"He's gonna kill you the second he gets free... and I won't even blame him. Dibs on your car."

His head hurt like hell and his body ached just as badly.

There was a rustling sound nearby before it got closer. A familiar scent drifted into his injured nose, making Marsh growl through human lips.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to make you shift, but I can't have you changing back where we are right now," the unpleasantly-familiar voice replied.

Walker.

The other one would be his brother, then. He wanted nothing to do with either of them, but for some reason he couldn't move his arms from behind his back, and he couldn't manage to change back to his bear, either. The latter causing far more panic than the former.

"It's pretty rude to pierce another dude's ear without even a first date, unless I interrupted that earlier when you two were rolling around in the leaves..."

A deep sigh sounded from Walker, and Marsh couldn't help but feel the need to mirror it. He was exhausted and wasn't used to being in his human form for more than a few minutes at a time, and that was on very rare occasions in the past years. Yet now, he had clearly been in his human body for quite some time, and he could no longer pull his bear out from beneath his own skin.

"So glad that the earring worked. It was just a hunch, a far-fetched one, but man, saved us a lot of trouble."

His brother whistled quietly before giving a chuckle. "That guy's got trouble written all over him. He's going to claw your eyes out the second he can use his hands again, then eat you for breakfast."

Both of those thoughts had definitely crossed his mind, but he could do neither until he managed to get free.

"Ranger, please just get us there faster," Walker pleaded from directly behind him.

Marsh took note of where he actually was as his senses began to return. A car was the first thing he realized, even as his blurry eyes opened but refused to focus right away. His injured one remained uncomfortably blurry. There was also something tight binding his hands behind his back, but Walker's own fingers also gripped his wrists, so it must have been something that couldn't be tied very well and had to be held to remain secure.

The road suddenly turned bumpy as the vehicle rocked back and forth, then began to slow down.

"We're here, bro."

Walker carefully picked him up from where he'd been sitting on his lap, then awkwardly got him into his arms as his brother ran around to their side of the back of the car and opened the door. He made some sort of grand gesture but Walker ignored it and carried Marsh out.

Dust agitated his nose immediately as it began to settle. It smelled very unfamiliar. Not a single sent was something Marsh was used to. They were very far away from his territory.

"It'll be okay. I promised that I'd bring you back after we looked over your injuries, and I'm not a liar. Please just bear with me," he said, drawing a quiet growl from Marsh as he was carried into a very dark, concrete-looking, open building.

It reminded him of the filthy restrooms that were scattered about the more visited areas of the national park he lived in, except that this place looked well maintained. He'd visited them a few times to rummage through the trash cans, but after a few tries with minimal nutrients found, he'd deemed it a waste of time and effort.

Another person appeared as they rounded a corner.

"Hello again, boys," the woman said as she gestured him into a large room behind a barred, metal door.

Walker smiled and nodded as he hurried into the room, then carefully set Marsh down on the fresh straw that had been placed inside. The smell of bleach made his nose twitch, but Marsh was much more focused on the loosening of the binding that was around his wrists.

"Just give me a moment to get this off," Walker mused, more to himself than to anyone else.

Marsh waited, biding his time. The second he felt the leather item finally leave his wrists, he whirled around, ready to bite Walker square in the face. His teeth had managed to change and sharpen, and his fingertips had sprouted claws. It was enough to do some good damage.

"Wait! You can't change back to your bear form, right?" Walker shouted as he slammed the door shut, locking himself inside, then darted off to the far side of the room.

Marsh's bear snarled through his human mouth as he started running for the man, but after having rarely used his human form in years, running wasn't high on his list of coordinated abilities. Walking, he could somewhat manage, but running. That ended in...

He landed with a grunt in the straw, thrashing about for a moment before sitting up with a frustrated snort.

The other man was so close. It would take his bear less than a second to be upon him.

Useless human skin.

Turning his attention elsewhere, Marsh lifted his hand and grabbed at the item in his aching left ear. It didn't budge. He was definitely not accustomed to earrings, and he was not happy with his new piercing.

"Gotta admit, it does look good on you, though," Ranger said from behind the safety of the steel-barred door.

Since he couldn't get to him, Marsh ignored him and continued to gingerly tug at the frustrating jewelry. He noticed Walker carefully taking little steps closer, but he needed the earring out before he could tear the man apart, so he bit back his aggression and tried to focus on undoing the strange clamp at the back of the item.

"I messed with the back a bit, but I'll remove that for you after you let my friend here check over your injuries," Walker said, drawing Marsh's angry glare up to meet his worried eyes.

"She's a shifter doctor and veterinarian and can help you with your injuries."

The idea of someone touching him wasn't something he was okay with, especially after he'd already been tied up and driven to who knows where... but he needed the earring gone, and tearing it off wasn't an option. His left ear was terribly sensitive. Even the piercing they had done while he'd been unconscious had spawned a bad headache and pain.

"It might be best if we leave him be for a bit? You guys did just drag him out of his territory and throw him into a strange environment. If he relies on his bear as much as you say, he's probably extremely conflicted about making decisions as a human now," the doctor said, drawing Walker's attention.

There was silence for a moment when Walker returned his attention to him, but Marsh wasn't interested in it and crawled his way to a thick bunch of straw and curled up in it. It definitely wasn't his den, but at least there was enough to get under quite well. The floor was a bit cold, but his body heat thankfully made it bearable.

