Stallion of Ash and Flame (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Savanna Kougar

  “That would help. Don’t tell me you’re gettin’ over a break up. The way I hear it, it’s one night of fun and bed frolic. Then you’re nosin’ after another filly.”

  Hell, what did he say? “Bad marriage. I’m gun shy.”

  “It ain’t your gun that’s shy,” she sang, her sarcasm a finesse he couldn’t miss. “At least, that’s the gossip ‘round town. But if you’re really up to gettin’ your hands dirty and your brow sweaty, I can accommodate you.”

  God, could she ever accommodate his mounting. He wanted her all sweaty and sexy dirty for him. Surreptitiously, he scented her sex and nearly dropped his jeans on the spot. She was all fiery heat.

  “Chief,” she sweetly murmured, “come on, you can dine in the front lawn. Plenty of those wildflowers you like to sample.” She snapped the lead rope onto his halter, then opened the paint’s stall door. “Don’t know where Luke and Spook have gone off to,” she continued, speaking to Trail. “They’re usually here acting like herd dogs. Though sometimes they chase after a rabbit. We have three barn cats. They’re probably sunning somewhere.”

  The warning instinct buzzed through him. With pure reflex, he grabbed her shoulder, shoving her backwards as two shots rang out. He hit the ground momentarily, then launched upwards and chased after the shadowed male figure at the far end of her stable.

  Knowing she hadn’t been harmed, he raced full speed after their attacker. Damn, if he hadn’t been nosin’ under her tail, he would have heard the son of a bitch, or smelled him, before he entered the stable.

  Hell! Despite his speed, the man dived inside a slowly moving jeep. It sped away like a dirt-throwing dragster. No matter how much he wanted the license plate number, now was not the time to shift into his horse form. Besides, he wouldn’t leave her. Having halted, he whirled around, feeling pure disgust at himself for not protecting her better.

  She jogged toward him, her eyes expressing a myriad of emotions, one of them sheer fury. “Chief okay?” he asked as she stopped in front of him.

  “One of the bullets grazed his cheek. But he’s okay, thank God.”

  “I didn’t get the license plate number of their jeep.”

  She nodded, the fear starting to grip her now. “That’s what it was. I couldn’t see it. I just heard them peel out.” He knew by his ‘feel’ of her, she had no real idea why they’d been shot at.

  “I have no enemies I know about. You?” He knew he fastened his gaze too strongly on her face. He didn’t care. He needed to know how frightened she felt. She’d gone ashen.

  She shook her head vigorously, then hugged herself tightly. “We carry guns from now on. That was way too close for comfort.”

  “Do you want me call the sheriff?”

  She shook her head even more vigorously. “He’s as corrupt as the day is long. Besides, what do we report? We were shot at, but didn’t see by who, or get any real evidence.” Her mouth straightened into a grim line. “For all I know, it could have been a couple of the sheriff’s off-duty boys. Truth is...” She paused and hissed a long sigh. “I’ve put a crimp into a couple of his illegal operations. I didn’t think he knew it was me, though.”

  “He still might not know. It could be someone else. With all the trouble that’s around here, there’s a lot of possibilities.”

  She nodded. “Doesn’t look like robbery was the motive. The house is wide open. Unless—”

  “I’ll go check.”

  “No. We’ll go together. I’ll dress Chief’s wound first and check the stable for anything missing in case they were returning to steal something else. Everything was fine last night, about midnight. Still, it doesn’t make sense. If it was a robbery, why shoot at us and just high-tail it out of here?”

  “It wasn’t a robbery. They aimed to kill.” He didn’t like scaring her more. Yet, she had to know, so he could protect her properly.

  “You or me?” she asked after a moment of silence. He watched the truth dawn on her face. “You shoved me back...oh.” Hugging herself more tightly, she looked down at her feet. “I should thank you.” Her clear turquoise gaze met his gaze with sincerity, though, he could see, it cost her to be grateful. “Thank you. Great reflexes,” she complimented, more color draining out of her face.

