Page 6 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)

Elle

As he ran higher and higher up the mountain, I clutched Ryder’s fur with white knuckles. Night had fallen over the forest, and the towering trees obscured most of the moonlight. I loathed being the only one not able to see well in the dark. Shadows lurked among every tree, shrub, and boulder.

The temperature had dropped, and the crisp mountain air burned my throat. Ahead of us, a huge brown wolf—Lyall—led the pack. Kalli, a slightly smaller, sandy brown wolf ran behind us, and two gray wolves ran at our sides.

Apparently, the Sovereign’s estate was in central Canada, and the wolves were adverse to traveling in a car. I had no room to complain, considering I wasn’t the one running, but my muscles ached from clenching Ryder’s sides.

A gust of wind chilled me to my bones, and I gritted my teeth. The wolves growled and ran faster. I wondered if it was cold enough to penetrate their thick fur.

Something hissed.

As Ryder’s growl vibrated through his body, goose bumps bloomed across the back of my neck. Something pale flashed through the trees, and a sickly-sweet scent filled the air.

Vampires.

Dread tightened my chest. I had only run into the blood-sucking monsters once, years ago, but I still recalled their lifeless pallor and crimson-stained fangs.

Dad had saved me, but not before I’d felt their cold touch.

The vampires, maddened by hunger, would’ve bled me dry if Dad hadn’t turned them to ash.

I still had nightmares about it.

Ryder turned sharply away from the vampire, and I slipped on his back but maintained my grip. While I pulled myself back onto the center of his back, another vampire charged us from the other side. This one got close enough, its fangs glinted against its brown, ashy skin.

I screamed.

One of the gray wolves bit its torso and shook it like a chew toy. The vampire roared in agony. Ryder turned again, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to hang on. Cold seeped into my bones. Amid the trees and shadows, a tall figure appeared before us.

“Ryder!” I yelled.

He whipped to the right, but the cold had numbed my hands. I lost my grip and tumbled off his back. As I rolled across the hard forest floor, twigs and rocks bit into my skin. With an oomph, I hit the thick base of a tree. A wolf bellowed.

“Don’t be scared,” a smooth, masculine voiced commanded.

Despite the throbbing in my head and my left hip, I scrambled to my feet. A vampire with jet black hair and ghastly skin stood before me. Lavender half-circles hung under his eyes, which were darker than night.

I whipped my head and frantically searched for help, but the wolves were overwhelmed by vampires.

Three vampires, lightning fast and wreaking of death, fought Ryder.

Still in his wolf form, he fought back viciously with his own quickness and deadly teeth.

As I watched him lunge, claw, and leap, worry flipped my stomach.

I sucked in a breath and looked away. I couldn’t afford to be distracted.

He will survive, I told myself. He has to.

The vampire in front of me grinned and revealed his yellow fangs. I fought the urge to run. He wasn’t actively drinking my blood now, but his predatory instincts might take over if he chased me.

“How lovely you are,” he purred, “and how delicious you smell.”

Yet another perk of being the chimera, I thought sarcastically. The magic in my blood makes me smell great to vampires.

It was what had drawn those vampires to my hotel years ago.

“Surely you didn’t take on a pack of wolves to eat me,” I said in a blessedly steady voice. “You’re far too mature for that, right? You wouldn’t let your bloodlust guide your actions like a newly turned juvenile.”

With my powers on lockdown, I would never be stronger than any supernatural creature who wished me harm, so my parents had trained me in another way to survive.

They’d taught me how to appease the egos of the powerful.

The vampire chuckled. “Of course not. I wish you no harm, my dear. I’ve come to make an offer.”

I held his gaze, though growls, hissing, bone-crunching brutality, and spatters of blood surrounded me. I kept all of it in my peripheral vision but pretended it didn’t make me want to curl up in a ball and scream. Dad’s advice rang in my ears.

You decide your fate.

“Really?” I asked.

The vampire stepped closer, and every instinct urged me to run. As the cold worsened, the ache in my hip grew stronger, but I didn’t shift my weight. Doing so would be a sign of weakness, and I would not appear weak in front of this vampire.

