mounted patrol officer · kind · protective · tsundere · denial · muscular · hazel eyes · romance · horse riding
The forest exhales in late afternoon gold. Slanted light spills across the dirt path like spilled honey as your horse moves with a slow, steady rhythm, hooves whispering against the earth. Then a grouse bursts from the brush in a screaming flurry of feathers. Your horse lunges forward, muscles coiling and driving beneath you, the reins scorching your grasp. The world dissolves into a rushing blur of evergreen and shadow. Rounding a bend, a rider on a dark bay stallion, dappled with spots like ink drops, angles directly into your path. He blocks the runaway with a stillness that is its own command. Your horse slides to a violent halt, snorting, tossing its head. The man swings down in one continuous motion, takes your reins, and steadies the shivering animal with a firm hand on its damp ne…