Page 63 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

“We won’t let it happen again,” Milo says darkly, peering through the bushes at Emlyn’s form. She’s still chained to the tree. Just the sight of her incapacitated like that makes my wolf snarl within me, and it’s all I can do to keep the animal contained. It would be beyond stupid to shift right now—it would give away our position. But the wolf is much better equipped than I am to rip out the throats of my mate’s captors.

Wilder nods. “Milo’s right,” he says. “We’re not going to let that bastard live this time.”

That’s right,I think, and I make a promise to my wolf.I’ll make sure you get your teeth into him before all this is over.

37

WILDER

Bythetimethesun sets, we have a plan.

Nate and Milo are going to do the actual attacking. If everything goes right, I’ll never step out of the bushes at all. That feels weird and wrong—I don’t like sending my brothers into combat without me by their side. But if the wolves know where the magic is coming from, I’ll be the obvious target for an attack, and once they take me out, it’ll just be a matter of piling numbers up on the other two.

So my job is to stay out of the way, keep myself protected, and defend Nate and Milo.

And to defend Emlyn.

Nate’s the stronger fighter, so his job will be to take out the guard who’s watching Emlyn. And Milo will be responsible for getting to her, releasing her chains, and getting her back out.

“There’s no way this is going to go according to plan,” he murmurs now, glancing up at the sky.

I can see a sliver of moon up there. It isn’t much. But after last night’s new moon, it feels like coming up to the surface after being held underwater for way too long. It feels like my whole body is able to breathe again.

“The moon is on our side,” I say.

I’m expecting Nate to roll his eyes at this. It’s what he would usually do. But instead, he nods and squares his shoulders.

“Just remember,” he says to Milo, “youronlyconcern is getting her out. I don’t care what happens. I don’t care how many wolves run in and try to join the fight. I’ll take care of them. You just get Em to safety.”

“Like hell,” Milo says.

“We agreed on this.”

“Do you really think I’m not going to stay and fight?”

“You can come back and fight. Just get her to Wilder first.” He looks at me. “And once you’ve got her, you get her out of here. Take her back to Giuseppe’s—or out of town, if you think that’s not safe anymore.”

“That’s not what we agreed on,” I counter. “We never said anything about me leaving you two behind. And I’m not going to. I’ll stay and fight until everyone’s safe.”

“You can’t send Emlyn away alone,” Nate says.

“Do you really think Emlyn would go?” Milo asks. “As soon as she’s free of those chains, Nate, she’s going to want to fight them. Especially ifwe’refighting them. She’d be the last person in the world to run away.”

“He’s right,” I say. “She’ll want to join in on the fight.” What I can’t know—what none of us can know—is whether she’ll want to fight in her wolf form or with magic. For Nate and I, there is no choice at all. Milo has decided to fight as a wolf because we don’t want our enemies to know who’s casting spells against them. But what will Emlyn decide?

One thing’s for certain—the moment she joins the fight, our plan is going to be shot to hell. Still, I’d rather have her fighting beside me than not. I’d rather have her strength on my side.

Nate grits his teeth, but he must be done trying to argue because he doesn’t say anything more. He just turns away and looks at Emlyn, waiting for the moment when he’ll be able to make his move.

Milo glances at me. “Are you ready?”

I gather my power and nod.

“Send the signal, then.”

I pick up a small brown rock from the ground behind me. It’s dark enough that you wouldn’t see it if you weren’t looking for it in the dusky evening light. Even so, as I send it hovering into the shifters’ camp, I’m careful where I allow it to go. I keep it close to trees so that it will blend in with the bark, and when I approach the man who’s guarding Emlyn, I make sure my rock flies behind his back.

Emlyn sees it before it reaches her. I’d planned to tap her on the shoulder, but she’s too aware and doesn’t need me to do that.

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