Page 109 of The Wolf and the Chimera
“Ryder,” I said, “I havenoidea what you’re talking about.”
He frowned. “You don’t?”
I shook my head, and a stunned laughter slipped out of him. As my mind raced to understand the significance of this moment, blood rushed in my ears.
“If we claim each other,” Ryder explained, “the bond between our souls will be solidified. Claiming creates a psychic link between mates that allows them to talk to each other without speech. Circe believes that it will be enough to tetherus to each other and protect you from the sorceress.”
Faster than I could sort them, my thoughts raced.
For so long, I had wanted to be free from Medea, and the answer lay in claiming my mate?
Something I wanted anyway?
“I should’ve told you,” he said in a rush. “You had a right to know. I just didn’t want you to make a decision in hopes of protecting anyone, and I didn’t know how to tell you about the claiming without explaining that part—”
I shoved down the hope that sparked to life inside me. I still needed answers.
“And before that,” I said, “the only reason you didn’t tell me is because you were scared of losing control?”
He sighed. “You barely acknowledged any feelings between us were real, Ellie. I didn’t want to…to throw that out there knowing you wouldn’t want it.”
I realized I had never taken a moment to consider if Ididwant the claiming.
I hadn’t needed to.
Though I had made excuse after excuse for holding him at arm’s length, I wanted Ryder more than I had ever wanted anything.
Hurt loomed in his amber eyes. I gently clasped his face with my hands and smoothed the furrow in his brow. When he finally looked at me, I had never seen him so tentative.
So vulnerable.
“I don’t deserve you,” he said. “I knew it then, and I know it now.”
Hearing him say the words and knowing he believed them to be true broke my heart, but I stayed strong. For him.
“What did you see in the dreamscape?” I asked softly.
He shuddered. “All the people who’ve failed me. All thoseI’vefailed.”
I brushed my thumb over his lips.
“We’re shifters, Wolfie,” I reminded him. A hint of a smile tilted his lips. “We have long, long lives to make thingsright. You haven’t failed anyone.”
Clasping the back of his neck and his wet tendrils of hair, I pulled him closer. In the small space between us, our breath mingled.
“You haven’t failed me,” I promised him. “And if you want to claim me, you’re not forcing me to stay. Ichooseyou, so stop trying to leave a door open for me to leave your life. I’m not going anywhere.”
I’m not Kalli,I willed him to see.I’m not Freya. I’m here.
Ryder shuddered beneath my touch, and tears burned my eyes. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
For so long, I had pushed him away. I had fueled his belief that the women in his life wouldn’t stay. Though my heartbeat roared in my ears, I needed to fix that rift.
“You’re my mate.” Leaning forward, I rested my forehead against his and coiled my hands more tightly in his hair. I poured every emotion bleeding from my heart into my words. “You’re mine, Ryder, and I’m not going anywhere.”
As if assuring himself I was real, his hands found my waist, and his thumbs brushed over my ribs. When he opened his eyes, they blazed with such feeling and power, they were golden.
“I love you,” he said, “not in any duty or fate-bound way, but because you’reyou.I loveyou,Ellie. I’m yours, and you’re mine, and I love you.”
