Concordia, Seven Hundred Years Before Jaylin made a hasty retreat, passing Sigrid in the bedchamber as he did so, his expression bewildered and alarmed. Thaelen followed him out of the bathroom, drying his hair on a cloth, and paused in the doorframe between the rooms when he saw Sigrid as he wore nothing but his own skin, but then shrugged. Whilst it had been many years since they had been young together, and society had changed much in that time, with vampires becoming accustomed to private rooms, private bathrooms, and private bodies, he had not changed much in the centuries between and there was nothing on him that she would not have seen before. She watched him cross to the bed and begin to dress. “That was kind of you, Thaelen,” she observed. “Kind?” He glanced over his shoulder and arched an eyebrow. “What gave you the idea that I was being kind?” “They are happy, the three of them, Willa, Luos, and Jaylin,” she replied. “It is an unusual arrangement, as he is not their mate
Havermouth, Present TimeTalen’s eyes were only for his mates, and Meguitte pressed back against the wall, her heart in her throat as she watched him pull them to him. The expression on his face… She felt a painful ache of envy, sorrow, and happiness for him. And she wanted to sink into the floor, to evaporate, to simply disappear…Connery peeled her away from the wall, putting his arm around her shoulders, and capturing one of her hands in his. He spoke no words, did not look down at her, and drew no attention to his actions from those around them, but simply offered his touch in comfort.And it was comforting. In Connery, at least, she had an ally, someone who would stand with her whilst she made her confession to the man who had saved her life and given her a new one, to whom she had made a promise and then broken it.She swallowed hard. “Thaelen,” she said, barely a croak of his name, and yet he heard, turning his head slightly so that he caught sight of her out of the corner of h
Havermouth, Present Time“Talen,” Heath protested as Talen drew Meguitte towards the stairs. “We can have this conversation later when we have found Aislen and know that she is alright.”“No, Heath,” Talen shook his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Point Crest Triquetra head towards the reception, and he frowned. He could not prevent the werewolves from leaving, but he did not like the sneakiness in which they had done so. He turned his mind back to the problem at hand, and Heath’s protest. “We will find Morgana, but we need to understand what has happened, what Meguitte knows. We will keep it brief,” he promised. “Believe me, I feel the urgency to find Morgana just as you do.” It was clawing at him that need, the ticking of time passing adding pressure to be out and looking for his missing mate.However, Talen also could not ignore Meguitte. Her involvement with the Van Helsings, the creation of the cuffs when she had promised not to use that magic again, both needed
Havermouth, Present TimeSigrid stood on the roof of the drycleaners across from the main base of the Van Helsings, the wind pulling at her hair and the long skirt of her dress. Samuel crouched at her side and they both watched as the Van Helsing crawled out of the door, trailing one leg, and leaving a snail trail of blood behind him, before clawing his way down the stairs.Inside, gunshot rang out, and the automatic door slid open again, releasing a woman in a filthy pants suit and bare feet. She looked both ways along the road, before heading towards the centre of town, stepping over the bleeding Van Helsing without looking at him.“Your maker’s mate went that way,” Samuel straightened slowly to his full height.“Yes,” Sigrid nodded.A man in a hospital gown had been pursuing her, but Sigrid was confident that Morgana would have matters under control. She had freed herself from the Van Helsings after all, and she was Thaelen’s mate – she would need to be as tough as armour and as sh
Havermouth, Present TimeWatching Heath shift revealed just how much their mate had changed, Rhett thought, his fear a nausea in his stomach. Shifting was never effortless, although time and practice made it easier, but for Heath there was a pause, a suspension between the two forms. It wasn’t the same as holding the shift – then the wolf came and went, hair sprouting and bones and joints cracking. That was not something that any werewolf could hold for long, although it added a whole other dimension to sex, Rhett admitted ruefully, both being the recipient of and the one to knot into their mate.No, with Heath, it was as if there existed a third form between man and wolf, one which his body wanted to assume, but that he had to push through. The third form was terrifying, powerfully muscled, clawed, and fanged, covered with a pelt of white hair that was not as thick nor as long as a wolf’s and with eyes that glowed ruby-red.As Heath pushed past it into full wolf and shook his hair ou
Havermouth, Present TimeSigrid tried not the fidget on Samuel’s knee. It had been a choice between sitting with the werewolves in the back seat, in the boot of the car with the human man, or on Samuel, and she had chosen the most dignified of the options.Samuel and her friendship had always been mutually respectful and platonic, and she knew that it would always remain that way as Samuel was already in love with the spectre that haunted his dreams and she… She had her own werewolves. Which had been why she had avoided the back seat. Werewolves could be territorial and she thought that her Triquetra would find it less offensive that she had sat on another vampire’s lap rather than another Triquetra of alpha werewolves.Her Triquetra… “Stop the car!” She grabbed Talen’s arm. She had not been mistaken. She had seen Tom through the window of a shop fighting with a Van Helsing.Talen braked. “Sigrid?” He asked in alarm as she threw open the door and slithered from Samuel’s lap.“Keep goi
Havermouth, Present Time“Stop the car!” Sigrid snapped out suddenly and Talen braked hard enough that Aislen clutched at Rhett’s shoulders instinctually, although his grip on her had not loosened since they had gotten into the car, and she was more than half convinced that his arms were fused around her or that he sought to absorb her through his chest so they fused into one person.Toby, in the rear of the car, did not have a Rhett seat-belt and slid, hitting the back of the seat hard with a grunt. “We should just get into the car and go,” he complained under his breath, his face near Aislen’s and she avoided his eyes, burying into Rhett’s neck in order to block him out.Talk about weird, she thought, being stuck in the car with all the lovers she’d had in her lifetime. All she needed was for Jordan and Aaron to arrive and all the stars of her dating history would be present and accounted for.“Sigrid?” Talen asked in confused alarm as Sigrid got out of the car.“Keep going,” she to
Havermouth, Present TimeThe warehouse Jules had chosen for their new accommodation was more modern that Leighton’s, and the offices at the top of the stairs were cleaner. If they’d had power, they would have also had heating and air conditioning, Rhett noted as he carried the office chair out and down the stairs, following Talen and Heath who carried the office desk and a filing cabinet as if they weighed nothing.They took them down to the main factory floor, where Harry and Jules had placed other furniture that they had cleaned out of the other office upstairs and had piled the supplies that they had claimed from the communal pile in Leighton’s warehouse.“We should… talk,” Rhett said as Heath and Talen turned to leave, blocking their way. “About this,” he gestured to Heath. “And what this means for us.”Heath’s shoulders stiffened and he turned to walk over to the window, the golden sunlight falling down and lighting his hair. He looked awfully like an angel for someone who had to