Read Binding: Book Two of the Moon Wolf Saga for Free Online

television and listened to the evening news as she banged around the kitchen making dinner. Then she stood at the counter, eating a tuna fish sandwich and yelling back at the announcer. Baz was back in the barn. She called up Elaine again when she made up a bowl for Baz, to ask her what she should feed him, and why wasn’t she here yet, and when was she coming. She put it on speaker phone, so I heard both sides of the argument. Elaine told Sarah not to give Baz anything, if he was sick, and Sarah talked her around to some kibble with tuna oil, a bowl of milk, and the cheese stick he got as a treat. Good thing he was a dog, or he really was going to be sick.
    Elaine sounded stressed. She was late because she had to make another house call. She would come soon. She would bring with her everything she needed, to take care of Baz, and me.
    My eyes opened. She would be here soon.
    I wasn’t going to stay for this. That was not a good plan. Sarah was a magic user. This Elaine vet woman might have even more power, more than I could take on. I lay there and thought for awhile. It was getting dark when the heavy truck came down the drive and pulled up with a tinking engine next to the house. I heard Sarah call a greeting and then their voices dropped as they talked outside. If they came in here and Elaine planned to “take care of me” first, I was going to kill them both. If I could. Because I didn’t think I could get out of any deeper a trap than I was in already. I barely had a hold on this one yet. So it was a good thing that I heard their voices recede, as they headed out to the barn.
    I made myself small in my human form, slipped out of the cuffs, unlatched the door, left the manacles closed tight, latched the door after me—if magic was nine tenths distraction, I could use every bit that came to me tonight.
    I let myself out of the front door, which put the house between me and the barn. It was dark outside, but the light on the back porch was so bright the reflection lit the front of the house as well. When I reached the corner of the house I paused and looked across at the barn. Sarah had shoved open the door, talking to a tall, spindly woman in a bulky jacket, open at the front, her hair in a heavy braid down her back. Elaine wore round glasses and carried a black box by its handle, leaning a little to counter its weight. Sarah went into the barn, calling Baz's name in her sugary voice, and the vet followed. I thought I recognized her form, though she wasn’t close enough for me to catch her scent.
    I moved quietly along an uneven brick walkway, skirted some spindly trees, crossed a bare patch of weeds that had once been a garden, and reached the lambing pen. I opened the first gate wide, then hurried down to the next field. I was in human form, and I’d come from the house, so the border collies, who must have seen me by now, were not barking. Yet. I opened the next gate. It wanted to swing shut so I propped it with a rock so it wouldn’t close.
    I hurried to the next gate, stepping long on my good leg, and favoring my ankle, hoping my bruised hip would warm up again soon. It hurt, but not as much as it had last night. I reached the big field, and dragged wide the double gates. They opened into the rutted lane I was following. Beyond the lane on the left a huge field had been cut to stubble after the last harvest of alfalfa. Far across it, up the hillside a ways, behind the fences of the next farm, dogs were barking.
    I reached the farthest gate and opened it wide. The sheep, who had been fed and settled for the night, watched me incuriously. That was about to change. I looked back at Sarah's house and barn. I’d gone about a quarter of a mile. This next part needed to be fast, or it was going to end badly. If I did it right, there was going to be a whole lot of distraction working in my favor.

CHAPTER FOUR
    I changed. I leaped into the sheep field at a bound—and almost crumpled. I’d gotten used to favoring