McKenna POV.
I scowled as the container holding two of my four horses banged to the ground. Wonderful. Now they are going to be even more spooked than they were to start off with. I forced myself not to throw a bitch fit at the airport staff, settling instead to give them all my ‘black look’ as Jimmy had named it. If all of this stress sent my pregnant Arabian mare into premature labour or forced her to miscarry, I was going to freak. And most probably sue the lot of them. The nearest member of staff beckoned me forward as they began to open the horse box. Jimmy came to a stop next to me.
“This is all quite exciting.” I turned my black look on him. He took several steps sideways.
“James.” He flinched as I used his proper name. “Out of all four of my horses, only one has travelled further than Cairns and exactly zero have ever been on an aircraft before. One of them is eight months pregnant. This is many things, however, exciting is not one of them.”
“Fair enough.” He replied quietly. I had been a mega bitch this past week as I began to get more and more stressed about the flight that was bringing my four horses over. Syn had been the one on the receiving end of most of my bitch fits. He was starting to get used to them now, which was testimony to how often I throw a bitch fit. I felt sorry for him. He always has to deal with the fall out. I was snapped out of my thoughts by Thunder, my Black Andalusian being led from the trailer. He was prancing nervously, his eyes darting around his new, strange surroundings. I hurried forward to meet him, soothing him. He whickered gently in greeting and allowed the vet to check him over. Once he was given the all-clear I took him straight over to the trailer that I had hitched up to the back of Matt’s SUV. Next to it, a second trailer was linked to a Dodge pick-up with my other two horses, Kimba and China already loaded in the back. I loaded Thunder into the trailer, making sure that he was tethered securely. Just as I was shutting him in, there was a loud bang and several people began to shout outside. I growled. This day was going from bad to worse. I ran back round to the container to find three men trying to calm Lightning – my pregnant Arabian. Something had spooked her. She reared up on her hind legs. One of the men, the one holding her lead rein, was trying to pull her back down to the ground. It was chaos as everyone ran round shouting their advice, opinions and orders. I filled my lungs.
“STOP!” Everyone froze, looking at me in shock. I rounded on the guy yanking on my horses halter. “What the hell is going on here? Drop the lead rein.”
“But I …”
“DROP IT!” He did. “Walk away from the horse.” I ordered, slowly walking towards her as the guy backed away. “Everyone else back off.” I ordered softly. Lightning dropped back onto all fours, whickering nervously. “Shh, girl. It’s alright. I’m here. Come on. Come and say hello.” Slowly, carefully she began to take small, nervous steps towards me. I stood still, turning away slightly, letting her come to me. I felt her hot breath ruffle my hair as she sniffed me. Gently I reached out to rub her nose. “Hello sweetheart. Did you miss me?” She was close enough now to let me take hold of her lead rein and let me lead her away from the container and over to the vet. “Ok this is Lightning, she’s a six year old Arabian Thoroughbred and she’s eight months pregnant.” I explained. The vet nodded and began her checks. She was also given the all clear, so I quickly put her into the trailer with Thunder. As I shut the tailgate up, I turned my attention to the people who were meant to be ‘professional horse transporters’. Jimmy and Matt were stood talking. They both looked up as I approached and let me past. I caught hold of the nearest worker.
“Who’s in charge?” I snarled. He stared at me for a while before pointing at a tall guy overseeing the loading of the empty containers onto a truck.
“Mr Bellamy.” I nodded and let him go, walking over towards him. Matt and Jimmy followed close behind me.
“Bellamy?” I asked. The guy turned and looked at me like I was nothing more than an inconvenience.
“Yeah, who’s askin’?” I disliked him already.
“My name is McKenna Jenson.”
“What do ya want?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“A full refund and employee details of the guy that was mishandling my horse.” That got his attention.
“I’m sorry?”
“You heard me. I want all of the money back that I paid your ‘professional’ company to transport my four horses and I want the details of the guy who mishandled my pregnant mare.”
“I can’t do that Missy.”
