Havermouth, Eight Years Before
Heath parked his dirt bike in the bike rack. There were several of similar makes and models parked there, owned by other pack alphas too underage to hold a driver’s license in order to legally drive a car. The police turned a blind eye to the dirt bikes, as long as they were licensed to pack members.
Heath hung his helmet over the handle, without fear of it being stolen. Anyone who stole from Heath Gale was certifiably insane, and even the foolhardiest of thieves knew it. He would let them get away it, only to hunt them down to where they felt most safe, and he would appear there, beat the crap out of them, set their safe haven on fire, before taking what was his home safe and sound.
That was how it worked. You didn’t screw with an alpha. It was an alpha’s job to ensure that it was well known that there would be repercussions. An alpha’s reputation was built, it was earned, it was not given to him by birthright.
It had only taken twice for the message to become urban legend because of the savageness in which Heath had responded. In Havermouth, you did not f-k with Heath Gale. He would f-k with you back, tenfold, and get away with it because he was a Gale. And therefore, if you earned Heath Gale’s ire, you could expect that it would come with a permanent scar.
It had started with Cameron, Heath thought as he strolled towards the covered area where rows upon rows of lockers stretched out under the galvanized roof. More precisely, with Cameron’s hair. Whilst Cameron was a darker red than many, his hair was red enough to be the source of teasing. “Ginger ninja,” and “Carrot top,” along with many other ridiculous insults had trailed Heath’s friend from primary through to middle school, the age in which testosterone and alpha genes had kicked in for both of them.
Whilst Cameron was more inclined to weather the insults, used to them after a lifetime, Heath quickly leapt to his defense, resulting in a trail of fistfights after which the local bullies had well and truly learned that they needed to find other victims.
Heath put his gym bag into his locker, and carried his schoolbooks with him to the classroom, searching the flow of blue-clad students moving to their first class for Cameron’s bright hair and spotting him approaching from the music hall.
“Hey,” Cameron’s smile was all white teeth, and his blue eyes shone, happy to see Heath.
“Hey,” Heath’s heart danced a few beats. “Had music?”
“Yeah, prepping for an exam.”
They sat towards the middle of the classroom, in the preferred seats, knowing that the teachers kept a watch on the back row, usually occupied by the human students who smoked pot at the back of the oval before school and who mostly slept through class, and that the front row was for geeks and nerds who didn’t mind the teacher being able to see their schoolbooks throughout the class.
Heath was exchanging spit balls with Rohan across the classroom, deliberately striking Lillian Ridgeway and Diana Boyston in the crossfire, when a new student walked in, his dark hair falling into his eyes, his chin pressed to his chest, and his expression resentful and petulant. There was something to way he wore his uniform that screamed rebellion, perhaps in the way one tail of his shirt hung out beneath his jumper, in the way his collar was folded, the roll of the blazer and shirt sleeve mid-arm revealing a band of black wrapped around the bones of his wrist.
Lust struck Heath in the guts like plunging into a pool of icy water. “F-k,” he moaned under his breath, causing Cameron to slide him a sideways look. “Who the f-k is that?”
“I don’t know. New kid.”
“Well, dah,” Rohan sniggered. “Looks like a punk,” he evaluated the new boy with a sneer.
Heath could barely concentrate throughout first class. The new boy was seated in the front row of tables, next to a human. Every shy gesture, every slight toss of his head to flick the hair from his eyes, every fidget of his long, pale fingers, held Heath enthralled. The light caught in the hair on his forearm, and Heath wanted to smooth it against his skin, he wanted to taste his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, to wrap his fingers in the overgrown black hair.
“Hey,” Cameron nudged him. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Heath recalled himself and looked down at the blank page in front of him. “F-k.”
He saw Lillian Ridgeway and Diana Boyston talking to the boy in the hallway after class, their books clutched to their chests, and a little swing to their hips as they smiled flirtatiously up at the dark-haired boy, who grinned, bracing a hand on the wall over Lillian.
Heath stopped by them. “Hey,” he said, deepening his voice.
