Havermouth, Present Time“We should make the trip to the MegaStore and get some sleep,” Harry’s werewolf, Jules, decided as the group shuffled back out of the narrow hallway and into the night. He ran his hands wearily through his hair, his eyes shadowed and tired.“Can’t,” Aislen shook her head, although like Harry’s werewolf, she looked about ready to fall over from exhaustion. “My boys aren’t back yet. The werewolves haven’t responded to my demand for hostage exchange, and the werewolves I sent with the message have been gone for hours.”“I’m sorry?” Jules frowned. “I feel like I’m missing something. Cameron isn’t back?” He looked up at Harry and Sigrid could see his mind working frantically. “Something’s wrong if he’s not back,” he said grimly.“Yeah, what’s wrong is that the werewolves at the bunker decided to take them prisoner,” Aislen replied crisply. “And August and his goons came to try to take me back to them but got themselves caught. So now August is enjoying the comforts
Havermouth, Present TimeThe stairs groaned beneath Jules and Harry’s footsteps as they headed to the second level with Aaron. Toby hung back, waiting for Aislen’s attention. “I have to go to the MegaStore,” he told her. “Tyler and Izeikiel have been waiting for me and if we’re expecting trouble here… I need the things from there.”“Okay,” she agreed, distracted by her own mission.“Aislen,” he reached out for her arm, but stopped himself from touching her. “You should stay here. Don’t go to wherever it is that you are going. What you can do to people’s heads… It’s scary and dangerous and if the wrong people find out what you can do, they will use it to do worse things than you can even imagine.”She paused. She had known that he was disturbed after watching her search August’s head for details of the war and that she should have spoken to him, offered some reassurance. “I don’t use it that much, Toby,” she said, feeling guilty. She should have sent him from the room, she thought, rat
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen watched as the party approaching from Concordia neared the wall, riding through the ruins of the encampment and under the torchlight shed from the walkway above, his palms resting on the stone. Alyra, Hod, Magnus, and about twenty soldiers. Too few to be the reinforcements that he had requested.Dread sat heavy in his stomach.“Thaelen?” Harithen looked at him in concern. “Perhaps the army follows behind?”“There is no army coming,” Thaelen said darkly. “This is an intervention.”“An intervention?”“Hmm, an interference by officials in the will of the king,” Thaelen considered the implications that Sigrid was not amongst them. “They have come to tell me that they are refusing this war.”“But… You are a king! How can they refuse your command?”Harry seemed to think that the position of king was the same as that of a God, Thaelen thought dryly. Perhaps it was amongst humans. He did not know. “Amongst the Concordia, there is the king,” he sai
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeBehind Harithen there was a scream as one of Thaelen’s soldiers sprouted an arrow in the forehead, dropping to the ground. Thaelen rushed out, pushing Harithen against the curve of the tower wall. The roof tops of the houses bristled with archers and gunners, and he could see the gleam of armour moving through the narrow streets of the city beyond. Far too many.“F-k!” He gripped Harithen by the gambeson, pushing him towards the crenelations as from below there was the harsh bark of gun fire. “We cannot hold this side of the wall against so many,” he told the golden-haired prince. “We have no choice but to retreat.”Stone sparked near their heads as a bullet struck against it, the metal ball shattering under the impact.Haethnir held up a shield as Alyra, Hod and Magnus followed them out onto the wall, the thunk of arrows impacting on the outward facing side rapid, the wood splintering as the points pierced it. He swore as a bullet grazed his thig
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen became aware of the meeting between the Captain of the Guard and Magnus and Hod when the redistribution of men caused a flurry of activity in the courtyard.He stood on the balcony overlooking the activities with a sour taste in his mouth and an uneasiness in his stomach. His teeth ground against each other as the fury rose within him. “Hmm,” he huffed as he watched Magnus and Hod walk out with the Captain to oversee the movement of the troops.“Thaelen,” Alyra said softly from behind him.He cast a glance over his shoulder. “I am not sure that I wish to hear what it is that you think you have to say to me,” he told her. “Or what could be said between us. Harithen is right. If you had sent the army, the city would be ours right now and we would be planning our next move into Greibron as conquerors. Instead, we cower in our towers, watching their wall for any sign that they may, emboldened by our defeat, attack us.”“That is certainly one i
