Hearing Heian's phone chiming with a familiar alarm, Ranger slowly sat up on the man's abdomen and fished the phone from his own back pocket. It had been sitting on top of the stack of clothing Heian had left, so he'd brought it with him.

Glad I did.

Heian was still a little out of it as he tried to catch his breath in the grass, but he came around quickly as the alarm reverberated around them in the darkness. After only a few moments the guy sat up, making Ranger slide down a little until he was sitting in his naked lap.

"Thank you," he rasped as he took his phone and scanned his fingerprint to turn on the screen.

Ranger didn't bother trying to look, as it wasn't really necessary. He knew what the alarm was for and it was just rude to look at someone else's phone in most situations.

"Nia looks startled by something," Heian said as he turned the screen to face him.

Oh, she really does look stressed out.

"Let's go," Ranger said as he hurried to his feet, then offered Heian a hand up.

As soon as he was standing, Heian shifted back to his animal form and hurried to the nearest tree so that Ranger could climb it and hop onto his back.

"All set, let's ride!"

The horse beneath him snorted and reared up a little, but Ranger had been ready and wrapped his arms around its neck just in time. They ran at a full gallop, jumping several fences before finally arriving in the field by Heian's house.

Ranger slid off as the horse slowed down, stumbling a bit but managing to stay upright before he ran toward where Nia's large horse danced about on the front porch.

She hadn't shifted... maybe something is wrong with the herd?

Heian's own horse ran right up onto the porch before he shifted and yanked on a pair of shorts he left there for such a purpose. As soon as they were mostly on his hips he ran forward and gently grasped his daughter's snout.

"What's wrong, Nia?"

His daughter didn't hesitate to jerk her head backward with a loud whinny, then abruptly dart past her father and off the porch. Ranger had to quickly duck to the side to avoid being hit, but he didn't mind. A spooked horse was not something to get in front of. Shifter or not.

They both hurried after her, but to their surprise, she wasn't running toward the pasture like they'd thought she would. Instead, she took an immediately turn and headed toward the road that lead out of Heian's property.

Ranger's lungs were burning badly by the time they managed to catch up to Nia's horse. She was dancing around something in the tall grass off to the side of the road, and while he needed to stop and focus on catching his breath, he watched Heian cautiously walk closer.

He soon realized that he didn't need to move forward to know that something was wrong. He could feel Heian's emotions begin to shiver and fracture through their bond.

Heian?

Taking a few more desperately needed breaths, Ranger finally straightened and walked forward as Heian knelt down and began carefully brushing the tall grass aside so that he could get something large into his arms.

Is that...?

He was going to move closer, but he felt his cat suddenly claw its way to the front of his mind, nearly taking over before Ranger could even sense its presence! While he really didn't want to, he had to retreat back a good distance. Whatever Heian was working on picking up smelled like a prey animal, and his cat was conflicted about whether it was friend or food. It wanted to kill it for its mate and provide food, but it also wasn't sure if its mate would be comfortable eating something he was clearly trying to help.

Let's just wait and see what he does? I'm sure he'll let you know if he'd like to eat it, Ranger thought to it, trying to reason with his cat's way of thinking.

It thankfully seemed to work, because it settled down after a few more grumbles and waited.

They stood there for a few more minutes before Heian finally stood up, then turned.

Holy... a young foal? All the way out here?

He hadn't remembered Heian saying that he'd sent out any of his females to breed, and a foal definitely wouldn't just run away from its herd.

On the other hand, the gate to his property wasn't far away. Someone could have easily ducked through it and dropped off the tiny horse. Judging from the growing dread he could sense through his bond with the other man, however, he could tell that there was something more to it.

His cat confirmed his suspicion, too. As Heian slowly walked past them with the foal, it could smell something slightly familiar, but also foreign. It took every ounce of determination within himself to keep his feline sealed up as he followed Heian at a distance. The thing that really kept his cat from trying to push harder to get out was the much larger horse darting around its father and half brother.

A kick to the face was a great deterrent, and considering how uneasy Nia seemed, there was no way that she would hesitate in delivering such a blow.

Thus, they stayed back until Heian got back to the house, then took the little foal inside. To his surprise, Nia shifted the second her father went inside but she hadn't given herself time to adjust to her two legs yet. Ranger ran forward at that moment, his attention immediately shifting to catch her little body.

"Gotcha," he said, more to himself than to her before carefully lifting her up into his arms.

He didn't even think about the spare blankets off to the side because it was already chilly out and his cat was still pushing him to keep an eye on the new arrival. Once inside, he did set Nia down on the couch next to where her father was making a nest of blankets for the foal he'd brought in. He then ran upstairs and got her a heavier blanket from her bed. As soon as she was comfortably tucked in on the couch he turned his attention to Heian, kneeling down beside him but trying to keep his eyes from the clearly-exhausted creature in front of them.

