Stallions

by Jade Carr

  He had an erection, his hard-on straining his jeans. If she hadn't been so unnerved and locked on to his features, she would have already noticed what was going on below his waist. When they'd morphed into stallions—what was she thinking!—they'd been ready for sex. Obviously, that hadn't changed.

  Heated moisture pooled inside her. Some leaked out to dampen her panties. "Look, this is crazy. I don't know what the hell this is about, and unless you're willing to spell it out to my satisfaction, I'm leaving."

  "Not yet."

  At the comment from the until-now-silent man, the speaker jerked his head in that direction. "It isn't your turn," the older, taller one snapped. "I told you—"

  "Look," she interrupted. "I'm not interested in listening to the two of you argue." I just want to know if you have any idea what I thought I saw a few minutes ago. "You can't keep me here. One yell from me, and—"

  "You won't."

  The indignation she'd been trying to feed evaporated. Did the man with the faint crows' feet know how sensual his voice was? It came from the depths of his broad chest, the sounds seeping over and into her.

  "What's your name?" she asked.

  "Nokoni. What's yours?"

  Nokoni. Was that Comanche? "Terena. And yours?" She nodded at the other man. Like Nokoni, his jeans bulged.

  "Hah-Tee."

  She mouthed their names. As recently as yesterday, she'd felt a little lost and adrift. Now she had no doubt she'd never been more alive.

  "Well, Nokoni and Hah-Tee, I believe this is where I'm expected to say pleased to meet you, but we all know that isn't true." Isn't it? "I came here to watch the races. Now that I've seen Red run, anything else would be anticlimactic." She winced at her word choice. "I'm leaving."

  "No," Hah-Tee bit out, "you aren't."

  Apprehension and arousal lanced through her, but she'd taken one backward step and refused to take another. "We just had this conversation. I'm not interested in replaying it. You tried to intimidate me, and—"

  "Not intimidation," Nokoni broke in. "You won't call for help."

  How could they stop her from yelling, by some kind of mind control? The idea would have been laughable if not for the shifting she'd seen. Not that it had really taken place.

  Had it?

  The men were compelling, their physical presence off the chart. The photographer in her longed to play with lighting and expressions so she could share their impact on her with the world. She shouldn't care about their possibly adversarial relationship because she had enough to think about trying to make sense of why she was reacting the way she was. Her career required her to ease in and out of people's lives. Strangers shared their stories with her then went back to their worlds while she moved on to a new crises, insight, or human-interest.

  Occasionally, she stayed in one place long enough to connect with a man. During those rushed sexual encounters, she gathered bits and pieces of those men's existences and made them hers. She laughed at their jokes, drank with them, rode in their cars, touched their bodies, and let them touch hers.

  Then it ended.

  That was what she had to remember. Looking up at the strongest, most arresting men she'd ever seen was today's experience. It had no staying power.

  "What makes you think I'm willing to stay?" she asked.

  "Because of this."

  Whether Nokoni had deliberately lowered his voice to further capture her attention didn't matter. How could it when he was trailing his fingers over the back of her hand? Mouth sagging, she looked down. His hand spoke of a life spent under the sun and standing against a storm. The dark, weathered flesh whispered of adventures and experiences she couldn't comprehend.

  "You can't walk away." His voice pulled her in. "Your body won't let you."

  No, that couldn't be. She wouldn't let it.

  She slapped his hand away. Only when he lowered it to his side did she acknowledge that if he'd wanted to, he could have hauled her into a stall and ripped off her clothes. She'd stand naked or kneel before him while his fingers and palms claimed her. Before he was done, she'd be begging him to fuck her.

  "Who is he to you?" Nokoni asked.

  "He?" Her mouth didn't want to work.

  Nokoni gave her a faint smile. "The man who rode this mare."

  "My cousin."

  Nokoni nodded. Then he cupped the denim over his cock. He was repositioning his erection. No need for her to think he was about to expose himself.

  Which, of course, she didn't want.

