RUN

Kyungsoo/Reader scenario

Fantasy!AU request, Halloween special

He wants to stop, but he can’t. He can’t. He runs, nails like daggers dragging gouges into the soft dirt in his wake. His mind is clouded. Blood, flesh, tear, kill.

NO! The humanity in the back of his brain shouts. No, that’s not all I want, I want to love, I want to live…

You are a monster; nothing but a monster. You don’t deserve anything but the muddy swamp you live in, eating rats. Not rats, something bigger. Humans. They’ll hunt you. Kill them before they hunt you down and hang you in the village square.

Faster, run faster! But you can’t escape. You can’t run from yourself.

Crack. His foreleg catches in a sinkhole, paw staying put and momentum sending the rest of his body careening over a fallen log. His radius has snapped, he can feel it. He wails his agony, a sharp and piercing howl filled with every ounce of sadness and frustration that lurks in his body. He’s bleeding now, the bone is peeking through his skin and fur.

He can’t run anymore.

You can’t run from yourself. You. Are. Cursed.

Kyungsoo falls to his side in the leaves. His silken gray fur is getting matted; streaks and clumps, brown and crimson. The full moon judges him. He can hear it laughing.

When he wakes, it smells like lavender. I hope this is what heaven smells like, he thinks. I hope I’m dead.

He opens his eyes into slits and faces a crackling fireplace. There is a shaggy rug underneath him and a low wooden ceiling above. Probably not heaven.

Kyungsoo shifts and rolls onto his side with instant regrets. His injury stings with movement and he curses, now-human words sliding out of his now-human mouth. He holds it front of his face to find it bandaged and splinted.

His heart races. Fight or flight response. There must be someone else here. He stands up slowly, blinking the sun out of his eyes and quietly looks around the room. No one. He pads through the doorway, shoulders hunched. This room is bigger, with a water basin and a cooking area and a birch wood table.

There. A girl. No, a woman. His eyes flit over her curves, her chest, her behind. His mind reprimands him. You do not deserve a mate, no one wants to couple with a monster.

“Ah…” Kyungsoo begins, clearing his human throat and trying not to sound like a stranger in his own body. The woman starts at the noise, turning around quickly. Her gaze softens when she sees that it’s him. She even smiles. You should be afraid of me, he thinks.

“How are you feeling?” She asks, holding out her hands. Kyungsoo recoils at first, but slowly edges forward so she can inspect the bandage on his forearm. “You must have taken quite the fall. You were unconscious when I found you, and there was blood everywhere. You’re lucky I’m the healer’s granddaughter.” Her smile brightened.

Please stop; you’re so beautiful. You don’t deserve her. Kill her. Make her blood your own, crack her bones in your teeth.

“Thank you.” He says meekly, bile rising in his throat as he fights the animal inside of him.

“I hope you don’t mind that I cleaned you up, too. You were a mess.” She turns back to the pot over the fire, stirring it with a wooden spoon. Kyungsoo’s face burns. She touched him. “Your hair is really beautiful, you know. Deep black, and so soft.”

So she hadn’t seen the wolf, she had seen the real Kyungsoo only?

“Thank you.” He repeats quietly.

“You must be shaken up. Please feel free to lie back down and I’ll bring you food once it’s ready.”

He hastily retreats to the room he came from.

Kyungsoo is staring out the window when she enters with a tray nearly thirty minutes later. He’s been watching the rabbits and squirrels and realizing how very hungry he is.

“Sorry it isn’t much.” She giggles, looking embarrassed. “There was only a bit of dried venison left, but I added plenty of turnips to make up for it.” She placed the tray with the large wooden bowl on the table by the door.

He looks at her. Venison is nothing. Her flesh is still warm, fresh, wet. If he listens hard enough, he can hear the pulse in her veins.

“You’re very kind.” He uses his own voice to drown out his thoughts.

“I’d like to think it’s what anyone would do for someone in need.” Her pretty mouth sets in a firm line as she ponders. Kyungsoo takes one step forward. Then another. He can smell the meat stewing in the thick broth at the same time he can smell the cotton of her clothing and the flower in her hair. Which one is for eating? His mind taunts him and he has to close his eyes.

His mouth is watering, but from what he’s not sure.

In a second, he’s pinning her to the wall; teeth so desperately wanting to puncture skin but his humanity takes over at the last possible moment and instead, he kisses her.

He hears her in a breath, her arms flailing to find purchase on something to steady herself. Kyungsoo doesn’t know what he’s doing anymore but he can’t control this strange feeling; this give and take.

What’s stranger still, she’s starting to kiss him back.

Her lips transition from firm panic to supple intrigue. Her tongue darts out. She grabs his shoulders and suddenly he’s back to lying on the plush rug covering the floor. She’s staring down at him, her knees against his sides. When she leans in, his breath catches. Her words are low and serious.

“I know what you are.” She says. Kyungsoo doesn’t know if he should escape or not.

“What are you talking about?” He feigns ignorance.

“I could smell you from miles away.” She growls lowly, and he can’t suppress the shiver. “We’re both wolves. I’m ___, alpha female.”

Kyungsoo’s head is swimming.

“Next time,” She warns with a smirk. “You’ll ask permission before kissing me.”