CONTENT NOTE: This story explores themes of control, predation, and desire, often but not exclusively in a sexual context. The exploration of such scenarios in this story is NOT an endorsement of similar behaviour in real life. If the reader finds themselves at any point confused as to what is and is not consensual, they can refer to these resources for guidance:
--> https://www.rainn.org/articles/what-is-consent
--> https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/relationships/sexual-consent
--> https://www.thehotline.org/identify-abuse/domestic-abuse-warning-signs/

Noel had a sense of déjà vu at the knocking sound. He peeled himself out of the bed he’d barely gotten to use and trudged to the door. Sure enough, Madelaine was standing there in a very loosely fastened housecoat and a different, lacier nightdress than she had been wearing that morning.

“Do you need something?” Noel asked, not daring to open the door all the way.

“Oh, did I disturb you?” Madelaine feigned surprise, “I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable.” She batted her eyelashes and picked at the lace collar on her nightdress for emphasis.

“I was comfortable until you knocked, yes.”

Madelaine remained unphased. “I’m so sorry! Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” She stepped closer to the door.

Noel was tired and sore and struggled to be tactful. “There is, actually,” he finally said.

“Wonderful!” Madelaine smiled her toothy smile and moved in even closer.

Noel almost felt bad, so he flashed her an apologetic smile of his own. “You can make sure no one knocks on this door again for a solid 12 hours,” he told her, and promptly shut the door in her face.

Noel crawled back into bed while the blankets were still warm from his body heat, but sleep didn’t come as easily to him the second time. He lay still on his stomach while the night got darker around him, listening to the sounds of the mantle clock and wind against the eaves. In the distance, a lonely wolf’s howl broke through the silence.

Noel’s mind couldn’t help but go back to what had happened in the forest. He couldn’t get over the whole ordeal. Beneath the blanket, he could still feel the leaves stuck to his back. If he touched his hair in just the right place, it was still sticky from saliva. He pulled the blanket over his head, and his own breath curled around and licked him in the face in a strangely familiar way.

Noel knew other men didn’t think much of these things. At his boarding school, he’d often come across boys helping each other in the stairwells and the showers. It seemed that, past a certain age, it became just another kind of contact to them, no more intimate than wrestling or play fighting. Some had even offered to help him. But unlike them, Noel couldn’t imagine doing these things with a classmate one day and writing home to a sweetheart the next.

Now that he’d been played with by a monster, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Beneath the blankets, and beneath Gaetan’s old clothes, the monster’s heat had imprinted on his skin. The smell, the warmth, the fear, and the pain danced in his mind as he tried to sleep. Worst of all, the memory of pleasure, tightly wound around his bones, refused to let him even hate the experience.

Noel had lied to everyone and covered up the monster’s existence, at least for the time being. He didn’t want to tell people what had happened. He wanted to sort out his feelings alone. He wanted to kill the wolf and keep the monster his secret forever. He wanted to get revenge for his lost dignity. He wanted to be safe from its terrible claws and teeth and mystery, and keep only the soft and warm parts of it.

When Noel was well enough to ride Apollo again, he went with his brother and a few others to check the traps. It was crisp and cold enough to see one’s breath in the air, but the sun was strong, and the sky was blue and cloudless overhead. Still, in the shade of the forest, winter felt closer than it did in the fields.

Most of the traps were completely untouched, but as Noel loitered on the fringes of the party, he spotted one that had been damaged. He quietly took a closer look. It had been mangled in places and completely broken in others. The level of damage to the metal was impressive, and left no doubt in Noel’s mind as to what had destroyed it. Furthermore, there were blood stains on some of the teeth, showing that it had been holding something before it was broken. Examining the surrounding area, Noel found some distinctive gashes on the surrounding ground and trees, and more blood leading away from the trap.

Glancing back in the direction of the other hunters, Noel quickly stuffed the pieces of the broken trap into his saddle pack. He mussed up the leaf litter to disguise some of the gashes, then hopped back on his horse to follow the blood trail further into the forest.

It took less time than it had the previous day to find the wolf again, and, this time, there was no dramatic chase in the woods.

Gaetan despaired when Noel tracked him down once again. He tested his foot hopefully but felt his whole body sink the moment he tried to put real weight on it. Even though it seemed less badly injured than it ought to have been, he knew running on it was hopeless.

