{"id":1212,"date":"2018-03-08T06:48:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T11:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1212"},"modified":"2018-03-05T13:52:39","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T18:52:39","slug":"huntress-unleashed-chapter-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1212","title":{"rendered":"Huntress Unleashed, Chapter 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ember<\/a><\/p>\n

If you missed the beginning, click here to start on chapter 1.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I really thought I was home free, key already in the door of my battered Toyota Corolla and mind three towns away. But I should have known any alpha worth her salt possessed a sixth sense that would alert her when an underling tried to carry purloined goods out of her territory unhindered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWilder-Young!\u201d Dakota called from three doors down. And maybe it was my guilty conscience or my inner wolf\u2019s intuition, but I somehow knew she wasn\u2019t hailing me to shoot the breeze.<\/p>\n

Still, it would have looked suspicious to tear out of the parking lot without answering. So I left the bin of cupcakes balanced on the car\u2019s metal roof and turned to face my employer. \u201cAny luck?\u201d I asked, referring to the lawbreaker she and a third of the pack had set out to capture earlier in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

…Or, rather, to kill. <\/i>Because Dakota licked what I\u2019d previously assumed was red nail polish off one sharp fingernail in lieu of a reply, teeth glinting wickedly in the late afternoon light. \u201cPlenty,\u201d she answered at last. Then her eyebrows rose as she took in the bin of cupcakes only partially shielded by my head. \u201cAre you sure Daddy Dearest would approve of you bringing sweets back to your fuck buddy?\u201d she added, tone remaining emotionless and cool. \u201cPerhaps I should call and make a report.\u201d<\/p>\n

In lieu of a response, I inhaled sharply through my nose, refusing to grace Dakota\u2019s assessment of either relationship with a verbal reply. The poke at me and Wolfie rolled off my back like syrup over a hot pancake\u2014if anything, it proved that my cover was still holding months later. But the jab at Sebastien….<\/p>\n

So what if we aren\u2019t mated the way shifters would be by now?<\/i> I thought rebelliously. Yes, the professor and I were dating in a human manner that felt subtly wrong to my inner wolf. But Sebastien was human. It made sense to get to know each other in a human fashion before we chose to commit in a bond unbreakable even by death.<\/p>\n

Or so I told myself every time doubts cascaded over my head, threatening to drown me in their dark, malodorous depths.<\/p>\n

Only when I smelled sweet humor rolling off Dakota\u2019s slender body did I realize I\u2019d been played yet again. Dakota didn\u2019t care who I was dating or whether <\/i>I was dating. She just liked to see if twisting my metaphorical underwear would make me jump.<\/p>\n

Once again, she\u2019d goosed me precisely where it hurt.<\/p>\n

Well, two could play at that game. \u201cYeah,\u201d I responded as easily as I could, picking up the big round container I\u2019d filled with presents for Sebastien then sliding into the driver\u2019s seat with cupcakes in tow. \u201cSome of us have a life outside of work. Speaking of which….\u201d<\/p>\n

I started easing the door shut between us, but Dakota was too fast for me. In the time it took to slip fingers into the door handle in preparation for a door-slamming escape, she\u2019d swooped forward and snagged a cupcake right out from under the plastic lid<\/p>\n

Only when the irregular line of frosting on the far side of the chosen pastry made jagged shadows against my employer\u2019s incisors did I realize that I\u2019d been right from the beginning\u2014this supposedly chance meeting wasn\u2019t random at all. \u201cDon\u2019t…\u201d I started.<\/p>\n

But I couldn\u2019t think of a single excuse sufficient to wrench the pastry out from between Dakota\u2019s fingers before her teeth crunched against the pills inside. And, sure enough, the sound of enamel pulverizing pre-powdered chemicals emerged from her mouth like the sharp crack of rabbit bones on a January night. Meanwhile, the air filled with the harsh haze of incipient fur.<\/p>\n

Despite my best intentions to stand my ground, I cringed back into my vehicle, expecting a vicious tirade the like of which had left an underling bed-bound last week. But my boss didn\u2019t flinch or spit the tablets out. Just chewed thoughtfully, swallowing drugs and cupcake as easily as if the pastry was oven perfect.<\/p>\n

Her eyes didn\u2019t dilate either. Three pills would have been excessive for anyone else\u2019s body, but they didn\u2019t impact my small-framed boss\u2019s behavior in the slightest. Instead, Dakota moved as easily as ever when she dropped the rest of the cupcake to the pavement and ground it into mush beneath one booted foot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you I\u2019d hook you up if you ever wanted any,\u201d the other female told me, her voice just as sugary sweet as it had been a minute earlier. \u201cOffer\u2019s still open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only then did her eyes narrow, the bloodthirsty wolf I knew was inside making itself evident at last. \u201cBut here\u2019s the deal,\u201d she added, enunciating carefully to overcome the lupine tendency to lisp. \u201cPharmaceutical improvements in this pack come only from me. You\u2019re not irreplaceable, so don\u2019t act like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, warning concluded, Dakota yawned and dismissed me as easily as she\u2019d threatened my life. \u201cHave fun with your fuck buddy,\u201d she finished, turning away without another word and disappearing back into the maze of buildings that housed her pack.<\/p>\n

And even though she\u2019d dismissed me after only a minor tongue lashing, I could barely fit the key into the ignition due to the shaking in my fingers. I\u2019d failed yet again in my attempt to gather evidence for the Tribunal. Perhaps my task was simply impossible to achieve.<\/p>\n

***<\/em><\/p>\n

Still itching to hear from Sebastien? Our favorite professor shows up on the very next page. Nab Huntress Unleashed on the retailer of your choice and keep reading using the links below:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\"Amazon\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"nook\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"apple\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"google\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"kobo\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you missed the beginning, click here to start on chapter 1. I really thought I was home free, key already in the door of my battered Toyota Corolla and mind three towns away. But I should have known any alpha worth her salt possessed a sixth sense that would alert her when an underling […]<\/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":[49,141],"tags":[9,14,7,27,23,8],"class_list":["post-1212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpts-aimee-easterling","category-series-wolf-legacy","tag-free-stories","tag-paranormal-books","tag-shifter-books","tag-urban-fantasy-books","tag-urban-paranormal-romantic-fantasy","tag-werewolf-books","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212","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=1212"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1214,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212\/revisions\/1214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}