Christmas with the Stallions (8 page)

“At, at, at,” she said, scolding and shaking her finger. “No gay sex over here, sister.”

Haley grinned. “Okay, I’ll keep my lips to myself.”

“Good,” she said, laughing. “Merry Christmas, Haley.”

She slipped out the door and Haley watched her leave. Somehow, she knew it was the last time she’d see her best friend. As she watched her wave her final goodbye, Haley whispered, “Merry Christmas, Shelly.”

* * * *

Haley sat by the Christmas tree and stared into the fireplace. She searched for a vision, something to show her what to expect next, but she didn’t see anything there. When she heard something behind her, she didn’t turn.

Colt said, “What did you have to show us down here that you couldn’t bring upstairs?” The lust was heavy. Thick need laced through the syllables.

“I want to have sex with you as a horse,” she said without looking up.

“You want to what?” Seth asked, obviously excited by the suggestion.

She rubbed her arms and stood up. Facing her two gorgeous men, she said, “I want to mate with you, breed with you, stand for your stud service, or whatever the fuck you want to call it. I want to ride that pony.”

Snickering, Colt said, “Told you she’d eventually call that thing out as a pony.”

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Seth growled and took a step forward. “We can’t take you right now,” he said. “We’d kill ya if we transformed into our stallion states after the fucking we enjoyed upstairs.”

Colt smacked Seth on the bottom. “How about another time?”

“When?” she persisted.

“Later,” he promised, grinning.

The chattering stopped and they shelved the teasing. They stood there in an uncomfortable silence.

So, Haley thought, this is it. She’d suspected something like this all along.

“When were you going to tell me I’d have to leave here?”

Seth and Colt looked at one another and then Colt said, “We weren’t allowed to tell you until we were sure you were pregnant. It’s easier for a successful breeding to take place if the mare is comfortable in her surroundings, and you wouldn’t have gotten pregnant if you’d been uptight over leaving.”

“So when do we go?”

“Soon,” Seth said, unplugging the tree lights and turning off the gas fireplace.

“Soon as in now?”

“It’s Christmas,” Seth explained. “It’s a time for celebration. It’s a day of giving,” he looked at Colt and added with a chuckle, “and receiving.”

“It’s time for new beginnings,” Colt informed. “The stallions take their mates home for Christmas.”

“But that doesn’t explain why I have to leave everything behind now.”

“No,” Colt said, petting her hair like he might stroke her in her horse form. “But the time comes in everyone’s life when they have to leave the past behind and look to the future.”

“But you have school,” she reminded.

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Addison Avery

“We never had school,” Colt explained. “We used the ad you placed for an excuse to approach you. We live in Wyoming on a nice ranch you’ll love.”

She gasped. “Wyoming?”

“Yes,” Seth said. “It’s over two thousand acres and nothing but land and mountains, open ground as far as you can see. We can run wild and free during the day and at night, we’ll make love under the stars before falling asleep in one another’s arms.”

“Sounds like heaven,” she said, sorrow filling her heart as much as the joy. “But there are things here I don’t want to leave behind.”

“We’re building a small replica of your house in Wyoming,” Colt said. “We’ll come back here and hire professional movers to handle everything. Your farm manager is due back tomorrow morning and the animals will be fine until he arrives.”

At some point, she’d walked outside. She stood on the porch watching Colt and Seth for the longest time. Without warning, they shifted. Funny, she’d become so accustomed to the shifts she barely noticed the difference between them regardless of their forms.

“I can’t just leave,” she said, spinning, her mind rushing forward so fast she hardly noticed she too had transitioned.

Nuzzling her, Colt and Seth seemed to expect her to follow them.

They nudged her forward and she reluctantly followed them into the whipping breeze of mountain air.

This was once her home, she thought as Seth and Colt trotted off, picking up their pace and running ahead of her. But not anymore.

Wait! Wait!
She wanted to cry out loud but they couldn’t hear her.

Colt stopped once and reared high in the air as if to say,
Choose!

Choose!

Did she have a choice? Her gaze locked with Seth’s and she saw a brief moment of sadness lingering there. Yes! She thought excitedly.

She did have a choice. She wasn’t bound by the shifting abilities she’d discovered through Seth and Colt. Free will still existed and her Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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Christmas With the Stallions

61

right to choose wasn’t lost just because she changed into an over-sexed shifter.

Colt continued to neigh and his front legs thrashed at thin air.

Exhausted and apparently angry because she didn’t chase him, he turned away and galloped into the hills. Seth waited.

Haley stretched her long neck and she gaped at the ranch she once shared with her husband. Then she started trotting toward her stallions. When Seth took off at a full gallop, she quickly broke into a gentle lope.

On top of the ridge, her stallions stopped and waited for her. She nuzzled them when she met them at the peak.

She didn’t know where she was going or how long it would take to get there, but she didn’t care. As she tried to tease her stallions by raising her tail and prancing around them playfully, acknowledgement surrounded her.

Haley left the past behind because the future offered more. She was in love with the Stallions, two strong and able shifters who adored her and one another. They were leading her on a delicious adventure into a whole new world.

They walked in a slow, predatory circle, nipping at her tail. She released a loud and excited neigh when the recognition hit her. They were taking her home, but first they planned to love her like crazy.

She kicked up her heels and toyed with them.
There’s only one
way to keep the boys interested,
she thought.
Make them chase me.

Breaking into an all out gallop, she ran down the hill, across an open pasture, leaping over creeks, ponds, and fences. Yes, she thought.
Yes! Yes! Yes! I’m wild and free! But most of all, I am loved!

I’m truly loved!

And finding love was more than anyone could ask for, on Christmas Day or any other.

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Addison Avery

THE END

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Addison Avery is the author of various works of erotic fiction.

Addison’s upcoming novel,
Mighty Men with Weapons
, will debut from Siren Publishing in 2010.

Readers are invited to join Addison Avery’s Author Newsletter by clicking on the link below:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/addisonaveryauthornews

Also by Addison Avery

Dancing With Darcy

Available at

http://www.bookstrand.com/authors/addisonavery

Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

Report ebook piracy to [email protected].

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

Report ebook piracy to [email protected].