He was familiar with bullies and with men who were happier being feared than respected. There were some in every town, and they weren't uncommon in the small caravans he led through the Forest, sometimes among the guards and other times the merchant master himself. Kel had never been in a situation like this before, though, overpowered and overmatched in every way, unable to break free even when he exerted his full strength against the Ascended's effortless steel grip.
He'd never been alone with someone who openly reveled in their cruelty, playing with him like a cat with a mouse, and he was exquisitely, terrifyingly aware of the closeness of those fangs to his neck, made all the worse by not being able to see them as he trembled against Nate's chest, wondering whether he'd see the dawn.
His heart felt like a hummingbird flinging itself against the bars of his ribs, racing, racing while he panted short, shallow breaths. There might have been a certain macabre poetry to the situation - the hunter becoming hunted like the deer and conies he had so often killed - but Kel couldn't see it in the moment. He knew better now, than to believe the fanged beast at his back even when Nate said he wouldn't hunt...
And he was right not to, unable to hold back his shudder at the feel of the other man's chin on his shoulder, the flinch away from that velvet hum where only a lover's lips should have been. The idea of a chase was no less frightening in the dark night than a hunt when the mercurial creature could change his mind between one moonbeam and the next.
Kel could feel the way Nate's amusement rumbled in the chest pressed against his back, a quiet thunder that vibrated against his body, promising destruction in its wake. He wasn't prepared for the sudden release, the shove that sent him stumbling so that he almost fell from the shock and the sudden momentum. The young hunter twisted to look at Nate with wide amber eyes, the anger and shame almost, almost hidden by the fear in them before he spun and sprinted - not for Haulani, not for a town that held no hope for him even in the bright light of day, but towards the jungle to the south, bow clutched tight in his hand as he sought the safety of the trees.
If he could just open up a little space between them, gain the safety of the branches, he might yet have a chance to turn the tables on the monster in a man's shape.
He'd never been alone with someone who openly reveled in their cruelty, playing with him like a cat with a mouse, and he was exquisitely, terrifyingly aware of the closeness of those fangs to his neck, made all the worse by not being able to see them as he trembled against Nate's chest, wondering whether he'd see the dawn.
His heart felt like a hummingbird flinging itself against the bars of his ribs, racing, racing while he panted short, shallow breaths. There might have been a certain macabre poetry to the situation - the hunter becoming hunted like the deer and conies he had so often killed - but Kel couldn't see it in the moment. He knew better now, than to believe the fanged beast at his back even when Nate said he wouldn't hunt...
And he was right not to, unable to hold back his shudder at the feel of the other man's chin on his shoulder, the flinch away from that velvet hum where only a lover's lips should have been. The idea of a chase was no less frightening in the dark night than a hunt when the mercurial creature could change his mind between one moonbeam and the next.
Kel could feel the way Nate's amusement rumbled in the chest pressed against his back, a quiet thunder that vibrated against his body, promising destruction in its wake. He wasn't prepared for the sudden release, the shove that sent him stumbling so that he almost fell from the shock and the sudden momentum. The young hunter twisted to look at Nate with wide amber eyes, the anger and shame almost, almost hidden by the fear in them before he spun and sprinted - not for Haulani, not for a town that held no hope for him even in the bright light of day, but towards the jungle to the south, bow clutched tight in his hand as he sought the safety of the trees.
If he could just open up a little space between them, gain the safety of the branches, he might yet have a chance to turn the tables on the monster in a man's shape.
