AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My guess is she did, and you didn’t listen. The girl never stops talking.”
“She…how…I can’t even try to see her. I can’t even talk to her.”
“Yeah. Not right now anyway. I say live your life, and she will come back. You’ll win her over eventually. That’s how I got my Marty. Best decision I ever made was to be patient and not rush what we had. Things will work out.”
____________________________________________________
It had been a week. A week of paperwork, a week of emptiness, a week of a life with no meaning.
He knew that was dramatic, but he couldn’t help himself. Everyone wanted him to either fix it or move on. Like it was easy. And he was over talking about it. Over having conversations with every random person. He was supposed to take over this new job for his father, but he couldn’t pay attention, couldn’t concentrate as he worked alongside him, listening and learning how all the businesses ran.
He wanted to go back in time, be back outside, working the horses, Bailey by his side. But none of those things would happen. He had avoided the training centers, refusing to go check on Ursula or any of the other horses. Braulio had linkedhim a couple times, asking him to come give Ursula her exercises, since the new trainer couldn’t even get her training rope on. But he had ignored him. He couldn’t bring himself to go near Ursula—too many reminders of Bailey.
Yet, now on a Friday after lunch, he found himself wandering over to the pasture, watching as Ursula ran the back pasture with a few other horses. She chased the balls, flipped up flags and ran at Braulio, trying to run him off every time he walked through the pasture for another horse. She took pride in torturing the poor kid.
He’d only been there a few minutes when she saw him and came running up. He hadn’t brought any treats, but he rubbed her neck, uncaring about the dirt and drool that coated the front of his new button-down dress shirt when she nuzzled him.
“Whoowee. Those are some nice clothes to be out here with us low-level cowhands. You look like a fancy businessman, Nas.” Braulio whistled long and low as he walked up grinning. “You gonna come run her through some routes? I can give you a run-down of what Bai —I mean, what other routines Ursula was doing.”
“No. I’m only visiting. She needs to get used to other people anyway.”
Braulio snorted at that. “Not likely, and you know it. They’ll probably sell her off soon and take whatever they can get. The new trainer won’t touch her. She kicked him, stomped him, and bit him so many times that it stopped being funny.”
“Nothing I can do about that.”
“I was thinking about having Zhair or Lana come and work with her until then. She took a shine to Lana too. That might work.”
“Maybe.”
Braulio jogged away, and he gave Ursula another pat before walking back towards the office buildings. But within seconds,he heard the stomping, running, then the tell-tale thumps against the ground.
Without turning, he knew Ursula had jumped the fence and was following behind him, her nose bumping into his back until he turned around, unleashing an anger he didn’t realize he had.
“You’re a real pain-in-the-ass, you know that? I can’t stop what I’m doing and give you attention. I have things to do, responsibilities. Nothing you’d understand. All you wanna do is act a fool and have things your way. Where does that leave me?”
He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, unused to the feeling of it loose and free. He told himself it was because he was working in the office now, but he couldn’t help but remember how Bailey loved it loose, how she’d tangled her hands through it that last night. Damnit, he was losing it.
Grunting, he gave in to Ursula with a sigh. He didn’t need to put a rope or reins on her. He turned around, leading her back to the pasture as he walked, and she followed.“And now, you have me out here talking to a horse like a madman. If I go crazy, and they ship me off, where does that leave you? Alone.”
He opened the gate to the pasture, pulling it wide and gesturing for her to walk through. “What happens if I give you what you want? Where does it end? I have to go back to work. I can’t sit out here all day acting like your personal rider. That’s not how it works.”
She pranced near him, stomping the ground and nudging him. She didn’t care about anything he was saying. She only wanted to have her fun.
“Fine. Just this once. I have work to do.”
Although his shirt was already ruined, he unbuttoned it, then laid it over the fence after toeing off the shiny new dress shoes. The gray dress pants didn’t give nearly enough protection, but they would do, and honestly, he didn’t care if they got ruined.
Grabbing her mane, he vaulted up on her back, and she stood still, waiting for his commands, but he relaxed, then gave her the smallest hee-ya, and she took off. She raced around the pasture, circling the barrels, then, when he didn’t protest or stop her, she jumped the fence, carrying him across the open land with a new sense of freedom.
It had been a long time since he had ridden the property, feeling a horse underneath him. It was one thing to run as his wolf, but it was another to feel the freedom of the wind in human form.
He didn’t direct her, didn’t stop her, but she knew where she wanted to go, and they were of the same mind. It didn’t take long before they found the border and raced along it, feeling the pull of his mate from the other side.
Eventually, Ursula slowed, her breathing heavy, and they wandered through the woods. After he climbed off, walking along beside her, he felt a little less suffocated as they made their way back to the northern training center.By the time they arrived, she had cooled down, and he helped Braulio wash her down, then put her in for the night. After walking away, he realized this was the best he’d felt since Bailey left. No amount of office work, or running through the night as a wolf, made him feel right. Riding Ursula made him feel at home, more like himself than anything.
But that was the calm before the storm. He had just started his truck when it hit him. A new intense heat roared through his body, a strong desire pushing him to abandon his truck and run towards the border once again. This time, his wolf took over, his natural instincts forcing him to rip through his clothes, and a new, different desperation to reach his mate rushed through him.
Unable to pass through the wards of Aisling, he stalked along the fence line, howling in panic. After an hour, it subsidedslightly, and he was left panting and sweaty, finally able to fully realize what was happening.
