Stallion of Ash and Flame (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “Oh, Trail.” She breathed out his name as her bliss flushed her body. He watched her rapturous sensations rise upwards, changing her features to the sublime loveliness of an angel. She dissolved around him, collapsing forward.

  His hands refused to give up her breasts, and he held her up. His orgasm split his loins apart with a fury that stunned him. The savage blackness roared over him, and he shouted through his clenched teeth.

  The moment he could, he rolled them on their sides and embraced her. Instinctively, he gathered her closer, snuffling her hair, then burying his nose in the wealth of silky strands. They lay together in utter silence except for their rapid breathing.

  Using his discipline, Trail extended his sixth sense, searching. He almost jerked upright as he witnessed a human man walking through her stable. Not wanting to frighten her, he studied the figure while tuning into the reaction of the horses. Their non-response clued him in. The man was a holo projection. Trail flashed his awareness through the figure, feeling the parameters of the projection. Someone tested his abilities. The density of particles used caused the furtive-acting man to appear absolutely real.

  Someone must be suspicious of him, wanting to know his real identity. He zoomed his awareness along the beam pathway, backtracking. Though it was a risk, he needed information on their enemies fast. The moment he entered the cavernous amber-illumined room, he saw the semi-circle bank of controls and the dot-like lights signifying the state of the craft.

  The Hjorior male stood holding the two amulets in his palms, an arrogant taunt. Eight feet in height, he wore the thin, pale gray robe of his station. He stared straight ahead, his eyes brilliant as polished obsidian in the long gaunt length of his face. His posture and the tilt of his groomed beard appeared to censure anyone who dared not worship at his feet.

  “Underwater or in space?” Trail asked telepathically, wanting to know the location of the craft.

  “Underwater, V’Trailuc. Why are you with the woman who was gifted with the ancient technology keys used by the Anunnaki?”

  “Why are you in possession of them? Or are they particle replicas?” The amulets disappeared, answering Trail’s question. “What do you want, Hjorior?”

  “Your assistance. I can show you where the amulets are, at this time. Of course, I cannot guarantee they will not be moved. I can also tell you only the woman’s touch can retrieve them.”

  “If that is the truth, how were they stolen from her?” Trail sensed for the vibrations that would tell him if the Hjorior spoke falsely.

  “Those who turn the forests into ash and cinder, those you battle to save your world’s portal, they have created a platinum-energy shield and hold the amulets for trade.”

  The Hjorior allowed a knowing smile to crease his stone-like face. Trail’s vaporous presence had scintillated with his brutal surprise.

  “Assistance?” Trail demanded.

  “The woman, Seneca, carries a mutated gene we wish use of, one of many we implanted into Earth humans during the time of the Druids.”

  “You require her permission.”

  “We do. You will explain to her who we are, once you explain yourself.” The Hjorior actually grinned now. “Ah, to break our protocol and be a fly speck on the wall.”

  “Fly on the wall,” Trail automatically corrected. As a horse, he absolutely knew flies. “This gene, was it triggered by my presence?”

  “It was triggered by our jackal friend, an Anunnaki messenger. I assume she spoke of how she came by the amulets.”

  “She did. Does the activated gene allow her to know me as no other human does?”

  The Hjorior stroked his beard once. “I do not know, V’Trailuc. It could be your race’s ancient connection as well. The human side, not your equine racial connection to Earth’s Spanish Mustangs.” Another smile appeared and humor glittered in his eyes. “Do we have an agreement?”

  “We do. Show me.” Trail burned with several other questions. Now wasn’t the time. He needed to return his mind to her.

  “Lend me your eyes.” The Hjorior intoned with a touch of tongue-in-cheek drama in his voice.

  Trail joined his psi-sight with that of the Hjorior. A split second later, his awareness had been planted within an immensely long tube-shaped building, the size of several football fields. Obviously, he’d been placed here to see more than where the amulets were located. Swiftly Trail scanned in a three-hundred and sixty degree radius, seeing no being of any kind present.

