The Human Enemy’s Land, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeCaerin eased Isolte’s dress off her shoulders, and she crossed her arms over her chest defensively as she stood there in her shift, stockings, and shoes. Thaelen met Caerin’s eyes over her head, and gestured to her feet, so that Caerin knelt and removed her shoes and stockings one foot at a time whilst Thaelin stroked his hands up and down the bare skin of the woman’s arms, warming it with his touch and soothing her.He leaned over, brushing his lips along her shoulder, up the curve of her neck and felt her sigh, her head easing to the side and her posture relaxing. He placed his hands on her hips, letting her grow accustomed to being touched there, before stroking up to cup her breasts through the fabric, using his thumb and finger to stroke her nipples, whilst continuing to suck and kiss along her neck.Caerin watched, his ribs sucking with his heavy breathing, his c-ck hard.When the maid was relaxed against him, Thaelen lifted he
The Human Enemy’s Land, Eleven Hundred Years Before“Hmm,” Thaelen sighed it out through his nose. He did not correct the human’s assumption that he was the lover of Lady Beupraxia – it wasn’t entirely untrue, as he was involved, unwillingly, in her sexual games, although he had never f-ked the Lady herself, nor did he wish to ever do so. “I am guessing that you are here to try me out before you decide?”He was getting far more sexual interest in the small, filthy cell, then he had in his many years as a prince of Concordia, Thaelen thought. “Is it the chains?” He wondered, dropping his eyes to his wrists.“I have no interest in f-king a man who still wears my mother’s sweat on his skin,” Flavian sneered. “I will return this evening once you have bathed. If you impress me, then I might spare your life.” He turned and left the cell with his bodyguards.Thaelen sat heavily down on the bed, relieved that he would not need to contaminate himself further with the despicable Lord and Lady u
The Human Enemy’s Land, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeAs they passed through the hallway, Thaelen stopped to tear the gates from the cells, releasing the prisoners within. Two gates down from the one where he had been contained, a young woman wrapped her bony, broken nailed fingers around the bars of her cell.“Do not forget me, vampire,” she whispered.“Meguitte,” Thaelen broke open the cell and caught the girl as she tumbled into his arms. She was as light and frail as tumbleweed. “What have they done to you?” He murmured, deeply disturbed by her condition. He could smell the blood on her in layers, old and new – many days of bleeding.“I want to die under the sky,” she pleaded.“Hmm. You will not die if I can prevent it,” he replied and turned to set her into Gera’s arms, but the human danced back in protest.“If she dies in my arms, I will be cursed!” Gera told him, eyes wide and head shaking.“If you do not carry her, we will all die, as I need to fight,” Thaelen growled, for he co
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeHeath escorted his client to the reception area, smiling politely and shaking their hands without flinching despite the shock of finding Rhett there, staring up at his painting. Rhett turned and watched as Heath held the door for his client to leave and did not speak until the door closed behind them.“Got a moment?” Rhett asked, fidgeting in a way that told Heath that it wasn’t happy news.“I have an hour. Let’s go get a coffee and drink it in the park,” Heath gestured towards the door.“I didn’t know you’d hung it in here,” Rhett nodded towards the painting. “I’m flattered.”“It’s good,” Heath waited for Rhett to slip past, breathing in the scent of his mate as their bodies brushed in the passing. He caught a shadow of Aislen and sighed. He could guess what the topic of their conversation would be. “I enjoy displaying my mate’s work in my office,” he added under his breath as they stepped away from the building onto the sidewalk.“Mhm,” Rhett slid him
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeRhett shifted suddenly, crouching against Heath’s side, and threading his fingers into Heath’s fur. “I can’t do this,” he said to Heath, his voice dark and frantic. “I can’t sit here and know that he’s f-king her. I’m going to… go find Cam. You can sit here if you want to, but I… I just can’t.” He shifted again and took off into the darkness.Heath hovered indecisively, torn between two upset mates, and his fascination for the vampire f-king Aislen, however, where Rhett could not stand to stay, Heath could not bear to go. Instead, he crossed the road and slunk his way along the side of the Ute and down the driveway until he was crouched in the overgrown honey-suckle that had swallowed the fence dividing the property from the neighbour’s.They were in Aislen’s bedroom. He caught a glimpse of the vampire, regally bare-chested, his face alight as he looked down at Aislen. It was the expression on the vampire’s face that tore the howl from Heath’s throat. Th
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeThe river house was dark when Heath arrived home, and he knew by scent and the stillness that neither or his mates were there. He sat in the snug drinking whiskey and weeping, the tears tracking slowly down his face and off his chin onto his shirt in a constant stream of grief and misery.It stung. He had begged for her to love them, and she had turned it around on him, responded with anger and vileness. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, he thought bitterly. Mates were meant to recognize each other, to want and need each other, the way he had wanted and needed Cameron and Rhett even before he was mature enough to understand the source of that craving.Instead, they had been burdened with Aislen f-king Carter of the smart mouth, bad temper, who knew what they were, and… He felt a chill. How much did she know? He wondered. Did she know about rejecting the bond? No, he decided. She didn’t know that much, or he suspected, from her attitude, that she would
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeTalen parked his Ute out front of the farmhouse watching as Sigrid’s children scattered, slipping into the farmhouse and gardens, leaving her alone on the swinging chair. She set her book aside and rose to her bare feet, drifting across the grass to meet him as he retrieved the parcel from his front passenger seat, her hands fluttering out anxiously, and her expression rapt.“Oh, be careful, Thaelen,” she told him. “It’s fragile.”“What is it?” He asked as he passed it carefully to her.She didn’t answer, turning with her prize and heading into the farmhouse, leaving the door open behind her. He took it as an invitation, one that was rarely extended to him, but she was evidently pleased with him for retrieving her parcel enough to let him into her abode.He looked around with interest as they entered. It was very much as it had been since he had last been inside, the furniture unchanged in two hundred years, and lit by candles and the fire. It was clean,
Havermouth, Three Weeks Before“Nope,” Cameron was panting as he clung to the gutter. He had managed to wedge his shoulders through the bathroom window, one toe on the rim of the bath and his arm muscles worked hard to lift himself through. “I can’t do it.”“Alright, get down before you hurt yourself,” Heath wrapped his arms around his mate’s waist, supporting him as Cameron slithered back down, both men overbalancing and tumbling into the bathtub in a tangle of limbs.Cameron’s russet curls tumbled over his forehead and his blue eyes danced with laughter as he lifted his head with a grin. “Hey.”Heath laughed and ruffled Cameron’s hair. “Nothing broken?”“A few bruises. You?”“Same. Safe to say, she’s not getting out that way,” Heath cupped Cameron’s jaw and lifted him along his body for a kiss. Cameron slid his knees between Heath’s and braced his hands on the rim of the bathtub so that he could deepen the kiss, his tongue stroking against Heath’s as he ground his c-ck against Heath
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