{"id":2935,"date":"2022-10-04T08:37:07","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T12:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=2935"},"modified":"2022-10-18T11:42:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T15:42:55","slug":"a-bonus-moon-marked-story-from-gunners-point-of-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/?p=2935","title":{"rendered":"A bonus Moon Marked story, from Gunner’s point of view"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a special treat coming your way this fall — Outfoxed<\/em>. This bonus short story from Gunner’s point of view is set five years after Fox Blood<\/em> ends, and I’ve included the beginning of the story at the bottom of this post. However, even reading this tidbit is a major SPOILER<\/strong> for the rest of the series. So I’ll fill some space by sharing the special way this short story will wind up in your hands.<\/p>\n

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

Outfoxed<\/em> will be one of the reward tiers in my upcoming Kickstarter<\/a>, running from October 18 to November 3. Other fun inclusions include special edition hardbacks with bonus art available nowhere else, signed bookplates, and pretty bookmarks. You’ll definitely want to follow the campaign so you get a notification at launch since early-bird tiers will be available only for the first 48 hours. One of those early bird tiers involves snagging Outfoxed<\/em> in ebook form for a buck.<\/p>\n

\"Moon<\/p>\n

And now, if you’ve already enjoyed the series and are ready for\u00a0MAJOR SPOILERS…<\/strong>read on for the first scene of Gunner’s adventure…<\/p>\n

\n

When a werewolf invites two fox shifters into the heart of his pack, he learns to think sideways. To read between the lines and assess the subtleties of any given situation.<\/p>\n

Although sometimes even foxes aren\u2019t particularly subtle.<\/p>\n

\u201cShit, shit, shit, shit, shit!\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other side of the closed bathroom door, my mate\u2019s curses were muffled yet explosive. Like nuclear detonations shielded by steel to prevent the outside world from hearing a disaster unfold.<\/p>\n

My hearing was better than most.<\/p>\n

Tapping the barrier between us, I observed, \u201cWhatever\u2019s broken, it can\u2019t be terrible. Your sister is away at college after all.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d hoped to lighten the mood, but Mai\u2019s retort felt like it had the full weight of her sword arm behind it. \u201cMy sister<\/i> is living so far from our pack that a lone wolf could snatch her up at any moment. Don\u2019t you even miss her?\u201d<\/p>\n

Was that the problem? Kira, eighteen and spreading her wings as a first semester college student…with a werewolf bodyguard assigned <\/span><\/span><\/span>to be<\/span><\/span><\/span> her<\/span><\/span><\/span> roommate and constant companion. \u201cYour sister is pack,\u201d I answered carefully. \u201cOf course she\u2019s missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The door opened so abruptly the knob would have slammed into me if I hadn\u2019t leapt backwards. Mai surged out in fighting stance even though she bore no obvious weapon. She did, however, have one hand tucked behind her back, a hint of danger on which I trained my gaze as she spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think one wolf is enough to keep a kitsune safe,\u201d my mate retorted, \u201cbut I know better. No kitsune is safe in this world unless she\u2019s deep in hiding.\u201d<\/p>\n

I cocked my head. \u201cI thought we\u2019d decided together that it was better to let Kira attend a school within pack territory rather than risk her rebelling. Do you want me to order her home?\u201d<\/p>\n

Clipping a young shifter\u2019s wings was never the right choice, but I\u2019d toe the line if Mai insisted. After all, she\u2019d raised Kira alone after their parents died and was as much a mother as she was a sister. When it came to matters of Kira, Mai had the final say.<\/p>\n

Mai\u2019s hidden hand stayed hidden, but the other hand swiped at her face in what looked more like a claw scratch than a wiping away of tears. Nonetheless, moisture sparkled on her fingertips as she flung more words at me. \u201cI told<\/i> you, this has nothing to do with Kira.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mai had never actually said that, but her hidden hand was sliding out from behind her back now. One slow inch. Another.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the scent rolling off my mate, I now realized, wasn\u2019t aggression. It was fear.<\/p>\n

I gentled my voice. \u201cShow me,\u201d I suggested.<\/p>\n

And Mai did. She showed me a small rectangle of plastic with a plus sign materializing in the center. A plus sign denoting the event we\u2019d both agreed we craved, me as soon as possible, Mai after she was certain a fox-shifter daughter would be safe within the heart of our clan.<\/p>\n

My stomach flew up into my throat and dropped to my toes at the exact same moment. I was thrilled but Mai wasn\u2019t. Apparently, she wasn\u2019t as confident<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> as she appeared about being part of a wolf pack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pregnant,\u201d Mai managed after a long pause, voice choked. \u201cIf she\u2019s a girl, she\u2019ll be a kitsune. She\u2019ll spend her entire life fleeing<\/span><\/span><\/span> danger. She\u2019ll….\u201d<\/p>\n

Words failed her but not me. \u201cUntrue,\u201d I answered, pulling Mai into an embrace and squashing my own trembling. Despite the gut punch of realizing my mate didn\u2019t consider our pack the same bulwark I did, only one of us could afford to fall apart at any given moment. This was Mai\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSon or daughter,\u201d I continued, keeping my voice steady with an effort, \u201cour child will live happily and healthily. I will protect them until my dying breath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow my Kickstarter campaign to ensure you’re notified at launch!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a special treat coming your way this fall — Outfoxed. This bonus short story from Gunner’s point of view is set five years after Fox Blood ends, and I’ve included the beginning of the story at the bottom of this post. However, even reading this tidbit is a major SPOILER for the rest […]<\/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":[49,3,142],"tags":[164,151,14,7,27,23,8],"class_list":["post-2935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpts-aimee-easterling","category-aimee-easterling-news","category-series-moon-marked","tag-kickstarter","tag-kitsune","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\/2935","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=2935"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2969,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2935\/revisions\/2969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aimeeeasterling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}