This is a non-consensual gay erotic story, all characters are 18 or over. The characters in this story are humanoid but with animal ears/characteristics, and do refer to each other by their species name (Rabbit, Wolf etc).
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Stupid. So undeniable, hideously stupid. That's what he was, that was the word that was screaming through Harlan's brain when he woke up in the middle of the forest in the dead of the night, eyelids fluttering under the beam of the full moon.
He had fallen asleep. He hadn't meant to-- when he had made it out to his favourite clearing in the middle of the woods this morning it had been daylight, the sun had been warm on his skin and the breeze had brought with it a welcome scent of grass and dirt. He loved it here, and he had spent countless hours wiling away the daylight under the sun in this place, in his spot... and he had never once fallen asleep. Never.
Until today. Until now. And it was a stupid, stupid thing to do.
It was the one rule he was supposed to follow above all else-- the one rule that was there to keep him safe-- because bad things happened to Rabbits who ventured out into the night...
That was why there was a curfew in place, Rabbits and other Prey were free to walk the streets all they wanted in the daytime, as long as they were home by nightfall. Because that was when the carnivores were out.
Harlen had heard them before, sometimes awoken in the safety of his bed by the howls of Wolves or Coyotes, or some other Predator prowling around the place. Predators and Prey alike could interact just fine during the day-- all too friendly and sickeningly polite-- but things were different at night.
Predators owned the night.
And now Harlen was running through it, his breath coming fast as his heart thumped heavily in his chest, wild eyes trying and failing to find his way through the dark mess of trees and branches.
In the past, his people had apparently had good night vision, had even spent most of their waking hours in the dark... but not now--not after the treaty between Predator and Prey that had forced a very hard and sudden change. Peace was here, and peace was only for those who met the sun.
They had all had to make changes, and that was just a tiny detail among the many from an ancient deal made centuries ago.
Harlen winced as he ran blindly through the dark, his skin and face scratched from twigs and leaves he couldn't see in front of him. He could pick up on the faint scent of himself, of his usual trail through the forest and he tried to focus on it, shoving away the gut-wrenching fear that threatened to leave him curled up and crying in the dirt.
His senses weren't great, but it could just be enough to find his way home, it was just enough to--
--then he heard the howls.
Harlen sped up, his body numb to the scapes and cuts of the forest he had always known as safe. He ran.
"I smell a bunny, boys!"
Harlen's heart was beating at a million miles a second, threatening to thump right out of his chest as the calls got louder, the sound of their voices surging true and real fear through his blood. He had thought that he had felt fear before-- plenty of times in fact-- but he had been wrong.
This was fear. This was real fear.
His followed scent was getting stronger, and he knew that meant he was getting closer to his house, to the safety of his home. A mad burst of frantic energy rushed through him and he felt like he was flying. So close, he was so close he could smell it, could taste it, he--
Something hard and heavy slammed into him then, shoving him to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. He tried to gasp, tried to scratch for air but the weight of the thing on top of him was crushing the life out of him.
He couldn't breathe.
"Well hello, little rabbit."
The words were murmured, the tone of them curled and twisted in a smile. Even in the dark, with his eyes still struggling to adjust, he saw his face... he could smell him all over his skin.
Wolf.
Harlen couldn't even scream.
The others seemed to catch up then, a thrum of running bodies laughing and hooting as they came to a stop to where Harlen and the grinning Wolf were.
Harlen could see one of them step forward, a smirk on his face, brown hair a little too long over his forehead that he had to push back out of his eyes to see.
"Move your ass, Kalan, I want to see what we caught."
The Wolf commanded, trying to peer past his friend's large body so that he could see Harlen.
"I caught him, I get first dibs, Marcus."
The Wolf--Kalan-- said, only to then roll off Harlen finally, his heavy weight leaving him to finally draw in a quick breath, his starved lungs expanding painfully as he sucked in the heavy scent of the wolves surrounding him.
The wolves... it was a pack.
He was so dead.
When the Wolf called Marcus stepped forward, his smirk shifted into a wide grin as his eyes grazed over Harlen's panting form.
"I've never seen a white one before-- shit, look at him, look at his eyes."
Harlen's heart stuttered at the words, at the leers, screwing his eyes closed as he tried to drown them all out. As he tried to think.
He knew what they were looking at, their eyes taking in his snow-white ears and tail, his irises an almost matching ice blue, shadowed under long pale lashes.
He had a nickname growing up, the kids used to chant it at him at school, as if he himself didn't look in the mirror every day and see how different he was to the rest of them.
They had called him, Ghost.
"Open up, little one, they want to see those pretty eyes."
Marcus ordered, stepping forward and almost gently tugging at his chin, trying to coax him to open his eyes. Harlen did, fluttering his eyelids open at the command... only to then slam his head forward and smash it into Marcus's nose.
The Wolf howled, swearing under his breath as he stumbled back and held his nose, blood already streaming red rivets down his lips. Harlen made his move, using the distraction to leap himself off the ground and run, his only thought on getting one foot in front of the other.
It didn't last long. They caught him again, of course, almost too easily capturing him mid-run and dragging him back kicking and screaming. He fought, tooth and nail, but it was no use, he was surrounded by a horde of Wolves, all much bigger and stronger than he would ever be. Still, he fought.