"What can I do?" he asked, needing to be busy.

Heian was just finishing wrapping up the shivering foal and looked up after he tucked a small throw pillow under its head.

"Can you get one of Nia's cups and fill it with warm water, then snap on one of the sipping lids that are in the drawer next to the stove please?" Heian replied.

Ranger did as told immediately, returning as soon as possible. He handed off the little cup to Heian as the guy gently helped lift the sleepy foals head so that he could try and get it to drink a little. Thankfully, it seemed to come around faster than Ranger thought it would and even opened its eyes a little once Heian let a couple droplets of water run down its lips.

It gave out a tiny, adorable snort before trying to lean closer to the little cup in front of it.

"Well hello there, little one," Heian said as he gently guided the cup back to the horse's lips and let a few more droplets drip from the tip.

The foal's tongue quickly slipped out and swiped at the liquid, making Heian move the cup a little closer and tilt it farther. Soon, water was dripping at a slow but steady pace and the little horse was greedily lapping it up. It emptied the cup in no time, and Ranger was quick to have a new one already prepared so that it could continue drinking. Heian gave him a nod of thanks as they traded off cups, then continued to help the foal drink until it finally seemed sated after downing most of the second cup.

Pretty soon, it was out cold and Heian helped it settle its head back down on the pillow. Once that was done, he finally stood up and immediately went to his daughter who had been watching it all from the couch. As soon as he sat down beside her she sleepily hurried into his lap.

"You are a blessing, my Nia. Thank you so much for getting my attention for him."

Ranger stayed sitting beside the sleeping foal as he watched the two interact. It was honestly the sweetest thing seeing how much Heian loved his daughter. She couldn't say the actual words back, but she showed it very clearly in her eyes and her everyday actions.

Such a young girl, and yet she realized that something was wrong and took it upon herself to get help.

"That's because she's brilliant and the best daughter ever," Heian said proudly as he gently but tightly hugged Nia in his arms.

The smile on her face couldn't be mistaken for anything but pure joy at her father's words. She had done a great, heroic thing.

Do you know what you want to do about this situation? Ranger asked once the two had calmed down and Nia was drifting off in her father's arms.

There's no mistaking that he's my wife's son... but there's no way that he was born after she had left. He's too old.

His cat was quickly becoming worked up again. It wanted to kill the foal, but now the main reason was because his mate's previous mate had cheated on him while he'd been trying to keep the family from being torn apart on top of working the farm.

Heian noticed that he was having trouble and carefully got up from the couch, carrying his daughter easily in his arms.

"I'm going to go put Nia to bed, then I'll be back down. Are you going to be okay?"

Ranger wanted to say that he would be fine. That he could control himself, but even if that were true... he was wearing himself out dangerously fast trying to hold back his cat.

He gave a brisk shake of his head as he yanked off his shirt, then kicked off his remaining clothing as his shift took over, sprouting fur and feline features starting from his head, then flowing all the way down to his toes. Thankfully, his abrupt allowance of the shift confused his cat just long enough for him to move to the door.

Heian caught the gist of what he intended to do because he hurried over and opened it, allowing him outside before shutting and locking it behind him.

Ranger took the time he was outside to cool his head as he let his cat pace in circles around the property. It incessantly sniffed the area, worried that there were more intruders. Of course, there were none, but telling that to a stressed out smilodon wasn't going to help. It was best to just let it exhaust itself.

He kept tabs on Heian as he sensed him moving about the house, but he didn't dare come back up to the door until he was sure that his cat was about ready to pass out.

The scent of the little foal as he stepped up onto the porch renewed its vigor for a few more moments before he was finally able to gain full control and shift back.

To his surprise, the door swung open the moment he was back in his human form. Another second later and strong arms were pulling him up and into a warm, familiar, firm chest.

Heian buried his face in Ranger's shoulder as he wrapped his own arms around the man. It was clear what he was doing, and he couldn't blame him. His ex wife had not only cheated on him before they were divorced, but she'd had another child... and abandoned him on Heian again, and in such a terrible way.

He could hear the man's thoughts going wild even as they stood there in near-silence. The only sound besides the evening insects humming in the trees were the constant sniffles from the overwhelmed person holding onto him for dear life.

Ranger managed to catch a word here or there as he tried to focus on what was overflowing from Heian's mind, but as he began putting them together into actual sentences, he felt his heart break all over again.

Heian was trying to figure out a way to tell him that he didn't have to stay anymore. He would have to call the police, of course, but Ranger already knew that Heian wasn't the type of person to just abandon something that needed his help... even if it wasn't his child. He had already been so nervous about how he would react to him having a special needs daughter... now that he might end up with a son, too?

Heian was trying to think of a way to give Ranger an out of the relationship without making him feel bad.