Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons Book 2) Read online

  Wolf Bonded

  Rejected Moons Book Two

  J.L. Wilder

  Copyright © 2022 by J.L. Wilder

  All rights reserved.

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

  Contents

  1. EMLYN

  2. EMLYN

  3. WILDER

  4. MILO

  5. WILDER

  6. EMLYN

  7. EMLYN

  8. NATE

  9. WILDER

  10. EMLYN

  11. MILO

  12. WILDER

  13. EMLYN

  14. EMLYN

  15. MILO

  16. NATE

  17. WILDER

  18. NATE

  19. EMLYN

  20. WILDER

  21. EMLYN

  22. NATE

  23. EMLYN

  24. EMLYN

  25. MILO

  26. NATE

  27. WILDER

  28. EMLYN

  29. MILO

  30. EMLYN

  31. WILDER

  32. NATE

  33. EMLYN

  34. MILO

  35. EMLYN

  36. NATE

  37. WILDER

  38. EMLYN

  39. MILO

  40. NATE

  41. EMLYN

  42. WLDER

  43. EMLYN

  44. MILO

  45. EMLYN

  46. EMLYN

  47. NATE

  48. WILDER

  49. EMLYN

  50. NATE

  51. MILO

  52. WILDER

  53. EMLYN

  54. NATE

  55. MILO

  56. NATE

  57. EMLYN

  1

  EMLYN

  “We’re not going to trust this guy, are we?” Nate whispers in my ear.

  I glance over at Milo, hoping he hasn’t heard. But he’s not looking at us. His jaw is clenched so tightly that I’m worried he must be grinding his teeth into oblivion.Then I look at Wilder. The newcomer. The stranger. He’s tall and slender, his hair stick straight and so sleek it almost shines. If you had to spot the person in this group who wasn’t a wolf, you would pick him every time.

  At least Nate is making an effort to cope with this turn of events. I feel like Milo isn’t trying at all.

  “I don’t trust him,” I whisper back to Nate. “This isn’t about trusting him. But you know that I’ve been trying to find a coven of Moon Casters since before you and I met. Now I have the chance to.”

  Nate frowns and says nothing.

  “He saved us from my pack, Nate,” I say reprovingly. “He didn’t have to do that, you know. We were losing that fight. We’re probably only all still alive because he stepped in.”

  Nate looks at me shrewdly. “So you do trust him.”

  “I trust him not to kill us,” I admit. “Because if he wanted us dead, all he had to do was step aside, and Victor and the rest of my old pack would have done it for him.” I shiver slightly, remembering that fight, and the way my alpha mate bond pulled me toward Victor, made me ache to rip off my clothes for him even as he was trying to kill me. “I don’t trust him completely,” I add, shaking off thoughts of the fight. “But I don’t need to do that. It’s not like I’m confiding my innermost secrets in the guy. It’s not like—”

  “Get down!” Wilder yells suddenly.

  I drop to my belly immediately—and, to my surprise, Milo does too. He might not like or trust Wilder, but there was something in him that responded immediately to that order. Maybe it’s a Moon Caster thing? It didn’t feel like an alpha’s command. Do Moon Casters have some other way of giving orders effectively?

  A split second later—he does have excellent reflexes—Nate throws himself to the ground too.

  It’s just in time. Something passes over our heads. I’m not looking up, of course, so I don’t see anything, but it feels like a giant bird has just flown over me, so close that I’m surprised I haven’t been whipped by its feathers. Did we get dive-bombed by an eagle or something?

  No.

  I see them now. Two of them. Figures in dark cloaks.

  I can’t see their faces. I can’t see whether they have the strange markings that look like they carved the shape of goblets into their own skin. But there’s something about them that makes me sure these are the same people Milo and I encountered when we were alone in the woods. Maybe not the same individuals, but belonging to the same group.

  Wilder throws out his hands, and this time, the rush of air moves away from us. In the distance, our enemies stagger slightly.

  I think about what Milo has taught me about defensive magic. About shielding.

  It’s so hard to stay calm when you’re under attack. It’s so hard to relax and let the power of the moon flow through you, which is what Milo told me I needed to do. I can’t even feel the moon out there. And maybe that’s because it’s day, and maybe it’s because it’s the waning moon—but maybe it’s just because I’m only half Moon Caster myself, and no one ever raised me to understand this part of my life and my power.

  Still, I try. I close my eyes and do my best to let lunar power fill me up.

  And I do feel something. A kind of warmth, maybe, starting at my core and spreading outward to my extremities.

  I focus on Wilder.

  This doesn’t come naturally at all. I’ve used my moon magic to defend myself, and to try to protect my mates. Nate and Milo feel as close to me as a part of my own self. But Wilder—he’s a stranger. It feels wrong to use my power for his benefit. It feels like working for someone who doesn’t give a damn about me.

  He can get me to a coven. He can help me find answers.

  I project my shield outward. He is someone that I need to protect.