  An odd assortment of equipment partially lined the walls. Telescoping his sight, he investigated. Mining machinery, from super-advanced tech to what Earth humans used to extract precious metals had been positioned, yet appeared to be unused. He recorded it all into his memory banks, then shot his gaze around looking for the amulets.

  In a whoosh of hyper-dimensional sound, his psi-sight was directed to another area. Suspended in a plasma-platinum field, the two amulets floated a few inches above a large semi-curved platform composed of nano foil particles. It served as someone’s desk.

  Immediately, Trail checked for anything that would let him know where he was specifically. The dome-shaped walls had inset cubicles the size of his fist, most of them filled with data storage slips. Protected by energy shielding, he decided not to penetrate the slips, since his etheric signature could be recorded or sound an alarm.

  Feeling the strike of a solar-like beam from above, he focused on the source. The three-legged vehicle hovered, gradually descending through a top entry point in the dome. The entire bottom of the craft emitted a powerful light for landing. Trail rocketed his awareness upwards, halting beside the beetle-shaped craft. Instantly, he psi-recognized the energy of the two beings inside, the Fire Starters. He seared his data-collection frequency through them and soared through the dome entry.

  Alarm spiked through him as he noted the precise position of the stars, then spun to look downward. He recognized the location, not ten miles due south of his world’s portal. Not sensing any pursuit, he paused, studying the area around the Fire Starters’ underground facility.

  Emptying his mind of any thought, Trail instinctively sent his awareness in the opposite direction of his portal cave. He careened his consciousness above the forest, as if on a joy ride out of his body. If they couldn’t latch onto his thoughts using their psi ability, the Fire Starters most likely couldn’t follow him, even if they had discovered his presence.

  Trail felt her concern for him as if thorns penetrated his flesh. But before he returned to her, he zigzagged a reconnaissance above her house and stable. The van remained and only the paint, Chief, sensed his presence. Finding no other negative disturbance, Trail projected a buzz frequency, disabling their surveillance electronics. After watching the van depart, he sank his awareness back into his body. Instantly he felt her luscious body cuddled against him intimately.

  “Seneca,” he whispered, “you feel like my heaven.”

  She stirred, her fingertips stroking over his cheek. “Remote viewing?” she mouthed to him.

  He nodded, then brushed her fingertips with his lips.

  “Are they still listening?” she barely whispered.

  “They left moments ago. We’re okay for now.”

  “Are you okay?” she asked, concern in her sleepy soft voice.

  “Yes. I know where the amulets are.”

  She started, then tensed. “Where?”

  “In an underground base.” He paused, then took a flying leap over the canyon. “An alien race stole them. From what I understand, they want to use them in a trade.”

  “Alien race. What alien race? It’s not that I don’t believe in that sort of thing...but—”

  She shivered violently. Trail stroked over her shoulders and back, attempting to ease her. “I’m sorry, Seneca, to tell you this in blunt terms. There’s a lot at stake. Not just recovering the amulets.”

  Her whole being staggered before his gaze and she stared, her eyes widening while her flesh chilled. Trail reached behind he
r, bringing the bedspread over her body.

  “What do you mean ‘there’s a lot at stake?’” She enunciated each word, demand and dread owning her tone.

  Trail didn’t know which fire to jump into and consume first. The one under the frying pan or in the deep blue sea. Hell, her eyes looked like the deep blue sea now. Plus, she also looked like she could fry him at will if she became furious enough. “I’m not just a tracker,” he began, searching for words. Damn, he had to find a set of words that would work.

  “What else are you?” She scowled impatiently, yet he’d heard her vulnerability.

  He inhaled and gradually released a large breath. “I keep watch on who uses the forests. Particularly, right now, who is setting some of the worst fires.”

  “Is that why I smelled smoke on you?” Her look dared him not to answer truthfully.

