Subject to Study (Naga!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 13

"You can leave, too."

Karl gave a breathy laugh, moving towards the kitchen area and opening the fridge. I didn't move from Choro's locked door as I watched him haul out the bucket still full of food, putting it on top of the metal prep table and glancing over at me.

"Holding out on them?"

"You can leave," I repeated with force, reaching back towards the door lever. I knew that Choro wasn't going to be in the mindset to attack anymore, but I was hoping that Karl wouldn't come to that conclusion.

"Do that, and you're going to be in the news as a terrible keeper," A confident smile crossed his lips, "Plus, wasn't there a small clause that you agreed to with Calmine?"

"Better open a more venomous naga's cage, then," I didn't break eye contact with him as I moved towards Oso's door.

It was a move he was apparently waiting for.

Karl grabbed a fistful of cut meat and threw it at me, my arms instinctively covering my head from the bacterial projectiles and turning away from him. Hearing his footfalls coming closer, I booked it towards Oso's door.

I managed to get a finger on it before Karl grabbed me from behind and pulled me away from the door, the lever pulling down a little. Fully turning my attention to Karl, I threw my right elbow into his face and felt something shift from the hit. With a groan, he pushed me to the ground and immediately used his body weight to keep me from getting up. A hand flew up to his nose before his eyes locked onto mine, full of fury.

"Fucking bitch...!"

I pushed off his hands as he tried to grab at my clothing, fear replacing the fading anger in my system as Karl weaved one hand through my hair and twisted the other around the loosened collar of my shirt.

"Let go of me!" I screamed, the shirt tightening around my neck as I realized he was starting to drag me towards one of the repurposed rooms. It was a small storage closet that had been completely emptied out, a free room for me to 'decorate' however I wished.

"You owe me...so much..." Karl's voice was strained, "The least you could do is just fucking take the hint."

"I don't owe you anything!" I hooked a foot around one of the legs of the prep table as I was dragged past it, the bolted down table keeping me from moving with him, "You're nothing but an asshole that thinks he can throw around his weight because I'm kept here as leverage!"

"You're only here because those monsters listen to you!" He yelled back, twisting the hand in my hair more to try and get me to let go of the table, "Calmine should've left you back on that island, alone and without help."

"They're not the monsters here," A cry tore from my throat, feeling a button snap off from the stressed fabric of my shirt, "You are!"

I stilled for a moment, hearing someone else's voice join my own in the accusation before seeing a wall of yellow and white scales roll across my field of vision, a slight tug on my hair before I was fully released. Rolling onto my stomach, I looked up to see Karl fully wrapped up by Jyushi, the reticulated naga completely coiling around the man as they both fell to the floor.

A crunch echoed through the room before Karl screamed out in pain, his lungs quickly emptying out due to the large constrictor slowly killing him.

"Jyushi, stop! Don't do it!" I jumped up and pushed at the closest section of Jyushi's tail, hoping to distract him enough. I had saved one naga from death so far, and I didn't want to do it again so soon, "Stop!"

"(Y/n), he was hurting you!" The naga partially turned to face me, a confused look on his face, "I'm not gonna let him keep doing it."

"I don't think he's going to do it anymore," Another voice joined in, "Sounds like you broke some ribs. Humans are much more fragile than I thought..."