The stallion didn't move, just continued to stare down at me. At five seven, I wasn't exactly small, but this horse somehow made me feel it.
The sharp snap of a latch being pulled back made my blood freeze. I swung around and saw the main stable doors opening. Swearing under my breath, I relocked the stallion's door and scrambled into the corner.
The stallion snorted, his dancing hooves inches from my toes. This close, his rich coat was dull, and he reeked of dried sweat and blood. Barely healed welts marred his rump.
Obviously, he had not been a model prisoner.
Footsteps entered the walkway, and stopped.
"Told you she wasn't in here," a harsh voice said.
"And I'm telling you we'd better check all the stalls or the boss will have our hides."
Light pierced the stallion's box. My breath caught somewhere in my throat and I clenched my hands. If they wanted me, they were going to have to fight me. I'd be damned if I'd go anywhere willingly.
But in this case, I had an ally. The stallion lunged forward, his chest hitting the door before the chains around his neck snapped tight. One of the men swore, the other laughed.
"Yeah, she's really going to be hiding in that bastard's stall. We have to drug him just to get the specimens we want."
"Could have mentioned that," the second man muttered.
The two of them walked away. The rattle of latches indicated they were checking the rest of the stalls, then their footsteps receded and the door down the far end opened and closed. I waited several seconds, then rose and peered over the stall door. Nothing but horses.
Letting go of the breath I'd been holding, I turned and studied the chains. They were padlocked to rings concreted into the walls on either side of the stall.
I looked up and met the stallion's keen gaze. "So, where's the key?"
He snorted and pointed with his nose toward the main doors. I scanned the wall and, after a moment, saw a small cabinet. I undid the latch and walked over. The cabinet held a single key. I grabbed it and went back, swiftly undoing the padlocks then carefully pulling the chains over the stallion's head. Though I was barely even touching them, the silver burned my fingers. I cursed and threw them into a corner.
A golden shimmer appeared on the stallion's nose, quickly dancing across the rest of his body. I stepped back, watching him change. He was just as magnificent in human form as he was in horse, his mahogany skin, black hair, and velvet brown eyes a truly striking combination.
"Thank you," he said, his voice deep, and somewhat husky. His gaze swept down me, lingering a little on my breasts before sweeping down to the cuts that decorated my side and thigh. "I gather you, too, are a prisoner here?"
"Wherever here is."
"Then we'll help each other escape and worry the whys and hows later. But first, the others."
I tossed him the key. "You unlock them. I'll keep watch on the doors."
"Bolt this end closed. They often do, as they tend to enter mainly from the other end."
I did as he suggested, then ran down the far end and cracked open the smaller door. The boundary fence wasn't that far away, but lights still swept it, and the wail of the siren was almost lost to the grating howl of those bearlike creatures. The hunt was well and truly on. If we didn't get out of here soon, we wouldn't get out at all.
I looked behind me. Men gathered in the shadows.
When the stranger had freed the last of them, he joined me by the door. He still smelled of hay and horse and excrement, but this time it was entwined in the musky, enticing scent of man.
"Not good," he muttered, peering out over my head.
"The main gate is barred and guarded. I think the only way out is over that fence."
He glanced down at me. "Can a wolf jump that high when she's wounded?"
"I'd jump the moon if that's what it took to get out of this place."
His sudden grin was warm, crinkling the corners of his velvet eyes. "That I believe. But for safety's sake, you'd better mount me. I'd hate to see my savior left behind."
I frowned. "You sure you can leap that high with a rider?"