Page 78 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

Nate is off to the side, unprotected now and fending off three wolves at a time. He’s holding his own—but barely. I can’t imagine that he could last much longer. And he doesn’t see what’s coming for him.

Victor bowls into the group and sends his packmates scattering, almost as if this were something the group of them had planned. Nate, who wasn’t ready for an attack from that direction, tries frantically to shake him off—but it’s too late.

Victor pins him to the ground. I can see blood where he digs his claws into Nate’s shoulders and hips.

He lowers his jaws to Nate’s neck.

Then his eyes cut to me.

The implication is clear.

It’s you or him.

47

NATE

Thepainissuddenand gutting. I feel as if I’ve been staked to the ground. I can’t even try to throw him off of me—any movement just draws his claws in deeper.

He’s going to kill me.

The thought that comes to my mind is for the others.

Will they be better off when I’m gone?

They all have magic. Will they be able to do something to get away when they don’t have to worry about me? Maybe I’ve been holding them back.

Honestly, in this moment, I hope I have. If it means they can escape, my death will be worth it.

Then something collides with the wolf on top of me.

He’s ripped from me—actually ripped. I feel his claws tear into my skin. I bite back a howl of agony. But I know this is my chance, so I stagger to my feet.

Emlyn.

She’s in her wolf form, and I know it’s her by her size. She’s so much smaller than me that it physically hurts to see her wrestling that brute. I want to get back into the middle of it, but I can hardly keep my feet.

“Don’t,” Wilder calls.

I’m not sure if he’s talking to me. He could be talking to everyone here.

“It has to be the two of them,” Wilder says. “It always had to be the two of them. We have to let this happen.”

That goes against everything in me, every instinct I have. I can’t think of any good reason why it should have to be Emlyn facing off against Victor at the end. Why can’t I kill him for her?

Milo comes limping over to me. He’s in his human form now, and he drops to his knees beside me. Blood is streaming down his back.

I look at him, then at Emlyn. Surely he’s not going to stand for what Wilder’s saying.

But Milo is nodding. He rests a hand carefully on my shoulder, maybe restraining me, maybe supporting himself. His face is white. “I think he’s right,” he says. “She needs to do it. She needs to know that she can.”

Yeah. That’s all well and good, but if he pins her, I’m going to have to try to do something, even though it’s all I can do not to pass out. I’m dizzy with blood loss. Looking at Milo, I can see that he’s in the same state I am.

Wilder is holding the rest of the wolves off of us. But I’m not sure they would attack anyway. Between one thing and another, several of them are just as badly off as we are. A few might even be dead. And the rest are sitting back and watching the fight between Victor and Emlyn.

They know he wants to kill her personally.

Of course it was always going to come down to this in the end.

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