Running Wild

watch yourself, okay?”
Seamus pushed off from the horse. “Hey, I’m doing this all wrong. Zachariah used to pay a lot of attention to patting and grooming you, and feeding you treats, and here I am slobbering all over you.”
In response, it did its blowing and snorting, and Seamus had to laugh. “Okay, let me get some apples and carrots, alright?”
The horse danced away.
“Stay put,” Seamus warned, and he dashed into the house.
But by the time he came out, carrying treats, the horse was gone. Disappeared again.
As he stood there with his hands full of vegetable and fruit, facing the field and the small woods beyond, Seamus had to admit that this farm, with its accompanying disappearing acts, was beginning to unnerve him.
    Well, thought Ri as he rolled to his feet and adjusted to his human body, Seamus didn’t have a clue what he was. He’d wondered if, near the end of his life, his grandfather had shared Ri’s secret with Seamus, despite promises otherwise. Not that his grandfather was the type to go back on his word, but he’d been weak, frail this past year, and searching for help.
    When Ri didn’t need help. His life was fine as it was.
He’d known Grandfather was dead. Of course he’d known, given that he’d been in and out of the house for the past two years, caring for the old man when he didn’t need to run wild for a few days. He’d only been gone three days, but it had been three days too long. One day to die and two to be discovered.
Ri couldn’t block out the memory of walking back to the house and finding it surrounded by strangers he could not approach. It had hurt not to ask after his grandfather. His grandfather had been feeling well on the day Ri had last seen him.
He’d held out the hope that someone had taken Grandfather to a nursing home or something of the sort. He’d heard such places talked about. Not that he could have visited, but the scenario offered the possibility of his grandfather returning home.
That hope was gone.
Ri stopped at the stairs leading up to the back porch. Now where had he left his clothes this time? He didn’t think Seamus would appreciate his nudity. The man was already shaken up, though he showed that more to Ri’s horse than Ri’s human.
Which was kind of interesting.
Grandfather had urged Ri to trust Seamus. You need someone. You cannot remain completely alone.
The old man thought that because Ri had saved Seamus’s life it meant something. Like a debt to be paid. But Ri refused to be in a position where someone could hold something over him. That never worked out.
Look what it had done to Zach, who’d been young and naïve and looking for friendship—and had told someone, told a wolf , he was a horse shifter.
Of course, Seamus wasn’t a wolf. Seamus was an amiable young man who had cared about Grandfather. Not the same situation. But the fact remained: Ri didn’t know how to trust.
He peered through the screened window to see Seamus lying on the couch. Out cold. It was puzzling, how deeply the man could sleep, when Ri always slept with one eye open.
He slipped in that same window, since Seamus had taken to locking the door, and walked past to the bedroom to pull on a T-shirt and boxers. He liked to shave when he arrived as human, but that would make too much noise and be inconsiderate. He considered lying down on his grandfather’s bed, but post-shift he was, as always, wide-awake.
So he walked back out to the living room and stared down at Seamus. Mostly he was hidden in darkness, but a sliver of moonlight through the kitchen allowed Ri to see his dark brown hair and freckled face.
A strange emotion turned over in Ri’s chest then, something he couldn’t quite identify, but he was glad he had saved Seamus’s younger self all those years ago.
He was trying not to think of the earlier conversation Seamus had had with his horse, specifically his mention of a boyfriend. It set something going within him that he found rather alarming.
“Jesus!” Seamus shot up to sitting while Ri startled back, and they stared at each other in the dark, a just-woken Seamus peering blindly while Ri could see the man’s outline. “Would you stop doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“Looming over me while I sleep. It’s creepy. I do not need you stalking me for Christ’s sake, so cut it out.”
“Oh.” Ri bit his lip, uncomfortable. “Should I wake you up next time?”
“ Yes . Even better, visit during the fucking day and knock on the door.”
Ri