Among the Pines

"We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there - there you could look at a thing monstrous and free."

-Joseph Conrad

Prologue

The boy was just eighteen years old the night the wolf took him; not old enough to be inside that fading bar, not old enough to know the weight of his choices. But eighteen is a hungry age, and he had fought that hunger as long as he could. He had noted the bar each day as he walked down the narrow wooded road that led from his home to his family's farm. Further up the road the trees thinned and the interstate crossed over casting a deep shadow, and it was through that shadow, framed, presented like a gift, that Tom had first seen it. It had been there for as long as he could remember, but that day had been the first time he'd ever really

seen

it, recognized it in some vital way he never had before. As he stood beneath the overpass, Tom's eyes rolled over its faded brown facade, the paint weather worn and peeling, and in his mind the pins of recognition and hunger and inevitability slid smoothly into their locks.

One

It had started in the woods. Tom had always loved being out in the wild. He felt at home there, perhaps more so than anywhere else. Something about the air, the crisp scent of pine...no, that wasn't it. Not all of it, at least. When he really thought about it, he supposed it was the solitude. The trees did not cast judgment, did not demand anything of him; the trees took him without reservation or complaint. On hot days he would take off his shirt and walk deep into the woods until sweat rolled down his face and chest. Years of helping his father run the farm had hardened his body and calloused his hands. He liked the way his muscles ached after the day's work-soreness was proof of his labor. Sometimes he'd actually sleep there, beneath the wind and pines, the dried needles on the ground scraping against his bare skin. The pain was minor, pleasant even. It was a good hurt.

He had just woken up under the trees when he saw the man for the first time. Tom had never seen anyone else this deep in the woods before, but he was only startled for a moment. The moment of panic quickly gave way to another thought, one Tom could feel but didn't dare name. The man, still some distance away and unaware of Tom's gaze, was completely naked. Tom sat up slowly, the needles still hanging loosely from the sweat on his back, and tried to remain calm as adrenaline surged through his body. He'd seen a naked man before, of course-himself, his friends at school as they changed for gym, even his father once when he'd been a boy still young enough to bathe with him. But this man was different, somehow. There was something more primal about him, something animal that Tom could sense but not define. Though he was still a ways off, Tom could see the man's muscular body was covered in a matte of black hair. It ran from his shoulders to his chest and then surged downward, wrapping his buttocks and thighs before continuing down towards his calves. Tom wanted to keep looking, to know... who was this man? Had he seen Tom lying there? What was he doing here, naked among the breeze and the pines? It was then that the man turned his head and looked directly into Tom's eyes.

It was just for a second, a quick glance thrown over his shoulder, but there was something in it...a cockiness Tom did not understand but found enthralling. There was no shame on the man's face; it was almost as if he'd

wanted

Tom to see him. Then, as quick as he'd glanced, the man veered off to the left and began moving down the gentle slope of the woods.

Another moment of panic, then.

Do I follow him?

Tom didn't think anyone besides himself ever came out this far, and part of him truly wanted to know who had been so bold as to come to

his

place, to bring their nakedness into

his

woods. But there was something else, too. That adrenaline he'd felt pour through him moments before had settled somewhere in him, deeper than before, lower in his stomach.

He rose to his feet and began to follow.

Two

The man continued down the slope a bit further before veering off again, and for a moment Tom thought he had lost him. He'd followed the same path, but could not see any trace of him. A feeling of emptiness began to grow in his stomach-what was found could not already be lost. Tom dropped to a crouch and once again ran his eyes along the trees. There was nothing. He was just beginning to stand again when he heard the sound...faint, but definite, a low growl that seemed to buck and then stop before beginning again. Again, he followed. The sound grew louder as he pushed deeper into the woods. Tom felt the same dull throb he'd felt when he first saw the man. The sound seemed to amplify it, to fill him somehow. He'd gone another few steps when the man again came into view.

Tom was still a young man, but not a child, and innocence has never lasted long. There was no mistaking what Tom saw before him; the stranger from the woods was pressing another man tightly against a large tree, and he was fucking him. His hips drove the weight of himself forward over and over again, each thrust causing another of the animal grunts that had led Tom here to begin with. Tom stared as a bead of sweat ran down the first man's lower back, clinging to the fine hair on his buttocks before another hard drive of his hips sent it down to the forest floor. Tom was sweating too. The waistband of his shorts had become damp, his own sweat dripping from his armpits and chest. He realized he could smell himself, the stink of his own body, and suddenly became aware that he was exceedingly hard. The men hadn't noticed Tom watching them, and he was sure he was far back enough that he wouldn't be seen...

