Page 104 of The Wolf and the Chimera
Elle chuckled coldly. “Really? You’re going to argue about specifics? You lied byomission.”
I clamped my mouth shut and ground my teeth. I fought to think, but the pounding in my head, mixed with my desperation and my wolf’s despair, made it impossible.
“You left Freya behind,” she snapped. “You left your best friend, your firstlove, and you didn’t go back for her.”
Her words hollowed me completely.
“I know,” I whispered. My gaze drifted to the ground. “I know I’m no better than Lyall.”
Elle gripped my jaw and forced my chin up. I met her unyielding, vividly red gaze.
“No,” she countered, “you’re no better than the woman who made you so screwed up, who broke you before you ever got started. You’re no better than Kalli.”
I couldn’t escape her burning, incessant gaze, nor could I run from the truth of her words. Tears traced down my cheeks.
“Elle,” I whispered, “Ellie, stop.”
Her grip tightened. “Admit it. Admit you’re no better than the woman you’ve blamed your every mistake on.”
I couldn’t find the words—I couldn’t find the will. I couldn’t do anything but bear her judgment.
My judgment.
The realization jolted me.
No matter how angry Elle got, she would never spit such vitriol. She would never try to hurt someone. She wouldn’t hurt me.
“This is an illusion,” I said.
Anger twisted Elle’s lovely features.
“Does it matter?” she demanded. “It may be an illusion, but I’m not lying.”
No.
No, it didn’t matter because this illusion—all of them—had shown me every ugly thought I believed about myself. They had shown me every nasty thing that held me back.
“Maybe I’m no better than Kalli,” I said, “but I want to be. And-and I still have the chance to be.”
I reached for Elle’s hand that gripped my chin. When I clasped my fingers through hers, she didn’t fight my grasp. She only stared unflinchingly into my eyes.
“But I’ll never get the chance to be better,” I said, “if I don’t let go of the past. If I don’t forgive myself and…and Kalli.”
Elle studied me a moment longer, then a smile curved her lips. She squeezed my hand.
“Wake up, Ryder. I’m here.”
I blinked, and the world once again shifted. When I opened my eyes, I laid in the sandy pit of the coliseum with Elle at my side. I inhaled her jasmine, sandalwood and lilac scent.
Real. She’s real.
Her face split into a teary-eyed grin, and I pulled her into my embrace. As the soft, luscious curves of her body pressed against the hard planes of mine, lust and instincts roared in my ears.
Claim, claim, claim…
I needed to tell her. If I had learned anything from the hell Circe had put me through, it was that I needed to tell Elle about the claiming.
Still smiling, she pulled back to face me. The delicate tendrils of her hair shifted over her shoulder, and the sunglowed behind her like a halo. My breath caught.
