Dark Journey [Ariel's Desire 2] (6 page)

“He came up with us last time.
 
He was our offering to the Indians.
 
Now look at him.
 
Jimmy never would have fit in with the settlement.
 
Here, he has a beautiful wife and two daughters.
 
He’s respected and happy.
 
If you ask him, he’ll tell you he doesn’t regret any of it.
 
Mike will be the same way, I promise you.
 
Now, let’s check Shining Star’s baby and get back to the settlement.”

Shawna turned and looked up at her handsome Vampire.
 
“Justin, please don’t tell Ariel.”

Mike knelt by Yellow Hawk’s side, eyes down, while the Indian had his morning discussion with his family.
 
Turning Leaves was broaching her same argument.
 
She said she had fallen in love with Robby, one of the flatlanders from Patrick’s settlement, when they talked at the Spring Celebration.
 
The man was ten years older than her.

Patrick told Yellow Hawk that Robby had no one to bond with on the way up to the settlement.
 
The Vampires don’t like to leave anyone without a partner if they could avoid it.
 
Turning Leave’s flatlander had spent the last ten years as a loyal, hardworking member of the settlement, but alone.
 
As a flatlander, the man had worked on a ranch and had a way with animals. Patrick agreed to forfeit the man to the Indians, in exchange for a pass on their next abduction where they were to make payment to the Indians by giving them one male captive.

Yellow Hawk was hoping it was an infatuation and that Turning Leaves would find a suitable mate among the Indians. She was obsessed with the flatlander.
 
Yellow Hawk had not broached the subject with Wind Seeker so he could present it to his father, chief of the tribe.
 
He had talked to Black Horse. They both agreed it could be a problem as they would be trading for a man ten years older than a new captive.

Mike still had his gag out and was listening to the story.
 
He mumbled, “Sounds like Romeo and Juliette.”
 
He looked up in horror realizing what he’d done.
 
“I know, dogs don’t speak.”
 
He held his mouth open for the gag to be shoved in.
 
While Yellow Hawk was behind him tying the straps, he forced himself to keep from laughing.
Yes, they would be good friends, when he was a man
.

Turning Leaves talked to Shining Star, Wind Seeker’s mate and dominant female of the tribe.
 
She told her if the Indians wouldn’t take in the flatlander, then she would threaten to move to Patrick’s Vampire settlement.
 
Shining Star smiled and said she’d see what she could do.

Shining Star knew the girl was manipulative and tried to figure out her current game.
 
Perhaps she thought the threat would make Yellow Hawk pair her with Raining Thunder.
 
That wouldn’t work.
 
Everyone agreed he was perfect with her gentle younger sister, Misting Waters.
 
She discussed it with Whispering Wheat, letting her know her daughter’s plans.

After they finished talking about Turning Leaves’ tragic love affair, Whispering Wheat asked if there was anything they could do to help Yellow Hawk train the dog.
 
They were all concerned they couldn’t get him on his journey to ‘horse’ by the celebration.
 
They knew Yellow Hawk desperately wanted that.

Misting Waters said, “He’s nasty.
 
He has no control over rutting.”

Turning Leaves hastily agreed.
 
“Really, the very first night, Daddy?
 
Maybe we should have him castrated.”

Mike paled and tried to back up.
 
You little bitch. And here I was rooting for you and Romeo.

“No, I think the dog will become a man one day.
 
I think he’ll finish the journey in his own way.”
 
Then he added, “I may ring him if we can’t get it under control. He knows the penalty. You girls help him learn when you’re around him.”

What the hell did that mean?
Mike saw the girls exchange mischievous glances.

“Should we have our friends help too?”
 
Turning Leaves had an insincere innocent look on her face.

Yellow Hawk thought it over.
 
The punishments would be severe, but the distractions might do the dog good.
 
It would certainly keep his mind off escape.
 
“Yes, I think that could be a great help.”

The daughters ran off to tell their friends they could help train a dog on his journey to becoming a man.
 
It was one of the few training tasks the women of the tribe were involved in.

Yellow Hawk rose.
 
“Come, dog.
 
Today you learn something new.”

Mike wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that.
 
Yellow Hawk led him to the corrals.
 
There were a dozen horses in one side, and a closed gate leading to the other.
 
Half a dozen Indians sat on a fence to watch.
 
Apparently, word had already spread.

Yellow Hawk stood outside the gate with the dog.
 
“I will stand in front of the gate.
 
My friends will get the horses excited.
 
Your job is to get all the horses into the second corral without your master being touched.”

Mike deduced Yellow Hawk was the
master
in this scenario.
 
He’d never in his life been closer to a horse than a racetrack stand.
 
Close up, they were formidable animals.
 
He started shaking.
 
Yellow Hawk leaned down and whispered, “If you fail me on my first test in front of my friends, you will not be happy.”

Oh, that helps
.
 
Mike looked over the fence at the horses that were all calmly walking around then glanced up at the Indians on the fence.
 
