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Chapter 29: Sarah
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2021-06-14 03:46:05I wasn’t drunk last night. My head is perfectly clear.
Having been drunk would be the rational explanation. As I wasn’t drunk, the only explanations left are those that I cannot tell most people, including my mundane human friends. They either make me look insane, or grossly insensitive, or a slut, or totally lacking in any good decision making skills. Or all of them.
Sleep continues to fade, making me aware that I’m lying on my bed. I’m aching pleasantly in all the right places and not so pleasantly in an area near the side of my neck, and I am rather unpleasantly sticky between my legs. There’s a solid shape beside me, not quote snoring. His breath puffs against my shoulder, and his arm is looped across my waist. I am aware of his contentment just as surely as I am aware of my own.
It was his dream that woke me and not mine. Two wolves running through a forest, the dream view seen through the eyes of one of them. His feel
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The sleepy bliss I feel on waking up next to my Mate lasts until we make it to the breakfast table. I’m determined to enjoy the sensation for as long as I can. Life is complicated. Simple pleasures don’t come along that often. Bliss is rare. Sarah starts asking me about people she met, and it’s obvious they’re not just humans, and the problems of the real world are back. So is Frost. I’d have thought he’d have been right there with me last night, but it turns out human sex doesn’t interest him even when it’s our Mate. He’d just curled up and gone to sleep, or the equivalent anyway. Possible danger to her, that gets his attention. Sarah mentions Cavendish and frost nearly takes over, wanting to charge right over to the club and tear him to pieces. For once have the winning card, and I can’t help laughing. Whatever Cavendish wants with Sarah, he’s not going to get it now, because of his own decisions and pure chance. Sarah fills me in on what she knows of Caven
Last Updated : 2021-06-15Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 31: Sarah
I don’t know where the pep talk came from which I gave to Aiden, but I needed it as much as he did, I think. I have a way forward. I’ve agreed to give this thing between us a chance, and I owe it to both of us to put everything I can into it.My track record is not good, I have to admit to myself. I certainly didn’t put as much effort in with Brian as I could have done, although I very much doubt things would have gone any better if I had. Did I fail the same way with Holly? Perhaps not. I hope I gave it a fair shot. If Aiden really is right, everything else was doomed anyway. There’s a part of me that is now clinging to that possibility, because it eases the guilt I still feel from the trail of broken romances that I have left in my wake.I don’t have any more time to myself to contemplate the way my world has fundamentally changed in the last twelve hours. My phone rings, and it’s my contact at MI5. My first thought is that it woul
Last Updated : 2021-06-16Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 32: Aiden
The last item on the timetable for today is our first Tutor Group session. Each student is assigned a tutor. Most of the Tutors are lecturers or other teachers, but the few postgraduates are also expected to each host a group. We get one session a week, and we’re going to have the same Tutor for our whole time at Grenville, but not the exact same group because the groups are a mix of years and change as students graduate and new Freshmen start. I’ve got the Fibre Arts teacher, Mrs Bird, who looks nothing like her name and resembles a cuddly, fuzzy, colourful cushion, but sounds like a sergeant-major. The Moon Goddess continues to smile at me. I have both Jade and Reese in my group. There’s an inevitable but short round of introductions and a quick explanation of what tutor sessions are for, and then Mrs Bird hands me a letter. A small parcel, really, one of those padded envelopes. It’s addressed to “Aiden Cooper, Grenville School of Art, London,” and a zip code. I sh
Last Updated : 2021-06-16Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 33: Sarah
It is late for both of us, and neither of us got much sleep last night. By the time I’ve fed Aiden (who had no supper, and seems to be subsisting mostly on sweets and biscuits given to him by the customers at his shop), we’re too tired to get up to much apart from cuddling in bed. We’re still twined together when the morning sunlight filters through my curtains. I’ve woken before Aiden again, and he’s rutting up against my thigh as his dreams take a carnal turn.One part of him, at least, is awake, nudging at my hip with each thrust. I roll into him a little more and let it slip between my thighs, squeezing my legs together to enhance the sensation. Lazy curls of pleasure follow his tip as it rubs over my sensitive flesh, making me shiver.“Aiden, my wolf, it’s morning.” He should be awake for this, aware of what we are both doing.Mmm. Sarah.” Aiden’s hand curves around my buttocks and he pushes into m
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I’m floating as I head to Grenville, my feet hardly touching the ground. I want more mornings like that. I want every morning to be like that. I have a key to Sarah's apartment in my pocket, food for the day in my bag and a smile on my face that probably tells everyone I meet exactly whet I got up to when I woke up. And then got up to again in the shower. And almost got up to a third time in the hallway against the front door, but couldn’t because we ran out of time. “Oh man,” Jade grumbles when she sees me, and shoves me in the arm. “New Girlfriend Syndrome. Keep your well-f***ed vibes away from me. Or find me a girlfriend too.” “Let him enjoy it while it lasts,” Shelley defends me. “Don’t go wishing a breakup on me already,” I plead. “Everything has an end,” Shelley intones gravely. “Pessimist,” Jade accuses her. Shelley draws a circle in the air with a finger. “You have to have an end, or you can’t have a beginning.” “Very Z
