Havermouth, Present TimeTalen was alone in the room when Aislen arrived, unpacking their suitcases into the cupboard. He paused in the middle of hanging one of Heath’s shirts, glancing over his shoulder at her as she closed the door and leaned against it with a heavy sigh.He was a sight for sore eyes, she thought her heart immediately lightening, in his butt-hugging jeans and knit top, his hair bundled back into a messy bun. His beard was just long enough to be called one, and the gold highlighted the strong line of his jaw. The thin knit top clung in all the right places, emphasizing the width of his shoulders, the bulk of his biceps, and the narrowness of his waist.That he was spending his time putting away his mates’ clothes was just so typical of him, she thought. He would be thinking of his mates rather than himself.“No Heath?” He queried as he finished putting the shirt into the cupboard in the spare room. With the main bedroom such a tight squeeze with the five of them, it
Havermouth, Present TimeThe moment Heath strode away from Aislen, he regretted doing so, but the alpha in him kept going. “Damn it,” he wrung his hands through his hair as a corner took him out of her line of sight. “Damn it, Heath.”Yes, Aislen had been in the wrong. Watching her use her power on the broken and fragile Abigail had felt so wrong on so many layers. There was no justification for it in his mind. But he’d handled it the wrong way, as he always seemed to do with Aislen. He’d pushed them into another argument.He had to do better. He had to think like Talen.“Fuck.”His path took him to August’s door. Might as well get it done, he decided and knocked.It did not take long for the door to open and August sneered as he dragged his eyes over Heath. August wore the green army uniform, whereas Heath, having come from the river house, was dressed in jeans and a shirt, but the sneer was not about Heath’s fashion choices.“Good afternoon, August,” Heath ignored the derisive sneer
Havermouth, Present TimeLyric had forgotten what it felt like to be clean, warm, and without the dark hunger for meat overriding her mind. Wearing clean clothing that wasn’t stained with blood and falling into rags was another step back into civilization. Only her hair let her down and her arms ached from her efforts to untangle it.“Argh!” She was impatient with the task wanting to return to Niarthen.“Here,” Harry appeared behind her in the mirror and took the comb from her hands. “Before you totally ruin your hair.”“I thought vampires didn’t have a reflection,” she was surprised both by their sudden arrival and by the fact that she could see their frown as they began to work the comb through the matt at the back of her head.“Stories and fables, probably spread by a clever vampire,” they looked up, meeting her eyes, and smiled. “If humans believe that vampires cannot be seen in a looking glass, anyone that they can see is, obviously, not a vampire.”“Obviously,” she agreed. “Most
Havermouth, Present Time Jules stopped by the red-haired woman’s room, knocking at the door. Harry leaned against the wall and watched their mate speculatively through narrowed eyes. Now that the merman was conscious and in the care of his mate, they intended to lure Jules to bed and waited patiently for him to complete what Jules considered required checks around the house so that they could take their mate where they wanted him. Harry had liked the silver fox that Jules had been when they had first met. Age to a vampire did not mean the same to humans or supernaturals who aged like humans. Whilst Jules had looked the senior of the two, Harry had outlived their mate by centuries, and in comparison to Harry’s experience, Jules was just a puppy, innocent and wide-eyed. But it had been wonderful also to see Jules’ youth recaptured, the aging process reversed, and the werewolf now looked almost the same age as his son. The frequent small doses of vampire blood would help when Harry tur
Havermouth, Present TimeThe prisoner was strangely docile, his face slack and his movements obedient to precision. The werewolf alpha’s eyes however burned with a fury that had Samuel double checking the man’s handcuffs before closing the door.There had been no act of subterfuge in bringing the werewolf to the car. In fact, it had almost been deliberately obvious that they were doing so, and accompanied with a cameraman and reporter, who had moved away to stand framed against a backdrop of busy soldiers whilst the woman finished her report. He suspected that Talen had arranged for the werewolf to be spelled in order for him to appear to come willingly to demonstrate that it was voluntarily done.“Is he spelled?” He asked Talen quietly when there was no one within hearing distance.“Mhm,” Talen’s hum was confirmation. “He will obey your directions if you keep them specific, but do not trust it for longer than the journey takes.”“Understood,” Samuel nodded crisply. There remained man
Havermouth, Present TimeRhett kicked off his shoes and lay out on the couch. He was bored, and that surprised him. The last few weeks had been so full of activity and danger, and the last few days with sex and blood, that there had been very little time to get bored in, and yet, with Aislen and Heath at the dining table trying to translate Phillip’s notebook, Talen escorting August and Samuel to the surface, and Cameron searching for a charger for the phone they’d found in August’s room, there was suddenly nothing to do.He took out his cigarettes and tapped his fingers on the box wondering if he could sneak to the surface for a smoke without having to get into a full-on conversation with Heath about whether or not he should be smoking. He doubted that Heath would accept that the cigarettes were replacements for what he actually wanted - a joint, but weed was a bit hard to come by in the chaos of Havermouth.“Got one!” Cameron announced his return. He took the phone over to the kitch
