{"id":1781,"date":"2019-04-10T07:46:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T11:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1781"},"modified":"2019-04-10T13:23:53","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T17:23:53","slug":"wolf-dreams-chapter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1781","title":{"rendered":"Wolf Dreams: Chapter 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cave(If you’re starting on this page, please\u00a0click here<\/a>\u00a0to return to the beginning so you don’t miss any of the story.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, absolutely not!\u201d Patricia proclaimed, waving the paper wildly in front of her face without taking in the fact that she was one step away from being menaced by a weapon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d This was Joe, my people-pleasing kid-genius. He paled as he scanned the handout someone thrust toward him. \u201cDue Wednesday?<\/i>\u201d he groaned, no less horrified than Patricia was. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t even give us time for interlibrary loan.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wanted to tell him that he didn\u2019t need interlibrary loan\u2014there were thousands of volumes in our own library and millions of articles in our online system. But I didn\u2019t want to draw anyone\u2019s attention to the armed intruder. Not when the ensuing panic might result in somebody getting shot.<\/p>\n

Instead, I took a chance that I was reading the situation properly. I snapped my fingers at my inherited raven even as I dove into the scrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t understand…\u201d one student started.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, this is for you.\u201d A bright red apple perfect enough to have graced a teacher\u2019s desk in a comic strip was thrust into my hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d I told the blushing teenager, sliding past to lead the mass of youngsters like goslings toward the door.<\/p>\n

Behind me, the rustle of wings was met by a grunt of annoyance. Ever since inheriting Adena from my predecessor, I\u2019d spent my evenings training her to land on shoulders when commanded. Surely the stranger would find it hard to pull and fire a pistol when weighed down by a two-foot-tall bird.<\/p>\n

Of course, a perching raven wouldn\u2019t stop a determined gunman. But my gut said this wasn\u2019t a school shooter. This was a man reacting to past trauma by drawing upon his only available resource.<\/p>\n

Or so I hoped. I couldn\u2019t hear whether or not the gun emerged from its holster. Instead, Patricia was nose-to-nose with me now, her piercing voice overwhelming all other sounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said<\/i> there was going to be a test!\u201d she snapped. \u201cMultiple choice. Easy peasy. It\u2019s on the syllabus<\/i>!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s not,\u201d I countered. \u201cIf you\u2019ll check again, you\u2019ll notice the line in question says \u2018TBD.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Immediately, three students began pulling up evidence on their cell phones. \u201cTBA, actually,\u201d reported the most pedantic of my followers. In reaction, Patricia raised her claws in preparation for tearing out his eyes.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t think she was angry enough to follow through on her threat, but these were my students. I was responsible for their wellbeing. So I threw myself between Patricia and the object of her ire…only to thud up against a huge body that had gotten there first.<\/p>\n

A minute ago, I\u2019d been positive Craggy Face was standing on the far side of the lecture hall. I\u2019d felt his eyes like icy fingers running up and down my spine.<\/p>\n

But I must have been mistaken. Because the man in question was now gripping Patricia\u2019s shoulders in a manner that was entirely platonic but nonetheless went against the department\u2019s code of ethics. His face was even more terrifyingly intent than it had been when I woke from my vision, angry russeting making the scar around his neck stand out in stark relief.<\/p>\n

I think he even growled<\/i>, a rumble that sounded more animalistic than human. Patricia had chosen the wrong day to mess around.<\/p>\n

Which is exactly when Dr. Dick Duncan, department chair and pain in my ass, chose to stroll down the hall toward us. His eyebrows rose as he took in the scene in my classroom, and I could see my job disappearing without a trace.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I\u2019d learned about Dick during the semester he\u2019d been my de-facto manager:<\/p>\n

His area of expertise was Roman archaeology but I was pretty sure he hadn\u2019t bothered to so much as skim new literature during the preceding decade. \u201cArchaeology is all old,\u201d he\u2019d told me when I pressed him on the issue. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing new under the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

As if that wasn\u2019t bad enough, the wispy-haired stick-in-the-mud had set himself up as my mentor when I first entered the department. Then he\u2019d quickly turned against me when it became apparent I knew more than he did about modern field techniques.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou weren\u2019t what he expected,\u201d our department secretary Suzy had explained last week as she and I chatted around the water cooler. \u201cHe thought a newly minted PhD\u2014especially one as young as you are\u2014wouldn\u2019t be up to speed until his retirement. Then he\u2019d look like a hero for molding such a perfect professor as his replacement. The trouble is, you\u2019re already better at this gig than Dick was in his prime. Now he\u2019s starting to look like an idiot in front of the rest of the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worries about his professional reputation aside, the department head possessed all the power in our relationship. And the expression on his face when he took in the circus-like ruckus in my classroom resembled nothing so much as anticipatory glee.<\/p>\n

