Page 86 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

“Lock the place from the outside,” he says. “It’s a hassle, but we almost gave up on this place when we saw that padlock. It’ll be a sign to others that there’s no hope of getting in here.”

He clears some space on the floor and sits down with his legs crossed and his palms on his knees. “Put it outside,” he says.

I glance at Emlyn.

She nods.

I open the door and set the lock on the ground. Then I come back in and lean against the wall, watching Wilder.

It’s only a moment before we hear thechunkof the lock falling into place.

Wilder’s breathing is deep and even. It’s almost as if he’s asleep.

Nate opens his mouth as if he’s going to say something, maybe ask a question, but Emlyn stops him with a hand on his arm. She holds a finger to her lips.

And it’s strange—I can almost feel something happening. It’s like the air around us is growing thicker, becoming a heavy curtain. Something that’s not quite impenetrable but certainly protective.

Wilder opens his eyes.

“What did you do?” I ask.

“Shrouded us,” he said. “People will walk right by Giuseppe’s now unless they’rereallysearching for it. No one will notice it accidentally, the way we did.”

“You can do that?” Emlyn asks.

He shrugs. I can see how exhausted he looks. “I’ve only tried it on small things so far,” he says. “I used to use it to hide my personal belongings in plain sight in the coven. We’ll see if it works for something like this. But it does feel the same.”

He lies back on the ground and lets his eyes drift closed again.

Emlyn goes to him and kneels beside him. “Are you okay?” she murmurs.

“Fine. Just drained.”

I sit down on his other side and rest a hand on his shoulder.

His energy is low. I can feel that. I can feel the weakness, like a flickering flame. But I can also feel that he’s not in any pain or danger. Everything is as it should be.

“He just needs to rest,” I say.

I could stoke the flame. My healing magic would let me do that.

But we’ve all been using more magic than is strictly necessary. I don’t want to become reliant on using magic for things that nature will take care of on its own. So I decide to just let Wilder sleep it off instead of intervening.

“I’ll go get us something to eat,” Nate says, heading for the kitchen.

I glance at Emlyn. “You okay if I crash?”

“You’re not hungry?”

“No.”

She grips my hand. “Are you upset with me, Milo?”

“No. I’m not, I promise.” And it’s true. I’m nervous about the power I saw from her, but she was in a life-or-death situation. How could I be upset with her?

I give her hand a squeeze and head off to find a quiet corner to sleep away the day’s events.

52

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