{"id":1115,"date":"2014-03-23T01:24:45","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T05:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1115"},"modified":"2018-01-06T11:17:02","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T16:17:02","slug":"shiftless-chapter-1-scene-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1115","title":{"rendered":"Shiftless, Chapter 1, Scene 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finished with Chapter 1 Scene 2<\/a> and still want more? Well, you’re in luck…<\/em><\/p>\n

Chapter 1 Scene 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, if you\u2019d just put these on, you could ask her yourself,\u201d Chase told Wolfie, exasperated as he shook a backpack full of men\u2019s clothing under the wolf\u2019s nose. Despite myself, the two were growing on me as I sipped my hot chocolate and watched them carry out a seemingly coherent conversation…despite the fact that one was a wolf. After the bark that froze me on the street, Wolfie hadn\u2019t said another word, but he was quite adept at making his meaning clear, to Chase at least. While taking in the show, I had even started drifting into wolf brain, where Wolfie\u2019s nonverbal language was more understandable, but I had quickly pulled myself back to the safety of the human world. The middle of a city was no place to turn my wolf loose, even if we had been on speaking terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does he want to know?\u201d I asked, when a stalemate appeared to have been reached by the opposing forces across the table from me. Wolfie, for some unknown reason, preferred to stay wolf, Chase was unwilling to continue being his mouthpiece, and I was starting to get curious about the alpha\u2019s question.<\/p>\n

Only when Chase turned to me with a huge smile on his face did I realize that these were the first words I\u2019d spoken in the pair\u2019s presence. So much for the cold shoulder. But I shrugged internally and decided there was no point in freezing out Chase anyway, since he seemed to be a nice guy. I was reserving judgment on the wolf.<\/p>\n

\u201cWolfie just wants to know your name,\u201d Chase answered. \u201cBut I can tell you aren\u2019t comfortable sitting here with us, and I didn\u2019t want to pepper you with questions until you had time to see we were harmless.\u201d In contrast to his alpha\u2019s demand for information, Chase\u2019s strategy for putting me at ease seemed to involve talking until the cows came home. So, with an effort, I pretended he wasn\u2019t a male werewolf and interrupted the monologue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Terra,\u201d I answered, looking straight into the alpha\u2019s eyes rather than at his beta. It was strange to be chatting with an alpha werewolf as if he were the guy down the street, but the wolf merely nodded his appreciation of the information then peered at Chase as if to say, I told you she wouldn\u2019t mind<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I felt okay parting with my given name since I figured neither Chase nor Wolfie would know the first name of the second daughter of an alpha from out of state, but I was careful not to offer a surname, which would have instantly linked me to a pack. Wanting to stay as anonymous as possible, I decided some misdirection was in order to turn the conversation away from a potentially tricky topic, so I shifted my eyes back to Chase. \u201cAnd his<\/em> name really is Wolfie?\u201d I parried, hoping Chase would be willing to play along with my obvious attempt to talk about something other than myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Wolf actually,\u201d Chase answered. \u201cBut I always figured \u2018Wolfie\u2019 made him seem a little more human….\u201d The alpha in question snorted, which sent a tremor of fear running through me until I realized the wolf was laughing, at which point I started breathing again with a jolt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very…literal…of his mother,\u201d I said after a minute. Once my heart rate had slowed back down from the effects of Wolfie\u2019s laugh, I could feel my brow wrinkling as I tried to imagine naming a werewolf \u201cWolf.\u201d We did<\/em> tend to gravitate toward nature-oriented names, but this seemed more like the kind of appellation a two-year-old would give his pet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it was my<\/em> mother, actually,\u201d Chase said, turning his attention back to me. \u201cWe\u2019re milk brothers.\u201d The old-fashioned term suggested Wolfie had been nursed by Chase\u2019s mother, and probably raised like his brother. It also explained why the less-dominant wolf was able to hold his alpha on a leash, and why the two could communicate without words. Despite myself, I was becoming intrigued by the two werewolves in front of me, but Chase\u2019s next words pushed away my false sense of security.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, which pack are you from?\u201d the beta asked, and my jitters returned full force. Without meaning to, I stood, my chair screeching against the pavement as it was abruptly pushed backwards by my motion.<\/p>\n

Chase\u2019s words were enough to remind me that I was packless by choice and could easily be drawn back into this or another wolf\u2019s pack, which made my slowed breathing begin to race once again. What would prevent Wolfie from asking around about a twenty-something werewolf named Terra, and what would happen when his words inevitably reached my father\u2019s ears? I would end up right back where I started, and all because I\u2019d been stupid enough to imagine I was simply chatting with two strange werewolves whom I\u2019d met in a bookstore.<\/p>\n

All of those thoughts zipped through my mind in the span of time it took to rise from the table, and by then the adrenaline had really kicked in. Fight or flight seemed to be my only options, so I fled.<\/p>\n

But I wasn\u2019t far enough away to miss Wolfie admonishing his friend. The wolf\u2019s easy-going demeanor disappeared in an instant as the alpha bared his teeth at Chase, who quickly averted his eyes in submission. If I\u2019d needed any proof that Wolfie was just as overbearing as every other alpha werewolf I\u2019d ever run into, this was it. Not that I\u2019d thought otherwise…well, not for long.<\/p>\n

I almost expected there to be other werewolves in the wings, just waiting to rope me back into the pack life from which I\u2019d escaped. Instead, there was just Wolfie\u2019s commanding bark, ordering me to stop. But I wasn\u2019t a member of his pack, and I didn\u2019t have to obey. I ran down the street, and this time I didn\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n

Want to know what happens to Terra next? Read Chapter 2 Scene 1 here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finished with Chapter 1 Scene 2 and still want more? Well, you’re in luck… Chapter 1 Scene 3 \u201cYou know, if you\u2019d just put these on, you could ask her yourself,\u201d Chase told Wolfie, exasperated as he shook a backpack full of men\u2019s clothing under the wolf\u2019s nose. Despite myself, the two were growing on […]<\/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":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-free-fantasy-and-romance-books","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1115"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1129,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115\/revisions\/1129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}