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I’d wanted to bandage him, but he’d flat-out refused, insisting we didn’t have enough time. I knew the truth. He was saving our medical supplies in case Kyla or I needed them.
He couldn’t help himself.
Part of being mated to an Alpha wolf was going to be picking my battles. My stomach fluttered at the thought. I was really doing this.
It turned out, giving up a slice of my independence was worth it if it meant I got Nathaniel in return. I had no doubt our mating would be full of fireworks as we learned what both of us would and would not accept, but…
I was looking forward to it.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Nathaniel opened the door and stepped into the chamber. I did the same. His hand swung out and landed against my chest, stopping me from moving any closer. I opened my mouth, but he’d frozen in that eerie way the wolves sometimes had, his head angled in a manner that was all predator.
I followed his gaze.
Well, this wasn’t ideal.
“What. Is. That?” Nathaniel ground out.
I gaped. “Something that I thought only existed in myth. I shouldn’t be surprised that Taraghlan has a fucking Chimera in his castle.”
We both stared at the creature, as if the longer we stared like idiots, the greater the chance it would fade out of existence.
It didn’t.
The Chimera lay on its side, its lion head snoozing, while its goat head eyed us with a malicious expression I never would’ve imagined a goat could make. Its tail was the body of a snake. A snake wider than my thigh, with its own head watching us. Its tongue darted out, tasting the air, and I shivered. Snakes had always creeped me out.
“I’ll take the lion,” Nathaniel said grimly. I didn’t bother arguing. From the considering look he was giving me, I had a feeling it was taking everything in him not to tie me up and leave me in this corridor while he dealt with all the parts of the Chimera.
I stepped toward the Chimera, and Nathaniel slid his body in front of mine. “Wait,” he said. “We need a plan.”
“I have a plan. I’m going to stab at it with my knife. If that doesn’t work, I’ll shoot it.”
His mouth twitched, but he managed to flatten it, sending me a stern look. “Now that I have my mate, I’m not going to lose her.”
Half of me wanted to call him out on thatmy matestuff. The other half wanted to jump him. Ugh.
From his slow smile, that’s what he’d been going for.
I ordered my hormones to settle down. “We, uh, need to watch out for the snake head. It’ll be vicious and fast.”
“Okay. You circle around behind it and distract the goat head. I’ll take the lion and then help you with the snake if it’s still alive. Ready?”
All this talking was just making me antsy.
“I’vebeenready.”
Nathaniel dragged me to him, and his lips crashed down on mine. “Stay alive.”
Letting me go, he turned and stalked toward the Chimera. I followed him.
The lion head opened its eyes as we approached, each of us from opposite sides. The goat’s eyes flashed red, and it bared its teeth at me in a distinctly un-goat-like way. Nerves fluttered in my belly. There was something about it that freaked me out.
I wasn’t sure exactly why I was practically tiptoeing toward the Chimera. It knew I was there. I pulled my A-F and slid closer.
The tail lashed out.
“Evie!”
