{"id":1784,"date":"2019-04-11T05:49:50","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T09:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1784"},"modified":"2019-04-10T13:23:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T17:23:00","slug":"wolf-dreams-chapter-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=1784","title":{"rendered":"Wolf Dreams: Chapter 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

(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

\"Wolf<\/a>\u201cThen this isn\u2019t yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The words should have been a question, but they weren\u2019t. Instead, they were a statement of ownership even as he slipped the silver chain that had recently been around his neck over my head.<\/p>\n

The saber-tooth-cat fang tapped against my nose as it lowered from my forehead to my chin then continued its way downward. Calloused skin grazed my cheek as his hand retreated. And I couldn\u2019t seem to stop my fingers from cupping the heavy artifact that seemed to burn through my sweater with borrowed heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s not mine,\u201d I answered, even though the fang felt right hanging there. Even though the weight around my neck seemed to lift me up rather than bowing me down.<\/p>\n

The men on either side of me exchanged loaded glances. \u201cShe isn\u2019t…\u201d started Prince Charming.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoesn\u2019t matter,\u201d answered Mr. Wolf. Then, spearing me again with his unbreakable attention, he introduced both of them in rapid succession. \u201cClaw.\u201d This was himself. \u201cHarry.\u201d A thumb jab in the direction of the fairy-tale prince.<\/p>\n

\u201cOlivia,\u201d I replied, somehow needing him to know my first name even though a second ago I\u2019d been trying to rush him out the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cO-liv-ia,\u201d he repeated, the word seductive and warm in his deep rumble. For a moment, we were suspended in the lull that followed. Then: \u201cWe need your help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, anything. <\/i>I wasn\u2019t sure if that was me or the monster. But I somehow managed not to speak the words aloud.<\/p>\n

As if responding to my caution, Claw raised his eyebrows at Harry. And the latter accepted the conversational ball as easily as he\u2019d dropped it in the first place. \u201cMa\u2019am, we work for the President.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the university?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adena cackled a throaty laugh at my confusion while Harry corrected me. \u201cNo. Of the nation. As you may have noticed, Jim Kelter…hasn\u2019t been feeling quite himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

This made no sense. \u201cI\u2019m not a medical doctor,\u201d I pointed out, although my gaze remained focused on Claw. \u201cMy PhD is in archaeology. I study cave paintings, ancient artifacts, and old bones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike this?\u201d Claw\u2019s finger almost grazed my breast as he tapped the fang he\u2019d given me. But his motion was careful, calculated. Only air slid across my sweater to impact the underlying skin.<\/p>\n

I shivered, knowing there was no point in explaining that a bone and a tooth were slightly different in molecular structure. No one would care about biochemistry when dealing with an erratic head of state.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I started. \u201cBut…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we need you.\u201d Claw\u2019s voice reverberated through my bones like the beat of a drum.<\/p>\n

He smells like home,<\/i> the monster inside me whispered, forcing my body to lean forward and inhale a deeper whiff of his woodsy scent.<\/p>\n

And the monster\u2019s mirroring of my own feelings slapped me back to reality. I couldn\u2019t afford to be sidetracked by a sexual fancy that would send my mental health floundering.<\/p>\n

Plus: \u201cYou look out for you,\u201d <\/i>my father was fond of saying. \u201cEveryone else is doing the same.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Our nation\u2019s President had dozens\u2014hundreds\u2014of people on staff to ensure his well-being. I had myself…plus Adena when she felt like obeying my commands.<\/p>\n

Rationally, I was making the right decision. So I wasn\u2019t sure why it hurt so badly to deny Claw\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid I can\u2019t help,\u201d I answered, snapping my fingers at the raven. She landed on my shoulder with the weight of disappointment, head swiveling to peer behind us as I strode out of the room.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

There was a student waiting for me in the hallway when I headed back to campus to deal with my inherited mess after a quick stop home to swallow my meds and toss the cat tooth into my kitchen junk drawer. Adena had also demanded a bite to eat, and I\u2019d changed my shoes because my feet were killing me. To cut a long story short, by the time I rounded the corner and found the freckled class perfectionist waiting for me, I was running quite a bit behind.<\/p>\n

He was bundled up against the winter chill, head bowed in a manner that promised our interlude wouldn\u2019t be brief. Still, I smiled and welcomed him. \u201cJoe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know this isn\u2019t your office hours….\u201d The sixteen-year-old freshman started apologizing the moment I came into view.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry about it.\u201d I dug for my keys in my bag then took a look through the narrow office-door window as I fumbled with the lock. Inside, the piles of my predecessor\u2019s jumbled-together stuff looked taller than when I\u2019d left them. Great.<\/i><\/p>\n

I was a slob at home, but I liked my workspace tidy. So it had been a bit of a shock when I\u2019d arrived at my office a week ago to find the room full of unlabeled artifacts related to Blackburn\u2019s specialty\u2014the first humans to grace the North American continent. There were stacks of scientific journals by the hundred on the same topic. And, off in one corner, an odd mass of wires and chemicals must have had something to do with a hobby; it certainly made no sense to my archaeological eye.<\/p>\n

Even Adena\u2019s perch had been shunted out of the main thoroughfare. The raven cawed annoyance at leaving the center of attention, but she still fluttered off my shoulder and onto her wooden foothold as I ushered Joe inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me about your paper,\u201d I nudged him. The freshman was brilliant, but he required a fair amount of hand-holding. I had a feeling by the time he achieved the age of the average freshman, he would have grown into his own skin.<\/p>\n

