Stallion Mage: A Horse Shifter Mpreg Romance (COMPLETE)

A Death and a Life

Laren shifted and dashed back to camp. Alvarr pounded the dry ground with his feet as he ran on two legs. Out of breath, he skidded into the healing tent. Laren had gotten there before him.

Elder Mastok came out and grasped his arm in a hard grip. His face was white, nearly the same color as his hair. "Prepare yourself, mage, " he rasped. "The patient is inside."

Already, Alvarr smelled the sweet rot of romeya. It was so strong and heavy on the air, he didn't want to breathe. Who would be foolish enough to eat a fatal dose? But when he saw who was lying on the pallet, dread and understanding struck him like lightning.

A colt lay on its side. His dark eyes were glazed and unseeing, and his legs rested on the ground like a useless bundle of sticks. The colt trembled all over.

How? "Where did he come from?" Alvarr asked. The mares must be near, or he endured a long journey. One so young wouldn't know the dangers of romeya. "Why is he here?" Perhaps he was the mares' messenger, and something terrible had happened.

The old man's face settled into lines of worry. "We have no answers. He stumbled into camp, but did not speak. He was too ill." Elder Mastok wrung his hands together. "Hurry, Alvarr."

The mage knelt and put his hands on the fine coat. Too hot, far too hot. And underneath, the dark cloud of death expanded, snuffing out the colt's energy. Romeya had done its work. Far too soon, this child's life would end.

"There's nothing I can do," Alvarr said. "He's too far gone." He doubted the colt knew anything of his surroundings, so deep was he in the poison's fever.

A strong hand clamped his shoulder from behind. "You must try," came the leader's voice.

Fury rose up in him at the impossible command. "Can't you see? Not even I can bend Nature to my will!" Alvarr cried. Though he felt Laren's distress, a twin to his own, there were things he simply could not do.

"Use your magic, mage," Laren said harshly.

Though it didn't affect Alvarr, he could feel the compulsion rolling over him, stronger than he'd ever known Laren to use.

Rage rose into his throat, making it as tight as though something were strangling him. Laren was his leader, but in this, they were not equal.

"Stop it," he hissed. "You speak of things you can't possibly understand." He glared at the leader. "Do you think I want to let this child die?" It went against every instinct he, an earth-mage, had. "Do you want me to become mad with power and go against the laws of life and death? Do you? You, of all people, know what I have the potential to become."

Power rose in him, and his eyes grew hot. "Get back," he said. "Get away."

Laren's mouth tightened but he slowly stepped back. The Elders, watching, gasped when Alvarr shifted.

His horn glowed more brightly than it had for Barron. "Ah," he gasped. Magic swirled within him, so full he felt like he would explode so it could come streaming out of him. To his eyes, the world was washed in white.

Blindly, he folded his four legs under him. By sheer guesswork, Alvarr touched the colt's side with the tip. At the contact, the power bolted from him, gushing out like water from a swollen stream.

The child shook and a hurt noise escaped from his throat, but Alvarr could not stop. His magic was white-hot and searing, burning the poison within the small equine's body.

The colt convulsed. Alvarr was nothing but heat inside a fragile body as raw power worked through him.

As though from a distance, Alvarr heard an Elder shout, "He's dying!"