  As I reach out for him, I feel my power grow, like a river running into another river that joins it and makes it flow faster and stronger. I gasp at the sensation.

  “Keep going,” Milo says through clenched teeth, and I realize he’s the one helping me. Whatever he might think about the idea of trusting Wilder, of going back to meet Wilder’s coven, he’s working with me to do this. He’s on my side.

  “He’s shielded,” a stranger’s voice spits. It’s high-pitched and cold.

  “He’s got hybrids,” another voice says.

  Wilder lets out an animalistic cry—but it’s Nate who bolts forward, erupting into his animal form.

  It kills me not to shield Nate, but I don’t know how to put a shield between him and our enemies without it operating in two directions. If I stop them from hurting him I’ll stop him from being able to touch them too, and I can’t do that. I just have to let this play out.

  Nate is a good fighter. I see that he gets the upper hand on our rivals quickly. But then again, maybe they’re especially bad fighters when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Why would a Moon Caster—if that is what they are—ever need to fight close up?

  It’s always been the biggest challenge in fighting Moon Casters. It’s something the pack always trained me to expect, when I was growing up learning about them. Moon Casters can start attacking you when you’re still yards away. When you get up close to them, you can take them down. But who knows if you ever will get up close?

  But the element of surprise has gotten Nate there. I can hear his jaws snapping, and I can smell the blood in the air. And I know my man, my wolf, well enough to recognize when he is winning a fight.

  And maybe Wilder is helping, maybe he knows something I don’t, because the fight is over quickly. Nate comes jogging back to us, his face red with blood
, the wolf already left behind him.

  Wilder looks away from him rather distastefully. “There’s a little pool over there if you want to clean that up,” he said. “Or do you just lick yourself clean?”

  Nate rolls his eyes at the jab and goes off in the direction Wilder indicated.

  I peel myself up off the ground, still shaking from the pace of everything that just happened. Beside me, Milo is also getting to his feet.

  “Who the hell were they?” I demand.

  Wilder is looking around. “We should get moving,” he said.

  “You should explain to us what all that was about before we go,” I say.

  “It was about me saving your lives for the second time,” Wilder said. “I can tell you don’t trust me, you know. But I think we can all help each other here.”

  “He’s right,” Nate says.

  I turn. Nate is standing behind me, water dripping from his face

  He’s looking at Wilder completely differently now.

  “He’s right?” Milo asks.

  “He fought with us,” Nate says. “He’s right, and Emlyn is right. If he wanted us dead, he could have just let it happen. I’m ready to see where this goes.”

  2

  EMLYN

  The building Wilder leads us to is a high rise. The window on the first floor has been smashed out, probably a long time ago—someone’s wrapped a piece of cloth over the lower frame and taped it down. Wilder places a hand there and vaults inside. “Come on,” he urges, and we follow.

  The first thing I notice is that the stairwell is packed with sigils. Sigils like the ones I saw drawn in the office building Nate and I explored. Sigils like the strange cup on the faces of the robed people who keep attacking us.

  That particular sigil is nowhere to be seen. Neither are the other two I noticed before. These ones are all new.

  Also, none of them are drawn in blood.

  I want to ask Wilder about what I’m seeing here, but I’m not sure if that’s the kind of thing it’s appropriate to ask your new Moon Caster friend. Milo grew up around a coven, and he never mentioned this many sigils being a part of his life. I wish he would bridge the gap and ask the question for me—he knows I’ve been wondering about this stuff—but he doesn’t say anything.

  On the second floor, there’s what looks like some kind of common area. It might be a living room. There’s a bit of furniture scattered around, and it looks good for lounging. There’s even someone there, lying on their back on a sofa—I can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman.

  Whoever it is, they have a book in their hands, and I almost stop dead to stare at them. I’m looking at someone who not only knows how to read, but has also preserved a book instead of using it for kindling the way most people did early in the Lunar Reversal. I’ve seen books plenty of times, of course—my mother had some, and if Nate is to be believed, there’s still a library full of them out there somewhere. But this wasn’t what I expected to see in a coven.

  I don’t know what I did expect. Moon Casters holding hands and chanting, maybe.

  Whoever is in that room seems…well, normal.

  Then again, Wilder seems kind of normal too.

  “Is this where your whole coven lives?” I ask. “Here in this tower?”

  “This one and the one next door,” he says. “This side is mostly public spaces—but there’s a place you three will be able to bunk down while you’re with us. The residences are in the other building.”

  “This looks like an apartment building,” Nate says.

  “Yeah, I think it was,” Wilder says. “We knocked down some walls to make the spaces bigger—you’ll see that. And we took down the doors, too, so we just wander in and out of rooms all the time. Almost nothing in this building is private.”

  “So of course this is the building you want us to stay in,” Milo says.

  Wilder glances at him. “It’s just because this is where our guest quarters are,” he says. “Nobody is going to bother you.”

  “We just have your word for that,” Milo says.

  “No one is making you stay,” Wilder says. “I just think we can help each other.”

