Aimee Easterling's Blog

Another super-massive audiobook sale for you!

My Wolf Rampant series is my oldest…and also the one I still get the most emails about. Wolfie is just that kind of oddball alpha who steals hearts while crunching up mouse bones.

If you’re an ebook reader, book one is perpetually free. But I know it’s harder for audiobook listeners to get a good deal.

Today is those listeners’ lucky day! Shiftless is free in audio and the rest of the series is marked down too. Here are all of the links:

Shiftless is FREE for a short time on:

 

 

Pack Princess is 70% off on:

 

 

Alpha Ascendant is 70% off on:

 

 

Narrated by Douglas Thornton

Born in animal rather than human form, Wolf Young struggles to protect his pack mates from a bully and find acceptance despite his differences. This short story is set before Shiftless and can be enjoyed at any point in the series.

Bloodling Wolf is 67% off on:

 

Narrated by Christine Mascott

When livestock deaths point to the paranormal, stripper-turned-scientist Sienna must reconsider what is real to protect both wolves and humans from attack. This romantic urban fantasy short includes characters from the Wolf Rampant Trilogy but can be enjoyed as a standalone.

Scapegoat is 67% off on:

 

Happy listening!

The post Another super-massive audiobook sale for you! appeared first on Aimee Easterling.

Mate Market sneak peek

The cage bars were too close together for even my wolf form to squeeze through, not that shifting would have helped. The last time a prisoner tried, electricity shot through her fur so fast the yelp still echoed in my memory.

Meanwhile, out in the warehouse aisles, men in expensive suits strolled beneath harsh fluorescent lighting. Their lazy footsteps as they peered into cramped, bare-floored cages like mine moved far slower than the pounding of my heart.

Because these buyers weren’t browsing for furniture or electronics. They were shopping for mates.

And I couldn’t afford to be chosen.

“What about her?”

The newest man to look me over was battle-hardened, his nose bumpy from an improperly set break. Despite that, his voice was so quiet it drew my eyes. Reminding myself that glancing up made me more interesting to buyers, I forced my chin back down onto my chest.

“Dirt cheap but hardly useful for your purposes.” My captor’s tone was dismissive. “She’s already mated.”

“Is she?”

Predatory interest rolled off Broken Nose, less slimy yet also more dangerous than that of the previous men who’d passed over me this afternoon while hunting a cheap bedwarmer they could bind themselves to. It hadn’t mattered to any of the others that every woman here was being mated against her will, but perhaps it would matter to this man?

“Don’t let a pretty face shake your focus.” No one except me could hear Braden as he hovered behind my back, invisible and silent since he just so happened to also be dead. As a ghost, he was limited in how much assistance he could provide. But what he’d already given—a short-lived and illusory mate bonding—should be enough to protect me now.

“That face isn’t pretty,” I retorted through our mate bond where only Braden could hear.

“You’re kidding yourself.” Braden’s voice bubbled with laughter and I couldn’t resist tilting my head until I could see him. He looked sixteen, just like when he’d died a decade ago, the same lock of sandy hair falling into his eyes and his smile as easy as ever. The only physical differences between now and then weren’t currently visible: He walked at the same pace as always but could pass through the bars of my cage if he wanted to. Meanwhile, his physical form would begin wisping away at the edges as he grew tired.

“Mate market buyers aren’t my type,” I countered, trying to ignore the taut muscles of the buyers’ forearms that had slid into view along with Braden’s face.

“That man is everybody’s type. He’s a hot hunk of beef bound to make even you rethink vegetarianism.”

Braden wasn’t wrong. It took a mental recitation of facts from my current read—a field guide of arctic lichens—to keep my eyes to myself. Still, I eventually managed to drop my gaze away from those muscular forearms while also shrinking my torso in on itself so my over-sized hoodie and cargo pants would cover up my curves.

Only then did I warn Broken Nose: “You can buy my body, but you can’t buy my affections. I’m mated. Go ahead and check for yourself.”

His voice was even lower than it had been previously when he responded. “I intend to.”

“I already sniffed her,” my captor countered. “You’re wasting your time—this one’s useful as a servant only. There’s a potential mate on your left who would suit your purposes perfectly…”

Everyone else had assumed the man in charge knew what he was talking about when he dismissed me as beneath their notice, but Broken Nose didn’t. Instead, ignoring the salesman’s patter, he crouched down with predatory grace, his face coming dangerously close to electrified bars.

With the buyer directly in front of me, I couldn’t resist staring into his piercing eyes even though Braden had transitioned from cracking up to hovering protectively. My ghostly friend could no longer physically take a punch intended for me the way he had when we were both twelve, and he very clearly hated that fact. Instead, he growled inarticulate warnings Broken Nose wouldn’t hear while the latter murmured words that should have sounded like an order yet didn’t.

“Give me your hand.”

I hesitated, but not for long because I knew my captor couldn’t care less about the cadence of a potential buyer’s request. During the few hours I’d been in here, disobedience had already resulted in multiple electric floors fired up, once beneath me. I could still taste the singed flavor of my body’s reaction and didn’t want to risk a repeat. So I turned my palm sideways and slid it out between the bars.

Broken Nose’s fingers enveloped mine with a rough warmth that felt good after huddling in this underheated warehouse for the last eight hours. His calloused skin rasped against mine, sending an unexpected jolt up my arm, like yet unlike the electrical punishments I was so carefully avoiding. I twitched, yet he held me steady. Almost as if he was protecting me rather than restraining me, making sure I didn’t touch the electrified bars.

Anyone else would have demanded I lift my hand to his nose, but Broken Nose instead bent down to sniff at my skin. “You don’t smell mated.” His words were so quiet I felt them pulse through my skin as much as heard them. The sensation was powerful…and the words were deeply problematic.

“A little more connection if you don’t mind,” I told Braden silently.

But this time, my words skittered oddly through my brain, like shouting into a void and hearing no echo. This was the same way it felt after I broke a temporary mate bond at the end of a rescue.

Only, I hadn’t broken my bond to Braden. I needed that pairing for a few additional hours until captors went home and I could open cages to let prisoners out…

“Braden,” I called again. Silence answered.

Silence like what I’d heard ten years ago when I begged my friend to wake up, knowing he wasn’t merely sleeping. The dark pit of loss I’d felt then made me spin now without regard for current danger.

And my wrist brushed up against metal. The same electricity my captor had forced me to sample when he shoved me into the cage crackled through me.

Pain tasted like blood and smelled like scorched flesh. It lit every nerve ending on fire, a white-hot current racing through my veins.

The effect should have curled my body into a ball, forcing even more contact with the awfulness. Instead, the first burst of agony was muted by Broken Nose’s inexplicable choice to hold onto my hand rather than dropping it. The flow of electricity seemed to be halved by our continued contact even though that didn’t make mathematical sense.

Vaguely, I could feel his fingers working their way up to my wrist, trying to shift me away from the electrified bars. But surprise and dread had jerked my whole body sideways. There was no space for my catty-corner arm to fit without touching the bars. And I couldn’t move…

Trapped. There was no escape from the pain arcing between flesh and metal. And an alpha was in front of me. An alpha like the one who had killed Braden…

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Broken Nose’s jaw clench as he rode out the shock waves rippling through both of us. “Turn it off,” he demanded, raising his voice for the first time yet keeping his tone so steady it seemed as if his muscles weren’t spasming.

Mine were. My teeth chattered against each other, the only part of me able to move.

“Now,” Broken Nose ordered, threading compulsion into the single syllable the way only truly dominant werewolves could.

That shouldn’t have made me feel any better. It should have made the terror pulsing through me ten times worse.

Instead, I found myself starting to relax even before receding footsteps promised our captor was rushing toward the power switch. Because Broken Nose hadn’t turned to ensure his order was followed. Instead, his gaze anchored me, steadying the fear that had ridden in on the coattails of pain.

“Stay with me.” One large thumb traced hypnotic circles into my palm, the movement proof that he could have jerked away and avoided the shock if he’d wanted to. Instead, he maintained contact, absorbing half the awfulness into his own body while forcing my lungs back into gear with a different sort of alpha command: “Breathe.”

We stayed like that for a second or an eternity. His eyes were liquid blue, as deep and mysterious as the reflection of the summer sky on snow-melt ponds miles from civilization. His crooked nose reminded me of the soaring peak I’d recently used as a landmark when traversing the wilderness.

Braden had been right. This alpha was beautiful, just not in a magazine-cover way. He was dangerously awe-inspiring like a fast-approaching hurricane that made it impossible to avert your eyes.

Then the pain receded as quickly as it had started. I sagged forward, my forehead settling against bars that were no longer electrified yet might be again shortly. The metallic tang of my recent shock mixed with the snow and fire scent of the stranger’s skin as I breathed in and out far too quickly. No matter the danger, I couldn’t quite muster the energy to sit up straight.

Physical weakness didn’t derail me from my most important task, however. Instead, I sent more words down my temporary mate bond. “Braden, where are you?”

The silence this time felt both absolute and final. As if we’d never had a mate bond. As if Braden had never walked into this warehouse beside me.

And I had other evidence of his absence also. With my chin on my chest, I could smell myself rather than Braden’s pine-tinged smokiness.

Which meant that not only was my friend inexplicably missing, I was also officially unmated. Unprotected. A prime specimen to be sold off to the highest bidder.

No wonder Broken Nose released my hand as he returned to his feet. His voice was all business as he addressed my captor.

