Chapter Twenty-Two
Walker
“W hat did he just say?” Cady whispered.
I was too shocked to answer. Ryder stared at the chimera with adoration so intense, I wondered how he stood the weight of it. She was beautiful, but Ryder looked at her like he saw her soul. His power hung over us like an anvil, and the opposing wolves shook from the force of his will. Even I had understood the command in that growl of his.
Stand down.
Ryder strode across the gently swaying yacht and held out his hand to the chimera. Shaking, the behemoth wolves released their hold on the girl, but she stood still as a statue.
“Mate,” Ryder repeated.
His voice still rang with an Alpha’s authority, but it was colored by whatever wealth of emotion drove his actions. For a heartbeat, the chimera stared at him, utterly transfixed.
Swift as an asp, she kneed him in the crotch, and I cringed. As Ryder doubled over, his hold on the other wolves slipped, and fighting broke out anew.
“Cowboy!” Freya called. “We can’t let them take her.”
My gaze caught on the blood coating her stomach, and I saw red. She caught where my attention had gone and shook her head.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Let’s make it worth it.”
I stuffed down every instinct that demanded I stop everything and try to heal her. I couldn’t drag Freya from this fight even if I tried. Instead, I would join her in it. Through the fray, I spotted the chimera kicking and punching wolves with surprising ferocity. As I launched myself into the frenzy of wolves, a shot pierced the air, followed by another and another.
A bloodied, battered woman wielding an assault rifle crept from the bridge. A bruise bloomed on her cheek, and her blonde hair was matted with blood. Her aquatic body suit was torn to hell, and she limped badly. Despite all this, her aim was true. Wolves dropped like flies around us.
“Bitch,” the Alpha snarled.
He ran at her, leaping out of her bullets’ paths and wrenched the gun from her grip. Grabbing her by the scruff of her neck, he held her up and snarled.
“The chimera comes with me,” he announced, “or she dies.”
The chimera gasped, and her dad echoed it. The wolves paused their attack, and we stood once again in menacing silence.
“I’ll go,” the chimera sobbed. “Just leave my parents alone, and I’ll go.”
Time passed in seconds that felt like years.
Ryder met the chimera’s mother’s stare, and the woman nodded. The werewolf twisted through the remaining wolves in his path, grabbed the chimera, and leaped for the smaller boat.
“Hurry!” Freya demanded.
The chimera’s father launched another attack, distracting the bewildered wolves further. With Freya at my side, I picked up Cadence and ran. Together, Cady and Freya swirled a sandstorm and entangled the wolves. As we jumped over the yacht’s edge, Arion shifted midair back into his cat form. No sooner had we crashed into the boat did Ryder fire up the engine. As I struggled to right myself in the crazy speeds, wind whipped at my face, and the chimera’s sobs filled my ears.
Ryder steered the boat with the chimera clutched to his side. He didn’t notice how she thrashed against his hold.
“You monster,” she screamed. “Take me back! Take me back.”
Ryder’s face was an unreadable mask of calm. I met Freya’s wide-eyed stare.
What the hell do we do now? I silently asked her.
As unsure as I was, she shook her head. Clearly shaken as well, Cadence sat wordlessly with Arion purring in her lap. Soon, the yacht was a speck on the horizon behind us. I didn’t know anything about boats, but the one we were in now was fast as hell. Its seats were plush and leather, and it glided over the water like it was glass.
“I think you can let her go, Ryder,” I said gently. “What’s she going to do? Jump overboard?”
Ryder growled and glared at me with ferocity that put any other nasty look he had thrown my way to shame.
“Please,” the chimera said quietly. Tears still trekked down her pretty face. “Please let me go.”
Ryder’s blazing glare softened, and he released her. She stumbled to sit by my side, between Freya and me. I tried and failed not to study her. She was so different from any of the monsters I had imagined. Though I wasn’t an expert at sensing magic, she radiated very little power.
What could the High Witch or the Sovereign want with her?
“Going overboard would be a very bad choice,” Freya said in a clipped voice and crossed her legs. “We would come back for you, or those beasts would find you.”