“Come with me,” he invited and extended his hand. His fingernails were black and yellow and filed into points. “The High Witch wishes to entomb you, which we both know would be such a waste of your power. With me, you would live as a queen. You would be treasured above all else.”

I wondered why he bothered offering instead of just snatching me. The wolves were thoroughly distracted, and the vampire far outmatched me in strength and speed. Realization made my breath catch.

He doesn’t know my power is on lockdown.

I lifted my chin and considered what he thought I was capable of. I could transform into some kind of beast, but the vampires fought the wolves with bravery. That wouldn’t be enough to make the arrogant bloodsucker before me balk.

Light, I realized.

In direct sunlight, vampires burned to ash.

Was the light I summoned bright enough to kill vampires?

“Treasured?” I asked and pursed my lips. “As a queen or as a snack?”

“As the catalyst for a new wave of vampirism,” the vampire replied. Greed shone in his dark eyes. “Your sweet blood would be the cure to our fatal flaw—one gulp of it would be enough to free us from the shackles of night. You would usher us into new heights of our power.”

“Free us from the shackles of night,” I repeated.

As I sifted through the meaning of his words, my stomach sank. The vampire might have feared my daylight magic outside of my bloodstream, but he coveted the magic that ran in my veins.

“My blood can cure a vampire’s reaction to daylight?”

Though I said it like a question, the vampire’s grin told me it was true.

“Exactly,” he purred.

Logic evaded me. Gone were my plans about how to trick this vampire.

All I could think was that I possessed yet another terrible, world-destroying power.

If vampires were free to hunt during day and night, the loss of life would be unfathomable.

The other supernatural creatures of the world might not be enough to keep them in check .

Close enough to rumble in my chest, a wolf growled behind me.

His breath was hot against my neck. I backed away to get closer to the wolf, but the vampire didn’t hesitate.

He snatched me by my waist and pressed my back against his front.

His body was a cold pillar of strength, and his sickly sweet scent made me gag.

I scrambled to free myself, but the vampire wrapped his hand around my throat. His long fingernails dug into my skin, but the iciness of his touch was what burned. His thumb pressed against my artery, and my blood pounded beneath his touch.

A huge, black wolf stared us down.

Ryder.

Behind him, the other wolves fought the remaining vampires, though ash littered the forest. The wolves would win this fight.

The bigger question was what would happen to me.

“Careful, pup,” the vampire taunted. “One wrong move, and your pretty mate’s blood spills.”

The vampire dragged his thumb over my artery, leaned in, and inhaled my scent. Copper and decay wafted from his breath. Shivers wracked through me, and my stomach rolled in revulsion.

“Your people are dying,” I said breathlessly. “Let me go, and they’ll be spared.”

The vampire chuckled. “You are worth thousands of those grunts.”

More ash littered the forest floor, but there was a wolf missing too. I couldn’t find Kalli’s smaller, brown-haired form. My worry intensified.

Ryder couldn’t lose his mother and his mate in the same night.

Leave, I mouthed to Ryder.

The vampire wouldn’t kill me. Ryder could come back with reinforcements later. Regardless of their shaky relationship, I wouldn’t let him sacrifice his mother to save me .

I only hoped I wasn’t too late.

Go, I mouthed, but Ryder snarled at me and shook his head.

Why did I ever think he would listen to me?

Behind him, a female vampire sprang from the shadows onto the Sovereign’s back.

The mighty wolf twisted and shook the vampire in a deadly grip, but another vampire leaped upon him.

Though the bloodsuckers were no match for him, they kept him thoroughly distracted.

He showed no awareness of his mate’s absence.

“I’ll go with you willingly,” I said softly. Luckily, vampires and wolves both possessed advanced hearing. “Just call off your followers, and I’ll go, all right?”

Ryder shook with rage, and the vampire cackled in delight.

“Sick of the dog smell, eh?” he joked.

As the vampire leaned closer, his grip on my throat tightened. The rot on his breath and the bone-chilling cold of his nearness made me quiver like a leaf in his arms. I loathed the weakness of my knees and the pounding of my heart, but I was powerless to control my own fear.