“I’ll take this one, double your asking price.”

***

Chapter 2

“You sure you don’t want to toss her on the mating stage before you go?” My captor’s scent sharpened in a way that wasn’t just accommodating. He wanted to see me on my knees, neck bared and body contorting to avoid cattle prods while Broken Nose’s wolf form ripped through the skin of my neck.

My buyer’s reply was so quiet I could barely make out his words. “I’ll seal my mating in private.”

“She’s disobedient. She’ll require encouragement.”

Broken Nose’s hand, previously gentle around my elbow, tightened, which rattled the chain leash dangling from my newly cuffed wrists. He opened his mouth as if to argue then shook his head and turned us both away from the raised platform at the far end of the warehouse where other buyers were gathering in anticipation of the exact spectacle being discussed.

“No refunds!” my captor shouted after us. “Your problem if you can’t seal the deal!”

Then we were outside, snow-covered tundra stretching endlessly in all directions. The northern wind carried ice crystals that stung my exposed skin like tiny needles and my eyes squinted against the harsh glare of sun on snow. Ignoring the discomfort, I searched for another ghostly friend—Chloe—who should have been waiting.

She wasn’t visible, but I reminded myself she wouldn’t be with my pack bonds quenched. Because it had taken me only one shaky moment to make the connection between Braden’s disappearance and Broken Nose’s touch. To remember the whispers I’d heard about ghost banishers, then to leap from there to the quick fix of closing pack bonds to protect the dead. As soon as my wobbly brain had dredged up that information, I’d slammed my metaphorical mental doors shut to protect those I cared about most.

Without pack bonds, I was just like any other shifter—unable to see or hear ghosts. I could only hope that other members of my ghost pack hadn’t been sent away along with Braden. Could only hope Braden’s dismissal had been temporary rather than permanent.

Well, hope wasn’t the only thing I could do. I could also get away from the likely cause of Braden’s banishment so I could open up my pack bonds and assess the damage.

“Oh!” I pretended to twist my ankle on a chunk of ice. Mimicked losing my balance, floundering, and dropping like a dead weight.

Most people instinctively let go of an off-balance human body dragging them down. But Broken Nose had no sense of self preservation, perhaps didn’t need one given his rock-like solidity. His hand merely moved from my elbow to my waist, the motion so swift I stayed completely vertical.

Vertical and now pressed up against the hard length of my buyer’s torso in a way that made my belly flutter. Heat radiated out from him, a stark contrast to the biting cold seeping through my clothes and making me shiver. I could hardly breathe as I demanded, “Take your hands off me.”

He released his grip so quickly I might as well have burned him. Took a step backwards until a chasm of air separated us, the tips of his ears reddening as he peered over my shoulder rather than meeting my eyes. “I didn’t mean to…”

“You didn’t mean to buy me like a loaf of bread, then handle me in the exact same manner?”

“Yes to the former, no to the latter.” The blush disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by perfect composure as he pulled a key fob from his pocket and unlocked a blue pickup truck ten feet away. “I have a proposal for you,” he continued, those sky-blue eyes piercing into me. “But I’d prefer to broach the topic somewhere without an audience.”

For a breathless moment, I thought the audience he was referring to was Chloe. But even I couldn’t see her when my pack bonds lay dormant. My buyer definitely shouldn’t be aware of her existence.

Then I belatedly remembered his glance over my shoulder and swiveled to find a trio of hungry-eyed shifters staring at us from the doorway of the warehouse. They were lone wolves who couldn’t afford to buy a mate yet came to mate markets hoping for a dropped scrap.

It was evident from the intensity of their attention that I was the scrap they were looking to gulp up.

Getting into a truck with a strange man while cuffed was monumentally stupid, but I had zero chance of escaping all four of them. Hoping Chloe was still present and that she had the sense to hop into the vehicle and ride along with us, I considered the door Broken Nose had opened for me.

Then I slid inside.

***

“Here.” Broken Nose didn’t look away from the road while offering me two items in the flat palm of his right hand—the throwaway cell phone I’d bought for this mission, removed from my person when I was shoved into the cage, plus a key that must match my shackles.

This felt like a trap: way too easy. Still, I scooped up both phone and key, fumbling with the latter as I tried to fit it into the keyhole of my handcuffs with hands that couldn’t move more than an inch apart.

“Need help?”

I shook my head then gusted out a ragged sigh of pure relief when the key steadied mid-air, suspended by invisible fingers. Chloe was there.

I let her take over, swiveling my body slightly away from the driver so he couldn’t see the way the key turned by itself. He heard the click though.

“Lock,” he rumbled.

“Why give me the key if you want it to stay locked?” The man made no sense. Against my better judgment, I turned back around so I could check out his expression. But his face remained an unreadable mask.

“My name,” he clarified, “is Locke.”

The muffled sound of tires on pavement filled the space between us for a long moment. Outside, the Dempster Highway ribboned through nearly flat tundra until it reached the mountains. A lone raven perched atop a bullet-riddled road sign, the turn of its head as it watched us pass the only movement in the vast emptiness.

When Locke spoke again, his quiet voice seemed to fit this place where human sounds were swallowed by wilderness. “It’s customary to offer your own name in exchange.”

“So you’ll know what to call me when your fangs tear into my flesh?” In stark contrast to his quiet calm, my words were a blade, meant to cut. I’d learned the hard way that alphas didn’t notice subtleties.

“I have no intention of forcing a mating.”

I barked out a non-laugh. “You’re into catch and release, then? You visit mate markets to buy women then let them go?”

“I would like to become your mate.” Locke spoke to the windshield, his words quiet and focused. “You’d be a pack leader’s partner, well taken care of. You’d have status and devoted backup. As my mate, you’d never again risk ending up in a cage.”

This alpha sounded like he’d cribbed his lines from chapter twelve of Claimed by the Ice Wolf. I’d highlighted that passage…but I still didn’t believe anyone with a Y chromosome would say such a thing. “Who wrote your script?”

The tips of his ears turned red again, but he offered no answer. Instead, he pressed on with what was clearly a carefully memorized speech. “Life is easier with an alpha on your arm. Let me prove it before you make your decision.”

“And if I say no, you won’t stop me when I walk away?”

He met my gaze at last, ice-blue eyes making it hard not to at least consider the unbelievable—that this alpha wasn’t like the others. “That’s right. Any additional requirements?”

“No touching.”

It was a good thing the highway was traffic-free because Locke’s attention remained riveted on me as he cleared his throat before speaking. “A mating can be entirely platonic. The ball on that front is in your court.”

Now I was the one whose cheeks burned. I hadn’t thought through the deeper implications of Locke’s proposal, mostly because I wasn’t really considering accepting his offer. I’d been talking about—

“You grabbed me outside the mate market,” I clarified. “There won’t be a repeat.”

His head cocked ever so slightly, as if the wolf inside him was intrigued by my demand. “If you trip and fall, you want me to let you drop at my feet?”

“Yes.”

“Even if the results would be catastrophic?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not sure I can do that.”

“Figure it out. That’s my line in the sand.”

Locke drummed his fingers against the steering wheel in lieu of an answer, and I was pretty sure I could see the shadow of a beard pushing through the skin of his jaw. Disappointment bit into my belly even as my heartbeat sped up to match the fast thuds of his fingers against padded plastic.

Of course Locke was like every other alpha, preparing to shift at the first sign of rebellion. After all, forcing a mating would be so much easier than negotiating with a prisoner.

Which meant the independence I’d guarded so fiercely all these years was about to vanish with one tear of teeth into my neck. I tensed, gauging our speed of travel. If I jumped out now, would I survive the landing?

Locke slammed on the brakes so hard my seatbelt was the only thing preventing me from cracking my head open on the dashboard. “If you want to leave, tell me.” His voice was clipped, his hands white-knuckled as if he had to physically restrain himself from reaching out to protect me from the whiplash.

And that did what his words hadn’t managed. It made me believe the impossible.

“You really mean it. You’ll let me go if I decide I don’t want to mate with you.”

“Yes.”

“You’re willing to keep your hands to yourself.”

“Unless you give me express permission otherwise.”

As if I’d ask him to touch me. Instead of beating that dead horse, however, I delved into the other sticking point. “You’re offering me a platonic mating in exchange for what, exactly?”

I was trying to figure out what Locke thought he’d get out of such an arrangement. Instead, he misunderstood my question and returned to his script.

“I’ll support you the way an alpha supports his mate. You can test me in any way you like before making your decision.”

He really seemed to mean it. And even though a handshake would have been the traditional way to seal such a deal, he didn’t so much as extend a finger toward me. Just waited. Silent. Patient.

A mating of convenience was far from what I’d intended to win today, but going along with Locke’s test seemed like the easiest way to get rid of him. “I’ll agree to a trial,” I said at last. “No touching. No pack bonds.”

“Then I only need one other thing from you.”

I tensed and his head cocked before he continued.

“Your name. Unless you’d prefer I choose a diminutive. Sunshine? Sweetheart? Darling?”

I grimaced. “My name is Wren.”

Keep reading in Mate Market!

The post Mate Market sneak peek appeared first on Aimee Easterling.

Listen to Kira’s series for pennies on the dollar!

It’s time for another audio sale, this one centered around Kira:

Kira’s fox-shifting abilities make her a valuable asset — and a werewolf’s worst enemy. But when a woman is murdered by a shifter, she’ll have to team up with alpha wolf shifter Thom to clear his name and find the true monster…

Try book one for FREE on Kobo, Chirp, Google, Apple, Spotify, and Nook!

