Truce: Book 1 in the Aftermath Series

by Alainna MacPherson

  Already, I felt his magic sizzle and reach out for mine, which greeted it readily, tentacles of purple snapping out for his bluish one. Mine seemed to wrap around his, enveloping it as it swirled around us. Not stopping for a second, I turned in his arms, grasping his shoulders as I hiked myself up. He caught me, like I knew he would, and propped me against the wall, the cold tile shocking my heated skin. There wasn’t anything but he and I in that moment…and Gearden. I felt his acceptance and guard in the other room. It was hard and fast, just how our bodies both wanted it. Barely wasting any time at all, he slipped inside me, pushing to what felt like my center.

  We rode the storm together in a quick rush to the eye of it before peaking and shattering in one another’s arms. As my body relaxed, my head limp on his shoulder, I saw that our magic had turned a brilliant wine before separating and coming back to us in their original colors.

  Shakily, we washed one another. Eyes shut as I rinsed the conditioner from my hair, I felt a brush of air. I didn’t need to open them to know that Lugh had exited and Gearden had joined me. Smiling, I stepped into his arms, resting my head on his chest, nuzzling the skin there, taking in his scent, Luna rumbling in approval.

  Gripping my hair tightly, he turned my head to the side to press his mouth to my mark, first one, then the other, giving a little nip on each as he did. Reaching down, I palmed his erection, feeling how ready he was. Stepping back, he perched himself on the small seat built into the shower, settling me in his lap. When I thought he’d go fast, instead, he wrapped his hand in my hair again, this time to keep my gaze locked on his as he slowly entered me, letting me feel every inch of him.

  Later, as we lay in our bed, I thanked the powers that be, including my own mother, for bringing these men into my life. It was unconventional and odd, yet it made sense. Already, I couldn’t imagine my life without either of them. Sleep having already taken Lugh, I ran a hand down his soft cheek, feeling the calmness within him, as I felt within me Sending him a though of my love, I watched as his lips pulled in a soft smile.

  Carefully, I rolled over to see that Gearden look at me drowsily.

  “I love you,” I told him, leaning in for a soft kiss.

  “I love you, too,” he replied, pulling me in to lay my head on his arm.

  Gearden

  The next morning, we had a visitor at the compound. This one, surprisingly, came by car. “Human,” I informed Maeleigh as a black sedan pulled up to park on the gravel drive to the side of the house. An older man, probably around fifty or sixty, exited the car and walked our way. Seeing no immediate threat in the sharply dressed man, Dom and Tomos stepped to the side of the porch to allow him passage to the front door, where I stood waiting.

  “Can I help you?” I asked politely, pushing open the screen door and stepping out to meet him.

  With a kind smile, making craters that must have been dimples once on his cheek appear, he said. “Yes, I’m looking for a Miss Maeleigh Thompson. Is she here?”

  My eyes found her waiting on the other side of the screen, watching. “He says he’s looking for you.”

  Curiously, she stepped out to stand beside me, brow lifted as she looked him up and down.

  “This is her,” I told the man. “And you are?” I tried to sign, knowing that I wouldn’t be the best interpreter.

  “Hello, Miss Thompson. I am Steve Cartwright, one of the lawyers overseeing Selena Moon’s affairs. May I have a word with you?”

  She nodded and turned to lead him inside. I felt her mind humming with questions as to why the man wanted to speak with her. “Calm down,” I told her. “We’ll find out in just a moment.”

  Maeleigh, Bri and I sat on the couch as Cartwright perched on the edge of the matching overstuffed chair across from us, the coffee table in between. He took a moment to rub at his knee like it ached him before turning to pull something out of the leather satchel he carried.

  Speaking into his bag, Bri signed for him. “I hope your backpacking trip abroad was eventful?

  Before I had a chance to process what the hell he was talking about,

  he passed Maeleigh a stapled packet of legal sized papers.

  He gave her a moment to study it.

  Looking over her shoulder, I read the top line in bold lettering, TRANSFER DEED OF LAND.

