Page 67 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

“There’s barely any moon,” Nate points out.

Wilder shakes his head. “Blood magic is still powerful,” he says. “They won’t want to spill too much of their own blood, but they’ll spill a little. And if they get their hands on one of the wolves…”

“They’ll have a victim to use,” I finish.

We look at each other, taking in the horror of that.

“What are we going to do now?” Nate asks.

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“We’vegottokillthe Moon Drinkers first,” Milo says. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to hold them off and rescue Emlyn at the same time, so we need to get them out of the picture.”

“We can’t do that,” Wilder says.

“Why not?” I demand. Frankly, I’ve been sitting still long enough, and I’m ready to killsomething. I almost don’t care what it is at this point. The wolf in me is frantic, ready to act, ready to start ripping into skin and shattering bones with his teeth. I’ve made him wait so long that when the fight finally does start, he’s going to be almost psychotically violent.

A couple of Moon Drinkers sound like a great target for that violence.

Milo is clearly on my side. “There were only two of them,” he says. “We can handle them. I know they’re Moon Drinkers, but we’ll have the element of surprise—”

Wilder shakes his head. “It isn’t that,” he says. “If it was the three of us against two Moon Drinkers in the wild, I’d say let’s go for it. But here, on the perimeter of the wolf pack’s territory, and with Emlyn’s life on the line, it’s too big a risk. The wolves will hear us and come to investigate, and then wewillbe outnumbered. And at the first sign that something isn’t right, they’re likely to quit fucking around and kill Emlyn.”

I hear the logic in what he’s saying. Still, it takes me a bit of effort—and some deep breathing—to talk the wolf down off the ledge. It felt like it was about to come to a fight at last, and it’s driving me crazy that that isn’t happening.

“We have to dosomething,” I say.

“But Wilder’s right,” Milo says. “Once the fight starts, it starts, no matter where we start it. There’s no way to divide this into two separate battles—one against the Moon Drinkers and one against the wolves. We’re all too close together. As soon as we act, everyone will know what’s happening, and everyone will get involved.”

“And as soon as it starts, we need to be ready to go get Emlyn,” Wilder says. “We can’t all be tied up in fighting right away. That’s why we structured our original plan the way we did, with me defending the two of you and Milo going straight for her while Nate provided a distraction. Our goal was getting Emlyn out. If our goal is fighting our enemies—if getting to Emlyn becomes a secondary goal—we’re taking a huge risk that they’ll kill her before we can get to her.”

This is starting to seem hopeless. “What are we going to do?” I ask again. “It sounds like it’s going to be too dangerous for us to start the fight at all!”

“Yeah,” Wilder says. “I think it is. Obviously, we can’t attack the Moon Drinkers because that will provoke the pack. And if we attack the pack directly, the way we had planned, the Moon Drinkers will add a random element that there’s just no way we can prepare ourselves for.”

“If you’re saying it’s hopeless,” Milo says, “you’d better believe I’m going to try to get her out anyway. The two of you can help me or not, but—”

I grab him by the arm, because I can see his muscles tensing, and I know he’s about to act. “Wait,” I say.

He looks at me in disbelief. “You’retelling me to wait?”

“Just listen,” I say. “We don’t want to attack because we’re not sure what the Moon Drinkers will do once they see us make our move. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s what I’m concerned about,” Wilder says.

“So we wait,” I reiterate. “We make them make the first move.”

Wilder pauses. “That isn’t a bad idea.”

“I can’t believe you’re the one saying we should wait,” Milo says.

I can’t believe it myself. It’s unlike me, and it definitely goes against everything I want to be doing right now. The idea makes me feel as if I have an itch I can’t reach. It’s wrong. I need to beacting, not waiting. The wolf is howling in frustration.

“I think he’s right, Milo,” Wilder says.

“No, I know,” Milo says. “I think he is too. I see the point. If we attack first, the Moon Drinkers are an unknown element. If we wait and letthemattack first, we’ll know what they’re doing, and we’ll be able to incorporate it into our plans. We’ll be able to work around them.”

“And the wolves will be fixated on the Moon Drinkers,” I say. “And the Moon Drinkers will be paying attention to the wolves. There’s a chance we’ll be able to get in and out without either group realizing we were ever there at all.”

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