Page 61 of The Wolf and the Chimera
Elle spoke to the sorceress.
Kieran and his friends—now in human form—crept closer to my sides. Elle’s gaze tracked their movements like a predator, and she backed closer to the waterfall. I held up my hand in a silent order for the wolves to stay back.
For a moment, the magic in Elle’s eyes dimmed and only longing shone in their brown depths. Just as quickly, they relit with even more extraordinary fire, and she crouched in a defensive position.
“She doesn’t need your help,” the sorceress said through Elle’s lips. A sinister smile stretched across her face. “She has me now.”
Water splashed behind me, but I glared at Melanie.
“Stay back,” I ordered.
Instead of giving the sorceress the fight she clearly wanted, I kneeled in the icy water before my mate.
“Ellie,” I said, “do you remember when we first met, and you saved me from the sirens’ thrall? It’s my turn to save you now.”
Elle’s face twisted with rage, and she raised her hand to strike me. As I prepared myself to be blasted by magic, her delicate hand closed in a fist. I couldn’t stop my smile. My theory was correct.
No matter what forces tried to control Elle, she could never harm a defenseless adversary.
“You’re still you,” I implored. “And you’re stronger than she ever will be.”
“He will hold us back,” the sorceress growled. “You can’t trust him.”
“I’ve messed up a lot,” I agreed, “but I’m choosing to be better. You can choose too, Ellie. I know you think everything in your life has been out of your control, but you’re stronger than you think. You can choose to stop her. I believe in you.”
Elle’s eyes flickered between their natural brown hue and the glowing red of the sorceress. Fur lined her arms then receded. With the crunch of bones and the ripping of flesh, leathery wings sprang from her back then retracted. A tear slipped down her cheek.
As I watched the battle of wills unfold, I didn’t breathe. In my heart, I knew Elle was strong enough to stop the sorceress.
I only prayed it wouldn’t kill her in the process.
Chapter Eighteen
Elle
As the sorceress’s magic ripped through me like a tidal wave, I stared into Ryder’s eyes and willed her to stop. I imagined myself as a block of ice so thick and strong, no amount of the sorceress’s fire could melt me. For so many years, she had taken from me—my freedom, my magic, my life. Because I was born to be her pawn, I had let her shape me into a scared shadow of myself.
I wouldn’t be scared anymore.
Ryder—crouched and vulnerable and shaking with cold—tethered me to who I wanted to be. Unlike everyone else on this earth, he believed in me. I held onto that belief with every fiber of my being.
I would not fail him.
I would not fail myself.
With one last look into Ryder’s gaze, I squeezed my eyes shut. Instead of running to the recesses of my mind like I normally did when the sorceress took over, I sought her out. In the darkness of my thoughts, she appeared before me.
It was like looking into a funhouse mirror that only reflected the most twisted parts of myself. The sorceress wore my body, but her sinister smile was not my own, nor was the menacing stance she positioned herself in. I lifted my chin.
The sorceress had access to any of my thoughts she wanted.
It was time to return the favor.
I stared at her sweat-lined forehead and willed myself into her thoughts. A cacophony of sights and sounds swallowed me whole.
Wearing gold-plated armor, I stood on a battlefield and blinded my opponents with light. Around me, witches wielded other elements with deadly precision.
I laid in a bed and stared at a chestnut-haired, sleeping man I loved so much, I wondered if my chest would burst from the force of it.
