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Chapter 44: Aiden
It surprises me how quickly the kids seem to accept what I am saying. It doesn’t take them long to start wondering what my wolf form looks like. The adults are less trusting, but Sarah supports me. We work the kids' curiosity into the plan for the next day. I will travel in my wolf form. Sarah’s parents are reluctant until they understand that Changing means stripping first.
Straight after breakfast we begin. Everyone is starting together from the house, the humans riding the horses that we know are not scared of me. Baxter and I pass a simple change of clothes each to Tim, then Shift inside one of the empty stables and rejoin the group. The kids promptly jump straight back off their horses and, before the adults can intervene, run over to pet the wolves.
I will have to tell them that it’s a really bad idea to try petting wolves. Maybe some time when they haven’t got their hands all over Frost, who has a soft spot for pups and is lapping up the
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Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 45: Sarah
Aiden and I have not explained our Bond to my parents, and so I am trying not to make it obvious that my mind is very much elsewhere. It should not be so very surprising if I am distracted. My brother and my boyfriend are headed into probable danger, while I am instead riding back to safety. It is more than that, however. I am holding on to Aiden’s presence with everything that I can, following his path within my mind, reaching out to pick up any sign that he is scared, or hurt, or… worse.This is the first time I have consciously tried to use the connection that Aiden and I now share. I have been aware of it since we first made that link, I have known what it was telling me, but now I am focussing on it. It is the difference between the musical soundtrack of a film I am watching, and being in the front row at a music concert. He is getting steadily further away, but it is hard to judge distance, and I, of course, am also moving. Only once the rest of us have rea
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 46: Aiden
I Shift to the wolf for a while, while we put some distance behind us, but then return to human shape so we can talk. So Timothy and I can talk, anyway. Expecting Baxter to talk is like expecting to win the Lottery. Frost frets at the slower speed. There’s an urgency at the back of my mind, wanting me to hurry back, but I think words are needed now. Tim is angry again, understandably so. His hands keep twitching on the reins, as if he wants to wheel around and charge back to the Pack. “Can’t afford reparations? They couldn’t even be bothered trying to find some other way to apologise? And you’re suggesting we ally with them, with horse murderers? I should have just had the Marsh eat them all.” “Hasn’t there been enough death already?” This is why I’m not Alpha material. I’m no battle commander. Unless someone is already on the attack and has obviously decided to use violence, I’d rather negotiate than fight. “Where does the killing stop?” “W
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 47: Sarah
“I just about blew my top when he started on about how much money the horses were worth.” Tim illustrates the extent of his reaction with an expansive gesture of his hands, and Katie has to duck. Tony's face is dark with anger, but he's holding his tongue while Timothy tells his story. The kids have all been put to bed, although it wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve crept back downstairs and have their ears pressed to the kitchen door. Given Aiden’s hearing, he’d probably know if they had. “And then when their head guy starts puffing himself up about not paying, he-” Tim waves his mug in Aiden’s direction- “pulls a protection racket stunt. ‘Lovely territory you’ve got here, shame if something happened to it.’ So the head guy says that something already has happened to it, only I can explain that it hasn’t yet, and then the head guy throws out the name of the guy that’s behind the attack. Vampire, like we thought.” “Cavendish?” I ask. Ti
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 48: Aiden
Anthony de Montfort is a very smart man, he’s not afraid to show it, and he’s proud of it. I figured that out pretty fast, when he had me at his beck and call in the tack room. I guess I’d assumed from Sarah’s description that he’d be cussing people out the whole time for making stupid mistakes, and I’d be target number one because I didn’t have a clue about pretty much anything to do with horses. What I hadn’t figured from what Sarah told me, but realised pretty quick, was that he likes other people to be smart too. He’s not cussing them because they’re being dumb, he’s cussing them because they’re not trying to be smart. If they’re doing their best not to be dumb, he’s not cussing them out.He grilled me pretty hard about art school. What I was studying there, why, what I wanted to do with it. I try not to lie, and he’d make a good interrogation cop, so I ended up admitting that I&rsqu
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 49: Sarah
The time at Blackmarsh has flown past. We have only three days here, and this is our second night. It is still night now. The light that edges my curtains is moonlight and not the sun. Checking the time on my phone, I wonder what it is that woke me so early. It will not be dawn for some time yet.I persuade myself out of the cosy nest of my bedclothes into the cool air of my room. Blackmarsh House is seldom warm, even with the modern central heating system. I brush the curtains aside just enough to reach the window, letting them fall back behind my shoulders, and press my hands to the chill glass as I look out over the moonlit grounds.The rooms that Aiden and I have been given are tucked up within the roof space. The ceilings slope sharply beneath the tiles, and the doorways were made for the inhabitants of four hundred years ago, which means that anyone above six feet or so needs to duck. Being in one of the highest rooms in the house means there is an excellent view
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 50: Aiden
I was half expecting to be woken by Timothy at some point during the night. I wasn’t expecting him to come tapping on my bedroom door. I roll out of the bed and into my jeans, pulling on my sweater as I head to the door. “’sup?” I say, trailing off in a yawn. “Problem?”He stands in the hallway outside, eyeing me with disfavour, arms folded. “Planning on going somewhere?” he comments in a whisper as he looks me up and down.I catch another yawn. “Figured if anything happened in the night, I’d be wanted.”I see his eyes flick over my shoulder towards the open window. “Uh-huh. Come with me.” His voice stays quiet enough not to wake the others.Being prepared to stop Timothy from heading off on a one-man mission of vengeance is one thing. Being led away by him to places unknown, in the middle of the night, without anyone else being aware of it, is another matter. I feel for Sarah&r
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 52: Sarah
I can’t think of anyone it could be with Aiden except Tim. I feel a rush of anger at his presumption. He’s stolen my role. It is my place to lead my Mate there. Did he think that I wouldn’t? That’s Tim, though. No patience, unless it’s for horses.I can’t just go back to my bed, not now. I find my slippers and a dressing-gown, and tiptoe down to the kitchen. There is a piece of paper with my name on it, lying on the kitchen table. I’m sure of what it will say before I even unfold it, but the last two words catch my breath. I don’t think either of us have said those words aloud yet, not to each other.I sink into a chair, the paper in my hands. My mind is no longer in the room. It is out at the valley where the other half of my whole is facing his future.It was dawn, the second time I stood in the mouth of the valley. I was clutching Toby’s hand, trying to lend him courage. We hadn’t t
Rhapsody for a Wolf Chapter 53
“Aiden!” Sarah’s scream knifes through the air, the caves throwing the sound back in a chorus of loss. “Aiden!” “Sarah, you can’t go in there. You mustn’t!” “Let go of me.” There’s the smack of flesh on flesh. “Let me go. Aiden!” “Sarah, stop!” “Aiden!” The lamps are dark and cold, but she throws herself blindly into the cave mouth, eyes too blinded with tears to see even as the flames flicker to life. Her scream is no word at all now, just a wail as she runs. I catch her. “It’s okay. It’s alright. I’m here.” The sense of her fills me, overwhelming grief abruptly replaced by an equally vast tide of relief and joy. “Aiden,” she says again, her hands seeking me out in the darkness. “I couldn’t feel you any more. You weren’t there. You’d gone. Oh, God, I’m a mess. I’m so glad you’re safe. Are you okay? Are you… you don’t feel hurt. What are you wearing?” “I’m not hurt. Come on. Let’s get back to where there’s more light. Y
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