Havermouth, Five Years BeforeAislen ignored the look that Cameron slid her way and gathered up her books and bag, crossing the classroom under the curious gazes of the other students, to where Ms Grace waited.“I’m sorry to interrupt your class,” Ms Grace said stepping out onto the footpath and heading towards her office. “I just saw that you were rostered in today and I wanted to talk to you about your discovery on the weekend. The police are quite concerned about your wellbeing, and you have missed a few days of school this week, so I think we’re overdue a talk, don’t you?”“I guess,” Aislen muttered.“Aislen,” Ms Grace sighed. “I am not your enemy. I am trying to help you. That’s my job – to help you.”“Look,” Aislen stopped walking. “Cameron was giving me a driving lesson. We got into an argument. We pulled over on the side of the road in order to swap drivers. Cameron saw something, a body. We called the police. I actually spoke with them yesterday and they told me that they hav
Havermouth, Present Time“We raped you,” Cameron hunched his shoulders. “Or I did, right?”“Both of us,” Heath told him. “That’s what she means, isn’t it?” His voice was hard and angry. “Alright, so whilst we’re thinking about things from each other’s perspectives, how about you considering our perspective.”“Go for it,” she sat back defiantly.“A Triquetra is… complicated. It’s believed that it happens in times of trouble, when having more than one alpha male in the family unit might better ensure the survival of the cubs. It happens during times of war, famine, disease… As a result, when a Triquetra forms, our people see it as being warning of trouble ahead,” he said through his teeth. “And even when a Triquetra forms… well, it’s not like a mate bond normally, or at least it’s not been recorded to be…”“And it was for you,” she said quietly the pieces falling into place. “You love and desire each other, which in a small town like Havermouth is a problem.”“It’s hard enough to be a h
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeAs Aislen threaded her way between students to the grassy hill the Triquetra, jocks and cheerleaders occupied, she saw the other sex toy standing forlornly at the foot of the hill, looking up at Heath, who held his hands out, palms upward. As if sensing Aislen’s approach, he looked her way and the other sex toy followed his gaze and burst into tears, before hurrying away.“You’re late,” Heath said as Aislen reached him. “And your make up is a mess,” he took a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to wipe under her eyes. "Rhett said that he saw you with Ms Grace.”“She wanted to talk to me about the body and the vigil,” Aislen told him under her breath.“We will go,” he said and sat down next to Rhett.“Come here,” Cameron patted the grass next to him. “Have some cookies,” he offered a Tupperware container as she sat next to him. When she hesitated, he laughed. “Don’t worry,” he leaned towards her, keeping his voice low. “There are no special ingredient
Havermouth, Present Time“Kill me?” Aislen suggested.“Yes.”“Well, then, problem solved,” she walked to the kitchen door. “Your pesky, unwanted human mate is out of the equation, and the three of you can return to happily f-king each other and the occasional disposable human sex toy, siring an entire army of werewolf babies between the three of you. Have fun with that and get the f-k out of my house."“We’ll go,” Rhett’s look stilled Heath’s protest. “We will go, Aislen, because we all need time to cool down. But this is not the end of this, not for us, and not for you, and you know that.”“We’re not going to stand by and let you be hurt,” Cameron told her as he took the glasses and wine bottles to the kitchen bench. “But you need to let things settle down in town, Aislen, and stay in the house, out of trouble.”“Not going to happen,” she replied. “And why start protecting me now? You never have before. In fact, the only people in this town that I need protecting from, are in this ki
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeHer parents weren’t home when Heath had pulled up in the drive. Her relief was lost behind the urgency to collect what she needed and get out before they returned.Heath stood in the front door, waiting whilst she collected everything that she thought that she would need for a weekend away. She raided the kitchen cupboards, filling her bag with snack foods as well as clothing and cosmetics. Heath did not rush her, but she felt like the contestant of a game show: How much can you stuff into one suitcase in fifteen minutes or less?She felt as if she were packing never expecting to return, but her destination wasn’t the happily ever after of children’s movies, but rather the fade out of grim adulthood.She did not know what the courtesy was with finding the body of a child – was she supposed to dress for a funeral, or not? She went with something in between a funeral and church and shoved a good black dress and heels into the bag, anticipating going to the
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen packed the printed Secret Keeper bulletins into her bag and left it by the front door ready for her early morning and hurried to shower and prepare for Talen’s arrival. As she styled her hair, she rehearsed what she needed to say and do in her head. Her fingers went nervously to the collar around her neck.“He won’t hurt you,” she told herself. “He will appreciate the honesty.”She closed her eyes and braced a hand on the vanity, drawing in a deep breath before nodding crisply. She opened her eyes and resumed applying her eyelashes. She put on the camisole and short set that she had purchased that morning, enjoying the feel of the satin against her skin, and entered the master bedroom in order to smooth the covers on the bed and fluff the pillows.She lit the candles, and turned on some music, soft and seductive. Headlights sweeping through the window had her heart stuttering. She hurried to the door and her breath caught in her lungs as he crossed the
Havermouth, Five Years Before Cameron lit the candles around the bathroom, the flickering flames reflecting off the old-fashioned tiles. The tap in the sink dripped, the sound of the splash loud and musical in the space. The shower was over the claw-footed bathtub around which there was a metal ring that had obviously been intended to support a shower curtain, but it was bare now. The bathroom held the floral ghost of the cleaning products they had lined up against the wall like soldiers against grime. Her father never cleaned, Aislen thought as Cameron started the shower water and laid the bathmats onto the floor to catch the overspray. It was odd to her as a result that the Triquetra were so domestic and clean, masculinity and housework not coexisting in her experience. Cameron set two towels ready on the wobbly stool that they kept in the bathroom for that purpose and then stripped off his uniform, tossing it into the clothes hamper. The candlelight turned his hair to gilded flam
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen’s jaw dropped and then she laughed, leaning back against Talen, and turning so that she was cradled on his lap like a child. He wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face into the hollow of his neck beneath his chin.“Of course, you know,” she couldn’t believe her own stupidity. As the Triquetra knew what Talen was, he would know what they were. “I was torturing myself tonight to try to tell you…” She toyed with the key that he wore on a fine gold chain around his neck and the chest hair that curled in the v of his collar.“Hmm,” he lowered his head until his cheek was against hers and his beard tickled her skin. “You should not fear to tell me anything, Morgana.”“This is sort of a big something, though,” she told him. “The supernatural world does not like it when humans find out about them.”“Humans, yes,” he said softly. “But that is not what you are, is it?”“You know what I am?” She was surprised. “I don’t even know what I am.”“Not specifi