{"id":1374,"date":"2016-11-29T16:46:39","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T21:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1374"},"modified":"2018-06-19T17:02:28","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T21:02:28","slug":"wolf-landing-chapter-2-scene-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1374","title":{"rendered":"Wolf Landing: Chapter 2, Scene 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finished Chapter One<\/a> and want to keep reading? By all means…<\/em><\/p>\n

Chapter 2 Scene 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to talk about it?\u201d Robert asked after we\u2019d driven most of the way back to Wolf Landing without speaking. \u201cPerhaps I shouldn\u2019t pry,\u201d he added. \u201cBut you haven\u2019t complained once about my choice of music. Either you\u2019ve become an appreciator of the Southern twang at long last or you have something seriously weighty on your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite my best intentions to brush his concern aside, I couldn\u2019t help smiling at the human\u2019s astute observations. Trust Robert to pick up on my internal struggle after only a few hours in my company when I\u2019d managed to hide my lupine issues from every single member of my pack…including my mate…for weeks on end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no big deal,\u201d I said, then gave up on my attempt at minimizing worry. \u201cWell, I guess it is<\/em> a big deal, to me at least. My wolf is getting too big for her britches and she keeps trying to force me to do things I don\u2019t want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert\u2019s eyebrows twitched in response, but he didn\u2019t pull over and push me from the car the way I thought he might have done. And when I sniffed at the air, I noted that there wasn\u2019t even a hint of alarm in his scent.<\/p>\n

Instead, my partner merely let the quiet rumble of the road roll between us for a moment before prodding gently. \u201cWhat sort of things?\u201d he prompted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings like shifting in public. Things like going off to hunt butterflies when we have important pack duties to attend to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things like gnawing on a corpse\u2019s bloody arm…but I didn\u2019t think that final failing was particularly helpful to mention in mixed company. Or, well, in any kind of company for that matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s unusual?\u201d Robert asked. \u201cI mean, I thought your wolf and human sides were allies, two minds sharing the same body. Surely sometimes even the best partners disagree?\u201d<\/p>\n

I expected my wolf to offer her own answer to Robert\u2019s question. After all, she didn\u2019t think we shared the same body. She thought our animal half possessed a perfectly functional body of its own, thank you very much, and one we should have spent quite a bit more time inhabiting.<\/p>\n

But my inner animal\u2019s hyperactivity earlier in the day must have worn her down because she remained resolutely silent. In fact, when I squeezed my eyes shut in an effort to focus on our shared inner space, I couldn\u2019t even find my lupine partner at first glance. Only after I dug deep into our communal consciousness did I finally discover my previously unruly wolf curled up into a ball, a vague whisper of a whine emanating from her muzzle with each exhale.<\/p>\n

Are you okay? <\/em>I asked, nudging at the wolf\u2019s comatose form the way a child might poke at the hole where a baby tooth had recently been located.<\/p>\n

Sleepy<\/em>, my animal half responded after a long moment.<\/p>\n

Well, that was a relief. Her tone was sluggish, but at least she was no longer begging to transform at all the wrong moments. Maybe our partnership was looking up after all.<\/p>\n

And then Robert\u2019s voice brought me out of my worries with an abrupt change of subject. \u201cWhose birthday is it?\u201d he asked, an amused smile flickering across his usually solemn face.<\/p>\n

By this point, we were winding along the gravel drive that separated the gated entrance of our new pack lands from the various buildings located therein. And when I gazed out at the view, I broke into a grin ten times wider than the one my companion currently sported.<\/p>\n

Because Wolf Landing\u2019s driveway was lined with paper streamers and helium balloons, a huge banner above the doorway of the community building lending a festive air even though I couldn\u2019t read the words from our current vantage point. Meanwhile, the entire clan had assembled on the front lawn, a motley assortment of wolves and two-leggers united by the broad smiles stretching across all of their faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nobody\u2019s birthday,\u201d I answered, my wolf\u2019s disobedience earlier in the day abruptly forgotten. \u201cExcept for Wolf Landing\u2019s. It looks like our request to be granted probationary pack status went through without a hitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the rest of Chapter Two<\/a> of Wolf Landing<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finished Chapter One and want to keep reading? By all means… Chapter 2 Scene 1 \u201cDo you want to talk about it?\u201d Robert asked after we\u2019d driven most of the way back to Wolf Landing without speaking. \u201cPerhaps I shouldn\u2019t pry,\u201d he added. \u201cBut you haven\u2019t complained once about my choice of music. Either you\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,45,21],"tags":[14,7,27,23,8],"class_list":["post-1374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpts-aimee-easterling","category-alpha-underground-series","category-urban-fantasy-paranormal-romance-fantasy-romance-reviews","tag-paranormal-books","tag-shifter-books","tag-urban-fantasy-books","tag-urban-paranormal-romantic-fantasy","tag-werewolf-books","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1374"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1381,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions\/1381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}