Havermouth, Present TimeThe smoke was chaos. There were more zombies, not less, this time through, as if they’d been leaking in from all directions whilst Heath and Rhett had been interrogated by Benethin and Aeylira on the other side of the smoke.Even with an army of Mer soldiers around them, it seemed that every few steps in the smoke, Rhett encountered a new zombie, or occasionally a desperate Van Helsing soldier, injured by the Mer and then savaged by his own zombie troop. Rhett crushed and mangled them, not caring if they were Van Helsing or zombie, just over the whole thing, and trying to ignore the fact that some of the zombies were still people enough to plead before they died.“Rhett Salem,” Abigail’s voice was weak, but he knew it. He stopped immediately, causing Heath to almost walk into him. “Heath Gale.”“Shit,” Rhett changed direction, not missing that several Mer followed. He and Heath weren’t in chains or cuffs, but they were far from free. The Mer were keeping them
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.
An Island Somewhere, Present TimeLyric woke pressed tightly into Niarthen’s chest, his hair covering them both so that her bleary eyes saw the sun through a film of green. She did not have a moment of confusion, even in her sleep she had registered their location in the war camp on the island beach, and she surfaced from sleep to awareness knowing precisely where she was and what was happening.Niarthen grunted as he woke, and cleared his throat as he sat up, easing her carefully down into the sand. He sat with his elbows on his knees, looking out at the activity of the camp, and dragged a hand over his face before rising fluidly to his feet.Lyric sat up and dusted off the sand, scanning the beach to see where Niarthen had wandered off to. She needed to pee but fuck trying to get out of the armour. Perhaps that was what Niarthen was doing – finding a convenient tree. She’d just do things the Mer way, she decided, and hold it until she shifted and could go into the water. She wasn’t