Page 26 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)

The thought of sleeping apart from my mate in a foreign realm made my wolf want to howl, regardless of her earlier demonstration of power.

Unclaimed, unclaimed, unclaimed…

Imogen smiled. “Lee.”

“Hmm?” the man asked.

“It’s possible that Elle wants to share a room with her mate,” Imogen said.

Lee frowned. “Elle? Is that true?”

Elle floundered. “I—”

I fought the urge to smile. Elle was brave enough to face the Minotaur but struggled to tell her father she wanted to share a room with her soulmate.

“My wolf would be more comfortable if Elle shares a room with me, sir,” I said.

Lee’s eye twitched, and his attention shifted to his daughter.

“Ella-Bella?” he asked. “Are you comfortable with that?”

Elle cleared her throat, but her voice was small. “Yes.”

“Of course,” Lee said and forced a smile. He hugged his daughter but quickly released her. “Of course.”

Imogen embraced Elle and bid us goodnight. As the Guardians walked toward their room, their footsteps echoed across the hall, and Imogen’s voice carried.

“They’re mates, honey,” Imogen chided. “What did you expect?”

When their door shut, I spoke.

“If you want to share their room,” I said, “I understand.”

Elle shook her head and faced me. “I don’t want to. I want to be with you. ”

Inside, my wolf howled, and pleasure warmed my chest. As I trailed my gaze over the curves and dips and swells of her silhouette, that heat traveled lower.

I stepped closer to my mate, until her chest brushed against mine, and she was forced to lift her chin to meet my gaze. Red light flickered in her eyes.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “It’s like, like something in me has woken. Me, but not me.”

I tucked a braided lock behind her ear. “It’s your chimera—your animal form. Here, without the sorceress binding your power, you’re finally connected with her.”

Elle swallowed. “I’m not sure I like it.”

I chuckled, and Elle’s scent thickened. Unable to stop myself, I pressed a kiss against the point where her shoulder met her neck and inhaled. Lilac and jasmine tingled my senses, and Elle’s breath stuttered.

“I think you like it,” I whispered against her soft skin, “but you’re scared that you like it.”

She recoiled, and the fire in her eyes blazed.

“I’m not scared,” she argued.

I took a step closer to her, and Elle retreated. We continued the dance until her back hit the sandstone wall, and her breath caught. She smelled like sunshine and flowers and magic.

Mine, I thought. As my wolf pushed forward, my vision sharpened. She’s mine.

“Here I thought the instinct to have you was strong back home,” I whispered in a voice roughened by lust. I swallowed, “but with your animal form present…”

“I’m not scared,” Elle repeated quietly. I struggled to think past her plush, soft lips. “That’s not at all what I feel right now.”

“If you don’t want me to kiss you,” I said, “now’s the time to run.”

Though I can’t promise I won’t chase you.

Elle arched her spine and pressed her lush curves against my body. My control snapped, and I claimed her mouth .

If Elle wasn’t ready for me to sink my teeth into her, there were other ways to make her mine. There were other ways for me to be hers.

As she groaned, she tasted as good as she smelled. Her hands tunneled into my hair, and I gripped her delicate waist. She pulled my hair harder, and my hands drifted to squeeze her luscious hips.

More, more, more…

I needed more of her.

I wasn’t sure I would ever have enough.

“ Our room,” I said between kisses. “I’m taking you to our room now.”

I picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around my hips, undoubtedly feeling just how much I wanted her. I led her to the vacant room and fumbled for the door handle. My fingers slipped clumsily over the metal handle, and I cursed. Elle giggled.

“Something funny, Ellie?” I asked.

When I finally got the damned thing open, I gently tossed Elle onto the giant bed, and she squealed. I swept my gaze over the room, checking for danger, but all I found was finely crafted furniture, beige walls, and a blazing hearth. Without hesitating for another moment, I pounced on my mate.

As our lips reconnected, I growled in satisfaction, and beneath me, Elle moaned. The realization that my mate—my beautiful, powerful mate—was underneath me stunned me, and I pulled back.

Elle’s eyes still flickered with magic, and her lips were swollen from our kisses. Her hair splayed out around her like a halo, and she looked at me like she wanted to eat me.

“This,” she said, “this is what you’ve been feeling? This ache?”

I swallowed. “You haven’t felt the mate bond at all?”

My wolf cursed me for wasting time talking while our female was beneath us, but I waited for her to answer. Elle’s gaze softened, and she caressed my face.

“I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you,” she admitted. “Even when I tried to hate you, part of me wanted you. But this—this is more than wanting. This is…”

“I know,” I whispered and kissed her jaw. “I know.”

I trailed kisses down her neck, marking the path to where my bite would go.

“You’re stronger than me,” she whispered. “I’m not going to last even one night with these instincts wreaking havoc on my senses.”

Even my wolf hesitated.

“It’s hitting you that hard?” I asked.

“Yes,” she whispered breathlessly, “so why have you stopped?”

Curses circled in my mind, and I buried my face against her neck and groaned.

“What?” my mate asked. “What is it?”

I enjoyed a few more inhales of her scent and struggled for words.

“I’ve had a lifetime to navigate sharing my mind with an animal,” I said and lifted my head.

Lust still shined in Elle’s eyes, but I forced myself to continue.

“You’ve never been able to be one with yours.

You’ve had no experience figuring out what you want versus what the animal part of you desires. ”

Confusion mingled with Elle’s lust, and I rolled off her. The absence of her skin pressed against mine was a wash of cold.

I stared at the bed’s linen canopy. “We can’t do this.”

Beside me, Elle stiffened. “Ryder, I…I want to.”

Gods give me strength.

Every ounce of my concentration went into not leaping on my mate. The silence between us stretched. When I was certain I was under control, I looked at her, but Elle jolted upright.

“I’m going to take a shower,” she said, facing the wall. “I never should’ve gotten in the bed—I’m sure there’s still sand on my clothes.”

I opened my mouth to interject, but hurrying away from me, Elle prattled on.

“I wonder if the sheets will magically clean themselves. Anyway—”

She opened a door I hadn’t even noticed when we entered the room. The bathroom door opened and shut, and my mate was gone.

As I sat alone in the lingering perfume of her scent, I wondered if I had done the right thing or made the biggest mistake of my life.