Ryder growled and glowered at me once more. He eyed the small distance between me and his mate. I didn’t understand the full meaning of the word, but I understood jealousy. I held my hands up in surrender.
I don’t want your damn mate who I’m not even sure how is your mate, dude.
All wolf, Ryder huffed and looked away.
The concept of mates had been explained to me in one of the many witch classes I had been subjected to—Sociology of Supernatural Creatures. Because werewolves were blessed with the duality of different forms, their souls were split in two and placed into different bodies. Most of them spent their whole lives searching for their other half. Over the last hundreds of years, less and less wolves found their mates.
Part of me pitied Ryder. What should’ve been the greatest discovery of his life had turned into a nightmare.
The chimera’s voice was steady, but her tears kept flowing. “I’m not a fool.”
Freya scoffed. “Oh, I know that. It was quite the trick you pulled on me back at LaLaurie’s Mansion.”
“Wait,” I said. “This is the girl who sent you there?”
I looked at the chimera with fresh eyes. She noticed my stare and laughed pitifully.
“I’m sorry,” she said sarcastically. “I should’ve let her capture me.”
“She could’ve died,” I said and gritted my teeth.
“What do you think is going to happen to me?” the chimera shot back.
Ryder growled.
Guilt panged in my chest. The girl had just lost her mother because of the hunt for her that me and Freya were willing participants in. Things had obviously been life and death for her for a while.
That sort of thing drove people to crazy choices.
As Ryder drove and drove and drove, heavy silence pressed on all of us, interrupted only by the steady splashing of the ocean’s waves against the boat. The chimera’s shoulder brushed mine, and I forced myself not to immediately shift away. She was unnaturally warm.
I reminded myself that this girl had just been brutally ripped from her family and taken into the custody of a guy claiming to be her mate and a handful of strangers. Though I knew I would live to regret it, considering who we planned on giving the girl to, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
She swallowed. “Elle.”
“It’s a pretty name,” Cadence offered.
I smiled at my sister, and the chimera—Elle—offered her own wobbly smile. Freya continued to sulk.
“I’m Walker,” I said, “and that’s my little sister, Cadence. The demon-cat is Arion, our pilot is Ryder, and the…” I stumbled over what to call Freya exactly, “redhead is Freya.”
“Are introductions really necessary?” Freya asked.
I sighed. “C’mon, sweetheart.”
“Why wouldn’t they be necessary?” Ryder asked without turning around.
“The plan has not changed,” Freya said, “just because your condition has.”
Ryder growled. When he turned, his eyes glowed like a wolf’s.
“Maybe we should talk about this later,” I suggested.
Elle patted my leg. “Don’t trouble yourself, Walker. I know why you all came for me. I’ve known you would come my whole life.”
As that chilling sentiment set in, Freya stared daggers at where the chimera had touched me. Something burned in my chest.
Is Freya jealous?
Freya’s gaze snapped to Elle’s. “Fine. You want to play victim?” she homed in on me. “You want introductions?”
Freya held her hand out to Elle’s. “I am Freya Redfern, Heir to the Coven of Hecate, and if you harm a single hair on any of our heads, I will make it your greatest regret.”
Buildings had crumpled under less hateful stares, but Elle showed no reaction at all. She simply looked straight ahead at the endless expanse of sea.
“You’re safe now,” Ryder insisted in a gravelly voice. “No one’s taking you anywhere.”
“I’ve already been taken,” Elle muttered.
“Damn right you have,” Freya agreed.
She pulled the pendant the High Witch had given us from her pocket, and Elle gasped. As she studied the strange creature and its ruby eyes, more tears poured down her cheeks.
“My necklace,” she whispered. Her jaw clenched. “Where did you get that?”
Freya ignored her question and slipped the pendant back into her pocket.
“So it’s confirmed,” she said. “You’re the chimera.”
“And my mate,” Ryder grumbled.
Freya said nothing, and the lapping of waves filled the silence.
“Um,” Cadence began awkwardly, “where exactly are we going?”
“There is a cluster of islands straight ahead,” Freya said. “We can stop there for the night.”
“There,” Ryder agreed.