  "Your cousin had no right, doing what he did." Nokoni handed the words to her one at a time. "The mare isn't his."

  "Are you accusing him of stealing Red?"

  "She was free, living where she belonged." He sounded tired, or was it sorrowful?

  "How do you know that?"

  "Ask your damned cousin to explain."

  So much for fantasizing that sex might come out of today, which was a crazy thought. Things had become even more serious. Just the same, she continued to feed off Red's agitated state and two men no woman could ignore.

  "I intend to. But I'd also like to hear your side of things."

  "Why?"

  Frowning, she widened her stance and again folded her arms. Much more staring up at Nokoni while those rich eyes of his took little slices out of her and she might lose track of where she left off and he began.

  No! She didn't dare let that happen. Too much was at stake.

  "Are you thinking of having him arrested?"

  "Arrested?"

  Ahote had been behind bars at least twice and had told her that being locked up had nearly killed him. "It's a logical question, right? If you're accusing him of horse thievery, you must want justice. Unless you can't prove it."

  The men exchanged a glance.

  "That's it, isn't it? Your word against his. He raced the mare, not you."

  "He has no right to her," Nokoni said. "And he knows it."

  A horse whinnied. She wouldn't have paid attention if the animal didn't sound so close. She spotted a couple of teenage girls, each leading a horse, heading their way. The girls, looking fresh and new in their cowboy hats, shirts, jeans, and boots, were dividing their attention between their horses and the two men.

  "I don't know anything about this disagreement between you and my cousin. And I don't understand why you're trying to drag me into it."

  Turning so the teens couldn't see what he was doing, Nokoni again cupped himself.

  Terena fled.

  Chapter 4

  Did you know we would shift?" Hah-Tee asked.

  "I knew it was a possibility," Nokoni replied when what he wanted was to walk off by himself. Even more, he longed to run until exertion pushed arousal out of his system.

  "Why didn't you warn me?"

  Hah-Tee would never learn. Or, more to the point, Hah-Tee sensed when he was pushing but couldn't stop himself.

  "I didn't want you here," Nokoni said.

  "But I am. She had to have seen. Why didn't she say anything about our shifting?"

  "Maybe she doesn't believe her eyes."

  Fortunately, that at least momentarily shut Hah-Tee up. He could no longer see Terena. In the past, as soon as he put distance between himself and a human female, his body quieted. Now his cock remained tight. He was still learning about this aspect of being a man but knew it would be a while before he could relax.

  The teenage girls had taken their horses to the far end of the stables. He occasionally caught their high-pitched voices but couldn't see them. Even if he had, their young bodies wouldn't speak to his cock the way Terena had.

  After once more repositioning his cock in the uncomfortable and seldom-worn clothes, he focused on the conversation he'd been having with the other stallion shifter. Seeing Hah-Tee's aroused state made the hairs at the back of his neck stand up. He was herd stud! Any and all females belonged to him.

  At least they did when he was in horse form.

  But when he was a man…

 
"I've never shifted and then back again so fast," Hah-Tee said. "Have you?"

  "No," he admitted. "And never without my making it happen."

  Frowning, Hah-Tee turned his full attention on him. "It was the same for me. Why?"

  The younger shifter was waiting for him to say it, giving him no choice. "The woman. Something about her touched us in a new way."

  Hah-Tee opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Maybe Nokoni should have asked Terena what her last name was, but that would have made her even more unique when all he wanted to do was dismiss her. He'd come here because his stallion senses had told him this was where he'd find the mare that had been stolen from his herd. Not only had he found her, he'd watched the audience's disbelief over speed he took for granted.

  He'd finally understood why Ahote had thrown a rope over an animal that was his responsibility. Regret and self-loathing tightened his heart.

  "I don't like this place," Hah-Tee said. "We don't belong here."

  "Neither does she." He indicated the mare.

  "She's been tamed. Changed."

  Wishing he could tear Hah-Tee's words apart, he approached the mare. No matter how much he willed her to acknowledge him, she backed up until her rump struck the rear wall. White showed in her eyes, and her ears lay flat.

