{"id":1548,"date":"2018-12-23T08:19:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T13:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2018-12-23T16:26:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-23T21:26:37","slug":"fox-blood-chapter-2-scene-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1548","title":{"rendered":"Fox Blood, Chapter 2 Scene 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fox<\/a>If you\u2019re just tuning in, be sure to\u00a0start at the beginning<\/a>\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s besotted with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The voice curling over my left shoulder sounded pleasant, but it wasn\u2019t. Instead, my instincts screamed \u201cAngry werewolf behind you. Careful!\u201d<\/i> one second before I swiveled around with a fake smile pasted on my lips.<\/p>\n

\u201cEdward. Left your posse behind, did you? Braving the scary kitsune all on your lonesome?\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the middle-aged male who\u2019d been Gunner\u2019s principal ally in the battle against Liam was apparently not my greatest supporter. Moments earlier, Edward had stood at the center of the huddle of unhappy shifters shooting angry glances in my direction. So the fact he\u2019d come all the way across the room to engage me likely meant he had an ultimatum to drop on my head.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the rotten-egg aroma that permeated my cottage was so strong now I could only conclude it emanated from this shifter. It couldn\u2019t have been his signature aroma, however, or someone would have warned me about the foul stench.<\/p>\n

\u201cBad choice of cologne,\u201d I noted even as he grabbed my arm and drew me into the dimly lit hallway with a grasp so bruising I had to fight down a flinch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis pack is barely hanging together,\u201d Edward growled as soon as we were out of easy earshot of the rest of the partygoers, not bothering to comment on my snarkiness about his scent. \u201cLiam was important to us and now he\u2019s gone. Ransom was an asshole, but the transition away from him is still difficult. We don\u2019t need you here making things more complicated. If you love Gunner, you\u2019ll leave him alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wanted to snipe right back…but, unfortunately, Edward hadn\u2019t said anything I didn\u2019t already believe to be truthful. On the other hand\u2014\u201cGunner asked me to come here. So I came.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I spoke, I stared at the hand clenched around my arm until Edward realized what would happen if his pack leader saw the lines of parallel bruises welling up beneath his fingers. Reddening, he shrank back so rapidly I might as well have swiped at him with my sword.<\/p>\n

\u201cShit,\u201d the male muttered under his breath. \u201cIf he smells me on you, he\u2019ll go berserk.\u201d<\/p>\n

This, at least, I was prepared for. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out an aerosol can of scent-reducing compound, spraying it liberally across my injured flesh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not here to make your life difficult,\u201d I said as I worked, the chemical drifting up my nose in the process so I had to pause and stifle a sneeze before I could go on. But then I returned to the most important business\u2014clarifying my place within the Atwood pack. \u201cI\u2019m here to support Gunner,\u201d I continued. \u201cAnd if you care about the clan, you\u2019ll let me get on with my task.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which was all very true even though the words sat between us like a lump of brussel sprouts on the plate of a picky toddler. If Edward wanted the Atwood clan to hang together, he\u2019d make nice and pretend he didn\u2019t have a bone to pick with the pack leader\u2019s mate.<\/p>\n

I could tell from his scent\u2014no longer quite so harsh and astringent\u2014that Edward had gotten the message. Unfortunately, werewolves have a hard time dropping a juicy bone. \u201cWhat happened four months ago…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWas the fault of an Atwood werewolf,\u201d I interjected, not wanting to remember the awful battle of wolf against wolf fueled by the kitsune magic of my dead mother. \u201cI would never do anything to damage this pack.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vigor of belief added volume to what was meant to be a private conversation, and this time I really did wince as my words rang a little too loudly in the echoing hall. Shit. <\/i>I\u2019d intended to say my piece to Edward then let him propagate it through the pack at the speed of werewolf gossip. I hadn\u2019t intended to create a scene.<\/p>\n

Ignoring the shifter beside me, I swiveled just as I\u2019d done while walking up the path with Kira. Unfortunately, this time I wasn\u2019t lucky enough to find our surroundings devoid of life. Instead, a tall, broad-shouldered werewolf towered in the open doorway between hallway and living room, silhouetted against the light behind his back.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething the matter?\u201d Gunner demanded, taking in our proximity, our stiff-legged anger, the strange floral overlay of the de-scenting compound.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course not,\u201d I lied. \u201cEdward was just giving me the recipe for his famous lasagna.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grimacing in what was clearly meant to be a smile, the male in question played along. \u201cThe secret,\u201d he offered, \u201cis in the sauce.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHmm,\u201d Gunner started, far from satisfied. Only he had no time to debrief us further, because the living room behind him erupted into howls, growls, and one long, quavering scream.<\/p>\n

Dive straight into the full book on the retailer of your choice<\/a>\u00a0or click here to continue reading online for free<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re just tuning in, be sure to\u00a0start at the beginning\u2026. \u201cHe\u2019s besotted with you.\u201d The voice curling over my left shoulder sounded pleasant, but it wasn\u2019t. Instead, my instincts screamed \u201cAngry werewolf behind you. Careful!\u201d one second before I swiveled around with a fake smile pasted on my lips. \u201cEdward. Left your posse behind, […]<\/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":[49,142],"tags":[14,7,27,23,8],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpts-aimee-easterling","category-series-moon-marked","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\/1548","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=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1555,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions\/1555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}