Page 76 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

A bloodied, battered woman wielding an assault rifle crept from the bridge. A bruise bloomed on her cheek, and her blonde hair was matted with blood. Her aquatic body suit was torn to hell, and she limped badly. Despite all this, her aim was true. Wolves dropped like flies around us.

“Bitch,” the Alpha snarled.

He ran at her, leaping out of her bullets’ paths and wrenched the gun from her grip. Grabbing her by the scruff of her neck, he held her up and snarled.

“The chimera comes with me,” he announced, “or she dies.”

The chimera gasped, and her dad echoed it. The wolves paused their attack, and we stood once again in menacing silence.

“I’ll go,” the chimera sobbed. “Just leave my parents alone, and I’ll go.”

Time passed in seconds that felt like years.

Ryder met the chimera’s mother’s stare, and the woman nodded. The werewolf twisted through the remaining wolves in his path, grabbed the chimera, and leaped for the smaller boat.

“Hurry!” Freya demanded.

The chimera’s father launched another attack, distracting the bewildered wolves further. With Freya at my side, I picked up Cadence and ran. Together, Cady and Freya swirled a sandstorm and entangled the wolves. As we jumped over the yacht’s edge, Arion shifted midair back into his cat form. No sooner had we crashed into the boat did Ryder fire up the engine. As I struggled to right myself in the crazy speeds, wind whipped at my face, and the chimera’s sobs filled my ears.

Ryder steered the boat with the chimera clutched to his side. He didn’t notice how she thrashed against his hold.

“You monster,” she screamed. “Take me back!Take me back.”

Ryder’s face was an unreadable mask of calm. I met Freya’s wide-eyed stare.

What the hell do we do now?I silently asked her.

As unsure as I was, she shook her head. Clearly shaken as well, Cadence sat wordlessly with Arion purring in her lap. Soon, the yacht was a speck on the horizon behind us. I didn’t know anything about boats, but the one we were in now was fast as hell. Its seats were plush and leather, and it glided over the water like it was glass.

“I think you can let her go, Ryder,” I said gently. “What’s she going to do? Jump overboard?”

Ryder growled and glared at me with ferocity that put any other nasty look he had thrown my way to shame.

“Please,” the chimera said quietly. Tears still trekked down her pretty face. “Please let me go.”

Ryder’s blazing glare softened, and he released her. She stumbled to sit by my side, between Freya and me. I tried andfailed not to study her. She was so different from any of the monsters I had imagined. Though I wasn’t an expert at sensing magic, she radiated very little power.

What could the High Witch or the Sovereign want with her?

“Going overboard would be a very bad choice,” Freya said in a clipped voice and crossed her legs. “We would come back for you, or those beasts would find you.”

Ryder growled and glowered at me once more. He eyed the small distance between me and hismate.I didn’t understand the full meaning of the word, but I understood jealousy. I held my hands up in surrender.

I don’t want your damn mate who I’m not even sure how is your mate, dude.

All wolf, Ryder huffed and looked away.

The concept of mates had been explained to me in one of the many witch classes I had been subjected to—Sociology of Supernatural Creatures. Because werewolves were blessed with the duality of different forms, their souls were split in two and placed into different bodies. Most of them spent their whole lives searching for their other half. Over the last hundreds of years, less and less wolves found their mates.

Part of me pitied Ryder. What should’ve been the greatest discovery of his life had turned into a nightmare.

The chimera’s voice was steady, but her tears kept flowing. “I’m not a fool.”

Freya scoffed. “Oh, I know that. It was quite the trick you pulled on me back at LaLaurie’s Mansion.”

“Wait,” I said. “This is the girl who sent you there?”

I looked at the chimera with fresh eyes. She noticed my stare and laughed pitifully.

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