Page 20 of Whisper Woods

The awareness only intensifies. It feels thrilling and familiar, but completely out of place here.I’ve felt it before. In the Woods.

Someone is watching us, and now Wolf is very, very aware of it.

Roan’s eyes open just enough to frown at me, “You alright?” he mouths over the head of Theo who is dancing dreamily now, eyes shut and completely oblivious. Roan’s eyes flick over me, lingering over my shoulders, drawing my attention to how tense I am.

Ready to run.

The only thing is that I don’t know whether it’s to hunt or to hide. Anticipation curls through me.It couldn’t be. Not here. The reality check doesn’t stop the heavy weight of lust flooding my limbs.

Cold sweat breaks out all over me, pins and needles tingling my exposed back. My hands, which had been waving in the air like I just didn’t care, thank you very much, are flexing at my side, primed and ready for whoever is watching me. Gods, if I’m wrong, I am not liable for my actions.

When the smell hits me, sweet, smokey and entirely intoxicating I want to howl to the fucking moon. Filling my lungs, it blurs my mind, the noise of the dance music fading to nothing but a fuzzy tickle in the back of my head.

I want to chase that smell. I want to roll in it. Bask in it. Rub it into my pores and mark myself with it.

The need is so great, so fierce, it sends a quiver through me, making Wolf whimper. The poor bastard is torn. Hunt or be hunted? He just wants to run, the change shimmering just at the edges of my control.

Theo’s hands are like dry ice on my arm.

I drop my head to try and take in his worried face, but I can’t seem to focus on his face. The usually sharp edges of his cheekbones, the bright flecks of gold in his brown eyes are nothing but a hazy outline.

The smell is choking me, invading my senses.

I realise they are talking to me. We’ve stopped moving. We’re still in the swaying sea of dancers, getting bumped and shoved. I can’t pull my focus enough to hear what they are shouting. Is that Seldon? Is he here too? I thinkI can recognise the shimmery silver chains of his “top” against his white skin under the lights.

Like a vacuum my instincts pull me, blacking out everything else in the room. The absence of everything rushes past me with a loud whoosh.

There.

The entirety of my world focuses onhim.

Rafe.

Like a glowing fucking beacon, a lighthouse in the middle of the dark, he is all I can see.

He looks casual, standing there on the balcony, where we had begun our night, one foot propped on a stool, elbows folded on his knee like he is considering me. But from even this far I can see the tension in his stance, the way his body is primed and ready.

His gaze is scalding hot.

I can’t tell if he’s happy to see me. He looks almost as stunned as I feel. It’s been a little more than a year since I last ran into him in the Whisper Woods. And while I’ve always sworn I wasn’t looking for him, I’ve always hoped.

And now he’s here. In fucking Slash of all places.

Like a man dying of thirst I drink him in, the cut of his shirt, the way it clings to his shoulders, the hints of his jewellery under the flashing lights. The feral glint in his eye and the wry twist of his lips. Is he happy to see me? Is he just as shocked as I am? Or is he disappointed? Angry even, that I’m here.

I can’t read anything from his hard stare.

My heart thuds hard in my chest, the pounding of my blood in my ears drowning out the music. The ground feels unsteady under my feet when I smile at him, or try to at least, and he just… cocks his head.

His hand flexes on his knee. A simple stretch and clench.

His eyes trail over me, slow, lingering. I can feel every microsecond of his perusal. It flushes my skin, sending my blood flooding down to my cock. It hardens, painfully so, under his watch.

He licks his lips, his eyes returning to my face and my gut bottoms out.

I cannot believe he is here. Wolf whines with the need to do something. In the dimmest, lizard brainrecesses of my mind I can feel my friends pulling at my arms. Yelling something.

“I’m fine guys. I just gotta…” I bat their hands from my arms like flies, yelling the words over my shoulder. I can’t take my eyes off Rafe, terrified that if I do, he’ll disappear. Gods, I’m not even sure he isreal. Maybe someone’s drugged me and I’m just hallucinating on the dance floor. That would certainly explain the insane intensity of this.

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