Page 7 of The Wolf and the Chimera (The Witch and the Cowboy #3)
Ryder
After running through the night, we finally approached the Sovereign’s estate. Exhaustion weighed on my limbs, but it was nothing compared to the aches and pains Elle had to be experiencing. Though she hadn’t complained throughout our many hours of travel, her injuries had surely left her sore.
Once again, I regretted that the vampires had outrun the other wolves. Those sadistic bloodsuckers had gotten away.
Someday, I vowed to myself, they will pay.
As we crested a grassy, steep hill, sunlight trickles across the horizon. I loathed the Sovereign, but I had to admit that he lived in style.
Hills and creeks and forests surrounded us.
Hundreds of prey animals, wildflowers, and pines scented the breeze.
Only a hundred yards away was Lyall’s sprawling chateau.
It perched on a grassy hill, surrounded by a meticulously groomed garden.
Sandstone walls arched high to the sky, in contrast to its black roofs.
As we grew closer, werewolves journeyed to the structure’s many balconies to greet their Leader.
The wolves accompanying us halted, and I followed their lead. Elle slipped off my back and nearly tumbled to the ground but caught herself by clutching my fur. Worry nagged at me. She had seemed okay, but I didn’t know how susceptible to injuries she was with her powers on lockdown.
“Aren’t you going to shift?” Elle asked.
I glanced around and realized the others, including Lyall, already were changing shapes.
I stepped away from Elle and willed myself back into human form. Though my first shift had been so disorienting, I’d puked for hours, it was now a mere flash of pain. I dug my human feet into the ground to balance myself and wiggled my fingers to orient myself in my other body.
After throwing on my spare pair of jeans, I returned to Elle’s side and eyed the guards—two gray wolves—cautiously. I didn’t trust Lyall or Kalli, but something about those two set me particularly on edge.
They were twins, which was astonishingly rare for wolves. Their blond hair was fixed in matching buzz cuts, and they wore the same style of khaki pants and gray shirts. Even their stern expressions mirrored each other.
Elle watched them.
“Freaky, huh?” I whispered. “You think they have matching PJs?”
Her lips quirked. “They probably coordinate socks too.”
Their blue-eyed gazes homed in on us, and I glared at the twins. I didn’t care we’d been mocking them—I had nearly managed to make Elle smile, and they weren’t about to scare her for it.
“Kowan, Micah,” Lyall ordered, “why don’t you two run ahead and tell the others of our arrival?”
It was a bullshit order, but I was happy to see the twins leave.
I only wished Lyall and Kalli would’ve gone with them.
The Sovereign had changed back into his pristine clothes, though I was satisfied to see they were wrinkled after our hours of travel.
Lyall ran his hand over his white shirt to no avail, and I bit back a childish smile.
Kalli emerged from the trees wearing her paint-stained clothes and a smile.
“Ready?” she asked.
Decidedly not, I thought but nodded. Elle did the same.
As we trekked down the hill toward the chateau, Elle walked alongside me with a slight hitch in her gait.
Though she fixed a pleasant expression on her face, her jaw clenched, and she favored her right hip.
I wrapped an arm around her waist and gently tugged her closer to me.
She stiffened but relaxed into my touch and allowed me to support some of her weight.
When I was little, plenty of my peers dreamed of finding their mates, but the idea had never appealed to me. My parents had been so in love, I never imagined having a mate could be any better than that. When Mom left for Lyall and her new life, I’d pretty much cast mates off as a life sentence.
I couldn’t, however, deny that it felt pretty damned good to be someone Elle could rely on, even if it was just in this moment.
“Wow,” Elle whispered.
Her hushed admission brought me back to the present. As we entered the cobblestone-paved pathways of the garden, flowers, bushes, and various herbs scented the air like the world’s best perfume. As lovely as the colorful arrangements were, their true beauty was their aroma.
I hated how clever the display was. The estate was designed to be magnificent specifically for werewolves and their heightened sense of smell.
“It’s something, isn’t it?” Lyall said and grinned smugly.
I grunted and focused on the werewolves awaiting us at the chateau.
They poured out of the tall entryway and stood on the many steps that led into the building.
A huge fountain was all that separated us from them.
Looking past the lush sculpture of the moon goddess in the center of the fountain, their prying eyes studied Elle and me with curiosity and a touch of trepidation.
I glared at any of them who dared to meet my gaze. Dozens of eyes fell to the ground, and my wolf rumbled in satisfaction.
On the front steps, werewolves shuffled and complained.
A guy a few years younger than me broke through the crowd and grinned.
