Page 40 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

I wait until they run past me—and then I fling myself out into the road and attack them from behind.

Only one of them even registers my attack. The other two are too focused on the promise of meat. He wheels to face me, but he’s human, and my claws shred through him easily.

For a moment, I consider leaving him there for his fellows to eat. Let them have a dinner, the fucking cannibals!

But the wolf in me can’t leave the fight unfinished. I grab the next one and snap his neck in my powerful jaws, throwing him to the ground beside his friend.

Not that you can really call Ravagersfriendsto each other. No more than a parasite is a friend to another parasite.

Now there’s only one left on his feet. Wilder is holding him at bay with one of his defensive spells. The Ravager struggles against it as if he’s being held in physical bonds. His eyes are rolling in his head.

I shift back to my human form and stride up to the two of them. “Damn,” I say. “That was insane, Wilder. Have you done that before?”

“No,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to try it, though.”

“You’re a little crazier than I thought you were.”

“They didn’t put up much of a fight,” Wilder says mildly. “I’m sorry. I meant to give you something a little more challenging.”

“That’s all right,” I say. “It still scratched the itch. I appreciate it.”

“Do you want to do this one?” he asks. “Or should I?”

“Oh, let me,” I say. “I didn’t get my fill of them at the coven.” I know I’ve been irascible for the past month, ever since our escape from Wilder’s coven, and I know this is the reason why. The wolf within me was provoked that day, and he never got the satisfaction of defeating an enemy.

“All right,” Wilder says. “I’m letting him go.”

I let the wolf rise, readying myself.

He ducks suddenly and rolls to the side. The Ravager lurches forward, but Wilder’s no longer there for him to attack.

When the Ravager spins around, trying to find his quarry, the only thing he finds is my teeth in his throat.

23

EMLYN

“Youdidwhat?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

“Relax,” Nate says, grinning casually as if what he just finished telling me wasn’t the most insanely dangerous thing in the world. “We were never in any danger.”

“You were never in any danger? They wereRavagers, Nate!” My hands move all over his body, checking to make sure he’s really whole and intact. “Do you remember what you looked like the last time you went up against Ravagers? You barely walked away from that fight.”

“Exactly,” he says, looking me deep in my eyes. “Don’t you get it? That’s why I had to fight again.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t lose fights,” he says. “And my wolf, in particular, doesn’t lose fights. We just don’t.”

It’s something I’ve heard him say before, but in the past, I always interpreted it as empty bragging. Now it occurs to me that maybe he’s not being prideful. Maybe he’s just saying something true.

Maybe Nate has never lost a fight.

I run my fingers over his thickly muscled arms, thinking about all the times he’s protected me, and how much safer I feel having him by my side. I’m a good fighter. I’m strong. I don’t like the idea of being dependent on anybody. But I also know that I am much, much safer when I have Nate standing behind me.

His hands find my waist. He lifts me up onto the bar as if I weigh nothing at all. Then he vaults over it himself and comes down behind it, grabbing me and pulling me down with him.

Behind the bar is the only place in the restaurant to go for a little bit of privacy, so I know right away what Nate wants. But even if we weren’t back here, I would be able to see it in his eyes. The hungry way he stares at me makes my body flood with heat and passion.

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