Page 66 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

But I know we’re going to have to take these ones on. We can’t take the chance of ignoring them and hoping they’ll go away when the fighting starts. We can’t know what they’ll do.

Wilder beckons for us to follow him. Stooping low so that his head is below the top of the bushes, he makes his way around the perimeter of the wolf pack’s territory.

Nate and I exchange a glance, then fall into step behind him.

I have about a million questions. What are we doing? Are we attacking the Moon Drinkers? Are we moving away from the Moon Drinkers? How many were there, and what were they doing?

But because I don’t know how close they were, I don’t want to speak. I can’t risk giving away our position.

If only there had been time for all three of us to go up that tree and get a look! If only we all could have been part of the process of planning whatever’s happening now!

The only thing I can do is to put my trust completely in Wilder. He’s the one who saw the Moon Drinkers, so I just have to have faith that he’ll manage this situation.

A moment later, I hear hushed voices.

Wilder holds up a hand, indicating that we should stop, and then points down. Without a word having to be spoken, I understand and drop to the ground. Beside me, I can feel that Nate has done the same thing.

How long have we been so in tune with one another? I’ve known for a while that I was hyper aware of Emlyn. I can feel it in my sleep when she rolls away from me. But I see now that I’m just as primally linked to Nate and Wilder. I wouldn’t have expected it to be like that.

We’re brothers. I’ve known that for a while.

But we’re something more than that. Something that runs a lot deeper, and is a lot more unshakeable.

Wilder inches backward until he’s positioned on Nate’s other side, until the three of us are lying shoulder to shoulder. He lifts a hand ever so slightly, and I feel as if something cool is shimmering down around me. I can’t ask what it is—if I can hear the voices of the Moon Drinkers, they would be able to hear me. But it feelsprotective. If I had to venture a guess, I would say he’s concealing us.

“Are you sure we’ve come to the right place?” one of the voices asks.

“If we haven’t, we’ll know soon enough,” another one says. “It’s not as if they’d keep something like this a secret.”

“They probably wouldn’t keep it at all,” the first voice says. “If they found out they had a hybrid, they probably killed it.”

“No,” says the second voice. “He told us he would know if she had died.”

They’re talking about Emlyn.There’s no other way to interpret what’s being said. But what do they mean? How would anyone be sure they would know if she had died? Is someone watching her? And if so, why?

The part that does make sense is the fact that the Moon Drinkers are after her for being a hybrid. That definitely fits in with my experience of them. They’re not here to attack the three of us—they don’t seem to realize the three of us are even here—and they’re not here to try to take on the wolf pack as a whole. This is about Emlyn specifically. They want the same thing we do—to get her and get out.

And I don’t think they want her dead.

It doesn’t sound like it, at any rate.

Not that I’m willing to sit around and let her be captured by Moon Drinkers. That’s no better than being captured by her old wolf pack. It’s probably worse.

Wilder nudges Nate with his shoulder, then starts to creep backward. I guess he thinks we’ve heard enough.

Nate looks at me.

I shrug.

We follow.

It’s tough going, belly-crawling backward as quickly as we can while trying not to make a sound. Eventually, we’re far enough away to risk rising up on our hands and knees, and then, at last, getting to our feet. Even then, we don’t speak until we’re back behind our original cluster of bushes and can keep our eyes on Emlyn while we talk.

“Why haven’t they found her?” Nate asks. “It’s obvious who the hybrid is here.”

“They must have just arrived,” I say. “They can’t have been looking for her.”

“If theydolook, they’ll spot her right away,” Wilder says. “Just like we did. And they’ll use blood magic to attack the wolf pack.”

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