Page 55 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

“Whoa!” Wilder positions his body between the two of us, one hand flung out toward both of us. “Knock it off! This isn’t helping!”

No, itisn’thelping. I can’t believe we’re wasting time on this bullshit when Emlyn is being held captive somewhere! I try to rush around Wilder—

I’m thrown back as if I’d tried to run into a wall.

Milo is straining to get to me too, and in a heartbeat, I understand what’s happening. Wilder is keeping us apart by magic.

“Stop it!” he yells. “You’re not going to do her any favors by killing each other. Are you insane?”

Honestly, it’s all I can manage not to shift right now. The wolf within me is only aware of Milo as a threat. The fact that we’re friends, that we really like each other and consider each other family—that’s nothing right now. That doesn’t matter at all. The only thing that matters is that he’s standing between me and Emlyn, and I could rip his throat out for it.

I strain against the hold Wilder has on me, hating him, hating his stupid fucking Moon Caster power, hating the absoluteaudacityhe has to try to keep me away from Emlyn when she wasmine first—

From the other side, Milo charges.

I turn my attention to him—but I’m not the one he’s charging at.

He bowls into Wilder hard. The two of them fall to the ground, fists swinging, each of them struggling to find somewhere to punch the other.

It only takes a moment to understand what happened. Whatever Wilder was doing to hold us off, Milo must have found a way through it. Wilder’s trained him too well, and Milo understands too much of his own magic and what he’s capable of to be held off like that anymore.

Whatever. I don’t care. They’ve left me free to make my escape!

I start toward the door again—

This time, what holds me back isn’t magic. It’s a hand on my ankle, pulling my leg out from under me and sending me crashing to the floor.

I roll onto my back and see that it was Wilder who pulled me down. Doubling my legs up, I kick him off of me. Almost immediately, Milo is on me, fists raining against my torso, and I roll us over so that he’s the one on the ground and punch him hard in the face. “What the fuck is wrong with you!” I yell.

“We have to stop and think!” Wilder yells. His hands are on my shoulders. He’s trying to pull me off of Milo. I shrug him off hard. “We can’t just rush into this without a plan!”

Milo throws me off. I roll away and come up in a squat, my hands out in front of me, looking from Milo to Wilder, ready to fend off either one of them if they try anything.

“Don’t you shift,” Wilder says. “Don’t you fucking shift.”

He’s not looking at me. He’s looking at Milo.

I look at Milo too, and sure enough, he’s trembling. His eyes are dilated. He’s right on the edge.

“Can you do that thing Emlyn did?” I ask. “Block him from shifting?”

“He’s blockingme,” Wilder says through gritted teeth. “We know each other too well. He knows my magic. He’s keeping me out.”

“You’re telling me you can’t use magic against him? Seriously? You’re more powerful than he is. You’ve been training all your life, and he—”

“I understand that,” Wilder says. “What I’m telling you is that if I try to use magic against him, I might hurt him. I might even kill him. I can’t go full strength against him. It’s too dangerous.”

Milo is panting with effort now.

Fuck. This is all my fault. I’m the one who started this fight.

And if he shifts—the fight is going to get a whole lot more serious in a hurry.

I cross the room to Milo’s side and grab him by the shoulders. He takes a swing at me, but I dodge it and then shove him back against the wall.

“Look at me,” I bark.

His eyes are unfocused.

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