Nohatu released a loud cry and pressed himself fully between Justin's lips until the head of his cock pressed against Justin's throat as his warm fluid filled Justin's mouth. He sucked deeply, taking everything Nohatu had to offer him as he continued to shoot against Justin's tongue.
The passenger door opened and Nohatu fell backward. Startled, his mouth hanging open and the taste of seed thick against his tongue, Justin watched as a naked Nohatu ran into the thick brush, disappearing from view.
And then, incredibly, he blacked out.
*~*~*
Nohatu stayed near the truck as darkness came fully awake around them. He loved the night, adored the serenity and quiet of it. Most of his kind did. It felt good to think that, though admittedly thinking about anything after so many years of letting Brother Mustang lead felt right. Though the vehicles had changed since he was last in his skin, the rest of the world appeared to have largely stayed the same. Brother Mustang settled into his mind, content with the rest. He'd be needed again soon and, as always, would come to the forefront when called. But the beast deserved a rest.
"Thank you, Brother," Nohatu whispered into the night, knowing the mustang could hear his words and had even understood some of his meaning. But saying them aloud was different. He'd been a mustang for far too long and so had nearly forgotten the ways of humans. Still, he remembered intimacy, he thought with a smile. Brother Mustang snorted. He didn't believe in such foolishness, though he could be affectionate with others in passing.
Nohatu ignored the old beast's cranky ways. They'd never had a herd and Nohatu remembered many long winters when the mustang was lonely with only the voice inside his mind for company. It was no way for a mustang to live. But they were neither man nor mustang and so could never really belong to either. He'd tried to live in a city once, back when steam was thought to be able to run automobiles. But Brother Mustang had hated the walls, the streets, the lack of grass under their feet. He needed sun on his shoulders and room to gallop.
By the time Justin awoke next to him the moon hung in her full, iridescent beauty. A better man would have asked him if he was even interested in living their kind of half life. Nohatu was not such a man. He could see what Brother Mustang had in the pen now, though; a sort of shimmering light radiating under Justin's skin. If Justin had the ability to transform as Nohatu did, then the beast would win this round. He'd seen it far sooner than Nohatu had. Maybe because the man had long stopped looking for others of their kind, whereas the mustang had never given up.
Justin groaned and turned onto his side in the truck. Nohatu stepped toward him, the shadows no longer obscuring him in the night as he made his way across the brush with Brother Mustang angrily pacing in his mind. The beast had reason to be afraid after all the years they'd struggled to stay hidden. But still, Nohatu could hardly resist seeing Justin again, and if it turned out that Brother Mustang was wrong and Justin didn't carry the blood of their kind deep in his veins, then Nohatu would walk away, never seeing him again. That was the price he'd promised himself.
He approached the truck slowly, Brother Mustang pawing at his mind for him to leave Justin alone. If Justin changed, they'd know. Nohatu understood how it worked. After all, he'd been taken from human to beast in this same intimate way as well. They had no reason to stay so close to him. Except that Nohatu wanted to, and as they were in his body and he was walking on his own two legs, he'd do as he pleased for the moment. The beast would have his way and they'd be off and running soon enough. Brother Mustang never liked to stay in one place for long. Staying still didn't sit easily with him either, so when Nohatu knelt in the prickly brush next to Justin's arm, the mustang was hardly able to tolerate it.
"Easy," Nohatu whispered to it. "You're all right. We'll be gone soon enough. Settle down." Though the words had no meaning to Brother Mustang, the beast listened to his tone and calmed somewhat. It didn't relent, not completely. But it gave Nohatu room enough to think, to breathe, without the mustang racing under his skin. He already felt invaded much of the day without Brother Mustang impeding on his time to be a man as well.
"Who are you talking to? And why the hell did I pass out?" Justin asked sleepily, his words punctuated with a yawn that stretched his mouth wide. Nohatu smiled, remembering those soft lips on his shaft and the kisses they'd shared. It was the best, and easiest, way to bring out his other side. Nohatu had also enjoyed it, and wanted it, after so many years without human touch.
