Page 52 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)

Ryder

Blood slicked my skin and burned my eyes.

Every breath I took stretched the wounds that snaked across my ribs, where Lyall had mutilated the flesh into something unrecognizable.

I couldn't bear my full weight on one of my ankles.

I barely felt the pain. Though I stood on humanoid feet, my mind was a blur of predatory instincts.

Swipe, dodge, kick, crouch…

Lyall’s assault was incessant. Only minutes into our brawl, I had realized he toyed with me. Though I couldn't summon my dominance, Lyall’s hung in the air like a thunderous cloud. It raised the hair on my arms, and inescapable pressure burrowed in my chest.

Lyall kicked, but I pivoted, and the blow landed on the thick part of my thigh. His claws came next, wickedly fast, but I blocked the attacks and skirted to the side. Like a shark who sensed blood, Lyall chased me. His teeth were a flash of white on his blood-stained face.

“I’m going to end you,” Lyall promised. His words were garbled by his wolfish teeth and elongated jaw.

“What about your other son?” I asked and winced at the breathlessness in my voice. “What about the power transfer?”

Lyall snarled and made a reckless punch. I avoided the blow then used his momentum against him and shoved the Sovereign into the wall. Growling, he rebounded, and our lethal dance continued.

“I hate to admit it,” Lyall said evenly.

How is he still not tiring?

“But that plan was wrong,” Lyall continued. “The solution was never to transfer your power to Kieran. I simply need another son as an Heir.”

He landed a blow to my side and laughed like a mad man.

“I don’t need you, Ryder Blake,” he whispered quietly enough for only me to hear, “so I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

Lyall showed me just how much he had been holding back.

His assault came at me so quickly, I only deflected half the blows.

He fought with fists instead of claws. Every brutal strike only fueled his bloodlust. My rib cracked under the force of his punches, and I sucked in a harsh, painful breath.

Lyall pounced on the moment of weakness and laid into my jaw, which popped so loudly, my ears rang.

Though my mate beat against the forcefield of ancient pack magic that shielded Lyall and I from interference, the magic held strong.

None of the traditional rules or rituals of a challenge had been laid out, but the pack magic had snapped into place as soon as Lyall and I rejected any outsiders from our fight.

And now, my mate—my beautiful, loving mate—would watch me die.

“After you’re gone,” Lyall taunted, “she’ll probably beg for Entombment.”

“Wrong,” I rasped. Forming the words ached, but I wouldn’t die whimpering. “You’re wrong. She is stronger than you think.”

I blocked a swing of his fist to my head, only for him to slam his foot on my injured ankle. The breath fled from my lungs, and my broken ribs burned. Dark spots swirled in my vision. The world tilted, and Lyall caught me by my throat. He pulled me close, and his breath heated my face .

“It’s her power,” he whispered in a deadly soft voice. “It’s her power running through my veins, giving me this glorious strength.”

He pulled me even closer, until all I saw was the madness and magic in his unnaturally bright gaze. Even for a wolf, his eyes glowed with strange light.

“It’s your mate's power that will help me kill you,” he promised.

Through the haze of pain and fear, his words stirred primal anger. The thought of any part of Elle—her magic, her light—being part of him was repulsive. Elle had only recently grown to love her power. She would never forgive herself if her gifts—stolen or not—killed me.

I wouldn’t let him do this.

I wouldn’t let him break her.

Enough, I thought. You bastards have stolen enough from her.

I roared, and the wolfsbane-induced lid on my power erupted.

As my rage and willpower and sorrow burned through the lingering poison, my dominance surged.

My power worked rapidly to heal the worst of my wounds, and strength flooded my body.

Whimpers erupted from the onlookers, but I only gazed at Lyall.

His eyes, blazing with Elle’s power, grew round, and the air became thick with the scent of his fear.

For a heartbeat, my dominance wrangled his into total submission.

I ripped his hands off my throat and drove my clawed fingers into his chest. The warmth of his blood and flesh against my fingers made my wolf howl in victory.

“Kalli.” Lyall’s voice was a wet rasp.

As if she will miss you.

I squeezed his heart tighter.

“Micah!” Lyall shouted. “Kowan!”

Didn’t he remember the pack magic?

“They won’t save you now,” I promised .

“No,” Lyall agreed. Unnaturally dark blood leaked from the edge of his mouth. “But will you spare me to save your mother?”

I paused.

The twins broke through the crowd of guards. Like she was nothing more than a sack of feed, they hauled Kalli, bloodied and pale, between them. The twins emanated with power that was impervious to my dominance, and I squeezed Lyall’s heart even tighter.

