Page 76 of The Wild Moon
The thought filtered through us as another howl echoed from nearby.
It was him, we realized. Our Soulmate. The Soulbond was stronger than ever under the Wild Moon, and though we longed to run free and stretch our legs, we couldn’t help but be intrigued by this call. A second, fainter call from the north reached out to us, snagging our interest as well.
We paused, intrigued by this new call. It was different from our Soulbond. That was warm and golden and a sense of completeness. This new call was cool and purple and spoke of power. Something we understood well. The strongest ruled.
Pawing at the ground, we whimpered with indecision. What should we do? Where should we go? For so long, we’d waited for the Wild Moon and the Soulbond, to fulfill that calling denied to us by that pesky two-legged part of us.
But now, this new scent tickled our nostrils, urging us to come to it. To find out what it promised. We were curious. We wanted to explore. The Wild Moon would last for hours. We could find our mate under the silver light later.
Turning north, we ran onward, spurred by some unknown sense of urgency. Wehadto get to whatever it was.
We crested a ridge with ease and ran downward, the trees thinning. We reached a meadow filled with wildflowers and tall grasses, swaying gently under the breeze, silver moonlight giving the open space an ethereal glow.
Two steps into the meadow, we came to a halt, looking around warily. Something was off. Testing the air, we scented what it was.
Mate!
Taking a few steps forward, we hopped onto a rocky outcropping, surveying the area around us.
Ahead, between us and our goal, six wolves stood, waiting. Watching.
One of them was Johnathan, and we howled at the moon with joy. Our mate was here! We could be Soulbound at last and together explore this new power. Together we could rule, as it should be.
We took one step forward, and I launched an all-out attack on my wolf. We split, our minds tearing as I struggled to fight her. To convince her that something waswrong. That it wasn’t what it seemed.
I lost the first battle as we hopped down from the rock, trotting forward a few steps, but my frantic efforts were gaining ground. I had the stronger willpower. My wolf was powered by the Wild Moon, nothing more. I could break it. I could break her.
I had no other choice.
Throwing all my defiant, stubborn, angry will at her, I slapped my wolf’s personality right in the end of her sensitive snout. She yelped, and the hammer blow I got in return was worse than any punches I’d taken in the ring. It left me reeling, and we moved forward some more, slow paces.
This is wrong!I shouted the words mentally.He’s not here for you or us. Look at him. He hasn’t howled back. He hasn’t come forward. It’s a trap!
My wolf didn’t believe me. She wanted to go to him. To nuzzle snouts and enjoy the warmth of the evening underneath the wild moon. Together. A pair. She wanted to forge the Soulbond.
Look around. This isn’t what you think, I screamed, even as my wolf looked up to the sky, drinking in the power of the Wild Moon.
We merged once more, but even as we did, something was different. The struggle to tear us away from our Soulmate had given us time to think, to look. We watched the other wolves, our mate's pack. We saw the way their claws dug into the dirt. Their eyes were focused on us with preternatural intensity.
The focus of everyone was on us. But they were wary. Prepared. Our two-legged mind was right. This wasn’t a welcome party.
It was a trap.
Even as we thought it, the wolves began to fan out, blocking our path northward. They weren’t going to join us, we knew now. They were here to stop us.
Chapter Forty
The giant black beast at the center, his fur the opposite of ours, darkness to our light, the one who should be our mate, bared his teeth and growled.
We were shocked. He had bared his teeth. Atus. A challenge to hismate. Angrily, we snapped at him, making our displeasure known. It was clear now he’d somehow fought the Soulbond. Was actively denying it. How, we didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. We couldn’t let it matter.
If we stayed, we would be in danger. At his mercy, and judging by the snarling, snapping threats from the rest of his pack, there wouldn’t be much mercy at all. Just death.
They were here to kill us, nothing more. We knew we couldn’t take on all six, not together. They were bigger and stronger than us.
Run.
We’re not sure where the thought came from, but it was a smart one. It was the only idea we had. With the power of the Wild Moon behind us, we would run for our lives. It was our only hope.