"No one. How do you feel? Dizzy? Lightheaded?" He crept closer, the dirt shifting under the balls of his feet as he reached out to touch Justin's cheek. Nohatu raised his eyelid with the pad of his thumb and frowned, pulling his hand back.
Justin shook his head and sat up with frown. "No. It's just weird that I passed out after sex. I've never done that before." He shrugged and released a little chuckle, sounding embarrassed.
Nohatu shook his head, unsure of what would have gone wrong. Brother Mustang had been so sure of his feeling. He'd known Justin contained a spirit inside of himself, and wanted Nohatu to take him because of that. Even now he restlessly pressed against Nohatu's temple, physically insisting that he believe. Without words, communication was often difficult between them, but when Brother latched onto an idea like this, words weren't necessary. Nohatu understood his meaning perfectly well. He just didn't believe that Brother was right. Not this time. Not about this human. His doubt made the beast angry, though, and sharp pain flared up his side as his ribs began to break and shift with the stallion's demands.
"No!" Nohatu begged, the desperate plea falling from his lips even as he fell to the ground. Justin stumbled out of the cab as well, landing in the brush beside him, his jeans still mostly undone and hanging around his hips. Nohatu had a moment to realize how ridiculous thinking about the man's cock was at a time like this before pain twisted him onto his back and a garbled cry tore through his throat.
"Nohatu?" Justin called, reaching for his shoulder. "What the—Are you having a seizure or something?" He quickly patted his pockets then brought his hands back to Nohatu's shoulder. "Damn. I didn't bring my phone. Tell me what to do."
"No, Brother, no. Please," he panted, his fingers curling into the dirt. He screamed, the noise ending on a shriek too high-pitched for human ears as Brother Mustang latched on, his sharp teeth sinking into Nohatu's mind and tearing the man out.
*~*~*
Justin watched as long as he could. Growing up on a farm, he'd seen some pretty gruesome accidents. But even this got to be too much for him, and as fractured bits of bone broke through Nohatu's dark skin and blood coated his arms and chest, Justin had to turn away. He crouched on the ground, covered his ears with his hands to try to block out the sounds of Nohatu's screams, and rocked himself back against his knees. His mind raced with questions and random thoughts about the monsters that haunted his childhood dreams. He needed to get out of there and hide somewhere, but he couldn't force himself to move.
He'd nearly forgotten how to hear until suddenly there was silence all around them and Justin uncurled himself. It took him a hard few minutes before deciding to look over at Nohatu. He'd imagined the worst and didn't intend to see the bloody, broken body of the beautiful man laying next to him anytime soon.
But reason won out and he knew he had to look. Only what he saw beside him wasn't Nohatu's lifeless body. Justin turned, staring up at Nohatu as he sat in the passenger side of the truck, his long legs hanging off of the seat to brush at the dirt below. Sweat and blood covered his chest and shoulders as he panted and looked up at the night sky.
"Nohatu?" Justin called hesitantly.
His green gaze lowered to meet Justin's and he smiled. "Right here." He took a deep breath. "Brother listened. For once." The side of his mouth quirked up into a wry smile and he threaded his fingers through his long, black hair, shaking it out over his shoulders. Justin licked his lips, remembering the feeling of having all that hair draped over him. He'd never been with someone with long hair before and the sens
ation wasn't something he was likely to forget anytime soon.
Justin frowned, not entirely sure what to make of Nohatu's odd words. "Brother? What brother? Yours? And what the hell was that? You were… Well, I have no idea what the hell you were doing, but it was horrible."
Nohatu shook his head and the soft, tired smile he gave Justin warmed him to the core, but it didn't distract him for the questions he had. "You should be going home. If Brother is right, you and I will have much to talk about in the coming days. I will visit you tomorrow night." He rose from the seat, his big feet barely making a sound as they landed in the brush.
His mouth falling open, Justin reached forward and grabbed Nohatu's wrist. "Uh-huh. Not so fast. We'll talk about this. But it's going to be now."
Nohatu looked down at him, his green eyes narrowing at Justin kneeling at his feet. "I don't believe you're ready for such a conversation."
