Kidnapping is Always an Option - 23. Chapter 23

The other members of their Seraglio were finally up and about by the time Nix, Phen, and Mycha emerged from their bath. They had apparently used Lox's other several bathrooms to avoid disturbing them. The three of them heard Adrian in the kitchen and saw Caspin wrapped in a fuzzy blanket in front of the entertainment screen. Mycha and Phen gave each other a glance before they scampered over to their Captain on either side.

"Hi, guys," Caspin said with a smile. He reached up with both hands so he could scratch behind their ears.

Phenner went limp, draped across the side of the little fox's body. The rabbit gave a happy sigh.

"Hey, guess what?" Phen asked Cas, eyes closed.

"What?" Caspin asked with a chuckle.

"Mycha and Nix said that they would both fuck my ass at the same time," he said softly, happily. "It's gonna be awesome. You should come too."

Mycha's face glowed pink. "That will be something..." He whispered so only the Vulpan could hear.

"Yeah," Caspin agreed with more than a touch of amusement. "I definitely want to come, too."

The Murisian merely blushed harder.

As Caspin giggled, Nix sauntered into the room. He stretched and grinned at everyone happily until his eyes lit on Rios. His eye narrowed as he suddenly knelt behind a chair, peeking over it at Falorios, tall ears twitching. The cat's half-tail flicked the air.

The moth couldn't help the half-smirk that tugged on his lips as he felt his Serai nearby. But, he feigned ignorance and continued to scroll through the pictures in his tablet.

Nix let out a soft chittering noise as he rolled into a crouch. The pupil of his eye dilated. The cat stalked his prey slowly, creeping under Adrian's legs, which were propped up on an ottoman.

Falorios continued to browse through his tablet, even as his antennae tried to send him a signal of wariness.

Nix moved carefully, ignoring everything except Falorios. The black cat climbed over the laps of Mycha, Caspin, and Phenner. The trio chuckled and gave him a pet as the cat slunk over them. When Nix was several feet away from the moth, he dropped close to the floor and chittered again as his backside wiggled in the air.

Rios leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and slowly unfurled his bright, pale green wings until they stretched out fully behind him.

Nix's chittering got louder as Rios teased him. His ass wiggled once more before he leaped at his prey.

The moth smoothly set his tablet aside as he caught Nix in his arms. He gave him a tender kiss on the lips, his hands gently caressing his backside, before he ducked from beneath him and ran off to the other side of the living room with a grin.

Nix strolled casually to Adrian and plopped on his lap, eye never leaving Rios. It was a common tactic for the cat, hoping to lure the moth closer by pretending the game was over.

The human pressed a kiss to Nix's cheek, gently rubbing the feline's belly. But, Rios merely stretched, giving his wings a flap as his shirt flashed some of the mocha-hued abs underneath.

Nix straightened on Adrian's lap, stretching up to get a better look at that yummy bare skin. The wings were what always got him, though. The cat couldn't resist those shimmering beauties.

Rios sent the Civek a sultry smirk as he curled his wings back in, pulled off his shirt, turned around and slowly unfurled them again in plain sight.

"Cheater," Nix muttered as he crawled off Adrian's lap, gaze fixed on Rios's wings.

Knowing that it wouldn't be long before Nix would cave in to the fluttering of his lovely wings, Rios waited the feline out. Sure enough, the Civek hopped over the couches to pounce on him.

A sharp, piercing sound suddenly burst through the air. All of the men suffered a moment of disorientation before their vision and hearing returned. When they came to, dust was still settling from the damage on the wall, where an explosive had blasted a massive opening.

Adrian, who was furthest from the blast, rose to his feet the fastest. He held his head as he steadied himself, but as soon as the slight dizziness dissipated, he frantically glanced around. "Is everyone alright?"

The couch had been flipped over. He rushed over to check on Caspin, relief flooding his features as he saw the Vulpan's emerald eyes flutter open.

"Caspin..." He breathed. He then found Phen a couple of feet away.