  “Chief,” he reminded on purpose. Knowing she would fight him if he gripped her forcefully, Trail took hold of her upper arm with a gentleness she wouldn’t shrug off, then guided her back toward the stable.

  “You’re a tracker. If you followed after them—”

  “Once they turn onto the highway I can’t track them,” he interrupted. “But I can have a look around here for any tracks that don’t belong.”

  “True... omygawd!” She burst out of his grip racing toward the two Akita dogs who staggered down the center aisle of the stable. Foam bubbled and dripped from their mouths. “Omygawd! Luke and Spook.” She dropped to her knees beside them. Gripping the chin of one she studied his eyes. “Charcoal. I need charcoal.” The last part was a scream of desperation. He watched panic seize her as she rose upward and spun toward a room he knew held medical supplies and remedies. He’d picked up the aroma when they first entered.

  Moving toward the two dogs, who were in no shape to fight him, he wrapped an arm around each of them to prevent them from following after her and wasting their strength. Carefully, he phased his inner arm into the flesh of one to discover what had poisoned them. Odd, he sensed it as a form of anti-freeze, yet not the one commonly sold. Carefully, he embedded the formula into his memory for further analysis.

  Running toward him, shaking a large jar of charcoal mixed with water, she quickly set the jar down, unscrewed the lid and plunged in a huge syringe, one used for administering medicine to horses. Filling it, she placed it in the side of her dogs’ mouths, squirting it down their throats as she held their heads up. Charcoal-black water dribbled out, but most of it went down.

  “Please, help me carry them up to the house.” Her gaze begged him even as she lifted one of them up. He knew she had to be strong from the hard labor she did regularly. Still, her adrenaline must have kicked in, or merely her will to save her dogs no matter what.

  Nodding, he picked up the one who was probably Spook because of his paler coat color.

  With the weight she carried, Trail could tell she walked as fast as she could as they moved out of the stable. “I have a place for them in the house. I don’t let them run at night. Too dangerous.”

  “Then they must have been poisoned soon after you let them out.”

  Huffing, straining for breath, she rushed up the gradual incline toward the back of the house. Before she could let go with one arm, he opened her back door. The old pantry had obviously been turned into a dog haven with the number of toys and the comfortable bedding. Laying Luke down on a huge pillow, she indicated the one next to it. Gently, he lowered his limp canine bundle while feeling the charcoal do its job, absorbing the chemical poisoning.

  Seneca kneeled over Luke stroking him and crooning her love for him. She kissed his head before moving to Spook. After kissing Spook tenderly, she placed her hands on both of them and closed her eyes obviously in prayer.

  Something ate at his gut. Why the sudden attack? The next moment, he frowned deeply. He needed to have a chat with Rory to discover the details of his accident. Trail had his suspicions it might not have been an accident at all.

  Tears shining in her eyes, Seneca stood. “I’ll check their kennel yard. See if anything was put in their water. If not—” She whirled around, not finishing. He watched her open another door, one that had been installed for direct access to the kennel yard. Trail followed after her.

  “Do you want me to take them to the nearest vet?”

  “No use. They’re all too far away. And it’s the weekend.” Crouching down, she inspected their water dispenser. Even though it didn’t appear contaminated, she carefully dumped it outside of the fence. “I’ll just give them water inside, but leave the door open...in case...” Sobs escaped h
er suddenly, and she shook.

  He drew her close, loosely holding her. “I think they’re going to be okay.”

  For a few moments, she collapsed against him, her tears flowing freely. Then she shoved away from him. “Chief,” she muttered, remembering. “And I need to bring the charcoal up here.”

  “Why don’t we check the house first, real fast?”

  She nodded and turned to walk back inside. Trail didn’t tell her he’d just psi-sensed that the odd anti-freeze was an aerosol weapon and had been shot inside her dog’s bodies. Shades of his world’s medium technological capabilities. Yet, he knew the bullets hadn’t been meant for him, except as a witness. Following in her wake, he did his own psi-powers investigation as they moved from room to room.

