Havermouth, Present TimeAislen heard Bianca’s voice and then Cameron’s from outside the locker room, and so she wasn’t surprised when the door opened and Talen and Cameron entered. She heard their footsteps, the whisper of their new jeans, as they crossed the room.She flushed the toilet and leaned back against the cubicle wall, tears and snot streaming down her face, and grabbed a handful of toilet tissue to wipe herself clean. Over the top of the cubicle door, she could see Talen’s head.“Little demon,” he knocked on the door.“The last five years of my life have been a lie,” she whispered.“How so?” Cameron lay on his belly on the floor and peered under the door at her. “What’s going on, Aislen?” He stretched out a hand. She reached out and took it, his calloused grip on her reassuring. She gave his hand a squeeze and rose to her feet.Talen was leaning against the frame, filling the door, when she opened it, and reached out to cup her cheek, his thumb stroking away a stubborn tea
Havermouth, Present TimeCameron returned from raiding the shelves with a bottle of water and toothbrush and paste, and Aislen scrubbed her mouth out in the sink. “What’s in the bag?” She asked him as they headed to the door.He flushed. “Nothing.”She didn’t get to pursue the question as Bianca was lurking outside of the locker room.“M,” Bianca pleaded, reaching out with her hand, her expression distressed. “I really am sorry.”Aislen nodded, her jaw clenched. “We will talk about it more later. For now, we have other problems.”The witches and warlocks joined them as they made their way to the loading bay and began to fill the rear of the car. Once they were done, Greg and Dan took the first load of witches and warlocks, leaving Talen, Cameron, Bianca, and Aaron, with Tom lurking somewhere on the roof.“Yeah, we know some of them. Van Helsings, no internet, no power, roads are blocked, and don’t drink the water,” Aaron said as he opened a bottle of water and added some protein shake
Havermouth, Present TimeHeath braced a hand against the worn surface of the kitchen bench whilst he waited for the pot of water to boil. He was just so exhausted, he admitted to himself. He should have stayed with Rhett and slept alongside his mate, but his thoughts were so restless that he’d left Rhett to sleep, afraid that he would wake him.“Heath,” Helena said quietly from behind him.“Hi,” he straightened and plastered a smile to his face. “How are you doing? I am sure Scott’s out of his mind with worry for you. If I get the chance, I’ll go by your house and let him know that you are okay.”“Thanks, but he’s on the other side of the river at his parent’s house,” she replied. “Something I’m grateful for as hopefully he’s out of the reach of the Van Helsings and safe. Abigail is awake. I think you need to go speak to her, Heath,” she crossed and tapped instant coffee into her cup. “She’s not talking to me. Maybe she’ll talk to you.”“Me?” He raised his eyebrows. “Why would she tal
Havermouth, Present TimeRhett stirred as Talen slid his arm under his head, opening his eyes blearily into the dullness of the room, his vision clearing slowly until he could see the golden haired vampire leaning over him. “Hey,” he smiled, reaching up to brush his fingers through the fall of Talen’s hair. The sunlight spilling through the door made it glow angelically.Talen’s smile was gentle. “Drink, Rhett,” he held out his wrist to where Cameron held his pocketknife ready.“You don’t have to Talen,” Rhett protested. “I’m feeling much better. Definitely not zombiefied, and Heath stuffed me full of mush…”“Trust me,” Cameron’s grin was bright as he cut Talen’s wrist. “You’re going to want to be in top form when Aislen comes upstairs.” Rhett could not answer as his mouth was full of blood, but Cameron continued anyway, unbothered. “She’s downstairs settling in a bunch of witches but she’ll be up soon.”“Talen,” Leighton was thrown into silhouette in the doorway. “I need to speak wit
Havermouth, Present Time “You knew?” Aislen’s head jerked up, her eyes flashing with anger. “Your scent,” Heath sat back onto his haunches, giving her space, holding out his hands peacefully. “There’s a change and I…” He looked to either side, raising his eyebrows. “No one else has noticed?” Cameron scooted closer and buried his face into her hair, breathing in, and then tracing down her hairline and neck, over her chest and breasts towards her stomach. Aislen giggled despite herself, tickled by his snuffling against her skin. “Ah, stop, Cam,” she protested, placing the palms of her hands against his head, and pushing him away. “I might have showered not long ago, but that doesn’t mean you should be sniffing in all the places… Oh god,” she gasped as Cameron scooped her backwards, laying her out onto the mattress and pressed his nose against her stomach. “Cameron! Any further downstairs and you’re licking it!” “Ah f-k, she smells good,” Cameron muttered against her skin. “But she a
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeFor a moment as they passed through the reef, Thaelen could almost pretend that he was returning from a raid, and that the past few weeks had not occurred at all. The curve of sand was thick with blood slaves fishing, and the water occupied by the familiar fleet of ships. However, amongst the human slaves, he could see the sun catching on armour and swords, and in the fields beyond the sand-dunes, tents and campfires burned – evidence of the army that awaited his return.“I never knew that the world looked so beautiful to vampires,” Sigrid said with a blissful sigh as she joined him. “The colors so bright, the details so crisp… It is no wonder you are the way you are, Thaelen, for you see the world so differently to us.”“You are us, now, Sigrid,” he replied amused, looking down and ruffling her hair.She laughed. “I will get used to it eventually.”“And learn to feed with some decorum,” he teased, pulling his sleeve over the heel of his hand in
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeThaelen woke with Gera pressed tight to his chest. The human had massaged and fed Thaelen, and then slept contentedly at his side. Thaelen had fed heavily from Gera in the hopes that between the blood loss and lack of privacy, the human would not find the lack of sex remarkable and Gera did not stir as Thaelen eased himself free of his embrace and tiptoed out of the tent.He was not surprised to find Egren feeding on a blood slave outside and nodded his greeting to her. “Do not interrupt your meal,” he told her. “I will go to the beach to bathe and return anon.”His path through the stronghold was heralded by greetings and offers of company however he declined them, needing to spend some time alone with his thoughts and his grief. The sand was spotted with camp sites, smouldering fires ringed by sleeping vampires and blood slaves, and the debris of their belongings.He stripped to his skin, leaving his clothes in the sand, and plunged into the wa
Concordia, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeAs Beupraxia was returned to the cage, sobbing and clutching her face, Thaelen was not surprised to see that Lord Hod watched with narrowed assessing eyes. He turned back to Beupraxia. “Look at me,” he said leaning against the bars. “Look at me,” he repeated when she refused. “You know I expect obedience,” he warned her.She lifted her tear-stained face. He had healed the brands on her cheeks himself, so he knew that she was not in pain. “This,” he gestured to his face. “This does not matter if what is in here,” he touched his chest. “Is hideous. And this,” he gestured to his face again. “Does not matter, if what is here, is beautiful. We are more than our faces, our bodies, and what people think is beautiful to see. You can view this as an ending or an opportunity. Is it not too late to reform what is in the inside.”He held her eyes for a moment before straightening. “I will be back with Gera tonight,” he told her. “You have today to consider h
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