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Chapter 79: Aiden
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2021-07-25 00:56:04I’m guessing my face is bright red. It feels hot enough to cook an egg on it. It’s not often I feel like disowning my own wolf, but Frost seems to be aiming to get me there. I have to speak, all the same. I think part of the reason Sarah was so angry with me was that we haven’t talked enough about things to understand each other properly. It’s hard, it’s really, really hard, but I’m doing my best to talk now. I could curl up into a ball and die of embarrassment, but I’m doing my best.
She’s gone sort of distant, but not in a bad way. Her feelings are kind of fuzzy, out of focus. Distracted. It’s probably because of what I just told her, not about her orchestra. That was a different sort of distraction. Worried, guilty and angry.
We should hunt them all down and make them pay, Frost tells me.
Then she wouldn’t have an orchestra to play with, I point out to him. I think she likes making music. She just doesn’t like how they’re treating her
Quidnunc13Author Note: My apologies, dear Reader, for the short delay in posting this chapter. Part of the roof fell off my house, and took out the electrical and water connections and an essential part of the hot water system when it did so. I have two out of the three back again now, but will be having to take cold showers for the foreseeable future. Ah well, it’s supposed to be good for me. I hope to be resuming normal service from here onwards.
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Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 80: Sarah
The flat seems empty with Aiden gone, yet twelve hours ago I was not at all sure that I ever wanted to see him again. Twenty-four hours ago, I was terrified for his life. I’m self-aware enough to know that my feelings about him, and my reactions to him, have swung alarmingly from one extreme to the other and back within only a handful of time. It seems we have had no time to just exist around each other. No time to do all the mundane and everyday things that allow two people to learn about each other. Every time we stop to draw breath, some other calamity befalls one of us.I do not have time to slow down even now. I start up my laptop to confirm my recollections of the names Aiden mentioned, and to find out how many of yesterday’s adventures have made it into news and social media. The names in my spreadsheet match my memory. It makes sense, I suppose, that vampires are as diverse as the humans they prey on, and that they have their own rivalries among themselves
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I haven’t thought this through properly. I’ve been thinking like a werewolf, not like a human. I shouldn’t even be here. I should be at the college office, letting them know I’m safe and I’m back. I don’t know how much Reese knows or guesses. The only person from college who knows I’m a werewolf, that I’m sure of, is Shelley. Jade too, if she manages to find a way to come back. I should have checked with Shelley to find out if she’s told Reese anything.“Did you know that werewolves run a degree or two hotter than humans?” Reese asks. They’re trying to sound casual, but I can pick up the tension in them. They’ve got something tucked in their hand and sleeve. There’s silver on them, somewhere. I can sense it, all werewolves can, but I haven’t been paying attention since I got to London. So many people wear silver jewellery that the sense would be bugging me the whole time if I didn’
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“Make. Them. Stop!” Watch his chest. I remember my instructor’s voice. Watch his chest, not his hands or his eyes. The chest telegraphs your opponent’s moves. I don’t want to give away how much training I’ve had, but I’m not about to let Amos hit me. His hand, clenched in my clothes, bunches more tightly. I relax and let my weight sink into my toes. “Stop it!” The demand is snapped at us from right beside us. Francesca has come storming up to us, waving her mobile phone. “Back off, Amos, or I’m calling the police to report an assault in progress.” Amos’s head turns abruptly to glare at Francesca, but he doesn’t let go of me or lower his other hand. “It’s not an assault-” “Looks like assault from here,” Francesca says, starting to tap numbers in on her phone. “Where’s your fist, Amos? What exactly is it doing there?” It’s still in the air, and it might still come my way. I’m not taking my eyes off hi
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“Seriously?” Reese looks like they just found a winning lottery ticket stuck to their shoe. “My parents would really, really hate that. I’d love to! So… do you have to ask permission, or are you the Alpha?” “I’m not Alpha,” I say automatically, then heave a sigh. “But people keep putting me in charge anyway.” Reese gives me a weird look. “So… you are the Alpha?” “It’s complicated. I don’t have a proper werewolf Pack. There’s a London Pack that asked me to join, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to so I didn’t. Then… well, long story, and that Pack’s miles away anyway. The only other werewolf who might count as Pack keeps calling me ‘boss’,
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The complaint to HR doesn’t take long, but it serves as a distraction. A distraction from the problem I now have. I should laugh at myself for it: suddenly having my friends back has presented me with more of a problem than suddenly being without them. I had all but made up my mind to leave the orchestra. The music is not exclusive to the Britannia. I could readily find orchestral work elsewhere, if I wished. I have other options. The company was one of the reasons to stay, and without that it was a much less desirable possibility. If I leave now, it will be so much harder to keep in touch with Francesca and Holly. Charlotte. Amos. The others who, with that one rather large road-bump and a few notable exceptions, have been companionship and support for a long time now. Aiden will be staying in London for years, of course, if he keeps up with college. Th
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I’m not sure whether Sarah will welcome me at her place. She seemed to have forgiven me for Jade, just a little bit. To understand better, anyway. I’m hoping I can tell her all about the parcel, and the magical tracker, and how I’ve let my friends go off with it without having me there to help. I’m hoping she can tell me I’m an idiot for not getting their numbers, and soothe my worries that they’re all in terrible danger.I don’t know exactly what I expect, but I do not expect to be shoved up against the wall and… oh. Oh!&*&%@$$*#£$!$%£#@%^**&%^%&**&*!!!I might have blacked out there for a moment. All my blood has run south. I think Sarah just sucked my brains out through my cock. There was something I was worried about, but I can&rsq
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Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 135: Aiden
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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
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