First Chapter - The Unwanted (Strays of Lunar One, Book 2)

Having celebrated this book's release with the first chapter of its predecessor, I thought you might like to see how The Unwanted begins:

What is The Unwanted About?

Exiled by their pack—and on the run from one justice system, two vindictive companies, and a vigilante cruise-line company bent on bringing them in, Oliver and Lewis take a contract to get them off-planet and away from their pursuers. But all is not what it appears, and they do something they regret. Can they prove they were tricked into a grave mistake, and, more importantly, can they make it right?

Where can I find it?

You can find links to the platforms where The Unwanted is available at the following Books2Read Link: https://books2read.com/u/bwalJO.

And links to the series page on Books2Read here: https://books2read.com/rl/0VZZ8x.

 

And this First Chapter you Mentioned?

Without further ado, here it is:

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1—Exiled

Oliver hung his head, a cold dead weight settling in his gut. So it had come to this. Five months of hard training, a home and a pack…all lost because Odyssey didn’t want to take no for an answer.

“Exile them both,” Hunt Master Realgar ordered, and turned away.

“With effect immediately,” he added, throwing the order over his shoulder as he reached the door.

Oliver felt Lewis start forward, and laid a hand on his friend’s arm. Lewis stilled. Together, they watched the Hunt Master leave, and waited for Agerek to speak.

“The standard procedure is to give you a meal and send you on your way,” Agerek, told them, laying a hand on each of their shoulders, “but not this time.”

He lifted his head, regarding the rest of the team. “Dismissed!”

The order rang through the hunt pack, and they left, each one circling past to lay a hand on Oliver and Lewis’s shoulders or back before leaving. Their touches held grief and farewell, and Oliver felt an overwhelming urge to howl.

The sound that crawled out of Lewis’s lips was closer than either of them wanted, and Oliver clamped down on the urge to join him. When the hall was quiet, Agerek laid a hand under each of their chins, lifting their heads to study their faces, his amber eyes dark with concern.

“This is not an easy thing, but when it comes to choosing between the welfare of clan or member, we have no choice.”

“Clan,” Oliver murmured, not willing to let go of the connection.

“Clan,” Lewis echoed, his voice conveying the same. Agerek nodded.

“We will not hand you over to Odyssey,” Agerek told them, “but we cannot give you shelter. All we can do is start you on your way.”

He walked over to the desk at the end of the assembly hall and unlocked the drawer, pulling out two large envelopes. Crossing back, he handed one to each of them.

“Your new identities,” he told them. “Make sure you get to know them well. Also, credit and new accounts. Your current accounts no longer exist.”

Oliver and Lewis looked up in shock, and Agerek shrugged.

“Standard pack procedure for exiles,” he explained. “We remove all evidence of your existence as one of us, take back our finances, and pretend you never were.”

Oliver’s heart sank, but Agerek continued.

“In reality, we move the funds through several other accounts, and have one of our very distant subsidiaries take you on as employees with a solid working history in one of the human sectors.”

“So, we’re not…” Lewis began, hope rippling through his voice.

Agerek cut him off.

“Oh, no. You are very much exiled and no longer lupar in any more than DNA. That, at least, can’t be taken from you.”

And since it’s his DNA, Oliver thought, he feels the loss keenly, like a sire losing his cubs.

He didn’t voice that out loud, but sighed. “What happens then?”

“You either turn up for work or you do not,” Agerek replied. “Once we escort you from the clan compound, you’ll have five days to leave lupar territory. If you are still on Alpha Nine, or anywhere within lupar only boundaries, you will be hunted.”

“And if we’re caught?” Lewis asked.

Agerek gave him a forbidding stare. “Don’t be.”

Fear joined the sadness in Oliver’s chest.

Death or slavery, he thought, but did not say, and he didn’t want to ask and have either one confirmed. The lupar were not a forgiving race, not even to their own.

“So much for finding a home.” Lewis said resentfully.

Agerek shrugged, his face carefully void of emotion. “It is Odyssey. Our clan and family owe them much…and they are too powerful to cross. We will not give you up, but neither can we keep you, and they will not compromise.”

Oliver knew it was the closest thing to an apology they’d get, but Agerek gestured to the packages they held in their hands. “We have one more stop to make before you leave.”

