hurricane

“We should catch them before they have the chance to do something like it again. Come on, don’t you want some credit for catching a murderer?” Her words may have been joking but it was hard to find any humor to muster it into her tone. She kept moving along the path, warily looking around the area, like either of them could possibly catch some detail the police wouldn’t catch. She blew out her breath in a huff. “They probably knew each other, then. That could narrow things down. But only if that’s the case.” She sighed as she felt like they hit another wall.

Maeve tilted her head back in a snort, but there was no humor in her eyes. “I just want our town back.” She was selfish. She knew it. Her first priority should have been taking down the perpetrator, not pawing them off on someone else. But the thought of having her town back, of having her life back, was too tempting. She shifted her pointed stick, readying herself before ducking underneath the tape. “I mean, who doesn’t know everyone here? Unless they showed up the day before attacking, I’d be willing to bet they knew the victim. Think about it. How many people do you not know? At least their face?”

Zora held up her hands, shaking her head. She was actually relieved Maeve was so… prepared, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that brandishing a stake seemed a little trigger-happy, in a matter of speaking. “If someone sketchy is hanging around, you’re gonna scare them off before we have a chance to figure out who the sketchy person is.”

“Good, maybe they’ll just run out of town and some other place can deal with them.” She only half meant it. As they crept closer and closer to the taped off area where the body had been found only days before, Maeve couldn’t help but wonder if she really would be satisfied with whoever had caused so much trouble just leaving. The truth was that the answer was probably no. She wanted them to be brought to justice there in Thornridge where they’d wreaked so much havoc. “Okay...so whoever was out here with them had to have been on the trail too. Do you think they came together?”

Zora’s eyebrows rose as she watched the shift in Maeve’s posture. She was always open to hearing everyone’s ideas, and when it came to the security of the town, it was in her best interest to pay particular attention to what the watchmen had to say. She offered her a small smile. “I don’t think they’re ever going to be the right answer. I’m just hoping we never get to the point where they become the only answer.”

Maeve could only nod. She knew Zora’s job wasn’t easy, and that bringing up the idea of hunters themselves couldn’t have been an easy decision either. But it did hurt her to think about hunters taking out faces that she’d seen around town. Chewing on her lower lip, Maeve started to get up. “I hope so too. It would be a sad day here. Ugh, I should get going. I’m supposed to meet a client in half an hour.”

“I… guess you could say that, yeah. A town isn’t really a town without a bookstore,” she responded cunningly, “I like Thornridge more and more.” While she actually meant what she’d said, the sudden, sweet upward slant of her lips made one question whether there had been a deeper meaning to her words. She brushed over it though by giving the woman a short nod of gratitude. “That’s good to hear, thanks – but, I think I’ll start with this one.” Kass pulled out the book in question, yet hardly studied its cover. Instead, her interest had been piqued by the local next to her. Her expression became smug. “I suppose you’re partly to blame for that? You seem to like books.”

“I like certain books,” Maeve corrected quickly, heat rising to her cheeks. She forced herself to look away from the book she’d already read, her eyes falling on the stranger’s face. “Reading was never my thing, but I like getting to know more about my hometown. I’m guessing Thornridge isn’t where you grew up? Considering I don’t recognize you, and I practically know everyone.”

IT WAS WITH a girlish breath of a laugh that Lux’s face blanched. She really was terrible at lying under certain circumstances. It was easy when the line involved a fantasy between two people; that was understood. And Lux had practice lying to men, telling them with some measure of feigned confidence that they were the best fuck she’d ever had. But when saddled with a new lie? Lux failed. Miserably. “It’s not… him. It’s us, really. I don’t know. It’s personal, sort of, but we get along well. Really well. As in… care about him a lot well.”

Maeve’s eyebrows shot up. She had been expecting something scandalous, even nefarious, about Gavin to slip from the other girl’s lips. Not a proclamation of....caring. “Ooooooh, I get it now.” Her gaze softened as she reached for her coffee. There was no use in pretending that she wasn’t interested in hearing the details. She was sure her face said it all. “So are you two...a thing? Then? Or is it more casual than that?”

