Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeRhett stayed the night in Cameron’s bed, waking with his red-haired mate lying half on top of his back. Rhett couldn’t remember the last time that he’d slept in one of his mates’ beds until the morning. It was nice, he decided, he’d have to try to do it more often. He heard the water switch on and off, and then the creak of floorboards down the hallway to his room, followed by a knock.There was silence as Heath took in Rhett’s empty bed, and then footprints to Cameron’s room, the door creaking open. Heath walked over to the bed and looked down at them for a long moment before running his fingers through Cameron’s curls.“He stayed the night and left with dawn.”“Ah f-k, Heath,” Rhett groaned. Heath was speaking of the vampire. He must have gone to town after they’d all gone to bed and stalked the Carter house overnight. “You didn’t…”“I went in wolf form and stayed across the road. The vampire didn’t even see me when he left,” Heath replied and sat on t
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeAislen paused in the doorway to the kitchen. She hadn’t dressed after her shower, the satin dressing gown clinging to her still-damp skin, and the tie trying to work itself loose in order to reveal the body beneath the fabric. Her eyes travelled from Heath to Cameron, and landed on Rhett, her expression wary – and no wonder, Rhett thought as he followed her gaze, for both Cameron and Heath’s wolf was in their eyes.“Morgana Ivy,” he said to break the tension. “I should have known. I think on some level, I did know. I just didn’t…”“Rhett tells us that you draw men getting off with other men for a living,” Cameron grinned his leer, gripping his c-ck lewdly through his jeans. “Let me guess your inspiration.”“Hmm,” she leaned on the doorframe, her hand on her hip belligerently. “We’ve played this game before. Rhett’s Mr. Nice Guy, and you guys are the bullies. You break me down in public with humiliation and cruelty, seduce me in private when you can force
Havermouth, Three Weeks Before“You heard him, Rhett,” Cameron murmured, holding onto Rhett’s wrist.“Why was it f-ked up? Why do you think that what we had was so f-ked up that you didn’t come back afterwards? That it has taken your dad dying for you to come home?” Rhett wasn’t prepared to just let it go. He rounded on Aislen, determined to make her see what she had done to them, what she was continuing to do to them.“Rhett, Heath said to leave it,” Cameron pleaded.Aislen sighed, looking away before returning her eyes to Rhett’s. “Rhett… How can you look at what happened between the four of us and not think that it was wrong? Just look at what happened at the river house that night… That was rape. That was… It was an assault. I went into that bedroom with you…”“We are the Triquetra. We do everything together,” he was bewildered by the subject. Why, after so long, after everything that had happened between them, had she gone back to that first time, that first, special night of the
Havermouth, Present Time“What are you doing here?” Heath exclaimed in shock. “And how did you get into the town?”Greg’s eyes travelled over Talen, Leighton, and lingered on Aislen, the expression on his handsome face blanking before he dragged his eyes back to Heath and recovered his focus. Aislen frowned, trying to discern the reason behind the strange look.“On foot, avoiding roads. Havermouth appears to be the apex of the infection, and it became evident that we needed to investigate just what was going on here,” Greg answered Heath’s question.“Have you been into the hospital?” Talen asked him with quiet authority.Greg’s eyes travelled over the vampire with open assessment before deciding to answer. “No,” he replied with a slight shake of his head. “We were approaching a side door for that purpose when the helicopter landing drove us into a tent for cover. We saw you hiding between the tents as we took cover.“We have explored the tents surrounding the hospital, however,” he co
Havermouth, Present TimeIn the stairwell, Tom and Dan headed upwards, trotting effortlessly up at a pace that left Aislen breathless in empathy.“Is Scott okay?” Helena whispered. “I haven’t seen him since the storm hit. I’ve lost track of days. Things got so chaotic everyone was called in. We have been taking turns to sleep in the break rooms and rotating the shifts between us. At first it was storm related injuries – cuts from windows breaking, near drownings, that sort of thing. Then the usual DV cases – there’s nothing like being shut into a house together that brings out the bully in some people…”One of the Triquetra leaned over the staircase and gestured with two fingers for them to begin climbing.“Then things started to change. Mostly this water virus, but also the bites…” She shook her head grimly. “The bites are… terrifying. We don’t know what it is precisely, but the theory is a type of rabies, but one which doesn’t show on the normal screening tests or respond to normal
Havermouth, Present TimeThe activity in the rear of the ambulance was frantic, with Greg shedding his helmet and shoving it under the stretcher in order to help Helena more efficiently in the cramped quarters. Aislen forwent her seatbelt to kneel on the seat and watch. She could not see much of Abigail from her angle, but she had the impression of blood and bare skin.She turned back, feeling intrusive, just in time - as they approached the barricade. Talen and Heath were tense, intently watching the 4WD ahead of them as Leighton rolled down his window and spoke with the guards.“His charm is obviously still working,” Talen observed as the spike-strip was withdrawn and they were waved through. He ambled the ambulance past the guards.“Just not on me, apparently,” Heath replied.“Put pressure on here,” Helena instructed Greg. “Alright, I have it in. Hook this to the IV… Yes, like that, perfect. You’re quite a good nurse,” she added. “Who are you again? You’re not from our pack.”“Poin
Havermouth, Present TimeAt the top of the stairs, she saw Mercy standing in the open door to Rhett’s room. The dark haired woman looked over her shoulder, her eyes wide, and stepped back, edging along the wall to the doorway to the next room and disappearing within.Aislen and Heath exchanged a look of alarm and moved forward to the doorway. Cameron looked up from where he knelt beside the bed over Rhett, his face pale and strained, his cheeks flushed. There was a bowl and a cloth next to him. Rhett lay on the mattress, strands of his hair plastered wetly to his face. He gripped Cameron’s forearm, his eyes tightly closed, and a muscle worked in his jaw, obviously in pain.“He’s sick,” Cameron whispered the word to Heath and Aislen.Rhett’s eyes opened the pupils blown, seeking out Heath and Aislen and he smiled weakly. “Better sick than hungry, eh?” He said, his voice braking.“Talen!” Aislen’s cry was out of her mouth before the thought formed. She fell forward onto her knees, crawl
The Human Enemy’s Land, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen woke slowly, his eyelids heavy under the effects of the spell, dragging him out of a deep sleep, his body grudging to wake. Gera slept curled at his side, his body warm under the covers but that he was not snoring was a dead giveaway that the human was awake. Thaelen tensed, alerted by the human’s wakefulness. It was still night, and the dungeons were quieter during the night-time hours, as the guards would leave off torturing their prisoners.A burst of male laughter had him gritting his teeth, however it was distant, and faded away – the night-guards at the entrance of the dungeons playing dice as they passed the time.No, it wasn’t the guards that had Gera sleepless in the night. It was the murmuring of a female voice, repeating the same phrases over and over, her voice barely above a whisper but the words delivered with such fervency that it carried, humming through Thaelen’s bones, standing the hair across the back of hi
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