Havermouth, Present Time“Do not fear,” Verina, Leighton’s mate, said from the doorway. “You will know if you begin to turn. First there will be a hunger and thirst that food and water cannot sate, and food and water will become nauseating. Then you will find your sense of smell heightened until you can smell the meat and blood of the people around you. When that smell becomes irresistible, only then do you become a danger to others.”“Yay,” Rhett said with a grimace. “Good to know.”“I’m sorry,” Verina’s expression was saddened. “I truly am.” She closed the door behind her leaving Rhett and Aislen in the room alone.There was a desk pressed against the wall with an old-fashioned typewriter and a black and white photograph in a frame. The wall behind the desk had old articles about Havermouth and the surrounding areas pinned to it, and Rhett walked over and pretended to read them, his palms on the table surface, and his shirt straining over the tension in his shoulders. The white of t
The Concordia, Twelve Hundred Years BeforeThe bow of the ship was carved into the shape of a ferocious bare-breasted woman, her sharply pointed vampire teeth displayed by a savage snarl and her twisting hair blowing out around her in exquisite detail.“She is beautiful,” Sigrid exclaimed in awe looking up as their rowboat skirted the boat. “I did not see her… Or was it another ship?” She looked at the other ships anchored in the bay around them. Like ant-trails across the water, the rowboats transporting passengers and supplies wove through the waves to the other vessels.“It was this ship,” Thorarin told her.“I do not remember,” she confessed softly.“It has been ten years,” Thaelen shrugged. “Childhood memories lose clarity.”“Childhood memories,” Thorarin chortled with amusement. “You are still a child, Thaelen.”“Old enough to make annual sacrifice to the temple, and old enough to take a mate should I find her,” Thaelen replied with a smirk. “Old enough to accompany my father on
The Concordia, Twelve Hundred Years BeforeThe human girl had hair like fire and freckles scattered across skin so white it gleamed like a pearl in the moonlight. The veins below the skin were an inviting rich blue roadmap laid bare for Thaelen as he stripped her of her gown and eased her onto the night-cool sand. The campfires further down the beach danced as bright as her hair, and the ropes holding the long boats into the shallow water groaned with the tug of the tide against the anchors.Her hair, freed of the braid, slid through his hands like a skein of silk. He spread it out onto the sand around her, admiring the way it caught the firelight. She watched him, desire, and fear in her eyes.“They say that it will hurt,” she said uncertainly. She was shy and awkward, her body stiff and unwieldly. “No,” he promised as he stripped off his shirt and trousers. “Only if the man does not take care. I will not hurt you.”She nodded. “That is what she said,” she whispered. “When she sent
Havermouth, One Year BeforeCameron fumbled the tie. The knot was bad, too small, too tight, the tails of the tie crooked. He ripped at the tie impatiently and began again, tugging and twisting at it, growing more and more frustrated as the knot remained imperfect. He was beginning to sweat in the fluster and knew that his cheeks would be getting patchy and his eyes red.“F-k it!” He cried out, tears overflowing, throwing his head back and dragging in ragged breaths.“Cam,” Heath said softly from the door.Cameron opened his eyes, prepared to snarl at his mate, his eyes hardening and his lip curling back from his teeth as he rolled his head in Heath’s direction.Heath was perfectly put together, not a crease out of line, not a fleck of lint on his charcoal grey pinstripe suit. The suite was perfect too, Cameron thought irritably, not as severe or cliched as black, the charcoal grey was nonetheless sombre and respectful. Even the cuff links that Heath wore were f-king perfect.And, unl
Kabramatta, One Year BeforeAislen ignored her phone and email for three days, throwing herself into her work, and surviving on take-away deliveries.She wasn’t stupid, she thought. The local coven was on a recruitment mission, targeting her and Bianca, and Bianca had thrown Aislen to them, like a sacrificial lamb. She knew that Aaron was bait. Sure, maybe he was interested in her, but he might not have been as interested had she not been trained as a witch.Even though she couldn’t work most spells, three years of training combined with her ability to read minds made her very interesting to covens. She’d never reach the rank of priestess within one, however, and would always be somewhat of an oddity, on the outskirts of their community, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t keen to have her as part of it.Bianca, though, knew that Aislen wasn’t interested in being part of a coven, or in a relationship. To foist both on her in a trap like she had done, was just… mean.On the evening
Havermouth, Present Time“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” Aislen stood on her tiptoes to kiss Cameron, and clung sliding her fingers into his hair and resting her body weight against him so that he could feel the softness of her curves around the hard ridges of her corset. He breathed in the rose and rain scent of her skin, catching the lingering scents of sex and Rhett, his c-ck immediately hardening in response. Her mouth was soft and lush against his, and in his aroused state he immediately pictured her lips wrapped around his c-ck.She shook her head with a rueful laugh as she leaned back, her eyes glowing purple-blue with warmth and affection as she read his mind. “Horny bloody werewolves,” she said fondly, cupping his cheek. “If I had time, I’d take care of that for you, poor puppy. Wait until I come back, and we’ll find a corner to cuddle in, okay?”“Aislen,” he nuzzled his cheek against hers. “I…” His fears lodged in his throat, rasping the word as it caught.“I know,” she w
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen finished stacking the frozen meals from the fridge into a bag. “I hope the boys are hungry,” she said. “These are starting to defrost and are going to need to be eaten quickly.”“Hmmm,” Talen chuckled through his nose as he passed through the kitchen carrying the mattress from the single bed under one arm as if it were weightless. Having watched him carry the mattress from the big bed in the front bedroom with a similar indifference to the weight and bulk of it, she wasn’t surprised by his strength. “Somehow, I think that the food will get eaten. The only thing that competes with a werewolf’s appetite for sex is an appetite.“Talking about appetites, little demon,” he laughed seeing the expression on her face. “You are looking at me - ”“As if I want to smother you in chocolate and lick it off?” She dragged her bottom lip between her teeth mischievously. They had time to waste whilst they waited for Heath, she reasoned, why not spend it pleasurably? “We
Havermouth, Present Time“This is just… f-ked,” Rohan announced. “There has to be a better way than to knock on every door. We’ve done two streets, and I’m over it.”“Me too,” Heath admitted. “But people are scared and need reassurance.”Havermouth had spent three days with the storm howling overhead, worrying if homes or businesses were going to be damaged or flooded, how much money they were losing whilst they could not work, how they were going to get medicine, and food. Now that the storm was over, rather than facing the already massive task of repairing and returning to normal, they were being told that their water was infectious, and to stay in their houses until otherwise notified by the black clad soldiers.They were scared, and scared people did stupid things - like try to cross flooded rivers in their cars. He dreaded to think what would happen in a few days when people grew tired of boiling their water and eating canned tuna.Far more dangerous than the frightened people, h