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“Your boyfriend?” Tony queries at the same moment as Katie says, “Brian?”“Not Brian. I, ah, I have a new boyfriend.” I almost hesitate on the word, because it doesn’t really cover the enormity of what Aiden and I have together, even now with our relationship so new. “We met in a coffee shop near the concert hall. Then we met again in an alley.”I pause, trying to work out how to describe our second meeting without breaking my promise. It takes longer than it should for me to realise I only promised not to tell people what Aiden was. I said nothing about anyone else. “There was a werewolf in the alley. They exist too, it turns out. Aiden came running up to try and stop him from attacking me, but Bellmouth got there first.”“He’s seen Bellmouth?” That was Timothy.“He’s seen Bellmouth,” I confirm. “He didn’t run away screaming, or try to preten
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A horrible crashing of bells drags me by my ears from a dead sleep. An explosion of movement right by my side sets me on the verge of shifting, my instincts screaming “Danger!” There’s a muffled curse and a soft thud beyond it, then a louder thump as the presence at my side disappears. Shaking my head quickly to dispel the confusion of sleep, I crawl over the bed. Sarah’s bed. I’m at Sarah’s place. The screaming of the bells cuts out, and I can hear Sarah’s voice. I peer over at her where she’s huddled on the floor, clutching her phone to her ear, and I feel her distress at whatever it is she’s hearing. If I concentrate, my ears are sharp enough to pick up both ends of the conversation. “If you’re safe, you don’t need to come.” It’s a woman’s voice, a little tinny through the phone line. “You might be safer where you are.” “What happened?” Sarah asks. She’ll be getting cold. I gather up the duvet, climber down beside her and bundle it about her as she listens
Last Updated : 2021-06-18Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 37: Sarah
I know I’m arm-twisting Aiden into revealing himself to my family. They’ll figure out that there’s something unusual about him, even if neither of us say anything about it. “Was your boss okay with this? What about college?” It’s the least I can do to make sure he won’t lose his scholarship or his job. “Mr Patel was really nice about it. When I phoned the college, they booked me off on compassionate leave. They’ll let my friends know, so hopefully somebody will take notes for me. How are you doing?” Aiden looks into my face. He’ll know how I’m feeling, but not why. He’ll be picking up on my guilt. “How are you doing? I’m sorry. I am rather forcing you into something I don’t think you wanted to do. If you decide you don’t want to say anything, we’ll figure out a way to explain that avoids it.” Which might mean just telling my parents that it’s not something we’re ready to explain. My parents won’t like that, but they’ll accept it, I think. Aid
Last Updated : 2021-06-18
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Everything is downhill now. Goldhawk’s mission is over pretty much as soon as they arrive. Everything else for them is just meeting people, and that doesn’t need much organisation. It’ll happen, with Badger’s Den giving them somewhere to stay for the night. The two new Mates are going to want the visit to go on longer, but Mark will need to get back. Either Paul will stay behind, or Caroline will visit London, probably. I hope it forces Ian into doing something. Join, Challenge, I don’t care as long as it becomes his job to keep the kids out of trouble until they’re a couple of years older. I finally get a bit of time without someone wanting me to do something,or decide something, or explain something. I prop myself against the wall of the building, and stuff my hands in my pockets. There’s a papery crinkle. I pull out the folded sheet, and remember why I put
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Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 136: Sarah
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Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 135: Aiden
An angry opponent makes mistakes.That’s what my father and Caleb never understood. Anger is a weapon to their thinking, not a liability. Black is cast from the same mould. I’ve wound him up by staying calm, by being polite, and most of all by humiliating him, and he can’t see clearly through the red mist of fury. He’s three hundred pounds of muscle and rage, as unstoppable, dangerous and terrifying as a runaway locomotive, charging down on me. His free hand is out with claws ready, blocking any escape. Blinding sunlight flashes from the silver of his blade as it sweeps down.Now, Frost whispers, lending me his speed. I slip beneath Black’s raised elbow, drawing a line of fire across his exposed stomach with my sword. I spin and dance backwards as Black skids and stumbles before he crosses the outside edge of the duelling square. &
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 134: Sarah
Black’s arrogance wins out over any caution he might have. He signals to one of the werewolves with him, announcing his Second.“What’s he playing at?” Baxter mutters when he realises that Aiden isn’t just buying time with Black’s Challenge, but is actively looking to fight that way.Baxter isn’t Pack, not yet, not officially. I doubt I can speak to him with the Pack link. It’s Aiden himself who can do that. I don’t even want to risk whispering. Werewolves have good hearing. I nudge his arm, to get his attention, and take my phone out.Aiden is considering Baxter as a Packmate. Blackmarsh trusts him. I don’t think Aiden will mind. “immune 2 silver” I type. “knows sword”. I turn the screen so Baxter can see it but, hopefully, nobody e
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 133: Aiden
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
