Page 154 of The Wolf and the Chimera
“Zero." Kieran ducked and swiped. "Five, three, zero."
As they fought, I continued to type, to no avail. The enemy wolf shoved Bo so hard, he crashed into the far wall. Kieran leaped on the wolf’s back, slashing his torso to ribbons, but the wolf didn’t abate. Reaching, he dug his claws deep into Kieran’s back.
“Zero, Five,” Kieran rasped.
As I typed in the last two digits, the light on the safe flashed green, and Bo tore the enemy wolf off Kieran. Blood and gore seeped out of the wolf’s stomach, and he did not rise. Kieran offered his friend a grateful nod.
Melanie popped into the room and grimaced at the dead wolf but quickly focused on us. Though a bruise bloomed on her cheek, most of the blood spattering her clothes didn’t appear to be hers.
“What is taking so long?” she demanded.
“We got into the safe,” Kieran explained.
Swallowing my bile, I opened the safe’s door and frowned. Kieran and Bo stepped over the dead wolf and crowded behind me.
“What the hell?” Melanie breathed.
On the safe’s glass shelfs were two obsidian, round objects.
“Are thosebombs?”Kieran asked.
“I think—” Bo said, “I think they’re hand grenades.”
I studied the small, round objects and their metal tabs. Cursing under my breath, I picked one up, and familiarwarmth flared in my palm, followed by a wave of dizziness.
“That bastard,” I whispered. I set the grenades on the counter. “These aren’t just grenades—they’re made withmypower.”
With shaky hands, I handed them to Kieran.
“I would carry them myself,” I explained, “but Lyall made them with inlaid bronze. It’s chimeras' weakness, like silver is to wolves.”
“Are you sure we should take them?” he asked.
"I'm not leaving him with any part of me," I replied. “Let’s go."
Bo hesitated, then steadied me with an elbow as I stepped over the fallen guard. Bo and Kieran grabbed the two obsidian containers from the lab, and Melanie picked up the one from the room I had been contained in.
As I reached the battered doorframe, my blood turned to ice.
Wounds covered Ryder. Tatters of flesh hung from his torso, and one of his ankles was bent at an awkward angle. Though Lyall’s hair was ruffled, and his once crisp shirt was bloodstained, he was otherwise unscathed.
“The wolfsbane is slowing Ryder’s healing.” Melanie swallowed. “And I think your power is strengthening Lyall’s.”
“We have to do something,” I whispered. “We have to do something!”
I raced toward my mate but hit an invisible wall of power and stumbled backward. Holding the grenades with one hand, I pounded my fist against the invisible wall with my other. A scream tore free from my throat. Kieran tried to pull me back, but I just kept throwing myself against the invisible forcefield. One goal drove my chimera and me wild.
I have to get to him.
Kieran cursed.
“This reallyisa formal challenge,” Melanie murmured.
“It’s pack magic,” Bo said slowly. “The Sovereigns are in a formal challenge—no one and nothing can intervene.”
I turned to Bo. “But—but you got across.”
“Because I wasn’t trying to stop the fight,” Bo said.
