Chapter One Hundred and Twelve

Havermouth, Present Time

Aislen heard Rhett burst into laughter, joined a moment later by Cameron. The two men were painting the front of the house, including the floorboards, railing and door, and their labour was accompanied by a constant stream of teasing jokes, innuendos, and flirtation. She envied them just as much now, she thought, as she had five years before, for the relationship that they had, that certainty they possessed in each other, that comfortable solidness of their love.

What was she doing? She asked herself. Not only had she let them back in, but she had involved Talen… Or he’d involved himself, she corrected, and with absolute dominance and magnificence.

She couldn’t bring herself to forgive the Triquetra, however, for those terrifying three days, or their bullying manipulations of the past. She understood more than she had at the time, though, and… Fuck, she smothered her groan.

Where did she think this was going to go? She tried another tact. Was she going to move back to Havermouth, into the river house, and play happy housewife? Would Talen move in too? How would that even work? Would they rotate beds in an endless merry-go-round of fucking?

“Damn it,” she muttered under her breath, because the idea wasn’t without appeal, and she knew now, and was comfortable with, the fact that not all relationships looked the same as a nuclear family.

She painted her way towards the master bedroom door and up the side of its frame. Talen and Heath had pushed all the furniture towards the center of the room and were painting the walls between them.

She could hear the low murmur of their voices and paused to listen, shamelessly eavesdropping.

“We were young and stupid,” Heath said. “And it was us against the world at that point. Our love for each other, whilst not forbidden, certainly wasn’t something that the pack, or Havermouth, were ready for… Or that we were ready for.

“It’s not easy to accept the differences of our loved ones. Harder still, to embrace our own.

“For me, it was a relief. If we were a Triquetra, and if we all felt the same way about each other, then what I had been feeling my entire life wasn’t wrong…” Heath trailed off. “I was always attracted to Cameron. We grew up together. He’s a year younger, but the way the schooling system goes, that happens sometimes, and we were always in the same grade. Our parents were in the same social groups, we played for the same teams… It was just natural that we would be friends.

“I feel bad for him,” he admitted. “He wasn’t ready. Rhett and I turned eighteen, and we just knew about each other. We kept it quiet, tried to hide it, and Cameron got upset, as he was being left out when Rhett and I crept off together to fuck, he thought that I had found a new best friend. We finally came out to him, and then, one night, after a few beers, I kissed him, and… well, you can imagine where things went from there. Eighteen-year-old alpha werewolves are insatiable.”

“Vampires in their first year of adulthood are much the same,” Talen commented.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that. You were born a vampire? Not made?”

“Born, yes,” Talen confirmed. “But we were speaking about you and little demon, not me.”

“I’m not comfortable talking about it,” Heath admitted. “We have hidden it for so long, it feels odd to talk about it. Like breaking a law…”

“The situation allows for laws to be broken. I am also breaking them, but that is the way of things at times. Taking a mate is never a smooth road, and taking multiple mates…” Talen chuckled wryly. “Multiplies the complexities. I am not familiar with the name Triquetra, but I am assuming it is the same as a vampire triad – three lovers.”

“Triquetras form between alpha werewolf males during times of war, famine, disease… When the survival of the female and young might depend on more than one male. They tend to happen amongst pivotal families of the pack. So, they are sort of a mixed blessing, in that they foretell that there is danger ahead in the very near future, but they are also a sign of a family’s esteem in the pack and tend to improve the ranking of all three families as it is seen as the Moon Goddess ensuring the survival of those bloodlines.”

“Not quite the same,” Talen observed. “Amongst vampires it just means we have two mates, two lovers.”

“A Triquetra isn’t normally sexual… or at least, not that we know of,” Heath replied grimly. “Which is why…”

“Hmm. Do you need the ladder, little demon?” Talen asked smoothly.

“Fuck,” Aislen grumbled under her breath. “A girl can’t eavesdrop in peace around you,” she complained, as she leaned around the door frame. Both men were shirtless, dressed in jeans, and both were paint splattered from the cast-off of the rollers. “But then, you’re both so pretty,” she smirked. “And look, the room is almost done.”

“The first coat, at least,” Heath looked around them appraisingly. “How’s the hallway?”

“All edged in, except the tops of the doorway, because I’m height challenged,” she told him.

“I’ll do the top of the doors if you start rolling,” Talen said to Heath.