 

 

Book two is 70% off ($2.99)

And so is book three!

 

 

 

Then round out the series with two shorts, both 99 cents and both intended to be listened to after Moon Duel:

 

A Dog’s Dinner follows Pet, determined alpha’s daughter, poised to lead her pack through the shadows of long-concealed secrets.

And The Alpha Puzzle & Broke Truck, Lost Pup follows Thom as he handles a gathering of pack leaders, a hunt for his mate’s smile, and a visit from a very unconventional alpha.

 

Happy listening!

The post Listen to Kira’s series for pennies on the dollar! appeared first on Aimee Easterling.

Alpha’s Guide to Lost Wolves

Do you want a sneak peek into my newest story, Alpha’s Guide to Lost Wolves? Keep reading…or just download the entire thing right now while it’s free!

***

Chocolate is the last scent I expect as my paws skim across snow at the most remote corner of my territory. But the pack princess’s aroma is unmistakable, even when layered beneath the bitterness of fear.

Protect. The alpha urge thrums through me, heating muscles already warmed from running patrol. But I’m as human as I’m lupine. And the human part of me knows I can’t endanger the haven I’ve created for wolves not tolerated elsewhere, not when harboring a pack princess would draw an endless string of unsavory characters to my door.

Still, my canines press against the inside of my lip. I need to know more before I dismiss my knee-jerk reaction. So I circle wide, pretending to continue my sweep even as I close the distance between myself and the woman I smell.

I’ve been running these patrols for months now, ever since neutral outpack territories disintegrated and desperate lone wolves began testing my boundaries. Usually, snow and bitter cold do my work for me, forcing intruders out of my land. But the ravens have abandoned their usual perch on the rocky ledge ahead of me. Something bigger has claimed their space.

On the leeward side of the outcrop, the pack princess’s scent grows stronger and at the same time more muffled. She’s trying hard not to breathe, I’m guessing, like a child pulling covers over her head to hide from monsters. That reminds me of myself fifteen years ago—too wary to rest, too hungry to think straight. If the same weight is pressing this pack princess’s shoulders low, I can’t meet it with teeth alone.

I’ve worked past my initial alpha urge, though, and know what my strategy has to be. I’ll drive this intruder from my land the way I’ve driven out others, but I’ll do so carefully. I won’t eject her east or south, toward greedy alphas who’d treat her like property to be sold at a mate market. Instead, I’ll ensure she feels safe enough to accept supplies and directions to help her on her way.

First step: buy myself additional time to assess what I’m dealing with. Because her chocolate aroma is so strong I can’t tell whether she needs medical supplies as well as food. Deliberately, I clench my toes until my paw punches through the snow crust, then I grunt as I pretend to struggle, yanking uselessly at my not-really-trapped leg.

The noise should alert her to my presence, let her catch the remnants of alpha musk I left upwind. If she trusts easily, now is when she’ll come down from her perch and beg for sanctuary.

Sanctuary I can’t give her. But if she makes the first move, it will be easier to ensure she isn’t harmed once she steps beyond my territory’s edge.

There’s no movement from the rocks, though, as I take far longer than necessary drawing my paw back onto snow hard enough to run across. I can only imagine her there, huddled against the wind-scoured stone. Alone in a way no wolf should be.

If I had to guess, she’s keenly aware of what happens to unmated pack princesses with no clan to protect them. Before the outpack fell, she could have found an unclaimed corner and hid herself away from hungry males. Now her mere existence turns her into a mouse with no choice but to leap from one cat’s territory to another, knowing most like to play with their food.

My alpha instincts twist inside me a second time. Am I really going to drive a wolf who needs my protection out into the cold?

Can I really afford not to?

The answer to the second question is: no. Every single member of my pack was unanimously voted in after an extensive trial period, selected because they had their own reasons for eschewing society and were willing to embrace others’ differences. We’re all male also, the one experiment with inviting in a woman having failed so spectacularly we agreed to keep the pack single-gender other than entirely hypothetical mates.

Still, I linger as the wind picks up, howling through the rocks like a wolf calling to its pack mates. Surely the arctic blast will tempt her out of hiding.

No sound, no movement, nothing. She’s too wise to give in easily…or too scared.

I can’t give her what she truly needs, and she’s not picking her way down to accept what I do have to offer. Eventually, I turn away and lope alone into the night.

***

Werewolf law claims that the door I knock on next is within my territory, but human standards say this property isn’t mine. I’m a guest here rather than an alpha, a guest who can’t afford to reveal his ability to shift into a wolf.

Good thing I stuffed clothes into a backpack before going running in wolf form. By the time the door swings open, my toes are frozen within my boots from standing barefoot in the snow while dressing, but I look presentable by human standards. Still, I can’t quite prevent myself from sniffing at steamy air scented with moose stew as the woman who feels like an older sister greets me by name.

“Locke!” Dawn’s smile is as wide as the horizon. “Girls! Look who remembered we exist.”

I duck my head, a gesture more wolf than human. “I was in the area.”

“You’re always in the area,” Dawn says, mimicking my deep voice while tugging on one sleeve to draw me inside. She reaches up to rumple my hair the way she’s done ever since I was sixteen and she was a new mother at the far more advanced age of twenty-one, the gesture softening her complaint: “Yet somehow months pass between visits.”

The main room of the cabin is exactly as I remember it—warm in ways that don’t depend on the crackling woodstove at its center. That warmth comes from the family as a whole, but it’s Setsoo in her rocking chair that everything orbits around.

“The wanderer returns. Come, sit by me.”

There are no chairs in her vicinity, but I’m not the only one who rushes to accept the invitation. Dawn’s twins abandon their homework and sprawl on the floor beside me, boneless as wolf pups even though they’re fully human. Nita and Josie have grown since I saw them last—they’re sixteen now, their dark hair hanging in identical braids down the middle of their backs, their eyes bright with intelligence.

“Did you bring us anything?” That’s Nita.

“His bag’s empty.” Josie crosses her arms and tries to scowl. But the smile she inherited from her mother shines through even before Nita pokes her and she descends into giggles.

“I only brought my poor, useless self,” I say gravely, thanking Dawn with a smile for the ceramic bowl of stew she sets into my hands without asking if I want any. “Unless you count the rabbit I left by your smokehouse last week.”

“We found it,” Josie says. “Mom thought it was from one of her suitors.”

Dawn’s cheeks redden. “You sound like a gossiping old setsoo.”

“I resemble that remark.” Dawn’s mother pretends to scowl from her rocking chair while I cover up my smile with a spoonful of stew. The rich flavors of garlic and wild game flood my mouth, tempting me to drift back into my earliest memories of this place.

I was so scared, then, that coming in out of the cold had been physically painful. What had given me the courage to take that first step?

Setsoo’s weathered hand settles into my hair. “You have a question.”

While I consider Setsoo’s observation, the twins pull out a brush and butterfly clips, amusing themselves with my unruly curls the same way they have since they were old enough to stand on tiptoe and reach my head as I sat hunched over. When they were younger, the twins used to yank as they untangled. But now they’re gentle. And Josie’s hands have grown even more cautious than her sister’s, as if she’s starting to realize I’m a man.

If Josie is realizing that, she might be starting to notice other things about me also. Like the way my hair grows faster than an average human’s, each shift tempting hair follicles to work overtime. Or the way a wolf killed that rabbit by the smokehouse rather than a bullet or a snare.

If any of these humans find out I’m a shifter and the Council learns about their knowledge, they’ll be killed. But I’ve managed to work around Setsoo’s keen eyes for well over a decade, so I dismiss the surge of unease that rises in me at that possibility. Surely Josie won’t be more astute than her grandmother.

Time to focus on what I came here to ask.

“Remember when I arrived fifteen years ago?” I ask the older woman. “How I hovered at the edge of your yard for a week before I could bring myself to speak with you?”

“How could I forget a skinny white boy scaring away all the game?”

I don’t reply verbally to the dig because it’s true—I was a skinny white boy. Still, I flex my now-large biceps, making the twins giggle, before I continue. “How did you tame me enough to trust you?”

“Did I tame you enough to trust me?”

I must be imagining the knowledge in her dark eyes. I let myself believe that as Dawn interjects.

“If we’d tamed you, you’d show up on a regular basis rather than once in a blue moon like a hungry stray who only visits when he fails to hunt his own dinner.”

I belatedly remember manners Setsoo taught me. “Your stew is delicious. But you know I come for friendship, not food.”

“I wouldn’t feed you otherwise.”

Dawn and I share a grin, then I return to the question I want to ask her mother. “Was it food that finally brought me inside? Warmth?”

Setsoo rocks gently, but her eyes are sharp on my face as she answers. “I just kept the door open. A scared stray doesn’t come in for food, Locke. A scared stray craves safety. That’s all I offered you—a home with no strings attached.”

A home is the one thing I can’t give the scared pack princess hiding in my territory. “That’s it?”

Setsoo grabs a handful of my hair and tugs harder than is comfortable. “You think a home is simple?” she chides. “Then you’re not thinking hard enough.”

Keep reading in Alpha’s Guide to Lost Wolves!

The post Alpha’s Guide to Lost Wolves appeared first on Aimee Easterling.

Another huge audio sale!

I stepped off the bus into a darkened city full of human muggers, territorial werewolves, and countless other scoundrels. But I was prepared. I’d brought cupcakes.

