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The horse snorted, glaring at me for a moment before nodding its head, as if in agreement. Chain clinked as he moved. I frowned and stepped closer. I wasn't hearing things. And it wasn't ordinary chains that held the stallion. Having been shot with silver a couple of times, my skin was now oversensitive to its presence.
And there could only be one reason to use such restraints on a horse.
I looked up sharply. "You're a shifter?" And if so, why hadn't I sensed it? Shifters might not be weres, and they certainly weren't forced through the change every full moon like we were, but they were from the same family tree as us rather than the human side of things. I couldn't sense humans, but I should have known what he was straightaway. Should have smelled it in his scent.
The stallion nodded again.
"And them?" I waved a hand at the other horses.
A third nod.
Fuck. Looks like I wasn't the only one caught in this web. Whatever this goddamn web was.
"You promise not to stomp on me if I come into the stall?"
The stallion snorted again, and somehow it sounded disdainful. I opened the door carefully. I might not have had a whole lot to do with shifters in the past, but the few I had dealt with tended to treat us weres with as little respect as humans did. Why, I had no idea, especially considering our "animal" tendencies were the same as theirs.
Well, except for the moon heat - and they could hardly look down their nose at us for that when a good percentage of them enjoyed the week of the moon heat just as much as any were.
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."