  Eyes wide, we looked at one another, surprised.

  “What’s this?” she asked.

  When he started to answer, Bri took over as interpreter. “It’s a transference deed of land for property in Shepherd, Texas.” Before either of us could utter another sound, aside from gasping, he dug out more papers from his bag, handing them to Maeleigh.

  “These are all the property titles that are in your name, barring some signatures, of course, since Ms. Moon’s passing,” he explained.

  Shuffling through the papers, he referenced other documents like the donation paperwork for the sale of the townhouse, a car and another property in Ireland. Dumbfounded, we all looked at the old man for answers.

  “I suppose she didn’t have a chance to tell you that she’d named you the benefactor to her estate. Aside from some charity donations made at her request to rehabilitation communities across the state, the majority is now yours.”

  “What’s this though?” Maeleigh held up the first deed to the property in Texas.

  “Ah, now that one is the newest. It appears that Ms. Moon had recently come into that one as another inheritance from the late Amergin Graham,” he replied, smiling at Bri first, then to Maeleigh.

  “What the frack?” Maeleigh whispered in my mind, completely thrown for a loop.

  “I have a pen now if you’d like to sign everything. More paperwork and details on the investments, stock and bank information can be forwarded to you later if that’s alright?” He watched as she processed it all, not in the least perturbed when she didn’t reply right away. Finally, Maeleigh nodded, holding her hand out for the pen when he went searching for it. Soon enough, and with a shaky hand, everything was signed and official.

  After the man left, with a promise to send all the other paperwork in the next few days, we all sat around studying the papers together. Marshall leaned on the counter that his sister sat on, swinging her legs as she munched on an apple.

  “So,” he started, “where is this place at again?”

  Maeleigh didn’t see him ask, eyes still glued to the legalese on the forms. Instead, I answered, “Shepherd, Texas.”

  “Hm,” was his only response, but it sounded like a curious “hm.”

  Brows raised, I pressed him, “Have you heard of it?”

  Giving a careless shrug, he pushed away from the counter, leaving his sister to kick someone else with her toes. “I’ve driven through it before a time or two. Shelly and I were raised in Houston before moving up here. It’s mostly farmland. How big does it say the property is?”

  Maeleigh had clued in at some point of the conversation and answered right away, having probably already memorized every detail, “Sixty acres. It says there’s a house on the property, too.”

  He gave a low whistle. “That’s a nice spread.”

  “Why would Amergin give this to her?” Maeleigh wondered out loud. A collection of shrugs and blank faces answered her.

  Turning to me, she signed and said, “We have to find out what’s there. There has to be a reason he gave her this and why it came to me.”

  I nodded. She was right. If it wasn’t significant, why will it to the queen or Maeleigh? “But we can’t just go there, not now, with everything going on here.”

  “I can go,” Bri signed for Marshall, drawing everyone’s eyes onto him.

  Maeleigh stood up slowly to approach him. A few inches away, she asked him, “Are you sure?”

  Just then, his demeanor changed. It went from nonchalant to serious in a heartbeat. This was no longer friends talking amongst each other. Now it was alpha to pack member. He gave a firm jerk of the chin. “I’m sure.”

  The next day we got anothe
r visitor, though this time it was someone we already knew. As Longston slowly walked up the gravel driveway, arms up to show he was unarmed and alone, everyone had gathered to watch, wary and untrusting that he’d come there unaccompanied.

  At the halfway point, I called, “That’s far enough!”

  Complying, he stopped.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  He kept his hands up, palms facing us, as he hollered, “I’ve come to talk!”

  Maeleigh almost took a step forward before remembering the dangers of approaching him and stalling. “Unless it’s about returning my friends, we have nothing to talk about.” The heat coming from her vibrated to the rest of us. The wave of alpha power would affect the wolves standing behind us, but my wolf only roared his approval in my mind.

  Standing to Maeleigh’s left, he signed for her. “I heard about what happened,” Longsten replied, dropping his hands slowly, probably hoping he wouldn’t get pummeled as he did. “That wasn’t me or my men.”

