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Chapter 108 Part 2: Sarah
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2021-08-29 05:21:13Nothing happens. Does the time of day, or night, make a difference? It has never seemed to bother Bellmouth, but he’s a dog. The Horseman’s horse only seems to appear at night, although the Horseman himself has shown up at other times. Perhaps the rules for each ghost are different?
The kettle is boiling. I reach to get down a mug, turn back to the kettle, and end up almost dropping the mug. Mary is standing there, looking at the kettle with a mixture of distrust and fascination. The kettle at Backmarsh heats on the hob, I remember. Mine here is electric and has no visible means of heating.
“It’s not magic,” I tell her. “The base there, it’s something like a warming pan that you’d put hot coals in. It’s not exactly the same. It uses the same stuff that the lights use, instead of coals, and that heats the water in the jug.”
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Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 109 Part 1: Aiden
It turns out I get a chance to speak to the Goldhawk Pack before the shopping trip. It’s kind of by accident. Mr Patel mentioned that we were down on stock because the delivery van had broken down, and I recognised the road name where the van was stuck. He was worried that someone would break into it overnight, because they couldn’t get anyone out to fix it until the next day. I volunteered to go check on it. So that’s how I come to be in Goldhawk territory for work. Paid to be there and everything. I’ve got a list of the more valuable stuff that’s still small enough to fit into the backpack I’ve been given. I don’t have to get it back to the shop tonight, just make sure it’s safe. I should track down that liquor thief and thank him for helping me land such a great job. I go tap on the door of the Pack house. I h
Last Updated : 2021-08-30Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 109 Part 2: Aiden
That was probably a stupid idea. The threat level in the room just jumped from zero to eight. Maybe nine. Not ten, because nobody has attacked me. Yet. “Just so you know,” I say out loud, “anyone can choose not to hear me. I can’t force you to listen. You can block me out. I’m here to help, not to take charge.”Russel in particular still looks furious. Christy places her hand on his arm.“Think about this,” I say quickly, before someone tries taking a swing at me. “Haven’t you ever had to meet with a werewolf from another Pack to talk, when you’d much rather have been able to do it at a distance? Had times when things went bad because someone snapped and lashed out, mostly because the other person was right there in front of them? Or wanted to be able to talk to someone, couldn’t trust the
Last Updated : 2021-08-30Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 110: Sarah
The afternoon is disconcertingly normal after Mary’s visit. I have no new music of my own, and Roberto wants to spend the time on perfecting the pieces for the evening’s performance anyway so that works out well. The break between the rehearsal and the performance has, to my relief, returned to something like my pre-Holly-dating days, but with Holly’s friendship more prominent than before.It is not until the intermission on the performance that anything unusual happens. Then, for the first time, Aiden talks to me mentally while I am in public. I’m not right in the middle of a sentence, but I am in the middle of a conversation, so it’s not the most convenient of moments.“Sarah? Do you think if you asked, Bellmouth would appear to me? Right now, where I am? Not to fight, just to say
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I’m avoiding the whole Werewolf King thing by ignoring it. I go to college, I work on my scent project for Accessibility, I get the camera figured out for Photography, I hang out with my Pack, I work, I go home to Sarah. The Pack have figured out that something’s not quite right, of course. I tell them it’s a werewolf thing. I need to tell them about it, but it’s a long term thing. It will wait a bit. I’d like to just forget about it for now. Sunday rolls around quickly, grey but dry and likely to stay that way. Overcast is good. Jade’s hoping she can join us, and sunshine would make that impossible. Other than being able to catch up with Jade, Sunday is something else I’ve been trying to put off in my mind. Until now, Sarah has been one little world for me, and the rest of the Pack has been a different one. Now they’re bumping into each other. I roll out of bed early, too keyed up to stay lying around an
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I want to get this right. I know how important these people are to Aiden. They are not only friends, as Francesca and Holly are to me. They are also family to him. They have fought beside him. They have accepted all of him, not just the human parts. They are not purely human themselves. I hope they can accept me, too. For the moment, all I hope for is that we can get to know each other a little better on this outing. I could probably have placed names to faces even without Aiden’s introduction, from the descriptions that have crept into his conversations about them. It’s interesting to see how his descriptions contrast with what my own would have been. Tom, with the sort of white-boy tan that suggests holidays in expensive sunny locations and the accent of private-school-education privilege, in-your-face and brash; Tom, who has gone through life trying desperately to be seen because his Fae
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We’ve been shopping for an hour and only Tom has bought anything. Behind me, I can hear Shelley and Tala in deep discussion about theology, ethics and morality. In front of me, Jade, Sarah and Reese are discussing martial arts in movies and how realistic they are. Or not. Because of that, I might finally believe that the Pack really will work. They’re just chatting, like friends. Sarah’s had some combat training, I’m pretty sure. She’s talking about it like someone who doesn’t just know the theory.I eye Tom, who’s scuffing along beside me. “So, how ‘bout that Chelsea transfer?” he asks.I know I’m squinting at him in puzzlement. “The what now?”“Football? Wait, American. Soccer?”&
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A sudden chill washes over me. This will be harder to fix than a little bit of “Do you know who I am?” I have no doubts that Aiden is the better negotiator, but depending on who these people are, and what they think of werewolves, he may be at a disadvantage. It could be up to the humans. I feel inadequate. “We’re in public,” I say, fighting to keep my voice calm and steady. “Let’s keep this civil. We are here to solve problems, not to cause them. Or to be the problem.” Aiden has come up behind me, a solid presence at my back, helping me keep my mind clear of panic. I rummage through my memory for more of Rupert’s lessons. I never thought I’d be more grateful to listen through his grumbling about the amount of “interperso
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“I don’t need a suit!” I squawk, and wince at how squeaky my voice comes out. I don’t need a suit. I really don’t. I don’t like the way the rest of the Pack is looking at me, either.“Oh yes,” breathes Reese.Tom is also giving it an admiring look. “Can’t fault the style.”“Very Bond,” Jade says, the first I’ve heard from her for a while. I wonder what it has to do with Sarah and I being Mates. Most humans don’t have a Mate Bond.
Last Updated : 2021-09-09
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Nothing’s ever simple. Now I’ve got Caroline to look after. It’s irresponsible to bring her along, but it’d be worse telling her to stay out of it and expecting her to obey. There’s Alphas that nobody would dare disobey. My father, for example. I’m not him. “/Am I a bad Alpha?/” I make sure it’s just my Pack hearing that. The Peace Seekers. They’re not the right people to ask though. None of them are werewolves. “/You think we’d let you stick around if you were, boss?/” Sarah reaches over to give my hand a squeeze. “/If this is about Caroline, you said it yourself, if you tried sending her away
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 132: Sarah
I’ve never really watched war films. I’ve never really been that interested. It feels as if I’m in one now, although I have no idea how accurate that thought is. We’ve crossed the nature reserve as if it’s enemy territory, constantly on the alert even though we’re keeping to the public paths, so we’re not, technically, on Badger’s Den territory. “If we’re talking technicalities, that would be Aiden’s territory anyway,” Reese points out when I mention it. We see neither hide nor hair of the Pack that claims the surrounding land, and veer out of the reserve into farmland where we are coming up on the small coastal village where Baxter says he’s being held. It looks like one of those lost-in-time places where cosy TV murders are set, except half the houses are holiday cottages now and empty for most of the year. It’s ever so slightly spooky, riding past bl
