Rideten, Present Time
Aislen was jolted awake when Talen shot out of the bed to the door. She was nicely nuzzled into Heath and Talen had been a warm spot against her back, his sudden moving causing a draught that was quickly filled when Cameron rolled over and snuggled up. She could hear Talen’s voice through the open door, and the reply of other voices on the other side.
Cameron’s hand cupped her breast and his cock nudged against her arse. He rocked his hips suggestively, still mostly asleep.
Heath tensed. “Fuck.”
“- leave in fifteen,” a woman spoke crisply and in a tone that said there would be no compromise. “Victor’s orders.”
“No,” Aislen pressed her face into Heath’s ribs. “Nonononono.”
“It’s retaliation,” he decided. “For last night.”
“It’s mean,” she grumbled. “Cruel.”
“No sex?” Cameron sat up. “That’s not fair.”
“You had sex last night. Good sex too, from the holes you left in the covers,” Heath pointed out.
“It was good sex,” Cameron was smug. He nudged Rhett. “Hey, wake up sleepy head.”
“I’m awake,” Rhett complained. “I’m just in denial.”
Talen leaned in the door. “We have ten minutes to move out,” he announced calmly. “We had best comply.”
“Shit,” Aislen rolled out of the bed, and then stopped and pressed her hand to her mouth.
“Fuck,” Cameron was on the move, grabbing her and hauling arse to the bathroom. He held back her hair whilst she vomited red into the toilet. “I thought we had gotten past this,” he apologized. “You haven’t vomited since being changed to hybrid.”
“Fuck,” Aislen gripped the toilet seat. “I thought I was done with that, too.”
“At least vomited blood smells better,” Rhett commented as he passed the bathroom door.
“Not helping.”
“Crackers aren’t a good idea,” Cameron said to Heath when their blood mate leaned against the doorframe. “Nor is ginger tea or anything like that. I don’t know what to do for her.”
“I do,” Talen, already fully dressed, eased Heath aside and placed Aislen’s clothes in his hands. “Get her dressed while she has some blood. It works with pregnant vampires if I remember correctly. Vampire blood, specifically. Hybrid ought to work.” He perched on the edge of the bathtub and drew Aislen back until she was between his thighs. “Cameron?”
“Sure,” Cameron held out his wrist, and Aislen cupped it in both hands as she bit into him. The taste of Cameron’s blood was better than the blood laced with bile that she had vomited and eased the burn of her throat left behind.
She could feel Talen’s hands in her hair, weaving and twisting it back with swift efficiency.
As soon as she released Cameron, Heath stepped in with her clothes, and crouched, naked, in order to pull on her underwear and jeans. “These are getting…” Snug was in his head as he did up the fly, but he caught himself shooting her a sheepish look through his eyelashes. “Worn out.”
“It’s unfair,” she grumbled as she lifted her arms so that he could pull on her top. “You’d think a blood-based diet would be all protein, no fat.”
“It is,” Talen was amused as he tied off her hair. “This is not weight gain, Morgana, but the life that grows within you.”
“I like you soft,” Heath added and then blanched, his face screwing up in a grimace. “I mean… You wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t curvy, Aislen. You have always been perfect in my eyes.”
“Oh stop,” she felt her cheeks heat because he meant it. He’d always enjoyed the way she looked, the way she felt when he embraced her, the contrast of her softness to the leaner, harder forms of his mates.
“But you are beginning to show,” he added, emboldened. “Which is reassuring.”
“Reassuring,” she repeated.
“I find it reassuring,” he expanded. “I worry.”
“Aww, Heath,” she melted because he spoke the truth. So much of his domineering behaviour stemmed from a deep sense of worry and responsibility. Fear, in fact, though she would never say so to his face… Or maybe she would if he pissed her off enough. But she wouldn’t say it whilst she was feeling nice.
Talen rose. “Heath, you should get dressed. If Aislen has recovered, we are on a deadline.”
“Shit,” Heath turned and blurred as he bolted for the bedroom.
“Luckily vampire speed compensates for chatty mates,” Talen paused by the mirror to run the c of his fingers and thumb over his beard. “I am looking less than I would like,” he announced. “Perhaps in Trayrock I will find a beard grooming kit.”
“Poor daddy,” Aislen wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him. “I think we’re all looking less than we like. I know I’ve never had as much underarm hair before as I do now, and Rhett hates that his chest hair is starting to obscure his art. We all need a spa day,” she giggled. “To get plucked and polished.”
“Hmm,” he laughed through his nose. “War is not kind to vanity, is it?”
There was a sharp knock on the door, and their conversation broke off as Rhett, his top bunching on his biceps as he scraped his hair back into a ponytail, strolled unhurriedly over to answer it. The person on the other side knocked against it impatiently.
“Alright, alright,” Rhett rolled his eyes and pulled open the door. “We’re coming,” he told the man on the other side as he opened his mouth. “Aren’t we?” Rhett glanced over his shoulder.
“I’m done,” Cameron was still doing up his belt. “Heath?”
“Mmm,” Heath smoothed his hands down his top. “Could do with an iron.”
