about you? Any tragic backstory?"
"Just the standard raised-on-a-farm stuff." Roo hummed nonchalantly. He settled his head in my lap.
"What's that mean?" I prodded.
"Wild-caught?" He questioned, and I nodded. "Figures. Captive-bred lionheart are generally raised on a farm after being weaned. When you go through puberty, your metamorphosis begins, of course, and you're sold to your Master or Mistress."
"Sounds rough." I concluded, before teasing, "But probably not as rough as foster care."
"Do you always have to one-up me?" Roo kidded, and I nodded.
A moment passed before my friend said, "You should probably get back to your master."
     I groaned at his suggestion. "I really don't want to."
     "Well," Roomba got up, "I don't want to bear witness to the epic ass whooping you're about to get." He said rather seriously. "Catch you on the flip side, Apollo!"
     "Bye, Roo." I called after him as he took off into the afternoon sky.
     A twinge of tiredness took root in my body.
I wouldn't mind a nap.
     The executive decision was made to crawl inside the agility tunnel for some shade, and rest my eyes.
     I dreamed about Kennedy. The months we spent getting to know each together and just enjoying each other's presence. Our deep conversations. The way he kissed me with his perfectly-soft lips. I could almost smell pine and feel his silky hair against my forehead. Almost.
     Instead, I felt hands jostling me awake in the dim evening light.
     "Um, Apollo?" I came to less than a foot from Roomba's face. The Filipino bird started speaking quickly and erratically. "So, Blizzard's out of commission and your Master is still looking for you, so your master called my Mistress, and my Mistress told me to track you down, and now I found you, and your master is waiting outside with a wood paddle."
     "Wait, what?" I grumbled, still waking up.
     "Get up, get up!" Roomba pulled me upright from where I laid on the floor.
     "Ow, ow, my ribs!" I griped.
     "Yeah, just focus on your ribs." Roomba said through an obvious shroud of anxiety.
     Peaking my head out of the tunnel, I spied a buff Asian woman in sunglasses, a gray tank top, and camo pants, who could only be Roomba's mistress. The other bird ran to her, immediately falling into a kneel at her feet.
     "Good boy, Roo Roo." The woman cooed, "You might be useful after all."
     To their right was definitely Luka holding a wooden, hole-filled paddle in one hand and my retrieved bird collar in the other. He didn't look very happy.
     "Hi, Apollo." Luka spoke angelically, "Do you mind coming out?"
     "Or what?" I challenged.
     I watched as Roomba's jaw dropped.
     His sugar-sweet voice remained. "Or I will tan your hide so well that you never think of leaving my side again."
      "Aaaaand how do you plan on doing that?" I egged him on, watching him get redder and redder in the face. "I'm faster than you, stronger than you, and I can fly."
     "You little bastard." The female human cursed, and charged my way.
     Stunned, but still inhuman, I exited the tunnel and jumped out of her way.
     "Too slow!" I teased.
     A punch was thrown my way, which I dogged. "Oooh! So close!"
     She dove towards me in an attempt to tackle me around the waist. A simple side step took care of that.
"Roomba!" The woman commanded as she rose to her feet, "Catch him!"
     A look of guilt coated Roo's features as he did exactly what he was told. Roomba ran towards me, and I sprinted away, trouble hot on my tail feathers. As I slipped past Luka he walloped his paddle in my general direction, but struck Roomba instead, who cried out in pain.
     "Too slow, bitch!" I called after the flushed human.
     For my big getaway, I extended my wings, catching the soft breeze as I ran. Then, I pushed off the ground as hard as I could mid-run. One hefty flap, then two, then three, and something felt terribly wrong.
     My aerodynamics were completely off.
     Broken and out-of-place tail feathers burned horribly as I forced them open. That didn't help, though— I was crashing to my right and into the very hard earth.
     Landing painfully on my right side, the wind was completely knocked out of me. I gasped for air, unable to catch it, and watched in horror as Luka and Roomba's mistress slowly approached. Roo rushed to my side, pinning me down with little care for my injuries.
     When Luka's march came to an end, he was at my feet. The man dug a length of paracord out of his cargo shorts and tied my wrists and ankles together, effectively handicapping me.
     "Let me get in the first hit." The female said far too evenly to be healthy.
     "Sure thing, Chiaki." Luka passed her the paddle.
     Swift as a sparrow, she brought down the weapon onto my ass.
     "SHIT!" I cried out.
     Too soon, she was on me again, and again, and again. After five heavy-handed strokes, she put her hands on her hips while I writhed in pain in the dirt.
     "Apologize." Chiaki commanded.
"Fuck you, bitch!" I hissed out in Avic. Roomba and Luka gasped.
     "What?" Chiaki asked angrily, "What did he say?"
     "He said, and I quote," Luka sounded embarrassed, "Fuck you, bitch."
     Chiaki squatted down to my level, grabbing a handful of my messy hair. "You may not realize this," She hissed in my ear, "But any other master would have cut your nuts off by now, you ungrateful little bastard!"
     Snarling, spit flied and teeth gnashed together.
