Page 43 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)

All of them buzzed with familiar magic—magic that hummed against my skin in greeting.

All these people—these joyous, wonderful people—were shifters.

I stopped in the street and basked. “This is what we once were?”

No one answered or glanced my way, and I remembered that I wasn’t really here. My chimera’s magic allowed me to glimpse this place, but the city was long gone.

How?

How had the sorceress whittled us from this—from people with families and lives and a thriving city—into vessels hunted nearly to extinction?

What had brought the other shifters down?

A middle-aged man with a fearsome expression and a sword strapped to his side caught my attention. Unlike the other shifters, he moved swiftly through the street and weaved through the crowds with purpose. I locked my gaze on his form and followed him.

Because of his long stride, I was forced to jog uphill to keep up with him.

As the paths winded higher and higher, my breath grew ragged, and sweat slicked my brow, but I didn’t slow.

We crested another hill, grassy hills replaced the towering buildings.

A blessedly cool breeze cooled my skin, and my gaze caught on the immense temple before us.

Constructed of glittering black obsidian and gold, the temple sprawled across the hill. Dozens of pillars held up its triangular roof, symbols blazed across its eave, and magic radiated from its depths. Two chimeras in their beastly forms guarded the dark mouth of the temple’s entrance.

When I gazed at them, they didn’t look like monsters, but rather, warriors.

Their gray and golden fur gleamed in the sunlight, and their wings were held proudly off the ground. Their ruby eyes were sharp and keen, but the man raced toward them without fear. Reminding myself they couldn’t see me, I sprinted behind him.

As the man darted up the steps, the towering black doors swung open on silent hinges. Before they could shut, I slipped inside.

My steps faltered.

Blazing in the center of the glimmering, dark space was a miniature sun.

Red, orange, yellow, and white light churned within its depths.

A female chimera stared at it pensively with ruby eyes.

She wore a simple tunic, but a golden crown sat atop her silky, dark hair.

In its center was a large, round obsidian.

Her gaze shot to the man, who drew close to her side and took her hands in his. As he sank to his knees, her jaw tightened.

“Dawn,” he whispered in Mycenaean Greek. I was grateful my father had taught me the ancient language. “We have only until the rise of the next dawn, Anassa.”

The light in Anassa’s eyes guttered, revealing dark pupils, but just as quickly, they blazed anew, and the sun in the center of the room became even brighter.

“I trust you’ve warned the others,” she said. “The leaders of the wolves, tigers, hawks, and bears—everyone must know.”

So many different leaders, I thought, but they still live together here.

Did shifters of all kinds used to intermarry?

It explained so much—why Ryder and I were mates, why so few wolves now found their other halves…

Their mates had been ripped from existence because of their ancestors’ mistakes. The other halves of their souls had been deprived of the chance to be born .

My chimera growled, and I forced myself to shelve the realization. It wasn’t what I was here to learn.

“They’re ready,” the man promised. “The shifters will fight as one.”

Anassa swallowed. “Good. It will take all of us to triumph over the gods.”

Disgust twisted the man’s features, and he shook his head.

“I knew they were desperate for power,” he said, “but I never thought they would try to use us as their vessels.”

Shock unhinged my jaw.

The gods betrayed us?

See, the sorceress whispered. I’m no different from the monsters you pray to.

“They’re desperate,” Anassa said. “With the tides of religion turning, they soon won’t be able to hold onto their physical forms.”

I had read that the gods once roamed the earth in physical forms, but I had assumed those stories were merely legends.

The gods had no tangible bodies, except for the tides of the ocean, the winds of fate, and their influence over mortals.

Artwork depicted them in certain bodies, but I always assumed those appearances were contrived from mortal imagination.

“It doesn’t give them the right to steal ours,” the man grumbled.

Anassa’s eyes brightened like brilliant, blazing rubies.

“No,” she agreed. “It does not.”

From the back of the room, a door creaked open, and a little, dark-haired girl rushed in. She threw herself into the man’s arms, and he forced a smile on his face.

“Hello, my girl,” he greeted.

She pulled back. “Aunt Anassa promised she’d tell me when you got home, Father.”

As the girl shot a playful glare at her aunt, the man ruffled his daughter’s dark curls, and she laughed.

She appeared to be in her tween years. Youth still shined in her round cheeks, but her tan arms were toned by muscle, and her lanky form was too small to belong to a young child.

Fierce as she was, she reminded me of Cadence.

“Helena,” Anassa chided, “you’re supposed to be studying with your tutors.”

“They have nothing more important to teach me than what I could learn on the battlefield,” she countered.

My chest tightened at the thought of her in the path of the gods’ wrath. Helena’s father crouched beside her.

“You are the future leader of your people,” he chided. “You must stay here—stay safe—to keep our pride intact.”

The girl sighed. “Fine, but it’s pointless anyway. I have centuries before Anassa steps down.”

Anassa stiffened, and the man’s smile became forced.

Tears pricked my eyes.

It didn’t matter where the girl went during the battle—they were all going to die.

Poor, pitiful chimeras, the sorceress crooned. I’m happy you’re letting your beast derail you from saving our lives to watch this jargon.

Dimly, I was aware of needles prodding my skin and people’s rushed whispers. Lyall was undoubtedly draining my power.

And yet my chimera wants me to see this.

Instead of listening to the panic that threatened to swallow me whole or the vitriol the sorceress spat, I listened to myself.

With a mental shove, I cast the sorceress out of my mind, and the ground beneath my feet shook. Lights and shadows swirled, and I was transported out of the throne room and into the night.