Everyone held a piece of metal they could bang. They smiled at him.
Oh, shit
.

Yellow Hawk opened the gate and led Mike inside.
 
He untethered his wrists and unhooked the leash while he whispered.
 
“Stay to their sides and smack their asses.
 
Keep your arms raised.
 
It’ll make you look bigger and scare them.”
 
He swatted Mike on the ass with the leash and sent him to the far side of the ring where the Indians sat a rung above on the fence behind him.

The Indian on the end banged a pan and Yellow Hawk opened the gate.
 
Mike spent the first few seconds avoiding the huge animals and covering his groin with his hands.
 
All the Indians were clanging and the horses were going nuts.
 
Yellow Hawk kept blocking their escape through the other gate.
 
Mike finally located a horse that looked relatively calm in all the commotion.
 
It was standing still with wide eyes and its ears back about five feet in front of Yellow Hawk, watching the gate.
 
Mike scooted behind the jostled horses and quickly smacked it on the ass, as he was told.
 
He immediately cupped his balls again as the horse bolted forward through the gate with two more following.

That left nine.
 
Mike again looked for the calmest horse of the nine.
 
The Indians were banging against their pans or metal pipes and the horses were running around the ring, hoping for escape.
 
Mike finally saw one hiding against an edge by the side of the gate, waiting for an opportunity to get by Yellow Hawk.
 
Mike worked his way around the side, carefully avoiding bucking hooves.
 
With the gag in his mouth he couldn’t yell, so he risked lifting his arms, waving frantically and smacking the big animal repeatedly until it bucked its way through the gate.
 
He was rewarded when four more followed it.

That left four.
 
By now, Mike was pretty pissed off.
 
He wanted the infernal metal clanging to stop almost as much as the horses.
 
He decided what was left, was the worst of it.
 
Instead of looking for the most docile, he looked for their leader.
 
A gray horse with a raised tail was across from him. This horse didn’t look scared.
 
It looked as pissed off as Mike was.
 
That was him, he decided.

When Mike started walking toward Lightening Strikes, even Yellow Hawk got nervous.
 
The Indians slowed their clanging.
 
They figured the stallion would just follow his mares in the other pen.
 
To approach him directly, well, that was just stupid.
 
Of course, he was a flatlander.
 
Yellow Hawk glanced at the men on the fence.
 
Two of them put down their pans and picked up ropes, ready to lasso the stallion or the flatlander, whoever was closest to them.

Mike kept edging closer.
 
You’re a mean bastard, aren’t you fella’?

As if hearing his thoughts, the horse pawed the ground.
 
You and I, neither one of us wants to be here. It sucks.
 
The horse snorted but remained still.
 
Mike angled to the side.
 
The horse stood still, other than twitching its ears and following Mike with its wild eyes.
 
Mike slowly made his way down the fence.
 
It was solid here, with no rungs to climb and get out of the horse’s path.

He was two feet away when he leaned forward and hit the horse as hard as he could.
 
He quickly covered his cock as the horse lunged forward, bucking its way across the corral.
 
With one hand covering his dick, Mike chased it, waving his free arm.
 
The stallion finally figured the immobile Yellow Hawk was the lesser of two evils as he eyed the crazy naked man chasing him.
 
He ran through the gate with the three mares following.

Mike was shaking.
 
Yellow Hawk came back and re-hooked the leash.
 
When they turned around, the Indians on the fence had jumped down and came over to clap Yellow Hawk on the back.
 
They ruffled the lock left on Mike’s head.
 
“Good dog,” they laughed.

“Can you believe this crazy mutt went after Lightening?” Yellow Hawk asked.

The Indians were still talking about it as they walked away.
 
Mike heard Rising Sun call back something to Yellow Hawk about furthering his journey to horse soon.
 
Mostly, it was the first time in a long time Mike actually felt good and people seemed to be pleased with him.
 
He would have grinned, if he wasn’t gagged.

Yellow Hawk led him through town back to the teepee.
 
A few Indians approached them and ruffled Mike’s hair lock.
 
“Good dog,” they said, and for some insane reason, Mike was proud.

They got back to the teepee and Yellow Hawk told Whispering Wheat what had happened.
 
Whispering Wheat reached over and stroked his head.
 
“Well, aren’t you a good dog.”

The girls returned for lunch and were excited, asking their father if the dog had really corralled Lightening Strikes.
 
“Indeed he did.
 
He chased him all around the corral giving him as big an evil eye as Lightening threw back.
 
He raised his arms with Lightening bucking two inches in front of him.
 
He never stopped for a minute until Lightening was in the other corral.”

Okay, so Indians embellish a little.
 
Mike was still pleased people actually seemed to be happy with him for a change.

A more pleasant surprise was Whispering Wheat putting some lunch stew in a bowl for him.
 
He still had to lap it, but not off the ground.
 
Her small fingers ran through his hair.
 
“You are a good dog.”