Page 103 of The Wolf and the Chimera
Letting my chimera guide the shift, I transformed into my animal form with a brief flash of pain and tearing of flesh. I flexed the many muscles of the foreign form and raced to him. As I ran across the field, my claws dug into the earth, and my hooves pounded like thunderclaps. With my chimera’sinstincts, I tucked my wings close to my body and raced even faster. The wind whished past me, and soon, I reached him.
My breathing wasn’t even ragged.
With a tug of will and a flash of pain, I shifted into my human form and knelt at my mate’s side. Gently, I brushed a dark strand of hair off his face.
“Ryder,” I whispered. “Ryder, I found you.”
He didn’t stir.
Panic thudded in my heart. As soon as I had found them, everyone else had flashed back to Circe, yet here Ryder was, still before me, completely unconscious.
How much time had passed?
With my chimera’s eyes, I searched my surroundings for the countdown but found only luscious planes. They weren’t as beautiful as they had been only moments before.
After all I had faced, was I too late?
Had I failed?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ryder
I plunged into the abyss for so long, all the screams were wrenched from my throat. Fiery pain ravaged it, and my muscles spasmed from the tension that lined them. My head spun, and I wondered if I truly still fell, or if time and space and reason had also left me. My wolf, however, wouldn’t let me give up. I remained tensed—ready to shift onto my feet, to brace myself—as soon as a floor appeared.
Instead, the world simply warped.
One moment, I was falling, and the next she was there.
In a lovely field, I laid on plush grass, facing my beautiful mate. Though she wore no clothes, sunlight shielded the intimate parts of her body like a divine dress. As I sat up, her ruby eyes glinted with joy.
“Ryder,” she crooned, “I found you.”
I reached for the hand she had caressed me with and planted a kiss on her smooth palm.
“I knew you would,” I said.
Gods, she was beautiful.
Wind toyed with the ends of her long, braided hair, and her plush lips curved into a smile. Even with the light shielding her, I traced the lush curves of her silhouette with my gaze.
“I had to find you,” she continued, “to ask you why.”
I quirked a brow. “Why, what, Ellie?”
She squeezed my hand gently. “Why do you think you deserve me?”
I balked, and she cocked her head.
“Why, Ryder?” she asked. “Why do you think you deserve me after what you did?”
No,I thought.This isn’t real. This can’t be real—
“Answer,” she said with that soft, willful voice of hers. “It doesn’t matter anyway. You’ll never have me, not really. Not after you lied about the claiming. So tell mewhy.”
Inside, my wolf whined its sorrow, and desperation drove my words.
“I didn’t lie,” I countered. “I know I kept it from you, but I didn’t lie.”
