Prey (Male!Naga x Male!Reader)

Chapter 27

The water bottle Y/n had been nursing between his hands suddenly slipped out of his grip, palms wet with nervous perspiration. It landed with a solid, heavy thud on the hard-packed sand below. Y/n's gaze couldn't leave Dr. Nilsson's. He clasped his now empty hands together, aware just how hard they were shaking.

This was it. This was the moment everything would fall apart for him. Y/n honestly didn't think it would be this soon. He wasn't ready to face this — but he didn't really have a choice.

Y/n slowly rose to his feet, swaying a bit as he stood, heart thumping so loud in his ears. Everything sort of fizzled out into the background — the people shuffling about, the sounds of the tents' fabrics whipping in the wind, the waves crashing to shore behind him, and the sun too hot and too brightly burning —

Y/n steadily released the death grip he had on his hands and wiped them off on his pants. What would happen? What would she say? His heart felt close to bursting.

Then, Dr. Nilsson moved.

Her uninjured hand slipped into the holster around Einar's waist and she pulled out a sleek, black handgun. In an instant, she disengaged the safety.

The breath immediately left Y/n's lungs. He rose his hands slowly in the universal sign of surrender. Dr. Nilsson was not deterred, she pushed Einar away and strode up to him, gun aimed right between his eyes. Her injured arm was wrapped up, and in a sling around her neck, keeping it stable and unstrained.

Y/n was aware of all movement in the camp coming to a sudden halt.

"Do you have any idea of how much I — everyone here — sacrificed in order to capture a living specimen?" her vicious words cracked against Y/n's eardrums. Though her voice was shaking — with anger and her eyes a bit red and wet — the gun aimed at Y/n's head was not shaking at all.

"Yes," Y/n's reply felt hollowed-out and small.

Her eyes — bright green and violent — narrowed and the gun's muzzle was jabbed into Y/n's forehead. The (h/c) man winced, feeling a bit faint.

"Then why did you do it?" the question came quietly, but she might as well have shouted it. Her voice rose, ringing throughout the beach, "If you KNEW, then WHY did you do it?! We had the naga right where we wanted it. I was finally one step ahead of it. I managed to successfully administer the tranquilizer — the naga was down! And you — you not only attacked me but lied to Einar and everyone else. Goddamn you!"

The gun was shoved harder into his head, Y/n could practically feel its imprint on his skull.

Y/n tried to think through the black spots edging his vision and the blood roaring in his ears. He had so much to say — he had been thinking about it too. About how to tell them that they were really in the wrong here — even if the naga killed so many of them — killed all of them — it wouldn't put them in the right.

They were the ones invading this island and shooting the place up for the ultimate goal of capturing and practically torturing a sentient being. Anyone with eyes could see it was wrong, but —

Right and wrong didn't matter here, did it?

Y/n's lips stayed glued shut. So many things he wanted to — no, needed to say but in the end, all he could think when Dr. Nilsson's index finger settled on the gun's trigger was:

I don't regret anything. It was worth it.

Y/n wasn't any kind of coward though, he stared right into Dr. Nilsson's eyes, refusing to shut them. He wasn't afraid of this. He wasn't.