  "She doesn't know who we are," Hah-Tee muttered.

  I'm sorry. I should have been there. He was relieved to see the tension leave her. Instead of turning her attention to her feed, she extended her neck and whinnied. Her tail switched. He wasn't surprised when she turned her back to them, moved her tail to the side, spread her legs, and urinated. Sweet-smelling moisture dribbled from her vulva.

  "She might not know who we are," he said, "but she's responding to what we represent."

  "So did Terena."

  Hah-Tee's comment pulled his attention from the mare he knew would never again be part of his world. He'd smelled Terena's arousal and didn't like knowing the other shifter had as well. "It means nothing." He wasn't sure which of them he was talking to.

  "She wanted to have sex with us," Hah-Tee said. "The way she reacted when you touched her hand—you should have taken advantage of that."

  "How? Maybe you think we should have ripped off her clothes." He shook his head, in part to keep the image from digging too deeply into his mind. "That's what you want? For one of us to hold her down while the other fucks her?"

  "No."

  "Are you sure?" Like it or not, he had to assess Hah-Tee's ability to conduct himself as a responsible human male. Not that he'd completed the journey himself, he allowed. He was still learning, the lessons complicated by the stallion blood racing through him.

  "It nearly happened once." Hah-Tee stared at the ground. "I'd only shifted into human form a few times and barely knew what to do with my body. I was standing outside a—what do they call it—a grocery store when a woman walked up to me. She asked if I was lost. I told her no, even though I was. She placed her hand on my shoulder. I thought that meant she wanted this." He closed his fingers around the bulge in his jeans. "I started to unzip myself."

  "What did she do?"

  "She told me to slow down. When I said I didn't want to, she called me things I didn't know the meaning of. I told her to shut up. She slapped me. I grabbed her hand and twisted her arm behind her. She said if I did anything else, she'd scream."

  "Did you stop?"

  "Yes. How long will it be before I understand what human females want?"

  Life was easier when he didn't allow himself to think about tomorrow and the days after that. Let Hah-Tee go on his own journey just as he'd done.

  "Today the future doesn't matter," he said. "Only right now does. I agreed to let you accompany me because—"

  "I know. What do you want me to do?"

  "Find the thief. Watch him. Don't let him see you."

  "Why not? He should know who and what we are, so he'll fear us."

  "Hopefully that time will come, but first I want to know more about him."

  "If that's important to you, you follow him." Hah-Tee took a step in the direction Terena had gone. "I have something I'd rather be doing." He cupped his erection with both hands.

  The blood in Nokoni's temple pulsed. The years as responsible herd stud had taught him how to handle the surges of energy that, in part, had kept him alive. Another time, he probably wouldn't react so intensely to what was Hah-Tee's instinct speaking, but everything felt off balance today. Not only was he mourning the freedom the young mare had lost, but Terena had left something of herself on his skin and in his nostrils.

  Stepping in front of Hah-Tee, he bared his teeth. Hah-Tee understood he was reacting like a stallion. "I gave you an order. Obey."

  Hah-Tee's nostrils flared.

  "We've fought before," Nokoni pointed out. "If I need to, I'll fight you again. Like before, I'll win."

  Once, Nokoni had been an untested and unproven stallion. No matter how many times the herd leader had bitten and struck him with his hooves, he'd stayed near the herd. Day by day and week by week, he'd grown stronger until one morning he'd come across a mare in heat and mounted her. Even as his seed shot into her and their joined bodies shuddered, he knew he'd done something he had no right to.

  Unless he proved himself worthy.

  Following in Terena's footsteps, Nokoni remembered every moment of the screaming, snorting battle between himself and the then herd stud after the mating. When the tall, coal-black stallion charged him, Nokoni had stood his ground. They'd risen onto their hind legs at the same time, but Nokoni's forelegs had struck the first blow, and his teeth had laid open a gash on the stud's neck.

