Havermouth, Present TimeCameron wasn’t surprised that when he snuck out of the house just before sunrise, his father was already sitting on the stairs down to the firepit, tying up his shoelaces.Jules looked over his shoulder as the boards beneath Cameron’s feet creaked with the movement and smiled. “Morning.”“Hi Dad,” Cameron was glad to see him. It somehow felt right that they’d do the morning together. “Did you sleep okay?”“Fantastic,” Jules stood and stretched before scratching his stomach. “Let’s do our chores, and then hurry back, hey? Might get everything done before anyone wakes up.”They walked to the shed together through the chill of pre-dawn morning, navigating the way with ease due to their night sight. The slide of the galvanized iron door on its runner was overloud and disturbed the birds in the trees who twittered complaints as they judged whether it was actually time to wake up or not.As they carried the hay bale by its twine over to the fence and threw it over to
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen was brushing her teeth when she felt the energy shift around her. Someone was scrying her. There was a slim chance that it was one of the local covens, but since she’d snuck off post winning back Havermouth from the Van Helsings, and then left for Rideten, the local covens were used to referring to Abigail or Sigrid for instruction, so she doubted it. With Bianca dead, that really only left one person. “Aislen my dear.”Yep. Nailed it, Aislen thought as she spat into the sink. Technically she didn’t have to talk out loud, so could have kept brushing her teeth, but having a mouthful of foam just wasn’t dignified and she felt like she needed some dignity to deal with this particular conversation. “Stella. I have heard you were back in Havermouth.”“And yet you have not come to see me?” Stella’s reply held a motherly reprimand. “I have been expecting you.”“I only got in myself yesterday. I needed some time to scrub up. Got caught on the edge of the Mer a
Havermouth, Present TimeTears 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 nos
Rideten, Present TimeAislen 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 the s
Rideten, Present TimeThe 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 flooding th
Havermouth, Present TimeEmbroidering 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,” she
Rideten, Present TimeAislen 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, wake up
In the Ocean, Present TimeThe armour was as comfortable as skin to wear, moved like fabric, and yet was impenetrable. It was grown, Lyric discovered when she and Niarthen had been fitted, in tanks of ooze, into which, in their human shape, they had been inserted from neck down. It did not take long - forming into a crust over the skin that eventually developed into interlocking scales.It stretched like rubber, allowing for it to be taken off and on, but once in place protected the wearer both from being sliced by blades and from projectiles – the scales hardening into an impenetrable barrier between Mer and the world. Like much of Mer technology, it was symbiotic, feeding off the wearer, and was activated by signals of stress and adrenaline into the change from malleable fabric to solid surface.It was also wearable in both human and Mer forms, its surface restructuring around the tail, as Lyric discovered when she and Niarthen had swum to join the army on the journey to the island.