Havermouth, Five Years BeforeAislen was breathing heavy, her chest tight and her heart racing. Heath was unpredictable. She never knew what would happen when he was around. Would he ridicule her in front of others? Would he produce a strange sex toy? Would he drag her out and rape her on the grass… Had it been rape? He said not…“I can see Rhett in this,” he said sitting down behind her, so that he framed her body with his. His breath caressed her cheek as he looked over her shoulder. He scooped her hair back in order to clear his view and paused, making a small laughing sound. “Your hair is as wild and wicked as you are,” he murmured pulling a curl straight before releasing. “More so after swimming today. What will you do next?” He asked turning his attention back to the painting. “Do?” She was aching, her body reacting to his proximity, her thoughts scattering, washing out, so that even his thoughts, communicated through the touch of his body against hers, were faded and fuzzed.
Havermouth, Present Time(… So much pain…)(I hope this is over quickly…)(That is so disgusting…)(Fifteen minutes until room 301 needs their next dose…)(Hang in there… So much to live for…)Aislen’s head roared with sound. She sat on the hospital bed shaking in the wet clothes, with the heels of her hands pressed to her ears, trying to find enough focus to restore the bubbles and shut away the overwhelming mental noise of the patients and staff around her.“We need to get those wet clothes off of her,” a nurse said, her voice muffled. “If there’s been an assault, and from the look of her, there’s been an assault, then the police need to collect the clothing, or we’ll break chain of evidence. She’s not critical, so we have the time to let this be done properly.” (So sick of sexual assaults not being pursued in this town… No excuses this time, they will collect it themselves, and I will f-king watch to make sure that they do it properly…)“If you say so,” the first nurse was dubious
Havermouth, Five Years Before“Are you going to f-k her all day, Heath, or come out and socialize?” Rohan leaned into the open window, and Aislen cried out, pulling Heath back to her as he rose in reaction to the intrusion, using his body to shield her, as she had tried to use Rhett a week before in a similar circumstance. “F-k off, Rohan,” Heath snarled, his eyes flashing with his wolf and the words carrying the feral growl of his nature. Rohan pulled back by instinct. “Sorry, man, I just…” He stuttered, taken aback by Heath’s aggression.“Yeah, you just,” Heath snapped out irritably. “But I’m not. So, f-k off and leave me in peace.”Rohan withdrew, and Aislen heard a hush fall over the gathering outside in response to his return as Heath settled back over her. He shifted until he found a comfortable position. “Stroke me,” he demanded, his voice still holding his anger from the unwelcome interruption.Aislen’s heart pattered uneasily as she resumed stroking through his hair. He sig
Havermouth, Present Time“Don’t be afraid,” Patience said as they paused outside a brick wall that seemed to go on forever and Iris wound down the window to check in with the security guard who stepped out to greet them. “You will not be harmed, Aislen.”“What is it with you f-kers and abducting me?” Aislen replied through her teeth, her anger hiding her fear. “I told you that I’m not pressing charges. I just want to get into my car and get the f-k out of Havermouth.”There was a knock at Patience’s window, surprising her. “F-k,” Aislen sighed. Patience wound down her window. “Mr Gale, return to your vehicle.”“Constable Overly,” Heath’s eyes met Aislen’s. “You have something of mine. I can take it from here. No need to waste any more of your time.”“Nice try,” Patience wound the window up. Heath stepped back as the car moved forward, his hands in the pockets of his trousers, looking every inch the lawyer in his suit. Aislen twisted in the seat to look out the window and saw a slee
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeAislen woke with Cameron snoring in her ear. He lay over half on top of her, his knee between her thighs, his face in the curve of her neck and shoulder, and his hand cupping her shoulder. Rhett lay on his side facing her, and Heath curled against his back, his arm slung over Rhett’s waist and their hands joined. Heath’s face was pressed into Rhett’s hair, his eyes closed and his breath heavy with sleep, but Rhett’s eyes were open when she turned her head. “They’re huggers,” he whispered. “When they sleep, they’ll chase you across the bed, following your scent and warmth. I often make them sleep next to each other, so that they hug each other, as if I’m between them, I get too hot. If we’re careful we can sneak out and I’ll make coffee…”“After sex,” Cameron muttered into Aislen’s hair. “Not before sex.”“You and your morning sex,” Rhett snorted. “The rest of us like to avoid morning breath and pee first.”“Morning breath is the best,” Cameron replied hi
Havermouth, Present TimeThey returned to Rhett’s car in a heavy, grieving silence, with Cameron carrying Aislen. Heath opened the back passenger door so that Cameron could set her on the seat. “Sit in the front,” he said to Cameron who opened his mouth to protest. Heath shook his head. “You know that if you sit with her, you will end up saying something that you shouldn’t…”“F-k,” Cameron complained and got into the front passenger seat. Heath slid into the back seat and closed the door. “Sit in the middle, Aislen,” he said softly. “Lean on me.”Aislen knew that it was contradictory and confusing of her to want to be close to him after going to such lengths to escape, and yet it felt like an ending and as much as her logic told her that what the Triquetra had done was wrong, that what they had started in the river house couldn’t ever go anywhere good, actually saying goodbye to them… was so final. Just the thought of it made her heart race and her stomach feel uneasy. She crawled
