Chase was completely spent by the time he made it back. He had slept a blessed thirty minutes before it was time to take Laci out for her first training session. He had no option to delay it any longer, with the executives breathing down his neck for more sale horses. Besides, the shock factor of training her anyway after a night of disaster was sure to knock some sense into her.

  He walked down to the holding cells, and remembered she had spent the entire night in one. He had meant to move her somewhere more spacious so she wouldn’t be a devil for training. Cautiously, he unlocked the door.

  To his surprise, she was waiting in the corner, head pressed into the wall silently. She didn’t even turn to look at him when he opened the door. He walked closer, whip and bridle in hand, practically expecting her to jump out at him. She did nothing, and allowed him to bridle her without moving an inch. Strangely, it felt worse than her acting up. Chase almost wished she would bite or kick, give him something to work with, but she was completely docile.

  She walked fast, and her eyes were sharp the whole way to the round pen. When Chase sent her out to lunge around him, she followed all of the commands precisely. She behaved like a trained horse who had been lunged yesterday. Her gaits were stunning, too. Laci was a horse of value, nice breeding, sporty build, athletic form. Sixteen hands of pure muscle. It didn’t calm Chase’s nerves.

  He left her alone in the round pen to ask for advice. She stood perfectly still waiting for him. He had never seen anything like this. It felt like a dream.

  “Alissa?” he called out.

  She looked over at him from her round pen, where she was working a stallion on a lunge line. “Chase?”

  He came closer and leaned over the railing. She stopped the stallion and went over to him.

  “What do I do with Laci? Look at her. She’s being..normal,” Chase whispered.

  Alissa put a hoof to her hip and studied Laci. “I mean, she came from a good family, right? Maybe she’s just remembering what she’s supposed to be doing.”

  “I’d say the same, but she tried to kill me last night. I can’t put a trial rider on her,” he said.

  “Who says you can’t? I bet there’s a dozen of them waiting to ride a nice horse like that. See if she tolerates being tacked up. Then you’ll have your answer.”

  Reluctantly, he took Laci out to the cross ties to be saddled. She was completely still, even softly munching the bit like she had worn one a thousand times. He tried everything, from adjusting the stirrups to tightening and loosening the girth. Nothing fazed her. He felt so nervous he thought he might be sick.

  He went down to the break room, where a handful of rabbits were sitting around drinking coffee. “Does anyone want to back Laci of Lebanon?”

  The room went silent. One rabbit stood up.

  “I’ll go, but hasn’t she only been here a day?” she questioned.

  Chase nodded. “She’s been nothing but polite all morning. It’s an experiment. You can back out any time if it gets out of hand.”

  The rabbit picked up her spurs and whip. “Alright. Let’s do it.”

  They walked Laci up to the mounting block in the round pen, and her tension started to build. She tossed her head a little, but her feet remained in place. Chase held her at first, but then let the rabbit take the reins. The little rabbit carefully leaned over Laci’s back, and she immediately bucked and ran off, pulling the rabbit off the mounting block by the reins.

  Chase crouched down to the rabbit, who was brushing the sand off her shirt. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry.”

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “I’m fine. That’s why I didn’t get on. I knew she’d be cold backed,” the rabbit said.

  “I thought so too. You should see the way she lunges, though. Anyone would mistake her for a lesson horse.”

  “How strange,” the rabbit commented.

  Chase picked up his whip and started driving Laci around them. She was moving elegantly, as before, but her pace and sensitivity had risen. Even a slight twitch of the whip would send her flying.

  “Maybe she’s just too energetic? If you tire her out, I’ll stick around and back her again,” the rabbit offered.

  “Sure, why not?” Chase said. He drove Laci forward with the stick until she was kicking up sand and couldn’t go any quicker in the confines of the pen.

  Chase pushed her as hard as he could for almost half an hour, but she didn’t show any sign of slowing down. She hadn’t even started to sweat.

  “That mare is made of rawhide,” the rabbit remarked.

  Chase looked around the ring. Alissa and the stallion had left. He opened the round pen gate and sent Laci running, and her true pace began to show. He drove her fast as fire, and it seemed her top speed could not be reached. Just when he thought she couldn’t go any faster, he would pick up the whip and she would surprise him again.

  “I’d like to see her jump. She’s got one powerful set of legs on her,” Chase observed.

  He drove her hard until she finally broke a sweat, then he sent her back into the round pen and got her under control. When he grabbed the reins under her chin, he felt something wet touch his hoof. He looked at it and saw it was soaked in blood. Her mouth and nose were dripping. He shook the droplets onto the ground and handed the reins to the rabbit, who was standing over her again. She gripped them tightly and leaned over, only for Laci to escape once more. She was smart enough to let go of the reins this time, and climbed down from the mounting block to watch Laci race around.

  “It’s just backing her that’s the problem. We’ll focus on that,” Chase decided.

  He grabbed her and held her tightly by the mounting block, and the rabbit came up again. He held the whip just in front of Laci’s chest to keep her from going forward. The rabbit leaned over a few times, and Laci shifted a hind foot, but was otherwise motionless. The rabbit finally ventured to swing a leg over, and Chase breathed a long sigh of relief when Laci held still.

  “Wow. That is-odd,” Chase said.

  The rabbit picked up the reins and Chase slowly let go of them, but kept his whip where it was. Laci curled her head under her neck and fussed with the bit madly, her feet dancing in place and tail lashing. But she did not try to run away.

  “Why don’t we walk her forward a few steps and you can get off? No need to rush her. This is a great start,” Chase said.

  The rabbit nodded in agreement, and Chase moved his whip behind him to reach for the reins. He never caught them.

  Laci threw herself on top of Chase and clawed at his body relentlessly, tearing through his flesh with her shod hooves. It didn’t matter that they weren’t sharp-the added weight and the sting of the copper was ripping right through to bone. The rabbit screamed in fear and tried hauling on the reins to stop her, but Laci shoved her head forward and pulled her right out of the saddle. She kicked the rabbit away from her with a forefoot, shattering her ribcage, and went straight back to tormenting Chase. Sounds not of the Earth came from her jaws, and she only quieted her demonic howling to bite. Bones broke. Sinew split. Blood ran red like carpet.

  Alissa walked toward the ring gate with Isabel, reached for the latch, then saw Laci standing over Chase. Laci snapped her head around unnaturally and stared right at her, nostrils flaring and closing in a tight rhythm. Isabel’s eyes went white, and she reared up and pulled herself free from Alissa. She raced down the hall, smashing into the wall and falling over a bench as she went. Alissa left her behind and dashed into the ring to deal with Laci.

  “Chase!” she called out.

  Laci purred oddly, and was pacing up and down the side of the round pen, tossing her head. Alissa inched her way around the outside, trying to get a better look at Chase. He was completely massacred. Laci backed away from her, and she put a hoof to the gate latch. If Laci was afraid of her, she might have a chance at helping Chase.

  Laci galloped from the back of the pen and jumped over the six foot panel like it was nothing. The cremello mare shrieked in shock. Laci chased her into the corner of the ring and licked her bloody lips, preparing to kill her, but hesitated. Her ears flickered back to the sound of someone opening the ring gate. Nathan was sprinting in, tranquilizer gun blazing, and he emptied the whole canister on Laci. One managed to strike her neck, and she squealed, galloping away from Alissa. She ran loose for about a minute until she finally collapsed, twitching and murmuring.

  Nathan and Alissa both ran to attend to Chase, who was barely recognizable. They poured as much magic in him as they could, and rushed him and the rabbit out to the hospital, leaving Laci locked in the ring alone.