Stallion of Ash and Flame (Siren Publishing Classic) (16 page)

She halted suddenly, staring at him. Her gaze fastened on his eyes for a long while. “You look rather alien. You remind me of—”

He gave a small nod flicking his tail in a friendly manner.

“Tell me you’re not—”

Vigorously, Trail shook his head like a big dog shaking off water.

“No, you couldn’t be.”

Still, he witnessed the dawning realization in her eyes. With more emphasis, he nodded his head again.

Her eyes popped open and her jaw dropped for a moment. “Trail?” she whispered loudly. “No...no, you can’t be.” Her heart skipped a beat, then pumped with the speed of the wind. “Are you?”

Still staring at him, she took a step back. He felt her begin to reel backwards and shoved his muzzle against her solar plexus. He snuffled pleasurably and to keep her focused on him.

“Good God.” Lifting his muzzle, he kissed her cheek, then lipped her ear. Palming her ear, she studied him intensely. “If you are, follow me.” She let go of the belt, pivoting sharply.

Drojovv head-butted her jean-clad ass playfully, then followed after her. He hadn’t planned on her discovering his horse form this way. He’d figured on a quietly spoken explanation first. Still, for now, their enemy had been vanquished. And he was with his Mate. He swished his tail triumphantly, walking beside her.

“Omygawd,” she chanted several times. “I suppose if you can phase, you can,” she swallowed with difficulty, “you can be a horse. An impressive horse. A gorgeous horse.”

Drojovv arched his neck and pranced.

“I suppose,” she whirled to him, “you expect me to ride you.” She frowned formidably, her anger a reaction to discovering his ability. “Do you?”

In answer, he wheeled before her, presenting his back.

“Oh, fat chance. Go make yourself useful. Bring Chief up to the stable.”

Deciding his mare needed his cooperation, he swung his head toward her face and muzzle-kissed her lips, then swiftly trotted towards Chief.

Chief galloped toward him, looking spirited, as if he ran the range free and wild. They didn’t speak mentally. There was no need. Companionably, they ran side-by-side to the stable, Drojovv matching the paint’s stride. Once they entered, they briefly pressed noses, then Chief walked inside his stall.

Next to his pile of clothes, Drojovv gradually shifted to his human form and concentrated on becoming his human persona on Earth, Trail. After performing a quick psi-search for enemies and finding none, he recalled what he’d learned from his mental scan of Sheriff Colgan. Taking his time pulling on his clothes and boots, he waited for Seneca and strategized a plan for getting the amulets back. Now was the time.

Hearing her fast-striding march to the stable, he moved to the entrance. Her color ran high. She twisted inside, volatile as a frustrated fire goddess.

“I do not believe this. I swear I do not believe this,” she ground out over and over. Seeing him, she made a beeline for him, her expression grim, her lips stretched thin with her smoldering emotions.

“You,” she announced, halting directly before him. “What are you?” She poked his chest a couple of times for emphasis.

“Heart Mate, Heart Fate.” He spoke the truth, the words used to describe true love, or a true mating in his world.

“What the hell does that mean?” Her eyes sparked dangerously. Flame soared high on her cheeks.

“It means I love you.” Not giving her a chance to respond, he slid his fingers beneath the coppery red thickness of her hair and combed upwards, capturing her head gently.

He watched astonishment claim her core. Her eyes widened to orbs of shining blue sky. Her features appeared to be carved out of alabaster, and her body stilled. Yet her blood rushed fast as a wildfire. “You couldn’t,” she breathed out.

“I do. I’m in love with you.” He caressed her head with his fingertips and slipped his arm around her waist.

She shook her head in the negative, slowly at first.

Trail caught her lips with a soft, but insistent kiss. He tightened his hold, feeling the passionate willingness of her body. Yielding to their kiss, she grabbed hold of his neck and kissed him with a fervor that boiled his blood, then stud-raised his shaft. He knew some of her frenzy was relief that he was okay.

He didn’t care, only caring that she responded to him as if she belonged to him.

“Dammit,” she whispered as their lips parted.

In moments, her breaths quaked her little body. He gathered her closer, rocking her tenderly. She melted, draping herself against him. “Seneca.” Her name was his heart for her.

She clung, letting him rock her, trusting him enough for now. “I suppose there’s no time to discuss this.”

