Havermouth, Five Years BeforeHeath’s Mercedes pulled up out front of Aislen’s house and she hesitated, her hand on the door handle before sighing and opening the door. He walked around the car and opened the passenger side door with an air of impatience. She clutched her bag on her shoulder with both hands and lowered her chin to her chest, hurrying across the grass towards the car, but not before seeing the curtains twitch as her mother looked out. What would her mother make of Heath picking her up instead of Rhett?When she went to slide past Heath, he caught her by the throat, cupping her jaw, his grip firm enough to let her know that he wouldn’t tolerate a fight, but not hard enough to hurt her. He lifted her face and kissed her, his tongue stroking into her mouth, not allowing her to keep the kiss chaste, deliberately angling so ensure that her mother saw.He released her, and his wolf was in his eyes. “Get in the car,” he said, his voice dark. She knew that her cheeks were fl
Havermouth, Present TimeTiffany Carter and her partner, Vincent Lowe, arrived an hour before the funeral, Vincent’s Mercedes parking behind Aislen’s car in the driveway of her father's house. Aislen watched her mother mince across the gravel in her stiletto heels, exclaiming at the garden in horror. Tiffany’s hair was platinum blonde and had been pin-curled to create a retro bombshell style. Teamed with the skin-tight black dress, and full face of makeup she looked as if she were going out for an evening on the town rather than to her ex-husband’s funeral. “Did it just to spite me!” Tiffany exclaimed as she reached the porch. “All those plants!”“Hi mum,” Aislen opened the front door. “Oh, god, no, Aislen,” Tiffany complained upon seeing Aislen. “You look like you should be the one being buried today. Do you ever step out into daylight? It’s called a healthy glow, darling.”“Hi Vince,” Aislen ignored her mother. “Hi,” he was tall, broad shouldered, and captain of the football te
Havermouth High School, Five Years BeforeAislen made it through the first two classes, trying not to squirm on her seat, very aware of the chastity belt and the device within her, praying that Heath didn’t turn it on and humiliate her in class. At recess it was a relief to hurry towards the grassy hill and see him sitting there. As he had instructed her, she sat between his knees and he put his arms around her without interrupting his conversation with Rohan, one of the football team. She saw Rhett and Cameron arrive with the three unfamiliar girls, and Heath’s thoughts clarified in bright flashes. “… If the local pack doesn’t hold any interest to you, perhaps our wider community,” an unfamiliar woman suggested. “There are plenty of single she-wolves looking for their mates…” “Hey,” Cameron said as they joined them. “This is Erica, Patience, and Helena, they’re from Dawson. Rhett and I are showing them around.”“Hi,” the cheerleaders bubbled with enthusiasm and the jocks nudged eac
Havermouth, Present TimeA frog creaked it’s call from somewhere nearby, joining in the chorus of crickets that buzzed into the night. Aislen could hear the whispered rush of the river, smell the wet earth of its banks. Her head ached and her mouth was parched, the sound of the water tormenting her. Not at her father’s house, she thought groggily. The river was too far from there to be heard like this. She had a bad feeling that she knew precisely where she was. She pried her eyes open, wincing at the glare of the red-toned bedside lights. Her hands were handcuffed together, and the cuffs threaded through the bars of the bedhead. She was in the river house, but not as it had been, she thought as she looked around her. The river house of her teen years had been dusty, hung with spiderwebs, long abandoned, with no power. The wallpaper had been peeling from the walls, and there had been the strong smell of mildew from carpets moldering from a leaking roof. She lay on a wrought iron be
Havermouth High School, Five Year in the PastShe reached the art class and looked up, expecting Rhett to step out of the alley between the buildings. He did not and she stood for a moment, her heart racing within her chest. She should feel relieved, she told herself. She should feel free… She should be happy. She felt… Jealous. Was he with those girls? Those girls that he had brought to lunch... Where was he with them, and what was he doing?Her fingernails pressed into her palms her grip was so tight. She blew out a breath. There was no way that she could sit through the double class of art without Rhett, wondering where he was and with whom. The chastity belt on her waist was her only reason to stay, but there was another solution to that, she decided. She grabbed two stones off the ground on her way to the girls bathroom and went into a shower cubicle. She stripped off her skirt and sat on the seat, laying the chain that linked the closures over one of the stone, before strikin
Havermouth, Present TimeTo distract herself from the pain and degradation, Aislen had memorized the swirls and curves of the chandelier with its little drops of black crystal to the point that she did not doubt that she would be able to draw it and its shadows once she got free. If she ever got free. It had been hours and it seemed that her entire body throbbed from what Rhett had done to her. The tattoo was worse than the piercings, as the pain was prolonged, but when he stopped, the piercings made themselves known, conflictingly not entirely unpleasantly due to their location, her body confusing the pain signals for pleasure. She was, as a result, angry, frustrated, and horny.And afraid. Very afraid, she admitted to herself. As a teenager she had been humiliated by the Triquetra, but she had never feared them. When she had realized that the relationship wasn’t healthy, that humiliation had morphed into anger and outrage that they would manipulate her in such a way, but she hadn’
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeAislen felt the buzz of the alcohol and drugs pass through her, the intoxication replaced by icy dread. She was shaking her head even as Rhett and Cameron reached forward for her. Her co-ordination was not up to resistance, but she fought.Her shrieks did not cut through the overloud music, the conversation, the party… No one seemed to even notice the Triquetra drag her through. If someone looked, they looked quickly away again.“Don’t,” she pleaded, bracing her heels against the small step out of the house. “Please, no…”Heath’s teeth were bared as he, Cameron, and Rhett tugged her over the edge onto the porch and out into the shadows of the front garden.They threw her down in unison, so that the heels of her hands dug into the earth and grass. For a moment, with clarity, she thought that she had the chance to flee from whatever they intended to do, but then her hands were jerked forward so that she face-planted into the ground, the impact enough that s
Havermouth, Present TimeThere was a dark place inside her mind into which she sank as the hours passed. Almost half her life, her head had been filled with others’ thoughts, so much so that she sometimes wondered if she possessed a single original thought of her own, if her views were hers, if her feelings were her own. Her defense mechanism was to be reactive and to trust her first instinct, rather than try to over analyze things – because if she overthought it, could she trust that the thoughts were her own?Perhaps, she thought, if her grandmother had lived until Aislen was fully trained in her gift, her life would have worked out differently. Maybe she would have learnt to block others out with more control earlier. Perhaps she would have found a purpose for her gift. Perhaps, she would have not shut herself off to such an extent and meeting Cameron would have gone differently…Perhaps if she had been less obsessed with the graphically sexual contents of Heath and Cameron's head