The next thing the human saw was Mycha leaping over the flipped couch to press two fingers to the side of the rabbit's windpipe. Adrian's eyes widened when he noted the bleeding scratches along the side of Mycha's face. "Mycha, you're bleeding!"

The Murisian's tense shoulders seemed to relax as he continued to check Phen over, he didn't even hear the human. "He's alive," He stated out loud, a slight frown on his face. "Seems to have a bump on the side of his head." He then met the periwinkle gaze of Adrian for a brief moment before the two of them scampered back up to their feet.

"Rios!" They both exclaimed as they knelt beside the green-haired man. One of the moth's wings was torn in several places and broken along the top of the forewing.

Adrian carefully turned him as Mycha checked his pulse. The mouse's golden eyes were still set in a frown even as Rios's honey-hued eyes cracked open. In a move that startled them both, Falorios rushed up to his feet, stumbled and held his head with both hands.

Rios looked around and hissed when the sudden movements caused his injured wing to jostle. "Nix!?" He called out.

Adrian and Mycha once again rose to their feet and began to move aside the rubble, searching for the Civek. The Murisian let out a loud gasp as he uncovered something. "R-Rios!" He cried out in a breaking voice.

The moth bumbled his way over, falling to his knees as he neared a message that had been scorched onto the floor.

We have your mate.

If you want to see her again,

bring the child's bear to the Uzeit trading post.

You have one week.

"What is this?" Caspin growled as he read the ugly words.

"Child's bear?" Rios questioned aloud. He couldn't even begin to understand what the hell that even meant. Child's bear? What child-?

Mycha noted the change of expression on the moth's face. "Do you know what any of this means?" He asked.

"The only child I can think of is the one I was tasked with...the mission I defected before sneaking onto your ship." The green-haired man responded as he gazed at Caspin's furious frown. He raked his own nails down the sides of his face, feeling more afraid and frustrated than he ever had before in his life. "The child's bear? Why would they even want that and not the child himself?"

A groan drew their attention towards Phen. Mycha rushed over to the rabbit in a heartbeat. "Move slow, my love." He instructed.

"My head," the bunny groaned. One of his long white ears was torn, trickling ruby lines down its snowy fur. He tried to sit up but fell back. "I need to use my safety word... but I can't remember..."

Adrian walked over and lifted Phenner into his arms. "First, we should all hit the Medbay, even those of us with minor injuries," He insisted, cutting Mycha off before he began to speak. "Then, we will have a very long and detailed conversation on our way to the Uzeit trading post. Agreed?"

Phenner cuddled into Adrian's strong arms. "I'm sorry, did I make Mycha too tired again?" He blinked up at the bigger man, eyes having trouble focusing.

As Adrian and Mycha led the way to the Medbay with Phenner afloat, Caspin and Rios slowly followed.

"Just where did you leave the boy?" Caspin wondered aloud, half hunched over as he tried to quell his queasy stomach. "Will you be able to find him again?"

Nix had been stolen from them, and they were all out of sorts. The Vulpan's stomach was all tied up in knots with worry, but he refused to let it keep him from getting down to the bottom of their situation.

Rios nodded. "But, the problem is whether or not the kid still even has his teddy bear. I just don't understand...they asked me to deliver him to a whorehouse! What the hell does that bear have that they went as far as to kidnap my mate? Drugs?"

Caspin started shaking his head but stopped when his stomach started flipping.

"At this point, what is in there doesn't really matter, does it?" he asked. "They have Nix. They want something we don't have." The fox's huge ears drooped. "Poor Nix... We have to get him back. I'll contact Loxias and my cousin while we get people started in the MedBay. We need resources. Loxias's company is one of the most powerful in the system." Cas clenched his teeth as his mind whirled a mile a minute. "They couldn't get through the security here. That’s why they blew up the whole wall. We need help."

