Page 41 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)

Elle

Faster than the crack of a whip, Lyall slapped Kalli across the face. I jolted toward her, but the twins only twisted my arms farther, and my shoulders screamed in protest.

Impossible, I thought. It should be impossible to hurt one’s mate—

As she stiffened in Lyall’s arms, Kalli’s cheek became a deep shade of red. Lyall murmured and stroked her face. Claws replaced his fingernails, and as quickly as he had slapped her, he dragged them down the side of her face.

She growled and pushed against him, so violently she broke free of his hold. Her green eyes blazed with power, and claws jutted from her fingers. As Kalli crouched and bared her teeth, her power filled the room. It rivaled Lyall’s and raised the hair on the back of my neck.

Mates are equals, I remembered.

As powerful as Lyall was, Kalli was just as formidable.

Lyall laughed and said the one word that would control her.

“Kieran,” he whispered.

Anger blazing in her green eyes, Kalli went still.

“You wouldn’t hurt him,” she growled.

Lyall lifted a brow and studied the gash on her face. He didn’t even need to say the words for his message to be conveyed.

Wouldn’t I?

With Kalli thoroughly paralyzed by his threat, Lyall lifted his chin and focused on me.

“While I’ve enjoyed having you here,” Lyall prattled. “I’m afraid our friendship has been poisoned by insidious lies.”

How does he know? I thought. How could he know I lied—

Throughout history, the witches and the werewolves had been thick as thieves.

“The High Witch told you,” I whispered. “She and her Handmaidens told you what really happened.”

“Just as I’ve told her about your whereabouts these past weeks,” he said, “while she has searched for the warlock she needs to entomb you for all eternity.”

Kalli’s shoulders curved, but she showed no signs of surprise. The salty scent of her sadness coated the air, paired with the bitter tang of guilt.

“She knew,” he said. “Don’t let her maternal act fool you. She was the one who helped me craft the plan.”

No.

No, no no—

“I’m sorry,” Kalli whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Despite the abuse I had witnessed, rage and betrayal twisted my tongue.

“How could you do this to Ryder?” I demanded. “Haven’t you taken enough from him? Hasn’t he hurt enough?”

“He has,” Kalli agreed. Blood leaked from her wounds, “which is why I got you alone—to warn you.”

Her gaze shifted to my midsection and homed in on the bodice of my dress.

What is she trying to tell me?

“But alas,” Lyall said. “Too little, and much too late. I got word of my mate’s plans, and here I am. Now, she’s merely sped up the timeline. It’s time you served your purpose, Elle. It’s time you share that wondrous power in your veins one last time before your trip back to the court. ”

I swallowed my shock and rage and fear. I couldn’t let my emotions misguide me, here on the precipice of eternal damnation.

Memories of that wretched darkness flickered back to me, and my chimera simmered under my skin.

I would not be shoved into the darkness again.

I let Lyall see the steel in my eyes. “Why? Just to bottle some of my power? I know you kept it when you drained me.”

“Such a smart girl,” he purred, “but not smart enough.”

I swallowed and locked my legs. I refused to shake like a leaf in front of him.

“It’s a shame no one will know what you’re giving us.” Lyall prowled closer and smiled softly. He looked back to his mate, bleeding and battered, then looked at me. “No, you’ll be remembered as the monster who hurt the Sovereign’s mate—sweet, silly, artsy Kalli, beloved by her people.”

My stomach turned, but I scoffed.

“You’ll tell everyone I was too wild to be contained,” I said, “that I couldn’t control the sorceress. And everyone will believe you, because who could hurt their own mate except for a monster?”

Lightning fast, Lyall gripped my jaw in his clawed hand and squeezed.

Despite the pain he caused and the blood that trailed down my cheeks, I held his gaze like an oath.

Dominance poured from him, and the twins sucked in shaky breaths, but I was prepared this time.

With my chimera’s power heating my veins, it rolled over me like water.

“You are not my Sovereign,” I spat, “and I am not a wolf.”

His eyes widened, but I was already in motion.

As Micah raised a needle with his free hand, I dropped my weight and twisted.

The sudden movement caught the twins off-guard, and I freed my right arm.

Sheathing my claws for a moment, I remembered what Ryder had taught me.

With the speed of my chimera, I clenched my hand into a fist and swung, using my hips to put more force into the blow.

Kowan’s nose crunched against my knuckles, and inside, my chimera roared. Beyond him, Kalli raced for the door.

As I ducked and twisted out of the twins’ grasps, Lyall cursed and ran after his mate.

I lunged for the door, but Kowan stuck his foot out and twisted it around my ankle. I fell to the hardwood floor with a smack and scrambled away from my attackers.

Hello there, pet.

For a precious heartbeat, shock and horror paralyzed me.

The sorceress's presence slammed into me, and she zapped my body of every ounce of strength and warmth. Dark, vicious power clouded my vision.