Justin shook his head and tightened his fingers on Nohatu's wrist. "Yeah, actually I think I am. You've got a lot of explaining to do. Starting with where you came from and where you put the mustang. If you thought you were trying to free him or something like those crazy nature lovers, then you're wrong. He won't get very far. The ranch is completely fenced. Sure, it may take us a day or two to find him, but he's not going to be free." He took a breath, his irritation coming to the surface. "And furthermore, I'm tired to having to explain this to you people. We don't take the mustangs to be cruel. That's not what the government does. It's for their protection. There's not enough grazing land. They'd starve if their numbers weren't kept in check. So by adopting them out, they're really being helped."
Nohatu snatched his hand away. "Enough with your questions. You’ll have all of your answers soon enough anyway. For now you’ll answer my questions, starting with: why is there no grazing land?" he quietly asked, though Justin heard the harshness in his voice as he rose to his feet.
"Because there just isn't," he replied, standing up to Nohatu.
Nohatu shook his dark head. "Before you came, there was plenty. Mustangs had the entire continent to gallop over. We shared the land with bison and fox alike. Crow and hawk guided us, coyote was a near constant companion. Before you—"
Justin snorted. "I've only been here since the nineties, so don't start blaming me for whatever you're going on about." He sighed and stepped back. "I should have known this was going to turn into some damn native thing. Look, I didn't take your land or burn your huts or whatever the hell you want to blame me for. All I was saying was that the mustangs would be starving if the government didn't round them up."
"Because the ranchers and their cows destroy the land," Nohatu snarled. "And that's not just a native thing, like you called it."
Shrugging, Justin looked away. "Well, there's nothing that can be done about that now. It's not like the cattle are all just going to go away. So unless you've got a time machine, I sincerely doubt you can do anything about it." He turned back toward where Nohatu had been and cursed when his searching gaze was only met with the nearby forest.
Fiery pain shot through his side, and he fell back to his knees, the palms of his hands scraping against the thorny spikes of a nearby dry bush as he landed. He didn't have long to think about his hands, though, as another sharp bolt of pain made his vision blur and he rolled to his side in the dirt. A moment later, Nohatu was beside him again, his fingers brushing over Justin's cheek and forcing his eyes open, despite Justin's protests as he gasped and tried to push away.
"This is strange," Nohatu said, his voice soft as his fingers trailed over Justin's arm and down his side. "You should not be experiencing the pain so soon."
"What the—AH!" Justin shouted as his muscles felt like they were tearing along his bones. Sweat covered his face as he grabbed onto Nohatu's wrists with shaking hands. "What's...?" he licked his lips. "What's going on? What's happening to me? Call... Call for help. My phone... in the truck... call." His vision swam and he bit his lip with chattering teeth, coating his mouth in the tang of blood. Trembling, he reached up to wipe the blood off his lips and whimpered as another hard dose of pain coursed through him. He shut his eyes tightly and opened his mouth on a wordless scream as his muscles tore away from his bones.
What came next was even worse. Nohatu's arms covered him and brought Justin's head onto his thigh as the first of his bones started to break. Tears leaked from Justin's eyes and he cried out as each new wave of pain burst through him in blinding brilliance. "What the hell…" he hissed. Justin had no idea what was going on, or what to make of it. Through the pain, he pieced together that whatever happened to Nohatu was currently happening to him, but that only led him to more questions. And his throat hurt too much from screaming to get a full sentence out anyway.
"Shh, Justin," Nohatu's words drifted toward him through the hazy wave of his pain. "The first time is always the hardest. You should not be changing this quickly though. Perhaps it is because we came back to you, that your spirit was called by Brother's."
His teeth continued to chatter, and he shut his eyes tightly, refusing to look at his crumpling body. Questions raced through his mind, though he had no answers for any of them. Somehow that was scarier than the sensation of feeling his body breaking apart around him.
Nohatu's fingers trailed over his scalp, chasing away some of the pain. "I remember my first time, though it was many years ago. Before the cities you know rose to meet the sky. I will tell you and may your worry be eased by the knowledge. Though I don't suppose your pain will be. You may hate me when you learn the truth of what I've done to you, you'll need me for a little while longer. But you may try to deny the truth of this."
