Subject to Study (Naga!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 40

The ramp lowered to reveal the all-too-familiar clearing as the rotors spun down, the draft created by the blades sending a backdraft into the cargo bay that slowly died to a breeze before stopping altogether.

Oso was the first at the bottom of the ramp, leaning down and running his hand over the grass that was pressed down by the ramp. His forked tongue flicked from his mouth slowly, spreading the tines wide before slipping back in as he turned towards his brothers.

I could only guess that he 'said' something to them through scent with a sudden change in attitude rippling through the nagas. Choro and Ichi were out of the helicopter first, quickly diving into the forested area surrounding the clearing and disappearing from view. Kara was a bit more tentative, helping the partially-awake Todo out from the bay despite the protests from the younger brother. Oso and Jyushi were the last ones to leave the cargo bay, but still held back from going their own way.

"We'll be here for a little bit longer if you change your mind," Stacy softly stated as I slung my duffle bag over my shoulder, looking back at her.

"You're not taking off immediately?"

"We'll need to acquire a flight path in Australia to the airport before we can take off. Need to save as much gas as we can," Grant gave the hull a pat, "It shouldn't be more than thirty minutes or so, just a bunch of talking and asking various people for permission to be squeezed into their flight schedule."

"(Y/n)," Oso called out from the clearing, drawing my attention to him before I looked back towards Grant.

"If I change my mind before then, I'll let you guys know. Don't wait for me," I gave a small wave as I moved to Oso and Jyushi, a seed of worry growing in my gut as I looked at the serious expressions on their faces, "...guys?"

"What did you want to do with her?" Oso shifted his eyes over my shoulder, the only emotion held within his red-and-black hues was fury. I partially turned to look where he had motioned towards, seeing someone duck behind a tree. The duffle bag slid down my arm before I took off after the person, anger fueling my legs as I leapt through the bush they had tried to spy through.

Their olive skin was hard to spot as they ran through the forest, the sunlight streaming through the canopy offering some shaded camouflage as the person kept running. I chased them down, following the brown-colored braid that trailed behind them before they were stopped by a wall of green and purple. Choro and Ichi hissed loudly as the person quickly recovered and sprinted to their right, my legs adjusting to follow their trajectory and jumping over a small fallen tree.

"Erika!" I shouted her name, a light growl in my voice as I was finally in range to touch her, taking a chance to reach out and grab her wrist. Wrapping my fingers around her left wrist, I dug my heels into the ground and sent us both tumbling down a low-grade slope, the underbrush partially cushioning our fall as she turned on me and started fighting back. The hill did nothing to slow our movements as Erika grabbed my neck and tried to pin me underneath her, a look of fury in her eyes as I clawed at her face.

Her side slammed into a tree and broke her grip on me, sending us separate ways as the hill leveled out. I quickly put my feet underneath me, slipping a bit on the decaying leaves before gaining some momentum as Erika righted herself, lowering my shoulder into her back and shoving her back into the ground underneath me.

"Erika," I narrowed my eyes as she struggled to throw me off, my dominant hand grabbing a fistful of her hair and pinning it to the ground so she couldn't move very much, "Why did you betray me?!"

"Just let me leave, (y/n)!" She cried out, partially in pain while frustration tightened her voice, "You have no idea what it's like to be stranded here alone!"