Page 20 of The Wolf and the Chimera
Kalli emerged from the trees wearing her paint-stained clothes and a smile.
“Ready?” she asked.
Decidedly not,I thought but nodded. Elle did the same.
As we trekked down the hill toward the chateau, Elle walked alongside me with a slight hitch in her gait. Thoughshe fixed a pleasant expression on her face, her jaw clenched, and she favored her right hip. I wrapped an arm around her waist and gently tugged her closer to me. She stiffened but relaxed into my touch and allowed me to support some of her weight.
When I was little, plenty of my peers dreamed of finding their mates, but the idea had never appealed to me. My parents had been so in love, I never imagined having a mate could be any better than that. When Mom left for Lyall and her new life, I’d pretty much cast mates off as a life sentence.
I couldn’t, however, deny that it felt pretty damned good to be someone Elle could rely on, even if it was just in this moment.
“Wow,” Elle whispered.
Her hushed admission brought me back to the present. As we entered the cobblestone-paved pathways of the garden, flowers, bushes, and various herbs scented the air like the world’s best perfume. As lovely as the colorful arrangements were, their true beauty was their aroma.
I hated how clever the display was. The estate was designed to be magnificent specifically for werewolves and their heightened sense of smell.
“It’s something, isn’t it?” Lyall said and grinned smugly.
I grunted and focused on the werewolves awaiting us at the chateau. They poured out of the tall entryway and stood on the many steps that led into the building. A huge fountain was all that separated us from them. Looking past the lush sculpture of the moon goddess in the center of the fountain, their prying eyes studied Elle and me with curiosity and a touch of trepidation.
I glared at any of them who dared to meet my gaze. Dozens of eyes fell to the ground, and my wolf rumbled in satisfaction.
On the front steps, werewolves shuffled and complained. A guy a few years younger than me broke through the crowd and grinned. As I took in his reddish-brown hair andfamiliar green eyes, my stomach dropped. The wind shifted, and his scent stuck out among all the others like a beacon. His gaze landed on Kalli.
“Mom!” he greeted. “You guys are back!”
My brother’s gaze met mine, and his boyish smile broadened, revealing one crooked, slightly chipped canine. I wondered who had dared harm the prodigal son.
“I wasn’t sure she would be able to convince you to come or not,” Kieran said.
I hadn’t forgotten my brother. I just hadn’t considered him when I agreed to come to the estate. My subconscious had known that if I was going to have to endure the favorite son—the legitimate son fathered by Kalli’s mate—I never would’ve agreed to come. I would’ve done the selfish thing—I would have run as fast and as far as I could.
I glared at him, and Kieran’s smile soured, and bitterness sharpened his face. Though his coloring resembled my mother, his bone structure and height were all Lyall. He looked even more like his father than he had the last time I’d seen him three years ago.
Elle glanced between the two of us. “Is that your—”
“Brother,” I grumbled.
“Don’t sound too excited about it,” Kieran snapped.
The wolves among Kieran shifted in discomfort, clearly unhappy to see their prized heir upset. Kieran’s attention shifted to Elle and lingered there. As he drank her in, his bitterness softened. A growl built in my throat.
“As you can see,” Lyall addressed his pack. “We have returned with guests in tow. Ryder, of the Montana pack, and his mate, Elle, will be joining us for the foreseeable future. While they are here, they shall be treated like pack.”
“As you say,” the werewolves murmured in unison, “so shall it be, Sovereign.”
The formal reply caught me off-guard, but it took Kieran’s attention off Elle, and my wolf settled.
“Now,” Kalli said. “Let us rest our tired feet and dine.”
Lyall’s pack quickly made a path for us to cut through the crowd and enter the chateau. It didn’t escape my notice that despite their eagerness to see their Sovereign, none of the werewolves rushed to hug and greet him like those in my pack did when my father or I traveled. Wolves were touchy, yet these remained oddly stoic. Only a few spoke to Kalli as she passed, and she initiated each conversation.
As we entered the high-ceilinged foyer, I took Elle’s hand and kept her as close to me as possible. Though the wolves had agreed to Lyall’s command, several of them eyed her with suspicion and interest.
The chateau’s interior was as grand and pretentious as I remembered it to be. Cream walls were adorned with an array of paintings, including some I recognized as my mother’s. The hardwood floor was lined by a pale rug that wouldn’t last a week in my cabin.
Though the hallway was broad, the many bodies lining it made it feel narrow. My skin itched from claustrophobia, but Elle squeezed my hand gently. I glanced down and found her watching me closely.
