by Christa Wick
"There was a Hunter nearby," Esme confirmed. "That's why Seth and Dana were at your building. As a latent, you would have sensed whatever charms the Hunter was using to locate you. It stopped because of your affinity for Seth's totem, which is unusu--"
A loud knock at the front interrupted Esme. Her nose twitched and she released Leah's hand.
"Dana?"
Esme nodded.
"I'm really sorry you have to deal with him on my account."
"That's my problem, not yours." Heading toward the hallway, Esme stopped. Reaching up, she pinched her bottom lip again, her gaze studying Leah's face. "That question you weren't ready to ask -- the answer is yes. I can suppress your latent nature. Hunters won't recognize you for what you are."
Hands curled around her upper arms, Leah tried to pull herself together. It wasn't the Hunters she'd been thinking about hiding from. She'd bet good money that finding her with Seth's pack would be reason enough to kill her, whether or not they could tell that she was a latent. She stopped chewing at her lip and met Esme's gaze. "What about Seth?"
"He already knows what you are." When that only earned her a scowl, Esme smiled sadly. "Yeah, it'll work on him. If you still drive him crazy, it won't be because you're a latent."
The knock at the front door repeated, harder and more insistent. Sticking her head into the hallway, Esme shouted.
"Down, boy!" Glancing back at Leah, she winked. "He seriously hates that. Try to get some sleep and I'm straight across the hall if you need anything."
She left, closing the door behind her and leaving Leah to wonder just how well the witch could read her mind.
*****
Leah woke to cupboard doors being slammed. She grimaced, recognizing the sounds of a furious woman. Her grandmother had been like that, on a daily basis with no good reason or any of the kindness that naturally flowed from Esme.
Hoping Dana would behave better with an audience, Leah dressed quickly, washed her face in the guest bathroom and headed down the hall.
"Just shut up!" The rattle of fine china punctuated Esme's command. "You don't know the first thing about latents!"
Rounding the corner, Leah heard Dana's soft drawl.
"I know it's bullshit to think that if we can't get our own females pregnant, it's going to magically work with a human just because she's a--"
Dana's words froze as he saw Leah. His mouth flattened in a terse smile. "Morning, Miss Howard. Sleep okay?"
Leah nodded, her gaze jumping from Dana to the man next to him. Another hulking male, he wore a short-sleeved t-shirt, his elbows planted on the breakfast bar and both hands wrapped around a steaming coffee mug.
"This is Cade." Wiping her hands on a dishtowel, Esme grabbed a fresh coffee cup and started to fill it. "He's visiting from another clan and is picking up some herbs for their healers."
She handed the cup to Leah, a sheepish smile on her face. "Sorry if I woke you. He should have been here and gone and you wouldn't have yet another new face to deal with so early in the morning."
Cade cleared his throat. "C'mon Em, you know there's not a woman alive who has a problem dealing with my face."
Leah smiled, not only because Cade was likely right but she'd detected more than a flicker of irritation from Dana when the other shifter called Esme "Em." Leah recognized a proprietary male when she saw one. Dana may give Esme a hard time, but it was clear he had a thing for the witch.
Laughing, Esme snapped her dishtowel at Cade. "Don't let Seth see you flirting with her. I don't have time to heal anyone today."
"Don't worry." He threw a wink at Esme before taking another sip of coffee. "I save all my flirting for you, beautiful."
Dana's arm twitched, the bicep tensing and refusing to relax. "Don't you have a meeting this morning?"
"Yeah." Cade hid a smirk behind his coffee mug. "Important alpha meeting with your boss. Guess you weren't invited."
Leah noticed the subtle flaring of Dana's nostrils, the rest of his face impassive as stone. Setting his mug down, his gaze cut directly to Cade and he smiled. "You should start loading up your truck, then."
Cade rose and retrieved a denim jacket from the coat rack by the door. He shrugged it on, opened the door and stared at Esme for a second. "I could use a hand, beautiful."
Before Esme could answer, Dana was up and to the door, shooing Cade onto the porch. "I got all the help you need."
"It's my cellar." Esme reached for a sweater.
Dana's hand closed over hers. The terse smile re-surfaced on his face. "No need for you to get dirty. I know every damn bottle and bag of bones down there."
Esme snatched her hand back, shook her sweater out and started to put it on.
