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Chapter 88: Sarah
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2021-08-03 08:24:01I’m not completely sure that I am awake. I feel loved, as if I am wrapped up in a soft, warm, fluffy blanket of tenderness. Awareness dawns slowly, one sense at a time. The enveloping sensation of adoration and intimacy. The scent of pine resin and fresh snow mingled with jasmine and cotton sheets. The faint sounds of traffic and distant aircraft filtering through the window. The puffs of warm breath against the back of my neck. The gentle trail of fingertips across my ribs and waist.
I finally open my eyes.The light in the room is dim and blue-tinged. My curtains are thick but not perfectly light-proof. Yawning, I flop over a little, my shoulder pressing back into my bed-mate’s chest and my head rolling onto his shoulder in a cloud of unruly hair. “Morning.”
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Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 89: Aiden
I step out of the door, and all the worries of the day before come crashing back. I have to tell myself not to run. I’m walking a lot faster than usual. The first thing I will do when I see my friends, I promise myself, is to get their numbers. I did remember to get Sarah’s, finally. I think she was as embarrassed as I was that neither of us thought of it sooner. The subway… the tube, I must get used to calling it that… seems to take way longer than usual. The final walk to the college has gained an extra few miles. Maybe I should have gone to Shelley’s first. I could have left earlier. I’ve probably put Gabriella in danger, not just Reese, Shelley and Tala. I’ve only just started as Alpha and I’m making mistakes already. I’m saved from worrying myself into a total mess because they’re all there hanging about near the front steps. My… it’s getting harder not
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The flat seems empty once Aiden has gone. I am starting to resent our other commitments. His college, his job, my orchestra. Our conversations are snatched moments of time that we end up… not wasting, never that, but spending on our physical connection rather than that of our minds. There is so much we have yet to learn about each other, and I cannot help but feel there will be many more misunderstandings and arguments until we have a chance to learn each other inside as well as out. An innate sense of what we are each feeling is less useful than one might guess. I have the entire morning stretching ahead of me. I pull on joggers and trainers and go for a run, then spend an hour practicing scales and arpeggios, which, to the disgust of many a learner, you never get to leave behind. I keep Eddie ready to use and get out the manuscript sheets with my Rhapsody. I have a whole orchestral version to work on, a
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Nothing horrible happens on the way to the drive thru. Well. Nothing worse than the usual London traffic. We get extra, because of Ella, and we’re going to have to work out what to do about her. The way things are at the moment probably isn’t even legal. I’m kind of out of good ideas, because trying to ask Ella for straight answers isn’t going to work, but maybe the others can come up with something. The others have met Ella already, of course. There’s no need to work out how much to explain to them in the cab. We stop on the corner of Shelley’s place, and watch the cab drive off before we go any further. I know I’m on edge, alert for another ambush like that in the park. The others don’t seem so bothered. Maybe they’re right. Maybe the threat is over now that Whitfield is gone. On the other hand, maybe Sutcliffe and Ewing will want revenge.