They rushed about as if on autopilot, eager to keep their bodies busy while trying to distract their frantic minds. Those with minor injuries were out of the MedBay in minutes and helped Caspin inform the others about the situation. Falorios and Phenner, however, were in the Medbay for a half hour. When they were sound of body, they checked each other over. Phenner frowned when he saw that the moth's wing, though fully healed, had some dashes along the pattern like scars. No one had had a chance to explain the situation to him yet. He’d been too disoriented at first, and then he’d been asleep inside one of the MedBay’s pods.

"Rios," The pale rabbit questioned. "What happened?"

The mocha skinned man clenched his fist, biting his lower lip as he turned to face concerned pink eyes. "Phen, he..." Unwanted tears began to brim in the moth's golden brown eyes. "They took him. They kidnapped Nix." He hissed, his voice cracking slightly. "We don't know who it was, but we do know who's behind it...the Maivit mafia."

"No." The rabbit's pink eyes widened in shock. "We have to get him back!" He blinked, allowing a few tears to escape, sliding down his soft cheeks. "He needs us," Phen said softly, thinking of how much the cat had changed since he'd first joined the crew. "We need him, too. It won't be right without him. Nothing will be right if he's not with us."

A chaotic rush of memories ran through Phen's mind. Nix had always had a way of distracting the rabbit when he was upset or sad. He'd taught Phen so much, too, and never made the bunny feel dumb. Nix had a way of making each of them feel loved and desired, but the cat was also gently affectionate when it was needed. Somehow, Nix was the perfect person to carry their little ones...Oh, no. The kits!

Phenner grabbed his long soft ears and tugged. "The babies..."

Rios rushed forward to take hold of Phenner's hands. He forced himself to speak through the lump in his throat. They couldn't afford to wallow in despair, not if they hoped to bring him back. "They left a message on the floor," He pressed on. "They're bringing him to the Uzeit trading post for a trade. They must know that if they harm so much as a hair on his head, they won't get what they asked for."

"If they hurt him..." Phenner met Rios's gaze, a fierce anger there the moth had never seen before in the sweet rabbit. "We kill them," Phen growled.

Caspin walked in before Rios had a chance to reply.

"Everything's ready," he told them quickly. "Loxias and Sifta are meeting us at the port. Etsu and Orin are staying behind. They'll mind the company and work on an investigation here." His face was grim, small hands clenched at his sides as his fluffy tail snapped at the air. "Let's go get our Nix back."

________________________________________

"Terrible Terrin's not going to like this; it's too much of a liability!"

"Like we were supposed to know she was pregnant?"

"I think Terrin would have still done it even if she knew that babies would be involved."

Nix rubbed at his scrunched nose as he stirred awake. He heard a hushed whisper.

"Think the bed's comfortable enough?"

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Pregnant or not, she's only a bartering tool, you moron!" came a quiet hissing reply.

Nix lay still, trying to keep his breathing even. His eyes slitted open. He peered at his surroundings, trying not to betray that he was awake. His head pounded.

The surroundings were different, but he knew what was happening. He'd been kidnapped. His first thought was that he'd been taken by slavers again, but he dismissed it. There were no heavy shackles, and he was on a mattress instead of the cold floor. Slavers wouldn't have bothered with niceties. He snapped his eyes closed as someone new stalked in the door.

"What the hell is the problem now?" a woman's voice snapped.

"Terrin, she's pregnant," a man with a gruff voice responded.

Nix risked peeking his eye open again. He could sense there were people behind him. In front of him stood a tall, imposing woman with onyx hair pulled into a tight ponytail. Her skin shimmered with stripes and spots of orange and black scales. Her face and hands were entirely black, fingers tipped with dark, hooked claws. Large ebony bumps ridged her cheekbones and brow. Her eyes were a slick black, showing no whites. She was dressed entirely in tight black leather. The woman would be quite attractive if she weren't so terrifying.

"Good," she snapped. "It'll be better motivation for that sneaky little shit to deliver."

"Well, he ain't sneakier than me," another man retorted with a slight hiss.

"I don't like this," added a man with a Spanish accent. "We're thieves, not this bounty hunter bullshit. Just how much are we getting paid?"

