The Shifters Heart(not continued)

Chapter 10

I woke when the cage jerked to a halt. When it did, I slide across the floor and hit my head on the wall. A angry snort comes at out my nose.

I stand and begin kicking, not aware of what's going on outside. I hear horses being lead into a barn with other horses. But what frightened me was the neighing of the horses. It made me scared.

The gate opens and I burst out, not caring about the sickness that's spreading through me like wild fire. My wounds had scabbed over, leaving a nasty hard surface all over my side. I snort and stomp the ground.

I ignore the pain everywhere, wanting to get back. When I realize where I am, I feel at home. I see the valley and the forests. The only problem was, I had lost my purpose.

I stopped fighting and succumbed to my wounds, making me fall to the ground in pain and exhaustion. The girl hadn't noticed until the rope went slack, then grew heavy with weight.

She turned and saw me laying on the ground, not wanting to move. Her eyes glaze over and I have no clue why. I close my eyes and lay my head down, falling into the abyss of sleep.

Katie's POV

He fell unconscious, making the rope go slack then taunt. One minute he was fighting, the next, he was unconscious. If he could get any worse, he did. I could see that his wounds were infected and he was sick.

His eyes held no shine and his fur went from dun to a light brown, like my fur. His fur was rough and wiry, it didn't feel right under my hand. His fur should have been soft.

He looked like a old carriage horse, and he was only there for a few weeks.

Cody, he is unconscious!!! He is way worse then before!!

How?! He was already pretty bad!!

Just come and see.

Cody used to be a veterinarian, it helped pay the damages that rogues caused. That's how he found me. I had run and I was under weight and injured.

We met and I showed him what I was. We thought that there were no more horse shifters, because my family died in a fire. I guess I was wrong. But that horse shifter believes that he's a normal horse, not able to shift back.

We would have to fix that. A few of the pack wolves pick him up and quickly carry him into the care center. He does a weird horse groan, and I knew why.

Cody starts feeling the huge scab that formed over the whip marks. Every whip mark had a scab on it, including his eye. We would have to get that off, because it was infected.

"He's very sick. It's been there for a while. His protector status has left, which is why he isn't healing. He's just like a normal horse."
Cody says surprised, like he wasn't expecting this either.

"We have to get him with his herd again. Get him back his status."

"The herd will have to accept him. He might die if they don't."
My eyes widen at this. I forgot about that.

"What if we put him in our horses herd,
Mixing both herds? Would that work?"

"I don't know, your the horse shifter babe..."

I sigh in frustration. Why did Drake have to ruin this man/horses life? I look down at him, sweat making his fur gleam in the light. Our pack vets were working furiously, wanting to help this new horse.

The alphas daughter comes in, her nose scrunched.

"What happened to him? He looks like he went to hell and back."

Jen, the alphas daughter, actually loved horses, as much or more then me.

"Drake happened, and what's worse is that he might die."

She looks confused.

"How is he gonna die? He's in your hands, and you haven't lost a horse yet."

I sigh, about to tell her what he is.

"He's a protector, and he will die without being accepted back into his position in his herd."

"The only protectors are in horse shifter - oh.... He's a shifter."

I nod. She walks up and places a hand on his scarred shoulder. She gasps and yanks her hand back. Her eyes sparkle with mixed emotions. The one that stands out the most is love.

"Mate."
Her voice is sweeter, so I'm guessing her wolf pushed through. I look at Cody and he understands. He works as fast as he can while guards hold Jen back.

I had to help, because she was too strong. After a few agonizing hours, we let her go to him. She looks sad, then anger covers her face.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard."
She turns and begins to run. I sprint after her, knowing I'm the only one who can out run her.

I chase after her pure white wolf. I shift with her, and start the chase.

Jen!!! You can't kill him!! He's already on death row with a death sentence!!!

She slows to a full on stop. She turns with tears in her eyes. I notice that it's colder, so we must have gone north by a lot.

Is he going to die?
She whimpers into my mind.

That's outrageous! He will not die. We won't let him, he is our future alpha. He will live.

She just nods. We were close to the edge of a small town. I guess it looked weird for a horse and a wolf to be staring at each other, because people were taking pictures.

I snort and turn to go back, Jen on my heels. Well, hooves. We trot for a good 3 hours, before we come back and see him awake.

He was standing with his head hung low, while the men worked on the side we couldn't get to. His eyes don't even sparkle when he sees his mate. They touch noses, but he doesn't have even love in his eyes.

Jen whimpers and I neigh and nudge her. We shift back(not naked, clothes shift with us). Jen walks over and puts a hand on his nose. He doesn't move even and inch.

Jens eyes hold sadness. He doesn't seem to care about anything, the pain or his mate right in front of him.

"Can you shift back? We would like to see who's under there."

I don't remember how. It's been so long...

I sigh.

"Just imagine yourself as a human, clothes and all, everything."

He closed his eye and did exactly what I said. His pained neighs turn to screams as he shifts. When I see him, I freeze.

Jen notices and looks at him with confusion. I can't believe he's alive. I thought he was gone all these years. My very own. My brother.