“No. Sheriff Colgan failed. He’d been instructed to take you in, detain you, so the black ops group working with the Fire Starters could do a complete search of your place. They must believe you have something else they want.”

She shrugged, a tiny movement. “What?” Her head jerked up, and she dived her hand inside the side pocket of her jeans. “I found this close to the cave entrance where the amulets were. A sliver of mica.” She leaned back, showing it to him in her palm. “It felt like a Shamanic stone. You know, one that calls to you, a talisman.”

Trail couldn’t stop his swift intake of breath. 

The Portal Key

“What?” Demand, curiosity, and exasperation owned her one-worded question.

“It has several functions,” he began. Stepping back, he carefully plucked the silvery oblong stone from her hand.

“Such as?” She folded her arms watching him inspect what his people had known existed on Earth, but had never discovered. Relic proof of their common ancestry with the Apache people. It was a technology lost to Earth humans, but still common in his world. Still, that wasn’t the relic’s true value.

“It operates as a key to open any portal on Earth.”

“Oh.” She huffed out a large breath. “That is big.”

“Not only that, it can alter body frequencies, adjusting them to the world entered. For some races.”

“That’s definitely bigger.” Awe surrounded her dry understatement.

“It also contains ancient records, the history and knowledge of the race it belonged to, the Hauloquines, as they called themselves, back then.”

“Not the Anunnaki?”

He shook his head. “Two different epochs. However, the Anunnaki may have found and used this device.”

“Device? Do you mean like an ultra futuristic device used by an advanced race of beings?”

“In this case, back to the future. The advanced ancients who inhabited Earth. But, yes, like that.”

“Why leave it behind?”

It was his turn to shrug. “If I had access to the stored records, the story might be there. It also contains a hologram map of the Earth, the inner terrain.”

“Mining,” she burst out.

“Yes, mining, as in where to mine for precious metals and elements. That’s why the Fire Starters want it. They must have a decoder,” he mused.

She cocked her head when he gazed at her. “How would they even know I had that, that ultra device?”

“Right now, I’m guessing they used their remote-viewing capability to watch you look

at it.”

“I usually look at it everyday before I pocket it.”

“Where did you keep it?” He trained his gaze on her, needing to know as much information as possible.

“Sometimes, it got left in the pocket of my jeans at bedtime. Or I’d put it in the drawer by the bed. And,” she loosed a sigh, “whenever I rode I was afraid I’d lose it, so I put it in a tin box inside the tack room.”

“It never let you forget where you put it, did it?”

“No, I always knew.” She shook her head anxiously. “Once I lost it. Or I thought I had. Dang, it felt like a magnet. I found it in the bathroom trash can. Must have fallen there when I undressed.”

“It belongs to you.” Trail extended his hand, holding it out to her.

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s said on my world if an ancient device makes itself known to you, it’s yours, and is important to your destiny.”

She cupped her palm, accepting the mica-like rod. “Fascinating world you come from. Does everyone change into a horse?”

“Yes. We are equine-human shifters.”

She blinked, squeezing her hand around the device. “Explains why—” She averted her face, a blush staining her cheeks.

“Why I was a real stud with you.”

“Yes.” She moved nervously, gazed down at the ground, and shoved the device in her pocket.

Despite their dire circumstances, Trail grinned, remembering.

“Why not just abduct me if they wanted the device?”

“Intergalactic Federation rules. No humans like you abducted.”

“Like me?”

“Non-enemies to those races in the Intergalactic Federation.”

“Unlike some in Earth’s Shadow Government.”

He nodded. “Like I said, the Fire Starters are already violating the rule against the type of mining they’re gearing up to do. If they were caught abducting you, they would be banished from this sector of the galaxy.”

“So, they get others, humans, to do their dirty work.”

“With you detained by the Sheriff, they could have ransacked this place looking for the device.”

“Guaranteed Pork Butt would have come up with a reason to strip search me and found the device that way,” she added.

“Seneca, the Fire Starters won’t be expecting us.” Trail palmed the side of her face, stroking. He searched her eyes for her readiness and found a reserve of courage he figured she didn’t know she possessed.

“The amulets.” She placed her hand over his, pressing a caress.

He gave a nod. “It’s time.”

“Aren’t they watching us psychically?”

