Havermouth, Present timeThe Donald’s had unravelled the rope of flags and tied a bottle of water to one end. In a team effort, at the signal from several lookouts stationed around the gym, Rhett and Cameron took turns throwing the bottle of water up, seeking to hook it over the suspended walkway.“What the f-k is wrong with us today?” Rhett grumbled when their fourth and fifth attempts went astray. “We could this with our eyes closed at any other time.”“Try that, son,” Jules suggested. “Close your eyes.”Cameron’s jaw set as he looked up, taking his measure as he drew in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly.“You’re right to go,” Rhett murmured not wanting to break Cameron’s zen.Cameron drew in another breath and threw. The bottle soared high, and the string caught around the hand rail, the bottle swinging around and tangling, the metal rattling and groaning. On cue, the werewolves waiting by the bathroom wheeled out buckets and mops, and cleaning products, mak
Havermouth, Present time“What f-king signs?” Aislen wondered.“Born in the year of the Griffin, maiden born in crone, on the day of Ash,” he replied. “Dreamer who will close the circle. Witch-taught but not wrought. Mother of blood and wolf. Four kings will worship at her breast. Storm, flood, and fires will herald her coming. The dead will rise, and the streets run with blood. It rhymes in the original tongue,” he added helpfully.“Yeah,” she dragged the word out slowly, arching her eyebrow. “That’s just bullshit, Aaron.”“You were born in the year of the Griffin, under the crescent to waxing moon. The day of Ash refers to the final day of the war of the Nyxsians, an ancient people that we only know of from records such as these,” he blocked the way when she went to leave the kitchen with her bowl of stew and coffee. “Aislen means dreamer, and Morgana great circle. You are witch-trained, but not a witch.”Aislen narrowed her eyes at him. “Ten minutes is up, Aaron.”“Morgana, give me
Havermouth, Present timeThe man had been wearing a cuff.Meguitte sat staring at the notepad on her lap without seeing the list of spell components that she had been compiling. Think, Meguitte, she told herself firmly. Think about this carefully. Could it have been the second cuff? She closed her eyes. She would be lying to herself if she believed that, she admitted.She understood, now, why Logan had insisted on a second cuff for a sister who had died long before they had met. He had kept one cuff for himself, to control the lycan within him, and had given Lark, Dove, and Robin the other cuff, along with the footage from the camera button which Lark had told her Logan had been wearing, and Logan’s trio of witches had managed to reproduce Meguitte’s spell.He had watched Meguitte cast it, and like a fool she had even glibly listed the ingredients for him as she had done it.Her heart ached at the betrayal so much that the pain eclipsed the important fact of why. Why had Logan done th
Havermouth, Present timeTalen propped himself on one elbow and looked down at Heath. The golden candlelight danced over his mate’s skin catching in the fine fuzz of hair, in the gilded strands of his eyebrows, the stubble of his jaw. He was fascinated by this mate, Talen admitted to himself, and had been from the moment the rude pup had spat vitriol at him out front of Morgana’s house. In his sleep, Heath’s face softened, the tension eased away in dream, the burden of responsibility that he carried with so much determination lightened, and suddenly he was so very, very young.It was easy to forget just how young his mates were, Talen admitted to himself. They were all such fierce individuals, each burnt so brightly.He stroked his palm lightly down Heath’s arm to where the cuff rung his wrist. Just above the thin band of metal, Heath’s pulse kept rhythm. Talen rested his fingertips there, monitoring the pace, trying to judge the health of his mate.There was a faint knock at the door
Havermouth, Present timeThe reception only just held them all, and the circle was a little malformed as a result of the shape of the room, everyone a little closer together than they were entirely comfortable with, considering a good number of them chose to go sky clad again. Sigrid and the mysterious vampire, Samuel, joined the circle, as did Leighton and his family, with Aislen and Bianca in the centre, sitting cross legged and knee to knee.“I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you kept your underwear on,” Aislen smirked. She was also grateful for Bianca’s wards, as otherwise she would not be able to concentrate. Bianca snickered. “For a bitch f-king four men, you’re so prudish.”“I truly, truly am,” Aislen agreed wholeheartedly. “In some circumstances. Like I fully believe that you should not know if your best friend has freckles on her labia from personal experience. That’s taking the best friend thing a little beyond comfortable for me."“Are we?” Bianca asked quietly, her
Havermouth, Present timeThey moved the cleaning of the gym to directly in front of the door, intending to delay the Van Helsings if they entered to give the gathering of pack members a chance to break up and look casual. Everyone’s wrists were bare, the cuffs stuffed into their pockets so as not to leave evidence of their escape plans lying around.“We can’t go home?” Alice Tamm looked up at her mate, her eyes filling with tears. “But Matt… My fish…”“I’m sure that we can pop home long enough to drop a holiday feeder into the tank, Allie,” Matt assured her.“It would not be wise,” Jules said firmly. Jules was the highest-ranking alpha there, Rhett realized, other than himself and Cameron, and it was as disconcerting to see Jules in a position of authority and leadership as it was arousing to see Cameron alpha-up. “Let’s get to safety, before we plan any trips home which might be risky. Which brings us back to Cam’s point. Where in Havermouth can we go?”“Family and friends?” Matt Tam
Etrait, Nine Hundred and Forty Years Before The beach showed little sign of the tragedy that had played out on its sand the day before, the tide having stolen away almost every stain of blood, the fine sand sticking to the surface of the rest. Seagulls and other predatory sea birds fluttered over the darker patches, attracted to the insects that buzzed, searching for the meat that accompanied the blood. Thaelen crossed the sand to the water gripping the little cloth bag containing herbs, oatmeal, and the crushed leaves of a local plant known as washweed that one of the village women had made for him. He stripped to his skin before wading out into the gentle waves, submerging before rising, water running down his chest from the end of his beard. He was beginning to look overgrown again, he thought ruefully as he used the bag to scrub over his skin and through his hair and beard, washing away the sweat and dirt from training. His eyes rested on the shadows of the mountain range, where
Etrait, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThaelen waited with the tent flap pulled just slightly open, watching whilst a soldier returned from his nightly pee. “Now,” he said softly and sent the next small group of women and children out into the night. In their small numbers, they were less likely to be noticed or suspected of being up to anything more exciting than escorting the boy into the trees for the same reason as the soldiers used them.They were the last group. Once they had passed beyond his vampiric vision, he turned and surveyed the interior of the tent. He had piled the possessions that they could not take with them around the central pole of the tent. His plan was to use the black powder and one of the oh-so-dangerous exploding hand-held devices to start a fire within, burning the possessions and the center pole and collapsing the tent into itself to be eaten by flame. Anyone within the tent would be thought to be dead, burnt to ashes.However, he also knew from havin