Page 27 of To Run with the Wild Hunt

My soulmate.

Fear was the vanguard of the Wild Hunt and the Dullahan both, but the power of the Wild Hunt was mine, and so was the Dullahan himself. That fear didn't rule me like a base animal. It crashed into me, flooding my veins, and transmuted into the wild exhilaration of rollercoasters, of street racing, of base jumping. If I'd had the throat for it, I would have been laughing with reckless abandon—but my bright whinny sang into the air, and all around me the voices of hounds joined mine in soaring harmony.

A hound veered out of the woods, snapping white teeth at my heels. I kicked out at it instinctively, but the hound knew how to harry prey, and my sharp hooves cut through air instead of hitting their target. More dark forms appeared in the periphery of my vision, red eyes blazing as they closed the distance between us.

The crack of a whip snapped through the air, the sound leaving my ears ringing. I juked out of the way of a hound's bite, daring a look behind me as I veered through the trees. I caught sight of Nuada crouched atop his black horse like a jockey, his hair whipping behind him and his expression ferocious. Gripped in the silver bones of his right hand was a whip made of vertebrae, the length snaking through the air as he swung it.

Oh, shit. That was the Dullahan behind me, hunting me down like an enemy marked for slaughter.

Relentless.

Remorseless.

"If he enters the hunt, he won't stop until he's run you down. Is that what you want?"

The whip cracked again, close enough that I imagined I felt the wind on my haunches.

I pinned my ears back, ferocity twining with the exhilaration of terror. I wanted it—but I was no tame mare. If Nuada wanted to have me, he was going to have to fucking work for it.

I put my head down and ran.

Branches lashed at me, stinging where they struck me. Every strike of my hooves threw clods of dirt into the air, pelting against my stomach and hind legs. I had to keep jerking out of the range of the hounds, evading their sharp teeth. My hooves connected with one, the thud of impact and sharp yelp of pain sending a spike of guilt through me, distracting me—

With a CRACK like thunder, the whip struck my side. I screamed, leaping away from the pain—and nearly collided with his black stallion. I tried to evade, but I was too close, and the black dogs hemmed me in. Nuada leapt from his horse, kicking off of the saddle, and even my last desperate twist to the side couldn't save me.

My soulmate's weight hit my back, his legs clamping down on my sides and fingers gripping my mane. I screamed again, in frustration and fear, trying to buck him off.

But the moment I paused in my headlong rush, teeth sank into my flank, and the pain of a hound's bite was far, far worse than having the Dullahan on my back. I twisted midair, my hoof cracking across the beast's jaw, and bounded into a full gallop again, my withers soaked with sweat and every breath aching.

Nuada growled, a predatory sound of delight, and jabbed his heels into my ribs.

I ran for him.

The hounds harried me, but I didn't focus on evading them, letting their teeth catch me in sharp moments of pain. I couldn't get out from under my rider with them there—so I needed to leave them behind.

I ran, searching for a way out, searching, searching—there! The bright flashes of light off a river—a barrier I could put between myself and the white fangs of the hounds. With my vision tunneling and breath rasping, I poured the last of my strength into a full sprinting gallop.

Closer… closer…

Putting everything I had behind it, I threw myself for the far bank of the river, the hounds drawing up short behind me. For one timeless moment, I hung in the air above the water, hot victory flooding me—

The Dullahan's whip wrapped around one of my forelegs, yanking it backwards.

I landed badly, the snap! of my bone as my foreleg broke sounding like a gunshot. My shoulder hit the ground as I fell, screaming from the pain. I couldn't hold onto the shape of a horse, forgetting everything but the blaze of agony—but then Nuada's fingers laced through mine, and he yanked my arm straight, the bones setting and healing in an instant.

Instinct had me shoving myself away from him, tears running down my face and my heartbeat roaring in my ears.

Nuada stalked towards me, his whip dragging on the ground and his horse's tail hanging behind him in a black sweep. His eyes blazed, as red as his hounds', elven ears lifted and tilted towards me in high focus. There was nothing else in the world for me—only him, his lip lifted in a snarl, his pulse visible in his throat, his fingers hooked in dangerous claws.

"You asked for this," he said, his basso voice rough with emotion.

He flicked the whip at me; I flinched away, whimpering. My heart raced, chest aching, the undeniable fear of having a hungry god looking at me like food making my pussy throb. He was going to take me—use me—devour me—

His hand went to his waist, unbuckling his belt with a jerk. "You demanded this."

My back hit stone, and I huddled against it, naked and terrified and wildly turned on. "I did," I said, my voice shaking.

He shoved off his battle-skirt, the furs dropping to the ground. My eyes dropped to his half-hard cock as he started stroking it, the shape halfway between a man's and a horse's, with a blunt head and a silver ring through it in a Prince Albert piercing. I couldn't stop staring, my pulse rabbitting and limbs shaking with exhaustion. His cock was huge, as thick as my wrist and easily as long as my forearm. Holy shit, what had I gotten myself into?

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