“Is it worth taking the bags?” Cameron paused by them. “They’re pretty empty. We’re wearing what was in them.”
“Shit,” Aislen realized that he was telling the truth. “I am not wearing khaki,” she said firmly.
“We will have to find somewhere in Trayrock,” Rhett agreed. “Because fuck khaki.”
“It would be best to have this conversation en route,” Talen placed a hand on the small of Cameron and Aislen’s backs and encouraged them forward. “Our guide is about to implode with impatience.”
There was not much chance to talk. The hallways of the bunker were silent and still in the very early morning, and although Aislen knew that the walls were thick, everyone stayed quiet with the sort of uneasy hush of wandering hotel halls knowing that other guests slept.
They were brought up to a house further down the block from their entry point, making Aislen wonder just how many houses in the area the pack owned. They were separated into five vehicles, each of different makes, colors, and carrying capacity. The dragons and Heath insisted on travelling with Aislen, which meant that they were placed in the back of a soldier-driven mini-van that had been stolen from a family with young kids, as Heath had to impatiently tear free two child seats and throw them out to make room, and Aislen found someone’s much-loved teddy squashed between the seats.
“We’ll have to do things like this,” she realized as she took her seat.
“Like what?” He was distracted, leaning out the still-open door to note which vehicles their other mates got into.
“Car seats and mini-vans.”
“Yeah,” he slid the door shut and eased into the seat next to her, his long legs hanging into the little walkway, and his hand casually braced against the back of the seat before them. The dragons were positioned directly behind them, and Aislen heard Samuel murmur something under his breath and Ember laughed, her voice low.
The scent of apple sauce rose, and Aislen grimaced. “Apple sauce. Why does it smell so disgusting now? I liked apple sauce.”
“Here,” Heath pulled a crunched-up packet of nappy wipes out of a bag pushed under the seat before them and passed it back. “Oh, and…” His rummage in the bag had turned up a neat packet of plastic nappy-bags.
“Thanks,” Samuel reached forward. “Some sort of tube of mush was between the chair and the wall.”
“Baby food,” Heath supplied. “Probably rotten.”
“Smells rotten,” Aislen agreed.
“And yes,” Heath reached out and gave Aislen’s knee a squeeze. “We will have to do things like this. I look forward to doing things like this. For starters, can you imagine Rhett’s face when he needs to drive the mini-van?”
Aislen burst into laughter, smothering it against Heath’s shoulder as the werewolf soldiers entered the front seats and started the engine.
Their route took them past the church – something which slowed progress considerably, as vehicles were obstructing their path, and pedestrians gathered in between staring aghast at the bodies decorating the rooves and trees.
“Shish kabob,” Heath murmured, his eyes glued to the window. “Well,” he pulled his gaze free. “I think our night’s efforts were a success.”
“Yes,” Aislen reached out and took his hand. “It was a good thing, Heath,” she said firmly. “Despite Victor’s reservations. Just look at how shaken those Van Helsings look,” she gestured with her chin at a small group who were trying to control the crowd. “They need to realize that the supernatural world won’t just roll over and show our belly. And when we fight, it’s with tooth and claw.”
“Damned right,” one of the soldiers from the front agreed wholeheartedly. “They picked a fight, now they’ll have to damn well fight it.”
“We will fight it,” Heath vowed quietly. “But in the shadows, Aislen,” he glanced at her. “And out of the view of cameras. Let’s show the reporters one face, and our enemy the other.”
In the Ocean, Present TimeThe armour was as comfortable as skin to wear, moved like fabric, and yet was impenetrable. It was grown, Lyric discovered when she and Niarthen had been fitted, in tanks of ooze, into which, in their human shape, they had been inserted from neck down. It did not take long - forming into a crust over the skin that eventually developed into interlocking scales.It stretched like rubber, allowing for it to be taken off and on, but once in place protected the wearer both from being sliced by blades and from projectiles – the scales hardening into an impenetrable barrier between Mer and the world. Like much of Mer technology, it was symbiotic, feeding off the wearer, and was activated by signals of stress and adrenaline into the change from malleable fabric to solid surface.It was also wearable in both human and Mer forms, its surface restructuring around the tail, as Lyric discovered when she and Niarthen had swum to join the army on the journey to the island.