Havermouth, Present Time“What do you mean by it’s always no?” Cameron demanded, ignoring the beeping demand of the microwave as it finished it’s cycle.“I mean, he records each prediction, and how he made it, the process he followed, the precise wording of the question, and each time the answer is no,” Heath replied grimly as Talen crossed and opened the microwave rescuing the blood within and placing the mug on the table before Heath. “Oh. Thanks,” Heath said automatically.“There are many reasons that may be,” Talen was calmness itself as he opened another bag of blood and poured it into another cup. “Predicting the future is a very temperamental artform, and the predictions are often vague or in riddle form. It may be that Phillip, as a lawyer, is asking too precise a question, with too narrow a field.”“We’re not werewolves,” Rhett said slowly. “It doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t win, Cam. But if he’s asking if werewolves win, the answer is no, right? Because we’re not. None of
Havermouth Present TimeRhett’s grin was wicked as he hooked his fingers into Talen’s shirt and tugged him forward knowing that his superior strength as a hybrid would force Talen to step forward or have his shirt torn from him.Talen laughed under his breath. Rhett in particular was enjoying the advantages of his transformation, perhaps because the zombie bite had left him so weak. The playfulness with which Rhett had explored his strength and speed had been highly entertaining, but also saddened Talen as Heath had not had the same opportunity to explore his new abilities in a carefree way. Still, Heath had his moments of glee - Talen comforted himself by recalling the run from the warehouse in which Heath had truly stretched his legs to the point Talen had struggled to follow.He let Rhett pull him in until they were chest to chest and looked down at his dark-haired mate. “Well?” He asked amused. “Now that you have me, what do you intend to do with me?”Rhett twisted, dragging Talen
Rideten, Present Time Aislen was jolted awake when Talen shot out of the bed to the door. She was nicely nuzzled into Heath and Talen had been a warm spot against her back, his sudden moving causing a draught that was quickly filled when Cameron rolled over and snuggled up. She could hear Talen’s voice through the open door, and the reply of other voices on the other side. Cameron’s hand cupped her breast and his cock nudged against her arse. He rocked his hips suggestively, still mostly asleep. Heath tensed. “Fuck.” “- leave in fifteen,” a woman spoke crisply and in a tone that said there would be no compromise. “Victor’s orders.” “No,” Aislen pressed her face into Heath’s ribs. “Nonononono.” “It’s retaliation,” he decided. “For last night.” “It’s mean,” she grumbled. “Cruel.” “No sex?” Cameron sat up. “That’s not fair.” “You had sex last night. Good sex too, from the holes you left in the covers,” Heath pointed out. “It was good sex,” Cameron was smug. He nudged Rhett. “Hey
Havermouth, Present Time Embroidering living human flesh was somewhat harder than Meguitte had anticipated, but the challenge was very absorbing. Midway through the first flower, she realized that she wanted the knots required every stitch to cluster at the center, so she snipped and undid what she had started, much to Bianca’s distress. Meguitte was tempted to stem the witch’s complaints by explaining that it was becoming obvious that the stitches were not causing enough pain to override the wards, and her choices had become doing greater, potentially maiming, harm, or being patient and hoping that a lot of small agony would eventually become enough. The second attempt turned out better, and by the time she had completed the third flower and created a stem to connect the three, she was quite proud of her efforts. The blood kept getting in the way of her design, however, and she paused a moment to suck her fingertips. “I do believe I understand Mercy’s aversion to magical blood,” s
Rideten, Present Time The water was all but cold, but Talen had bathed in worse – recently, in fact, during the troubles in Havermouth. He scrubbed himself with a washcloth, rubbing away the sticky blood. A rhythmic thudding started against the wall behind him, causing him to pause and grin. It sounded like Cameron was putting some force into it, he thought amused and absently reached down to cup his cock, already hard at the thought. He turned off the water, deciding to join them. As he briskly dried himself, his phone began to ring from where he had set it on the vanity. Fatima’s number flashed onto the screen. He raised his eyebrows and answered it. “Fatima.” “Talen,” she was breathless and her voice tense. “They did it. They actually did it. Jules is alive.” Talen almost dropped the phone in surprise. “He is?” “Yes. He’s not quite… He’s very disorientated, but Harry’s looking after him. But he’s alive.” Talen braced his palm against the cold stone of the vanity, relief floodi
