Page 79 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

“The chimera may be pretty,” Freya conceded, “and she may have already bespelled Ryder, but please tell me she hasn’t convinced you to stray from our plans with a bit of flirting.”

I glowered. “Really? You think I’m hesitant to turn her over to the most powerful witch in the world because she’spretty?”

“Keep your voice down,” Freya insisted.

“Ryder’s convinced she’s his mate,” I said more quietly. “Is that really the kind of thing someone could fake?”

“We don’t know what she’s capable of,” Freya argued.

“True,” I admitted, “but she hardly has any magic.”

Freya shook her head. “She must be able to disguise it somehow. The Sovereign, The High Witch, Marie Laveau, my own mother—none of them would’ve been interested in her if such a thing were true.”

I mulled over her words. “She was wrong to trap you in Madame LaLaurie’s mansion, but we barely know her. How can we just trade her for our safety?”

“How can wenot?”Freya implored. “We made a Blood Oath, Walker. There are complications to breaking such things.”

I dragged a hand through my hair. Though she made a valid point, I couldn’t bring myself to agree with her.

“How can we risk Cadence?” Freya asked. “My coven? Do those things matter enough for you to act rationally if we—if your own life does not?”

Freya twisted away from me but not before I caught the tears in her eyes. Guilt eclipsed my frustration.

“Sweetheart—”

“Tonight,” Freya snapped, “I am astrally projecting the High Witch.Ihave too much on the line not to.”

“Freya,” I argued, and she paused. “Just give us a day. We have time until our deadline to get the chimera to the High Witch, if that’s what we decide to do. Let’s just take a day to figure things out.Please.”

“Okay,” she agreed and sighed. “Okay.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Freya

Istared into the campfire to burn the tears I refused to shed. Mere feet away, my salvation slept. In and out, the chimera breathed steadily. She didn’t twist or turn but maintained her elegance even in slumber.

For a moment, I envied her. I had slept poorly since my mother died. Though I had hoped eliminating her killer would’ve provided me peace, it had only added another face to my endless nightmares.

Across the fire, Ryder growled.

“Dear Goddess,” I muttered, “if you’d beenthispossessive with me, I would’ve had you neutered.”

“I know you, Frey,” Ryder said in that rough, low voice. A hint of his wolf had crept into it upon finding its mate and refused to leave. “I know what you’re thinking, but I won’t let it happen.”

“You’d rather Walker die,” I said, “you’d rather let me and my coven and Cadencedieall for a girl who hates you?”

“She’s my mate,” he said matter-of-factly.

“She’s tricking you,” I argued.

She must be.

Ryder snarled. “My wolf could never be tricked into misidentifying its mate.”

“Wolves also don’t mate outside their species,” I argued. “How do you explain that?”

“There’s a wolf in her,” Ryder insisted and shot the chimera a longing glance. “I know it.”

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