     "You may not realize this," I mocked her, "But I literally eat you humans for breakfast."
     The paddle cracked down on my ass again, and Chiaki shoved my face in the dirt. Five more strikes, and I was whimpering pathetically.
     "Apologize!" She demanded again.
     This time, I took a few seconds to catch my breath. A second time, Chiaki growled in my ear, "Apologize!"
     "Screw you!" I hissed, this time in English in order to skip translation.
     Five more agonizing hits.
     "Apologize." Chiaki ordered.
     "Fuck.... you...." I muttered out between gasps.
     Ten strokes this time.
     "Apologize." The woman said patiently.
     I wasn't at the ranch anymore.
     Around me were cold concrete walls. My belly pressed down into a concrete floor, where I was bound on my knees with my hands behind my back. Leather restrains bit into the skin around my ankles and wrists. A rubber gag pressed uncomfortably into my face, and Kevlar mitts trapped my claws. Besides this, I was totally naked.
    I couldn't speak or move. The scent of rotten vegetables permeated the room, and painful whacks from whatever torture device Samuel had picked out today racked my body with pain.
     All that kept me going, kept me sane, was anger.
     Five strikes struck me right in the ass.
     I groaned but did not falter.
     "What's wrong with you?" Samuel said with a tight grip on my hair. "I couldn't get you to shut up a minute ago."
     Ten colossal swats this time.
     "Apologize!" Samuel spat at me. I didn't have the energy to retort.
     Ten strikes.
     "Apologize!"
     It was never going to end.
     "Are you done, pretty boy?"
     I was expecting blows on my ass again, but they never came.
     "Now that's how you discipline a lionheart. Your turn, Luka."
     "Luka?" I asked.
     "Apollo?" He replied.
     One hard blink, and I was in the dirt again. My ass throbbed something awful.
     "Apollo, are you with us?" Luka asked, squatting down next to me.
     "Don't get soft on me, Luka." Chiaki instructed him, "He needs tough love right now."
     Luka gulped, nodded, and took the paddle from Chiaki. Even harder than his female counterpart, Luka beat my ass. His rhythm was different: instead of an outright assault, each hit came an even second apart.
    "Apollo," He got my attention, "I know it's hard, but you have to stay with us for this."
    "Fuck you, Luka." I managed to whimper out.
    "I don't want you going off into La La Land. That would defeat the purpose." The human said.
     A few more strikes, and I was starting to feel concrete in my skin again.
     "Apollo. Stay with me." Luka hummed impatiently.
     Unfortunately, I was back again. Until I wasn't.
     "Apollo!" Luka was getting frustrated, and took it out on my butt. "Pay attention. You need to learn your lesson."
"I swear to god, Luka," I growled, "When I get out of these damn restraints I'm going to eat you."
A particularly hard hit burst blood vessels in my backside, causing me to whimper pitifully.
The scent of rotten vegetables permeated the air, and I didn't know if it was real or not.
"He's got a glazed over look in his eye." Chiaki informed Luka.
"Hey! Apollo!" The smaller human took a handful of hair and shook my head back and forth to bring me back. Simultaneously, he swatted me on the ass, bringing a wave of pain that made me writhe,
"Stay with us, Apollo." Luka commanded all while continuing to hit me.
"You know," I spat, "That's kinda hard to do while you're beating me!"
"It's well-earned." Luka remarked, "And it's going to continue until you lose the attitude."
"I would rather die." I growled in my tongue.
"Then it looks like we're going to be here for a while." Luka sighed.
A minute or two went by of Luka and I griping back and forth. Finally, Luka lost his temper, flipping me over onto my front and picking up my bound feet. My ass lit on fire at the new pressure.
He's not going to beat my f—
Searingly hot, reverberating pain shot from the arch of my foot. I couldn't even scream. My mouth opened and closed listlessly like a fish out of water. It kept coming, four more times until Luka stopped to give me a chance to repent.
"You need to say you're sorry." He instructed me calmly as I squirmed in agony in my binds.
"S-S-Sorry." I stuttered.
Luka struck me again on the arch of my foot, and this time I found my voice to scream in anguish.
"For what?" He pushed.
"F-For not coming when you called me!" I cried out.
Another, even harder hit, and tears welled up in my eyes, cascading down my face in small streams.
"What else?" Luka prodded.
"For...." My brain was too cloudy to think of anything else. "For...."
Another agonizing strike. My chin trembled and I started to sob, "I don't know! I don't know what you want me to say!"
Luka put down the paddle, for now. "Start with apologizing to Chiaki."
"I'm sorry, Chiaki!" I begged, "Please, please forgive me!"
"I'm not convinced you're sorry." She hummed.
"Please!" I cried.
"Keep going, Luka." The stone-cold woman instructed.
"No! I'm sorry!" My voice broke in terror.
Luka struck my feet yet again, and I let out an inhuman sound of torment.
I gasped for air. "I'm sorry, Chiaki, I'm so sorry!"
"Again!" Chiaki commanded, and Luka kept going over and over until sobs racked my body. Snot and tears flowed down my contorted face.
