Page 42 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)

Ryder

An hour had passed.

An hour had passed, and Elle had not returned to me, like she promised she would. Cursing under my breath, I stormed across the room, intent on searching for her, and hesitated.

A foreign scent slipped under the door. I inhaled slowly, so the person on the other side couldn’t hear my reaction.

The bitter tang of sedatives burned my nostrils.

Something was terribly wrong.

Instincts mangled my thoughts. I had to get to Elle—I had to get to her now— but I couldn’t act rashly and get myself captured before I could help her.

My mind raced. Lyall must not have believed our story, like he had claimed to or maybe, he was just ready to play whatever hand he had been waiting for these past weeks.

Regardless, Elle was in danger.

Kieran, Melanie, Bo…

What had become of them?

My wolf’s rage sharpened, and I followed his lead. Now was not the time for questions and flurries of fear. Now was the time to act.

On the other side of the door, feet shuffled. I slipped into the corner of the room and waited for my prey. Each second that passed felt like hours, but whoever had come for me would’ve come prepared. I needed to catch them off-guard.

Two minutes and twenty-three seconds later, three werewolves in lab coats burst into the room.

I knocked out the first hulking male with one blow to the head, then put the second, a female with fearsome blue eyes, out of commission by sweeping her legs.

My last assailant, a lithe male with his claws out and ready, I kneed in the sternum. He fell to the ground wheezing.

Before they could rise, I slammed the door shut and dragged the nearest table in front of it. Luckily, the white hall was quiet, and no one had witnessed my attempted kidnapping.

As I followed Elle’s scent through the hall and toward the stairs, speakers crackled to life, and Lyall’s voice boomed. A cluster of wolves near the stairs paused to listen, and I rushed past them.

“Warning,” Lyall said. Though my stomach dropped, I skipped every other step as I raced down the spiral stairs. “This is not a drill, my friends.”

The raw emotion in his voice was so convincing, I almost believed it.

“Though we tried to help her,” Lyall continued, “the chimera’s wildness cannot be contained. She-she—”

I reached the bottom of the stairs and came face to face with a gaggle of wide-eyed she-wolves. None of them were older than nineteen or twenty.

“She mauled dear Kalli’s face,” he whispered. “She’s a monster. Until she is permanently contained, everyone must evacuate immediately.”

As guilt threatened to crush me, I stumbled to a stop.

The sorceress had overtaken Elle to the point she had actually harmed my mother. If we had completed the claiming, if I hadn’t hesitated like a spineless sap—

“That’s its mate,” the blonde she-wolf whispered to her friend .

Its mate.

“You heard your Sovereign,” I growled. “Run.”

The brown-haired she-wolf sucked in a breath, grabbed her friends, and obeyed my orders. Feet pounded down the steps, and I leaped aside to let the stampede of wolves past. As wolf after wolf escaped, doors slammed open and shut.

Just like Lyall clearly intended, Elle’s scent was lost in the cacophony.

I shoved my way through the masses and tried to latch onto her jasmine and lilac scent, but it was fruitless. Wolves snarled and shoved past me, and their fear-addled scents filled the glimmering hall.

I decided to follow a different lead. Tucking myself against the wall, I closed my eyes and focused on the flimsy connection Elle and I shared. As I sensed her panic, my heart skipped a beat. There was a harsh edge of rage to her fear.

Was this what she felt each time the sorceress took over?

The crowd of wolves died down, and I raced farther into the hall. Elle had left with Kalli to try on dresses. Surely, that would’ve taken place in Kalli’s wing of the estate, which was on the western side of the chateau.

If I could find her, I could bring her out of the possession. In my bones, I knew it to be true. That was why the sorceress had waited to strike until Elle was out of my reach.

If the sorceress could force Elle to harm Kalli, could she make my mate kill her?

I needed to find Elle now.

I stormed through the endless white halls with razor sharp focus. Lingering wolves snarled and snapped at me, but the rage and fear twisting my face kept them from doing anything stupid, like trying to stop me.

As I snarled at an older male wolf, I rounded the corner and smacked squarely into Bo. With one flash of teeth, the other wolf simpered down the hall, and I focused on Bo. I had never been more grateful to see the hulking, quiet werewolf.

“Elle,” I breathed. “I can bring her out of the sorceress’s thrall. I need to find her—”

“Okay,” Bo said and squeezed my arm. “Okay. Have you tracked her scent?”

“Yes,” I snapped. “The damned mass exodus made me lose it.”

