Page 70 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

NatesetsEmlyndownby the pile of clothes we left in the bushes. I drop to my knees, rifle through it, and grab a shirt. I don’t know if it’s Nate’s or Milo’s, but it doesn’t matter.

I thrust it at her. “Put this on,” I say. “Quickly.”

She doesn’t question me. She pulls the shirt over her head. It hangs to her mid-thighs, making her look as if she’s wearing a dress.

“Are you hurt?” Milo demands. His hands are already checking her body—squeezing her arms, traveling over her torso, looking for injuries. “Did they hurt you at all?”

“I’m fine,” Emlyn says. “I thought for sure that they were going to kill me. But they didn’t even hurt me.”

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Victor slapped me,” Emlyn says. “And the chains were a little tight. That’s all.”

I take her hand in mine and look at her wrist. Sure enough, it’s chafed and raw.

I feel a rush of rage that’s bigger than myself. I want to run back out there and kill all of them. I want to summon an earthquake or a cyclone or a bolt of lightning. Hell, I want to start a fire and burn their land to the ground. I don’t need magic to make them feel the anguish I feel at the knowledge that they hurt my mate.

“Don’t,” Emlyn says. Her hands are on my chest, her gaze searching mine. “You know I can feel what you feel, Wilder. Don’t do it.”

“What’s going on?” Milo demands.

“He’s losing it,” Emlyn says. “He wants to go back.”

Nate has taken on his wolf form and is pacing back and forth. He looks just as eager to rejoin the fight as I feel.

Emlyn leans close to me, resting her body against mine. She knows I’m not going to push her aside or charge through her. She knows that as long as we’re connected like this, she’s stopping me from going anywhere.

“Nate’s the one you’ve got to worry about,” I tell her. “If anyone’s going to get physically violent, it’s him. I can fight from here.”

“Let’s just leave,” Emlyn says. “I don’t know how we got lucky enough to get out of there without any confrontation, but let’s not let that go to waste, okay?”

“She’s right,” Milo says. He’s looking around uneasily. “I’m sure they’ve noticed she’s gone. And we don’t know how long the conflict with the Moon Drinkers is going to last.”

“Not long,” Emlyn says. “I saw them fighting as I was running away. I don’t know what a couple of Moon Drinkers were thinking, attacking the pack like that. Didn’t they know how badly outnumbered they would be?”

“They’re after you,” Milo says. “And—I guess me too if they knew I was here. We think they’re looking for hybrids.”

Emlyn shakes her head. “Why?”

“It makes sense,” I say. Thinking about the logical answer to this question is helping me to calm myself down a little. I can feel my muscles relaxing, my hands unclenching. “Hybrids have more power than Moon Casters or shifters. You’re the most powerful thing left in the world. I don’t know whether they want you on their side or if they just want to kill you. But either way, knowing you’re out there, out of their reach, would piss them off. Moon Drinkers love power.”

“So much that they would go into a fight where they obviously weren’t going to win, just for a chance at getting hold of me?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “Maybe we should try to find out.”

“Or maybe you just want to go back there and keep fighting,” Milo says. “No. You were the one who was most hesitant, Wilder. You were the one who wanted to stop and think before we acted.”

“That was you,” I counter. “I wanted to wait for the moon. The moon is with us now just as much as it’s with the Moon Drinkers.”

“I want to go,” Emlyn says. “Please.”

I look at her. She may not be hurt, but I’m starting to realize just how badly rattled she is by everything that’s happened.

“Victor’s alive,” she says.

“We saw him,” Milo says.

“We won’t let him get his hands on you,” I say.

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