  “You think three shifters can help you?” Even Nate sounds dubious. “Our kind are mortal enemies.”

  “Except you’re not just three shifters,” Wilder says. “You’re hybrids. I saw you doing magic during the fight with those wolves. I felt the magic you were doing just now, on our way here.” The last two sentences are addressed to me specifically, and they make me feel strange and exposed. I shiver.

  “I’m no hybrid,” Nate says.

  Wilder reaches the top of a staircase and opens the door leading off the landing. “Through here,” he says.

  We follow. Even Milo follows, though his face is cloudy.

  Wilder leads us to a doorway. There’s a curtain hanging in front of it.

  “You weren’t kidding about taking down all the doors,” I say.

  He shakes his head. “It’s the first thing we did when we claimed this place,” he said. “We wanted to make sure it was open for everyone. There are a few interior doors. The bedroom and the bathroom. But the door from the apartment itself out to the hall is gone.”

  “Why’d you put up the curtain, then?” I ask.

  “We thought guests might want privacy.”

  “And you get a lot of guests, do you?” Milo asked coldly.

  “Sometimes.” Wilder’s voice was just as cold. “Look, no one is keeping you here against your will, so there’s no need for you to act like it. Take the room or don’t.”

  “We’ll take it,” I say quickly before either of my mates has a chance to disagree. I know that if it weren’t for me, they wouldn’t be here.

  “All right,” Wilder said. “I’ll come and get you in the morning, then, and take you to meet the High Sorcerer.”

  “The what now?” Nate demands. I swear I can actually feel the tension in his body.

  I turn to Milo for an answer.

  For once, he doesn’t look upset or alarmed. “That’s just a title,” he says. “It’s what Moon Casters call the leader of their covens. It’s like alpha, kind of.”

  Well, that just makes me wonder what kind of powers the High Sorcerer has over the rest of the coven—and what powers they’re going to have over me.

  But I don’t want to ask. Not right in front of Wilder.

  “There’s food inside,” Wilder says.

  “We’ve got our own food,” Milo bites.

  Wilder nods. “Fine,” he says. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

  He hesitates. Then he meets my eyes.

  “Thank you,” he says. “For coming, I mean. I really think you’re going to be glad you did.”

  “I hope you’re right about that,” I say.

  He turns and starts back down the stairs.

  My mates and I exchange glances for a moment. Then, one by one, we push through the hanging curtain and make our way into the apartment.

  3

  WILDER

  I know that I promised to leave them alone for the evening.

  I see how little they trust me. I see the glances they exchange between themselves every time I open my mouth. I’m pretty sure they’re putting everything I say together into some kind of complete picture about me, and probably one I’m not going to like. It’s probably not going to be accurate, at any rate.

  I was telling them the truth. I really do want us to help each other. After all, given what’s been hunting them, they must know something.

  And they might be hybrids, but it was obvious from the battle I saw that none of them is highly trained or specialized. I could give them that. I could help them access their power.

  They should want my help.

  Still, I promised I would leave them alone because they’re awkward around me, and I’m hoping that having some time alone together will let them talk. The woman likes me more than the two men do. Maybe she’ll convince them.

  Or maybe n
ot.

  I turn back, suddenly sure I’ve made the wrong choice in leaving them for the night. What if they convince her, and they’re all gone when I wake up?

  So I turn and walk back to the makeshift door.

  Of course, you can’t knock on a curtain, but I knock on the wall beside it. It’s not like I’m going to just barge in on them. Though that’s probably exactly what they expect of me. No need to prove them right.

  The big burly one, the one who haughtily told me that he wasn’t a hybrid, whips the curtain aside. He looks at me like I’m some kind of cockroach. “What?”

  “Do you mind?” I ask him. “You are a guest here.”

  “You invited me,” he says. “I guess you have to put up with me talking however I want.”

  If that’s how he wants to try to flex on me, I can’t stop him. And I don’t care anyway. I don’t need this guy. It’s the other two I’m really interested in.

  So I look past Captain Bodyguard. The two others, the hybrids, are in the middle of the room watching me.

  “Just thought I’d see if either of you wanted a tour of the place,” I say.

  “We’re good,” the guy says.

  But the woman breaks free of him. “I’d like to see it,” she says.

  “Emlyn,” the guy hisses.

  She ignores him and crosses the floor to me. “Nate,” she says, looking up at the burly shifter. “You want to come too?”

  Oh, that was well played. It’s not like I can refuse to take Nate along now. Obviously, if I did that, I’d break trust with all of them since it’s clear Emlyn wants him there. With one sentence, she’s completely undone my control over this situation.

  “No,” Nate grumbles. “I’ll stay here.”

  “You sure you trust me to bring her back in one piece?” I can’t help taunting him a little.

  “I think she can take care of herself,” Nate says. “And I also think you’re smart enough to know that if anything does happen to her, my friend and I will make you wish you’d never been born.”

  “Nate,” Emlyn says. “Knock it off, will you? He hasn’t done anything.”