Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present TimeThe blindfold left a little gap along the sides of her nose and by angling her head just slightly, Aislen could still make out the three men on the mattress nearby. Talen had replaced Cameron’s gag with his cock and had fisted one hand in Cameron’s curls. The flex of Talen’s arse muscles as he arched his hips toward Cameron’s face was enough to make her knees want to give way, but the whole picture was just pure eye candy, from the bulge of his biceps as he adjusted his grip on Cameron’s hair, to the way his long blonde locks swayed against the hollow his muscles made of his spine.Fucking hell, she thought wryly. She was pretty sure she was making a puddle of lust on the blanket below her. Rhett shifted and she saw him stroke a pink-rubber gloved hand down Cameron’s back before reaching back between Cameron’s thighs to grip his cock.The contrast of the pink gloves against the bright tattoos and Rhett’s dark good looks appealed to the artist
Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present TimeThere was fire and smoke, and a woman was screaming. The screams were shrieks of agony the timber of which ran over Aislen’s skin like electricity and set her heart to racing. And then, abruptly they ended, and there was only the crackle of wood burning, and the smell of roast flesh. As the scene faded into blackness, a man roared: “What have you done!”“M.”Aislen wasn’t sure what had woken her, the man’s roar from her dream, or Bianca’s voice in her head. “Hey B,” she murmured and felt the shift of flesh around her as her men reacted to her voice. Rhett’s hair was in her face. She knew it was him, even without her telepathy, because the scent of cigarette smoke lingered in it. And it was Talen against her back, his chest hair prickling her skin as he breathed.“Morgana?” Talen kept his voice low so as not to disturb their mates.“Scry,” Aislen explained to him. She closed her eyes, focusing internally, strengthening the link between her and
Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present TimeThere wasn’t a chance to scry again, and Aislen wasn’t certain that scrying Stella and asking flat-out what she was up to would help. It wasn’t as if honesty was a policy with Stella, after all. She had begun to think of Stella in new terms – as an opposition rather than an ally, she realized as she had a quick shower and reluctantly put back on her one change of clothing.“We need to go shopping,” she told her mates as they lined up out front of the house, waiting for the werewolf soldiers to organize the vehicles and who would go into them. The reporters did not travel lightly, and there was a city of cases built around them. She sighed. It was not going to be easy to arrive unnoticed in Trayrock.“For what?” Cameron was eyeing off the stacks of crates speculating as to their contents and just where the news crews thought they would fit them in the cars.“Clothes,” she told him.“Oh, yeah,” he looked down at himself. “My jeans are starting
Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present Time“Hmm,” Phillip hmphed his breath out irritably. “Forward planning, Ms Carter. Something you and your mates don’t seem to be doing at all. You are so oppositional, and I can’t help but think that my son is to blame. He has always been obstinate. Let me ask you something, Ms Carter and Mr Gale – why are you so convinced that your way is the right way?”“Umm, Emissary here,” Aislen pointed out."Yes," he sighed. "But being the spokesperson for the goddess does not make you omnipotent or flawless. Nor does it make you wise, Ms Carter, as you have made evident over and over again with your reckless behaviour. This current state of you and your mates is another example of recklessness, combining species with no idea what the repercussions will be. Stella is going to be ropeable when she finds out.”“That I’m a hybrid?” Aislen flicked her eyes to the rearview.“The car in front of you is moving, Ms Carter,” Phillip told her snidely.“Shit,” Aislen p
Trayrock, Present TimeThe rest of the drive no one spoke. The dragons had fallen asleep leaning on each other, Heath was deep in his own head, and Phillip was smugly content to watch the scenery having won his point. Aislen guessed that was why he was such a highly regarded lawyer – the man was dogged. Quite literally. She snorted at her own thought, interrupting the silence and startling Ember awake.“Sorry,” Aislen was contrite. “Go back to sleep. We’re just approaching the edge of Trayrock now. I just had a random werewolf joke cross my mind, and it made me laugh.”“A werewolf joke?” Heath arched an eyebrow.“It wouldn’t translate into a retelling,” she apologized. “Ah, shit,” she added as she saw a traffic stop ahead with flashing red and blue lights. “Here we go again,” she predicted darkly. She could see black-clad men amongst the police.She tensed as Talen was waved to the side of the road, and a police officer leaned into him holding a Van Helsing device. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,”
Trayrock, Present Time“Aislen,” Tiffany seized her in a ferocious embrace, squeezing the breath out of her. “Thank goodness you are alright! I have been so worried. The world has gone insane. Vince and I have been trying to get word to Havermouth! It’s not safe here,” was whispered into Aislen’s ear. “We need to get out. These men… They have locked Trayrock down.”“I know mum,” Aislen hugged her back. Tiffany felt thin and brittle, her bones seeming to shift under her skin. “Are you alright?”“Fine, fine,” Tiffany eased back and wiped her eyes with her fingertips. “I’ll be right with you,” she added over her shoulder to Talen, who had paused in his perusal of the racks in order to observe Tiffany’s interaction with Aislen.“You work here,” Aislen realised taking note of the badge on Tiffany’s chest which had “Tiffany” handwritten on it.“Mmm,” Tiffany adjusted the badge. “Well, I’m helping out, really. My friend owns the store, and it’s hard to find staff at the moment, with everythi