It’s time for another super-massive audio sale! If you like twisty puzzles, tasty cupcakes, and the power of pack, you won’t want to miss:

Huntress Born: FREE on Kobo, Google, Apple, Nook, Spotify, and ChirpHuntress Bound: $2.99 on Kobo, Google, Apple, Nook, Spotify, and ChirpRogue Huntress: $2.99 on Kobo, Google, Apple, Nook, Spotify, and ChirpHuntress Unleashed: $2.99 on Kobo, Google, Apple, Nook, Spotify, and Chirp

Werewolf and baker Ember leaves her pack to hunt for her missing half brother. But with danger growing on all sides and an unexpected romance striking without warning, it’s only a matter of time before she gets burned….

The post Another huge audio sale! appeared first on Aimee Easterling.

Rune Wolf is now complete in audio! (And massive sale)

Elspeth’s series is now complete in audio as well as ebook form! To celebrate, I’ve marked every single book down to make it easy to listen. Details:

Matebranded is FREE on most audio retailers! Grab your copy now for a no-risk trial.

Shadowmated is $2.99 (70% off!)

Packbound is $2.99 (70% off!)

Outpack is $8.99 (10% off!)

Paws & Claus is $0.99 (67% off)

The post Rune Wolf is now complete in audio! (And massive sale) appeared first on Aimee Easterling.

Outpack Excerpt

Are you ready for the grand finale of the Rune Wolf series? You’ll definitely want to read this one in order, so don’t keep reading until you’re caught up! 

***

Chapter 1

Infiltrating a corporate office felt a lot like my old gig hunting werewolves. So I knew the drill: Gather intel from a distance, charm the sentry (or in this case, secretary), then greet the boss with that perfect mixture of self-deprecation and awe.

Only this time, the job was more personal. Because somewhere in this building, someone seemed to be tapping into outpack magic in a way that made my matebrand itch beneath my skin.

“You can go in now, hun,” the leggy blonde told me after a forty-minute heel-cooling session outside the big guy’s office. Based on the gatekeeper’s appearance—gleaming hair, perfectly pressed blouse, and stilettos that could double as weapons—I guessed she had an aging boss trying to reaffirm his waning virility. Which didn’t mean I should underestimate either of their abilities.

“Thanks,” I replied, heading toward the heavy wooden door of the inner office while checking on my backup. Or rather, on both of my backups.

First I tapped the mic hidden at my throat, knowing Gabi would hear the thump that resulted. “Noted,” my mentor-turned-enemy-turned-employee murmured through the tiny speaker nestled into my right ear canal. I didn’t trust her, but bringing Gabi along was part and parcel of my new gig as a Council member.

None of the rules, however, said I couldn’t also include a more dependable ally on the sly. “In place?” I asked Orion silently via our mate bond, feeling the warmth of our connection as I did so.

“I’m where you parked me.” His deep rumble was only slightly annoyed, the impression of cramped arms and legs plus the chatter and clink of a coffee shop traveling toward me along with his words. “Which is too distant to help if Dr. Kingsley turns out to be a territorial werewolf.”

“Unlikely,” I countered even though going in blind wasn’t my favorite MO either. Nothing I could do about that, however, when the organization I was infiltrating had been oddly secretive about both its founder and its objectives. The only information we had came from a drunken employee’s chatter in a bar last week.

Kingsley Enterprises, the employee claimed, was working on something top secret. Its source of energy? A big patch of empty desert that werewolves happened to call the outpack.

“You need help with that door?” the secretary asked even though there was absolutely nothing confusing about the knob in front of me. Looked like I’d delayed too long.

“Nope.” I bit my lip, which tended to endear myself to other women while also appealing to executives for an entirely different reason. “Nerves.”

Then, without further prompting, I turned the knob and stepped through to find that Dr. Kingsley wasn’t even close to what I’d expected.

The boss wasn’t a werewolf—that much, at least, was going according to plan. But she wasn’t a man either. She stood gazing through a window that faced due west, our third-floor elevation high enough that we could see past other buildings and toward what I knew to be outpack but what would look to her like open desert. Her intent interest in the emptiness gave me a moment to replace my faulty assumptions with facts.

Salt-and-pepper hair was twisted up into a no-nonsense bun, not even a single wisp escaping to lie upon a neck that looked tenser than I would have expected given her body’s soft edges. Her white lab coat made her medium height formless, adding to the protective coloration of middle age. And yet, in stark contrast to her forgettable exterior, her gaze when she turned to face me held the same desperate hunger I’d seen in shifter mothers separated from their children during Council raids.

Then I blinked and all I saw was a smart businesswoman. “Elspeth Darkhart,” she greeted me, using the surname I’d put on my application and had used on multiple other undercover gigs also.

“Dr. Kingsley,” I answered, holding out one hand for what most humans would have considered the maximum appropriate contact under the circumstances.

Only, Dr. Kingsley eschewed the offered handshake. Instead, she stepped in a little closer and ran one finger across my tattooed forearm. Her touch was clinical and inquisitive all at once.

In response, my entire body quivered, something that shouldn’t have happened due to contact with someone other than my mate. In Orion’s case, the effect would have made sense since the matebrand tattoos on our skin were created by our commitment to each other and were powered by the outpack near which my mate had his home. Dr. Kingsley, in contrast, was a stranger with no obvious relationship to me or the matebrand.

I only realized I’d begun leaning toward her when Orion’s voice erupted in my head. “Do you need help?” His tone was adamant, as if he’d spoken more than once while I was lost in Dr. Kingsley’s gray eyes.

“No.”

I hadn’t meant to speak aloud, and the effect of my mistake was immediate. Dr. Kingsley jerked her hand back into her own personal space, wrapping her entire arm around her belly as if to prove she wouldn’t touch me again. “I’m so sorry. I’m not sure what came over me…”

Lie, her scent reported, the notes of deliberate deception not quite covered up by harsh laboratory antiseptics. And wasn’t that interesting?

“Don’t worry about it.” I summoned a sparkling smile and settled myself into a love seat by the window. It was time to remember why I’d come here. “Let me tell you about the lack of security in your business software.”

***

It’s remarkably easy to talk yourself into a job correcting problems you’ve created. To that end, I’d primed the pump last week by talking Gabi into inserting a backdoor into Kingsley Enterprises’ system. She hadn’t gotten far, but the evidence of her work was obvious, especially after the organization had been made aware of the fact through a taunting email.

To cut a long story short, when I suggested a hands-on interview beefing up the company’s cybersecurity, I wasn’t surprised that Dr. Kingsley readily said yes.

Which meant that ten minutes after meeting the woman in charge, I’d been granted a temporary office of my own in which I could finish the task Gabi had started. The icing on the cake? I didn’t have to maintain a constant stream of patter while I worked since Dr. Kingsley excused herself soon after setting me up.

Unfortunately, the USB drive Gabi had programmed to dig out the organization’s files didn’t do the trick.

“Have you inserted the rubber ducky?” Gabi demanded in my ear while I was still trying to figure out whether I’d forgotten any of her instructions.

“It’s plugged in and the computer is whirring,” I replied even as my unofficial backup—Orion—chimed in silently via the mate bond.

“Are you sure you’re safe? Dr. Kingsley showed an abnormal interest in the matebrand.”

“Our ink is eye-catching,” I countered, even though the matebrand chose that moment to writhe beneath my skin again, reaching toward the office where I’d left Dr. Kingsley. Something about her made the outpack magic restless.

“I’m not getting anything yet,” Gabi said, interrupting my thoughts. “I’m going to walk you through checking to make sure the computer is connected to the internet…”

“Quiet,” I interrupted, turning my head so one ear faced the door behind me. Because I’d heard something very faintly, far enough away so non-shifter senses would have missed it. The murmur had been indecipherable while Gabi was speaking, but now I caught the tail end of Dr. Kingsley’s order:

“…code red lockdown,” she snapped, her formerly gentle voice turned sharp and commanding.

Orion’s tone wasn’t much different when he barked “Get out of there” via our mate bond, his alarm flooding my body.

The computer was still whirring, which meant the thumb drive’s program needed more time to work its magic. But I snatched the USB out anyway, its plastic warm against my skin. “Aborting,” I warned Gabi, listening to her swear and wanting to do the same as soon as I looked at the door for the first time.

Because Dr. Kingsley, I now realized, must have subtly angled her body to place it between me and the knob, a calculated move I should have noticed. Turned out the room wasn’t only windowless, it also boasted a door that locked from the outside.

I reached the barrier in two long strides, my boots silent on the industrial carpet. I hoped I was wrong, but when I tried to turn the knob I had no luck.

It looked like I wasn’t the only one here who’d considered herself clever. The room I’d been so glad to have to myself a moment earlier had turned into a trap.

***

Chapter 2

My side of the knob lacked even a keyhole, so there was no way to pick the lock. I could have taken the door off its hinges, but that would have been loud and would have taken time I didn’t have to spare. Or at least so I assumed from Dr. Kingsley’s recent command.

“If you abort now, we may get nothing.” Gabi’s voice in my ear was harsh. Muscle memory from training under her almost turned my feet back toward the computer.

Almost, but not quite. “The decision has been made,” I countered, drawing upon my new role as her boss to turn my own voice even harsher than hers had been. Council authority still felt like ill-fitting, borrowed clothing, but Gabi was the one who’d taught me to fake it til I made it. Now, I fiddled with a switch hidden beneath my shirt collar and looped my mate fully into the conversation. “Orion, your mic is hot.”