He gave those monsters part of Elle too.

Lyall’s breath caught, and I relished in his pain. Agony contorted Kalli’s marred face, and her breath caught. Blood trailed from the corners of her lips.

Shock and denial froze me in place.

“You didn’t,” I whispered.

Lyall chuckled, and his dark blood sprayed from his mouth.

“We’re life-bound,” he said, confirming my fears. “Kill me, and you kill her.”

Horror and disgust and shock warred.

“You spineless, cowardly monster—”

“Do it,” Kalli rasped. “Ryder, do it.”

Suddenly, the heat and stickiness of Lyall’s flesh turned my stomach. My own heartbeat pounded in my ears, and my vision darkened. There was no way out of this. There was no way to win—

I couldn’t kill her. I couldn’t let Lyall live.

I couldn’t save Elle.

Without releasing my grip on Lyall’s heart, I looked over my shoulder, toward my mate. Though her face was wet with tears, her eyes shone with determination.

“ Do it!” Kalli screamed.

Beside Elle, Kieran’s face was grave. If I killed Lyall, he wouldn’t lose only one parent.

I gazed down at Lyall’s cold, smug face. He was proud of how he had trapped me .

Was the only way to kill a monster to become one?

???

Elle

Bloodied and broken but radiating dominance, Ryder’s amber gaze bored into Lyall’s. Kalli screamed at her son to do it—to end Lyall no matter the cost.

But the cost.

Ryder would never forgive himself. Even if he found the strength to kill Lyall, the burden on his soul would be too great to overcome. He couldn’t do it.

I wouldn’t let him do it.

My mind raced. Despite the pack magic, Lyall had found a way to intervene in this challenge. I could do the same. I had to do the same.

I studied the grenade in Kieran’s hand, and a plan took shape.

Kieran had stopped me from trying to use it to blow up the forcefield because it would’ve fired far too close to the containers of power, but the pack magic—it could read intentions.

If it could sense who wanted to pass through the hall versus who wanted to stop the fight, then surely it would let my grenade pass through.

I didn’t want to stop the fight—not really.

I wanted to stop Ryder from making a sacrifice no one should have to make.

I didn’t want to save him from Lyall’s claws and fangs.

I wanted to save his soul.

I called upon my chimera. Though the tug at her power made me dizzy, I had never played a sport in my life. I needed her athleticism to make my aim true.

I couldn’t do this on my own.

But I could do this .

As eager to help her mate as I was, my chimera's strength warmed my tired muscles.

I took a deep breath and reached out a hand to Kieran.

“Trust me,” I begged.

Reluctantly, he handed me a grenade. The bronze inlaid device threatened my connection to my chimera, but I held onto her strength with all my will and pulled the safety tab on the grenade.

“As soon as I let go of this,” I told my friends, “take my hand. We need to make a chain.”

Melanie balked. “You’re going to throw that thing? Shouldn’t we take cover?”

If you’re wrong, you’ll kill them all—

Closing my eyes, I shut down the thought and listened to the ancient instincts guiding my actions. When I opened my eyes, my vision was sharpened, and my eyes undoubtedly glowed. I met the frightened gazes of each of my friends.

“No matter how Lyall packages it,” I vowed, “this power was mine. No matter who tries to take it, it will always be mine.”

“You think you can control the blast,” Kieran realized.

Part of me wanted to apologize for having the arrogance to even suggest such a thing, but I remembered the look in Anassa’s eyes as she fought her final battle, and something in me just knew.

I could do this.

I swallowed. “I know I can.”

Kieran reached for Melanie’s hand. She cursed under her breath and took Bo’s, who offered me a small but assured nod. The bronze leaked the strength from my body, and exhaustion beckoned.

There was no more time to hesitate.

“Close your eyes,” I instructed.

As I reeled my arm back, I screamed my wrath and rage and fear. My cry ripped out of my throat and warped into a roar my ancestors would’ve been proud of .

The grenade passed through the forcefield, and Ryder’s amber gaze met mine.

As my throwing hand wrapped around Kieran’s, I reached out my other one to my mate, who raced for me like hell itself was on his heels.

As he sprinted, my breath caught. Finally, his hand clasped mine, and I let its rough calluses and warmth ground me.

I let his presence wipe away the lingering effects of the bronze.

Through the screams of terror, my sharpened hearing caught the tap of the grenade as it hit the ground. Magic erupted from the small obsidian and bronze ball. Closing my eyes, I reached for the power like a phantom limb. Under the force of such power, time stretched.

The magic was angry—so terribly angry.