Tom pulled his shorts down over the front of his cock. He felt an immediate relief as his hardness wrenched free from the fabric. With a mix of fear and excitement, Tom began to run his hand along his shaft. The man being fucked was whimpering now, the thrusts being driven into him more slowly, his mouth emitting a soft pleading sound that reminded Tom of a prayer. Tom's cock throbbed harder at this. He didn't know what he was doing-surely this was wrong, watching these men. But he couldn't stop. He could not look away. He was still staring, his hardness growing in his hand, when the man looked at him once again.

The man was still fucking, still bucking the strong muscle of his hips into the other, but his head turned on his shoulders and seemed to spot Tom effortlessly, his eyes immediately meeting his through the trees. Tom's first instinct was to run, to flee this place and this man and the warm smell of sweat and rut that had begun to fill the air. But something stopped him from doing this, held him fixed there, his cock in his hand, his eyes locked on the stranger-the man was smiling at him. Tom stood frozen, a bead of precum hanging from his shaft. The man widened his smile, and without turning away from Tom, pulled his hips back slowly before bucking them forward again with enormous power. The man against the tree cried out, a sound as much pain as pleasure. The stranger reached forward, grabbed the man's shoulders, and thrust again, never taking his eyes from Tom. He

wanted

him to see what he was doing to this man pressed against the tree.

It was the best view of the man's face Tom had yet seen. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, his strong jaw wrapped in a short dark beard. His eyes were...brown? Hazel? It was hard to tell from this far away. The man looked away then, looked down in front of himself, seemed to watch with fascination as his cock slid in and out of the man before him. Tom felt something rising within himself. The stranger looked up at him again and nodded, answering a question the boy didn't know he'd asked. As the man looked at him Tom saw his eyes glint in a beam of sun. For a moment, they actually looked gold. Then Tom was cumming, his stomach contracting as great ropes of sperm poured out of him and onto the dirt and leaves below. He tried to be quiet but couldn't quite contain it-a short grunt escaped him, guttural and taut. The man with the golden eyes suddenly stopped fucking the man before him. Pulling his cock free, he spun around and began to walk directly towards Tom. Tom didn't move. Covered in sweat and still reeling from orgasm, he watched as the man walked towards him. The hair on the man's chest was damp with sweat, and his cock hung proudly before him, still hard and glistening wet. The stranger stopped just a few inches from Tom, his golden eyes never losing their focus. Then he spoke.

"Did you enjoy watching me?", asked the man. Tom was stunned. This man, this place, none of it seemed real to him. It was as if the universe had thinned, opened to allow something through its gates. He tried to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. It was all he could do to give a brief and stunned nod.

"Good", said the man with golden eyes. At this the man crouched down and ran his hand along the dirt and leaves below him. He rose again and held his hand in front of his face. Tom's cum hung off the man's fingers, flecked with bits of dirt and sap. Without looking away from Tom's eyes, the man brought his hand to his mouth and licked the cum from his fingers. Then he spoke.

"Meet me tomorrow night at the bar beneath the overpass, and I will show you what you are."

The man finally turned his eyes from Tom and began to walk away. Tom stood trembling as the man walked back to the man against the tree and lightly grazed his hand along his back. Being touched, the man against the tree stood and turned, looked at Tom for the first time, and smiled. And then they were gone, the two of them walking deeper into the woods, leaving Tom standing alone against the trees.

Three

Tom lay in bed that night, and dreamed...

He walks through the woods, the leaves crunching beneath his bare feet. He is naked, but this is not strange-it seems as natural as the sky above him. He knows something is following him, but he isn't scared. There is a path before him, and he knows to follow it. Somewhere deep in the woods, an animal howls. The sound echoes through the trees, reverberates off of the hills and fills the night. It

is

night, pitch black in the dark woods, but Tom can see everything in front of him. After awhile he comes to a clearing. At first he thinks it's raining, but something is wrong-the rain, it's not falling, it's rising. Then Tom realizes it isn't rain, it's needles; thousands of pine needles, rising from the forest floor and into the air, an abscission in reverse. Across the clearing, through the rising needles, through the dark, a pair of golden eyes stalks towards him.

