Page 59 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

I nod. “Magic is the one thing we have over them,” I say. “They’ve got the numbers, and we’d be attacking their territory. I don’t want to do it while we’re in a weakened state, if we can avoid it.”

“I’m glad you get it,” he says.

“And it must be even worse for you,” I say. “I mean, I can shift. But without magic, you’re…”

“Just human,” he finishes.

I wasn’t going to say it like that, but… “Yeah.”

“It’s all right,” he says. “I’m used to it. We all are. When I was with the coven, the new moons were the nights we’d hunker down and just kind of pray that the shifters wouldn’t come for us.”

“They never did?”

“I’m guessing they never really figured out that our strength waxed and waned with the moon,” he says. “There was never any rhyme or reason to when they attacked.”

“If shifters generally don’t know,” I say, “that means Emlyn’s pack probably doesn’t know. They probably don’t know we’re powerless tonight.”

“They almost definitely don’t, if they’ve got her locked up in iron chains,” Wilder says. “There’s no need for that on the night of the new moon. They could tie her up in plain rope and she’d be just as immobilized by it.”

“Do you think that works in our favor or against us?”

“It might be a benefit to us if we have to charge in there early,” Wilder says. “They won’t know we’re powerless. We’ll be able to threaten them—empty threats, but they should be reasonably afraid of us after what happened last time we went up against them. We might be able to catch them off guard enough that we’d be able to grab Emlyn and make a run for it. We might have a chance.”

I nod. I hope it doesn’t have to go down that way. We’ll be better off if we can delay things a few more hours. If we can avoid making our attack for even one day, we’ll have such a better chance.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

Wilder and I are both on our feet immediately, standing back to back. I feel his shoulders shift as his hands come up in self-defense. The wolf in me starts to rise—

Nate jogs into the clearing. “Hey,” he says. “Stand down.”

“What’s going on?” I demand. I wasn’t expecting to see him back so soon. “Is everything okay? Is it Emlyn?”

“She’s fine,” Nate says. “No change. She’s asleep. I almost revealed myself to her—”

“You can’t do that!”

“I know,” he says. “I know. But I saw something else, and I had to let you know.”

“What?”

“Victor,” he says. “Her alpha mate. He didn’t die in that earthquake, guys. He’s still alive.”

I suck in a breath.

“That's why they’ve kidnapped her,” Nate says. “They’re going to kill her after all. They’re going to let him do it.”

Wilder looks from me to Nate.

“All right,” he says. “Let’s move.”

35

EMLYN

“Notevenaverygood witch, are you?”

I don’t look at Harley as I answer. “When did you turn into such an asshole? You used to be a decent guy.”

---