Trayrock, Present TimeTiff shuddered as she got out of the car, holding her clutch purse tight to her chest. “So close to the water, Aislen. You have to be careful. So many weird things are happening, and it all comes back to the water and what is in it.”“Yes, we know,” Aislen agreed taking her mum by the elbow. Samuel, Talen, and the Triquetra were busy emptying the boots of the many purchases they’d all made. She encouraged Tiffany into the bar, pausing on the threshold as the stale smell of alcohol and smoke struck them.“We met in a very similar place,” Talen observed from behind her with amusement.“So we did,” she smiled up at him, before getting her stomach under control and guiding the mincing Tiffany further in. There were booths tucked under the windows. One was already occupied by Allistaire and his cameraman, and Jacinta and Addison. They looked up in interest as Talen and the Triquetra marched through towards a rear door that led into a stairwell.“Unusual occupation fo
Trayrock, Present Time“Nice,” Cameron held up a lacey bit of lingerie by the shoulder straps. “I didn’t see this before.”Heath glanced over his shoulder. He held a bundle of pillows tucked under his arm and was dragging a pile of blankets and sheets off the beds. “Ah, yeah, I might have added a few items to Aislen’s pile.”“Sweet,” Cameron approved and placed it into a drawer.Talen pushed the single bed up against the queen. The room was pretty basic, but the walls were freshly painted in neutral colors, and there was a door onto the balcony and two deep-set windows. The floorboards were bare, but the bedding was clean and of good quality. The artwork was bland, but the nightstands had little vases of freshly picked lavender which was a nice, simple touch. It was clean and functional, and that was all Heath cared about.Or it would be functional when they finished re-arranging the furniture.“It would be best to remake the bed this way,” Talen gestured. “The separation between the
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen was looking down at a chessboard. She was holding a little statuette of Verina in her hand. She shook as she set it down on her side of the board and looked up at the woman who sat across from her. This time, the handmaiden or goddess, whatever she was, wore gold. Not some cheap and tacky replica, or some misleading named yellow, but true gold.An elaborate metal headdress began on her forehead, framing her face and covering her hair, continuing from just below her chin to spread over her shoulders and down her chest. The dress was made of fine chain link that draped like material, clinging to her curvaceous body, before dripping away into the aether that crept around their feet. Her lips were painted gold, and so were her eyelids and eyebrows. Golden rings encircled her fingers, and her wrists and arms were heavy with bracelets and cuffs. The tips of her fingers were dipped in gold.She was magnificent and regal and there was a formality to the way tha
Havermouth, Present TimeThe room stank. They could smell it the moment they started down the hallway. Old blood, rotten flesh, and rodents. Connery made a noise in the back of his throat and fished in his pockets producing a handkerchief and stuffing it full of herbs from a pouch. He held it out to Meguitte who smiled and shook her head ruefully. She had smelled this particular scent before, many times over the centuries, during plagues and in the dungeons where people were tortured and left to rot.“I guess it’s a good thing that no one has been here to clean up after Leighton, as the ward will be untouched,” Connery commented, his voice muffled by the handkerchief.Blow flies greeted them. The cages were empty, but no one had scrubbed the room, and there were buckets sticky with congealed blood, stains of it on the floors and walls, and other biological matter in the corners of the cages where the prisoners had relieved themselves. The room rustled with bugs as a result.“Hmm,” Meg
Havermouth, Present Time“You’re doing great,” Heath was breathless. He and Rhett had run, dragging with them several screaming witches. They had been pursued, by Mer, by zombies, by the few Van Helsing soldiers who had survived, but they’d been able to put some distance between them with help from the dragons in the sky. It had been very weird to see the dragons sending bolts of lighting and fire to hold off pursuit. One of them had done something that had made the earth beneath Heath’s feet tremble with a clap of thunder that had his ears still ringing.The timing had been perfect. They’d headed towards Leighton’s warehouse, and just as he’d started to debate which warehouse was likely, the door of the Stock Feed and Animal Supplies warehouse had opened revealing Phillip Salem. When he’d entered and seen Aislen on her hands and knees in a clearing within the filthy warehouse, he had not known whether to be relieved or despairing. The warehouse was so precarious a place for his mate