“Heath,” Lillian’s smile was bright, and her cheeks pinked. “This is Rhett Salem. His family just moved here from Rideten. His father is a lawyer, and his mother runs a beauty care range…” Rich, she was telling him, and, in being rich and a werewolf, worthy of being in their clique.
“Hi,” Rhett’s eyes met Heath’s, golden brown within a midnight dark ring, like whiskey within a glass, and then fell again. He shrugged a shoulder. “It’s really just mum and me,” he corrected Lillian. “Dad’s staying in Rideten most of the time, only coming down at the end of month.” That was code for the full moon, Heath knew.
“Rhett has English next,” Lillian chirped in helpfully. “Don’t you and Cameron also have English?”
“Yeah,” Heath was reduced to single syllables, his eyes glued to Rhett’s dark eyelashes against the pale curve of his cheek.
“Yeah, we have English. We’ll walk you to class,” Cameron volunteered.
“Great, we’ll see you at recess then,” Lillian threaded her arm into Diana’s and they both walked away, their heads bowed together, casting looks over their shoulders and giggling.
“Want to ditch?” Cameron asked Rhett immediately.
Rhett looked up with a wide grin. “F-king hell yes. I’m dying for a smoke.”
“Come on,” Cameron didn’t smoke, but he didn’t say so, not wanting to look uncool in front of the unfamiliar alpha werewolf. “Do you play football?” He asked as they fell into step, walking out of the building into a side path that threaded between the transportable classrooms.
Twenty years before the school had decided to move away from the single large building and make use of the expanse of land that it possessed by scattering classrooms between the trees in a more organic set up designed to give students plenty of vitamin D. The fringe transportable classrooms had ended up in the possession of the English, Drama, Music and Arts department, whilst the sciences remained in the central, historic school building.
The set up had the advantage of, in good weather, providing students with plenty of corners and out of sight places to hide and smoke or make out, but in winter provided little shelter from the rain.
Cameron headed towards the back of the oval, where the groundskeepers kept a natural scrub officially for the purpose of providing horticulture students with an area to work, but it was mostly used by students (and several arts and drama teachers) to sneak a smoke.
As usual, there were several groups there, mostly werewolf, and Cameron and Heath’s name was called in greeting. They waved, but did not join any of the groups, leaning instead against a tree, using it as cover in case a teacher wandered back that way.
“Do you have smokes?” Cameron asked Rhett. “Or do you need to bum one?”
“I have my own,” Rhett’s smile was lopsided and slightly superior as he took the pack out of a pocket and tapped a cigarette loose. “Want one?” He offered Cameron and Heath.
Cameron took one and leaned forward when Rhett flicked the flame active on his lighter. Heath saw Rhett breathe in the scent of Cameron’s hair, and the flash of his wolf in his eyes. Cameron exhaled smoke and coughed a little as he straightened. Rhett wet his lips with the tip of his tongue, his eyes meeting Heath’s as he placed the cigarette between them and lit it.
A girl’s shriek followed by raucous laughter from a group of senior alphas broke the lock of their gaze, and they turned to watch as the senior boys passed the unhappy girl between them, groping and laughing at her.
“Mating moon,” Rhett murmured.
“Yeah, it drives them a bit nuts,” Cameron agreed taking another cautious drag of the cigarette. “Dad says that we are like his stud bulls when we’re eighteen – no fence will keep us out of the heifers.”
“My mum says that male werewolves are mindless f-king machines,” Rhett laughed with a shrug of a shoulder. “Which I guess is about the same thing.”
“Have you…” Cameron raised his eyebrows. “You know… with a human girl?”
Rhett’s smile was slow and sultry. “Haven’t you?”
Cameron’s cheeks flushed a bright red and his chin dropped to his chest as he used the toe of his shoe to smash the butt of his cigarette into the dirt.
“Cam’s fourteen,” Heath said defensively. “He’s younger. He’ll lose his cherry soon.”
“What about you?” Rhett asked.
“Heath’s done it,” Cameron said. “Over summer with a human girl.”
