to live and burn is
the most exquisite form of self destruction

Time was a fickle creature, and no less in the twilight of one’s life. Some days the old stallion could lose hours in the blink of an eye; others, each minute that crept past was its own eternity. And if measuring time was difficult, then commanding it was a fool’s errand.

Rade would have given anything to stretch the seconds he was given with the young black mare. To savor each word and touch and breath that they shared. Which meant, of course, that the nights were impossibly short. No sooner had the palomino roan curled up at her side than the dappled light of morning was brushing over his back; no sooner had they clung to one another than the dawn was tearing them apart again. Not that any number of hours, days, or even years could be enough to sate the endless hunger of his need. It was a constant ache that gnawed at the raw edges of his heart, that set the steady rhythm of his breaths to a stuttering gasp. Jaws. There wasn’t enough time for him to know her, and he didn’t have the strength to give her everything that he deserved. But it was still in his power to give her one thing, and to pray that it might prove enough.

Wandering aimlessly through the cathedral silence of the winter-still Lagoon, the golden stallion searched for his surrogate daughter, throwing the caution they’d cultivated to the wind. An unwise decision, perhaps, but one that couldn’t be helped. There was just something about the girl that made Rade feel young and reckless and invulnerable again, as if her fire was spreading through the once-cold hollow of his chest. And for as long as that lasted, the Boss couldn’t be bothered to worry about the possibility that one of his own men might follow him as far as the Lagoon’s eastern shore. That they might see him move to stand at the shadowy mare’s side, touching the greying curve of his muzzle gently to her cheek.

“Thinking of home?” The scarred stallion asked lightly, his amber gaze drifting to the horizon that hid Atlantis. Reflecting in silence on the life they’d once led there— and the grim reality that it would be safer for Jaws to return there. Wiser. “If you miss it—” He continued, trying to be strong enough to let her go. Trying.“— then you could go back. Perhaps I could even come with you. To visit.” He smiled with a warmth that did not reach his eyes, knowing the lie as it fell from his lips. Knowing that there wasn’t enough strength in him for such a journey; not anymore. Just as there wasn’t strength in him to leave her with that offer alone, and not the next one that rushed eagerly past his lips.

“Or if you don’t mind it here, I thought perhaps you could stay as my companion. You would be safer, then. Free.” Though he didn’t know her as well as he once had, Rade knew how much such freedom would mean to Jaws. How she would never be able to live here as a trinket, shackled to the confines of the bachelors' home and bound to their whims.


After all, she was his daughter in every way that truly counted.

stallion . palomino roan . mustang mix . 15.1hh
debonaire x neassa