“Orion?” Gabi’s surprise quickly transitioned into fury, her breath hissing through the earpiece as she lost track of her usual measured speech. “Just what we need. An alpha werewolf to turn a snafu into a bloodbath. It isn’t Council policy to…”

“I’m on my way,” my mate rumbled, interrupting Gabi mid-rant and soothing my nerves at the same time. “ETA ten minutes. In the meantime, let’s get you out of there.”

The burst of adrenaline that had struck when I realized the door was locked segued into anticipation. Because Orion and I had practiced this. Well, not unlocking a door specifically, but rather using the matebrand when the two of us weren’t in physical proximity. All it took was a unity of purpose that our frequent separations made me crave.

Now, when I placed my hand on the knob and closed my eyes, it was easy to imagine Orion’s larger palm settling over my fingers, his skin warmer and just a little rougher than mine. The sensation of contact was very real, so much so that I smelled his sweet cactus-flower aroma wafting over my shoulder. The ghost of his heat pressed into my back, his long body dwarfing my own smaller frame.

Pleasure and exhilaration spun through me. Memories of the few blissful moments we’d carved out of our very separate lives to spend together settled into my bones. My experiences and Orion’s experiences were mirror images of each other. Merging, they formed the connection required to tap into outpack magic and wake up the matebrand, our shared power building like static before a storm.

Priming complete, we pushed our request into the tattoos marking our skin, the tattoos Dr. Kingsley had touched with such interest. The runes answered with a tingle, a sparkle of light…

Then something clicked within the doorknob. This time, when I twisted, the door swung open without so much as a creak.

“She’s out,” Orion informed Gabi, keeping her in the loop even though there was no love lost between the two of them. We both knew that Gabi was using my cell phone to track my exact location within the building, a digital leash that would also let her guide me through a route unlikely to result in physical confrontation. And since I couldn’t risk speaking aloud now that I wasn’t behind a closed door, it was handy that our mate bond allowed Orion to see through my eyes and hear my thoughts.

In other words, my evacuation would require teamwork between two people who hated each other. “Turn left,” Gabi said, words as sharp as broken glass. She was furious with me for bringing Orion into an operation that was supposed to be confined to the Council. Yet she continued doing her job.

And Orion carried out his role even more perfectly. “Elspeth is in a stairwell heading down,” he relayed to Gabi, speaking as gently as when he taught pack children how to care for the garden behind his house. He never chastised them, not even when they yanked out vegetables instead of weeds. And that technique worked just as well on Gabi as it did on kids.

Because her tone had turned businesslike again by the time she told me: “Go straight across the basement.”

The vast space in front of me was unlit now that I’d left the stairwell, but my shifter eyes could make out something large looming in the center. A boiler system, maybe?

I must have paused because Gabi demanded, “Keep moving.”

So much for the soothing effects of Orion’s voice.

“I’m three minutes out,” my mate promised, silently this time. Anticipation of being in his presence overrode my curiosity about the maybe-boiler in a way Gabi’s command hadn’t. I pushed through the unguarded door Gabi had told me formed an exit to a little-used corner of the parking lot. Light shocked my eyes and I didn’t wait for the world’s over-exposure to return to normal before breaking into a jog toward my car.

I did, however, slow down long enough to pull my phone out of my pocket with a grimace. Because the device was vibrating in my hand even though I’d set it to silent. Which meant this wasn’t a call but rather a summons.

“How close are you?” I asked Orion, hating the way my finger slipped the key into my car’s ignition even though I wanted nothing more than to sit here and cool my heels until my mate tore into the parking lot.

But the Council was convening. Ignoring their summons proved impossible when Julius’s demand from weeks ago still thrummed through my dreams:

“You will swear on the outpack that your binding to the Council is more than a mere formality. You will leave this clan you think you’re part of and come work with me.”

At the time, I’d agreed to his terms in order to save dozens of pack mates’ lives. Now, my body shook with the urge to do as my oath demanded.

Even Orion’s voice, soft inside my mind, couldn’t take my hands off the steering wheel. “I’m almost there,” he murmured. “Sixty seconds.”

He was so close. I tried to hold out. Bit the inside of my cheek and hoped the pain would distract me from…

I was driving back to my motel room to attend the upcoming video chat when Orion’s car passed me on the opposite side of the road, heading toward the spot where I’d recently been.

***

The meeting countdown on my phone was almost at zero by the time I reached the motel lot. I closed the car door with a slam that did nothing to ease my frustration then speed walked toward my room just as the call connected.

A cluster of video-chat boxes popped onto my screen, one per Council member. Julius’s image was pinned at the top, my eyes sticking to his face the same way I used to watch wolves peer at overbearing alphas. The aftereffects of my oath were a doozy. It took an effort to tear my attention away and consider who else was online.

“You’re flushed,” Julius observed, his ability to read me reminding us both of our history. He’d raised me as a weapon aimed at my own kind. I’d fought so hard to break free of that official capacity before being roped back in against my will.

And yet, it was the near miss with Orion that made my stomach wobbly, prompting me to make excuses that I regretted the moment they left my mouth. “Five minutes was insufficient time to extract myself from an important mission…”

“Save it.” Julius’s eyes flicked from side to side, likely assessing the other video-chat boxes. “We’re missing a member. Does anyone have information on Montrose?”

Even as Julius asked, a final box was already popping into existence. The Council member I’d come to count on for his inability for subterfuge came into view, a smear of something green streaked across the side of his face. “Sorry, sorry! I was feeding the baby. Paulie-Bear needs to go down for his nap in ten minutes. Can we keep this brief?”

It had been strange the first time I met with the Council long distance. Previously, I’d always been called into their official chamber, complete with rotating stage and brilliant spotlights. There, Council members had seemed high above my mere mortal status, looming shadows with the power of gods. Online, in contrast, their humanity was on full display.

“We all have lives,” agreed Lindley, his precisely trimmed salt-and-pepper mustache twitching above thin lips as he leaned forward. “Couldn’t this wait until our next scheduled meeting?”

“No.” Julius’s single word quieted the chatter. Although there was no formal pecking order within the Council, it was always apparent that he, as their founder, stood at its head. “Elspeth, report.”

The oath I’d sworn forced my lips open, my own image on the screen in front of me showing the rune that denoted my status as Council member glowing beneath my chin. Neither the oath nor the rune, however, forced me to tell the Council every single detail. I left out Orion’s involvement and my own guesswork about Dr. Kingsley’s interest in the matebrand.

I did, however, admit to having infiltrated Kingsley Enterprises without running the mission by the Council first. After all, I was pretty sure that was the reason this meeting had been convened.

“And what was your motivation for chasing this particular red herring?” Julius demanded in the same tone he’d used a decade ago when taking me to task for bad study habits. “It wouldn’t, by any chance, have to do with the proximity of Kingsley Enterprises to a certain alpha?”

I couldn’t honestly say that the chance of spending an evening with Orion hadn’t factored into my calculations. But I could make my face smooth when I countered, “I have a hunch this is much more than a red herring. If I’d asked, you would have said no and we would have ended up going in blind at a later date. So I’m begging forgiveness, rather than permission.”

Julius smiled. He’d taught me that line, I now recalled with a wince.

Meanwhile, Lindley was scoffing. “Interfering in human affairs due to a hunch is bad form,” he complained. “I’d like to reopen the issue of a wolf serving on this Council. How are packs supposed to bow to our impartiality when one of us has obvious personal connections to certain factions?”

Factions meant the sister I hadn’t seen in weeks, the children whose lives I’d stepped out of when they were just starting to trust me to be there for them. Their disappointed faces haunted my dreams.

No wonder I once again broke my personal rule of speaking as little as possible in front of Julius. “I haven’t visited my mate’s pack since becoming part of this Council.”

Lindley once again leapt on my wording. “Her mate’s pack. That right there disqualifies her from serving.”

I would have loved to be disqualified. Disqualification would negate my oath to Julius and let me spend time with Orion’s pack mates, would let me stroll through the garden where the kids had planted sunflowers and sleep in my mate’s arms. It would remove the endless string of complications that arose out of having to dance around Council and alpha responsibilities in order to enjoy tiny moments together.

But my oath forced me to work against my own best interests now. “The entire reason the Council was able to step back out of the shadows,” I observed, words rising like bile up my throat, “is because I’m now a member of this organization. My presence lent you an authority you lost through your own actions.”

“This is a moot point,” Julius interrupted. “Removing a Council member requires a unanimous decision, which this body lacks.”

A flurry of nods followed. The last time we’d voted on my removal, Julius had refused to budge. Of course he had. Even as a supposed equal rather than as his underling, my oath meant that I toed every line he drew.

Which explained him backing me up. So why did my vision go swimmy? Why did my legs weaken?

The cell phone slipped from my fingers and landed with a muted thud on the carpet as I grabbed onto the wall to hold myself upright. Then, right in front of the Council, fur burst out of human skin.

***

Chapter 3

Bones ground together as my wolf erupted without permission. My spine arched and shortened, every muscle twitching as they found a new shape. Pain lanced through me due to the speed of the shift, but worse was the fear thrumming beneath the agony.

What was happening? I’d never lost control of my body like this.

Whatever the cause, I wasn’t the only one affected. Via our mate bond, I could feel Orion’s transformation slamming into him just as hard as mine had done. His massive wolf form was cramped behind the steering wheel, traffic out the windshield suggesting he’d hastily pulled over where any human could see what they shouldn’t see.

