WiP: The Unearthed - First Chapter in Draft

 It's March - and I've started what will be my third...fourth?... book for the year, The Unearthed, Book 4 in the Strays of Lunar One series. Books 1-3 have already been released, and I'm enjoying the writing, so, without further ado, here's an early peek at the first chapter as it currently stands:

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1—New Friends, New Hunt

 

 

“You need a mate.”

Oliver turned in his seat, wondering how Lewis was going to handle this one. It wasn’t their first flight out with their new clan brothers, but it was one of a very few…and Lewis was tired of the constant cracks about his single status. He started to worry when Lewis gave an exaggerated sigh.

“Now, what have I told you Lugarth?” Lewis replied, and reached over to lay his hand on his fellow scout’s knee. “I don’t need anyone when I have you.”

Stunned silence followed.

Well, fuck, Oliver thought, choking back a laugh.

“He’s going to cause a riot back, there.”

Oliver glanced at the pilot. “He didn’t start it.”

“No, but he’s stars-be-damned sure is going to push it until it happens.”

“Hunt Leader’s got it under control,” Oliver reassured the lupari. “I promise he won’t break your shuttle.”

“He’d better not,” the pilot grumbled, “There’s not a lot of atmosphere, out there, and the ship’s a day behind us.”

‘The ship, Oliver thought, and couldn’t help smiling at the idea of Belle being not so far behind. The pilot saw his expression and groaned.

“If you make me throw-up on my controls—”

“I’ll get to fly this thing and make the rest of them throw up in the crew compartment?” Oliver suggested brightly.

“And now I know where he gets it from,” the pilot growled, “Because now I want to start a fight.”

“Not in the cockpit,” Oliver told him, baring his teeth in a grin that was part mockery and part challenge. His wolf was on its feet, tail bristling, even if he was not.

The rumbling growl answering him, was part of a chorus from the rear compartment. The snap of a half dozen buckles coming undone followed, and Oliver realized he’d lost track of what Lewis was up to.

“I mean, it’s not like you share…”

Oh…He did NOT! Oliver was out of his seat before the pilot had time to react. “Just keep flying,” he snarled. “I need to deal with—”

“Haversham!” In the crew compartment, the hunt leader’s reprimand was a roar. “Twenty! And the rest of you get back in your seats. Lugarth, forty!”

A human might have argued that the other man had started it, but Lugarth merely rose from his seat and found space in the corridor to do as he’d been told.

“And, you, Landstrom, go back to flying before I decide you need a stroll outside.”

Oliver toyed with the idea the hunt leader was joking, but didn’t think so. Hunt Leader Togereth was not known for his sense of humor.

“Knuckles!” barked out behind him. A few seconds later it was followed by “Shift!” and the snap of muscle and tendon as the two scouts obeyed, moving from their hybrid forms to a human equivalent.

“Left hand!” followed by “Shift!” came five minutes later, and the pilot chuffed a laugh.

“Are you sure your beta isn’t meant to be an alpha?”

“Oh, gods, you’d better hope not,” Oliver replied. “Because if he is, he hasn’t worked it out, yet.”

“Or he’s decided he doesn’t want to make the shift,” the pilot pointed out.

That was also possible, but Oliver didn’t think Lewis was going to ever be more than borderline. Instead of revealing that, he shifted the subject.

“I resisted it for years,” he admitted, but the pilot wasn’t so easily diverted.

“You were an alpha from the start,” he pointed out.

“I was,” Oliver admitted.

“He is not,” the pilot stated, and Oliver growled softly.

“Then why suggest it?”

“To see your reaction,” the pilot admitted.

“Why?” Oliver asked, even though he was almost sure he knew.

“To see what kind of an alpha you are.”

“Why?” Oliver repeated, curious where his pilot was going with the conversation.

“Because an alpha who cannot admit where one of his children will fit in the hierarchy is a liability.”

“And?” Oliver pressed, because now he was sure there was more.

“And because I need to know my alpha is not,” the lupari admitted softly, his ears flattening a little to the side in apology.

“No offense taken,” Oliver told him, savoring the shift in their relationship.

This had taken a while in coming, but…

“Why now, when my beta is doing his best to start a fight?” he asked.

“Because you always let him stand on his own, until he bites off more than he can chew…and because, even after you’ve protected him, you make him apologize”

That much was true, and the conversations he and Lewis had on that subject had been lively and requiring a training room to avoid breakages. Hunt Leader Togereth might not have a sense of humor, but he was a comedian compared to Hunt Captain Levgorek.

“And?” he pressed.

“And because you treat him no different to the other betas when we are on the hunt,” the pilot admitted. “You look after us all.”

“It is what an alpha is meant to do.”

“Yes, but you do it without challenging the Hunt Leader,” the pilot pointed out, “And that is a rare talent.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Oliver told him, remembering the years when he’d refused to be an alpha, even in the presence of other alphas.

It hadn’t been until Lewis’s creation that he’d ever felt the need to dominate a situation to the point others forced him to be in control of it. Li Aram had tried, he remembered, and brushed the thought away. The last he’d known, Odyssey were looking into his old friend, and he didn’t know if Li had escaped.

Nor was he sure he’d wanted Li to escape. The rumors about what his old friend had been up to as a crime boss, were unsavory at best, but some of them crossed a line that would have put them at odds if Oliver had had the time to prove they were true.

And then Florey found out, he thought, and didn’t know whether to be happy or sad that it had happened, because while Florey was no longer an Odyssey agent, she still had obligations.