  Shock echoed into my mind from Maeleigh over his words.

  “How do we know you’re not lying?” Maeleigh inquired, eyeing him suspiciously over the distance.

  His expression turned daring. “Can you afford not to?”

  Maeleigh’s gaze bounced around from Bri as she signed, to mine and then Lugh’s as he stepped up beside her, crowding in close. It was his turn to say something to the hunter, “Are you offering a pax, then?”

  “What the hell is that?” the older man grumbled.

  Wracking my brain, I hollered, “A truce!”

  A few quiet moments passed as he thought on it, weighing the offer. Then, finally, “Yes! A truce!”

  At his word, Maeleigh looked around to the whole group, before telling Longsten, “Alright. I’ll listen to what you have to say. But just you. No one else is allowed on the property or the truce is over.”

  He agreed and calmly walked the rest of the way up the drive.

  Epilogue

  Marshall

  “Damn,” I murmured, looking down the road through the windshield of the brand-new Ford Raptor as I eased it over the bumpy dirt drive. Surprisingly, the rained out, gravel road we’d come off from was a smoother ride than that crater filled, sinkhole ridden, sorry excuse for a driveway.

  “They didn’t say it was a dump!” AJ complained from the back seat. The ass had been whining since the last pit stop in Dallas. I cursed Maeleigh for sending him along, but then, I hoped to pay him back with some manual labor in the next few weeks. I didn’t anticipate the house being in such poor shape, but I did know that farms, of any type, required a lot of work, all the time, twenty-four-seven.

  A few minutes later, I pulled in front of the house on the circular drive, a large oak tree that’s seen better days, at its center. Stepping out, AJ, Charlie and I stepped out, slamming our doors shut

  “We’re not sleeping here, are we?” AJ whined some more, walking around the back of the truck. Together, we cautiously took the narrow stairs up to what looked like what could be a wraparound porch. I fiddled with my keychain until I found the key the realtor in Dallas had given me. The lock may have been new, but the door itself stuck as I pushed it open.

  Water damage, I noted to myself. Minor fix.

  We stepped into a foyer slash mud room area with pitted linoleum flooring, and what felt like a spot of wood rot under my boots at the corner by the door. To match the door, I thought.

  Though I wasn’t one to shy away from work, especially of this kind, I dreaded the text I would have to send Maeleigh about the state of this place. Not that it wasn’t salvageable. It was whether or not it would benefit us or the pack to repair it. We still had no idea why Amergin had originally purchased the property. At least, though, it was obvious that the house wasn’t it.

  “Take some notes on stuff you find that needs to be fixed right away, then we’ll head back to town and get some supplies,” I told the other two, carefully making my way up the stairs, reluctantly holding the splintering railing.

  There were three smaller bedrooms with a bathroom between them all in the hall, and one large master suite, with a full bathroom, complete with leaks and limescale, on the other side of the house. It would need a lot of work, but the view over the spread of land, the soft rolling hill in the distance, would almost make up for the poor status of the property. I hadn’t missed the fact that the fields on the way up the drive were dried and choked with weeds. Goddess knew what was originally grown there.

  Later, after meeting back down in the living room area, they all gave me their highlighted complaints as I noted them on my phone. As we headed back to the truck, I turned on the voice-to-text.

  “Made it to the property. House is a real mess. Months of work to put it back in shape. What do you want us to do?” It didn’t bother me that I had to ask her for permission, at least, not anymore. My wolf never did accept Vic, even though he’d changed me. Fun fact my dad didn’t tell us when we were kids, that he was a descendent of a werewolf and all it took was for his kids to get a jump start from a full blooded one from an excruciatingly painful bite and transition Shelly and I were lucky to have come out alive on the other side of. I resented Vic for forcing the change on us. Not to mention he was a royal dick.

  When Maeleigh came around though, my look on alphas changed. Her and Liam, who had helped clean up the mess Vic had left things in while she was away, proved how unfit the guy was to lead a pack.