But Orion wasn’t thinking about exposure. His entire being focused upon Maya’s desperate cry: “Help!”

Backing up the single word, his sister’s memory traveled down the siblings’ pack bond then our mate bond to give context to the plea. Not so long ago, Maya had run at the head of the pack, searing heat of the late afternoon sun not quite infiltrating her thick fur as she assessed the boundary line’s location. Skimming along the outpack edges always boosted pack bonds, so runs like this were frequent activities. Routine and danger-free…at least when Orion was home and able to see the magical glow of boundary.

Maya didn’t boast that alpha ability. But after a lifetime of similar outings, she was confident about where not to step. Today, when a frolicking youngster flirted with trespassing, she barked out a warning suffused with her borrowed alpha authority.

The weight of her command should have yanked the youngster back without his permission. Instead, everything went wrong all at once.

The youngster’s paws skidded on loose sand and he stumbled across the boundary line rather than retreating from it. At almost the same moment, wolves erupted from behind nearby rocks to create a wall of bristling fur.

These weren’t Orion’s wolves. Instead, they were neighbors turned enemies. They formed a solid barrier that halted Orion’s clan in its tracks while, behind them, their alpha shifted upward. Fury radiated off his smaller-than-average body as he confronted Maya.

“You call yourself allies?” Quade twisted the final word. “I call you invaders!”

Maya gained her human skin just as quickly as Quade had, if with less bluster. “Let’s all slow down a little,” she countered. “Let tempers cool.”

Her wolves retreated at her signal, flowing backward like a retreating wave while she assessed the situation. One accidental step shouldn’t have led to this level of outrage. And technically, Quade’s pack had been hiding on Orion’s side of the boundary anyway, so they were the ones in the wrong.

Maya didn’t mention that last point directly, but she did allude to it when she added: “How about we call it even?”

Unfortunately, Quade wasn’t interested in subtleties. He’d shifted back to fur, his pack surging forward in attack formation. Through our mate bond, I felt Orion’s horror as Maya threw herself between enemy wolves and youngsters who never should have been in danger. Her desperation echoed down their pack bond along with a repetition of her plea: “Help!”

“Go,” I told my mate, infusing the silent word with grim certainty. His pack needed him more than I did.

The sound of his tires squealing in a U-turn echoed in my head as I fought back into my own human body. I was yanking sweat-dampened clothes back into place and trying to figure out a way to follow Orion when Gabi burst into my motel room.

“Boundary dispute,” she bit out.

***

Keep reading in Outpack!

The post Outpack Excerpt appeared first on Aimee Easterling.

New, FREE anthology for the holidays!

My newsletter subscribers always get something new and free at this time of year, but I decided everyone deserved a treat this time around.

So I folded two never-before-published short stories in with some that my subscribers have already enjoyed and published the result in the anthology Fae Lights, free for a limited time!

Here’s what a couple of early reviewers have had to say:

“Charming, heart warming, cozie, fun, even a few old friends!” — Sunny, Goodreads

“All the stories, while short, end on a sweet, happy note. It’s the perfect book to settle down on the couch, snuggle up, and relax while reading.” — Jen T, Goodreads

(I also got brand new covers for the whole Samhain Shifters series and love them so much I couldn’t resist showing them off here.)

Happy holidays!

The post New, FREE anthology for the holidays! appeared first on Aimee Easterling.

Packbound excerpt

I’m very excited to have book three in the Rune Wolf series packed and polished and ready for readers! But please don’t read the excerpt below if you’re new to Elspeth’s world. Instead, start with book one. 

***

​ Chapter 1

I clenched flat human teeth against the urge to shift as wolves brushed past my legs in the dark, the tide of togetherness threatening to drag me into my fur. But I couldn’t give in. Not with Luna’s small hand trembling in mine.

“Elspeth,” murmured the girl we’d recently rescued from the Council. “Are we really going to become part of this pack?”

“Only if you want to,” I answered, drawing her a little closer in case the proximity of Orion’s wolves was part of the reason for her nerves.

“No pressure,” my mate added. His role of alpha meant his words were more effective than mine had been. Meanwhile, he jerked his head to win us a little personal space, and Luna’s rigid fingers gradually loosened in mine.

Glancing sideways in what was intended as a thank you, my eyes found beauty and stuck. Orion’s muscles were gilded by starlight, begging to be traced for the very first time. No wonder the mere sight of him made my insides thrum.

For one long moment, I forgot where I was and who I was with. There was only him, me, us…

Then our moment was broken by a whisper from the five-year-old Orion carried. “Me too?”

“You too,” Orion agreed, one large hand reaching up to cup the back of Billy’s head. With two children soothed, Orion’s hot gaze swept across me before cooling and continuing on across the starlit desert expanse toward the two young men rescued at the same time as Luna and Billy.

They seemed fine, but Luna’s age mate, Nova, was less so. She walked stiff-legged and high-chinned before us, trying to pretend we didn’t exist. Still, her eyes kept darting in our direction and I caught the glint of a knife in her right hand.

I wasn’t surprised by her standoffishness. At the girls’ age—ten—I’d already been fully indoctrinated into believing the Council was good and shifters were evil. From the little I’d heard, Nova’s childhood sounded very similar to mine.

No wonder she’d decided a midnight outing among werewolves was something better undertaken armed.

Orion’s lips quirked as my attention made him aware of the weapon. “Transplanted pack mates can be like transplanted vines,” he rumbled via the mate bond, his words reaching my mind but no one else’s. “First they sleep. Then they creep. Then they leap.”

“…at you with a knife?” I countered.

Orion’s silent shrug was full of amusement. He was confident in his ability to handle Nova.

I, on the other hand, was suddenly full of doubts looming like the massive sandstone outcropping beginning to block out the night sky before us. I’d prepared for this crisis of confidence, though. Was prepared to air my doubts then let them go.

The painful truth: Thoughts of joining a pack reminded me of trust and bonds that had gradually grown between myself and my aunt during the short period I’d spent as a member of Vega’s pack…only to have that bond severed in a searing instant.

The counter-argument: It had been my choice to break free from Vega’s leadership, and she’d let me go when I asked her to.

Plus, I trusted Orion implicitly. This new bond wouldn’t be like that old one. I had no expectation of ever wanting to leave the pack I intended to become part of tonight.

My nerves should have settled as soon as I ran through that familiar litany of worry and rejoinder. But my past pack bond wasn’t the only thing that came to mind as the rocky outcrop materialized into a flat-topped expanse wide enough for a helicopter to land on, the top glowing despite lacking a natural light source.

I’d been here in daylight and had found altar rock a suitable spot for a full-pack gathering. On a night without a moon, however, the unnatural roundness and strange illumination proved eerily familiar. Together, the combination of features reminded me far too much of the smaller stage I’d stood upon when swearing my allegiance to the Council, binding myself to an organization that pulled my strings for much longer than Vega had.

Back then, harsh spotlights had made my eyes water. The oath I’d sworn tasted sweet during the swearing then turned to ash on my tongue. My decision to become part of the Council had led to dark trails walked with the best of intentions, trails that dished out untold pain and suffering to the werewolves in my path.

Then the real world reasserted itself, scented with sage and wolf fur as Orion spoke within my head. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he rumbled, reassurance pulsing down the mate bond between us. It wasn’t lost on me that he was offering the same gentleness he’d used on the ten-year-old whose hand I held.

“I know,” I answered, not quite able to add on the obvious rejoinder—that I did want this. That I was ready.

Because I’d been ready an hour ago. Now I wasn’t so sure.

As if they smelled my uncertainty, the wolves around me skittered sideways, taking the sensation of pack togetherness with them. That loss of connection, so similar to what I’d experienced when leaving Vega’s pack, hit harder than I’d expected. I could barely keep my feet moving forward rather than letting them do what they wished—breaking and running back the way I’d come.

I needed to get my head on straight before I blew this for my mate and for the kids.

So I reminded myself of the facts yet again. The formality of the upcoming binding was for the sake of the children. They needed this connection, needed pomp and circumstances they could look back upon to mark the end of one phase of their lives and the beginning of another. And I wanted to once again be part of a pack, wanted to be part of my mate’s pack.

Unfortunately, my upcoming decision loomed as large and dark as the ominous landscape feature that now covered up nearly all the stars.

I’d tried to keep most of those thoughts to myself, but part of my inner turmoil must have slipped down the mate bond along with the words I’d purposely broadcast. Because Orion’s already square chin firmed up further. Billy made a tiny whimper of complaint as if he’d been squeezed too tight.

“Sorry, buddy,” Orion said aloud. Then he was setting Billy on his feet and leading us all up steps carved into sandstone, steps worn by so many pairs of feet that they dipped down into moon-like crescents in the center. Nova would need to go slowly since she had only the barest hint of incipient wolf inside her, not enough to boost her night vision. So I hung back, letting wolves push past me and Luna, my own doubts growing along with the distance between myself and my mate.

Finally, though, the way was clear. I picked my way upward while listening to snippets of conversation from those who’d shifted back to humanity. A teenager jostled his friend, laughing about a recent hunt some had bombed and others excelled at. A young woman steadied a much older one, murmuring words of encouragement. Orion rumbled further reassurance to Billy, whose silence warmed as his alpha spoke.

Then we were all at the summit…well, no, not quite all of us. Peering down, I saw Nova hadn’t even attempted the ascent. Did she need help?