Justin wasn't listening. The pain of his legs being broken slowly, each bone snapping on its own, was nearly too much. He had a higher pain tolerance than most men he knew from working on the ranch and being beaten around so much there, but he hoped it would fail soon and he could pass out.
Nohatu leaned down and kissed his shoulder. "Such a sweet human. I hate to see you so distressed. I can offer you the comfort of knowing that it will pass soon. Unfortunately, this will not be the only time you feel this way. It will, however, get easier for you. After many years, the pain begins to lessen. Or your tolerance will build. Either way, there will be relief after this."
He took a breath, and Justin silently begged to be able to pass out. He opened his mouth, preparing to tell Nohatu to call for help again, but as the first of his teeth fell in a sticky mess, he quickly shut his lips.
"No, no," Nohatu said soothingly. "You should lie still. You're almost done. Not too much longer now. Just long enough for a story, I imagine.
"I was barely a man when she came to me. My bride. My father had arranged our marriage, but she was beautiful, her skin the color of warm clay, and I knew she would make a fine bride for me. I'd met her when we were mere children, and though she was from another tribe, I'd thought about her often through the years. On the night before we were to be married, she arrived early ahead of everyone else in her family. I didn't think anything of it, especially when she climbed under the animal skins next to me and gave my body pleasure in a way I had not known before that moment. I spent hours worshiping her, enjoying her in a way a man would of his bride. Men came later in my life, once I realized the beauty of them. But for those first few years of my adult life, I was not as I am now."
Justin had no idea what the story had to do with him, or why Nohatu was wasting time telling him about being married when what he really needed were answers—like what the hell was happening to him. But as the pain began to ease, replaced with a cold numbness that he welcomed with open arms, he really didn't care about Nohatu's words anymore. All he wanted was a release from what he was feeling. However he could get it.
"I went to sleep that night with the full moon above me and the woman who would become my bride asleep in my arms. The next morning, I awoke alone. Surprised, I dressed and sought her out. Only to meet with her father, his face red with the tears he'd sh
ed. His daughter had suffered a horrific death two nights before on the journey to my tribe. I fell to my knees, unsure of how to tell him what I'd done. You see, I'd lain with a monster. And I knew that then. My people, we have many legends, but only one that deals with such a thing that can take the form of another. With tears streaming down my face, I admitted to my crime of being with such an evil thing and was shunned from my tribe for my actions."
His voice broke as if he was remembering the pain. Though Justin felt sorry for him, his thoughts had blurred into barely recognizable words and images and he could not express what he felt.
Nohatu continued, his soothing hands trailing over Justin's back. "She found me two days later at sunrise. I remember that I had snared a rabbit for breakfast and was nearly done cooking it when she emerged from the tall grasses. But not as the woman who would have been my bride. This time she came to me as herself, though I knew it was her. The coyote lay next to me and shared in my meal before changing her skin and revealing the truth of what she was to me. An evil thing was what she'd done, but the creature beside me wasn't what I'd believed. Or so I'd thought. She told me a sad tale, one of a husband so cruel that she'd had to get away. With tears in her eyes, she made me believe her words, how she'd found a hawk who gave her a gift so that she could escape her husband and be free of his ways. I took her in my arms once again. For the last time, I felt her move under me, heard her sigh my name, and knew the pleasure of her body."
His fingers tightened on Justin's shoulders. "An hour later, with her black hair spilling across my chest, she told me the truth. Only now the sweet bride I'd known was gone, as was the hurt woman needing to escape her husband. No, the woman who rose to her feet above me was neither of those. She smiled at me, took my bone knife, and slit her wrist. I watched in horror as her blood began to spill down her fingertips. She laughed as I tried to stop the blood and ease her pain. She pinned me down, held her bloody wrist to my mouth, and pinched my nose, forcing my mouth open. I drank despite myself. Her strength was overwhelming and I had no choice. After a moment, she rose off of me, and I spit out as much as I could. When I looked up, she was gone."
Horsefeathers Page 3