The Human Enemy’s Land, Eleven Hundred Years BeforeAs they passed through the hallway, Thaelen stopped to tear the gates from the cells, releasing the prisoners within. Two gates down from the one where he had been contained, a young woman wrapped her bony, broken nailed fingers around the bars of her cell.“Do not forget me, vampire,” she whispered.“Meguitte,” Thaelen broke open the cell and caught the girl as she tumbled into his arms. She was as light and frail as tumbleweed. “What have they done to you?” He murmured, deeply disturbed by her condition. He could smell the blood on her in layers, old and new – many days of bleeding.“I want to die under the sky,” she pleaded.“Hmm. You will not die if I can prevent it,” he replied and turned to set her into Gera’s arms, but the human danced back in protest.“If she dies in my arms, I will be cursed!” Gera told him, eyes wide and head shaking.“If you do not carry her, we will all die, as I need to fight,” Thaelen growled, for he co
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeHeath escorted his client to the reception area, smiling politely and shaking their hands without flinching despite the shock of finding Rhett there, staring up at his painting. Rhett turned and watched as Heath held the door for his client to leave and did not speak until the door closed behind them.“Got a moment?” Rhett asked, fidgeting in a way that told Heath that it wasn’t happy news.“I have an hour. Let’s go get a coffee and drink it in the park,” Heath gestured towards the door.“I didn’t know you’d hung it in here,” Rhett nodded towards the painting. “I’m flattered.”“It’s good,” Heath waited for Rhett to slip past, breathing in the scent of his mate as their bodies brushed in the passing. He caught a shadow of Aislen and sighed. He could guess what the topic of their conversation would be. “I enjoy displaying my mate’s work in my office,” he added under his breath as they stepped away from the building onto the sidewalk.“Mhm,” Rhett slid him
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeRhett shifted suddenly, crouching against Heath’s side, and threading his fingers into Heath’s fur. “I can’t do this,” he said to Heath, his voice dark and frantic. “I can’t sit here and know that he’s f-king her. I’m going to… go find Cam. You can sit here if you want to, but I… I just can’t.” He shifted again and took off into the darkness.Heath hovered indecisively, torn between two upset mates, and his fascination for the vampire f-king Aislen, however, where Rhett could not stand to stay, Heath could not bear to go. Instead, he crossed the road and slunk his way along the side of the Ute and down the driveway until he was crouched in the overgrown honey-suckle that had swallowed the fence dividing the property from the neighbour’s.They were in Aislen’s bedroom. He caught a glimpse of the vampire, regally bare-chested, his face alight as he looked down at Aislen. It was the expression on the vampire’s face that tore the howl from Heath’s throat. Th
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeThe river house was dark when Heath arrived home, and he knew by scent and the stillness that neither or his mates were there. He sat in the snug drinking whiskey and weeping, the tears tracking slowly down his face and off his chin onto his shirt in a constant stream of grief and misery.It stung. He had begged for her to love them, and she had turned it around on him, responded with anger and vileness. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, he thought bitterly. Mates were meant to recognize each other, to want and need each other, the way he had wanted and needed Cameron and Rhett even before he was mature enough to understand the source of that craving.Instead, they had been burdened with Aislen f-king Carter of the smart mouth, bad temper, who knew what they were, and… He felt a chill. How much did she know? He wondered. Did she know about rejecting the bond? No, he decided. She didn’t know that much, or he suspected, from her attitude, that she would
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeTalen parked his Ute out front of the farmhouse watching as Sigrid’s children scattered, slipping into the farmhouse and gardens, leaving her alone on the swinging chair. She set her book aside and rose to her bare feet, drifting across the grass to meet him as he retrieved the parcel from his front passenger seat, her hands fluttering out anxiously, and her expression rapt.“Oh, be careful, Thaelen,” she told him. “It’s fragile.”“What is it?” He asked as he passed it carefully to her.She didn’t answer, turning with her prize and heading into the farmhouse, leaving the door open behind her. He took it as an invitation, one that was rarely extended to him, but she was evidently pleased with him for retrieving her parcel enough to let him into her abode.He looked around with interest as they entered. It was very much as it had been since he had last been inside, the furniture unchanged in two hundred years, and lit by candles and the fire. It was clean,
Havermouth, Three Weeks Before“Nope,” Cameron was panting as he clung to the gutter. He had managed to wedge his shoulders through the bathroom window, one toe on the rim of the bath and his arm muscles worked hard to lift himself through. “I can’t do it.”“Alright, get down before you hurt yourself,” Heath wrapped his arms around his mate’s waist, supporting him as Cameron slithered back down, both men overbalancing and tumbling into the bathtub in a tangle of limbs.Cameron’s russet curls tumbled over his forehead and his blue eyes danced with laughter as he lifted his head with a grin. “Hey.”Heath laughed and ruffled Cameron’s hair. “Nothing broken?”“A few bruises. You?”“Same. Safe to say, she’s not getting out that way,” Heath cupped Cameron’s jaw and lifted him along his body for a kiss. Cameron slid his knees between Heath’s and braced his hands on the rim of the bathtub so that he could deepen the kiss, his tongue stroking against Heath’s as he ground his c-ck against Heath
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeRhett parked at the rear of his shop, and they walked to the Carter house in a nervous silence, trying to keep their pace and body language casual, but their footsteps quickening in pace with their heartbeats.At the Carter house, they slunk around to the gravel covered back yard, pressing tight to the honeysuckle draped fence past Aislen’s car, and then rounding the bonnet to toe the garden edging to the back door.Heath had worried about whether to try to swap cars, but he couldn’t hire anything without leaving a paper trail and borrowing from someone would just raise questions about why – however the solution was parked in the drive as they’d hoped it would be. Aislen’s car.His heart raced, and his palms were slippery as he unlocked the back door and they stepped into Aislen’s domain.Cameron breathed in the moment that they closed the door behind them. “Oh, god, I could get off on just the scent of her,” he said thickly. “So good.”“Not just her,” H
Havermouth, Three Weeks BeforeTalen spent the day reviewing contracts, Tony’s plans for the business, and the revised safety standards of the work sites. They had ceased work for the day out of respect for Patrick Carter, allowing the staff to attend his funeral service so the site office was quiet, allowing the natural music of the birds and the trees to be heard.“I hope to be able to give you more of an idea of my movements tomorrow,” Talen said as he rose from the desk and went to the door. He leaned on the doorframe and breathed in the scent of the forest with appreciation. Buried in the depths of the trees, with the stillness of the site, there was a peacefulness to the location. “I will speak to my mate about her plans tonight and once I know her planned movements I will be able to adjust my own.”“I hope that you both stay locally,” Tony replied as he tidied the pile of paperwork into the file ready for the lawyer. “It is a good place to make a home, and with you being so car