  “It’s gone.” She spun around to him, her eyes wide with alarm.

  “What?”

  “Our future.” Impatiently she whipped around, then thrust a hand through her hair. “We put it in a shoebox. Our whole future gone.” A terrible moan poured out of her. Then she began pacing frantically, making whimpering sounds. “I won’t be able to—” But she didn’t finish.

  “What?” He grabbed her shoulders, hauling her before him.

  She resisted at first, her body stiff with absolute refusal. Then she went slack. “Oh, what does it matter now?” She loosed a ragged long sigh. “We found... Rory and I found some amulets. Very ancient from what we could determine doing research at the library and on the internet. The strange thing, the amulets weren’t of Native American Indian origin, or we would have given them to the tribe they belonged to.”

  “Amulets.” His entire body rampaged with knifing tingles, a sure sign that what she’d discovered was a mystical technology sought by many groups on Earth.

  “There were two of them. The symbols looked like a combination of Nordic and Egyptian. We were going to find out all we could before selling them. We’ve already had offers, but not so high I thought someone would actually steal them.” Tears welled up in her eyes again. “Or that Luke and Spook would be...oh God!” She shivered violently. “Is that why...they, they tried to kill me? Rory and I just thought we could get ahead financially, make some improvements. You know, a better life.”

  “I think,” he began very slowly, “you might have found amulets so ancient they are actually power devices used by a civilization long lost to history books.”

  “Do you mean like Atlantis or Lemuria?”

  “No, I’m talking about the advanced civilizations before that time. The amulets might have been from the era when Death Valley was created by a giant air strike. Beam weapons were used.”

  “Not an ancient nuclear strike?” She blinked, her eyes huge with delayed shock.

  “A similar result. But, no.”

  “How do you know? Your Apache oral tradition?”

  “It is in the oral history of many Indian nations, although it’s not always recognized.” Now wasn’t the time to explain his true origin and how he actually knew Earth’s past. “Seneca, close your eyes for me and think back. Are you certain your shoebox is gone? Is this where you placed it?”

  Chapter Two

  Why a Shoebox?

  About to deny him, instead, she clamped her lips and acquiesced, following his instructions. Closing his own eyes, it quickly became easy for him to lift the images of the amulets, placing them into his own mind. He would study them in detail later.

  “They’re gone,” she whispered, despair in every line of her body. Twisting out of his grip, she moved to a side window. “Now I wish we’d never found them. It’s not worth what—” She pivoted back to him. “You know, what just happened to us, to Luke and Spook. It’s not worth it. Now that they’ve been stolen, I guess I don’t have to worry about being attacked again.”

  “There may be more than one group after them,” he cautioned. “Why a shoebox?”

  She shrugged. “It’s not like we have an actual safe. And even if we did, that could have been hauled out of here. And I could be just as...dead.” She turned at the waist and gave him a penetrating look. “If you hadn’t been here,” she paused, “Trail.”

  His name had been mere breath with sound added.

  “Bank box?” He raised his brows.

  “Oh, please.” She spun around giving him a look of pure annoyance. “If they’re as valuable as you’re saying, they could have been confiscated like they’re doing in California currently. Hey, put your valuables in a bank box. Trust us. Yeah, trust the state of California to take possession of the contents on the pretext that the box has been abandoned, even though it hasn’t been. Besides, if the amulets are some sort of ultra ancient technology, then some shadow government agency would have gotten to them.”

  He knew she spoke the truth He’d asked because that’s what would have been expected in his role as a human man in her culture. Plus, he’d wanted to know her response.

  Moving past him, she opened a closet door. Several hunting rifles were mounted inside. Selecting two of them, she handed him one, then strode toward the front door, grim determination in every line of her body. “They’re loaded,” she announced.

  Trail moved beside her outside, and she waved her arm. “Why don’t you check for tracks and I’ll tend to Chief. Dammit, I hate this. Now I’ve also endangered the horses. All because we found those things and thought we could use them to make our lives better. I thought luck was on my side for once. I should have known better.”