Oliver regarded him warily, and Lewis shot him an uncertain look.

“Not like we’ve got a choice,” Oliver reminded him. “This is as hard for our pack as it is for us.”

“Not really,” Lewis disagreed. “They don’t lose the only home and family they’ve got.”

The man had a point, and Oliver didn’t blame him for the sharp resentment in his voice. Neither did Agerek, if the way the pack leader ignored him was anything to go by.

He led them to the Hunt’s supply store, where two back packs had been set on the counter, alongside two Blazer 57s, and two Glazers.

“Your gear,” he said, then indicated two piles of clothes next to the packs, “as soon as you’ve changed.”

Oliver glanced at the clothes, and then picked them up, and picked out a corner of the room to get changed in.

“You’ll be leaving in human form,” Agerek informed him as he shook out the clothes and saw they would not fit his hybrid self, “and you’ll not be leaving by the front gate. We want you to keep your new identities a secret for as long as possible.”

Oliver nodded, bone and tendon snapping and grinding as he moved to his human form. It had been a long time since he’d worn it, and the shift was slow, his body taking a moment to remember.

“Makes it easier to disassociate?” Oliver suggested.

Agerek nodded.

Oliver shucked his Sky Strider uniform and slid into the non-descript civilian clothes he’d been handed. Now, he’d look like any other human on the street. His pack and clan affiliations were gone. A knot formed in his chest.

That…hurt.

He tried to keep the emotion from his face as he looked to see what Lewis was doing. To his relief, his beta was getting changed, the stormy look on the man’s face letting them know exactly what he thought of it.

Oliver said nothing. Lewis would handle it, but he’d do that better if no one pushed him while he adjusted. Instead, he picked up one of the packs, opening it and going through what was inside.

More clothes, some rations, toiletries…the usual stuff a traveling merc might carry. He noted a hacker’s kit, void of clan markings and nodded.

“Everything we need to set up as civilians or join another company,” he noted.

“I’d advise taking the civilian option,” Agerek told him. “Most merc companies insist on a DNA profile and you’ll be blown within hours.”

“Back to running,” Lewis noted sourly. “I’d rather not.”

“You know where the recruiting centers are,” Agerek said.

“We do,” Oliver confirmed, going over the Blazer and Glazer as they talked.

Lewis joined him, his hands moving in the same confident manner as he checked charges and loading, before stowing the Glazer in his pack and slinging the Blazer over his shoulder. Oliver wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but he didn’t say anything. Lewis knew what he was doing.

His friend had learned a lot since they’d arrived. He was no longer the tech-for-hire-without-a-clue, he’d been on Lunar One.

“You know we’ll have to send Odyssey an answer.” Agerek interrupted his thoughts, and Oliver looked up from his Blazer.

“When?” he asked, since there was no point asking them not to.

“They wanted it yesterday…preferably with a delivery date,” the pack leader told them.

Lewis drew a sharp breath, but Oliver just waited. “And?”

“We can probably put them off another day…maybe two, but that’s all the lead time the Master of Hunts is going to be able to buy.” Agerek paused. “Believe me, he’s done all he can to get them to let us keep you.”

“But they won’t come to the party?” Lewis asked.

Agerek shook his head. “They’re adamant. Something about loose ends, a hijacked agent, and protocol.”

Oliver sighed. Protocol… That, more than Odyssey’s hijacked agent, pretty much sealed their fate. Odyssey were sticklers for protocol…mostly when it came to their own protocols, and only when it suited them. For them to be standing fast on this one meant there were politics involved.

Maybe later he’d try to work out which and see if they could be circumvented. In the meantime…

“So, we’ve got what? Eighteen hours?”

“Eighteen hours until the reply goes back—guaranteed,” Agerek told him, “Maybe twenty before they’re on-world and tearing the place apart to find you.”

“Is that why you had us issued with new implants?” Lewis wanted to know.

Agerek shook his head. “New implants are standard procedure for new recruits.”

“And they won’t be able to track them?”

Agerek cocked his head. “We could change out the pack implants for something more standard,” he replied, “but then you’d be out of time and we’d have no choice but to send you over to Odyssey in a stasis box.”

Well, that explains why we haven’t hit the surgery, Oliver thought. He stowed the Glazer in its holster and slung the Blazer.

“I’m a merc tech,” he explained, meeting Lewis’s curious look.