“Not us, currently. They were connected to Sheriff Colgan. So they know what happened to him.”

“Could they tell it was you,” she hesitated, “attacking him as a horse?”

His breathing hitched, and he stroked his thumb on the soft skin of her face. “They’ll figure it out. How soon? I can’t tell you that.”

Her eyes clouded over. “What next?”

“My truck. We’ll drive as close as we can get to their underground facility. The Fire Starters won’t be on the lookout for stealth by primitive technology,” he answered the question in her gaze.

“Stealth by primitive technology. Good, alien stud.” She smiled a tiny bit.

Trail reached for her hand, and they clasped fingers. “It’s not an ordinary truck,” he warned.

“Of course not.” She sliced a glance at him as he led her from the stable toward his truck.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get over how bizarre this all is, assuming I survive this strange adventure.”

Trail was tempted to tell her she had a lifetime to get over it. That conversation between them would have to wait until after they’d recovered the amulets. “There’s something you should know, Seneca.”

“Something else? I’m already at a ten on that scale.” He pivoted, gazing at her quizzically. “For the level of shock I’m in,” she explained. “What should I know?”

Drawing her before him, Trail opened his truck’s passenger door. “We’re connected.” For an instant he lost himself, galloping free and fast in her eyes. “In a special way.”

“What? You can read my mind?” Her delicately spoken sarcasm fanged inside him because he was joined to her deeply.

“Your emotions. I can read your emotions and your mind when you’re in danger. It’s one way I protect you.”

“An ability of your race, I presume.”

“Yes.”

Keeping her gaze glued on his face, she slid inside his pickup. “I still don’t understand why I trust you...beyond some urge I have that it feels right.”

Trail almost touched her mouth with a kiss, instead he placed a finger to his lips, a warning for silence.

“Someone listening?” she mouthed.

“Listening and watching,” he mouthed back, then carefully shut the door.

His saunter relaxed, he moved to the driver’s side, laconically entering.

“You really don’t have to do this,” she began, “I can get the supplies myself. Oh, and I don’t do seatbelts, so don’t bother asking.”

“Good,” he mouthed, encouraging her with a nod. “No problem, ma’am. Don’t much care for them myself,” he replied like her hired hand.” Trail eased the truck down her drive. “Nothing better to do than help out. You might need a strong back.”

A small nervous giggle escaped from between her lips, and she clutched her belly, suppressing her laughter. “A stud should have a strong back,” she mouthed to him.

He smiled widely.

“Course after the Sheriff’s harassment I feel better with you around.” She gazed out the side window, and he knew she focused on saying nothing that would give them away.

“Are you going to file charges? You should. I’ll back you up.”

“I don’t know. I’m thinking about it.” She erupted with a large sigh and shook her hair back briskly. “There are so many ramifications. I’ve heard stories about people who did file charges against law enforcement. They ended up dead or had their lives ruined.”

Trail headed west. “I caught some of it on the cell phone.”

“At least it’s not just my word against his. God knows what he’ll do with the evidence on the dashboard cam in his car. If he even turned it on.”

“When did you say you’d be there?” he asked.

She glanced at him. “Could you hurry? I told them I’d be there about now. I can’t call. She doesn’t carry her cell around the horses.”

Trail gave a nod of thanks, stomping on the accelerator. “Music?” he asked. “Your choice on the radio.”

“Good idea. I don’t want to dwell on what happened anymore.” She leaned forward, touching on the radio. “I’ll just hit select until I find something I like.”

Taking advantage of the moments, he honed in on who tailed them. He knew who listened and watched them, three Fire Watcher psi-sensors. Already, they had sent a human black ops team to scour her place for the Hauloquine device. But he had to know who the other players were before making a strategic move.

With precision, he shot his awareness toward the tailing vehicle and in a frequency the Fire Starters couldn’t detect. It was the van, the same three-person team inside. Diving inside their computer data stream, he discovered who they were. Alien Busters, as they were called by the other-world communities located on Earth, named after the movie, Ghost Busters. They operated inside a compartmentalized wing of the CIA, tracking down and reporting on aliens, including little green men. They had followed the Fire Starters to Seneca’s place, then lost them. If the Alien Busters wanted the Fire Starters, he’d give them every assistance by keeping the speed of the truck within a normal range.