Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeTalen’s vampire safe house was more like a vampire village.He had gradually bought up the land surrounding Sigrid’s farmhouse and property, and the houses on the properties that he’d bought had been renovated into accommodation for the variety of vampires that had come to live there. He had built on the hill a modern mansion, initially intending for Sigrid to live there, but she had preferred to remain at her farmhouse and so now the architect designed and thoroughly modern building with all the modern conveniences and an elaborate security system was mainly used by visiting dignitaries from the Concordia, or for when Talen came to stay.As well as Sigrid and her feral vampire children in the farmhouse and surrounding buildings, there was Tony and his mate who managed the day-to-day of Zeus Forest Works, Mattia and Fatima the vampire couple that Talen employed to oversee the safehouse and the needs of all who lived there, and three ancient Concordia vam
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeAs Talen entered the main street of Havermouth, his phone began to ring. It diverted through his car, the name appearing on the screen before him: August Mason, Les Guerriers Sanctifies.“Hmm,” he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, debating whether or not to answer. Of the two pack leaders of the Les Guerriers Sanctifies, he found August the least likeable. Abigail had been tightly wound, sharp eyed and careful with her words, but August had a slipperiness to him, a veneer of jovial kindness belied by the hard sharpness of his eyes.He could not blame either pack leader for carefully guarding their true natures, Talen reminded himself. Being a pack leader was very much a political office. Upon the retirement, death or removal from office of a prior pack leading pair, the pack voted in who they wished to lead them. Much like a human election, that pair came to power through popularity, due to their connections, and as a result of making campaign pr
Havermouth, Present TimeTalen removed his jeans and lay himself over the too-small mattress, watching his mate through hooded eyes, enjoying the way she stood and admired him, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He raised his eyebrows as Morgana’s eyes met his.“I’m worried about my heels near your face,” she admitted. “You can’t hurt me,” he chuckled as he invited her to him, amused by her concern for him. With his help, she placed a knee just above his shoulder, swinging her leg over his head, giving him an intimate view of the beauty of her sex. “Hmm,” he wanted to taste her on his tongue again and stroked his hands from her ankles up to her hips, pulling her to him so that he could suckle upon her. “Oh, god,” she sobbed before leaning forward and reciprocating. He grunted in pleasure as she demonstrated not only a skill but an enthusiasm for f-king him with her mouth, using lips, tongue, teeth and suction to bring him pleasure.He caught the pearl of her clit between his t
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeTalen chuckled as he returned to his Ute. “Priestesses,” he muttered under his breath. His upbringing had instilled into him a faith in priestesses, the position of priest and priestess at the temple highly valued and honored, and those given the title expected to in every way represent the gods and goddesses that they served.At the temple, a priest or priestess could serve as a guide, as a counsellor, as a conduit to the gods or goddesses. A vampire or acolyte could approach any priest or priestess and expect to be treated with respectful courtesy, empathy, and confidentiality. Part of the training therefore included inspiring confidence and thoughtful listening.Witch priestesses possessed the same skill, he suspected, and probably underwent similar training, for the words had sat on the tip of his tongue and he never, ever shared the details of his life with strangers. He had learned to leave as little footprint of his presence behind, so that there
Havermouth, Present Time Heath could not sleep. At first, his concern for Rhett had kept him awake, listening to his dark-haired mate’s every breath and every movement, alert for anything that might indicate trouble. Worried was an understatement. He was nauseated with fear. Rhett’s face was taking on the shadows of the corpses at the hospital – his skin sinking to his bones in a truly terrifying way, as if he were being consumed from the inside out. If Rhett… Ah, f-k, even thinking the word caused a stabbing pain in Heath’s chest. He couldn’t imagine life without Rhett. He couldn’t imagine waking and knowing that Rhett wasn’t in the world. Even at the worst moments of the Triquetra over the last five years, even in their darkest days when he thought that Rhett or Cameron would reject the bond, it had been no where near as horrifying as the prospect of losing a mate, not just as a lover and life partner, but to lose them altogether… He couldn’t do it, he thought. He did not think th
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen woke when Heath and Talen left the room. She turned automatically to touch Rhett, who lay between her and Cameron. For once, her dark-haired alpha mate wasn’t rolling away from Cameron’s night-time embrace – Cameron’s body heat was keeping Rhett from shuddering through his fever.His skin was clammy to the touch, his hair curling as it stuck to his forehead, but he slept peacefully. In the moonlight that spilled through the open door into the room, his eyes looked bruised and sunken, and his cheeks hollow, the bones standing out against the skin sharply. His lips were cracked and peeling, with dried blood around the lip ring.Aislen brushed away her tears as she rose and tiptoed to the door. The main room of the second storey was empty, the moonlight streaming in through the windows that stretched along one side, the brightness filtered through the filthy squares of glass and falling yellowly over the tables with their array of unusual objects that Leig