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen walked the path in front of the tower and was relieved when his men saluted and greeted him as normal, though he could see their concerns in their eyes. He distracted himself by watching the wall and ocean. It was not long until the horizon was spotted with ships.“F-k,” he said through his teeth.“You should not be out here, Thaelen,” Magnus said coming to stand beside him.Thaelen sent him a glare. “Just precisely where should I be, Magnus?” He demanded. “There are ships on the horizon and activity at the wall. They are preparing to attack.”“We have the mountains and the higher ground. They may have the greater numbers, but we have the advantage. I have resupplied the towers, and we are prepared to hold a siege for however long it takes them to exhaust themselves,” Magnus replied. “You and your Griebron prince are liabilities Thaelen. You need to return to Concordia with Hod, Alyra and I, and leave the siege to the Captain and his soldi
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen stood for a long moment looking down at her, fighting with his sense of betrayal, his anger, and his grief. Could he still call it home? He thought bitterly. However, he did not give voice to that ache within his chest, and instead drew in a deep breath and released it.“Thank you, Sigrid. It has been a very busy couple of days. I need to feed, and rest. Can you please arrange accommodations for Harithen?”“Thaelen,” Harithen started and then caught himself, color rising in his cheeks as he realized that protesting about being given separate accommodation to Thaelen in front of Hod, Magnus and Alyra would only put emphasis that it had been requested. “Thank you,” Harithen finished, his tone only slightly resentful. “I had hoped that we might… talk this evening?”“Tomorrow Harithen. You must also be weary,” Thaelen replied. “Sigrid will see to it that you are sent our finest blood slaves to help you settle into your accommodation,” and hope
Concordia, Seven Hundred Years BeforeIn the morning, Thaelen slaked his hangover by drinking from Aleris as his attendants tidied the room from the night before, the clink of bottles reminding him of how much wine he had consumed trying to drown out his grief.He bathed and dressed and went down to the bowels of the castle with his attendants, opening the vault which had always existed below, going through room by room of treasures, and having his attendants fill trunks with that which he would take with him.It was a raw and painful experience, and his confused attendants worked in tense silence, picking up on his mood.“Thaelen,” Meguitte entered the treasure chamber as he contemplated jewellery of past queens. “What are you doing?” She wondered watching as a pair of attendants carried a trunk past her, out of the chamber.“I am trying to decide,” he said without looking at her. “What here belongs to Concordia, and what belongs to me.”“It all belongs to you,” she said, puzzled. “D
Havermouth, The Present Aislen sat on the bench seat of one of the Unimogs whilst Talen and the Heath met with Rohan. There were lot of hand signals gesturing beyond the destruction of the farm and solemn expressions on their faces. When she looked up, she could see that Rhett and Cameron were busy helping to carry injured to the waiting vehicles and that the vampires and werewolf soldiers were destroying what remained of the farm’s buildings, ensuring that there was no way that the Van Helsings could return and continue to use the site. The crashing and shouting as they tore the buildings to pieces was giving Aislen a headache and she paused in her poetry writing to pinch her brows. “Here,” Bianca climbed nimbly up the Unimog’s ladder and offered Aislen a bottle of water and two pills. “Paracetamol. You’ve been sitting here rubbing at your head, so I know you’ve got a headache.” “Thanks,” Aislen took the pills and washed them back with the water. “Ah shit,” she said after she’d sw
Havermouth, The PresentRhett and Heath shifted into human form and the Triquetra threw their arms around each other and him, their hands smearing mud and blood onto each other unheeding in their relief that all four had made it through unscathed. Over Heath’s shoulder, Talen saw Morgana slip and slide through the mud, her cheeks streaked with tears as she saw them, and he held out a hand, welcoming her in, the Triquetra pulling her into the center of the embrace.It was where she belonged, Talen thought as he leaned his face into her hair and breathed the scent of his female mate into his lungs. Morgana had always been the center, the heart of their family, the piece that made the rest of them make sense together.“Everyone’s in one piece,” she pivoted slowly round the circle of her men, inspecting each for injury, smearing away blood and mud with her hands in order to make sure that they didn’t hide wounds below.“We’re fine. We are fine,” Heath laughed wetly. “Really, Aislen, we’re
Havermouth, The PresentTalen kept watch as Harry set the explosives under the last of the guns. Of all five machine gun stations, this one was the most exposed, and Talen could feel the prickle of stress sweat between his shoulder blades. They had debated leaving this one completely and hoping that the explosions from the other stations would be enough, but the Van Helsings on duty there had been called to help load a helicopter that was waiting to take off, leaving the station as an open invitation for sabotage.When Harry eased out from under the station and slunk through the shadows to Talen’s side, the relief dragged through Talen’s muscles like the heavy refractory period after sex. He was exhausted, and that terrified him as he knew that the battle was ahead. Get through it, he told himself. Win this battle, and then take your mates to the river house, as Cameron had suggested, for three days and nights of f-king and feasting upon his mates as he turned them.It would be bliss.