I took a deep breath and channeled my father. \u201cMr. Wolf, take your hands off that student,\u201d I barked, making up a name on the spot that seemed to match Craggy Face better than the moniker I\u2019d been using for him previously. \u201cMs. Owens, the paper is due next week, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. This should be an easy assignment after everything you\u2019ve learned in my class.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Patricia had been a dog, her ears would have pinned back and her tail would have tucked in submission. She wasn\u2019t used to being yelled at, and I felt a little bad for taking her to task.<\/p>\n

The huffed laugh from \u201cMr. Wolf,\u201d however, reminded me that Patricia and I weren\u2019t the only ones present. So I addressed the rest of the students in a slightly warmer manner, reminding them that my usual office hours would be shaken up during exam week. \u201cIf you have any questions,\u201d I finished, \u201cplease don\u2019t hesitate to email or call me. You know I\u2019m always willing to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then they were gone. My pupils, the department chair, and every single one of the handouts. I\u2019d printed three extra papers and there\u2019d been two absent students, so simple arithmetic suggested there should have been five handouts left on the table. But…<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure Apple Kid took the last handful to build into a shrine.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was Mr. Wolf, still very much present as he pushed himself further than he properly should have into my personal space. His scent enfolded me, mossy and enticing, and my skin tingled as if I\u2019d been stroked…or wanted to be.<\/p>\n

Yes. Pet us, <\/i>whispered the monster deep in my belly. Shaken by the feeling I wasn\u2019t entirely in control of my own internal dialogue, I forced my eyes aside to take my first proper look at the second man.<\/p>\n

The gun was gone. Adena perched on his shoulder like a pirate\u2019s parrot. But he didn\u2019t appear at all piratical. Instead, the stark black bird added to the stranger\u2019s handsomeness to turn him into a fairy-tale prince in appearance, all blond hair and blue eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMa\u2019am, I apologize for earlier,\u201d he started. \u201cI can assure you, nothing like that will ever happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded absently. I\u2019d known he wasn\u2019t really dangerous\u2014my monster had somehow smelled it on his breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cApology accepted,\u201d I answered. But my attention kept returning, like a heat-seeking missile, to the man with the saber-tooth fang around his neck.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you\u2019ll tell us where you went,\u201d Mr. Wolf ordered, not bothering to turn his query into a question. His eyebrows were so dark they almost became a brow ridge when they V\u2019ed downwards. But he was no Neanderthal. His eyes possessed the intensity of Homo sapiens sapiens<\/i> and I got the distinct impression he was aware of the monster lurking beneath my skin.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s why I started spitting out my secret. \u201cI…the cave…\u201d I answered without thinking, halting only when that familiar glimmer of disappointment rose behind his pupils.<\/p>\n

Of course. Mentioning my visions wasn\u2019t the way to assert my sanity.<\/p>\n

Mad at myself for the slip, I turned to the other stranger as I tried to nudge them both out the door. \u201cCan I help you? I assume you dropped by for a reason other than to draw a gun on my students?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a mistake, Dr. Blackburn,\u201d Prince Charming started. Which is when I remembered he\u2019d used my predecessor\u2019s name the first time he\u2019d spoken to me also.<\/p>\n

These men didn\u2019t want me. They wanted Dr. Frank Blackburn, who had died of a heart attack so close to the start of the semester that no one even bothered to clean out his office before I moved in. I\u2019d inherited his classes, his bird, and apparently his problems in the form of these two intruders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid you\u2019re mistaken,\u201d I said, hating the fact that my voice quavered slightly. The trouble was, Mr. Wolf\u2014still silent\u2014continued circling me like a turkey vulture homing in on a piece of choice roadkill. At the moment, he was behind my back…and being unable to see him made me so twitchy it was all I could do to meet the speaker\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not F. Blackburn?\u201d Prince Suddenly-Not-So-Charming snapped, mouth pursing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m O. Hart,\u201d I countered. \u201cFrank died in his sleep over the summer. I took his place….\u201d<\/p>\n

Oops. That was more information than they likely needed or wanted. Plus, I couldn\u2019t hold myself still any longer, not when I could have sworn I felt hot breath drifting across the nape of my neck.<\/p>\n

Whirling, I found myself face to face with the larger stranger. Or, rather, face to scar-encircling-his-neck.<\/p>\n

Click here to head straight to chapter 3.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(If you’re starting on this page, please\u00a0click here\u00a0to return to the beginning so you don’t miss any of the story.) \u201cNo, absolutely not!\u201d Patricia proclaimed, waving the paper wildly in front of her face without taking in the fact that she was one step away from being menaced by a weapon. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d This […]<\/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":[49,152],"tags":[147,146,7,23,8],"class_list":["post-1781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpts-aimee-easterling","category-series-moon-blind","tag-archaeology","tag-prehistoric-fantasy","tag-shifter-books","tag-urban-paranormal-romantic-fantasy","tag-werewolf-books","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","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=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1786,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions\/1786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}