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeThrough the bedroom window, Aislen could see that Rhett had the fire going again and that Cameron was lighting the barbeque. They laughed between them as they made coffee and began to cook bacon and eggs. Heath passed the window on his way to join them and made a lewd gesture that Aislen was in no doubt referred to her. She swallowed hard, a raw feeling of shame lodged in her esophagus leaving a bitter taste in her mouth and looked down at her painting of Rhett and art supplies. She wanted to tear it into pieces, a rage building within her so fierce that it wanted physical expression. Instead, she dressed and sat down to continue working on it, ignoring her hunger and her craving for coffee, and instead opening one of the bottles of water in the room and drinking that. She didn’t want to go out with the Triquetra. She continued to add shading and details to the painting, slowly building dimension to Rhett’s hair, the expression in his eyes, the charming
Havermouth, Present TimeRhett stood apart, watching her turn and drive away, and she hoped that it wasn’t the start of a separation of the Triquetra “Because you need to feel guilty, as well as traumatized, not,” she muttered to herself as she pulled out onto the main street. She found enough coin in the center console to buy a meal at the local drive-through, but as she contemplated what to eat, she found that her hunger had gone, smothered beneath the pain and wrongness that she was feeling. “Keep it together, Aislen,” she told herself. “Don’t touch the bad candy.”She ordered all the unhealthiest things on the menu in a deliberate effort to prove to herself that she was okay, and stuffed some fries into her mouth, chewing stubbornly as she drove to her father’s house, trying to convince herself that they tasted better than sawdust. She pulled up, and eased her way out of the car, her feet letting her know that she’d given them a terrible time. Her whole body ached, the skin tha
Havermouth, Present Time “We should talk about the river house,” Heath said as they dried off after the shower. She ignored him and concentrated on drying her hair. She didn’t want to talk about it. She had said all that she wanted to say on the topic, and if she said any more, she knew that it would just start another argument. “Aislen,” he sat on the bed in order to put on his shoes. “I know that…” “Heath,” she flicked her hair back. “Don’t. Just don’t. Rhett had a go at me yesterday about accepting that Havermouth is my home and that I’m not going back to Kabramatta, and you guys have raised several times going to stay at the river house. You can’t bully me into it, and you need to stop trying to do so.” His grey eyes met hers and she held them stubbornly refusing to back down. He nodded slowly. “We are your mates,” he said softly. She inhaled and released it slowly. “I love you,” she told him. “I love the three of you. I want to try to make something of this relationship. I a
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen woke when Rhett eased out from under her. She had been lying half over him, her leg thrown over his body and her hand on his chest and muttered her complaint as his movement unbalanced her and let the cooler air touch her skin. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I have a client coming at nine,” he whispered. “I have to go set up.”“Too early.”“I know, but they work afternoons, and it will take a good three hours.”Talen wrapped an arm around her and drew her into the cup of his body. “Sleep some more, Morgana,” he murmured. “You need to rest in order to heal.”“Careful,” Cameron snickered suddenly and Aislen opened her eyes to see that Cameron had saved Rhett from falling over as he put on his jeans. “F-k man, you’re not a good morning person. One leg in each leg hole, right?” Cameron was already almost fully dressed, his shirt hanging open but his jeans and shoes on.“Need coffee before my brain will wake up fully,” Rhett replied.“For f-ksake,” He
Havermouth, Present Time“Not now, Rhett,” Heath sighed.“You knew!” Rhett rounded on him in shock. “You knew that he intended to turn her!”“We can’t,” Heath rose to his feet and located his jeans. “We can’t turn her werewolf, Rhett. The failure rate is too high. She has three werewolves and a vampire as her mates. If we can’t turn her, it is only logical that he will.”“And then what!” Rhett’s fury was such that the words were all but yelled. “We grow old, whilst she stays eternally young?”“Would you rather her grow old and die, when she has the option to be young and live forever?” Heath demanded. “We cannot give her that, but he can!”“What about kids?” Cameron asked. “If he turns her into a vampire, can she still have kids?”They fell into silence, their eyes flicking to Aislen and then away.“I can have kids,” she answered their unspoken question. “Bitch-faced Tabby Cat was speaking shit. I had a miscarriage, that is all. My doctor never said that I wouldn’t be able to have kid