Heath shrugged and stuck his hands into his pockets. The experience hadn’t been what he’d imagined it would be like. In truth, it had been so awkward and embarrassing that he’d struggled to stay hard, and he could barely admit to himself that he had closed his eyes and imagined Cameron, instead of the girl.
She had cried afterwards.
“It’s awesome, isn’t it?” Rhett said with a leer. “There’s nothing like it.”
Heath grinned back – he would never admit differently. “Yeah, it was awesome.”
“So, what’s there to do around here?” Rhett wondered, his eyes returning to where the seniors were clustered around the girl. All that they could see of the girl was a pair of legs wrapped around the hips of one of the werewolves, her underwear hanging off one ankle, and his arse flexing as he f-ked her in the undergrowth. “F-king slut,” Rhett said, shaking his head wryly. “So, any good parties?”
“Yeah,” Cameron said immediately. “There’s one every weekend, whenever someone’s parents go away. We’ll let you know when the word gets out about it.”
“Cool,” Rhett slung his arm around Cameron’s shoulders. “Maybe you’ll get lucky this weekend, eh?” His glance included Heath. “We’ll find someone at least to suck him off, eh?”
“Yeah,” Heath agreed. His eyes went to where the seniors cheered each other on as they took turns. That was how alpha werewolves behaved, he told himself, they took what they wanted and needed from the human girls, they did not crawl into their best friend’s bed in the middle of the night, or lust after the new boy at school. “We’ll find a slut to do all three of us.”
Havermouth, Present TimeThe pack’s headquarters was also the original homestead of the area, built back before there was running water and cars, and when there were hundreds of servants to maintain the property. According to local legend, the Havermouth family and every last servant had disappeared one night, inexplicably, leaving clothing and valuables untouched. The vanishing of Havermouth was discovered over a month later, when one of the Havermouth’s daughters’ suitors, mystified how his letters to his beloved were going unanswered, rode to the property from Rideten, then a journey of several days, in order to investigate.He described the sight in a letter to the Havermouth’s next of kin, as a scene from a horror book – horses, sheep and cattle grazing amongst the roses and kitchen gardens, chickens wandering the main hall, and the house and outbuildings untouched. Not a single human being to be seen, no corpses, no sign of packing or preparation. Just empty.The Havermouth’s ne
Havermouth, Present TimeTalen had trussed Chris Errans up like a pig ready for the rotisserie, and Aislen enjoyed, very much, watching the man grunting, dragging air in through his broken and swollen nose as he was gagged, and squirming as if seeking relief from his predicament.“Be careful of the broken glass.” Talen scooped her underwear up off the floor, shaking them free of glass shards, and his eyes hardened as he passed them to her, his hand stroking under her skirt. “Did he…?” He growled.“No,” she assured him as she stepped into the panties and pulled them on. “He f-king tried though, the raping bastard. I kicked his balls so hard that I’m pretty sure they’re lodged in his throat, now, and he can taste his own come.”“Good,” Talen’s search had discovered the bruise on her hip, and he shook his head, his glower darkening.“I have a few lumps and bruises,” she admitted. “But I gave pretty good back, I think.”“I agree,” he caressed her hair. “I am sorry,” he leaned forward unti
Havermouth, Eight Years BeforeHeath watched as Rhett and Cameron laughed, trading the bottle between them. The music thrummed through him, the pulse throbbing in an echo to his c-ck. He was oblivious to the party around them, to the scantily clad human girls in their miniskirts and mid-drift tops, to the laughter and shrieks.What would he do, Heath wondered, if Cameron turned his face just slightly towards Rhett, if Rhett leaned forward just a little…? If Rhett’s hand slid down from Cameron’s shoulder, over his chest and stomach, would Cameron lean back…?“F-k,” he muttered and adjusted his jeans. He was sitting in the middle of a house filled with humans and pack members, fantasizing about his best friend and the new boy getting it on. As he cast around desperately for a distraction, he saw Lauren Bascall enter the party with her best friend Alice Kelly.What would the senior alphas do? He asked himself. They would take what they needed and do what they wanted.He shoved up from th
