Page 81 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

Emlyn starts to get to her feet too.

I reach for her, thinking I’m going to stop her, hold her back, but she shrugs me off. Milo jumps up and starts after her.

I plant both my palms on the ground and focus on the wolves who remain. If my family is really going to insist on chargingbackinto a fight right now, I’m going to put all my energy into making sure no one is hurt.

Nate stops before the wolves.

“Why are you still here?” he asks them.

They look at him. Then they look at each other.

“This fight is over,” Nate says. “We’ve won. Your alpha is dead. And unless you want to wait around and find out what else these Moon Casters can do when they’re provoked, I’d recommend getting the fuck out of here while you can and never bothering this woman again.”

He reaches out and pulls Emlyn to him.

“You should have left me alone,” Emlyn says. Her voice is still raw, and her speech sounds painful. “I didn’t want it to end this way. You should have just let me be. You should leave me alone now. It doesn’t have to be like this between us anymore.”

One by one, the wolves who haven’t yet run from us turn and walk away.

I get slowly to my feet and approach the others, checking several times behind me to make sure no wolves are approaching us from that angle.

“Can we please get out of here now?” Emlyn asks.

“Is everyone all right to walk?” I ask.

They all nod.

“Come on, then,” I say.

“Where are we going?” Milo asks.

“Back to Giuseppe’s,” I say. “It should still be safe. The wolves didn’t find her there.” I glance at Emlyn. “Did you ever get any indication from them that they knew about that place?”

“No,” Emlyn says. “Giuseppe’s should be safe.”“What about those Moon Drinkers?” Milo asks. “The ones who started to fight the pack and then ran off?”

“I think they realized, once you guys got involved, that it would be too difficult to grab me today,” Emlyn says. “They could have handled the wolf pack. But with you three there, they must have realized that even if they got me, they would be tracked. They must have decided to cut their losses and wait for another chance.”

“Which means they’ll come around again,” I say. “We haven’t heard the last of them.”

“No, we haven’t,” Emlyn says. “But they don’t know about Giuseppe’s. As long as we can secure it, I think it’s our best bet.”

We make our way into the woods.

It’s going to be several miles back to town, and I’m thinking we’ll probably have to stop to rest a few times before we get there. And I’m also concerned about what I saw from Emlyn. We’re going to have to talk about it eventually. She shouldn’t have been able to do magic like that, and I don’t know what it means that she could. I don’t know what to make of it.

After walking for about twenty minutes, we reach a little stream. Without any discussion, Milo breaks off from the rest of us and wades straight into it, submerging himself completely. Emlyn glances at me. Then she follows after him.

The water’s deep enough that she has to paddle out to the center to reach him, but the current is gentle, and I can see that she’s safe.

“I’m gonna see if there’s anything to eat around here,” Nate grunts. He shifts, then watches me for a moment. I nod at the wolf, and he takes off into the trees at a run.

The sun is just starting to rise.

49

EMLYN

“Letmehelpyou,”I murmur, wrapping my legs around Milo’s waist so that I’m sitting piggyback style. “Are you in any pain?”

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