He is not afraid.

The eyes come closer, and now he sees they are the eyes of a wolf. It is enormous, its fur black and matted, and it walks slowly towards Tom in the center of the clearing. The boy knows he should be frightened, but is not. The golden-eyed wolf brings its mouth to Tom's face. The boy closes his eyes and the wolf bares its teeth, just inches from his cheek. Its breath is hot against his skin. Tom's body tenses as the wolf's tongue laps over its sharp teeth and then calmly runs itself up the side of his face, licking the salt from his skin. Tom opens his eyes again. The wolf steps back and sits on its haunches. Then it opens its mouth, and for a moment Tom is sure it will speak in a human voice, that it will tell him a secret as old as the woods. Instead it only howls.

Four

The sun had already begun to set when Tom awoke. He had felt he'd only just closed his eyes, but hours had passed, and now he was awake, and it was time. Tom pulled on a pair of old jeans and a shirt and walked out into the night. The air was warm, and he'd begun to sweat almost as soon as he'd left his house, but he didn't think it was because of the heat. His body began to tense, a dull ache, a tightening of his chest. He wasn't old enough to go inside the bar, and he knew it. What if they asked for an I.D.? And what he was really doing going to this place? Tom didn't know anything about this man, and felt for the first time that he may be walking towards something from which he could not return. His mind reeled as he closed the distance between himself and the shadow of the overpass. For the first time since he'd seen the man in the woods, Tom was afraid.

The air cooled as he stepped beneath the overpass. Above him he could hear cars rolling down the interstate, and he could see the bar just beyond the shadow's edge. Insects swarmed around the dim lights that framed its entrance. He stood there in the shadow and hesitated. What of his dream? What of the wolf? Surely it was a warning; the man could be dangerous. Tom thought of the way the man had looked at him in the woods, a flash of violence in his eyes as he'd pressed the man to the tree. But Tom had never felt the touch of another man, and some paths, once started down, must be followed. Gathering his courage, he stepped out from beneath the overpass and walked towards the door.

The inside of the bar was dim and smelled of smoke. A few men sat scattered around the tiny room, but they seemed to regard Tom with little interest. In the corner, a jukebox softly played a song Tom had never heard-

If only the good ones die young,

I pray your corruption comes...

Tom sat down at the bar and looked around. He did not see the man from the woods. Across the bar, an old bartender ambled towards Tom, regarding him with suspicious eyes. Tom thought he was about to be kicked out, but the old man's eyes softened as he approached.

"What'll ya have?", he asked with a slight smirk.

"Whiskey, please", Tom replied.

Tom wasn't much of a drinker, but his father kept a small bottle of whiskey in the cupboard, and on special occasions he poured Tom a small glass. He'd come to like the way it burned his throat, and the taste it left in his mouth, smoky and sweet. The old man had put the glass in front of him and begun to pour when a voice spoke softly into Tom's ear.

"Hello, boy."

Startled, Tom turned on his seat and there, behind him, was the man from the woods.

"H-hello", Tom stuttered. The man smiled, amused by the boy's nervousness.

"Relax", said the man, "We've already been introduced."

"I never got your name", said Tom.

"I never gave it. But you and I both know that a name isn't what brought you here, is it?"

The man's eyes flashed for a moment, the same soft gold they'd been in the woods.

"No, I..."

Tom faltered. He could smell the man, a soft musk he couldn't quite place, a mixture of sweat and leather and something else, too, something more natural, like a field after a long rain. He started again.

"I don't know why I came here. What I saw in the woods...what you did to that man...I've never seen that before."

"There are many things you've never seen before. Does that scare you?", said the man.

"No, I just...why did you look at me? What do you want?"

"The better question would be 'why did you follow'"?

Tom hesitated at this, unsure of how to proceed.

"I...I wanted to know why you were naked."

The man smiled at this.

"I was naked because I could be. Here there are rules you have to follow. But in the woods...there the rules are different. There we make the rules ourselves."