“Just one taste for the road then,” he whispered.

His fangs grazed my throat, and terror paralyzed me.

I braced myself for the pain of his bite, but it never came.

Something crashed into us, and the vampire fell to the ground on top of me.

I thought his weight would crush me, but he was gone in an instant.

Despite the pain of the impact, I forced myself to my feet and tried to clear my swirling vision.

A small, brown wolf chased the vampire deeper into the forest.

Kalli, I realized. She must’ve been the one to knock us to the ground.

The other vampires noticed their leader’s absence and jetted into the night, except Ryder.

He remained crouched in front of me in a protective stance.

With the danger out of sight, I succumbed to my dizziness and sat on the ground.

Throbbing with pain, I brought my knees to my chest and tried to fight off the remaining shivers from the vampire’s icy embrace.

Bones crunched, but I didn’t open my eyes. I recognized the familiar crunch and pop of a wolf shifting. A second later, warm hands caressed my face.

“Elle,” Ryder demanded. His gruff voice contradicted his gentle touch. “Ellie, I need you to tell me where you’re hurt.”

I opened my eyes and stared into his amber ones.

They glowed in the moonlight. Ryder crouched before me wearing the jeans he’d strapped to himself to change into.

I checked every inch of his exposed skin, but the vampires hadn’t even scratched him.

From what I could see, he was completely unscathed.

I told myself the relief that bloomed in my chest was nothing more than the result of the magic that bound our souls.

“Ellie,” Ryder whispered. His thumb brushed against my cheek, and I leaned into his touch.

“I’m okay,” I promised. “I got a little dizzy from the crash, but it’s already fading, and nothing is broken.”

It was true. My head ached from getting bulldozed by a wolf and vampire, and my hip was on fire from my collision with the tree, but I could breathe normally and move all my limbs. Ryder studied me and nodded, but anger quickly replaced his concern.

“Obviously not,” Ryder growled and stood. “There is something seriously wrong with you. Why do you keep sacrificing yourself to monsters? First, you gave yourself over to the High Witch, and now this?”

Anger and embarrassment cut through my pain. I had so foolishly offered myself to the vampire to save Kalli. I had never considered that no one seemed worried about her because she was sneaking behind the Leader of the vampires to save me.

Never would I ever admit any of that to Ryder Blake.

“Not all of us can wolf out and eat our enemies,” I grumbled. “Some of us have to make sacrifices to survive.”

“First,” Ryder spat and paced in front of me, “I would never eat a vampire. Second, that’s bullshit.”

My anger spun out of my control.

“What’s bullshit?” I yelled. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but every time I use my powers, I am possessed by a crazy sorceress! That leaves me pretty freaking defenseless.”

“If you had an ounce of training,” Ryder argued, “you could’ve freed yourself from that hold without any magic at all. You’ve seen Freya fight. She does just fine with or without her power, and you’re half a foot taller than her.”

Hot, bitter jealousy stole my breath. We weren’t real mates, but it didn’t make his comparison sting any less. From his crestfallen face, Ryder recognized his misstep, but I didn’t want to hear his apology.

“Believe it or not,” I said, “but I’m perfectly aware of my own weaknesses without you explaining them to me.”

Ryder sighed and crouched in front of me again.

“Then let’s do something about it,” he suggested. “Let me train you.”

“Train me?” I repeated.

Ryder nodded. “I can teach you how to fight. Someday, we’ll figure out how to get your magic under control, but until then, you shouldn’t be defenseless. Your only means of survival shouldn’t be negotiation.”

My mother had once tried to convince my father of a very similar argument. She thought he coddled me, but he always promised he’d be there to protect me. There had never been a reason to learn to protect myself.

Now, he was gone, and I wished I had listened to Mom. I wished he was here like he had always promised me he would be.

Wishing didn’t change reality.

“Okay,” I conceded. “I’ll try to learn self-defense.”

“You will,” Ryder amended. His cocky grin returned. “You’ll have the best teacher around.”