  He nodded. “I’ve known for a while that an alien race has been setting some of the fires. But I’ve never been able to track their whereabouts until tonight when I remote viewed.”

  “Why tonight?”

  Dang it, if his filly didn’t ask all the right questions, but all the wrong questions for him.

  “A tip from the Hjorior, a race that has been present on Earth since before the time of the Druids.” There, let her chew on that one long enough for him to figure out how to handle her. Though he had a sneaking feeling he wasn’t going to figure anything out beforehand.

  “What? Like the Anunnaki?”

  It was his turn to blink disbelievingly. And he did. Trail raised up on his elbow regarding her. “Did you know the amulets were of Anunnaki origin?”

  She shook her head ‘no’. “They just, just felt so ancient...whenever I held them. I only know the name Anunnaki because they are one of the earliest races of gods talked about by those who study the ancient Sumerian tablets.” She peered at him sharply. “How do you know?” She nailed him with another look. “If that’s true.”

  Trail itched to stroke down her hair and soothe her. That would earn him her ire. “The Hjorior clued me in. Then when I remote-viewed the amulets, I knew. Their design is a technological key for operating deep mining machines.”

  “Gold,” she stated, her voice ephemeral as the last beams of moonlight. “The Anunnaki created a race of slave humans to mine for gold. What do you know about that?”

  “For a time that was true. They became bored and there was already a race of evolving humans here who do not bear a resemblance to humans now. Against the will of their world’s High Leaders, the Anunnaki group stationed on Earth did experiments, creating a new race of humans.”

  “In their own images?”

  “Mostly. Humans today look like about fifty percent of that group’s genetics. Gold,” he repeated several seconds later. “The Anunnaki, and other races they were allied with, mined for other metals and gems, as well.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “I’m not from here, Seneca.” God, he’d wanted to wait until after he mated her. Linking with her as a mate could only occur the third time they sexually joined. Hell’s fiery balls, now he had his seduction work cut out for him.

  Chapter Six

  I Arrived on Earth

  “Alien.” Her breath had remained in her lungs long enough for her to say the word. Now she nearly hyperventilated.

  “I arrived on Earth from our world’s portal. Our race is connected to yours. But we’re also very different.” Seeing the color drain from her face, he added, “I am related to the Apache. We share ancient ancestors.”

  She grabbed breaths. “Oh.” Propping herself up on one elbow, she clutched her throat. “I knew you were different. But I never suspected...I just thought—”

  “Thought what?” he asked, more curious than sin.

  “You know. A renegade type.” She let her hand drop away from her throat.

  “Renegade,” he repeated in a rasp. Eros god, did he ever want to be his mare’s renegade lover. He wanted to touch her desperately. Their legs still pressed together, but he wanted to caress her face, take her again. Mate her.

  Instead, he murmured, “Seneca, only you can recover the amulets.”

  She scrutinized his face, trying to determine if he told the truth. “I don’t understand.”

  Giving her some room, Trail laid back on one of her plump pillows, his head on top of his hands. “I called them the Fire Starters because I didn’t know who they were, until I remote-viewed them tonight. They’re a space mariner race called the Fystites. They’re known for aggressively establishing trade bases and routes for anyone who can pay their price. Seneca.” He turned his face to her. “There’s a warehouse of mining equipment, all levels of technology. The Fystites aren’t miners. They purchase and sell and transport. They’ve been richly paid to set up the operation, then manage the commerce end of it.”

  He watched her consider everything he’d revealed. “Why are they setting forest fires?”

  “From what I scanned—” He halted, realizing he’d let something else out about who he was. But she nodded for him to continue. Her eyes were huge, her face markedly pale in the limited illumination of the room. “There are several reasons why. The origin points of the fires are like X marks the spot for a treasure of mineral deposits. Once the arson inspectors do their job and leave, no one is likely to hike into that part of the forest. Plus, it keeps the animal population away. They’re also using the firestorms to prove their dominance in the area over the drug runners and the coyotes bringing in illegals.”

