Victor swings at me again, and this time his fist connects with my face. I’m half-blinded by the pain for a moment. I think he might have broken my jaw. I fall to the ground, gasping, my focus completely shattered.
Thankfully, Victor doesn’t realize that my hold on him is broken. If he had taken this moment to try to shift, he would have been able to do it, and that would have been the end of the fight.
I take a breath and reach out for the moon again. Once more, the power fills me, making me feel stronger. The pain in my jaw begins to fade, and I get a grip on Victor again.
But he kicks me, and I feel one of my ribs snap.
I try to struggle to my feet, to back away from him. Standing up hurts. I try to pull more power from the moon, to heal myself faster, but what came in a flood at first is slowing to a trickle. I understand what Milo was saying about the waning moon in daylight. It’s so hard to reach.
He kicks me again, this time in the stomach, and I fall over backward, the wind completely knocked out of me.
He stands over me, laughing.
“What?” he demands. “Did you think that if you made us fight in this form you would win? I’m stronger than you, Emlyn. I always have been. It doesn’t matter that you havemagic.” He spits the word at me like it’s a curse. “Did you think that made any of us afraid of you? We’re not scared of you, Emlyn; we justhateyou. It’s disgusting, what you are. You have no right to exist. And you certainly have no right to any of my babies.”
“Don’t want your babies,” I wheeze through the pain. “Rather die.”
“Oh, you’re going to.” He bares his teeth at me. “I don’t know what you did to keep me from shifting, but this is the last moment you and I are going to have to deal with each other. The road ends here. I’ll bet you’re sorry now that you fucked with me.”
But the truth is, I have no regrets.
I love you, Milo,I think.
And then because I’m about to die, and because, fuck it, it’s the truth—I love you, Nate.
Chapter 54
MILO
Icannotallowthehold I have on the wolf in front of me to break.
I’m not holding him paralyzed the way those Moon Casters we met did to Emlyn. Far from it. I haven’t got the power for something like that, and I know it.
But I am holding hisattentionbecause he’s angry that I’ve been able to stop his advance. Because he doesn’t know how I’m doing it. Wolves aren’t used to being stopped like this.
I mean, he knows I’m a Moon Caster, so he must have been expecting magic. He must have fought Moon Casters before. I’m sure he’s faced combat magic. But the combat magic I’m using is soelementarythat it’s actually throwing him for a loop. He doesn’t know what to do with me.
And I have to take advantage of that. Because if he turns around and sees the fight behind him, he’s going to realize he’s more needed there than here. He’s going to realize that trying to penetrate the barrier I’m putting up is a waste of time, and that his packmates aren’t winning this thing quite as handily as they probably thought they would, given the numbers.
Even so, though…theyarewinning. And that’s making it particularly hard to focus on what I’m doing.
I hear the crack as Emlyn is thrown to the ground, and I know her bones are breaking. She’s fighting human now. I don’t know why she shifted back. We were human starting out so that she could use magic, but if she’s using magic now, I can’t see it
Then again, the wolf she’s fighting with is screaming at her. So maybe she’s doing something right.
I tear my eyes away from her. I can’t let myself get caught up in watching her. I can’t lose focus. If I do, the wolf in front of me will break free of my hold, rip me to shreds, and turn on the others. I want to help Emlyn, but actually, keeping this enemy away from her is the best thing I can do.
Nate howls. I don’t know how I’m so sure it’s his voice, but I am. I feel a rise of triumph in the center of my chest. The wolf he’s fighting falls limp to the ground.
Dead?
I can’t be sure.
He’s wounded though, and limping, and he’s looking over at the fourth member of Emlyn’s pack, the one who’s been hobbled and is lying on the ground, trying to get his feet back under him, and so no one is watching Emlyn.
With a low, throaty noise of satisfaction, the wolf in front of me suddenly inches closer.
No!My focus broke! I try to pour more energy into my shield, but the moon is resisting me now. I can’t do it. I don’t have the strength.