I raised my eyebrows in question, but the girl didn’t notice. She’d turned to stare off into the darkness, probably as a way to avoid Luna’s frantic beckoning. The latter itched to turn the pair into sisters while Nova had absolutely no interest in forming a connection of that sort.

Then my own sister was naked and laughing beside me. There at the back of the crowd of jostling werewolves, Celeste pulled her mate up behind her and emoted: “We’re really doing this!” As she spoke, her hand squeezed Finnegan’s so hard the skin of their knuckles whitened.

“If you are, I am,” he agreed.

Celeste was so exuberantly excited and Finnegan was so willing to follow her lead. I envied their ability to ignore what we’d been taught, to forget the way Celeste’s own father had betrayed her and the fact that neither had even known they could shift into wolf form until a week ago.

I wanted to share in their joy, to cast aside my doubts as easily as they had done. So, forcing a smile, I agreed with my sister.

“We are.”

***

It took a few minutes for the pack to calm down enough for words to be heard, and when that happened it was Donovan rather than Orion who spoke. “A pack bond is a sacred vow,” Orion’s brother-in-law intoned from a pedestal upon which he sat in his wheelchair. He hadn’t run here alongside us. Had arrived early, presumably so he could take his time getting up onto altar rock without working legs.

And yet, he was 100% part of the pack as he eased us into a ceremony that almost felt like it emerged from the desert itself.

“Alpha,” Donovan continued, addressing Orion with a faint smile on his lips. Nothing about his tone suggesting he resented the role not falling to him as everyone expected, passing to his best friend instead. “Do you accept the burden of these newcomers? To guide them and shield them every season until one of you dies?”

I blinked, and in my mind’s eye I was atop another raised platform, hearing similar words spoken by the man I’d thought of as my adopted father. “Do you accept the burden of safeguarding humanity?” Julius had asked me. “To use any means necessary to vanquish unnatural evil, never resting until all innocents are safe?”

The bite of Luna’s small nails into my palm combined with Orion’s verbal response brought me back to the present. “I welcome all those who embrace the ways of the pack,” my mate intoned.

Despite the similarity of wording, this ceremony and the one I’d been part of seven years ago bore little else in common. Then, the only special effects had been spotlights that made it hard to see my adopted father and the other Council members. Now, flickers of magical light billowed out between Orion’s lips as he spoke, rolling slowly across the crowd.

One pocket of wolves after another wriggling like pups as the magic broke across them. This was the reason we’d traveled away from pack central to complete the ceremony, the reason we’d come beyond the edge of Orion’s territory and into unclaimed outpack. Because the land itself was powerful here, capable of creating effects like this.

Effects I didn’t entirely understand or trust. Shifters ahead of me jostled against each other in their impatience to be treated to the light show, and even moths fluttered closer. But I found myself leaning backward. It took all of my self control not to step sideways and avoid the onslaught.

Then magic struck my face and I understood why everyone else had been so glad to immerse themselves in it. Because the electrified sparks carried with them a warm wave of acceptance, exactly like the look in Orion’s eyes last week when I’d admitted I meant all those soppy statements declared while trying to save his life. The magical light reminded me of my joy when Orion and I had solidified our mate bond. It felt like the sure knowledge that we were better together than we’d ever been apart.

Joining Orion’s pack wouldn’t be a hardship. I knew that with my heart…just not with my head.

“Anyone who wishes to bind yourself,” Donovan intoned, “step forward now.”

The word bind popped the sweet bubble the glowing magic had enfolded me in. Julius had talked of binding also when I swore myself to the Council. No wonder my feet failed to move in the direction Luna indicated when she tugged on my hand.

For once, the girl didn’t cling. Just released my fingers and pushed through the crowd of wolves, stealing Billy’s spot even though the boy was ready and willing to go first.

“Me,” demanded Luna. “I want to be part of your pack.”

“Luna, do you swear to obey your alpha?” Donovan asked, once again using words that reminded me of Julius’s.

“Do you swear to obey the Council without question?” my adopted father had asked me. Seven years ago, even my starry-eyed self had hesitated over that one. Obeying without question seemed like a lot to promise…

Then Julius had graced me with one of his rare, proud smiles and I’d raised my chin just like Luna was doing then proclaimed just a little too loudly—

“Yes!”

Someone chuckled within our audience atop the raised rock outcrop while several wolf-form shifters yipped out pleasure. They weren’t laughing at Luna’s exuberance or chiding her for it. Instead, they were joyfully agreeing with the sentiment behind her affirmative shout.

Meanwhile, Orion’s two hands settled onto Luna’s two shoulders. “Then you are pack. Welcome, Luna.”

A visible surge of magic pulsed between them. As it did so, the brittleness and fragility that had seemed to cling to the girl ever since I met her eased. Her lips stretched so wide I thought she might pull a muscle.

I should have been glad to see Luna’s pleasure. Still, in the ethereal glow of the magical lights, her facial expression looked not quite sane.

Then Celeste and Finnegan were lining up behind Billy, with the rescued young men shoulder to shoulder behind them. One by one, each of the five was welcomed, every pack mate silent and still as they watched the proceedings with an intensity usually reserved for stalking prey.

My attention, in contrast, had wandered to the darkness beyond altar rock. Where was Nova?

It was harder to see her now with the magical glow around Orion ruining my night vision. Still, I caught a glimpse of motion that I suspected was the other ten-year-old transferring her weight from foot to foot in the shadows.

“Would anyone else like to join this pack tonight?” Donovan asked. Only a few minutes had passed, but Orion had already worked his way through the lineup. Oddly, each of those newly bound to the clan leaned toward their alpha in an eerily similar manner. All six chins were canted upward; all six pairs of eyes were as wide as their smiles.

The change in their demeanor grated on my nerves. Those first few years after vowing to do the Council’s bidding, I’d looked like that also. The organization was all I’d talked about to Celeste during our daily phone calls, squeezed into her busy freshman year at college and my first jobs inserting myself into problematic packs.

It wasn’t until much later that the rot at the heart of the Council made itself clear to me. It wasn’t until much later that I’d realized the error of my ways.

Old mistakes don’t have to darken a bright future, I reminded myself, forcing my legs to move me forward. I’ve learned from the past. I won’t repeat it.

Plus, I’d made a calculated decision to bind myself tonight. I just needed to get the job done.

As if he could sense my reluctance, Orion didn’t reach out immediately when I made my way down the aisle of parted wolves toward him. Instead, he peered past me, at the girl still lost in darkness. “Nova?”

Light flowed across the rocks toward her, illuminating the way the girl’s arms crossed protectively. She looked so alone down there, exactly the way I’d felt as the sole person able to shift within Julius’s household. The sole person—I’d thought—who had within me the same sort of evil I was being trained to fight against.

“Not interested,” Nova bit out.

And my mouth opened before I could think my own words through. I wasn’t quite sure if it was for Nova’s sake or my own that I said the opposite of what I’d intended.

“I’m not quite ready either,” I said to my mate.

​Chapter 2

Behind me, a wolf huffed out something that didn’t sound complimentary. Claws clicked against stone as feet shuffled. Orion had said there was no pressure, no time limit. But his pack clearly felt differently, at least when it came to their alpha’s mate.

So my first thought was relief when a distraction intruded. Information flowed down a pack bond to Orion, who opened our mate connection wider so I could be privy to the exchange as well.

“Alpha!” This was Ari, a teenager a couple of years younger than I’d been when I swore myself to the Council. Three nights ago, I’d been by Orion’s side when this same teenager had stood tall in front of his alpha, asking for permission to head up a patrol.

“I learned a lot as an ambassador,” Ari had said then, eyes shining with a mixture of determination and nervousness that reminded me of my own early days with the Council. Had I ever looked this young, though, pimples dotting my forehead and limbs gawky with new growth? “I’ve been practicing,” he continued. “Plus, Sue said she’d be willing to follow where I lead.”

“You’re ready.” Orion nodded then set up a first assignment that was entirely safe. Far from enemy territory, close to the entire clan as we gathered atop altar rock. Ari could be bailed out in the unlikely event his patrol ran into trouble. It was intended to be training wheels, but those training wheels appeared to have fallen off.

Because now, via the mate bond, I received a flood of information including the current view through Ari’s eyes. “We need your help!” the teenager managed as he tried to push himself across the desert faster than even a wolf could run.

His thoughts were a muddle, nothing like the carefully memorized speech he’d presented to Orion when requesting this chance at leadership. Was there some sort of trap he’d missed? He’d walked right across that patch of sand and noticed nothing. If there’d been a trigger, why hadn’t it caught him? He wished it had. He was in charge. Sue was his responsibility. He had to save her…

Meanwhile, close enough to be visible yet far enough away so Ari could have no impact on the outcome, a scene unfolded that was almost too horrible to comprehend.

Sue was falling, the previously solid desert floor betraying her. Flat sand transformed into a voracious pit, steep sides collapsing inward like the merciless jaws of some colossal desert beast. In her wolf form, she scrabbled for purchase, claws raking uselessly against the treacherous incline. Then, in a last-ditch effort, she shifted to humanity. But her middle-aged body was less adept than her lupine one had been. Fingers only grasped at air as the pit deepened, swallowing her inch by excruciating inch.

“Go back!” she yelled at Ari, trying to save the boy a third her age who she’d willingly obeyed until this point.