Once the torture stopped for a moment, I felt myself heaving. My stomach contracted and I lost nothing but bile on the ground to my right. Both humans regarded me with disgust.
"I'm sorry...." I groaned, "I'm so sorry."
"Chiaki?" Luka asked hopefully.
The woman stood with a hand on her hip and nodded. "That's enough. Keep the paddle."
Luka stood, reaching over and shaking Chiaki's hand. "Thank you for all of your help."
"No problem, Dr. Fryre. I'm always just a call away." She replied.
"I really appreciate, Chi." The human hummed, "Alright, time to get the bad bird home."
     Chiaki gave a curt nod. Grabbing a disturbed Roomba by the wrist, the duo set off towards their home, which was on the opposite side of the ranch from ours.
I was drifting in and out as Luka came to my right side, picking up my drooping head and fastening my bird collar tightly around my neck once more. Next, he fished a pocket knife out of the pocket of his gray joggers. With it, he sawed off my paracord binds. There was nothing left in me to struggle as Luka hoisted all hundred pounds of me up and over his shoulder. Limp wings dragged on the ground behind his small form.
     At least I didn't have to walk on my abused feet.
Each of Luka's jarring steps sent shockwaves on pain throughout my body, however, and I found myself emitting a low, constant whine.
"Poor bird." Luka hummed sarcastically, "Maybe next time you'll actually listen to your Master."
I didn't have it in me to give sass back.
Fading in and out of consciousness made the walk back to the house feel like fast traveling. Before I knew it, Luka was unlocking and pushing open the front door with one hand.
     For the very first time, the human took me to my own bedroom. The neatly-made queen-size bed with a blue-and-white checkered quilt and white-painted wooden bed frame, dust accumulating on a matching white end table and armoire, and perfectly-preserved pillows on a substantial, tan armchair, all reflected it's never-used state.
     Rather roughly, Luka set me on my back on the bed. I cringed as the injuries on my body screamed with pain at the handling. The human took a seat next to me on the rickety bed.
     "Apollo, we need to have a serious talk." Luka sighed through his words. I stayed silent, staring at the ceiling, and he continued. "Your behavior lately has been outrageously out of control."
     At my lack of a response, Luka pressed further. "What has gotten into you?"
     I took a moment to think about what the human asked. After a minute or so, I confessed, "I'm just not happy anymore. You and I are always fighting. I miss my family. Then there's the whole Blizzard situation."
Luka set a light hand on my waist, rubbing gently. "We'll figure it out, hun." He said comfortingly before his tone grew serious, "In the meantime, you have to clean up your act, or there will be consequences."
Silence filled the room.
"What do you say, Apollo?" Luka pressed me.
I conceded. "Yes, Master."
"Good boy." He praised, "I haven't heard you call me that in a while."
"I didn't think you deserved it." I admitted, "You haven't called me a good boy in a while either."
"You didn't deserve it." Luka retorted.
"That's fair." I deadpanned.
Leaning down, a tiny kiss was placed on my forehead by Luka. "Get some rest, birdie. I'll see you in the morning."
My stomach growled loudly. "What about—"
"No dinner tonight." Luka cut me off, "Maybe tomorrow morning if you're good."
I almost growled, but thought better of it.
"Goodnight." Luka said as he rose to his feet and departed, shutting the door with a click behind him.
Just like that, I was enclosed in a dark room with nothing to occupy myself but my mind. Not surprisingly, my thoughts drifted to Blizzard. Her gorgeous, long blond hair with the slight wave. The way that she purred when I hummed to her. Snow-white, silky feathers.
My hand wandered into my pants at the thought of her curves. It entered my underwear with the image of her on top of me. I grabbed my shaft as I remembered the scent of her heat.
     Then I was off in La La Land.
     I felt like I couldn't move. Like I was tied down with invisible string as the one thing I feared most was on top of me, raping me.
     I hated that it felt good. The sensation of pleasure filling my body made me want to die.
     She spoke to me. If my ears could have shriveled up and fallen off, they would have.
     Her touch made my skin tingle and burn and crawl all at once.
I couldn't stop stroking myself. I deserved this. I needed this. It was going to happen either way— so why keep fighting it?
     My body started to shake as I felt Riya hold me down. Breathing hitched when it no longer felt like my hands on my length.
     Stroking up and down my shaft, Riya kissed my chest in a sickeningly romantic gesture. This was just the foreplay, and when I pulled against the ropes that held me down, she let her claws dance across the tender skin as a warning. The way she took me into her mouth replayed vividly right before my eyes. Hot and wet, her lips sucked just right on my unhappily-hard cock.
Riya was slow and methodical. Everything she did was planned out to a T, including how she met my gaze with her intimidating, brown-eyed stare. It wasn't supposed to be arousing— it was supposed to keep me submissive.
I was looking deep into those terrible brown eyes when I came.
    When I came to, I was shaking and hyperventilating. I would have given anything to be with Blizzard, if only to breathe in her scent so that I didn't have to feel anything at all.