Page 68 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

“That seems like a pretty slim chance,” Milo says.

“It probably is,” Wilder says. “Still, if the Moon Drinkers are attacking, we can be sure of one thing—plenty of chaos. And since we’re the only ones who have seen the whole board—we’re the only ones who know everything that’s going on—we’ll be in the best position to make that work for us.”

I draw a breath. “Do you think this is going to work?”

Wilder turns and looks through the bushes.

“Something’s up with Emlyn,” he says.

“What do you mean?” I hurry toward the bush myself to check on her. She’s far away, and therefore not that easy to see, but she looks the same.

Or does she?

She’s a little farther from the tree than she was the last time I checked. She’s still got her arms around it, but now there’s a space between the trunk and her body.

“Her chains are loose,” Milo says.

Wilder nods. “I think so too,” he says. “She’s freed her arms. She’s ready for us.”

I hunch low in the bushes, keeping my eyes on her. It’s the first piece of real good news we’ve gotten.

Now we just have to wait.

41

EMLYN

“Attack!”

“Moon Casters!”

The yells jerk me out of a light doze. I’m on my feet immediately, cursing myself for allowing my body even a little bit of rest. I know it’s good—it’s what I need to face this battle—but at the same time, I’m having a hard time shaking off sleep.

My eyes meet Harley’s, and I can see on his face that he’s wondering what to do. He was assigned to guard me, but I can already hear the sound of wolves howling, the beginning of a fight. Is he going to stand here and do nothing while his brothers go to battle?

No. He won’t. He can’t. I know he won’t.

He doesn’t.

Another beat of time goes by, the two of us just staring at each other, and then Harley turns and sprints toward the sound of the howls, leaving me alone and unguarded.

Now is the time. I have to make my move.

As soon as Harley is out of sight, I toss my chains away and run.

My wolf surges to the surface, and I don’t try to hold her back. It makes more sense to be in wolf form right now, given the fact that I might need to fight. And besides, people are bound to recognize my wolf form less quickly than they would my human self. If people are looking for me, they’ll be looking for the human. They know I can shift, of course, but their instinct now is clearly to think of me as somethingotherthan what they are.

All right. What do I do now?

The obvious answer is to just run away—to get as far away from this fight as I can. No one’s watching me right now. I could absolutely do it.

But if Moon Casters are attacking the pack, that means my mates are here. I can’t run away while they’re involved in a fight.

I have to find them.

Though it goes against all my instincts, I wheel about and run off in the direction Harley went.

Almost immediately, I’m in the thick of things.

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