"Too much for you lot," Terrin sneered. "Just keep him alive and relatively well." She cocked her head. "Without his bondmate, he's going to be freaking out without the ridiculous constant comfort and contact the damn breeders need." She pointed one deadly claw at someone behind him. "Make sure he doesn't go off the deep end and try to jump out an airlock, you hear?"

"Alright, alright. We got it," The gruff man's voice conceded.

The three men in the room glanced at each other. One had the ears and tail of a ferret and drew his shoulders up in a shrug. The shortest one with the ears and tail of a Chihuahua face-palmed. The third had the ears and tail of a raccoon, including a mask over his eyes that seemed like it had been tattooed on his face.

The raccoon let out a sigh. "Well, hell." He mused.

Nix gasped, feigning having just woken up. He dramatically threw a hand over his eyes as though pained by the light. The cat peeked over his arm, allowing abject fear to show on his face.

"Where...Wh-where am I?" Nix asked tremulously. He suddenly clutched his rounded belly. "Ah! The babes!"

The three men of different size rushed over to the feline.

"Calm down, little guy," The raccoon urged. "You should be alright."

"Yeah," The ferret agreed. "We're only trading you for the kid's bear."

"Is the bed too uncomfortable?" The Chihuahua asked.

Nix fought a smile, forcing his expression to remain fearful. The cat had handled countless johns, pimps, slavers, and criminals in his years. He knew the games necessary for survival. The Civek could be whatever was necessary to keep himself from a beating or worse. He'd thought he was done with all of that, and yet the skills came back without effort. His mask clicked into place seamlessly, and he was thankful for it if it could keep his kits and himself alive.

"T-traded?" Nix wrapped his arms around himself. "Are you going to hurt my babies?"

"Naw," The Chihuahua insisted. "We only needed to put a little pressure on your moth man to find the kid and his bear, is all. We won't hurt you or los bebes." The man was quite small, shorter than Mycha, but equally as proportionate. He had coffee-hued skin, dark brown eyes and hair. He had no facial hair, but incredibly thick eyebrows.

"Do you promise?" Nix asked, whisper soft, as he scooted hesitantly towards the small dark man.

The Hispanic man frowned slightly as he took in the young man's face. The cat must have been roughed up in life to have lost his eye. Nix didn't seem to have a clue as to why they had even grabbed him in the first place. That kind of stress couldn't possibly be good on the unborn babies.

"S-Si, yeah, we promise. Nothing will happen to the babies, right fellas?" He urged.

"'Course not," The ferret agreed.

He was two heads taller than Nix and was very thin. His sandy blonde hair swooped down to his chin on one side of his face, the sides half shaved off. But, his eyes were a dark green that was nearly black.

The raccoon stood with his arms folded across his chest. He was taller than the other two and was quite built. His hazel eyes seemed bright in contrast to the black, mask-shaped marking that surrounded them. Though his curly hair was completely gray, he seemed a bit younger than the other two thieves.

"We're not in any position to make promises," He pointed out in his gruff voice. "But, we'll do all we can."

Nix threw himself on the Chihuahua, hugging him tearfully. "Thank you," he choked out. "Thank you so much." He jumped a little and leaned back. "Oh!" He pressed a hand to his stomach. "I think they're moving!"

"Is it a good kinda moving or a bad kinda moving?" The ferret wondered aloud.

"I told you this bed was uncomfortable as shit!" The Chihuahua declared. "Need more pillows? We can getchu pillows."

"It's not bad. They must like your voices." Nix smiled and grabbed their hands, plopping their palms on his round tummy. "Can you feel it?"

"Oh!" The ferret gasped.

"I felt a kick!" The Chihuahua added in excitement. "Your bebes are gonna be strong."

The raccoon tugged his hand back as if it had been burned with the imprint of one of the babies' feet. He cleared his throat. "We should find him those pillows. Sneaks, get to it."

"Why'd I gotta do it? Fierce-O over there is the one who suggested it." The ferret pointed out. His real name was Daniel, but all four of them tended to use only their thief names whenever they ran an errand. His was Sneaky, Jason the raccoon's was Biter, and Pedro the Chihuahua's was Fierce.