Havermouth, Present TimeCameron groaned and pressed his hips into hers, letting her feel that he was hard. He leaned over until his breath brushed over her lips, his eyes on hers so that she could see every fleck within the bright blue. She reached up and threaded her fingers into his hair feeling the heavy thickness of the curls wrap around her fingers.His eyes closed as he inhaled and moaned on the exhale. “Your scent…” He said as he opened his eyes, meeting hers. His smile was bone melting. “When you are turned on, your scent is a sin. I remember in school, whenever you walked by us, I’d just about come in my pants breathing it in.”“Make me come, instead,” she invited.“Yeah,” he laughed under his breath. “I can do that.” He lifted her up and carried her to the porch.“Hey,” Tyler said as he opened the door. “Morgana, hey hero! Talen wasn’t sure when you’d be back. He’ll be happy to know you’re back home again. I was just about to head out to grab some take away. Do you want me
Havermouth, Present TimeCameron carried Aislen through the reception area where Heath was smoothly talking his way through her discharge.Rhett paused to charm his way into a trolley. "I'll load up with Aislen's things, and meet you at the cars," he said to Cameron as he wheeled it back into the room.“Oh, I’ll get a wheelchair!” A nurse protested seeing Cameron with Aislen in his arms.“It’s fine,” Cameron told her with a shrug. “Aislen’s not heavy.”“Are you leaving?” A woman stepped out of a room. Her clothing was rumpled, her eyes tired, and she clutched an empty coffee cup in one hand. “That is wonderful news. I’m Margaret,” she said to Aislen with a wide smile, her eyes filling with tears. “You must be Aislen Carter. You saved my son, Stephan’s life. My husband and I… We are just so grateful.”“Oh,” Aislen flushed, embarrassed by the teary gratitude. “It was nothing, really. He was saving himself, and the gunman had moved on to the library, so it wasn’t like… I’m told he’s doin
Havermouth, Present Time“Charles Gale, Pastor,” Pastor Gale recovered quickly, and his outrage transformed into charm. “I came to offer Aislen my services and company. I make regular rounds of the hospital,” he said as he stepped into the room. “And I understood that my son and his friends were at the river house.”He had expected to find her alone, in other words, she thought. Alone and vulnerable. And instead, he found her guarded by a giant of a vampire.“They are,” Talen replied, leaning a hip onto Aislen’s bed, a posture that was both confident and claiming. “We are alternating who stays with Aislen. They will be returning soon.”“Thank you for your kind thought,” Aislen said, barely keeping the sarcasm out of her tone. “But I’m not religious and you’ve made perfectly clear that you don’t enjoy my company.”“Now, Aislen,” Pastor Gale smiled patronizingly. “That’s simply not true.”It was unnerving how similar he looked to Heath, Aislen thought, considering that she reviled the m
Havermouth, Present DayAislen watched the water flow around her feet, swirling over the paving stones and tarmac of the main street of Havermouth, ripples casting shadows through the water that looked like screaming faces. She walked through the water, bewildered, feeling its cold drag against her legs, and its weight tugging down the fabric of her dress and sticking it to her skin.The traffic on the street had stopped, cars like islands in the flowing water, and pedestrians came to a standstill, everyone turning towards the river in astonishment.Where had the water come from?Something brushed against Aislen’s leg, and she looked down and cried out in horror as a pale, fish-nibbled face passed by, cheeks flapping in the movement of the water and eye sockets vacant, carried along in the tide of the water.Aislen woke on the end of a jump and gripped the sheets, breathing heavily.“Morgana,” Talen rose from the recliner and leaned over her. His hair was loose, brushing over her chee
Havermouth, Present Day“Aislen…” Heath started but was interrupted by the arrival of the nurses. “We’ll talk after,” he finished as the nurses adjusted the bed to sit Aislen upright.“Any discomfort?” The nurse asked attentively as they helped Aislen turn so that her legs hung over the end of the bed.“No,” Aislen suspected that Talen’s blood was the reason, healing her from the inside out. Bless her daddy vampire, she thought fondly.“Okay, but be guided by your body and if it hurts, we will stop…”“I can carry her,” Cameron hovered anxiously as Aislen stood with the help of the nurses. “F-k…” His hands were already held out, wanting to push the nurses out of the way.“Boyfriend?” The nurse to Aislen’s left asked as they took a shuffling step towards the ensuite.“Yeah,” Aislen agreed. It was close enough a description for their relationship at the moment, she decided, and she was f-king over being ashamed and hiding. “Both are, actually,” she said with a slight shrug. “Four, really
Kabramatta, A Month BeforeAislen found the regular yoga sessions not only helpful in maintaining a level of physical fitness to combat the stationary nature of her art, but also in enforcing a regular meditation to help strengthen the bubbles that protected her from the onslaught of mental noise that came with living in a busy city. That Bianca was the yogi was a bonus, as it meant that she could combine exercise, meditation and a catch up with her friend.Aislen lingered behind as the class ended and the room gradually emptied.She watched as Bianca flirted with a pony-tailed, curvaceous blonde woman, the sparks flying between them as they exchange numbers. The blonde cast a smile over her shoulder as she left.“You have a type,” Aislen drawled as she joined Bianca. “Blonde, curvy, and bubbly.”“So do you - six inches, chubby and made of silicone,” Bianca snorted. “When are you going to give a flesh and blood person a go? I bumped into Jordan Daniels the other day at a gallery. He i