Havermouth, Present TimeThe house looked sad, Cameron thought as he parked in front of it. It was too much house for just Jules Edison, his father being more focused on the land around it than the architect designed mansion. The curtains were drawn in the rooms that Cameron knew his father did not use, the internal doors shut as if in doing so Jules could shrink the house to something more manageable.Cameron had begged his father to employ a house cleaner and grounds keeper to maintain the property, but it was the Edison way, it seemed, to let their empty houses decay around them, to shut off what they didn’t need or want, and to focus entirely on what they did. It was, after all, what the Edisons had done to the river house. Simply closed the doors and walked away from it, and all the history that it contained. Jules had employed two new field hands instead. Cameron headed to the stables and found Tim mucking out. “Hey.”Tim looked up and grinned. “Hey. How’s your lady?”“She’s o
Havermouth, Present TimeTalen drove just out of town, deep into the forest that followed the contours of the hills, turning off the main roads onto dirt roads, and then from those to little winding tracks that were little more than two furrows carved into the undergrowth.He stopped at a gate and let the Ute idling whilst he went to open it. Aislen could see at the top of a hill a modern house that overlooked the forest. The front windows were mirror glazed, reflecting back the sky.“Where are we?” She asked Talen as he returned to the car. He left the gate open behind them, following the winding driveway, but turning away from where it rose up to the house.“Vampire safe house,” he told her. “New house up there, but there’s also the old farmhouse down here, along with a couple of smaller cottages.”They bounced along the track, and she imagined Chris Arrens being tossed around in the tray with malicious enjoyment. “What the f-k is an oubliette, daddy?”“It is called the Forgotten Ro
Havermouth, Eight Years Before“That one,” Rhett rested his elbow on his knee, and nodded his chin in the direction of a human girl walking by. On the grassy knoll behind them the cheerleaders shrieked as Rohan sprayed them with his water bottle held at groin level, gyrating towards them as if it were his c-ck. Rhett looked over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. “Arsehole.”“She’s a bit… round,” Heath wrinkled his nose. He leaned slightly against Rhett as he tracked the girl with his eyes, and Rhett breathed in the scent of the other alpha, feeling it unfurl with him, heating through him until his c-ck leapt to life.F-k, Rhett thought. He wasn’t sure which alpha he found more attractive, Cameron or Heath, and sitting between them was f-king dangerous. He was pretty sure that they were straight, from the way they talked about sex with human girls constantly, and that his mum was right, and the pack was generally intolerant, which sucked, because Rhett had always known that he was open
Havermouth, Present TimeBy the time Heath and August walked back to the house, there were more cars parked in a neat line up of luxury and excess. The Merc belonged to Lilith Boyston, the BMW to Harry Ridgeway, and the Porsche was Phillip Salem’s.“Shit,” Heath muttered sliding a look at August who did not look surprised. “This is going to be fun.”August chuckled under his breath as they stepped onto the porch.Due to the number of werewolves present, the meeting had moved from the office to the dining room and as Heath and August made their way down the wide, luxurious hallway with its antique furniture, brightly threaded rugs, and grim-faced paintings, Heath could hear the angry voices silenced abruptly.“We will not overtalk each other,” Abigail announced calmly, her voice carrying. “We will discuss this like the civilized adults that we are. Yes, I am aware that there are a great number of incidents of concern at this time, but we will address them one at a time.”“I am sure tha
Havermouth, Present Time“You going to ravish me in the barn like some hero from a historical romance, daddy?” Aislen smirked as Talen stepped between her knees.“After,” he told her and lifted his wrist to his teeth, using the sharp points to break the skin. Rhett would both be disappointed to have missed the classic vampire move, she thought, and disapproving of Talen giving her more blood.She caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she met his eyes. “Daddy,” she said uncertainly.“It will be okay, Morgana,” he told her with a small smile. His lip and the hair of his beard was stained with his own blood. “You have been favoring your hip, you have claw marks and bruises all over your arms, and I would be a fool not to have noticed that you have a sore head.”“Daddy,” she melted. “You take such good care of me.” She pressed her kiss to the bleeding wound. He had not pierced the vein, just broken the skin, giving her just a taste. He licked the wound closed and almost immediately c