Aislen followed them into the hallway and surrendered her paintbrush to Talen. She stood in the doorway and stroked her hands over his stomach muscles and pressed a kiss to his chest. “Am I distracting you, daddy?” She flirted up at him.

“Hmm.”

She slid her hands into his jeans and took hold of his cock, finding it hard. “Now?”

He laughed. “I need to move to the next doorway.”

“Excuse me,” a man said from the front porch. “I was looking for Aislen Carter.”

“Hi, Mr. Arren,” Cameron replied with polite cheer.

“Hello, Cameron. How is your father?”

“Good, thanks. Hope your family is well, too…”

“Fuck,” Aislen sighed, and released Talen’s cock.

“Someone you know?” Talen asked.

“A friend of my father’s,” she said, as she went to the front door, stopping on the threshold. Cameron was almost done with the front walls, and Rhett was working his way along the complicated handrail. They had both stopped work to look at Chris Arren, who stood on the gravel, looking concerned and holding a gift basket. “Hi Mr. Arren.”

“Ah, there you are,” he said. “Are you painting for the sale? I had heard that you took it off market?”

“Something like that,” she said evasively.

“I have a gift from the group of families…” He stepped up onto the porch and pushed the gift basket towards her. “We were all hoping that, perhaps, you had stumbled upon something useful for us…?” He said, his voice lowered.

Aislen tried not to grimace. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Arren. Are you sure there was even anything to find?”

“I saw it. I helped to compile a good deal of it,” he said, his expression tensing. “I know it’s somewhere in there, Aislen, and I find it very hard to believe that with all that you’ve been up to in this house, that you haven’t found something, anything at all. If you would allow me to look for myself…” He stepped forward, as if to enter the house.

Aislen spread her arms to block him. “I don’t think so, Mr. Arren,” she said. “I’m a bit busy right now.”

“You have it,” he hissed at her, his expression shifting into fury as his eyes searched her face, forgetting Rhett and Cameron in his anger. “You have it, and you’re keeping it from me. I know girls like you, Aislen Carter, my Heather was just the same. Spiteful and difficult, slutty and defiant. I want that paperwork and you will fetch it for me, right now.”

“It makes me wonder,” Aislen lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes. “Just why you want the paperwork so badly, Mr. Arren. What secret are you hiding?”

His eyes widened and he made a movement with his arm as if to strike her, but Cameron caught his wrist, his grip tight enough to blanch Chris Arren’s skin. “We don’t raise our hands to women around here,” Cameron growled down at him, his usual affability vanished, and the alpha werewolf very present.

“And we don’t talk to Aislen like that,” Rhett added, clapping his hand on Chris Arren’s shoulder, his fingers digging into the flesh.

“I think it’s time that you left,” Heath added, from behind her, and Chris’s eyes lifted taking in Heath and Talen over her shoulder. “Before you get yourself into trouble, Mr. Arren.”

“It would be wise not to return,” Talen rumbled ominously.

“Here,” Aislen thrusted the gift basket into Chris’ arms. “I don’t want anything from your group, Mr Arren, and I’d appreciate it if you would all stay far, far away from me.”

Chris swallowed hard. “I apologize,” he said, his eyes returning to Aislen. “I did not mean to be rude. It’s just… so important. We have worked so hard to get that evidence together and we cannot proceed without it. We want justice for our daughters.”

“But what do your daughters want, Mr. Arren?” She asked. “Have you asked them what they want? Do they want their past dragged up, shared, and dissected by strangers, people they don’t have relationships with? I know that you can’t ask Heather what she would want anymore, and I’m terribly sorry for that, but think… Is this what she would have wanted? Tell your group to let their daughters decide for themselves, especially those that are over eighteen. It’s an invasion of their privacy, otherwise.”

“Wise words,” Talen said. “Something a wise man would take to heart and think about.”

“Goodbye Mr. Arren,” Cameron released his grip. “Have a nice day.”

“Excuse me,” Heath shifted Aislen to the side and stepped out onto the porch. “We’ll just see Mr. Arren to the gate, hmm?”

The Triquetra edged Chris Arren off the porch and across the gravel, and the human man retreated, wisely, before the approaching pack of predators.

“What was that about, Aislen?” Talen murmured, putting his arms around her.

She sighed. “I guess that’s a conversation we should have, too.”