Page 32 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)

Though I lacked the muscle and control to truly fly, perhaps I could glide toward Melanie and Bo. My beast captured the plan brewing in my thoughts, and my fingernails burned as claws replaced them.

“You can’t fight your way through the fish,” Bo warned, but he silenced himself when I walked away from the pool, toward the nearest stone wall.

Relying on my beast’s strength, I dug my claws into the wall and ignored the reverberations of pain that snaked up my arm. I pulled myself up and dug my other hand into the wall. Bracing my feet against the hard surface, I climbed and climbed until I was able to heave myself on top of the wall.

From this vantage point, the maze sprawled endlessly, but I couldn’t find Ryder, my parents, or Kieran.

I returned my focus to Bo and Melanie and remembered my plan. With my beast balancing and guiding my steps, I backed up several feet, took a deep breath, and sprinted.

Pumping my arms, I raced as quickly as I could along the top of the stone wall. Right before it veered from the pool, I leaped and snapped my wings out beside me.

They caught the air, and I glided toward my friends, faster than I could’ve anticipated—faster than I needed to.

I barreled into them, and the vine snapped from the force of the impact.

I wrapped my arms around them, and they gripped me just as fiercely.

The collision stole my breath, but my beast’s focus didn’t waver.

With my wings still stretched on both sides, we careened over the pool and onto the other side, beside the towering tree.

As we crashed into the sand, the three of us groaned. Stars and dark spots dancing in my vision, I straightened and breathed through the pain. Melanie’s nose bled, but the she-wolf smiled.

“Go get ‘em,” she encouraged.

Circe’s magic flared, and the two wolves disappeared in a flash of light.

Once again, I was alone in the maze.

The beast under my skin growled, and I remembered that wasn’t the truth. I took a deep breath.

Okay, I thought. Let’s find—

Without my approval, I raced forward. My inner beast locked onto a lemon soap scent, and I weaved through the winding pathways of the maze with dizzying speed. My hair whipped my face and flew behind me.

Easy, I chided, you can’t just take over.

The beast’s control over my limbs faltered, and instinctively, I stiffened. At the speed I ran, the fracture in focus was devastating. I lost my footing on the loose sand and barely had time to shield my face before I tumbled into the nearest wall with a crack.

As pain radiated across my forearms and down my spine, my beast chuffed and took back the reins.

Fine, I mentally grumbled. You can handle our coordination for now.

Shaking my head to clear it, I took off again and suddenly, Kieran stood before me. I scrambled to a stop just before tumbling into him. As I studied his casual stance and his easy-going smile, I wondered if Circe had decided to throw me a bone and make his rescue simple.

A growl tumbled from my lips.

What are you doing? I demanded.

An image of cracking bones and flesh becoming fur flashed in my mind.

Yeah. He’s a werewolf—of course he can shapeshift.

Did my inner beast possess some kind of prejudice? She had no problem with Ryder’s two forms.

“Elle,” Kieran greeted. “You found me—great! I was getting a little nervous.”

Tired of my chimera’s games, I remembered shoving the sorceress out of my mind and gave my beast the same push. She whimpered but retreated, and I was able to speak.

“How could you agree to this?” I asked Kieran.

“I know,” he said and dragged a hand through his hair. “It was risky, but look at you! You’re doing great.”

I ignored his praise. “I already found Melanie and Bo. Do you have any idea where the others are?”

“No,” Kieran admitted, “but I’ll help you find them.”

I stepped toward him and froze. Roaring and thrashing in my mind, my beast wrestled for control. Another image flashed, this time of a creature with long, white tusks, green, serpentine skin, and sinister, round eyes. The creature stood on two legs but hunched inhumanly at the haunches.

Before me, Kieran replaced the image.

Pulse pounding, I studied my friend more closely.

Though he smelled and sounded and acted like the werewolf I knew, his face wasn’t as freckled as I thought it should be, and his eyes lacked their usual mischief. Something about his smile was off.

“Elle,” he chided, “you remember you’re on a time crunch, right?”

“Right,” I muttered, “silly me.”

Kieran grinned and revealed perfectly straight, unchipped teeth.

That’s not Kieran.

My beast grumbled, as if to say, you think?

Not Kieran’s smile shifted into a sneer, and he pounced on me.

As my beast lurched us away from the swipe of his claws, I didn’t fight her for control.

Not Kieran punched, swiped, and clawed, and I fell into a rhythm that was both foreign and familiar.

For a moment, there was nothing but the power in my veins, the soft exhales of our breaths, and the shuffling of feet in the sand.

Screeching like an animal, Not Kieran swiped for my wings, and agony tore through me. He seized the moment and wrenched me to the ground. As his clawed hands gripped my throat, Not Kieran’s eyes darkened and widened. In their reflection, I watched myself struggle to breathe.

“It’s been ages,” he said in a hoarse, deep voice that reminded me nothing of my friend, “since I’ve gotten to kill one of your kind.”

Stars danced in my vision, and my lungs ached with the need to breathe.

I scratched the creature’s arms, but the gouges I dug didn’t tear its focus from choking the life out of me.

All I managed was to draw its golden, sap-like blood.

I struggled and kicked and fought, but nothing freed me from the all-too-heavy creature atop me.

Images flashed in my mind, of that same green-scaled creature from before and focused on its dark, endless pools of eyes.

Using the last of my strength, I worked in tandem with my inner beast to buck my hips. Though the movement didn’t free me, the creature lurched forward. Not wasting a second, I broke my wrist from Not Kieran’s hold and jabbed my claw-tipped fingers into his eyes.

The creature screeched like a barn owl and tore free from my deadly assault with a sickening squelch. Its sticky blood rained down on me and burned my eyes, but when I rose to my feet, Not Kieran disappeared in a flash of light.

“Elle!” Kieran shouted.

Straight ahead, the werewolf grinned, and when I noticed his crooked, chipped canine, I loosed a sigh of relief. The next breath, Circe’s magic carried Kieran out of the maze. I checked the timer on the looking glass.

Two hours.

I had two hours to find my parents and Ryder and save them from whatever traps they were in. Trusting my beast to lock in on their scents, I raced through the maze again.