That happy day was two years in the future however. So I ignored my to-do list and prepared to hold some metaphorical hands.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, the flood gates opened as soon as I gave him the opportunity. \u201cI was thinking of delving into Native American petroglyphs.\u201d His eyes sparkled as he lost track of his surroundings and traversed more familiar terrain\u2014the inside of his own head. \u201cSubtopic: form constants and the possible use of hallucinogens. I\u2019d like to track down modern shamans to interview, but I doubt I\u2019ll have time to speak with more than one or two.\u201d<\/p>\n

He glared at me then, frustrated that I\u2019d given him less than a week to compile his magnum opus. I swallowed my amusement as I replied. \u201cYou do realize that when I said you needed secondary sources, I was referring to scientific articles? This isn\u2019t a dissertation, Joe. This is only 25% of your grade in one class.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d he started. \u201cBut the material merits\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

We both glanced up as someone tapped on my open door.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Of course. Who else. <\/i>Dr. Dick Duncan, nemesis and boss, hovered there, smirking.<\/p>\n

\u201cDick,\u201d I greeted him, hating the fact that Joe\u2019s slender shoulders cowered the moment the department chair glanced in his direction. A good professor lifted up her students. Dr. Duncan got a kick out of knocking them down.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, you\u2019re speaking to the boy genius.\u201d He laughed, displaying teeth that were far more perfect than you\u2019d expect from a man of his generation. Word on the street was that they were all fake…just like his interest in his students. \u201cDon\u2019t let me interrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I was going.\u201d Joe, who would gladly have talked archaeology for at least another half hour, stuffed his notebook in his bag so rapidly the pages bent over. Then he slid through the gap between Dick and the door jamb, the other professor not doing him the courtesy of coming inside to widen the space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell?\u201d I asked after the thuds of Joe\u2019s footsteps had receded. I\u2019d need to check on the boy later if I didn\u2019t want a repeat of his first reaction paper, a one-paragraph assignment that he\u2019d handed in two weeks late and twenty pages long.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust making sure you\u2019re doing your job,\u201d Dick answered, apparently ignorant of the irony of the situation. Then he wandered away without saying anything further, acting for all the world as if he\u2019d had no purpose in entering other than hazing the young.<\/p>\n

Frustrated, I stared after my boss for one long moment. Was this really the leadership the university wanted heading up our department? Unfortunately, as the youngest professor on the totem pole, there was nothing I could do about it. So I dismissed the annoyance and instead dove into the office-cleaning project I\u2019d avoided for far too long.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure when the hallway grew quiet, the last faculty members and students filtering away to their homes and dormitories. I just knew that when the last of Blackburn\u2019s papers were picked through and separated into piles\u2014photocopies to be discarded, notes to be filed, materials to be returned to the university library\u2014the view outside my window had darkened into night.<\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t meant to be here so late on the final day of the semester, and I could tell Adena was antsy after sitting on her perch for so long. I\u2019d get her an egg out of the department refrigerator to tide her over and do just a little more filing. Then I\u2019d find my way home….<\/p>\n

But when I padded down the hall toward the main entrance, the sound of fingers clacking on a keyboard emerged out of the darkness. Past the entrance and down the corridor, now I was following a rectangle of light that spilled out into the hall.<\/p>\n

The department office. Who would be inside at this hour? Poking my head around the corner cautiously, I wasn\u2019t sure what I expected to see. But it certainly wasn\u2019t the plump, middle-aged secretary bowed over her laptop with the intensity of a predator on the hunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello,\u201d I said, then jumped as Suzy slammed down the lid with all the force of a teenager caught watching pornography.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh! Hello.\u201d Her face was flushed, her eyes glassy. What exactly did she get up to in her office after dark?<\/p>\n

\u201cI just came by to grab a snack for Adena,\u201d I said vaguely, motioning at the bird on my shoulder. \u201cBut I can take her home to feed her. I didn\u2019t mean to interrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not interrupting anything. I was just leaving. Here, let me get it for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Suzy\u2019s more usual cadence, I hesitated in the doorway, not wanting to deal with further problems. After all, I could feel the monster coiled inside me, napping lightly after her exertions earlier in the day.<\/p>\n

But Adena possessed none of my reservations. Flying off my shoulder, the raven landed on Suzy\u2019s arm then began picking at the older woman\u2019s shiny bracelets.<\/p>\n

And Suzy reacted the way she always did. \u201cWhat a charmer,\u201d she cooed, scratching Adena\u2019s neck once before opening the refrigerator door and pulling out one of the raw eggs she kept inside for my raven. But she didn\u2019t offer to chat. Instead, she ejected me, locking up her office and trotting alongside as we headed down the hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should be careful going home,\u201d she warned. \u201cThe students tell me there\u2019s a big, black dog wandering around that scared a freshman out of her panties.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were always crazy stories on a college campus, so I shrugged off the unlikelihood of panty-dropping beasts. \u201cYou be careful too,\u201d I answered vaguely. Then I froze, Adena\u2019s egg slipping through my fingers, as I took in the jumble of white papers spread across what should have been a pristine, empty floor in front of my office door.<\/p>\n

Want to keep reading? Wolf Dreams<\/a> is available on all retailers. Thanks for joining Olivia on her adventure!<\/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.) \u201cThen this isn\u2019t yours.\u201d The words should have been a question, but they weren\u2019t. Instead, they were a statement of ownership even as he slipped the silver chain that had recently been around his neck […]<\/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":[147,14,146,7,27,8],"class_list":["post-1784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpts-aimee-easterling","category-series-moon-blind","tag-archaeology","tag-paranormal-books","tag-prehistoric-fantasy","tag-shifter-books","tag-urban-fantasy-books","tag-werewolf-books","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784","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=1784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1785,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions\/1785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}