Page 31 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)

Elle

Beneath my feet, the ground rumbled, and the sky darkened into night. Only the pale yellow moon provided light. Around me, my friends and family flashed out of existence, and huge rock walls grew from the sandy ground. Instinct urged me to run, but the ground shook too violently for me to move.

When the shaking subsided, only Circe faced me. Behind her, towering rock walls curved across the arena and created a maze.

“Where did you take them?” I demanded.

“They’re hidden inside this labyrinth,” Circe replied and crossed her arms. “You have four hours to find them, though, if I were you, I would hurry. Their positions are not exactly comfortable.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Circe sighed and lifted her hand. An image appeared above it, of Melanie and Bo, entangled in some kind of vine and hanging above a pool of dark water. A gaping mouth full of teeth snapped for Melanie’s feet, and the pink-haired werewolf grimaced. Bo’s breath was ragged.

Circe lowered her hand, and the image disappeared. I glowered at the witch.

“You’re insane,” I spat .

“And you’re wasting time,” she countered. “Every minute that passes, dear Melanie and Bo are lowered closer and closer to the piranhas.”

Circe gestured above her. In the distance, a countdown was displayed on shimmering looking glass. A minute and a half had already passed.

Desperation dragged its claws down my spine.

“Why should I play your game?” I argued. My hands shook at my sides. “You wouldn’t really hurt them. You know I would never forgive you—I would never be your ally!”

Circe shook her head, and her eyes glowed with power.

“Foolish girl,” she said. “I get one chance to mingle in the fates of mortals, to try to banish Medea forever, to win my father’s favor back. Do you know what happens if my meddling fails?”

Circe prowled closer, but my beast refused to retreat.

“I’ll be punished.” Her magic raised the hair on the back of my neck, and I shivered. “ Again.”

“If you can’t control your power,” Circe continued, “I have no business helping you. I’d sooner kill you, and have the next chimera be born—maybe it will have a braver heart than yours.”

As the weight of the task before me settled on my shoulders, tears pricked my eyes. Circe was right—I wasn’t brave enough to do this. Five minutes had passed, and all I had done to help my friends was whine.

“Go, Elle,” Circe commanded. “Let your beast be your guide.”

This couldn’t be real—it couldn’t be up to me to save them.

I stared at the shadowy entrance of the maze and swallowed. Though I wanted to cower and cry, I steeled my spine.

“They agreed to this?” I asked Circe.

The witch nodded. “They believe in you.”

Fools .

I silenced the thought. To pass Circe’s test, I couldn’t allow room for doubt. I had been tired of being the victim, and now it was time for me to become the savior. My chest tightened.

One foot in front of the other, I told myself. Just start with that.

Stuffing my fear into a box, I walked into the labyrinth.

???

Ryder

Absolute darkness surrounded me.

It stifled my senses and locked my muscles. It cooled my skin and paralyzed my thoughts. The only thing I knew in the quiet, impenetrable shadows was that my mate would come for me.

Circe had asked each of our permission for this plan, insistent that it was the only way to prove to bridge the gap between Elle and her chimera. Though I had agreed—like everyone had—I thought Circe was wrong about Elle. The others believed Elle doubted her own power, but she didn’t.

She feared it.

All her life, she’d been persecuted for her magic, and that had poisoned her thoughts about herself.

My mate didn’t see that her magic and claws and wings only allowed her to use her big heart for good.

She thought the power would ruin her, just as the High Witch’s power had driven her to such terrible lengths to continue her reign, just as Medea’s power had pushed her to possess innocents, just as the Sovereign’s thirst for more, more, more had turned him into a tyrant.

She feared her magic so much, she dreamed of being human.

I recognized her fear because I felt it myself every time my dominance surged to the surface .

As a result, she didn’t want to truly be one with her chimera, and I…I also understood the hate that being unwanted could fuel.

As I lay still as a stone, trapped in the darkness, I realized I should’ve talked about this with Elle. I shouldn’t have been too cowardly to voice my worries. I wanted all of her—wanted to see behind her masks and guards—yet I didn’t give myself entirely.

When she found me, I would tell her every dark truth in my jaded heart.

My mate will come for me, I reminded myself and sank into the abyss. My mate will come for me.

In the darkness, a woman spoke, but it wasn’t my mate’s smooth voice.

It was Freya.

???