Havermouth, Present Time“Stella was anticipating that your mates would attack the ward,” Phillip commented mildly as he riffled through the cupboards. “I am curious to see what happened when she found Leighton instead of them. He did not seem happy.”“Leighton was there? Shit,” Aislen’s heart picked up pace. “We really don’t want him to find us, Phillip. We tried to turn him over to the Mer, but it failed. Verina died though, and Leighton’s pissed in a big way. He came to kill me.”“Possibly, or to steal the baby,” Phillip agreed indifferently inspecting a steak knife before returning it to the drawer. “I think you over value yourself, Aislen, and undervalue what you’re carrying.”“Gee, thanks. Hopefully, Stella took Leighton out,” Aislen added thoughtfully. “She was well set up there, with a massive coven behind her. However powerful Leighton is, I doubt he’s as powerful as them.”“That is true. But then, Stella will have discovered that you are not there, and will know that I betra
Havermouth, Present Time“I’m fine, my darling, truly, cross my heart,” Connery pressed the heel of his hand to his chest earnestly. Meguitte narrowed her eyes at him with suspicion. He was still paler than normally, with shadows pressed deep into his under eyes.“Have a sandwich and a cup of tea,” the werewolf Diana insisted offering both from a tray. She was going around the lower floor exchanging food and drinks for blood, and Meguitte sent her a side-eye. “I won’t take his blood,” Diana added hastily. “I can see that he can’t spare it. Perhaps you could, though?”“Me?” Meguitte was astonished by the suggestion.“It won’t take more than ten minutes, and I’m very gentle, I promise.”“It’s not that,” Meguitte explained. “I’m just… not an ordinary vampire. I have none of their normal powers.”“All blood is good blood at the moment,” Diana had sensed surrender and was preparing the kit.Meguitte sat next to Connery and rolled up her sleeve.He smiled at her. “How generous you are my be
Havermouth, Present TimeRhett and Heath did not speak as they wound their way through the streets of Havermouth. There was little opportunity to talk, slinking through the shadows, down the little alleyways between houses, and cutting through back gardens, but there was also a heavy sense of silence between them so that Rhett knew that even if they had been able, they both would have been too lost in their thoughts. Or lost in their worries, would be more accurate.They had searched the area around the smoke thoroughly, even venturing into the still-burning buildings. There had been no sign of Aislen. And no response to their mental calls for their mate. An icy fist of dread had a tight grip on Rhett’s heart. Why was she not answering? She had to be unconscious or…They would know if she had died. He refused to believe otherwise.Had Leighton found her first? What would Leighton do if he had found Aislen? He still struggled to see Leighton as dangerous, whatever mental voodoo the man
Havermouth, Present TimeThere were some languages that were universal, Sigrid thought grimly as she examined the Mer weaponry and made sure that she was familiar with its function. She could tell from the way the Mer moved, from the set of their shoulders, that they were uneasy with the alliance between herself and Niarthen. Their tolerance was thin, and only their respect for Niarthen, and the other two Mer generals, Benethin and Aeylira, kept them obedient. The moment word was received from above that Havermouth was to be destroyed, her life was forfeit.“Do not fear,” Niarthen said quietly. “Aeylira, Benethin, Lyric, and I will ensure that you reach your mates. There is a building which has been declared sacred. Lyric thinks it’s the hospital. That is where your mates are, yes? You should be safe there.”“I am with child,” she told him. “Triplets. The life of four rests on your promise.”“I understand,” he was grim. “Lyric also carries our child.”“If the tide turns,” she regarded
Havermouth, Present TimeMagic was in its very nature an invisible thing. You did not see a spell cast, but rather the effects of the spell once it found its victim. Therefore, the warlock Leighton appeared to do very little other than stand with his hands pressed to the surface of the ward, the energy blowing back his hair and causing sweat to break out on his forehead, but Samuel could FEEL the power, and see the reaction of the ward, its opaque surface shifting like water, areas clearing so that the dragons caught brief glimpses of the witches below scurrying about like ants as they tried to reinforce their magic by scattering herbs and arcane objects, and drawing runes on the bitumen.Samuel’s memories of the gloves were still fragmented, but he could recall the power they had given him – not just increased speed, strength, and stamina, but also a magic that was unnatural to him. He could feel a similar magic burning through his veins towards his heart and brain, poisoning as it b
Havermouth, Present TimeIn the front yard of the witch’s house, Jules caught Harry’s hand, pulling them to a stop. “I should shift,” he explained as he released Harry’s hand and began to strip off his clothing. “We can fly over the trouble.”“Aren’t you the clever one, my beloved,” Harry reached out and began to collect Jules’s clothes as Jules undressed. Jules looked up from stripping off his jeans to find Harry’s eyes hot and his smirk smoldering, and laughed, pulled from the seriousness of the war around them into a moment of pure joy as they celebrated what existed between them.“Okay,” Jules blushed as he finished undressing. “A moment.”Harry stepped back onto the porch and Jules focused on his shift. It was still a foreign experience, one that his body and mind told him shouldn’t be possible despite his entire life as a werewolf. Becoming a werewolf was a redistribution of his body – what existed simply moved to a position more appropriate for the shape that he wished to posses