  “My firestorm is bigger and badder than your firestorm?” She sighed her sorrow. “It’s all so horrible.”

  “I have to stop them.”

  His words spilled into the brief silence. He’d spoken because she needed to know. And, he needed her to know.

  “How?” she demanded.

  Rolling on his side toward her, he immersed his gaze in the wary brilliance of hers. Searching, he found her tender heart for him shimmering beneath, despite how she’d been hurt in the past. “Before I decide on a plan, I’ll investigate their operation, look for the weak points. First, we’ll get your amulets back.”

  She sighed, then shook her hair, her attitude dispirited. “What’s the point, now? If the amulets are keys to operate some kind of ancient mining machinery—”

  “Because,” he interrupted, “they could fall into the wrong hands. Underneath us right now, deep in the Earth, are antediluvian machines used to core out giant tunnels. Whoever gets hold of those amulets will gain control of the Anunnaki technology used to mine gold, and they’ll be able to reach those machines.”

  “Do you mean unfriendly alien races or the shadow government bastards here?” Her fiery anger against all the lies told to the general public glittered in her eyes, and could have rivaled the wrath of Pele’s volcanoes.

  “Either one, or both. There are alien races in collusion with the ‘shadow government bastards.’”

  She nodded, the set of her chin resolute. “You said only I can recover the amulets. What do you mean?”

  “The Fystites didn’t physically touch the amulets when they stole them. They used a specialized plasma field. Only you can touch them, Seneca.”

  She shook her head, mystified. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why steal them if no one else can touch them?”

  “They never have to be touched directly. The plasma field can fit like a glove.”

  “Okay, even if I accept that reality, why would the amulets bind to my touch, for lack of a better word?”

  “A safety measure by the Anunnaki, or whoever brought them to the cave. Possibly to make certain they would remain with whoever claimed them.”

  “Well, it didn’t work, did it?” she asked, her tone sour. “Oh, no,” she gasped softly.

  “What?” Trail grasped her upper arm, stroking.

  “One time Rory was studying the amulets. When he reached for one of them, he felt a shock, as if he’d touched a hot wire used for electric fencing. He also said every
time he thought about looking at them, he’d feel a sense of dread. I just thought the amulets had picked up someone’s negative emotions.”

  Trail hauled her against him as she trembled violently. “I’m sorry,” he murmured into her hair.

  “Just how are we supposed to get the amulets back?” she asked, her voice muffled by his chest.

  Hearing the slight chatter of her teeth, he embraced her more tightly. She was tough, but not this tough. Life hadn’t prepared her for the worlds he knew about, for the situation they were now in. Hell, she wasn’t prepared for him. Damn, in pawing truth, he hadn’t been prepared for how deeply she affected him. How much he loved her.

  “I do have a plan, using my amazing alien powers,” he crooned teasingly.

  She hesitated, her breath pausing, but not her tremors. “What amazing alien powers?”

  “My cloaking power. I can make us invisible for a time. Long enough to break and enter.” He kept his tone light, hoping that would ease her.

  She squirmed impatiently, but didn’t resist his hold. “Long enough to sneak up on them, then break and enter?”

  Doubt rang in her voice like a fire truck’s siren.

  “They won’t be expecting us—”

  “What do you mean?” she interrupted. Fiercely agitated, she twisted around in his arms, still shivering. Yet, she didn’t leave his embrace, and his groin certainly appreciated the press of her ass cheeks.

  “Seneca, I know you don’t know me,” he began.

  “I know your cock seems to be enjoying my butt,” she snarked. “Oh, god, now what? Am I just supposed to trust you?” She thumped her head down on a pillow. “No, stud. Hell, I don’t know you. Except biblically,” she added as an afterthought. “Dammit, I wouldn’t know you if, if you were only human. How could I know you if you’re some kind of alien being?”

  Strange as her logic was to his ear, she had a point. As pointed as his lengthening shaft.