Page 75 of The Wolf and the Chimera
Though Elle and I were mates, we hadn’t claimed each other yet. I hadn’t even mustered the courage toexplainwhat claiming entailed—how it wasn’t just a sharing of blood, but a binding of souls. Once we were claimed, Elle and I would share a mental and spiritual link.
A link that could bind Elle to me instead of the sorceress.
All this time, I hadn’t realized the key to protecting my mate—I had failed her.
But a claiming wasn’t meant to be a survival tactic—it was a choice.
Elle had been given so few choices in her life.
If I told her that a claiming could blockade the sorceress, she would claim me not for herself, but to protect us all. If I didn’t tell her what it could do and she found out I had kept it from her, she would always assume I had bound myself to her only for her protection.
My mouth was suddenly as dry as ash, and I swallowed. Elle’s fingers brushed mine.
“How am I supposed to harness my power?” Elle asked.
“You do what we should’ve allowed you to do long ago,” Imogen said. “You train.”
Elle eyed me, and I forced myself into the present. I couldn’t let her suspect anything, not until I figured out what to tell her.
“How?” Elle repeated. “Back in our realm, I can’t touch my power without the sorceress.”
“You can,” Circe corrected, “but not until you’re strong enough. That’s why you’ll train here.”
I wondered what kind of training Circe proposed. The cunning in her eyes assured me it would be brutal.
But so are our enemies.
“My father will notice our absence soon,” Kieran argued, “if he hasn’t already. If we don’t return quickly, I fear what he’ll do in retaliation.”
My brother’s gaze shot to mine, and I grasped what he was saying.
“If we don’t come back,” I realized, “he’ll punish my pack to hurt us.”
Kieran nodded.
“Fear not, young wolves,” Circe vowed. “Time moves differently here. Weeks on my island feel like hours in your realm.”
Elle studied her parents.
“If that’s true,” she said, “how long did our time apart feel like to you guys?”
Tears pooled in Lee’s eyes. “You don’t want to know, Ella-Bella.”
No wonder he’s so desperate to keep her here and alive.
Elle shuddered, and I released her hand so she could hug her father. Imogen joined the embrace, and the rest of us allowed the family their moment of reconciliation. When Elle pulled away, I spoke.
“I think my mate’s had enough training for today,” I said.
Circe nodded. “I’ll show you to your rooms.”
Before I could protest her method of travel, she snapped her fingers, and light flashed once again. When I blinked away the brightness, I leaned against a sandstone wall and swallowed bile. Beside me, Elle stood with drooping wings and clutched her stomach. Though Circe maintained her easy grace, the others crouched in various states of disarray.
I studied the twilight that poured through the arched windows and illuminated the hall. Tapestries of long-ago battles hung on the walls, and nearby, a fire crackled.
“How the hell does this place keep changing?” Kieran demanded.
“And where did the Minotaur go?” Melanie asked.