An Island Somewhere, Present TimeLyric woke pressed tightly into Niarthen’s chest, his hair covering them both so that her bleary eyes saw the sun through a film of green. She did not have a moment of confusion, even in her sleep she had registered their location in the war camp on the island beach, and she surfaced from sleep to awareness knowing precisely where she was and what was happening.Niarthen grunted as he woke, and cleared his throat as he sat up, easing her carefully down into the sand. He sat with his elbows on his knees, looking out at the activity of the camp, and dragged a hand over his face before rising fluidly to his feet.Lyric sat up and dusted off the sand, scanning the beach to see where Niarthen had wandered off to. She needed to pee but fuck trying to get out of the armour. Perhaps that was what Niarthen was doing – finding a convenient tree. She’d just do things the Mer way, she decided, and hold it until she shifted and could go into the water. She wasn’t
Havermouth, Present TimeIt was a relief to get the blood off both of them, to feel the warm water wash away the sweat and stink of stress and fear that had been clinging to their skin, but Harry did not linger in the shower as they would have liked to do, feeling Jules begin to sway as they finished rinsing off his hair. Their mate was exhausted and shaking with shock.They lifted Jules from the shower cubicle onto the mat and wrapped a towel carefully around him before tending to themself. As they quickly rubbed themselves dry and bound their hair back into the damp towel to absorb the water, they watched Jules.Jules’ lips shook, his teeth chattering, but his focus was on scrutinizing his hand. He sucked in a wet sob of a breath as his efforts to move his fingers pained him. The expression gave Harry a glimpse of their mate’s elongated canines and pre-molars, and that little sign that the vampirism had taken gave them a feeling of pride and accomplishment. They had turned Jules. Pe
Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present Time “Are you sure?” Heath asked Aislen under his breath. “Victor was right, we can spin this two ways.” “I’m sure,” she replied, giving his thigh a squeeze. “We’ll be open about what we are, to a point. We won’t let them see us take out the Van Helsings, though. We’re going to be the friendly, personable supernaturals that everyone wants us to be.” The meeting point was a remote house about a twenty-minute drive outside of Rideten’s main town, and along a maze of small dirt tracks. The house was typical of the region, a squat single story that blended into the landscape and didn’t possess a single attractive feature to it – built for function and not appearance. The sheds that flanked it were newer, bigger, and had probably cost more to build. They parked around the rear where three other vehicles already waited, and he wondered how many families had woken up that morning to find the family car had been stolen as none of the cars matched in b
Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present Time“Right then,” Rhonda, caffeine addiction sated, sat between Addison and Patrick. “Let’s roll.”Aislen settled herself more comfortably on Rhett’s lap. She’d rehearsed what she would say in her head a dozen times since the plan to take the reporters to Havermouth had first been raised, with small refinements and alterations to the script over the past few days.“The Van Helsings are religious extremists with a racist agenda,” she announced. “That have become obsessed with the eradication or enslavement of all supernaturals. We are not a threat to humans. We have lived amongst you always. We follow human law,” mostly she corrected to herself, but they didn’t need to know about arsehole fucking rapist alpha werewolves. “We pay taxes. We own property. Our kids go to school with your kids. Always have. We’ve never been a problem – and the evidence of that is that you all still don’t completely believe that we’re real.”She smiled and shrugged help
Somewhere outside of Rideten, Present Time(Do you really intend to get naked in front of the cameras?) Heath raised an eyebrow.(Nope.) She was grinning so hard her cheeks hurt. (I was tempted to get one of you four to do it. But there’s a less naked option.) Ember had been hovering by the door, watching alert for trouble, so Aislen assumed Samuel was outside, patrolling for danger, or arranging their accommodations for the night with the werewolf soldiers.(Ah.) Heath nodded as he realized her intention.“You’re doing it again,” Addison’s eyes had tracked their looks and expressions. “That silent communication.”“We’re going to need to go outside,” Aislen told them. “Is that going to be a problem?”“An outside demonstration,” Allistaire was intrigued but skeptical. “I’m all for it.”“Guys?” Rhonda glanced at her camera and sound techs. “Let’s go then,” she rose gracefully to her feet and began to pick her way across the tangle of cords towards the door.“Howard?” Patrick looked at h
Havermouth, Present TimeTom was not good at disguising his anxiety. “Perhaps we should wait.”Sigrid arched an eyebrow. “Until we are in the midst of battle? Until there is an emergency? Until my life depends on this ability? Hmm, that seems wise my love. There is nothing like adrenaline and lack of practice to make using a new skill safe for all.”“You think you’re being sly,” he fought against the curl of his lips. “You think I don’t recognize sarcasm when it’s used against me.”“I would never presume,” she replied. “Especially as sarcasm is such a skill of yours.”“I have other skills,” his eyes heated. “That we could practice together.”“Hmm, and now you’re trying to distract me. I have watched Greg and Dan shift,” she gestured to where their two mates sat in wolf form watching their exchange. “I am certain that I can do this.”He stepped forward suddenly, catching her above her elbows and pulling her into him. His mouth ravaged hers, stealing her breath and setting her very marr
Havermouth, Present TimeMeguitte took the familiar path to the laboratory. The magic was beginning to fade, the vines withdrawing, leaving behind imprints on the walls where they had clung. She paused by the nursery and saw that someone had installed UV lights and misters. The seedlings within were growing well.Verina looked up from where she used a pestle and mortar to pulp. “Hello, Meguitte.”“Hello,” Meguitte drifted over and looked inside the bowl.“Eggshell,” Verina explained. “It is good for the soil.”“The magic is fading,” Meguitte told her.“What does that mean?” Verina looked around at her garden. “Are the children safe?”“They will be soon. The main plant will shrivel and die, but not affect those connected to it,” she hoped. It was not a spell she had cast before, and sometimes spells came with nasty surprises. “I am not sure what will become of the seedlings.”“Well… I will do my best to keep them alive,” Verina decided. “It seems a shame, otherwise. These little babies