"No probs, sweetheart. Trust me."
I glanced at the fence and nodded. He was right. While the wounds on my side and leg weren't particularly painful, they were still weeping, and the strength in my leg might give way at a vital moment. And there was no way in hell I was going to risk being left behind. "Let's get those doors open."
We did. When the stranger had shifted back into horse form, I grabbed a handful of mane and pulled myself aboard. Once settled on his back, I twisted around. "Good luck, everyone."
Horses snorted softly in response. I took a deep breath, clenched my legs against the stallion's belly, then said, "Ready."
He sprang forward, all raw muscle and power. We sped down the road, arrowing toward the brightly lit fence, the wind a howl that snapped at my hair and stung my skin with ice.
The clatter of hooves on stone sang through the night. A shout went up from the left of us. Pain flicked my ear, and I jerked away, catching sight of sparks as something hit the road. Warmth began to trickle down my neck.
"They're shooting at us," I yelled. "Faster."
He surged forward. Behind us, a horse screamed. I looked over my shoulder, saw a bay go down, half his head missing. Fear knotted my stomach. They'd rather see us dead than have us escape.
The fence loomed. I closed my eyes and held on tight as the stallion gathered himself, then rose. The sensation of flying seemed to go on and on, then we hit the ground with enough force to jar every bone in my body and almost dislodge me.
But we were over the damn fence.
Now all we had to do was shake any pursuers, and find out where the hell we were. The stallion ran until the howls of the pursuit were lost to silence and all that surrounded us were trees and mountain.
Eventually, we hit a stream, and he slid to a stop. I fell more than jumped off his back, but my legs were like jelly and collapsed underneath me. Flopping onto my back, I watched the golden haze sweep across the stallion's body. In human form, he fell beside the river, sucking in water as greedily as I sucked air.
"Not too much," I said, my voice little more than a pant of air. "Cramps."
He grunted, but stopped drinking and rolled into the water instead. His mahogany skin gleamed with heat, and his breath was little more than a wheeze.
It was amazing he'd run as long as he had, especially if he'd been locked up for any length of time.
I turned my gaze to the night sky. The moon I couldn't see was beginning to wane, suggesting it was around three in the morning. Though we'd run for a good two hours, we had to be a hell of a lot farther away by dawn if we wanted to remain free.
The trembling in my legs finally eased enough that I could push onto all fours. I crawled to the river and scooped up handfuls of icy water, sipping it until the fire in my throat had eased. I splashed some over my face, then more over my neck and ear to wash away the blood, but I felt no better. What I needed was a hot bath, a big fat steak sandwich, and a large cup of coffee. And not particularly in that order.
"You'd better wash those body wounds down, too," he commented, husky tones so soft his words barely carried.
I glanced at him, but his eyes were closed. "I intend to." I shifted shape first, just to help the healing process along a little more, then pushed up into a sitting position and began to clean not only the blood and dirt from the wounds, but the horse hair and sweat from my legs and nether regions.
I don't know what Lady Godiva's caper was about, but she obviously hadn't been riding that horse bareback for the sheer pleasure of it. Horse sweat against bare skin was not nice.
"Do you think they'll still be giving chase?" he asked, after a few moments.
"Oh yeah. Those things hunt by scent, and we weren't exactly careful about not leaving a trail."
He grunted. "I just wanted to get away from the bastards."
Didn't we both. "How long were you there?"
"Months, at least. Some of the others had been there over a year."
"And they were... ummm... milking you all?"
He opened an eye and gave me a measuring sort of look. "How did you guess?"
I shrugged. "The guard said they were taking specimens."
"Even so, that wouldn't have been my first guess."
"Two months ago, it wouldn't have been mine, either." But I'd learned a lot since then. Been through a lot.