Elle

Thirty minutes had passed, and all I had done was wander around this godsdamned maze. Blisters chafed my feet, and my head pounded with frustration, but I couldn’t find Melanie or Bo. I couldn’t find anyone.

I rounded a corner and recognized my own footsteps in the sand.

I was going in circles.

I screamed.

The shrill sound bounced off the thick, stone walls, but no one answered my cry. I considered that this was a trick—maybe I was alone in this maze, and my friends and family were beyond the looking glass, eating popcorn and having a good laugh.

“Quit lying to yourself,” I grumbled under my breath, “and think. ”

Let your beast be your guide, Circe had said.

For the past half hour, I had tried to use my intellect to navigate the maze. I had followed different pathways, all of which led in circles or dead-ends, and done my best to track which avenues led where. I had been acting based on logic, not instinct.

Circe was a witch. She could’ve spelled the maze to lead me where I wanted under the condition that I used my beastly senses to do so. I couldn’t cheat my way around using my powers.

I closed my eyes and turned my attention inward, to the beast that raged under my skin.

Find them, find them, find them…

Her thoughts were a maddening loop that heated my blood and dizzied my head. I almost closed the mental door between us but reminded myself that to find my friends, I had to work with her.

Besides, at least she was paying attention.

We want the same thing, I told my chimera. Lend me your senses, and we’ll save them together.

In the dark corners of my mind, my beast snapped and snarled. Her anger fueled my own frustration.

Do you want them all to die? I demanded. Do you want Ryder to die?

Driven by the wild desperation of my chimera, my eyes snapped open, and I viewed the world with crystal clarity.

Inhaling, sand and musk and jasmine lingered in the air.

I sniffed again and caught a whiff of familiar, woodsy scents.

They didn’t appeal to me like Ryder’s did, but I recognized them as belonging to Melanie and Bo.

Without thought, I stalked toward the scents. My inner beast guided my steps, and I panicked—I wasn’t in control over my movements.

The creature was.

Unwilling to cede control, my beast continued to wind through the pathways. My heart raced faster and faster .

We took another turn and reached a dark pool of water.

Just as they had appeared in Circe’s conjured image, amid the maze's walls, Melanie and Bo hung from a towering tree by a thick, green vine. The salty scent of fish mingled with their musky scents. Green scales and white teeth flashed in the water. As her blue eyes met mine, Melanie grinned.

“You made it!” she cheered. “Feel like helping us down?”

Yes, I wanted to say, but my inner beast had taken over, and she didn’t care for speech.

She didn’t care for much other than rescuing my friends as quickly as possible so she could get to Ryder.

Gods, I thought. This is no better than being under the sorceress’s control.

With my body, my inner beast growled. Bo cocked his head.

“Elle?” he asked. “You, okay? Want to get us down?”

The vines from which the wolves dangled stretched longer and lowered my friends closer to the infested water. A behemoth piranha arched into the air and snapped for the wolves’ bare feet. They brought their legs to their chests and barely avoided the snap of the piranha’s jaws.

Though my heart hammered against my ribs, I studied how my friends were trapped. The tree sprouted from the other side of the pool, well out of my reach. I couldn’t risk swimming toward them unless I wanted to become piranha food, and I couldn’t reach where they hung from the vine by jumping.

Even if I could, how would I free them and keep them from tumbling into the pool?

In answer to my question, pain seared between my shoulder blades.

Right, I remembered. I have wings.

The stinging worsened, but with my chimera in control, my wings formed faster than usual. Tearing through the back of my shirt, they erupted from my back and stretched on either side of me. When I lifted them, my back muscles ached, but the pain only sharpened my focus.

“Elle,” Bo warned, “you’ve never actually flown.”

“Don’t remind her of that,” Melanie hissed. “How else is she supposed to get us down from here?”

If I had control over my mouth, I would’ve echoed Melanie’s sentiment.

Bending at my knees, I jumped up and flapped my wings frantically.

For a moment, my beast and I aligned, and our joy was a song in my veins, but my balance wavered, and my back ached with the effort of flight.

I careened to the ground, having only enough control to land on the sandy shore of the pool, rather than in the water.

Spitting out sand, I sat up and groaned.

“Okay,” Melanie admitted, “maybe we do need another plan.”

The vine stretched again, and the wolves lowered closer to the water. I shook my head to clear it and rose to my feet.

There was no other plan.

Circe had crafted this maze carefully, to make sure I was forced to rely on my beast’s strengths to save my friends.