Page 38 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

I don’t know what to say. I saw my pack turn against me when they realized that I was part Moon Caster. But really, the members of my pack never changed. They always hated Moon Casters. They always tried to kill Moon Casters.Iwas the one who changed.

How shocking must it be to think you know somebody, and then to watch him change so fundamentally and horribly into someone you don’t even recognize? I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for Regine.

“It makes sense that she’s skittish about using magic,” I say aloud. “I probably would be too.”

“Sure, it makes sense,” Wilder says. “But she’s also been holding us back for a long time. You saw how you and I were able to turn things around, Emlyn. What if everyone in my coven had been prepared to react to an attack that way? We’d have been a lot stronger.”

“But what if Regine is right?” Milo says. “What if the whole coven working together like that reallywouldhave been too much power, and you’d have gone the same way as the Moon Drinkers?”

“No,” Wilder says. “The Moon Drinkers—they didn’t accidentally overdo it in the name of self-defense. They were trying spells I’d never touch in my wildest daydreams. Blood magic, for one thing.” He looks at me. “You mentioned seeing sigils painted in blood?”

I nod. “Nate saw them too.”

“Disgusting,” Nate contributes.

“Yeah, they are,” Wilder says. “Blood magic is kind of a shortcut to power. Drawing sigils in your own blood allows you to pull more energy from the moon than you would otherwise be able to, because you’re making yourself vulnerable—opening yourself up to it. Most of us save that for really rare occasions and only use a little bit of blood. It’s the kind of thing you might do once in a lifetime. But the Moon Drinkers use other people’s blood, not their own, so they can do as much as they want.”

“That’s sick,” I say, horrified.

“Yeah. That’s what they are. They’ll kill an enemy and use his blood to perform magic, to increase their own power. So, you see, there’s nothing similar between that and a coven using magic to defend itself.”

Nate nods, apparently satisfied, and takes a big bite of his meat.

Milo looks less certain. “Where’s the line?” he asks. “Is it possible to overdo it on moon magic if you’re not abusing blood sigils like that?”

“It probably is,” Wilder admits. “I don’t actually know where the line is. But I think it’s worth my time to try to find out.”

“I agree,” I say.

“And if we do this,” Milo says, “If we test how far we can go together—”

“Then we make ourselves strong,” Wilder says. “And someday, we’ll be able to take on the Moon Drinkers.”

It’s quiet around the table.

“That’s a lot to ask of the three of you,” Nate says.

“There are four of us,” Wilder says.

“You know I can’t do magic.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t fight,” Wilder says. “I can’t imagine us taking on the Moon Drinkers without you. They know how to defend against magic, but they don’t know what to do with a wolf attack.”

“You don’t think so?”

“It was part of Lord Enorio’s plan for the shifters and the Moon Casters to turn against each other,” I say. “That tells me he wasn’t up to the challenge of dealing with either of us on his own. He hoped we’d wipe each other out.”

Wilder nods. “That’s right,” he says. “And with hybrids in the mix, I think there’s never been a better time to train ourselves to take the fight to him.”

22

“Idon’tseethepoint of hunting in the city,” I say. “There’s nothing to kill for food here.”

“We’re not hunting,” Wilder says patiently. “It’s a supply run. I told you this when we left the restaurant.”

“So why did you bring me?” I ask. “Why not Milo or Emlyn? I assumed when you asked me to come that you wanted to go hunting too.”

We’ve been crashing in Giuseppe’s old place for about a month now, and in that time, we’ve kind of fallen into a pattern. We’ve set up watch shifts, so we know there’s always someone on guard. I’ve been in charge of most of the hunting—obviously—as well as checking the perimeter every now and then to make sure we’re not under any kind of threat.

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