Like the lupari, an Odyssey agent never truly retired…which made him wonder what Agent Delight was up to.

“You’re thinking Odyssey, again,” the pilot pointed out.

“I am,” Oliver admitted, then answered the question his lupari beta hadn’t asked. “She’s been quiet and I’m wondering what she is up to.”

“You are not the only one,” the pilot told him, then glanced over. “What do the monitors show?”

Reminded of the scout team’s other responsibility, Oliver checked, shifting through scan and communications frequencies with practiced ease.

“They show nothing.”

“Unusual, since they know you are somewhere in system, and not on world.”

Oliver shifted in his seat, alarm spiking through him, and the pilot chuckled.

“Regardless of how close they are, you are still safer out here than on world.”

“Don’t remind me,” Oliver replied, since that was another topic the team used to test him and Lewis’s patience.

“You were fortunate he let you live,” the pilot observed.

“Septu had recordings,” Oliver reminded him, “And I was newly mated.”

“Your beta wasn’t.”

“My beta is mine,” Oliver snarled, fur bristling.

The shuttle jerked as the pilot flinched away, and Oliver barely grabbed his wolf in time.

“You are a three,” the pilot said hastily, an apologetic whine threading his words. “The Ank knows that.”

“Both Anks know that,” Oliver snapped back, reminding the lupari that he did not belong to Regar, save that the Ank was his own Ank’s future mate.

“They walk a difficult path,” the pilot acknowledged, “But I am glad they try.”

“Our Rek supports them,” Oliver pointed out, respect showing in his tone.

“Our Rek is the reason our clan will survive,” the pilot answered, and they lapsed into silence.

Oliver returned to the scans. Odyssey were out there, but they were as cunning as any wolf, and Delight...

“That one never gives up the hunt,” he muttered, not happy to find no sign of the cruise company on his screens. “Do we know what they might be involved in?”

The pilot shook his head, and Hunt Leader Togereth answered his question from the door.

“There are rumors they might become involved in the invasion of Aquapearl.”

“That sounds…” Oliver began, then stopped, and ducked his head. “Apologies, Hunt Leader.”

Togereth stepped into the cockpit, casting an eye over the scans and instruments.

“None required, Alpha. You are correct in thinking it is not a conflict they would side with the humans in, but we cannot understand how they might speak with the lizardine without losing their lives.”

Oliver’s heart leapt, then fell. As much as he might want Delight to perish, he couldn’t imagine a universe without her…or feeling that a universe without her would be a much darker place.

Togereth read him like a book. “You don’t seem too happy with the idea, Alpha.”

“I…cannot help but think the stars would miss Agent Delight,” Oliver admitted, and the hunt leader barked with startled laughter.

“And that makes you sad?”

“For all the trouble she has caused us,” Oliver replied, “She has been the catalyst of making worlds better many times over. Without her, the stars would not shine so brightly.”

“They would not,” the hunt leader agreed, “So you will be as relieved as my Rek that the shuttle their contractors sent down to the world of Aquapearl, broke the Federation’s containment lines, and returned to the Shady Marie unscathed, and that the ship successfully escaped the Aquapearl system.”

“How… How do you know this, Hunt Leader?”

“Because I check everything that could affect my team on any given mission,” Togereth replied acerbically, “And Agent Delight is one of those factors.”

Oliver ducked his head, flattening his ears in apology.

“I am sorry, Hunt Leader.”

“Do not be, Alpha, I am glad you and your beta were assigned to my team.”

From the way he said ‘beta,’ Oliver wasn’t sure ‘glad’ was quite the right term, but he didn’t point it out, and Togereth didn’t expand on it.

“All we do know is that Delight’s hunt for you has been paused, and that matters of great importance are afoot, and the status of the galaxy is more fluid than before.”

Oliver glanced sharply at him.

“I am not sure that is a good thing, Hunt Leader.”

“Neither is the Rek, but human antics aside, we are more concerned with an older enemy, which is why we are here.”

As well as to check on me, Oliver thought, appreciating the hunt leader’s oversight, even as he struggled to get used to it. It had been a long time since he’d allowed anyone else to look out for him, longer than he’d known Lewis. Maybe I have found a pack that will keep me.

Hunt Leader Togereth remained oblivious to his thoughts, and activated the shuttle’s address system so he could address the team.

“We are on a hunt,” he announced, and read the frustration on his team’s faces; they knew that much.

What they didn’t know was what they were meant to be hunting.

As he surveyed the team, the hunt leader switched to direct comms.

“Hold the craft stead. Landstrom, stand by.”

Before Oliver could ask what he was looking for, a question came from the crew cabin.

“Pirates, Hunt Leader?”

Togereth’s attention shifted with such intensity the questioner mumbled an apology.

“We are not hunting the pirates,” Togereth told them, and the pack’s interest sharpened.

Oliver tensed. If not the pirates, then who?

It was hard to imagine a more important target, especially with Odyssey’s attention elsewhere.

And what is so important it demands the entire company’s focus?

The second question went unanswered, as Togereth continued.

“We hunt those with whose scent most of you are familiar,” he replied, and touched a control on the console at the cockpit’s rear.

The oddly familiar scent of wet fur and bitterness wafted from the ducts, slowly spreading through the cabin, bringing with it a faint sense of threat. Oliver struggled to remember. That he should know the scent he was sure, but—

The snap of several harnesses releasing was all the warning he had as Lewis’s growl rumbled through the rear cabin.

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There  you go. I'm a few more chapters in, but the hunt has started, and Oliver and Lewis are both safer and in more danger than before.