Budweiser

Chapter 2: Meeting the Herd

Cassius' P.O.V.

I feel the truck stop and stand. I must have fallen asleep. The alpha gets up and unties me from the trailer. Kyle open the door and the alpha leads me out. As soon as the horses here notice the alpha, they come trotting over. I'm sure they would come right up to us, if not for the fence. The alpha chuckles and leads me into the large barn. He ties me to a wall and disappears for a little while. He comes back with a bottle in his hands. He sits on his knees in front of me and tips my muzzle up. He brings the bottle to my mouth and I greedily drink it. I get about half way done when I begin to feel full. I stop drinking and pull away.

"Come on, just a little bit more. You haven't eaten in days," he pleads with me as he tries to get me to drink more. I huff and he sighs, giving up. He sets the bottle down and unties me from the wall. He leads me out of the barn and towards a gate that leads to where all the horses are. I hesitate and the alpha notices. I've never been with a whole herd of Clydesdales. I'm nervous that they'll hate me. "You're a colt with no one to look after you, the mares are going to love you, and even if they don't, the pastuv will, he hates when older horses pick on foals. I'll be here the entire time. Anything happens I'll be right here to stop it." We get to the gate and he takes my halter off. He rubs my forehead and let's me in the fenced in area.

At first, no one notices me, but as soon as I move away from the gait, all attention is drawn to me. The mares come over first, looking angry.

"You think you can just waltz in here and be accepted, you have another thing coming," a mare says. She nips at my already torn up back and I take off running. They, of course, follow me, but to my surprise, I'm faster than them. I let out an amused whinny and pick up the pace even more. I swerve around stallions and other mares that aren't trying to kill me as I get further and further into the fenced in area. I skid to a halt when I almost run into a corner. I look back to try to escape, but the mares have me cornered.

"No ones gong to protect you. You're tiny and scrawny. Get him girls," a different mare says. The form a tighter ring around me and start kicking and biting me. I whimper and whinny for help, but no one comes. I see an opening and dive through it. I manage to get away and start running again. I get stuck in a corner, but before they can even catch up, a stallion runs in front of me and keeps the mares away.

"Enough!" he yells loud enough and strong enough, that even I cower back a little. "What is the point in chasing a foal around? How would you feel if someone chased you or your foal around?"

"Well, I would stand up for my foal," a stallion, a little younger than the head stallion, says.

"Exactly, but clearly, no one can stand up for him. I mean, look at him, he has no mother, no father. He's not even old enough to find a mate," he says as he looks around at the herd that has gathered around. Just then a huge black wolf jumps over the fence, followed by a slightly smaller brown one. Both wolves are bigger than me. The black wolf drops something out of his mouth and snarls at the herd. He looks at the head stallion, probably talking to him through a mind link.

Dean (Pastuv)'s P.O.V.

"What the hell is going on here?" Alpha Marcus snarls at me.

"The mares were bullying my mate. I stepped in," I say back.

"Woah, wait. Did you just say mate?"

"Yeah. How old is he anyways?"

"Four months ish in horse." Wow, he's young. 16 in human.

"Name?"

"No idea. Found him with a herd of black mustangs. No parent."

"Wait, if he's four months old, he isn't weaned yet."

"Exactly. Just had to bottle feed him," he responds as he looks back at him. I glance back at him and he's all sweaty and bloody. I shift into my human form, still in my clothes, and grab the halter and lead rope Alpha Marcus dropped when he got here.

I get closer to him and he looks like he's about to bolt.

"Shhh, you're alright. I'm Dean. Let's go get you cleaned up," I say quietly. I get close enough to him and slip on his halter. He's breathing heavy and looks extremely frightened. I clip the lead rope on him and gently lead him towards Alpha Marcus. He sees where we're going and pulls back away from Marcus. He notices his hesitation and shifts back to human form. He eyes him wearily before walking with me up to him. He gently nudges his stomach and he chuckles.

"You want me to come? I know for a fact he trusts me more than you," he says, still petting his face. I nod and he follows me out of the paddock with his Beta, Jack, behind him in his wolf form. We walk into the barn and down the hall to the grooming stations. I clip the crossties to his halter as Alpha Marcus keeps him calm. I turn on the water and as soon as the water touches him, he freaks out. He's probably never been cleaned before. Alpha Marcus steadies him and I spray him again. He doesn't freak out this time and I gently wash him. I go to dry him off with a towel, but he moves away from me. He doesn't want me touching him. Although it hurt, I get why he doesn't trust me, he must not have had very good experience with pastuvs. It's going to be fun getting him to trust me.
____________________________________________________________A/N:
Picture is Cas drinking from a bottle.