Page 126 of The Wolf and the Chimera
Sneering viciously, Kowan gripped my throat and leaned closer. As he inhaled my scent, his breath was hot against my mark, and my stomach rolled. I reached for my well of power, but it was gone, like it had never been there at all.
“Look at this,” Kowan whispered. “I have Ryder’s pretty mate beneath me.”
Micah chuckled, and I thrashed.
“What would the smug bastard do if he could see you now?” Micah said.
Hunger and hatred gleamed in Kowan’s eyes. He squeezed my throat tighter. His claws dug stinging cuts intomy skin.
“I heard you two laughing at us that day we met,” he growled. “Are you laughing now, bitch?”
As I bucked against his weight, fear threatened to overwhelm me.
“Do you think your mate will laugh when I describe it to him?” Kowan continued.
He looked at Micah. “Hold her down.”
You can’t let him do this,I said.You can’t let him dothis.
You shouldn’t have defied me,the sorceress replied.This will teach you not to go snooping through my thoughts.
“What are you doing?”
As I recognized the familiar male voice that came from the open doorway, relief blossomed, though I feared what the sorceress might do to him—what she might makemedo to him.
“Bo,” I croaked.
“Get off her,” my friend ordered. “Your job was to sedate her, not-notthis.”
Your job was to sedate her.
Had the Handmaidens been the ones to tell Lyall the truth, or had it been Bo?
My heart cracked, and my expression crumpled. Above me, Kowan laughed, and inside, the sorceress echoed it.
You reallyaresuch a clever thing,she purred,but not clever enough. You’re playing a centuries-old game, pet. Are you ready to concede defeat?
“Look at her,” Micah said. “The stupid bitch really believed you!”
The sorceress’s power loomed, ready to seize me completely. I wondered why she hadn’t done so already. Though she had said she wanted to punish me, surely, she wouldn’t let Lyall drain us of our power and hand us over to the High Witch.
Micah chuckled, and Bo stalked forward. From the ground, his shoulders seemed even broader, and his heightwas even more menacing. His usually gentle expression was twisted by disgust.
“What is wrong with you two?” he asked.
“We’re already using its power,” Kowan quipped. “Might as well use the body too.”
“Waste not, want not,” Micah added and snickered.
Through the disgust that turned my stomach, I made sense of their words.
“That’s why you’re freakishly strong,” I whispered. “That’s what Lyall is using my power for—he injected you with it.”
That any part of me had been given to these brutes filled me with revulsion so strong, bile rose in my throat.
They should burn for taking from us,the sorceress crooned.Say the word, and I’ll destroy them.
The sorceress had never asked for permission before, not even to play some twisted power game.