Blinking back to the reality of my own location, I found the organized chaos of the pack’s response both impressive and alien around me. Orion must have opened up the pack bonds to let everyone see what I was seeing, because instructions were being barked in a manner that felt far more organic than what I was used to within the rigid hierarchy of the Council. Wolves were as likely to volunteer as to be assigned to roles; children were being handed over to temporary guardians or were becoming guardians themselves.

“I’ll take Billy,” Luna offered, opening her arms to the small boy who hadn’t willingly parted from Orion in the week since we’d found him. But right now, the alpha needed to be where Sue was. Every available adult needed to be there. And these children were too young to shift and run with the pack…

It was almost impossible to make myself retain my human skin long enough to speak. Still, I forced focus, not wanting to be like Julius when he barked out demands and expected unquestioning obedience. “You’ll be okay staying here with Maya and Donovan?” I asked both Luna and Billy, expecting a tantrum from one or the other.

To my surprise, Billy’s hands released his preferred person and reached in the opposite direction without protest. Luna was part of Orion’s pack now, and that meant she was an acceptable substitute for the alpha who usually kept the boy safe.

“Thank you,” I told Luna, who was also prone to clinging but who had stepped up when needed. Hopefully she understood how proud I was of her without additional conversation. Because my final word had been swallowed up by my shift as I joined the pack.

Sprinting to catch up to my mate and the other wolves, the exuberance of fur form washed over me. Senses sharpened while past and future were replaced by one endless together now.

The simple joy of running with the pack momentarily overwhelmed my fear for Sue. But Orion had stayed focused. He led the way, knowing where the patrolling duo was located without needing to wrest information out of them.

Which was good since neither had the head space to offer further words. In the seconds that I’d spent speaking with the children, Ari had ignored Sue’s orders to back off and had reached the edge of the still deepening sand pit. Now the scene bounced back and forth between their perspectives in dizzying flashes as both pack mates opened themselves fully to their alpha.

Through Ari’s eyes, the world took on a frantic, skittering quality as his gaze pinballed between Sue’s rapidly sinking form and the terrain around them. Panic amplified the musty stench of earth, the slither of displaced grains, his own frantic panting. He had to focus, had to find a way to get Sue out of the quagmire that showed no signs of stabilizing. He needed a branch, a rope, something to reach her. But he’d been lupine and had carried nothing with him while patrolling. Stupid, stupid! Why hadn’t he thought ahead?

From Sue’s perspective, the world was contracting, compressing. She blinked back tears, both because something was stuck beneath her left eyelid and because she knew the boy would be broken by this. Oh, bother, the earthen tide had reached her mouth now. She gulped in one last deep breath, still worrying about Ari. He’d needed to rebuild his confidence ever since the old alpha was killed in front of him. Orion had promised this patrol passed through territory where the greatest danger was a thorn in a paw, which made it a good bet for a teenaged attempt at leadership. Now Ari would lose all of the momentum he’d—ah, now her nose was covered as well.

I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time but instead I stretched my muscles and ran harder despite the fact that, yes, I did have a thorn in my paw. The pang each time my foot landed matched the pang from my own memories of the few fleeting moments I’d spent with Sue.

I’d deceived everyone in Orion’s pack when I first infiltrated, but Sue was the one I’d deceived most of all on that initial day. Unlike others, though, after I’d moved in she’d embraced me fully with no reservations due to the past.

Just yesterday, she’d let me pick through her closet, doling out insight as well as clothes. “Some things take time,” she’d murmured as I paused to consider the stationary tattoos on my arm before pulling on another top better suited than mine to the desert heat. I hadn’t wanted to talk about my worries that the matebrand’s magic might never fully reawaken, and Sue hadn’t pushed the matter. But her few words had soothed something inside me that needed soothing. Like Ari, it wasn’t long before I considered Sue an honorary aunt.

Now, I wondered if she’d been right about the tattoo. If, perhaps, my matebrand might be the solution to what seemed an unsolvable problem. If Orion and I were able to use our connection the way we had before, we could tap into the deep power of the desert and eject Sue from the deepening pit…

But the magical ink on my foreleg that had been dormant all week remained unwilling to respond to me. And my honorary aunt kept disappearing into the sand.

I was still running when Sue’s burning lungs forced her to accept the fact that she wasn’t making it out of this one. Her last thought was another round of regrets that she’d failed Ari.

Then her thoughts were replaced by a choking void.

​Chapter 3

As we lost Sue from the pack bond, Ari lunged forward even though the pit walls continued growing steeper and deeper before him. His right front foot slipped and…

“Back away!” Orion demanded, alpha order evident in the words he sent silently to the youngster. I was pretty sure I was the only one who felt the deep thread of guilt and loss spiraling through my mate as he added: “Mark the spot. We’re close.”

There was no longer any information flowing toward us from Sue. Depth of earth, unconsciousness, or worse had severed her experience from her alpha’s. Meanwhile, through Ari’s eyes, we saw the earth shiver—a shiver I also felt the tiniest bit beneath my own paws. Then the hole that had eaten Sue disappeared completely. It was as if someone had shaken a pan of mounded sand and flattened it out into a perfect expanse without a single plant or stone left to mar the surface.

Through all this time, I’d been running as fast as I could, side by side with Orion while the rest of the pack traveled close behind us. Now, we rounded a cluster of cacti and the unnaturally smooth sand came into view with Ari pacing its perimeter.

“Stop,” Orion ordered, commanding the entire pack as easily as he had one teenager. “Come,” he added, this time to Ari. And as the teenager retreated to join us, his alpha traced the teenager’s footsteps in the opposite direction, back to the spot where Sue had been swallowed up.

Everyone except me seemed to accept Orion’s decision to put himself in danger without backup. Some ranged out around the perimeter, sniffing for clues. Others simply watched Orion pick his way across ominously smooth sand.

I didn’t accept it. Instead, I sped up until I was matching Orion step for step. This close, our proximity felt like an open circuit. Electricity raised his fur and my fur. Our bodies curved toward each other without conscious volition. The yearning that always flowed between us turned into an imperative to come together. Starlight made our shadows intertwine.

We ignored the pull that tried to draw our bodies closer though. Now wasn’t the time with Sue lost somewhere beneath us, her body growing more starved for oxygen by the second. Instead, we focused on the sand in front of us. Where Ari’s footsteps ended, the strangely unblemished earth created a circle more than fifty feet in diameter. But Orion stalked to the center as if he knew exactly where Sue had disappeared.

“You can sense her via the pack bond?” I asked silently.

My mate shook his head, a wordless explanation flowing toward me via our own intangible connection. He was guessing. He could no longer feel Sue, the same way he couldn’t feel sleeping or unconscious pack mates.

Or dead ones. Rather than shivering, I used my forepaws to scuff sand away from the surface. Then I dug frantic as a dog searching for its favorite bone, flinging a spray of earth away from the spot Orion had indicated.

Rather than joining my efforts, Orion stood tense and still above me. He was waiting for whatever had swallowed Sue to reawaken. I don’t think he meant to send the thought toward me, but I saw his intention to grab me by my ruff and fling me away at the first hint of danger.

“Dig,” I countered as gritty sand filled my mouth, the taste of minerals coating my tongue. One wolf wasn’t going to get Sue out of this, not if the third-hand mental image I’d seen was any indication. She’d plummeted such a great distance before the earth closed back up above her. It would take me hours to disinter her alone, hours Sue didn’t have.

Orion still failed to move. I knew this about him—his pack had been his entire world until he met me, then he’d placed me above them. My safety was now his top priority.

Which might have been sweet if mate protectiveness wasn’t about to get Sue killed.

I couldn’t send words down the pack bond the way Orion could. But when I yipped, my sister understood me. She and Finnegan trotted forward, eying their new alpha warily. When Orion didn’t argue, they settled down nose to nose with me in a three-point pattern. Then we were digging, digging, endlessly digging…

The rhythmic motion was hypnotic. My world narrowed to the scrape of claws against sand, the burn in my muscles, the desperation driving us forward. Eventually, my pads began to bleed and someone nudged me out of the way. Bleary-eyed, I saw that Finnegan was pushing Celeste into giving up her spot while Orion had already taken over Finnegan’s. Each one of my mate’s paw strokes moved twice as much sand as anyone else’s. No wonder the hole had expanded outward, wolves in a larger circle behind us working the loose earth further backward so it wouldn’t cave in on top of the diggers.

Together, we might reach Sue in time. Perhaps.

I gasped in much-needed oxygen, oxygen Sue wouldn’t have access to. The night air, previously cool against my fur, now felt oppressively hot after my bout of frantic digging. The hole appeared so small compared to the circle of unnaturally smooth sand that hid our pack mate. It would be so easy to miss our target.

It was time to think of alternatives, to reconsider the faster solution I’d tried earlier. The matebrand had failed me then. But perhaps it wouldn’t fail us now?

***

Keep reading Packbound here!

The post Packbound excerpt appeared first on Aimee Easterling.

New Release: Fox Pack

I’m excited to have a super-massive omnibus to share with you today!

Fox Pack includes the Moon Marked, No Fox Given, and Time Bites trilogies plus all associated shorts. Unfortunately, the file is so big that I can’t make Fox Pack available on Amazon or in print. However, all of the bonus material is found in the A Dog’s Dinner anthology if you prefer to use those alternative routes.

Maybe you have a vacation ahead (or just need to take one in your mind) and want many hours of binge reading? If so, Fox Pack is a great choice to take along. Happy reading!

The post New Release: Fox Pack appeared first on Aimee Easterling.