The man brought his hand forward and lightly grazed it down Tom's chest, his knuckles flitting across the boy's nipple. A shudder moved through Tom's body, and he felt his cock throb. A man had never touched him like this. He knew then that he wanted this man to fuck him. The realization shocked Tom; he'd thought of men before, but that act, what he'd seen in the woods...it scared him as much as it excited him. There would be pleasure, he knew, but also pain. He remembered the way the man against the tree had cried out...

"The man...you wanted me to see you. To see what you were doing to him."

The man smiled again, and took hold of Tom's wrist.

"Come with me", he said.

The man walked Tom across the dim bar and down a flight of stairs. They entered another room, a small supply closet lit with a single light bulb. The man from the woods shut the door behind them.

"I told you I would show you what you are", he said. With that he took off his shirt. The hair on his muscular chest glared in the harsh light of the bulb. He reached forward and brought the boy's hand to his chest. Tom let out a small sigh, the throbbing in his crotch getting stronger. Slowly, he ran his hand down the hair and muscle of the man's abdomen. Then the man pushed his hand away.

"Take off your clothes", said the man.

The boy did as he was told, pulling off his shirt and tossing it to the ground. He lowered his jeans and stepped out of them, kicking them and the shirt to the side. He looked once more into the man's golden eyes, and he slid his underwear to the floor. Tom rose and stood naked before the man, his taut muscle amplified by the deep shadows in the room. The man from the woods was already naked, his body confident and strong.

"Get on your knees."

Tom slowly lowered himself before the man. On his face he could feel warmth rising from the man's cock, which had begun to swell and thicken before him. The man looked down into Tom's eyes.

"Have you ever tasted a man's cock before?"

Tom felt as if he'd entered a new plane. His nerves crackled with excitement. The man's voice, his smell, all of it rushed together to create in Tom something he could only describe as awe. A drop of precum oozed from Tom's cock and onto the cold cement floor. Tom didn't speak, only shook his head back and forth.

"I want you to open your mouth and look into my eyes."

The boy did as he was told. The man placed his large hand firmly around the back of Tom's head, slowly pulling it closer before setting his now hard and dripping cock on the boy's waiting tongue. Tom was surprised by the weight of it, the warm pressure in his mouth. He noticed a sweet taste beginning to leak down his throat. The man seemed to anticipate this, looking right into the boy's eyes and saying, "That's precum dripping down your throat, boy. I want you to wrap your lips around my cock and nurse more of it into your mouth. Do you understand?"

Tom nodded and brought the man's cock all the way into his mouth. A groan escaped the man as he sunk down into the warmth of the boy's throat. Tom took the man's cock deeper into his throat before he finally gagged and brought himself back, feeling the man's thick wet shaft slide out until only the head remained in his mouth. The boy looked up into the man's eyes, and saw his pleasure, and again his cock throbbed, rock hard in front of him now, and he began to gently suckle the head of the man's cock. When he did this he could better taste the sweet liquid that dripped from the man. As he drank more of the sweetness, he thought of nectar. Hungrily, he began to moan as he worked the heavy cock in and out of his mouth. The man tightened his grip on Tom's head, using the boy's mouth to milk himself for a few moments before pulling him off of his cock entirely.

The boy knelt dazed, staring up at the swollen shaft still hanging in front of his lips. Again he raised his eyes to the man and waited for instruction.

"We're going to go outside now, into the woods. Leave your clothes and follow me."

The man opened the door and walked out, leaving Tom on his knees and full of hunger.

Five

He rose and followed. The man walked down a small hallway and opened another door, this one leading outside to the tree line just beyond the bar. The moon was just bright enough for the boy to see the man's silhouette slip into the trees. He walked naked across the grass to the edge of the woods, the breeze cooling the sweat that ran down his body. The man stood just beyond the edge of the trees. Without a word he took Tom's cock in his hand and began to lead him by it, pulling him deeper into the woods. After a few moments they came to a small clearing. Leading him to the center, the man turned and gave another tug of Tom's cock, pulling him tight against his body. He placed his other hand behind Tom's head, and for the first time, he kissed the boy deeply. Tom groaned as the man's breath filled his mouth. The man softly bit Tom's lower lip and then pressed his tongue against the boys, feeling the boy tremble with excitement and lust. As they kissed, the man held Tom's swollen shaft in his hand and slowly stroked it, feeling the precum still steadily dripping from the boy.