Havermouth, Present TimeTalen was alone in the room when Aislen arrived, unpacking their suitcases into the cupboard. He paused in the middle of hanging one of Heath’s shirts, glancing over his shoulder at her as she closed the door and leaned against it with a heavy sigh.He was a sight for sore eyes, she thought her heart immediately lightening, in his butt-hugging jeans and knit top, his hair bundled back into a messy bun. His beard was just long enough to be called one, and the gold highlighted the strong line of his jaw. The thin knit top clung in all the right places, emphasizing the width of his shoulders, the bulk of his biceps, and the narrowness of his waist.That he was spending his time putting away his mates’ clothes was just so typical of him, she thought. He would be thinking of his mates rather than himself.“No Heath?” He queried as he finished putting the shirt into the cupboard in the spare room. With the main bedroom such a tight squeeze with the five of them, it
Havermouth, Present TimeThe moment Heath strode away from Aislen, he regretted doing so, but the alpha in him kept going. “Damn it,” he wrung his hands through his hair as a corner took him out of her line of sight. “Damn it, Heath.”Yes, Aislen had been in the wrong. Watching her use her power on the broken and fragile Abigail had felt so wrong on so many layers. There was no justification for it in his mind. But he’d handled it the wrong way, as he always seemed to do with Aislen. He’d pushed them into another argument.He had to do better. He had to think like Talen.“Fuck.”His path took him to August’s door. Might as well get it done, he decided and knocked.It did not take long for the door to open and August sneered as he dragged his eyes over Heath. August wore the green army uniform, whereas Heath, having come from the river house, was dressed in jeans and a shirt, but the sneer was not about Heath’s fashion choices.“Good afternoon, August,” Heath ignored the derisive sneer
Havermouth, Present TimeLyric had forgotten what it felt like to be clean, warm, and without the dark hunger for meat overriding her mind. Wearing clean clothing that wasn’t stained with blood and falling into rags was another step back into civilization. Only her hair let her down and her arms ached from her efforts to untangle it.“Argh!” She was impatient with the task wanting to return to Niarthen.“Here,” Harry appeared behind her in the mirror and took the comb from her hands. “Before you totally ruin your hair.”“I thought vampires didn’t have a reflection,” she was surprised both by their sudden arrival and by the fact that she could see their frown as they began to work the comb through the matt at the back of her head.“Stories and fables, probably spread by a clever vampire,” they looked up, meeting her eyes, and smiled. “If humans believe that vampires cannot be seen in a looking glass, anyone that they can see is, obviously, not a vampire.”“Obviously,” she agreed. “Most
Havermouth, Present Time Jules stopped by the red-haired woman’s room, knocking at the door. Harry leaned against the wall and watched their mate speculatively through narrowed eyes. Now that the merman was conscious and in the care of his mate, they intended to lure Jules to bed and waited patiently for him to complete what Jules considered required checks around the house so that they could take their mate where they wanted him. Harry had liked the silver fox that Jules had been when they had first met. Age to a vampire did not mean the same to humans or supernaturals who aged like humans. Whilst Jules had looked the senior of the two, Harry had outlived their mate by centuries, and in comparison to Harry’s experience, Jules was just a puppy, innocent and wide-eyed. But it had been wonderful also to see Jules’ youth recaptured, the aging process reversed, and the werewolf now looked almost the same age as his son. The frequent small doses of vampire blood would help when Harry tur
Havermouth, Present TimeThe prisoner was strangely docile, his face slack and his movements obedient to precision. The werewolf alpha’s eyes however burned with a fury that had Samuel double checking the man’s handcuffs before closing the door.There had been no act of subterfuge in bringing the werewolf to the car. In fact, it had almost been deliberately obvious that they were doing so, and accompanied with a cameraman and reporter, who had moved away to stand framed against a backdrop of busy soldiers whilst the woman finished her report. He suspected that Talen had arranged for the werewolf to be spelled in order for him to appear to come willingly to demonstrate that it was voluntarily done.“Is he spelled?” He asked Talen quietly when there was no one within hearing distance.“Mhm,” Talen’s hum was confirmation. “He will obey your directions if you keep them specific, but do not trust it for longer than the journey takes.”“Understood,” Samuel nodded crisply. There remained man
Havermouth, Present TimeRhett kicked off his shoes and lay out on the couch. He was bored, and that surprised him. The last few weeks had been so full of activity and danger, and the last few days with sex and blood, that there had been very little time to get bored in, and yet, with Aislen and Heath at the dining table trying to translate Phillip’s notebook, Talen escorting August and Samuel to the surface, and Cameron searching for a charger for the phone they’d found in August’s room, there was suddenly nothing to do.He took out his cigarettes and tapped his fingers on the box wondering if he could sneak to the surface for a smoke without having to get into a full-on conversation with Heath about whether or not he should be smoking. He doubted that Heath would accept that the cigarettes were replacements for what he actually wanted - a joint, but weed was a bit hard to come by in the chaos of Havermouth.“Got one!” Cameron announced his return. He took the phone over to the kitch
Havermouth, Present Time“What do you mean by it’s always no?” Cameron demanded, ignoring the beeping demand of the microwave as it finished it’s cycle.“I mean, he records each prediction, and how he made it, the process he followed, the precise wording of the question, and each time the answer is no,” Heath replied grimly as Talen crossed and opened the microwave rescuing the blood within and placing the mug on the table before Heath. “Oh. Thanks,” Heath said automatically.“There are many reasons that may be,” Talen was calmness itself as he opened another bag of blood and poured it into another cup. “Predicting the future is a very temperamental artform, and the predictions are often vague or in riddle form. It may be that Phillip, as a lawyer, is asking too precise a question, with too narrow a field.”“We’re not werewolves,” Rhett said slowly. “It doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t win, Cam. But if he’s asking if werewolves win, the answer is no, right? Because we’re not. None of
Havermouth Present TimeRhett’s grin was wicked as he hooked his fingers into Talen’s shirt and tugged him forward knowing that his superior strength as a hybrid would force Talen to step forward or have his shirt torn from him.Talen laughed under his breath. Rhett in particular was enjoying the advantages of his transformation, perhaps because the zombie bite had left him so weak. The playfulness with which Rhett had explored his strength and speed had been highly entertaining, but also saddened Talen as Heath had not had the same opportunity to explore his new abilities in a carefree way. Still, Heath had his moments of glee - Talen comforted himself by recalling the run from the warehouse in which Heath had truly stretched his legs to the point Talen had struggled to follow.He let Rhett pull him in until they were chest to chest and looked down at his dark-haired mate. “Well?” He asked amused. “Now that you have me, what do you intend to do with me?”Rhett twisted, dragging Talen