"Okay, that makes sense," Walker said solemnly as he walked over to the door.

Marsh could feel eyes on him, but he'd already turned his back on them and was trying to slow his racing heart. He might have looked calm on the outside, but his bear was pacing and roaring in his mind, angry and scared. It had never been locked away before and it did not like it. Neither did Marsh.

He waited until Walker left with the other two to go get something for dinner before he let his tears begin to dampen the straw.





"I really hope that you're actually going to let him go after I help with his injuries," his friend from high school, Sally, said as she sipped a diet Coke.

She had a phenomenal mind, and Walker had no doubt that she'd be able to help him, but her words didn't sit well in his stomach, making him hesitate taking another bite of his cheeseburger.

Before he could pull together an answer, however, his brother, the always helpful one, chimed in.

"Runner has a little crush on that poor little bear. You should have seen them when I found them," Walker shoved a handful of french fries into his brother's mouth before he could continue on to some gross beastiality kink story.

Sally shook her head and decided to ignore Ranger as she straightened and narrowed her eyes on Walker.

"I mean it, Walker. You promised that you would let him go, so that's what you need to do. That boy clearly isn't normal. You said that he'd attacked one of your hunting buddies pretty badly, too. No normal shifter would just hang out in the middle of nowhere to maul random sportsman."

Walker set his half-eaten burger down and dropped his hands to his lap.

"Don't take it to heart, hun. Let's go one step at a time. I'll help him with his injuries, then you're going to remove that earring and take him back to his home."

He wanted to argue, desperately, for some reason, but he knew that he had no leg to stand on. It was bad enough that he'd taken the guy from his home. Of course, most people would probably have shot him for attacking one of their friends, but he just didn't see it that way. The guy was a bear first, and a human second, if that.

"Just treat him right, Walker. I know you have the heart to help him and want to see him rehabilitated, or something along those lines, but that is so far in the future that it's not even visible from where we are now."

Walker was about to try and figure out a response when his brother scooted closer, bumping their thighs together as he tossed an arm around his shoulder, smirking.

"Let's just start from the bottom and see how high you can climb that tree for your bear boy?"

Confused, Walker furrowed his brow until Ranger shoved a menu into his hands and pointed to the steak section.





Marsh blinked open one eye as he heard people returning. Sitting up groggily, he shook some of the straw from his hair, but then quickly relented when his headache sprang back to life.

It was dark by now, and while he would normally have no problem seeing, he still wasn't able to shift and his right eye was still blurry.

"Hey there, um... do you have a name?"

Marsh lifted his head to meet Walker's eyes in the darkness. After a few moments a small electric lantern lit up the area and the door opened. This time, three people walked in, immediately making Marsh tense up and start growling.

"Ready to play, guys?" Ranger asked as he sauntered forward, removing the belt from his pants.

"Stop being a pervert, Ranger!" Walker chastised as he shoved his brother aside but yanked the belt from his hands and smacked him with it.

Marsh stared at the belt that was now in Walker's hand, eyes narrowing. They had tied him up with that last time. That was what had been binding his wrists.

When Walker knelt down a few feet away and raised it slightly, Marsh let his teeth sharpen and snarled. The man before him simply frowned, but when he did nothing else, Marsh tilted his head and slowly lowered his upper lip.

It abruptly raised a second later when he realized his mistake. It was too late to react, however, when strong arms hooked beneath his own two and dragged him backwards into Ranger's lap, trapping him tightly against a firm, warm chest.

"Hey, uh, bro. He's pretty cold," Ranger said, way too close to his ear.

Marsh struggled, but he quickly gave up when he realized that his human form couldn't compare to Ranger's. The guy was built and didn't even try to hide it.

"Good boy. Just let them t—" Marsh did manage to jerk his hand backwards just enough to smack Ranger's mouth once before the guy tightened his hold further.

"Good boy," Walker said with a grin as he sat down in front of him. His friend, the doctor, set down the lantern and a large bag and began taking items out once a large towel was placed over the straw with a second one being settled over Marsh's lap.

She tended to his minor cuts and scratches first, then tested his injured leg. Marsh tried to jerk it away even at her lightest touch, drawing a frown to her face as she dug through her bag again. She produced a small brace and carefully fitted it onto Marsh's leg.

He tried to avoid it, but Walker gently held his leg still, easily restraining it so that she could apply the item and fasten it in place.

"Thankfully it doesn't seem broken, but it's definitely tender and needs to be watched. If he doesn't mess with the brace, it should heal itself up in a few weeks. I would prefer to X-ray, but the stress that could put him under, in my opinion, wouldn't be worth it."

With that taken care of, she took out a small flashlight and leaned forward, gently cupping the side of his face and shining the light into his damaged eye. He could barely see it, and what he could see wasn't focused.

"This eye, though..."

She sighed and leaned away.

"I don't know if that is going to heal. Those scratches are pretty bad."

Walker released his leg and lifted a hand to rub at the back of his own neck.

"How did he get such a bad injury to his eye? Even running through branches wouldn't cause this kind of damage."

Marsh licked his lips and watched Walker's face fall. He wasn't mad at him. He'd done what he had to in order to save his friends, and himself. When neither him nor Ranger responded, Marsh lifted his head and looked the woman in the eye with his good one and spoke, his voice deep and echoing in the darkness of the confined space.

"Walker did it."