Chapter Text
The forest called to him.
The whooshing of the wind on the tree leaves mimicked that of hushed whispers softly spoken in his ears. Dulling his senses like a spectral and hypnotizing chorus. Swallowing any other sounds and lodging themselves into his hearing until they were the only ones he could listen to.
They urged him to venture deeper in his search for more wood.
But, he had to have come from somewhere, right? Reid had come from… the camp? Yes, the camp! Near the river bank. And he didn't come alone, didn't he? Someone else had to have come with him. Maybe… his friends? Yes, he had gone camping with his friends. And he had gone to get wood for the fireplace. Venus assigned him that task.
Though as soon as Reid recalled why he was standing in the woods, aimlessly turning his head in every direction, eyebrows knitted together in confusion and with a dreading sense of disorientation, with mud clinging to his shoes and arms full of dried branches he had found scattered all over the forest soil, his mind went blank again as if a thick ebony veil obscured it.
And the whispers. God, the whispers! They uncesantly caressed his ears with their phantom touch and he needed to follow them. He didn't know why or how, and with how foggy and lightheaded his mind felt he couldn't bring himself to think about it. And, oddly, he didn't care either.
The only thing he cared about in that moment was that he had to follow them wherever they led him to. Even if they dragged him to the very gates of Hell.
All of a sudden, big and voracious eyes appeared straight ahead of him. Fiery white reflections shone hauntingly from them under the sparse sunlight that had managed to break into the dense treetops.
Whatever that creature those eyes belonged to was, it remained shrouded in the blackness beyond the trees.
A chill creeped up Reid's spine and wedged itself in his extremities. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe nor tear his gaze away from those piercing eyes. Ones that he felt gazing into his very soul, searching for every filthy secret and obscure desire he kept deeply hidden. For every shred of information they could gather about their doomed prey.
Because there simply was no other explanation for it, those were the eyes of a predator. Assessing him. Examining him. Appreciating him.
And those eyes saw everything Reid had to offer them.
Reid felt exposed and naked and raw. And for the first time in his life, he felt seen and unjudged and desired. And the duality of the feeling was both maddening and intoxicating; it inexplicably made him crave for more. He needed more of it. All of it. He wanted to be choked by it and feel it chew at the soft marrow in his bones. Until nothing left of him remained because that beast beyond the trees devoured him whole.
A low moan left his constricting chest at the onslaught of feelings assaulting his mortal mind. A full body shudder coursed through him and the only thing he could do was to tightly shut his eyes and let it wash over him. It was intense and it left him breathless. And at the same time, it was not enough.
With great difficulty, he slowly opened his eyes and powered by his stubborn determination, Reid willed heavy-as-lead legs and took a cautious step in the beast's direction.
A deep and menacing growl that signaled nothing but death awaited those who'd dare to get closer, got released from the beast. Reid's breath hitched as he felt the beast's growl vibrate through him, as if intimately embedded in every fiber of his body.
Except the growl hadn't meant to threaten him, if anything, it called him to get closer.
The frozen hand that had earlier sunk its claws into him strangely vanished, unbinding his limbs from its wraithlike spell. Noticing the odd but nonetheless welcomed shift in his now freed body, Reid tightened the hold he had on the branches in his arms and took a tentative step forwards. When he didn't end up back first into the ground with jaws chewing at his entrails, he took another slow step and then two became three and then four.
The beast only limited itself to continue its growling, beckoning him closer with its hoarse and rich sound. Reid needed those eyes to keep seeing him for who he truly was. For that enticing growl to continue making him shudder with prurience. And he was getting so close now.
"Hey old chap! Where are you going?"
Reid yelped, the wood in his arms almost slipping out of his grasp as Clarence seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"Clarence! Don't scare me out like that!" Reid exclaimed.
"Scare you? But I've been shouting your name for the past five minutes. I came looking for you and then I saw you standing there as if hypnotized and then walking to there," Clarence pointed a thumb, "and you never heard me?"
"I-I… well I got distracted."
"Distracted? What did you see?"
"Just some plants. Nothing important."
"Nothing important? I don't think some plants got you this distracted so as to not hear my shouting," Clarence said with suspicion.
"It's not, really. We should go. It's getting dark."
"Mmm okay then. Anyways, I really want to roast some marshmallows and you're the wood boy."
"Wood boy, really?"
"It'll be a shame if you got lost or if a wolf ate you. Meaning no wood for the fireplace. Meaning no roasted marshmallows," Clarence joked as he bumped his shoulder with his friend.
"Sometimes I can't believe you," Reid replied, shaking his head in disbelief.
As both men walked back to their camp, Reid felt starving eyes at the back of his head as he heard a familiar growl behind them.