Candy looked towards the man in question, and pursed her lips before leaning in to whisper in Maeve’s ear. “He definitely could, but he probably won’t. That’s George, he seems like a big macho guy, but he’s a marshmallow in bed, totally submissive. Fun if you want to smack a big tough guy around, though.” She giggled, Candy gossiped, sipping her drink alongside Maeve. “Guy with the tattoos, though… unf. I could ride that.”

The vampire paused a moment, reached up, and took off the shades, folding them to insert neatly into the front pocket of his shirt. “Is that any better?” he asked, shooting her a sarcastic stare. “I would think encountering a stranger at night in general would be more off-putting than the fact that they happen to be wearing sunglasses but never let it be said I’m unwilling to set others as ease when I choose to.”

“In Thornridge? Normally, no, it’s not off-putting to meet a stranger any time of the day. It used to be a safe place to live.” There had been a time when Maeve wouldn’t have even been suspicious of his earlier statements. Back when Thornridge was a true haven for all species... “What I found the most off-putting was telling people to keep away because you hadn’t eaten yet.” 

“OH, GOD, NO, I’m just kidding,” Lux said, interjecting when she saw the woman’s quick reaction. “I’m sorry, no, that was a really bad joke. Like… no one said I was any good at jokes, and definitely no one will after this. Sorry. But I’m… glad the wolves make you feel safe, I think? I just mean… I know there are a lot of wolves here who are willing to go to bat.” To be truthful, Lux wasn’t particularly involved with the politics of Thornridge, and that certainly wasn’t changing now. She wasn’t entirely aware of the conflict between the species and didn’t want to be. “I’m just Switzerland. I don’t belong to the pack here.”

But that didn’t mean that… well. “Gavin,” she finally answered, toying with the end of the napkin on the table, worrying it. Fraying it. “I get along with him, so. Hey. What’s good?” She snagged the menu and opened it suddenly, not willing to let anyone see through her armor yet. Because yes. She was neutral as far as anyone was concerned. She wondered how long that would last.

Maeve was a snoop. Growing up in a small town where one person’s business was everyone’s business had left her with a curiosity that couldn’t be diminished. “You sure?” She quirked a brow at Lux, wondering if there was something...unsavory about Gavin that she was hiding. “Because I don’t think that napkin would be so torn up if you got along with him.” As much as she wanted to know if there was something bad going on, Maeve wasn’t sure she could handle hearing that the werewolf alpha was someone she didn’t think he was. “I can keep a secret, I swear...you know, if it’s something you’re worried about getting out.”

18. Do you think it’s true that you never get over your first love?

“Yes and no. I think it’s less about who your first love was and more about what they made you feel. The nostalgia of being loved for the first time and having love to give in return is…intoxicating.” 

Step by step, thrust by thrust, pawing at Maeve and hoisting her along the length of his cock Gavin shoved her towards the shallow end of the pool; until the water was waist-high and every brutal pounding sent up gouts of water to slap against their joined thighs.”What a greedy little slut you are,” he praised her, bending at the neck to lick down her breast til teeth could close around a pert, sensitive nipple and flay it with his tongue. “Would you like that, huh?  For me to leave you worn out and wrecked and sticky with all the cum boiling … here …”

A rude hand wrenched one of her wrists downward, between them, placing her digits against the tight, heavy drum of his scrotum so the human could feel all the force building in his balls, working to the fever pitch necessary to explode and grant her lurid little wish.  His laughter was silenced against her breast, ravaging it with hungry teeth.  The wolf of unbound lust was out to play and it wouldn’t be going away quietly.

Maeve gushed around his cock, her body reacting to the way he maneuvered her so easily. She loved feeling overpowered, loved the thrill that came with knowing she was up at someone else’s mercy. She arched her back, pushing her breasts into his savage touch. Tension coiled in her belly, and once her fingers were touching him, feeling just how much he was building for her, she fell apart. 

“You mean, like, a physical/romantic partner? Sometimes I wish I had someone to lean on entirely, but it’s not an overwhelming desire or anything like that. I think my main problem is that I’m a little lonely since my family left town. I’ve been trying really hard to fill that void, but I don’t think a romantic partner is really the way to do that.”