Page 53 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)
After being confined for weeks, it wanted nothing more than to destroy. It had been shaped and twisted into nothing more than hatred and rage and vengeance. As it grew brighter and hotter, I wrapped my will around it.
I called it home.
Under my touch, its blazing power hesitated. Though heat seared my skin, and light burned my eyes, I reminded the magic and myself that it wouldn’t harm me.
My power wasn’t destruction.
It was light.
As time snapped back into motion, I willed the power to be nothing more than light and opened my eyes—my chimera’s eyes—and led my friends to through the disoriented guards.
I led them toward escape.
The magic in the air strengthened me. As I stepped over the blinded wolves cowering on the ground, still paralyzed by fear and blinded by my light, my steps were sure and true. We reached a set of double doors. As I pushed them open, the light flickered and receded.
“Holy shit,” Melanie muttered.
In the narrow stairway, my friends furiously scrubbed at their eyes. I swayed on my feet, but Ryder caught me by the waist. I didn’t mind the blood, both his and Lyall’s, that coated his skin. Love and pride shined in his eyes, but I pressed a finger to his lips.
“Tell me once we’re out of here,” I said.
“Right,” he agreed.
As the five of us raced up the stairs, the door clattered open. I risked a glance backward and instantly regretted it.
Micah and Kowan chased us.
Faster and faster, we ran up the stained concrete stairs. Though Ryder kept a grip on my elbow, I was still too slow. The power’s strength faded with every step we took. Days would pass before I fully regenerated all the magic Lyall had stolen.
When we reached the landing, we hurtled through a doorway and into a blindingly white hall. Our footsteps left trails of blood in our wake.
Kowan and Micah were mere feet behind us, and behind them, even more footsteps echoed down the hall. We couldn’t risk stopping and facing them. We would be overwhelmed far too quickly.
As we rounded another corner, Ryder swung me into his arms. I wanted to protest—though his wolf's power had patched him together, he was still far too injured to carry me—but the distance between us and the twins grew farther. Around us, the chateau’s walls became more and more ornate.
Artwork splashed on the walls, and rich rugs adorned the floors.
Almost there, I realized. We’re almost to the front entrance.
Once we were in the open, the others could shift. We could get to the ripple—
“Where are you running to?” Micah called. “You think there’s anywhere you can go where we won’t find you?”
We rounded another corner, and the grand foyer came into view. Every heartbeat brought us closer to the gawdy chandelier and pristinely white doors.
“Now that we’ve had a taste of your bitch mate,” Kowan added, “we want more.”
Ryder’s arms around me tensed .
“They’re baiting you,” I told him. “Don’t let it work.”
“I get it now,” Kowan taunted, “after having her magic in my veins and her body underneath me, I would give up the chance to be Sovereign too—”
As he skidded to a stop, Ryder unleashed a growl that shook the chateau’s walls. Ahead of us, Melanie and Kieran echoed it.
“Keep going ,” I hissed at my friends and my mate, but they were lost to their rage.
Dominance coated the hall, and I balked at Ryder.
How did he have anything left after his battle with Lyall?
An auburn-haired woman with blazing green eyes rounded the corner, and I realized it wasn’t Ryder’s magic that halted the twins in their tracks.
It was Kalli’s.
She walked with a limp, and bruises lined her arms. Her face was still bloody and mangled from Lyall’s attack, but she stood with the strength of a Sovereign wolf. The force of it brought Kowan and Micah to their knees.
“Go,” she ordered us. “I’ll deal with these two.”
“Mom,” Kieran whispered.
“Go,” she repeated.
“Come with us,” Ryder commanded.
Though her power didn’t lessen, the rage in her eyes softened. Ever so slightly, Ryder’s chin wobbled.
“Don’t stay here,” he pleaded. “Mom, come with us.”
Mom.
In all the time they had shared these past weeks, he had never called her that.
“Please,” Kieran added. “It’s too dangerous here.”
