Page 76 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

He screeches to a halt, snapping and snarling at the air between us.

Milo is behind me. I feel him moving, his back sometimes brushing against mine, and occasionally I see him in periphery. I know he must be using the combat magic we learned together, because occasionally, I see him stooping down to pick up rocks.

A tangle of wolves is fighting a few yards in front of me. I know Nate must be one of them, but in the darkness, at the speed with which they’re moving, I can’t tell him apart from the others.

Wilder is standing with both his hands high in the air. My shield posture looks like I’m actually warding Victor off with my hands, but Wilder looks like he’s calling down the moonlight from the sky, and for a moment, it’s possible to imagine that I can actually see it radiating out away from him. None of the wolves have succeeded in getting within three feet of him.

And none of them are attacking me.

Even as I hold Victor off, the others are focusing all of their attention on my mates. Why? I thought I was the one the pack wanted dead.

Because Victor has to be the one to kill me. Because he won’t be satisfied—this won’t be a victory for him—unless he proves he can do it.

He’ll lose all his standing with the pack if someone else has to save him from me.

And that means he’s the only one I need to worry about. As long as I can keep him off me, I don’t even have to pay attention to the rest of the pack. None of them are going to hurt me.

I feel my way across the grass to Wilder, with Victor stalking me all the way. When I reach him, I hold out my hand and catch his.

Immediately, the power flowing through me doubles.

My head clears.

Victor staggers back several feet.

“Milo!” I yell.

Nate breaks free of his fight—I see him clearly now. He runs to join us.

Milo takes up a position on my left. One of his hands is full of rocks. The other is brandishing a large stick.

The wolves are still all around us. They still outnumber us at least five to one.

But for the first time, this is starting to feel like a fair fight.

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“Combat,”Wildersays.“I’mon defense.”

It’s probably all he can manage to choke out, given the enormous amount of power that’s funneling through him. I know the feeling. But I’ve never taken to combat magic quite as well as Milo has, so I’m going to have to fall back and follow his lead here.

Milo scoops up a handful of rocks off the ground and tosses them in the air, setting them whirling in a cyclone. The funnel grows, getting bigger and bigger.

I’m not sure what he’s doing, exactly, but I can feed it. I gather more rocks and toss them toward him, where they’re caught up by the funnel.

Several of the wolves are just watching this, seemingly hypnotized.

But not all of them.

Victor is watchingme.

I don’t want the fight to come down to the two of us. I know it’s weak, but I want to let someone else take him out if possible. After everything that’s happened over the past couple of days, I no longer have faith in my ability to put my attraction to him aside. If the two of us get too close, if we’re body to body, rolling around on the ground together, will I really be able to do what needs to be done?

I don’t know. And I can’t take any chances.

“Drop!” Milo yells.

I feel his command in my mind. The pressure of it is almost like an alpha’s command—and yet, it’s different because I have a choice. I can follow or not follow. It’s as if I can physically feel how vital what he’s saying is, though, so I drop to the ground. Beside me, Nate hunches down too, and even Wilder crouches low.

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