Page 16 of The Wolf and the Chimera
Chapter Five
Elle
As he ran higher and higher up the mountain, I clutched Ryder’s fur with white knuckles. Night had fallen over the forest, and the towering trees obscured most of the moonlight. I loathed being the only one not able to see well in the dark. Shadows lurked among every tree, shrub, and boulder.
The temperature had dropped, and the crisp mountain air burned my throat. Ahead of us, a huge brown wolf—Lyall—led the pack. Kalli, a slightly smaller, sandy brown wolf ran behind us, and two gray wolves ran at our sides.
Apparently, the Sovereign’s estate was in central Canada, and the wolves were adverse to traveling in a car. I had no room to complain, considering I wasn’t the one running, but my muscles ached from clenching Ryder’s sides.
A gust of wind chilled me to my bones, and I gritted my teeth. The wolves growled and ran faster. I wondered if it was cold enough to penetrate their thick fur.
Something hissed.
As Ryder’s growl vibrated through his body, goose bumps bloomed across the back of my neck. Something pale flashed through the trees, and a sickly-sweet scent filled the air.
Vampires.
Dread tightened my chest. I had only run into the blood-sucking monsters once, years ago, but I still recalled their lifeless pallor and crimson-stained fangs. Dad had savedme, but not before I’d felt their cold touch. The vampires, maddened by hunger, would’ve bled me dry if Dad hadn’t turned them to ash.
I still had nightmares about it.
Ryder turned sharply away from the vampire, and I slipped on his back but maintained my grip. While I pulled myself back onto the center of his back, another vampire charged us from the other side. This one got close enough, its fangs glinted against its brown, ashy skin.
I screamed.
One of the gray wolves bit its torso and shook it like a chew toy. The vampire roared in agony. Ryder turned again, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to hang on. Cold seeped into my bones. Amid the trees and shadows, a tall figure appeared before us.
“Ryder!” I yelled.
He whipped to the right, but the cold had numbed my hands. I lost my grip and tumbled off his back. As I rolled across the hard forest floor, twigs and rocks bit into my skin. With an oomph, I hit the thick base of a tree. A wolf bellowed.
“Don’t be scared,” a smooth, masculine voiced commanded.
Despite the throbbing in my head and my left hip, I scrambled to my feet. A vampire with jet black hair and ghastly skin stood before me. Lavender half-circles hung under his eyes, which were darker than night.
I whipped my head and frantically searched for help, but the wolves were overwhelmed by vampires. Three vampires, lightning fast and wreaking of death, fought Ryder. Still in his wolf form, he fought back viciously with his own quickness and deadly teeth. As I watched him lunge, claw, and leap, worry flipped my stomach.
I sucked in a breath and looked away. I couldn’t afford to be distracted.
He will survive,I told myself.He has to.
The vampire in front of me grinned and revealed hisyellow fangs. I fought the urge to run. He wasn’t actively drinking my blood now, but his predatory instincts might take over if he chased me.
“How lovely you are,” he purred, “and howdeliciousyou smell.”
Yet another perk of being the chimera,I thought sarcastically.The magic in my blood makes me smellgreatto vampires.
It was what had drawn those vampires to my hotel years ago.
“Surely you didn’t take on a pack of wolves to eat me,” I said in a blessedly steady voice. “You’re far too mature for that, right? You wouldn’t let your bloodlust guide your actions like a newly turned juvenile.”
With my powers on lockdown, I would never be stronger than any supernatural creature who wished me harm, so my parents had trained me in another way to survive.
They’d taught me how to appease the egos of the powerful.
The vampire chuckled. “Of course not. I wish you no harm, my dear. I’ve come to make an offer.”
I held his gaze, though growls, hissing, bone-crunching brutality, and spatters of blood surrounded me. I kept all of it in my peripheral vision but pretended it didn’t make me want to curl up in a ball and scream. Dad’s advice rang in my ears.