Havermouth, Present TimeCameron and Rhett were awake when she eased open the door to the room and both men looked up as the light fell upon them, the sheen of their werewolf vision flaring as their eyes adjusted. Rhett looked like shit, but more coherent and comfortable than he had the night before and was sitting up independently, though Cameron was hovering anxiously.“He’s feeling better,” Cameron told her, teary behind his smile. “He isn’t feverish anymore and wants to have a shower and to eat.”“I smell like shit, and feel like it,” Rhett corrected, his voice hoarse. “And I’m starving. For food,” he added ruefully. “Not for man-flesh, though…” And his smile became a leer. “I am feeling horny too.”“Well, let’s feed you and then see how you feel after eating, and maybe we’ll be able to organize a shower,” Aislen decided. “I’ll go heat some food.”“Samples,” Leighton said from behind her, causing her to jump and put her hand to her heart. He placed his hand on her shoulder, giving
The Human Enemy’s Land, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeAs discretely as he could, Thaelen tested the strength of the cuffs around his wrists, pinning his hands behind him on the wall and leaning his bodyweight into the rings until he felt the metal give. His heart began to race. Four days now, and there had been no further spell-poisoning through Gera. His strength was almost fully returned, and the cuff’s effectiveness was fading every day.“Tell me about the castle and surrounding area,” he told Gera. “What lies beyond this cell?”“Do you not know?” Gera was surprised. “Did you not see as you entered?”“No,” Thaelen replied dryly. “I was inside a coffin.”“Truly?” Gera was astounded. “Why?”“I do not know. Containment, ease of transportation? No one explained it to me. The Lady Beupraxia said that I had been in the coffin for two weeks, and yet you told me that this is the closest location to the pass into Concordia?” Thaelen replied as he rearranged his chains.“The pass would take at
Havermouth, Present Time Aislen hit her head hard on the floorboards and lay for a moment with white noise ringing in her ears, staring sightlessly up at the beams of the roof. Her entire body ached. She could feel the sharp sting of the cuts across her torso and the wetness of her blood, and she knew that she was dying. She groaned and put her hand to her chest, surprised to encounter cloth and not skin, and lifted her hand, wondering at how it was not covered in blood and what the black chalkiness was that stained her skin. She slowly lowered her chin to her chest. There were no wounds. Oh, yeah, she wasn’t the one bleeding... The thoughts rolled through her mind in slow motion, as if she was thinking through treacle. “Shit,” she groaned. “Heath!” Where were her mates? “Cameron, and Talen,” she whispered, closing her eyes and then opening them again, her vision focusing, the beams coming into focus. She was on the floor of Leighton’s workspace, she realized, and recalled the salt
Havermouth, Present TimeCameron cried out and threw his arms around Rhett, gripping him tightly before catching his face between his hand and kissing him with a thoroughness that left Rhett breathless until the bathroom door suddenly opened, and he released him out of habit, both men breathing heavily as they stared at the startled intruder.“Ah, sorry,” Will Peters was wide eyed. “I can wait…” He backed out letting the door swing shut behind him.“Shit. Oh well, I’m not hiding anymore,” Cameron shrugged, turning back to Rhett, and pulling him back into his arms. “I’m so happy to see you. And you’re looking so much better. Skinny. But better.”“Wow, Cam,” Rhett laughed. “I should come to the rescue more often. Hey there’s power on here!” He added squinting up at the neon lights. “Who would have thought I’d be happy to see the flicker of neon again.”“Did Aislen send you?” Cameron asked, leaning back in order to look at him. “Did she do one of those portal thingies? Where’s Heath? And
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeHeath Gale and Rhett Salem, Talen turned the names over in his mind as he reviewed the details that Tony had sent through to him on his laptop. In one of those twists of little towns, Heath Gale owned the firm that handled some of Zeus’ legal work. A lawyer.Well, that explained the expensive suits and impeccable grooming.Young, he observed, lifting his eyebrows as he saw the date of birth. Young and rich. The rich wasn’t a surprise, most of the werewolf families did well by themselves, but this young man did better than most. Lived just outside of Havermouth, in a heritage home owned by another pack family, the Edison’s.Rhett Salem, the sexy tattoo artist, owned the tattoo parlor in town and made more than a decent living from the business, though the bulk of his wealth had been inherited.“Hmm,” Talen tilted his head and flicked back to Heath’s file.They lived at the same address. Interesting. But not necessarily remarkable, he decided. Young men ofte