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I can see how hard this is for Tala. I know how hard Sarah has found sone things. She’s had longer than Tala to come to terms with everything, and she’s still struggling. I know what I can do to make it easier for Tala now. “You don’t have to say yes right this instant. You can think about it as long as you want. And I’d like to stay friends even if you say no. Just, there’s stuff we might not be able to talk about with you, if you’re not Pack. And, you won’t have the same protection.” I see Tala glance at Shelley, and shake my head. “I have that agreement, with a vampire. He’s called Aloysius Cavendish-” I catch Reese moving, out of the corner of my eye, as if they jumped or flinched. “-and he’s the second of the Vampire Prince. Uh, not sure what the Prince is Prince of…”
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Aiden wraps me into his arms. I feel his emotions shift from satisfaction and worry to something both worried and more predatory. “Won a battle, maybe, not the war,” he tells me comfortingly, and I wonder if he is already plotting the next move. “Not if their goal is Blackmarsh.” He falls silent. I draw back enough to look into his face, and his expression is distant. He focuses on me again after a long minute. “Let’s talk,” he says. “I have things to explain.” We snuggle on the sofa. I want the strength and reassurance of him against me, holding me. I could face this alone, if I had to. I need to remind myself of that. I don’t need to face it alone. “I asked my friends from college to join my Pack,” Aiden says when we are settled. “Most of them said yes, and the only one w
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I’m doing this for Sarah, but I’m putting her in more danger. Or maybe, making some things less dangerous for her in one way but more dangerous in another. The protection from Cavendish has never been enough to keep her safe from vampires as a whole. She’s proved she has power to face them herself, with the help of Blackmarsh. I’m so twisted up about this. Partly because I don’t really know the true value of any of it. Sarah seems to think that having a vampire controlling their next door neighbours is a threat to the whole country. Why there, instead of the places owned by the British royal family? Does’t Blackmarsh have other neighbours anyway? There’s the coast on the West side of them. A bit more than one side, the coastline cuts in on the South side. East of Blackmarsh is wild moorland. Why wasn’t that under threat too? Trying to answer that, I found the
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As the taxi drives away, I wonder if I should have gone with Aiden. Stood by his side. Werewolf or not, it seems I’m the one the vampires should be afraid of. Have I let down the whole of my gender by standing back and letting my man face danger on his own? Perhaps, but I’m glad I don’t need to face Cavendish.Besides, I have no idea how much control I really have over Blackmarsh’s army of ghosts. Bellmouth has always just seemed to show up on his own. Mind you, he shows up when I am not in mortal danger, and merely feel in need of comfort. Have I been summoning him all this time, and not realising it? The Grey Woman and Great Uncle Mathewe showed up for me when I had no idea I needed rescuing, though, so I couldn’t have summoned them. Then again, I don’t think any of the ghosts except Bellmouth have ever left Blackmarsh for anyone else in the family.
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Nobody’s laughed yet. That’s good, right? If they haven’t straight up mixed the idea, they’ll maybe think about it. So they’ll want time to talk about it without me in the room. “You’ll want to get back to your guests, and I’m keeping you.” I’ve been talking to all of them, but I look at Cavendish now. “There’s just the matter of a favour.” Maybe he’ll want to discuss that alone. Maybe not. He waves a hand in a ‘go on’ gesture, without even pausing to think about it, so I carry on. “You know of Walther Sutcliffe.” I pause just for a moment, checking. I’m pretty sure of it, but pretty sure isn’t certain. The vampire I think is the Prince keeps his expression blank. I guess he’s had a lot of practice at that. Hell, he’s got the right sort of unreadable face to keep every secret in the world. His lack of expression now is the blank of not giving away what he thinks about Sutcliffe, not the blank of someone w
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Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 140: Epilogue
*** Some Time Later...*** “/Aiden? Can you hear me? Aiden? Please?/” “/Huh? Who? Imogen? That you?/” I really wasn't expecting to hear from my sister. Not this way. A text, sure. I’ve been bad at texting her, despite my promises. A message from her complaining about it wouldn’t surprise me. “/Aiden, thank the Goddess!/” Is she crying? My little sister? “/Imogen, what’s wrong
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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
The earth is cool under my butocks and Aiden is a furnace above me. I’m pinned on the ground with my jeans around my ankles and I can’t quite remember how I got there. Rough bark tugs at my hair and prints itself into the back of my wrists. Urgent, demanding hands ruck my shirt and bra up and free my breasts.“Please. I need you.” Aiden’s voice is soft and pleading. His hands, his body, they are anything but. They don’t plead. They demand, they take. One hand tangles with my hair and wrists, yanking stray hairs, splitting fragments of bark from the tree bole beneath and behind us. The tang of sap fights against the musk of sweat and desire. Aiden’s hips thrust between my legs and my back scrapes against the dirt and leaves and brown pine needles beneath us.He’s inside me already, driving hard and fast. His sweat
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
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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
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