  Something else had given Nokoni the advantage—he'd relied on his mind. Much as he hated being a shifter, his intellect kept him alive.

  Someday, maybe soon, Hah-Tee would bruise his flesh and make him bleed. When that happened, Nokoni would have no choice but to embrace the other half of his nature.

  Spending most of his time as a human male wouldn't be that bad. Not only would he sleep in a bed, he'd be cool in summer and warm in winter. Because it was the way of humans, he'd mate with one woman instead of being responsible for every mare in the herd.

  Maybe he'd stop wondering why Hah-Tee and he were different from the other horses, where the gift of speed had come from, and which colts would become shifters.

  Giving himself a mental shake, he took a deep breath. Terena's scent was getting stronger. About a year ago he'd reluctantly given himself the task of learning everything he could about the world he'd soon enter. Therefore, he knew he was looking at carnival rides. The equipment was in the process of being dismantled, but the people responsible for the taking down weren't here right now. Perhaps they'd taken a break to watch the races. That meant this area belonged to him and Terena.

  Like a lot of things in the human world, understanding why people did what they did was a work in progress for him. Maybe Terena cared about carnival rides, but perhaps she'd needed time by herself.

  Alone. Her lean yet womanly body was gliding around the equipment, her breasts straining against the ridiculous bras women insisted on wearing. Her inner thighs would be brushing together, perhaps stimulating the magical part of her.

  To the casual observer, she might appear to be deeply tanned, but he knew she had Native American blood in her. Her cheekbones were high, her dark eyes almost as deep-set as his. Her midnight hair trailed halfway down her back. She'd braided two strands near her temples to, he guessed, keep her hair out of her eyes. If her body lay under his with his cock buried in her soft, wet channel, he'd brush glistening hair off her neck, gathering up her sweat as he did so.

  Hands rammed in his back pockets, he tracked her. His cock fought the prison he'd forced it into. He might never understand clothing and not fucking because he wanted to, but he was trying. He had no choice.

  Teeth clenched as a defense against the future he was still reluctantly accepting, he pulled Terena's smell deep inside himself. He hadn't had sex
with many human females. Not because they hadn't offered themselves to him, but because he didn't trust his self-control. Keeping distance between himself and a woman was easier than keeping his wits about him once he'd touched one. On its own, sex was wonderful, but human females wanted to talk. They expected to hear certain words from him.

  Forget the females he'd had sex with before today. There was only this one now—and trying to dismiss her relationship with the man he wanted to kill.

  A sensation like hot water seared him from cheeks to feet. Stopping, he lifted his head and sniffed. He became, not a predator, but more than a man.

  Scenting a woman.

  Chapter 5

  Ahote?

  Terena chided herself for hiding among the dismantled carnival rides, stopped, and looked around. Ahote had been walking in the opposite direction from here when she'd last seen him. Once he calmed down, she knew he'd return to Red. Maybe he'd run into Nokoni and Hah-Tee. There could be a confrontation, a fight even. She bit her lip, then shrugged. So be it. She could no longer protect him.

  Nokoni? Hah-Tee? She furrowed her forehead. Were those Comanche names? She could call Quana Soto and ask—

  Even before she sorted out the shadows, her nerve endings told her she was looking at a man about one hundred feet away. And not just any man—Nokoni. He stood with his arms slightly out from his sides and his muscled legs widespread. His stance said he was ready for anything life might throw at him. The bulge beneath his jeans spoke of only one thing. Her body tingled in response.

  "What are you doing here?" Keeping her voice steady took effort. "I don't like being followed."

  If he moved, it was so slight, she missed it. In the silence of his body, she sensed his physical awareness of her as a woman, and yet there was more to his response than that. He didn't appear to be entirely comfortable with his body, as if he was learning what it was about. Even with her eyes resolutely open, she saw the stallion he'd briefly become. It was as if man and animal were superimposed on each other, existing at the same time and yet strangers. The black-and-copper stallion was larger, of course, but there was nothing weak or inferior about the man.