Novels by Good Aldred

“Yes, it’s weird, isn’t it?” Ariadne said, her fingers tapping on the table. “Weird is an understatement!” Peggy burst.“So you’ve seen them?” Archer asked. “Not just reports of them?”“Yeah,” Ariadne nodded. “One climbed up to North’s window. It was like it was watching him-”“Not possible,” Archer said, shaking his head.Silence fell over the table. Eli face-palmed.“What?” Archer asked.“Really?” Peggy asked bluntly. “Your first instinct isn’t to listen to your mate and want to find out what she saw, it’s just to deny what she saw?”Archer blinked.“That…” the words died on his lips as Eli glared at him. He shrank down in his seat slightly. Eli took a breath and pinched the bridge of their nose.“Some things never change…” they grumbled. “Please keep talking, Ariadne.”“... Yeah,” Ariadne said, looking down at North in her arms. “It had climbed up the side of the castle, and it was watching him in the nursery.”“That’s creepy…” Peggy said. “When we’ve met them, they’ve just attack

[CW- References to abuse recovery and the effects of gaslighting/unreality. Only reference, not graphic.]Peggy watched the scene for a moment, her heart hammering in her chest. Some part of her knew that she was being silly by covering for North; there was no reason not to be honest with Ariadne about what happened…Well…Aside from the fact that she would sound crazy telling Ariadne that her baby spoke. And climbed on the ceiling. Or maybe Ariadne would take issue with the fact that North nearly got hurt under Peggy’s watch. She sat back on the edge of the couch. She felt something nudging into her back. Turning, she was met with Yonus’s dark eyes.“Restless night?” he murmured to her in her mind.“Something like that,” she said, reaching down to scratch his chin. He leaned into the touch eagerly. She could feel him probing around her mind. She attempted to close off the memories of the night before, but he stopped her. Not harshly, or roughly. But like someone gently unwrapping her

Peggy pushed everything back into place and jogged out after North. She glanced around the room, still bathed in indigo, the edges of the shaft of light spilling into the bedroom, tinged with orange. She looked around, trying to see where the baby could have gotten to.ClackHer heart froze. She turned toward the door, which was now shut. A shadow moved outside the door.“Crap!”She opened the door and saw North scooting down the hallway.“Get back here!” she whispered harshly, not wanting to wake up the other guests.“NO!” North shouted back with no such concern.Peggy let out a frustrated huff and tried to jog after him…He started to crawl.She sped up.He pulled himself to his feet and started to toddle.Peggy’s eyes widened in shock, and she sped up as he rounded a corner.Gone.She looked around the quiet hall.There is no way that a baby could have escaped unless one of the doors was open. She winced and tried to carefully wriggle on the door handles. She let out a soft sigh of

CLANGPeggy stirred from her sleep. Glancing around the shared room, the moonlight was filtering in through the window, and the shadows were a deep violet. She yawned and cuddled back into Yonus.PINGShe slowly opened one eye. Looking around again, she quickly counted all the bodies she could see…Someone was missing.BANGShe sat up. North wasn’t on the pillow where Ariadne had left him. Peggy frowned. Of course, she knew that North wasn’t just an infant, but would he really have been so stupid as to get up in the middle of the night and cause chaos?THUNKShe shifted around Yonus and started to stand, her mind drifting back to her last conversation with North…“I talk because I special.”“Special?”He nodded.“Special how?”“Is a secret,” he grinned. “And don’t tell mommy.”“... What happens if I do tell your mommy?” Peggy asked. North pushed himself up and crawled over to her. He gestured for her to lean closer. Peggy nodded and obeyed.“... She’ll never believe you,” North whispe

Ariadne watched the wolf, expecting a mental response.None came.He just watched her from the floor, keeping all four paws on the floor and his soft eyes on her. The silence unsettled her. From what she remembered of the night, Song had spoken to Archer immediately upon meeting him. This wolf being silent…“I said, what are you doing in my room?” she asked. Maybe he hadn’t heard her? Maybe his senses were still fuzzy-“I heard you,” he said mentally.“But you’re not answering me?”“You won’t like the answer…”Ariadne frowned.“That makes me want to hear the answer more,” she said, folding her arms. All at once, she became aware that she was in her pajamas and much smaller than the wolf. Even Song would be smaller than him.“He wanted to see you,” he replied. Ariadne stiffened.“I don’t-”“I know,” he replied. “He’s your mate, but he’s been…”Silence filled the space between them again.“Been… What?” she asked.“... I am new to this plane of existence,” the wolf said. “And even I know

Ariadne watched Archer run up the stairs after the group. She kept North close as she opened the door to their room in the inn. Even watching him now, her mind still couldn’t convince her that he wasn’t the boy she used to know. She ran through her normal nightly routines, trying to settle North, who was fussing, and then getting herself ready for bed.The room was large, with deep green furnishings and orange curtains. Peggy and Mikael had already taken the double bed on one side, Eli had taken the couch… So there was just the large master bed in the middle of the room. Ariadne glanced around for Archer, but he was in the bathroom.She hesitated. She didn’t want to be in bed with Archer, really, but with all the other spaces taken up, she may not have another choice… She settled onto the bed, settling North onto one of the pillows in the middle of the bed. Closing her eyes, she tried to settle and let herself sleep.After a few minutes, she felt the mattress dip. She tensed. Then, s