HORNS (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 113

Author's Note: MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

_______

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen

I was restless. 

Echo was fast asleep, Luka was out cold, and I was lying on my side with every single part of my body prickling with buzzing energy. I flicked my ears back and forth, agitated, listening to their deafening but slow heartbeats for any sounds of change or wakefulness.

My flanks twitched with the urge to run, paws jerking a bit.

Walls. On all sides of me were walls, making me feel confined, trapped, caged. I could literally smell the freshness of the outdoors on the other side of the bedroom window, rife with ocean salt and fish and damp earth and green and growing things. Crickets were chirping outside. The thrush of the Atlantic lapping at the shore so close by set my nerves on fire.

I had to move. To be outside. Even if it meant sitting alone. 

I chuffed through my nostrils and raised my head, swiveling on weird, unfamiliar muscles to look at the other two men sleeping in the same bed. Despite the fact that we were all together, Echo was on the opposite end of the mattress against the other wall, and Luka had moved closer to him than me. There was more than enough room for me to try wriggling off the bed.

I couldn't crawl both because of my anatomy and precarious spine, and I couldn't exactly stand up on the bed since I was sure I weighed over six hundred pounds. I'd break the frame and damage the mattress if I tried. So, I wriggled, little by little, moving towards the edge and twisting my body around until my hindquarters were facing the door.

I scooted further, hooves dangling over the edge, and I positioned myself so my belly was completely flat before lurching backwards. I shakily let my hooves hit the floor and raised my rump in the air, awkwardly pushing my paws against the mattress and stepping back. My legs wobbled under me as they found purchase on the creaking floorboards beneath the carpet.

I did it, I silently applauded myself, smugly tossing my head and shaking my rumpled fur, just like a dog would. I didn't have hands to smooth it down. Sue me. I glanced down at my brother, then at Echo, but my attention soon drifted and I carefully turned around, heading for the open door with my heart pounding. My trek through the manor halls was precarious.

I wobbled. I wiggled. I waddled.

I stumbled and fumbled and once I even tripped, nearly falling on my face, but I kept going even though I didn't really know why--it was just... instinct, I suppose. I couldn't explain the deep pangs of need and yearning coursing through me to be outside and see the sky.

The huge double doors to the plantation house were wide open when I rounded the corner. It wasn't actually a surprise though since every door in the building was always opened up for free access on full moons. It was one of Sebastian's biggest rules to have no barriers so any and all wolves that might have wanted poke their heads around could do so freely. 

My claws ticked across the white-painted wooden porch as I stepped off the carpet, lifting my nose to the wind as it cascaded over my fur and set my nerves alight with pleasure. I moved further out, and then my hindlegs left the carpet, hooves thunking and clopping loudly.

I glanced back, swiveling, trying to see them, but giving up.

It didn't matter.

All that mattered was freedom.

I hobbled forward like a newborn foal, carefully waddling down the steps one at a time until my paws hit the gravel of the driveway. I glanced at the mile-long stretch of huge, symmetrical trees, and the gravel culdesac that wrapped around the gorgeous stone bird bath.