“No,” she said softly but firmly. “You two must leave. Your place in fixing this mess of a world is out there, but mine is here.”
“How?” Ryder asked. “How can you want to stay with him?”
Such raw, unchecked emotion lined his face .
Did Kalli know that whatever she said next had the power to destroy him?
“I’m the only one left,” she whispered, “the only one left with any chance of checking his power. I have to stay.”
Kalli swallowed. “Fate has deemed that I am to be by his side, and that is where I will be.”
In that moment, I finally understood the she-wolf who had left behind a life and wolf and son that she loved. It hadn’t been mere fear of her abuser or the manipulation of a mate bond, but a sense of duty so heavy, she had been too afraid to look back on what she had lost.
Kalli’s gaze bored into her two sons.
“Wherever you go,” she whispered, “know that I love you.”
Her gaze flitted to mine. “Be safe, Queen of the Wild Things.”
There was no time to question how she knew the title Circe had given me.
There was only time to say goodbye.
“You too,” I said. My lips twisted into a smile, and I added, “Sovereign.”
Animalistic pride and power swam in her eyes, but her ears caught something mine missed, and she cocked her head.
“They’re coming,” she hissed. “ Go.”
Without wasting another second, we hurried out of the chateau’s doors and into the darkness of night.
As the others shifted into their wolf forms, Ryder sat me down and did the same.
When a giant, black wolf replaced the man, I leaped onto his back.
Side by side with a russet brown wolf, one the color of sand, and a gray wolf, Ryder jumped over the grand staircases, past the garden's hedges, and headed into the forest, toward the ripple. The other wolves’ jaws stretched around the rectangular containers.
I gripped Ryder’s fur with white knuckles.
His gait was rough from his lingering limp, and I hoped I wasn’t worsening his other injuries by squeezing him with my legs.
If I was, he didn’t show it. Ryder and the others darted through trees with stomach-turning speed.
Silently, I prayed Lyall hadn’t somehow closed or rigged the ripple.
I wasn’t sure why I bothered. The gods certainly didn’t give a damn about any of us.
With moonlight to guide us, we reached the trickling creek that led toward the ripple. The wolves flew across the creek's bank, sending small rocks and sand flying. The waterfall roared and came into view. Its water glimmered, reflecting the night's shining stars. Hope bloomed in my heart.
So close, I thought. We’re so, so close—
Lithe, feminine figures emerged from the waterfall.Impervious to the water, their royal blue cloaks remained dry. Magic, powerful enough to rival the ripple's thrum,chilled me to the bone.
One of our worst fears hadn't come to fruition—Lyall hadn’t closed the ripple, but I recognized the ancient power pouring from the magical doorway and the catlike movements of the figures strutting through the pool.
“The,” I rasped and forced myself to say the words. “The Handmaidens are here.”
The High Court of Witches had arrived.
The wolves growled and slowed, unsure of where to turn. In our current state, we were no match for the Handmaidens. If we didn’t use the ripple, however, we would never outrun Lyall’s remaining wolves or the witches.
Gods be damned, I thought. Could we have one break?
Through the shadows and trees, a whirl of pink light appeared. The earth rumbled in response to the magic. The branches of trees and stems of grass leaned toward it in greeting. Through the oval swirl of pink light, a girl appeared.
Her sandy brown hair was a wreck, but her smile was bright, and her green eyes glowed with magic.
Cadence Reid outstretched a hand.
Perhaps there was a god or goddess out there who hadn't forsaken us .
“What are you waiting for?” she insisted. “Come on!”
Kieran and his friends hesitated, but Ryder yipped like a pup and ran toward the portal. With the Handmaidens' power breathing down our necks, the others followed him.
As Ryder leaped through the magical doorway, I gripped his fur extra tightly.
Despite everything that had happened, I smiled.
No matter what had been thrown at us, my mate and I were alive, we were with our friends, and we were together.
In that moment and in every moment to come, nothing else mattered.