Bo nodded, and I wondered where my brother and Melanie were.

I wondered what they thought of Elle, their friend—the woman they had claimed as pack.

Would my brother run from her or toward her? After Lyall’s announcement, I couldn’t be sure.

“She wouldn’t do this,” I told Bo. “You know she wouldn’t. She needs help. And not the kind Lyall is giving.”

Permanently contained.

Did he mean to Entomb her? Or drain her of her power so thoroughly, she—

I couldn’t finish the thought. I couldn’t bear it.

“I know,” Bo promised, but something dark and sad lingered in his eyes. “I’ll go this way, and you search down that hall. They’re probably moving her from Kalli’s suite to the lab in the basement.”

I nodded, and Bo squeezed my arm.

“We’ll find her,” he promised.

With that, he raced to the left, and I continued down the other hall. Praying to any god who would listen, I begged for my mate’s safe return.

Pumping my arms at my sides, I ran down the hall and searched for any sign of Elle.

Instead, I found an onslaught of werewolves.

As I reached a dead end, they poured out of doorways and surrounded me. Kieran and Melanie were nowhere to be seen, and the world became a blur of claws and teeth and bloodshed.

Faster than I had ever moved, I swiped and parried and kicked. One of them landed a punch to my jaw, but I took the hit with a snarl and smashed the enemy wolf’s head against my kneecap. Another wolf leaped onto my back, but I crushed him against the wall and freed myself.

Too many, I realized. There’s too many for me to fight my way out of this.

I reached for the power that lurked under my skin, but nothing happened. Though I could access my wolf, I couldn’t reach for his dominance. My dominance.

I didn’t want to accept the responsibility that came with my power, but its sudden absence was paralyzing.

The moment of distraction was lethal.

In a brutal flash of violence, a large male wolf grabbed my throat and slammed my head against the wall, while another raked their claws down my back. Before I could recover, a needle pierced my skin.

Fighting to hold onto consciousness, I fell to the ground. My head landed on my arm, and a spicy scent filled my nostrils.

Wolfsbane, I recognized, and something else.

Had the enemy wolves dosed me? I hadn’t smelled it on any of them.

But Bo had squeezed my arm.

He had found me in the hall and directed me toward a dead end, filled with wolves eager to take me down.

As my eyes were forced shut by the wolfsbane and sedatives, my last thoughts were of ripping the traitor’s throat out.

???

Elle

On the outskirts of a bustling town, I woke to blindingly bright sunshine.

People bustled down well-worn dirt paths and under limestone arches.

Ivy crawled across the pale buildings’ walls, and flowers flourished from balconies.

I rose on shaky feet and walked to the edge of the path, which was atop a craggy hill.

Far below, crystal blue waters drifted toward the pale, sandy beaches and receded.

Figures dotted the beach, soaking in the sunshine.

Some of them appeared human, but others wore fur and claws and feathers.

Chimeras sprawled in their backs with their paws and hooves dangling above them.

Bears splashed in the water, and hawks soared above the waves, basking in the sea spray.

A group of wolf pups chased a gaggle of young tigers down the beach.

Mingled with the gentle churning of waves, magic buzzed in the air.

Shifters, I realized. All different kinds of shifters.

I blinked, and the scene guttered. Light blurred at the edges of my vision, and the lovely landscape blurred in and out of focus.

Focus, the sorceress grumbled. We are in danger. Give me control so we can be free.

Power simmered in my veins, and my surroundings became solid again. Insistent and snarling, my chimera stirred.

Memories circled back to me—of Bo’s betrayal, and Lyall’s wretched plan.

He had knocked me unconscious again to drain me of my power, so why was I here, in some distant city? If the sorceress hadn’t sent me this vision, then who did?

In the corner of my mind, my chimera chuffed.

I remembered the flashes of green scales and tusks I had seen in Circe’s labyrinth, and Circe’s words echoed in my ears.

Seek your history and discover how to right it, young chimera.

My chimera possessed access to an ancient well of knowledge that I did not. I studied the ancient city again.

She wanted me to see this.

Though I was desperate to claw my way back to consciousness, I trusted my chimera to do whatever she could to get me out of the mess we were in.

You’re trusting a beast over me? the sorceress spat .

Pretty much, I quipped.

I strode toward the city.

As I walked, people of all different backgrounds populated the streets. Wearing tunics and draping fabrics, vendors sold cheeses, breads, and fish, and shared friendly banter with their customers. Lovers walked hand-in-hand, and mothers tugged their children into shops.