Page 32 of Rejected Moons (Rejected Moons 3)

But nothingdoeshappen.

My sigils are just pretty pictures on a beach.

I sigh and wipe them away with the palm of my hand, wondering how it can be that I feel a little disappointed by that. What was I hoping for here?

I close my eyes and try to remember what it felt like, back with the pack on the night of the mating ceremony, when my body lifted off the ground.

The fact is that I haven’t seen anything to indicate that I really am part Moon Caster since that one event. And yeah, it’s true that something like that is hard to ignore. It was weird as hell. But couldn’t it have been something else?

I can’t thinkwhatelse, but isn’t itpossible?

Maybe that’s what these sigils do. Maybe they make someone hover off the ground, even if she has no Moon Caster blood at all.

But whatever they do, they’re not doing it tonight.

Am I a Moon Caster or not? Do I have magic? Maybe I hoped that, by drawing these sigils, I would encourage my own latent magic to emerge. But if so, that hasn’t happened.

I try to will my body to rise up off the ground, the way it did before.

No luck.

If anything, my mate bond to Victor feels like an anchor on me, tethering me down. The pull definitely wasn’t this strong when Nate was here. Now that he’s gone, it’s like the rocks I was hiding under are still on top of me, weighing me against the sand. I’m almost surprised I’m not being pressed into it, leaving an indent where I sit.

Damn Victor!

I can’t believe there was ever a time when I wanted him of my own free will, when I actuallyhopedthat he and I would be chosen for one another. It’s the worst thing I can imagine now. Even if he wasn’t going to literally murder me, even if he actuallywantedme and had never rejected me because I wouldn’t go back to him. Not for anything in the world.

I stare up at the moon overhead. It’s waning now. It was full the night of the mating ceremony—we always like to mate under the power of the full moon. But now that power is disappearing.

I don’t know whether to be glad about that or not.

What does a waning moon mean for the Moon Casters who have their covens in this city?

What does it mean for me?

These are the answers I need, and I’m not going to stop until I learn them.

Chapter Twenty-two: NATE

“Allright,”ItellPaul, finishing my third drink.

I’ve been at the bar for hours, working on the fix for the barstool Paul was worried about, nursing my last two drinks, but now I don’t have any way to justify staying here any longer. I’m out of drinks, and Paul doesn’t need any more work done.

It’s enough to convince me of the fact that I need to take matters into my own hands. If there’s a line of liquor credit to be had, I need to get my hands on it.

And maybe it’s a little easier to make this decision because I’m already pretty drunk. I can’t deny that that might be a factor here.

Paul, who has been wiping down the bar, looks up at me.

“All right what?” he asks.

“All right, I’m going to collect the bounty,” I tell him.

He rolls his eyes. “You have to bring in the girl first. You can’t justsayyou’re going to collect.”

“I know that,” I tell him indignantly, but I can hear my own words slurring—doI know that? I’m not really sure what I know at the moment. “I’ll go and get her. I can find her. I’m just telling you that you can stop handing those flyers out.”

“Yeah, that’s not how this works,” Paul says. “I like you, Nate, but I’m going to keep handing these out until someone hands in the girl. That’s what I told that wolf pack I was going to do, and I don’t need them as my enemies.”

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