Gaetan didn’t understand what was happening to him. Every so often, something would happen, and the world would shift and change, and then he wouldn’t be able to remember what happened for a while. Like he couldn’t remember what he’d done to Noel. He would get flashes of memory from time to time, sensory moments that seemed out of place. He could remember looking at his Noel’s face beneath him, and feeling very comfortable. Hopefully, that meant he hadn’t hurt him.

Gaetan returned his attention to the Noel in front of him. The young man didn’t look like a triumphant hunter today, so much as a vengeful one. There was no smile on his lips as he aimed his gun.

Gaetan whined and howled and whimpered at the man on horseback, pleading on his stomach and using his best puppy dog eyes. From his low vantage point, he watched Noel looking down at him, his eyes almost softening before going cold once more. Gaetan knew he had mere seconds left. His lungs filled with desperation as he screamed and reached for the gun.

The wolf in Noel’s sights was clear one moment and blurry the next. After that, there was a shadow in front of him and the gun in his hands was missing. Apollo neighed and tap danced nervously beneath him, shuffling away from the shadow as it approached. Noel’s gun discharged as it hit the ground somewhere away from him, utterly impotent in the front of the monster.

Gaetan growled at the man in front of him. He smelled like other people and places he couldn’t reach. Gaetan needed him, and couldn’t let him leave. He reached out and grabbed the man by his waist before the horse could spirit him away.

One minute Noel was seated and then he was unsettlingly weightless as a monstrous hand wrapped halfway around him. He could feel the curved tips of the claws press into his clothes as Apollo shifted away beneath him, leaving him stranded in the monster’s insecure grip. Noel didn’t react fast enough to his change in circumstance. The monster pulled him out of the saddle and crushed him to its chest before he had the presence of mind to panic.

Noel slowly slid down the length of the monster’s torso until his feet finally touched the ground. His body was still trapped in its embrace. His hands were free, but trembling from the shock of what had happened. Cautiously, he touched the hunting knife at his waist. The monster huffed hot air above him. Below, he could see the monster’s feet, human-like and digitigrade at the same time and adorned with long, sharp claws. The blond fur around one ankle was dark and matted with dried blood, but it seemed to bother the monster very little.

Noel looked up. He could stab it. If he was lucky, he would even be able to reach its neck before the monster could pull away. But Noel only had one knife, and the monster had many on its hands and in its mouth. Furthermore, Noel did not consider himself to be more durable than the mangled trap he’d found earlier. Meanwhile, he couldn’t take a full breath within the limits of monster’s grip, let alone escape it. Noel had to make a decision between an ignoble death in ribbons, and attempting the mortifying way he had survived the last encounter.

sex scene begins

The monster yawned and whined uneasily as its clawed hands grasped Noel. At the moment it seemed calm, but he couldn’t forget what it was capable of. Its embrace was placid but strong, and its teeth were always looming just over Noel’s head. He could not afford a wrong move. He braced himself for the worst and reached down between the monster’s legs.

Noel’s fingertips brushed against something especially soft. A few more tentative strokes confirmed it to be what he was aiming for. Compared to the rest of the monster, it was almost delicate, but when compared to himself, Noel couldn’t help but shudder. He traced the cock’s outline carefully with his fingers, then traced out the ball sack behind it, all the while paying exquisite attention to the teeth and claws surrounding him.

Gaetan had been unsure of what to do with the man in his arms. He watched the way the light bounced colourfully off the man’s hair and listened to the small puffs of air he exhaled. He desperately wanted more. But he hadn’t been sure of what more there was to want until the man had touched him. As nimble and delicate fingers left sparks against his groin, his mind popped with the recognition of something familiar and desired. When the man stilled, he whined and licked him, prompting more.

Noel stiffened as the wet tongue rolled over his hair, but when no teeth followed, he guessed that his plan was working. When he traced the cock again, it was bigger than before. He swallowed and slowly wrapped his hand around it, stroking it up and down as it swelled. The monster seemed pleased. It whuffed hot air on his head and licked him again.

Noel was getting warmer and warmer in its embrace. He grit his teeth and reminded himself of how dangerous its claws were, how terrifying its teeth were. He reminded himself that he was only doing this to protect himself; that he might die if he did not stay in control of the situation. The monster flexed its hands and he could feel all those terrible knives shift listlessly above his skin. He tried to keep his breathing steady and increased his pace.

sex scene ends

Note: the sex scene actually continues next chapter; the bolded text is intended as a visual marker, not a narrative one