Page 58 of The Wolf and the Chimera
“Where are Kieran and Elle?” I repeated.
She threw her hands up. “I don’t know! Did you not hear what I just said? Some of us have beenworkingtoday, not babysitting your mate.”
When she shoved past me, I moved out of her way. My gaze caught on my brother approaching the chateau from thetrees.
“There you go!” Melanie called to me. “He’s right there. You accosted me for nothing.”
I waited for one heartbeat, then another, for Elle to appear, but she didn’t. Dread and anger brought my wolf to the surface. As Kieran approached me carrying a basket of berries, his friendly smile withered.
“I know,” he said. “She’s not here, but she’s safely in her room.”
“Why did you leave her?” I demanded. “The snacks in your mansion weren’t good enough? You had to go gather some more?”
Kieran frowned. “She was in pain. I got these to help her.”
My stomach sank. In our time together, Elle had never complained of any human ailments or illnesses.
“What kind of pain?” I demanded.
“You know,” he murmured and stepped closer. “Womanly pain.”
Though I wanted to believe Elle was merely suffering from cramps, every instinct told me this was a ruse.
Lyall be damned, I never should have left Elle in someone else’s care.
Unwilling to waste another second on Kieran and praying to the gods that she would be there waiting for me, I spun on my heel and headed toward the room Elle and I shared. Kieran hurried to keep up at my side.
“Where are you going?” he demanded.
“To find her,” I bit out.
“I told you she’s in your room,” he countered. “Why would she lie?”
Though I didn’t want to divulge Elle’s secrets, I realized protecting them might have been more dangerous.
“She thinks her parents are alive,” I said in a low voice, “and that the sorceress can take her to them.”
Kieran’s voice echoed through the hall.“What?”
I glared at him, and he snapped his mouth shut.
“Why didn’t you tell me that?” he asked.
“I didn’t think she would actually trick you to sneak away,” I said. The truth was hard to swallow. “I underestimated her.”
“Maybe not,” Kieran said. “Maybe she wasn’t lying.”
I threw open the door to our room. Though Elle’s scent lingered inside, it was starkly empty, and her winter coat was gone.
Kieran cursed.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “She played us.”
Though my hands shook, I swallowed my panic and forced myself to think.
“She can’t leave through any of the property’s entrances and exits without getting stopped by patrolling wolves,” Kieran said.
“Yeah,” I grumbled, “unless the sorceress takes over and blasts them out of the way.”
