The entire hunting assembly was gathered in the courtyard. Ash stood amongst them. The redhead was still garbed in his forest deity attire and Wren knew without a doubt that the redhead had tricked him. He’d led him here, like the proverbial lamb to slaughter.

Considering the story about the fate of the moss people after the hunt, Wren didn’t really like that analogy.

Ash stepped forward, toward Wren, and the assembly cheered the redhead on. Wren remembered the bit about the husband ravishing his “bride” in front of the assembly and his eyes darted to the entrance of the courtyard from which he’d emerged. He’d intended to gauge his chances for escape, but his heart dropped when he realized that several members of the hunting party were now standing vigil before the passage that would let him back into the maze.

Wren turned back to face Ash and his gaze fell on a rather large and flat stone slab, complete with a sheer white sheet covering it. The stone was situated in the midst of the gathering with several smaller stones surrounding it, forming some sort of primitive stone circle. Wren immediately knew what the stone slab was intended for.

He swallowed hard as Ash came to a stop in front of him. Taking Wren’s hand, the redhead removed his mask with the other hand. Discarding the mask on the ground, Ash pulled Wren toward the slab, and Wren followed him. His mind called out against it, but he was hypnotized by those glowing amber eyes. He allowed the redhead to push him onto the stone slab, even scooted backwards to make room for Ash when he followed Wren onto the slab. Ash advanced on him as Wren retreated backwards in a crablike motion. The redhead leaned over Wren, his presence looming and at once frightening and comforting. The cries of the hunting party were a distant din in Wren’s ears, blocked out by Ash’s overwhelming presence alone.

Ash insinuated himself between Wren’s thighs and Wren extended a hand, intending to hold the larger male at bay to the best of his ability. But Ash only laughed as the redhead seized the edge of one of the white sheets billowing around them and pulled it free of the stone pillar it covered. Suddenly, Ash tossed the sheet over their heads, completely obscuring them to the gaze of the hunting party. Ash’s arms snaked around him and pulled Wren tight against the redhead’s bare chest.

Then, the stone slab gave out beneath them and Wren found himself falling into a familiar oblivion of endless darkness and suffocating black smoke. He cried out in alarm, only to have it cut off and muffled by the soft, plush surface he landed on. Black smoke was trapped in the sheet covering them and Wren struggled both against the sheet holding him hostage and Ash’s strong embrace.

Wren finally struggled his way out of the sheet. Breathless from his exertions, he glared at a grinning Ash. The redhead looked decidedly more tousled than usual. His wreath of leaves and antlers had fallen off at some point and his hair was mussed. Ash raked his fingers through his hair and propped himself up on one elbow to study Wren.

“I wish you’d stop dropping in the ground out from under me!” Wren said between coughs as he tried to catch his breath. He waved the smoke away and then his eyes widened in shock to discover that they were somewhere else entirely.

He really shouldn’t have been all that surprised, considering this had happened before in the chapel, but he couldn’t really get used to it after just one or two times.

They were in a bedroom of some sorts. And the soft surface they’d landed on was a bed. Wren looked about, taking in the sight of hunter green walls and shelves of books. Many shelves of books. Shelves upon shelves, to be exact.

To be honest, it looked like someone had decided to just put a bed in the middle of a library. Wren liked to read, but whoever this room belonged to, really liked to read.

“Where are we?” Wren asked, still coughing.

Ash leaned back languidly to rest against the mounds of pillows at his back. “We’re in my room.”

“Why are we here?” Wren questioned. “I-I thought-“

“That I’d fuck you right there, in front of everyone?” Ash laughed and Wren flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and anger at the sound.

“It’s been years – a hundred or so at the very least – since the act actually took place in front of the assembly. It’s mostly ceremonial now.” Ash explained.

“You could have told me that!” Wren cried as he grabbed a pillow and sent it flying at Ash’s grinning face. The redhead seized the pillow before it could make contact and they tussled for it for a moment before Wren relented and released it.

“Yes, I could have, but where would the fun be in that?” Ash countered as he dropped the pillow and took hold of Wren’s wrists. The larger male was suddenly on him, rolling him until Ash had him pressed him into the plush mattress with the weight of his larger frame. Wren struggled and he and Ash tussled around on the bed. Wren struggled to free himself both from the tangle of sheet and from Ash, but he ended up flat on his back, winded and flushed, with a grinning Ash lying half atop him.

For a moment, they stared at one another and then Ash lowered his head. His lips brushed feather light against Wren’s cheek before he let them hover over Wren’s. Warm breath mingled with Wren’s and Wren’s breath caught in his throat as he realized the redhead intended to kiss him.

Ash allowed more of his weight to rest on Wren, pressing the smaller male into the downy mattress as the hand not holding Wren’s wrist wandered beneath his shirt. Ash’s fingertips brushed lightly against the skin beneath Wren’s bellybutton and for a brief moment that was at once terrifying and exhilarating, Wren wondered how far the redhead intended to take this.

He didn’t have very long to wonder, however. A knock suddenly sounded at the door and then the door quietly opened. There was a simultaneous gasp from both Wren and the intruder, followed by Ash’s annoyed growl.