As I took in his reddish-brown hair and familiar green eyes, my stomach dropped.
The wind shifted, and his scent stuck out among all the others like a beacon. His gaze landed on Kalli.
“Mom!” he greeted. “You guys are back!”
My brother’s gaze met mine, and his boyish smile broadened, revealing one crooked, slightly chipped canine. I wondered who had dared harm the prodigal son.
“I wasn’t sure she would be able to convince you to come or not,” Kieran said.
I hadn’t forgotten my brother. I just hadn’t considered him when I agreed to come to the estate.
My subconscious had known that if I was going to have to endure the favorite son—the legitimate son fathered by Kalli’s mate—I never would’ve agreed to come.
I would’ve done the selfish thing—I would have run as fast and as far as I could.
I glared at him, and Kieran’s smile soured, and bitterness sharpened his face. Though his coloring resembled my mother, his bone structure and height were all Lyall. He looked even more like his father than he had the last time I’d seen him three years ago.
Elle glanced between the two of us. “Is that your—”
“Brother,” I grumbled.
“Don’t sound too excited about it,” Kieran snapped.
The wolves among Kieran shifted in discomfort, clearly unhappy to see their prized heir upset. Kieran’s attention shifted to Elle and lingered there. As he drank her in, his bitterness softened. A growl built in my throat.
“As you can see,” Lyall addressed his pack. “We have returned with guests in tow. Ryder, of the Montana pack, and his mate, Elle, will be joining us for the foreseeable future. While they are here, they shall be treated like pack.”
“As you say,” the werewolves murmured in unison, “so shall it be, Sovereign.”
The formal reply caught me off-guard, but it took Kieran’s attention off Elle, and my wolf settled.
“Now,” Kalli said. “Let us rest our tired feet and dine. ”
Lyall’s pack quickly made a path for us to cut through the crowd and enter the chateau.
It didn’t escape my notice that despite their eagerness to see their Sovereign, none of the werewolves rushed to hug and greet him like those in my pack did when my father or I traveled.
Wolves were touchy, yet these remained oddly stoic.
Only a few spoke to Kalli as she passed, and she initiated each conversation.
As we entered the high-ceilinged foyer, I took Elle’s hand and kept her as close to me as possible. Though the wolves had agreed to Lyall’s command, several of them eyed her with suspicion and interest.
The chateau’s interior was as grand and pretentious as I remembered it to be. Cream walls were adorned with an array of paintings, including some I recognized as my mother’s. The hardwood floor was lined by a pale rug that wouldn’t last a week in my cabin.
Though the hallway was broad, the many bodies lining it made it feel narrow. My skin itched from claustrophobia, but Elle squeezed my hand gently. I glanced down and found her watching me closely.
“This is enough wolves,” she whispered, “to deter even the High Witch.”
She wasn’t wrong. Her observation reframed the situation, and I loosened my grip on her hand. I ran my thumb over hers in silent gratitude.
We reached an archway that led to an iron staircase. The floor transformed into cream textiles, and a ridiculously large, expensive and oddly shaped light fixture hung overhead. Lyall turned left, which led to a dining hall that made my pack’s seem small.
Rows and rows of tables, each filled with far too delicate seats and lacy table runners, filled the space. Lyall walked directly toward the table set against a huge wall of windows, which was placed on a small but noticeable platform. Back home, Dad and I ate among our pack.
It only made sense that Lyall liked to eat above them .
Rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of it all, I pulled out a chair for Elle and sat beside her. Much to my annoyance, Kieran took the seat opposite her, while Kalli and Lyall took the heads of the table. As Elle placed her napkin in her lap, Kieran tracked her every move.
“Want to take a picture?” I growled.
He continued to stare at her. “That would be great. Maybe studying it would help me figure out what she did wrong in a past life to end up shackled to you.”
I clenched my jaw to keep from snapping back at him.
“Kieran,” Kalli warned.
“My name is Elle,” my mate interrupted and stuck out her hand to Kieran. “I’d appreciate if you stopped staring.”
He took her hand and slowly shook it. I fought the urge to snap his damn arm off.
“Why?” he taunted. “You don’t like to see your mate upset?”
“No,” she replied with a sweet smile, “because your continued staring at me is creepy.”
Kieran threw his head back and laughed. “Fair enough.”
“You’ll fit in just fine around here,” Lyall promised Elle.
I rolled my eyes. As a chimera, Elle was an anomaly, yet she always fit in wherever she found herself. It was me, son of the Sovereign’s mate, who would have a tough time navigating this place.