Budweiser

Chapter 3: Gone

Cassius' P.O.V.

After my bath, the alpha and Dean lead me back into the fenced in area with the other horses. Dean shifts into his horse form as the alpha takes off my halter, at least that's what he says it's called. I stay close to Dean as he leads me towards the herd. As we get closer, I stop. Dean looks back at me and gestures for me to keep following him. I lower my head and nervously shuffle my feet. Dean walks over to me and nudges me forward.

"Come on. They won't hurt you, not when I'm here," he says gently. He nudges me again, but this time I actually follow him. The herd parts like the red sea as we walk through. The mares I pass nip and snap at me. One of them bites really hard and I kick them. After that, they stop biting me. Dean leaves me for a bit and goes to talk to some other stallions. As soon as he's out of sight the mares start biting me again. I, of course, start running towards the direction that Dean went. I see him and whinny out to him, trying to get his attention. I bolt underneath him and stay there. He leans down and gently nuzzles my chest, trying to calm me down. He looks angrily at the mares that were chasing me and yells at them. "If you ever come near my mate again, I will have no choice but to expel you from this herd."

Mate? He called me his mate. What the hell is a mate?

"Alright, I want all mares to follow me," the alpha says as he leads them to a separate area. When the last one leaves, I relax and come out from under Dean.

"Alpha Marcus and I will make sure no one else hurts you," Dean says softly. "Come on, it's about time you get fed again." He leads me over to the gate and shifts. He grabs the rope and halter from the fence. He puts them both on me and walks me to the barn. He drops the rope and asks me to stay. I do and he comes back a while later with a bottle. He kneels before me and brings the bottle to my mouth. I greedily drink it, letting my body fully relax. This time I drink all of it, knowing that's what he wants.

After I finish, he brings me to a small wooden room with straw on the floor.

"This is my stall, but we can share," Dean says after taking off my halter and ropy thing. "Go get some sleep, I'll be back." I walk in the stall and lay down in the back corner. Dean closes the door and walks away. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep, plagued by memories of my previous pastuv before I ran away from that herd.

*Dream*

"Cassius, come here," Louis, the pastuv, yells. I glance back at my mom with her recently found mate. He hates me, can't blame him, though, I'm not his foal. I cautiously walk over to Louis. He stands there in his human form and walks me into the empty trailer. He closes the door and it goes completely dark. I hear him shuffling around and then all the sudden there's a sharp pain on on my back. The pain comes over and over again. I neigh out for help, but the trailers sound proof. "No one's going to help you," Louis yells harshly. I cower away from his voice, trying to find the courage to shift into my human form to open the door.

Before I know it, Louis injects me with something and I can't stop myself from shifting. I stand there in my blood soaked shirt and jeans. Its not the first time he's done this. Usually he doesn't make me shift, but everything else is the same as always. He knocks me to the ground and flips me onto my stomach. I scream and thrash against him as he straddles me from behind, trying desperately to get away. He rips off my jeans and his shortly follow.

"No, no, no. Stop! Help, please!" I scream.

"Mmmm, you know I love it when you beg," he whispers in my ear. He grabs my hips as I wiggle around and try to get him off. "And fight." He grips me hips harder, digging his thumbs in, and I have no choice but to stop moving.

"Please, don't do this. I'll do anything you want, but this," I try begging one last time.

"But all I want to do is this," he says right before he rips me apart.

Hours later, it feels like, he finally leaves me. Broken, beaten, bloody, numb. I curl up into a ball and try to shut out the world. Happy 14th birthday, is my last thought before I pass out in a pool of my own warm, sticky blood.

*End of dream*

Dean's P.O.V.

As I'm working on some herd paperwork, Jack, Marcus' beta, comes running in without knocking. I'm about to snap at him, but when I see the look on his face, it stops me.

"What happened?" I demand.

"It's your mate. He's gone."
____________________________________________________________A/N:
Picture is of Cass hiding underneath Dean.