Page 3 of The Wolf and the Chimera
I was educated enough on werewolves to know what the word meant. If he was right, I held the other half of Ryder’s soul, and he carried the other half of mine. We were destined to be together.
Destiny held the reins on my life more than I did.
Don’t let it,the woman urged.Shift and leave him.
“I’ll make it right,” Ryder promised. “I’ll make everything right, but you have to fight the sorceress. You have to stop her.”
The sorceress,I realized.That’s who’s in my head.
Memories flashed by faster than I could grasp them. Back in Cordelia’s throne room, power like nothing I had ever experienced had sprung to life. My bones had snapped, and my flesh had transformed. Battle and bloodshed had overwhelmed the opulent, golden and white hall. All that magic had rushed into my body because of a single name—the name of the sorceress currently in my mind.
Medea.
The sorceress the entire world feared had infiltrated my mind.
Don’t flatter me,she crooned. Her voice sharpened.It’s time to leave.
“Elle,” Ryder whispered. Fear brightened his eyes. “Elle, please come back.”
I opened my mouth to tell him I wanted to, but I only chuffed. Back in the High Witch’s throne room, Medea had been the one to transform me into this monster.
I had no idea how to turn back.
Don’t worry, pet,Medea assured me.I’ll get us back into that pretty, little human form.
Before I could respond, agony dropped me to my knees. As magic heated my blood, my bones popped, and my skin shrank. Every shift of organs, flesh, and blood ached down to my very soul. As my magic—Medea’s magic—bellowed in my ears and in my veins, my eyes burned. Throughout all of it, I couldn’t even scream. I couldn’t gasp or whimper.
I had never felt such power, nor had I ever felt more powerless.
When my vision returned, I was on my knees on the cold, concrete floor, naked. I tried to shield myself, but my limbs were not my own. When Ryder walked closer, Medea’ssatisfaction was palpable.
Don’t—
Medea ignored me.
As she raised my head, light blared from my burning, stinging eyes. Ryder hissed and shielded his face. In my mind, I screamed and raged, but physically, I did nothing. As Medea turned my body toward the stairs, I was certain I had escaped one tomb only to fall into another. I would be at her mercy until she decided otherwise.
Five witches lined the narrow, dimly lit stairs.
They wore plum, velvet cloaks instead of the royal blue of the High Witch’s court. Though their skin was wrinkled, and their bodies were frail, magic thrummed from them in a steady pulse. Under their breath, they murmured a spell that sent a shiver down my spine.
Medea and I gasped in shock.
She cursed.Their spell—I didn’t sense it past the rush of power. I’ve been caged too long—
Medea and I had been too swept up in our own magic to hear the spell that now hummed against the walls of the staircase. As the witch closest to me, with burgundy lips and haunting gray eyes, pointed a single, knobby-boned finger in my direction, relief swelled in my chest. With every word of their incantation, the magic roaring in my blood quieted more and more. These witches had come to stop the sorceress, and judging by the steely determination in their eyes, they would succeed.
As everything went dark, Medea screamed.
Chapter Two
Ryder
Elle crumpled to the ground, and I lunged for her. Dark splotches still danced in my vision, but instinct guided me. I caught her shoulders and head before they hit the concrete and listened for the steady beat of Elle’s heart.
Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.
I raised my gaze to the Coven of Hecate Elders, blinked away the rest of the temporary damage to my sight, and fought to keep my lips from curling into a snarl. The hair on my arms bristled, and my teeth ached from the urge to shift. My wolf didn’t care for the way they’d incapacitated my mate, regardless of the fact she’d been under the thrall of an ancient, evil sorceress.