Havermouth, Two Weeks Before “I already knew what you all were, and I didn’t tell anyone.” Aislen finished her glass and held it out for Heath to refill.“Yeah, Rhett said that.” Cameron looked at Rhett.“If the pack knew that, though,” Rhett explained. “They would decide that you were too great a risk and kill you anyway, so we couldn’t let them know about that…”“And we couldn’t talk about it with you without breaking werewolf law,” Heath told Aislen. “Until you were officially ours, officially recognized as part of the pack, we could not openly talk about ourselves to you, or show you…”“I’m not part of the pack, or yours now,” she pointed out.“No, but things have changed,” Rhett let his hair fall over his face, avoiding looking at Heath. “You are in danger.”“You were an idiot,” Heath sighed out his frustration. “Arrogant and prideful as always and decided to show off what you knew with that f-king Secret Keeper poem.”“When you came back to Havermouth, we had another chance, be
Havermouth, Two Weeks Before The necklace around her neck was held together by a padlock. Heath hadn’t noticed it at Rhett’s tattoo parlor – things had happened so quickly, and he had been so angry, it was no wonder that the details of her outfit had skipped his notice. But he had seen it the moment they’d entered the kitchen, noting the workmanship of it and the glitter of diamonds.A love token from the vampire, he had decided straight away. It wasn’t until they were sitting across the table from each other and the infinity knot had slipped to the side, that he’d seen the padlock holding it closed at the rear. A tiny padlock, but a significant one. The necklace wasn’t a lover’s token but rather a declaration of ownership.Considering how the vampire had defended her against Heath the evening before, he wasn’t surprised that he had made sure to mark Aislen as his. A warning to Heath to back off, and a notice that the vampire intended to continue his pursuit of Aislen.Heath wasn’t s
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeJules leaned against the fence and wiped his brow on the back of his sleeve. “That’s done then,” he decided his eyes on the indignant wet sheep in the holding pen. They’d spent the day putting this part of the herd through the dip – a process that Rhett always found comical when he was drafted in to help, enjoying the complaints of the sheep as they treaded dosed water before being drained and released into the pen.Cameron had left him in bed that morning, however, as Rhett wasn’t himself. The sex the night before had been… strange. It had held shadows of the early part of the last five years, when sex between the Triquetra had been about hurting each other as much as getting off. Rhett hadn’t hurt Cameron precisely, but Cameron had known that the sex hadn’t been about him, although he was the recipient, but about Aislen.“Yeah,” Cameron agreed. “I’ll grab a shower, change and head home.” He headed towards the house.Jules checked the gate before followin
Havermouth, Two Weeks BeforeRhett couldn’t concentrate, so it was lucky that he didn’t have any clients booked – he had cleared his schedule anticipating that they would still be at the river house with Aislen. He pottered aimlessly in his office as a result, shuffling paperwork that he didn’t have the focus to read, and collecting up the empty coffee cups that clustered on every surface, pulling his face at those which had a skin of green over them.Coffee was a good idea, he decided, and the walk to Boyston’s and back would clear his mind, even if the trip risked him bumping into Heath. His blond mate had returned from work the night before in a foul mood having broken his own rules and gone to see Aislen, only to find the vampire already there.Rhett was the only one who hadn’t broken the rules so far, as Cameron had come knocking on his door the previous afternoon, still sweating from his run and reeking of sex with Aislen. Rhett had been trying to do something constructive with
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years Before Thorarin looked out from the top of the sand dune. “A kings worth is measured not by his success on the battlefield during times of war, but in his daily judgements. It is too easy, my son, for a man to overlook the day-to-day in seeking glory, but the true glory of a ruler lies not in the battles won, but in the actions that he takes during peace time.” “Father,” Thaelen’s voice caught in his throat as he watched the wind string out Thorarin’s hair, the colored beads arranged in a pattern that only Abara had ever mastered and had taken to the grave with her. “How did you die? I must… I need to know. Were you…” He closed his eyes on the tears that burnt there, but they escaped anyway, sliding down his cheeks and into his beard. “Was it peaceful?” “Is death ever peaceful, Thaelen?” Thorarin replied without looking at him. “Especially for immortals such as we are? But, yes, perhaps. I recall little of it. We drank… and slept, and there was no mor
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen was pleased to see Gyrd and his son leave through the stronghold gate as Thaelen led his army within the range of the archers on the walls of Gyrd’s stronghold – a move that required confidence that Gyrd would not turn traitor and shoot them from behind. The Lord’s presence was reassurance that treachery was not planned although the archers remained at alert, the top of the wall bristling with their strung bows.“My king,” Gyrd bowed. “You are a welcome sight to behold in the Gulgane armor.”“Gyrd,” Thaelen reached out to clasp the Lord’s arm. “And Timal,” he greeted Gyrd’s son and heir. “I thank you for your loyalty to the Gulgane family, and for holding this stronghold against the invading humans.”They turned to regard the campsite. The distance made the details difficult to make out, however there was no gathering of men, no readying of the siege machines that they had been constructing, and minimal activity. Thaelen narrowed his eyes