As she seized control of my magic, the sorceress cleaved my connection to my chimera. Pain seized my heart, my breath, my body.

I couldn’t think or feel or breathe past it.

A weight knocked me to the ground, and rough hands flipped me over. Through the stars dancing in my vision, Kowan leered at me. I barely sensed the hard, inescapable weight of his body.

You were gone, I whispered. You were gone.

The sorceress cackled. Circe is wrong—not even a full claim on your beloved mate could stop me, pet. You’re mine.

Kowan pushed the weight of his hips on top of mine, and his brother forced my hands above my head.

Sneering viciously, Kowan gripped my throat and leaned closer. As he inhaled my scent, his breath was hot against my mark, and my stomach rolled. I reached for my well of power, but it was gone, like it had never been there at all.

“Look at this,” Kowan whispered. “I have Ryder’s pretty mate beneath me.”

Micah chuckled, and I thrashed.

“What would the smug bastard do if he could see you now?” Micah said.

Hunger and hatred gleamed in Kowan’s eyes. He squeezed my throat tighter. His claws dug stinging cuts into my skin.

“I heard you two laughing at us that day we met,” he growled. “Are you laughing now, bitch?”

As I bucked against his weight, fear threatened to overwhelm me.

“Do you think your mate will laugh when I describe it to him?” Kowan continued.

He looked at Micah. “Hold her down.”

You can’t let him do this, I said. You can’t let him do this.

You shouldn’t have defied me, the sorceress replied. This will teach you not to go snooping through my thoughts.

“What are you doing?”

As I recognized the familiar male voice that came from the open doorway, relief blossomed, though I feared what the sorceress might do to him—what she might make me do to him.

“Bo,” I croaked.

“Get off her,” my friend ordered. “Your job was to sedate her, not-not this.”

Your job was to sedate her.

Had the Handmaidens been the ones to tell Lyall the truth, or had it been Bo?

My heart cracked, and my expression crumpled. Above me, Kowan laughed, and inside, the sorceress echoed it.

You really are such a clever thing, she purred, but not clever enough. You’re playing a centuries-old game, pet. Are you ready to concede defeat?

“Look at her,” Micah said. “The stupid bitch really believed you!”

The sorceress’s power loomed, ready to seize me completely. I wondered why she hadn’t done so already. Though she had said she wanted to punish me, surely, she wouldn’t let Lyall drain us of our power and hand us over to the High Witch.

Micah chuckled, and Bo stalked forward. From the ground, his shoulders seemed even broader, and his height was even more menacing. His usually gentle expression was twisted by disgust.

“What is wrong with you two?” he asked.

“We’re already using its power,” Kowan quipped. “Might as well use the body too.”

“Waste not, want not,” Micah added and snickered.

Through the disgust that turned my stomach, I made sense of their words.

“That’s why you’re freakishly strong,” I whispered. “That’s what Lyall is using my power for—he injected you with it.”

That any part of me had been given to these brutes filled me with revulsion so strong, bile rose in my throat.

They should burn for taking from us, the sorceress crooned. Say the word, and I’ll destroy them.

The sorceress had never asked for permission before, not even to play some twisted power game.

“Sedate her before the monster under her skin takes over and we all end up dead,” Bo spat.

I met his dark gaze. “There are several monsters in this room, but I am not one of them.”

He looked away. Coward.

I had to get up. I had to warn Ryder.

Were Melanie and Kieran in on the Sovereign’s plans too?

“Buzz kill,” Micah muttered and crouched beside me. He pressed the injection needle against the delicate skin of my neck. I thrashed and bucked and fought, but nothing freed me from Kowan’s grip.

“I can’t kill you,” Micah whispered, “but I’ll enjoy ripping your mate apart.”

Rage, animalistic and blinding, tore through me, and deep in the shadows of my mind, my chimera roared.

Let’s rip them apart, the sorceress said in a rush. Let’s make them pay.

As my thoughts raced, the next heartbeat lasted a lifetime. Whether she wanted to punish me or not, the sorceress never would’ve risked coming so close to Entombment, unless…

She needed me to give her control. Though she had commandeered enough of my power to stifle my chimera, she couldn’t fully possess me.

A needle pricked my neck, and I cursed.

Control, control, control.

I couldn’t gain control from the sorceress, but she couldn’t completely control me either.

You liar, I told her. The bond has weakened your ability to possess me.

As my vision tunneled, the sorceress howled her rage. Kowan grinned, but his sinister expression wasn’t what haunted me. As I was pulled into oblivion, my thoughts were of amber eyes and crooked smiles and verbal taunts.

Though I would be late, I wouldn’t break my promise to return to him. I just wouldn’t come to him wearing my skin but wielding the sorceress’s will.

I wouldn’t give her the power I had earned, not even to save myself.

I wouldn’t be the monster the world claimed I was.

You will regret this! the sorceress bellowed.

Go fu…

Consciousness slipped through my fingers like sand.