"Fierce is giving the little guy comfort right now. You gonna take that away from him after Terrin ordered us to keep an eye on him?" Biter taunted.

"Che! Fine," Sneaky grumbled as he walked over to the lockers in the hallway to find extra pillows for their hostage.

"Thank you," Nix told them softly. "I was uncomfortable, but I was afraid to say anything." He looked down at his stomach. "My bondmate always got me everything...everything thing I needed." The cat made a show of fighting off tears.

"Now, now, no tears." Fierce insisted as he gently patted Nix's knee. "It'll only be a few more days. We only need the package to get the mafia off our back."

"What is it?" Nix asked carefully as he sniffled, resting his cheek against the Chihuahua's muscled arm.

"A kid's bear. We don't know any more details than that, but they sure want it bad." The Chihuahua finished.

Nix kept the frown off his face and the curses from his lips, thinking furiously. "Where are we going?" He asked, continuing to try to come across as harmless and pitiable as he could. "How long until I can go home?"

"A week," Biter answered. He was leaning against the wall by the door. "In a week this should all be over."

"Here are all the extra pillows I could find," Sneaky said behind a stack of six pillows as he walked back in. He headed over to the bed and dropped them beside Nix.

"Thank you, you're very kind," Nix told him.

The cat knew he should continue pumping his captors for information, but his anxiety was pushing at him. He crawled away from Fierce to the middle of the bed and began carefully building a nest of pillows and blankets. Genuine tears filled his eyes. He was alone. The fathers of his kits...they were gone. Nix might never see them again. At any time, something could go terribly wrong. And his Seraglio was so far away.

Falorios...If he came to save the Civek he could be killed, whether he had the damned teddy or not. Nix bit his lip and kept fussing with the bedding, becoming nearly frantic as he shoved pillows into place.

"Calm down, joven." Fierce urged as he saw the pregnant Civek becoming upset. "Is there anything we can do to help you feel better?"

Nix looked up, seeming almost startled that he wasn't alone. He chewed his lip, eye darting around the room.

"I want mousie..." he said so softly it was hard to hear. "Mousie would let me hold him in my nest. He's small and furry, soft and warm..."

"Small...and furry?" The raccoon mused out loud.

"Soft and warm?" The ferret added as the two of them made eye contact and made the half-coughing sounds of holding back laughter. "'ey Fierce-O, why dontcha shift for 'im?"

"Who, me?" The short man questioned.

Nix sat in the middle of his careful pile of pillows, clutching one to his chest desperately. He was trying so hard not to cry he started hiccupping. His tall black ears drooped pitifully.

"Oh, for crying out loud," The Chihuahua grumbled as he reluctantly shifted.

With a pop, the Kaynen fell onto the bed and padded his way out of the shirt that covered him up. He emerged as a feral black Chihuahua with a tan underside and paws. He was no bigger than eight inches long.

Nix continued to hiccup as the little dog approached him. The Civek leaned down, nose to nose with the Chihuahua, peering at him carefully. Fierce gave the tip of Nix's nose a tiny lick, which prompted the ferret to lightly elbow the raccoon in glee.

"Come on, let him rest for a bit." Biter demanded as he and Sneaky walked out into the hallway. Fierce remained where he was, hoping that the Civek would calm down enough to sleep.

"Puppy," Nix cooed, pulling the covers over their heads. "I'll keep you safe, Puppy." The cat sucked up his tears and began grooming the little Chihuahua. "Everything's going to be okay, right?" He hugged the little Kaynen close, licking the crown of his round head. A rough purr filled the space of the nest. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Puppy. I...promise..." The purring continued, but Nix's eyes were closed, his cheek resting against Fierce's dark back.

Fierce didn't make a single sound as he allowed the Civek to do as he pleased. Male or female, pregnancy was a delicate state of being. The Chihuahua was quite worried, not only about the babies but also for the feline himself.