I squinted, and the barest hint of land came into view. I tried to will my magic to enhance my vision, but after wrangling the kelpie and battling a dozen wolves, I was low on fuel.
“Must be nice to have wolf vision,” I mumbled.
Not so nice to have wolf instincts, I thought and eyed Elle.
Though she hated him, handing Elle over to the High Witch when she was Ryder’s mate complicated things. I wasn’t always Ryder’s biggest fan, but surely the other half of his soul wasn’t totally evil.
As we reached the island’s shores, my thoughts slipped away, and I basked in the paradise before us. White sand gave way to a lush tropical forest. Rocky cliffs, decorated with clusters of ivy, loomed in the distance. Birds cawed and animals scurried from its depths. Even the water had stilled and was a brilliant, clear turquoise.
“Wow,” Cady said.
I nodded in agreement. Ryder shut off the gas, found a couple anchors in the compartment next to the pilot’s seat, and handed one to me. Together, we dropped them into the water. Familiar magic shimmered in the air.
“An invisibility spell,” Freya explained, “in case our new friends come searching for us.”
I jumped into the water and offered a hand to Freya, which she refused. She turned to my sister.
“Care for a ride?” she asked.
Grinning, Cadence hopped on her back. With Arion in her arms, Freya flew to the beach on a summoned breeze. I sighed and lowered my hand, but Elle grabbed it.
“You’re polite,” she said and delicately hopped into the water. “It’s appreciated.”
Ryder growled and jumped in himself. From the beach, Freya frowned and quickly turned away. I grimaced.
“It’s not appreciated by everyone,” I mumbled and walked to the sand.
“Might as well make camp,” Freya said. Ryder grunted in agreement. “Walker, would you mind assisting me in gathering some firewood? Ryder, could you put those hunting skills to use and find us some fish?”
“I’m a wolf,” he grumbled, “not a damn shark, but sure.”
It was the first thing he had said since finding Elle that sounded like himself.
“What am I supposed to do?” Cady asked.
“Help Arion keep watch,” Freya answered with a pointed look at Elle.
More like scream if she tries to run.
Cady nodded in understanding. Freya and I trekked into the beckoning forest. Soon, rough soil and rich plant life replaced the white sand of the beach. As Freya led us farther from the others, I pushed vines and branches out of the way. When sunlight filtered through towering trees, and the forest was abuzz with insects and birds, Freya paused and faced me.
“We need to contact the High Witch,” she whispered.
Dread coiled in my stomach, and Freya was quick to identify it.
“The chimera may be pretty,” Freya conceded, “and she may have already bespelled Ryder, but please tell me she hasn’t convinced you to stray from our plans with a bit of flirting.”
I glowered. “Really? You think I’m hesitant to turn her over to the most powerful witch in the world because she’s pretty? ”
“Keep your voice down,” Freya insisted.
“Ryder’s convinced she’s his mate,” I said more quietly. “Is that really the kind of thing someone could fake?”
“We don’t know what she’s capable of,” Freya argued.
“True,” I admitted, “but she hardly has any magic.”
Freya shook her head. “She must be able to disguise it somehow. The Sovereign, The High Witch, Marie Laveau, my own mother—none of them would’ve been interested in her if such a thing were true.”
I mulled over her words. “She was wrong to trap you in Madame LaLaurie’s mansion, but we barely know her. How can we just trade her for our safety?”
“How can we not?” Freya implored. “We made a Blood Oath, Walker. There are complications to breaking such things.”
I dragged a hand through my hair. Though she made a valid point, I couldn’t bring myself to agree with her.
“How can we risk Cadence?” Freya asked. “My coven? Do those things matter enough for you to act rationally if we—if your own life does not?”
Freya twisted away from me but not before I caught the tears in her eyes. Guilt eclipsed my frustration.
“Sweetheart—”
“Tonight,” Freya snapped, “I am astrally projecting the High Witch. I have too much on the line not to.”
“Freya,” I argued, and she paused. “Just give us a day. We have time until our deadline to get the chimera to the High Witch, if that’s what we decide to do. Let’s just take a day to figure things out. Please .”
“Okay,” she agreed and sighed. “Okay.”