No Longer Are We Free

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter twenty one ~ edited

I walked to the stable and dismounted, giving Stride a deserving neck rub before I led her to the paddock. I took off her bridle and watched her walk over to the other horses. Tim exited the house and made his way over. "Hey." I said when he was in earshot.

"Hey." Tim said, smiling. His eyes seemed to sparkle with joy and it was hard not to smile back.

"When will the others be back?" I asked.

"In about half an hour." He answered.

"Ok. Tell them I say bye and thanks. I'm going to go now."

"Ok but I haven't finished feeding the horses yet."

"It's okay. Bye." I said before I started walking to the driveway. He went back into the house and I took the chance to run into the woods. After a quick check to make sure no one was around, I shifted and trotted back to the other horses, jumping the fence before trotting over to Sky, Shadow and Midnight. I nickered a greeting and stood with them, next to Midnight, pushing him gently. He sputtered and looked at me then pushed me back.

"You two seem to have made up and are friends again." Sky said.

~*~

Three weeks later...

I watched a car come up the driveway. It was towing a float. I walked over to Midnight and the others.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You didn't hear this morning?" Sky asked.

"No." I said, getting slightly nervous.

"We've been sold." Midnight said.

"I heard about that from Trent," I said. They looked at me and it hit me at that moment. "Oh... What do we do?"

"Go I guess. It means we'll be separated from Sky and Shadow." Midnight said.

"There's no way out, is there? If we run, they'll chase us and it'll only be a delay. If we go, we lose you guys." I said.

"Yeah." Sky said.

"So this is goodbye?" I asked.

"No. We'll see each other again." Shadow said. I looked at the car and float. The car was a red ute and the float was a dull white. On the back of the float it had a sign saying 'caution horses'. I had seen a few floats with them.

"Do we cooperate with them?" I asked.

"Yeah." Midnight said. He and I stood with each other and watched two guys walk towards us; one was bald and the other had short brown hair. The brown haired guy walked towards me and cautiously put on the halter. The bald guy did the same with Midnight. We let them lead us out and towards the trailer. I saw Caleb watching, then he walked to me.

"Bye girl. You be good alright. I'll come visit you." He said and patted my neck. I rubbed my head on his arm and he laughed, trying to stop his tears. Midnight was loaded first, and every second that ticked away, the more I didn't want to leave. The brown haired guy - Bill - tried leading me into the float. I stood still, not moving. He yanked on the lead, earning a warning from Caleb and Trent. To my surprise, Trents kindness didn't just stop after the fire, he made an effort each day to befriend me.

Grey clouds blanketed the sky, sending rain falling to the ground. Thunder rumbled and I reared up, scaring Bill and he fell to the ground with shock written all over his face. I snorted and shook my mane, sending drops of water flying. Caleb walked over to me and grabbed my lead.

"Good girl. Come on. Walk on." He said softly to me. Reluctantly, I stepped onto the ramp and walked into the float. Caleb didn't tie me up. He patted me on the hindquarters, and walked out of the float, closing us in. Midnight looked at me and a thought came to my mind. I never questioned it before.

"Do you think Caleb smells like a dog?" I asked.

"Wolf, Summer. He's a werewolf." Midnight said.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Despite the obvious fact that he reeks  of wolf, I over heard him and his brother talking about Alphas, mates and full moons."

"Oh." I said.

"So what was that out there?" He asked. I shifted to my human form and sat on the float floor.

"I just didn't want to leave. There something about Caleb that makes me want to stay." I said. Midnight shifted and stared at me.

"What do you mean?"

I glanced at him and shrugged. "I don't know." He looked deep in thought. And started talking to himself.

"You couldn't be his mate or he would have known you're a shifter and would have gotten you to shift," he looked at me. "You didn't get asked by him to shift, did you? Did you feel any sparks when he touched you at all when he was training you?" Seth threw questions at me.

"No and no." I answered them.

"Then I'm sure you're not his mate."

"What's a mate?" I asked.

"Have you read any werewolf books?" Seth asked.

"No. Only horse ones." I said.

"Well. A mate is someone's soul mate. It's kind of like being married but you can't get a divorce." He explained.

"Right." I said.

I thought of my family and it dawned on me just how much I missed them. It had been almost two months since I last saw them. Tears formed in my eyes and Seth looked at me, frowning and sitting next to me. "It's alright." He said.

"I miss my family. I want to go home." I sobbed and Seth sighed.

"You'll get home soon," he looked away. "I hope." He whispered. I rested my head on his shoulder. We didn't know how long we were going to be on the road for, but when we stopped, we'd shift back.