Havermouth, Present TimeCameron was exhausted and his water-logged wolf body was beginning to feel the cold as a painful bone-ache that he knew wasn’t good. He wasn’t surprised when Rhett led the way back towards Lauren’s house. Please, he thought, let them stumble on the little girl on their way back. He hoped that Rhett’s pessimism would be proven wrong, that Jessica was somewhere safe and warm, perhaps even back in her mother’s arms.They had covered every street around Lauren’s house, within a distance that they felt a little girl on foot could travel in the weather, sniffing at every door in search of a lingering trace of scent, but the rain washed almost everything away.Most of the houses were lit only by candlelight, and every home with a fireplace had it burning both to combat the dark and the cold left by the loss of electricity. They encountered no cars on the road – something that didn’t surprise him because the roads ran with water, the wind was vicious, and the cold was
Havermouth, Present Time Aislen looked in through the car window. The child was crouched behind the front passenger seat in the foot-space of the back seat, facing towards them, and the flickering light revealed wide, frightened eyes within a pale face smeared with blood, and a tangle of hair, the ends still tied with faded ribbon into braids. She was filthy, coated in mud and wet through. “F-k,” Aislen groaned. “What do we do?” “Kill it,” Rhett suggested. “She’s not an it. She’s a kid,” Cameron protested. “She ate Shaun Bascall,” Rhett pointed out. “Alive.” They had all been avoiding looking at the man in the front passenger seat. The car had slammed into the pole on that side, crumpling in and pinning Shaun into the seat. The girl in the backseat had taken advantage of his inability to defend himself to devour him, stripping the skin from his face and tearing into his stomach. The metallic stink of blood was heavy on the air. “There is also Leighton Richard to consider,” Tal
Havermouth, Five Years Before“So…” Charlotte lingered in the backseat. She had pressed herself tight to the door, making herself as small as possible as they’d driven from the graveyard to where she said that she lived, a dingy house that hadn’t been modernized since its construction. Her shirt was mis-buttoned, the stain on the fabric over her heart was like an accusation, and the alcohol was wearing away, leaving her pale faced and teary. “Will I see you at school tomorrow?”She knew the answer to the question, Heath thought with irritation. She had realized that she had been used when they’d hustled her from the graveyard abruptly in order to pursue Aislen. He wondered how Rhett had gone, whether he’d been successful in getting Aislen into the car, and he wanted to focus on what to do next, rather than the girl in the backseat.“No, Charlotte,” he said. “We don’t do repeats. That’s it, you’re done. Say thanks for the good time and get the f-k out of the car.”“You keep Aislen Cart
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeHeath’s heart ached as he stroked his fingers through Aislen’s hair. Her eyes were closed but he knew that she was awake as the tears continued to collect in her eyelashes before tracking down her cheeks. He wasn’t far off crying himself, he acknowledged. The anger and fear had faded, leaving behind a bitter taste in his mouth, and the fervent wish that she would stop crying.Rhett’s hand stroked up and down her ribs and he pressed his lips to the back of her shoulder, and Cameron had his arm slung over Rhett, resting on her hip.Heath cupped her cheek and leaned over to kiss her lips, tasting the salt that lingered on them before taking his kisses along her jaw to her ear. “It’s alright, Aislen,” he whispered. “Rhett is right. We forgive you. Kiss me now and let me… make you feel better.”He eased her onto her back and kissed his way down her body, over the soft velvet of her skin, running his tongue over the tips of her breasts until the nipples tighten
Havermouth, Five Years Before Heath woke as Cameron was dressing and turned to peer out the window where the blinds let in just a slither of light. The sky was only just beginning to lighten. Cameron was dressing for his morning chores, in torn worn jeans and a thick flannelette shirt. Rhett was a huddle on the other side of the bed, burrowed so deep into the covers that only a tuft of black hair was visible. Heath sat up, easing out of the bed. “You don’t have to get up,” Cameron whispered, pausing in the doorway. Heath shrugged. “Might as well go to the gym. I’ll see you at school.” The workout helped to clear Heath’s head, and he was feeling positive about the day ahead as he showered and dressed in his school uniform. His phone buzzed as he fixed his tie in the bathroom mirror and he checked the message. “F-k,” he ground out through his teeth in irritation. Abigail had summoned them on Sunday night to a meeting at the Havermouth Estate. “Ergh,” he groaned as he stuffed his t
Havermouth, Five Years Before Charlotte was waiting at the grassy knoll at recess. Heath could tell from the expression on her face that she already knew what his response would be, but that she was helplessly drawn into having the confrontation. It wasn’t the first time that one of the human girls had needed to be told. Many just knew, and in knowing, did everything possible to avoid that final humiliation of rejection, but there had been three or four that had stubbornly refused to believe that they had been used until they were told. Rhett had passed him in the hallway before second lesson and had told him that he had seen Aislen crying as Ms Grace took her into her office, and so that lesson had been spent with an unsettling dread, trying to figure out what had happened that Ms Grace had pulled Aislen out of class. Combined with the stress of knowing that the news that Aislen was their mate was spreading through his peers by way of Havermouth gossip, Heath didn’t have any patienc
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeHeath cleared his throat, wrestling that thought back, trying to refocus, to try to explain to Aislen without using the words forbidden to him what he was trying to achieve, what the future would hold now that she was behaving herself and they had claimed her. “Are you applying to the local university, Aislen?” He asked, choosing practicality. If there was a bribe that needed to be paid, he’d organize it.“I don’t know,” she said barely audibly. “I don’t know what to study and I doubt I have the grades.”As if that made a difference in the werewolf world, he thought with a flash of amusement, but, of course, she didn’t know that. “Your grades are okay. If you do well in the exams at the end of the month, you can make up the difference… Rhett says that you’re very good at art,” he thought about the scholarship that the pack was trying to arrange for her with disdain. “He’s very certain that he wants to go into tattoos and piercings… would something like th
Havermouth, Present Time“My place has become inaccessible due to the flood, unfortunately,” Leighton told Cameron. “So, I am having to improvise. If you will head towards the warehouse district just beyond the MegaStore, I would appreciate it, Cameron.”“Suuuure,” Cameron’s eyes met Aislen’s in the rear-view mirror before he focused on the road.“I am pleased that you have heeded my advice,” Leighton Richard said to Aislen and Talen. “And looked after Nora for me rather than the alternative.”“We found her snacking on Shaun Bascall,” Rhett twisted in the seat in order to look at Leighton. “He didn’t survive the experience.”“Ah,” Leighton grimaced. “That is unfortunate.”“You’re going to tell us what the f-k is going on,” Aislen said to him firmly.Leighton lifted an eyebrow. “Am I?”“Yes,” Aislen nodded slowly. “Because you need us to be f-king quiet about this if you plan on continuing to live in Havermouth, and I think you can’t leave here, so you don’t have much choice.”“I could