Rideten, Present Time Aislen grinned. “Is that right, Mr Wolf?” She purred stalking him over to the bed. “If I get it, I get to do whatever I like with it?” Cameron’s lips curled in a smirk. “No. But I will do something you like with it.” “Promises, promises,” she lunged for him, and he sidestepped so that she landed face-down on the mattress, before pinning her there with his body, his hands slowly drawing her hands up and holding them down to either side of her head whilst he nuzzled under the tangled sprawl of her wet curls to nibble along her shoulder and neck as her giggles gave way to soft moans as she closed her eyes and surrendered to his seduction. He nudged her legs apart and her knees onto the edge of the mattress, lifting her hips from the mattress so that he could rub his cock against her cunt in a slow, hot tease whilst his teeth pricked little bloodspots along her neck, his tongue soothing away the little sting each time as it captured the droplets. She could feel t
Havermouth, Present Time Tears streamed down Harry‘s face as they rose to their feet. They ran their hands over the lush hide of the weredragon. It was precisely the colour of Jules’ hair. Harry draped their body over the dragon’s chest, pressing their ear to the hide, celebrating the steady beat and rise and fall of the ribs. Alive. Gloriously alive. And they could feel the tie of their mate bond twining them together. With their eyes closed, Jules was a glow within the darkness. “Oh Jules, Jules, Jules…” They wept the words, stroking and luxuriating in the living creature that surrounded them with its bulk. It did not matter in the slightest that this Jules was not as Jules had been before… Harry’s most fervent wish had been granted and they had their mate back. “I knew it,” they whispered pressing kisses into the fur as they moved along the length of the dragon towards its head. “I knew that you were not gone.” They stroked over the dragon’s snout and pressed a kiss between his n
Havermouth, Present TimeHarry did not know how long they had been tending to Jules in the small cold room. Time had lost any meaning as the room had no natural light. They fed when Fatima brought them blood, or one of the ancients descended the stairs in order to donate. And then they would patiently drip blood into Jules’ slack mouth, watching for a sign that he had swallowed, before unbandaging the ruin of Jules’ hand, examining the wound for signs of healing before coating it again with blood and carefully, tenderly re-wrapping it.Jules was not dead. They were certain of it. Although he did not breathe, did not swallow, and his heart did not beat, Harry was certain that they sensed a spark of life within him, that they would know if the body that they held was nothing but flesh.They had, after all, handled many dead bodies in their long, long life.And the hand wound... It looked better. They could not precisely say how it was so - it was still a mess of bone and meat, and the b
Rideten, Present Time“Oh gawd, so good,” Aislen moaned as she squeezed in between Rhett and Cameron. “I so need to get this blood off my skin. It’s beginning to itch. Tsk, look at you two,” she added taking the washcloth from Rhett’s hand and tugging him down so that she could scrub the blood from his face. “You even have some in your ears. How do you get blood in your ears?”“Beats me,” Rhett’s hands gripped her hips, and his thumbs stroked her skin suggestively. “I have some blood lower down,” he smoldered. “Cameron was just offering to lick it off for me when you came in and gave us a better idea.”“Oh?” Aislen knew precisely what they had in their dirty, dirty minds - basically the same plan with slight variations between the two men. But she wasn’t going to make it easy on them. “Come here,” she scrubbed at Cameron’s face with the cloth. “Good enough,” she decided and handed it to him. “Do me whilst I rinse my hair out.”“Do you, or do you?” Cameron teased as he and Rhett shifte
Rideten, Present TimeSamuel’s wing sails caught the air with a whoomp. The guard heard it, looking up in astonishment a moment before Samuel seized him. In the old days, Samuel thought ruefully as he carried the struggling man up into the air again, he would have just let the man go and let gravity take care of the rest. However stealth was required in the current situation and now that he had the man, he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with him, other than sate his thirst.It had to be something that wouldn’t be noticed immediately, Samuel concluded as he sank his teeth into the struggling guard’s neck. Whatever he did with him needed to have a visual impact, as the Emissary had been clear that part of the reason for the attack was psychological - to show the enemy that they weren’t even safe in their own headquarters.He saw a flash from the corner of his eye as Ember spread her wings, slowing her descent as she targeted another guard - but only slowing enough to prevent her from i
Rideten, Present Time“And here I thought you’d achieved the most outrageously jaw-dropping appearance the last time you walked into my bunker Mr Gale,” Victor observed dryly as he closed the meeting room door behind them. “Look at you,” he added gesturing at the three of them.Heath slid a look at each of his mates. Talen raised his eyebrows. Of them all, their vampire hybrid mate had escaped the massacre with only a few blood splatters in his beard. Seeing Heath’s look, he raised his hands to show that they were as bloody as Heath’s own, which made Heath feel better. He scratched at his jaw feeling blood flake away under his nail.“This is what war looks like,” Aislen replied snidely. “Something you might find unfamiliar from a bunker, Victor, but true nonetheless.”Victor shook his head as he crossed to a cupboard and pulled out a decanter. “Whiskey?” He offered them.“I will,” Talen said.“Not us,” Heath declined regretfully. Whiskey would have gone down well after the night in th