  Sticking the phone in its cradle on the dash, I pulled the truck around and down the drive, hoping there was a Home Depot in town. Her reply came in just as we got back on the main road

  “Make the changes that you can. Let me know if you need any specialized workers. Be sure to use your card for anything you all need. Keep us posted,” came the female computerized voice over the speakers. Then, another message arrived. “Good luck.”

  When we go to town, I shot her a thumbsup as we headed into the Home Depot, waving for the other guys to grab a basketed cart each while I dragged out a platform one with a squeaky wheel.

  As we headed down the main aisle, AJ grumbled something about getting a hotel room for the night. I didn’t correct him because I knew it would just make for more whining, but I secretly grinned to myself at the thought of how disappointed he was going to be when I told him he'd probably have to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag if we could find them at the sporting goods store next door.

  Charlie, thank god, was quiet, like he’d been during the whole two days drive out here. Aside from the acknowledged “yes” or “no,” he hadn’t spoken a word.

  A few hours later, with bags of dinner on Charlie’s lap and a bed full of supplies, we were headed back to the property. Before the turn off for the dirt road leading up to the driveway, a run-down shack that could have once been a type of barn or supply shed came into view. It was boarded up, sporting a large hole in the roof and looked like it hadn’t been used a lot longer than the main house. I made a mental note to have it town down, might even have to burn it where it stood, the wood unsalvageable.

  “What are the sleeping bags for?” AJ asked ominously from the back.

  Note from Author

  Thank you for reading Truce: Book 1 in the Aftermath series. Your support is greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoyed it. Please check out the next book, Bounty, available for pre-order now, due out in Spring of 2021.

  BLACK

  Daniel Prude Damian Daniels Dijon Kizzee

  LIVES

  Sean Reed Jacob Blake

  MATTER

  Deon Kay Breonna Taylor

  And too many more…

  But wait, there’s more!

  Need something new to read now? Check out Beneath the Surface, a Romeo and Juliet meets Jupiter Rising sci-fi romance story. Read the first chapter by turning the page.

  Beneath the Surface

  Chapter One

  Annabeth

  I skidded into the lift elevator just before the metal grate-like doors
slammed closed, locking us all in. Twenty or so of us, crammed in like sardines, some still sporting the smudges of dirt from yesterday, were on our way down the two hundred and thirty feet of sediment to the mines just above the earth’s mantle. In a desperate attempt to ignore the queasiness in my stomach from the rocking and bouncing of the car as it descended, I started counting. Usually by the time I reached one hundred, we had arrived at our stop. but this time Adria, from behind me, tapped me on the shoulder. Wary of the camera mounted in the corner above us, I nonchalantly turned my chin to the side to indicate I was listening.

  “Did you hear about the new soldiers arriving today?” she whispered. I knew without looking, that her lips had barely moved. We’d all grown accustomed to speaking imperceptibly and in the barest of whispers, even when we were in our own tents during free time. The last thing anyone human wanted was to attract the attention of the M’Nai, the aliens who were running this gig now. And by gig, I mean the world. They’d arrived ten years ago, when I was only eight, claiming that they weren’t the only intergalactic species aware of our world: Earth. They didn’t allow us the choice of their assistance though, because they said they were saving us from a threat they predicted would come one day. The moment there had been a hint that the human leaders and government officials were resisting them, they took over. A few officials had died, but we were the first to raise our weapons. At least, that’s what we’d been told all this time. No one knew both sides of the story anymore. By the time we realized we’d allowed a potential danger into our home, it was too late. Textbooks were destroyed and school curriculums changed to only teach what the M’Nai wanted us to learn. Our heritage was once again told only through stories and passed down through our elders. There was no need for the aliens to decimate our population or take over our guns: the most damaging thing they had done to us was take away our history and communication. The only people we knew to be alive for certain were those we saw in the same camp every day. The aliens came and went in their atmo-jumpers – mini ships like large buses, way more advanced than an airplane – that would take them from one earth location to another. We, the slaves, were rarely transported.