  “Seneca ”

  “What?” she snapped. He felt the wildfire of her pain race through her. “I should have known something was wrong when Luke and Spook didn’t alert me to your presence.”

  “I’ll check for tracks.” He’d have to calm her later when her flames died down.

  She gave a short nod before striding inside the stable. Reluctantly, he moved away from her. It would take her time to rely on him because she generally took care of herself. What was he thinking? That would only devastate her if he did win her over, then had to leave her. No explanation. Just gone out of her life.

  Focusing himself as he’d been trained to do since youth, he stretched all of his physical senses outward, along with his sixth sense capabilities, and searched for any telltale anomalies.

  Entering a stream of consciousness state, he began tracking three operatives, human, but of indeterminate origin. Their energy signatures had swiftly dissipated as if they knew how to control them. With relief, he followed the thin streams of energy away from the stable area.

  Whatever had occurred had not taken place near the horses, or he would have picked up their distress when he’d first entered her stable. Heading off at a fast jog, he found the spot, near the entrance to her property, where Luke and Spook had been shot with the aerosol. The two dogs had probably been charging an unfamiliar vehicle.

  Squatting, he inspected the tire tracks closest to her open livestock gate. Barely noticeable on the hard-packed ground were his pickup truck’s tracks, the jeep tracks from their attackers and another set of tracks. Chills skittered through him as he recognized them. The Fire Starters.

  Their vehicle would have been invisible to the human eye. The only reason for tires was for the sake of visibility in the Earth’s population, whenever the Fire Starters thought it desirable to interact with humans.

  Like a glove, they outfitted themselves in an energy field that made them appear as regular people.

  Had the Fire Starters somehow tracked him here? Or had they followed the team responsible for taking the amulets? The Fire Starters didn’t have a need for the amulets themselves, given the level of their technology, or so he believed. However, they would have wanted to prevent the acquisition by their enemies. At least, that was his speculation until he found out different.

  With great care, Trail sent the beam of his consciousness after the Fire Starter vehicle. They could detect his direct mental observation, so he remained in the outer frequencies. By the flow and route they took, it became clear the Fire Starters tailed th
eir enemies.

  “Damn the sucking sands.”

  Drojovv Zyan of the V’Trailuc Realm cursed in his own language, once he stood up. His internal sight fastened on a secret US military installation, actually a troop station. The base was part of a hidden spidery network of underground bases, and the worst part, it sat near his realm’s Earth portal.

  The portal was located inside a massive cave system near the largest entrance, and he had been sent on a mission to protect the sensitive technology from the stunning number of fires being started in the surrounding forest.

  After checking his visionscape for any telepathic intrusions, he beamed his sight at the portal. The shimmery pool-like surface became visible to him, but would appear as a crystal-glinting surface on the cave wall to most humans. So far, he had stopped five fires in a manner that appeared natural. He’d used his ability to phase into the frequency of flame once he shifted to stallion, then gathered up the energy of the blazes, stopping the forest fire by racing through it.

  “Find anything?” she called out to him.

  Turning, he watched her approach on Chief, who walked sedately. She’d hopped on the paint bareback and used his halter like a bridle.

  “Found my tire tracks, the jeep’s tire tracks, and another set of tracks that are difficult to identify.”

  “What do you mean difficult to identify?” She halted Chief several feet away from him.

  “The type of tire. It’s not a commercial brand.” He envied Chief her thighs and the feel of her butt on his back. The paint knew it, giving him a lazy wink of one eye.

  “Oh, great,” she muttered, her gaze trained on the ground where he’d been crouched. “I can’t see anything except tiny ridges.”

  “Grandfather began teaching me the moment I could follow him around.” Damn, what a relief to speak that truth to her.

  “Anything else you need to follow up on?” she asked, worry edging her tone.

  “I don’t think so. I might be able to find the location of the vehicle used by the team who stole your amulets.”