“And we come as a pair,” Lewis added, showing he’d already started to assimilate the data in their intro packs. He paused. “You know they’re going to think we’re a couple, right?”

“Who?” Oliver asked, puzzled.

“Anyone who sees you,” Agerek confirmed. “The way you two work together, that closeness? Most humans have a relationship before they get like that.”

“But not wolves,” Lewis added.

“Nor lupar,” Agerek agreed, the hint of a growl in his words.

Lewis flushed. “Since we’re neither, it’s best we’re a couple if we want to avoid telling anyone exactly what we are until we have to.”

Oliver shrugged. “If it means we don’t have to deal with curious females, I’m fine with that.”

Agerek gave an amused snort. “Nope, you’ll only have to deal with curious males.”

Oliver laid an arm around Lewis’s shoulders, “But I’m taken,” he explained, “and very much not interested.”

Lewis rolled his eyes, shrugging clear of the arm. “Whatever floats your boat,” he muttered, and Oliver chuckled.

“If you were a female, I’d be doing the exact same thing,” he said. “It’s one less threat vector.”

“Agreed,” Agerek confirmed. “It makes you less approachable from a romantic angle, and gives you a reason to refuse company. I’m not saying it’s a great idea, but it’ll do for a start.”

“Right up until we’re rumbled,” Lewis added gloomily.

Oliver frowned, but chose to leave the comment alone. He turned to Agerek.

“We were leaving?”

The wolf dipped his chin, and headed for the back of the supply center. “This way.”

Oliver and Lewis exchanged glances and followed. It wasn’t really surprising they didn’t know everything about the clan training facility. They’d only been there five months. Stifling another sigh, Oliver kept moving.

Agerek took them through a reinforced door tucked away in a corner of a storage room. “Emergency exit,” he explained, “handy for getting our exiles out without them being tagged by anyone watching the front entrance.”

“What about anyone watching the back?” Lewis asked.

“We have several exits,” Agerek assured him. “Odyssey don’t know them all.”

“So, they are watching the base,” Oliver concluded, and Agerek smiled.

“Do you blame them?” he asked. “Bounty that’s on your heads? They want to be sure they’re the ones who pick you up if you make a break for it.”

“I thought you said we were grounded for a year,” Lewis muttered.

“That would have been ideal,” Agerek admitted. “In the meantime, here’s a list of companies that’ll take you on and keep you out of sight.”

“For a fee…” Lewis grumbled.

“Sure, most’ll take a cut of your wage, until they cover the bounty they could have gotten by selling you out—”

“And they’ll charge interest,” Lewis added.

“That they will,” Agerek confirmed, “but they won’t beat twenty kinds of crap out of you, and they won’t experiment on you.”

“Or let us go,” Lewis continued, and the pack leader stopped and glared at him.

“Would you rather I just hand you over?” he demanded, and Lewis took a step back, his lips starting to curl in defiance.

Oliver intervened. “I’d rather you didn’t,” he said, “and I appreciate the chance to try and stay free.”

“Even if it cost you your family?” Agerek asked.

“It was gonna cost me that anyway, wasn’t it?”

“Lupar do not hand their own to humans,” Agerek told him, “nor do we abandon them.”

“Not sure what the difference is,” Lewis argued. “I pretty much feel like you’ve stuffed me in a cardboard box and left me by the roadside.”

Agerek snarled, and rounded on the beta. “I could make that a reality…” he threatened.

Oliver grabbed Lewis by the arm and pulled him behind his back. “I’d like to keep him.”

Agerek snorted and did an abrupt about face. “We’re almost there,” he told them. “Once you’re out of the compound, you have twenty-four hours to be off-world before your status is given to the lupari council.”

“I thought you said we had twenty-four hours before Odyssey knew,” Oliver protested.

“The council needs to be informed before any notification we send to a non-lupar organization.”

“So, we have closer to sixteen hours, then,” Oliver concluded, and Agerek shook his head.

“Ten,” he corrected, “but at least one of the recruiting centers will take you.”

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If you enjoyed that extract and would like to read more, you can find links to the platforms where The Unwanted is available at the following Books2Read Link: https://books2read.com/u/bwalJO.

And links to the series page on Books2Read here: https://books2read.com/rl/0VZZ8x.