Havermouth, The PresentIt was one thing to ride a Unimog through town, and another to travel on one long distance for over an hour, Aislen thought grimly. She was certain that most of her bones had been shaken loose and that when she eventually did stand up, she’d collapse in a jumble of limbs like in a cartoon. She’d been trying to work on another Secret Keeper post, working in a notebook that she’d stolen from one of the desks in the bunker, but her handwriting was so shaky that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to read it afterwards.She also wasn’t sure if she was being optimistic in it’s message.However, if she wasn’t writing, then she had to focus on what was happening around her, where they were going, and the fact that they had to be getting close, and there still was no sign of Talen. Was he okay? She would know, wouldn’t she? She asked herself. If something had happened to him, she was sure that she would feel it somehow, like a wound to her heart.“He’s fine,” she said out lo
Havermouth, The PresentThe farm’s vegetable gardens had been trampled underfoot, without any care for the vegetables and fruits left unharvested, the Van Helsings having abandoned any pretence of the site being anything other than what it was – a military facility. Entrance into the farm from the main road was controlled by guards and cement roadblocks, however, away from the public side of the farm, the security relaxed. There were flood lights set at key points, but their focus was inward and in daylight, they had been turned off.One field contained neat rows of tents, and a portable shower and toilet building which was in use as Harry and Talen crept around it’s edges, someone singing an atrocious rendition of a popular love song as they showered.It made Talen pause, hearing that singer, and a fury began to burn in the pit of his stomach. The Van Helsings at this site were so at ease, so comfortable, that they sang in the shower, where he and his mates had spent nearly every mom
Havermouth, The PresentHeath woke to discover that he had slept through Talen leaving and that pissed him off as whilst he recognized the vampire’s seniority and experience, Heath was faster and stronger, and he felt that it just made sense for him to be included in the mission, and that if anyone should have been left behind, it should have been Harry.Sigrid and her Triquetra had control of the bunker by the time Heath’s Triquetra left their room with Aislen. They met briefly in the room and ran over the sparse information that Talen had given to Cameron and Rohan before his departure and to try to piece together a plan of attack with Rohan – something which was difficult as they had no idea the total size of Haven Farm, and Heath could only roughly sketch the areas that he had been admitted to when visiting Charlotte, and on the times he’d been on the escorted tour.None of the maps that they had showed property boundaries, and even Sigrid’s Triquetra’s fancy toys didn’t have any
Havermouth, The PresentTalen slipped out of the bed when the wait staff arrived in the morning, pulling on yesterday’s trousers in order to open the door and pressing his fingers to his lips to indicate that they should be quiet as they delivered the breakfast and clothing. He admired the efficiency of the bunker, despite the disruption to the leadership everything continued to run like clockwork and thanked the staff quietly as they departed.He showered quickly and dressed in the clean clothing, before creeping back out into the main living area.Cameron looked up from the table. “You’re up early.”“Shh,” Talen placed his finger on his lips as he checked to make sure that Cameron had closed the bedroom door behind him. “You should be asleep, Cameron,” he said quietly as he crossed to ruffle the werewolf alpha’s russet curls.“I smelled pancakes,” Cameron told him with a bright smile as he uncovered them. “Ahhh,” he sighed in satisfaction. “Would you just look at that? Blueberry pre
Havermouth, The PresentHeath rose from the bed as Rhett lifted Cameron’s face to his and kissed him, pushing Cameron’s hand away from his c-ck so that he could take hold of it, causing Cameron to moan into the kiss as Rhett stroked him.Talen released, Morgana’s leg, leaning over to suck on the nipple that was exposed as she lowered her knee to the mattress. He teased the tips with his teeth, knowing that the pinch of the clip would make them sensitive, and slid his hand down her stomach to rub against her clit as Heath positioned himself.“Would you like some Edison brand lube?” Rhett’s grin was wicked. He had wrapped his arm around Cameron, holding his redhaired mate by the throat, just under the jaw, and Cameron’s face was slack with pleasure as Rhett’s other hand jerked his c-ck viscously.“Hmm,” Talen laughed through his nose. “Go on then,” he encouraged them. Cameron would have time to recover from the orgasm and be good for a second round before the night was through, he predi
Havermouth, The PresentThe moment the door opened; Rhett jerked Aislen to face him, his eyes intense. “Play time,” he growled his wolf shading the amber of his irises with an oily sheen of green and gold. He pulled her top up and off her without breaking their gazes, and then lifted his own top up slowly in a delicious display of tattooed skin and muscle made more striking by his leanness.Heath and Cameron fell in behind him, assuming the Triquetra formation that she had seen them take so many times, an unconscious werewolf move, hunters stalking their prey, and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she backed towards the bedroom, Rhett keeping pace with her, the distance between them precise, his eyes locked on hers.Talen closed the door behind them and strolled nonchalantly towards the kitchenette.Rhett unbuttoned his trousers, his c-ck pushing against the fly so that the teeth opened little by little with every throb. “Undress, Aislen,” he purred the words, his smirk w