“Yes you can. And if you don’t, I will take you and your company to court for animal cruelty.” I locked eyes with him, eventually he looked away. Five minutes later, I had my refund and the employee details. Ten minutes later I was on the road to my horse yard.

~*~

It took about an hour for us to get back to the yard. The rest of the guys and Val were waiting there to meet us. They’d been finishing off fencing in the paddocks for me. I stepped out of the cab of my pick-up and into Syn’s arms.
“Hey Mac, things go ok?”
“No they did not go ok.” I grumbled. He laughed and let me go as Matt and Jimmy pulled up next to us. I undid the tailgate to the trailer attached to my Dodge. Kimba and China both nickered at me. Val came up behind me as I started to untether Kimba.
“You want a hand, doll?” She asked gently rubbing China’s nose.
“No she does not Val!” Matt shouted from across the yard. “The dog is more than enough work, we don’t need horses as well!” We both looked at each other and laughed.
“You can untether China for me.” Between us we unloaded all four horses and tethered them in the yard so that I could feed them. I showed Val how the feeds were made up and where everything was kept, which didn’t please Matt. He spent the whole time we were making the feeds up moaning about Val now wanting a horse. I smiled at him.
“Matt, chill out. Val doesn’t need her own horse. She’s welcome to share these four with me.” He raised his eyebrows and hmphed at me. Val smiled.
“He’ll come round.” She replied as she set Thunder’s food bucket down in front of him. “So, you gunna introduce me?” I grinned happily. It had been too long since I had been with my horses, too long since someone had wanted to share my interest. Syn drifted over as I began to talk.
“Of course. Thunder is a four year old Black Andalusian. Like Lightning and China, he was rescued by the Cairns branch of the RSPCA when he was a colt. His owner had too many horses and just couldn’t cope.” I rubbed his neck fondly as he ate. “He’s my show jumper.” I moved on to where Lightning was stood. Val set her bucket of food down. “Lightning is my six year old Thoroughbred Arabian. She came from the same home as Thunder, that’s one of the reasons why I named her Lightning. She’s my newest horse and is still very skittish, that’s why she freaked out when she was unloaded. She was pregnant when they rescued her, vets think that she’s eight months pregnant…” Kimba cut me off, nudging her nose under my elbow making me almost drop her food bucket. “Hey! I’m coming to you! Give me a minute.” Val laughed.
“I like her already.” She stated. I smiled and nodded ruefully.
“She’s certainly a character.” Kimba bumped me again. “Alright! There.” I set the food down in front of her. She had her nose in it before it was even on the ground. “Kimba, you are a pig.” She looked up and snorted at me, as if to say How dare you. “Kimba is an Australian Brumby. They’re the feral horses of Australia, kinda like Mustang’s over here. She’s the only one of my horses that didn’t come to me through the RSPCA. The local Oldfella’s found her injured at the creek where they fish and brought her to me.” Syn was frowning.
“Oldfella’s?”
“Aboriginals. They named her Kimba, which means ‘Bush Fire’ in their language, after the colour of her coat. Once she was healed, I trained her and broke her in.” I took in the bemused looks and sighed. “Taught her how to be ridden.” A collective Ahhh of understanding came from everyone. “She’s my baby.” I patted her flank once and moved over to China. “China is a Welsh Cob. She was a stray found stuck in the mud at Chinaman’s Creek near Cairns golf course. She’s roughly ten and is the oldest of the four. She’s a grumpy old lady.” She tossed her head in agreement as she munched at her food. I let the horses finish their food and turned them loose into the paddock, making sure that the hay nets in the stables were full. I smiled as I watched them running together through the paddock. Syn came up behind my, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“They mean a lot to you, don’t they?” He murmured, nuzzling my neck.
“When Gran died, the horses were the closest thing I had to her. They helped me recover from losing her. When Blake sold them, it was like losing her all over again. Being around horses calms me. They remind me of her. I don’t know what I’d do without them.” Syn turned me round and pulled me into his arms as the tears flowed silently down my cheeks. His lips brushed against my forehead. I felt butterflies start to flutter around my stomach. I smiled. Maybe this would actually work.