"You can't go down there." Dana took a step back, his big frame blocking the doorway as Cade leaned against the rail and grinned. "Seth doesn't want me alone with his latent. Keeps thinking I have a thing for big girls."
Esme and Cade reacted at the same time. Out on the porch, the male shifter pivoted on one heel, a low growl rumbling in his chest as he reached for the back of Dana's collar. Esme grabbed a heavy wooden cane hanging near the door, her whole face flushing with anger.
"That's it!" She brandished the cane at Dana, the silver knobbed handle bobbing dangerously close to his face and forcing him backwards. "You won't insult me or any guest in my home ever again!"
She leaned down, the silver tip of the cane hitting the oak floor with a loud crack. No longer intent on teaching Dana manners, Cade backed off the porch as sparks flew from the impact.
The first sign of worry flickered across Dana's face. "Em, don't."
Esme spoke, the foreign sounding words coming too fast and angry for Leah to make any sense of them. Her hands wrapped around the silver knob, Esme drew the end of the cane along the floor in front of the door as she repeated the words. Blue light crackled along her fingers and from the tip of the cane, a dark and smoldering line etched into the wood.
"Em, you can't keep me out." Dana took a step toward the door, his foot landing half an inch from the line she'd drawn. He doubled over, the wind knocked out of him and his face instantly bloodless.
Reaching across the threshold, Esme shoved hard against his shoulder. He landed on his ass, immediately regained his feet and charged back toward the door. His hands reached inside, his face contorting in pain as he tried to pull himself back into the house. Strands of black broke out along his skin and raced in streams up his arms.
"Damn it, Dana." Esme pried at his fingers, her gaze darting to Cade for help. "Leave!"
Dana shook his head, his grin pained and determined. "Not happening, babe."
Leah watched, her hand pressed against her mouth to keep from interfering. She didn't think Esme would let it go on much longer but the black spidery lines had reached Dana's neck and were crawling toward his face. He grimaced, his fangs visible and tinged with his own blood.
"Em, he'll kill himself trying to get back in," Cade warned. "You know that."
"Then take him and go!" Esme's voice was raw, the words splitting open as she spoke. "I won't have him in my house again. It's too much, damn it."
Cade wrapped an arm around Dana's waist, the responding snarl vicious. Dana pushed his right leg forward and hooked the heel of his boot against the door frame. The leg started to thin but he wouldn't release his grip.
"Don't fucking try." Dana pulled the rest of his body another inch closer to Esme's barrier.
Sweat poured off both men. Muscles rippled with effort. Fighting both the spell Esme had cast and the muscular shifter behind him, Dana threw his weight forward. Cade wrenched hard left at the same time, letting his feet drop from under him so that his weight and momentum flung both men to the ground.
Esme slammed the door and shot the lock in place. Stumbling to a waste basket, she leaned over and vomited.
Keeping one eye on Esme, Leah peeked through lace curtains to watch Cade throw Dana's sagging body into a truck and speed off. "Where will he take him?"
"To my mother for healing." Esme pressed the back of her hand against her mouth and staggered to the kitchen sink. She filled a glass with water, the shake in her hand so bad half the liquid sloshed out as she brought the glass to her lips.
Leah followed, careful to keep the kitchen island between them. Already convinced of Esme's psychic abilities, she'd still been skeptical about any kind of actual sorcery. Not anymore. The magic pouring from Esme was as raw and visible as the witch's emotions. The air around her sizzled a pale blue, the static electricity raising the fine hairs on Leah's arms.
"I thought your magic was bound to help the clan. Didn't that break the rules?"
Bent over the sink, Esme looked over her shoulder. She lifted one dark blonde brow, her face sweating and sick. "Why do you think I puked?"
"Because you love him," Leah softly answered.
Anguish flashed across Esme's face, but she still shook her head, trying to deny it.
Coming around the island, Leah curled a hand around Esme's elbow and led her over to the living room area and the big couch. Blankets were neatly folded at one end, with a pillow on top -- Dana's bedding from the night before.
She scooped them up. "I'll just put these in the linen closet and make us some tea."
A few minutes later when the kettle was on, she brought a cold, damp hand towel folded in a rectangle to where Esme remained frozen on the couch and staring at the front door. Lifting the thick blonde hair, Leah placed the cloth on the back of Esme's neck. Esme looked up, unshed tears shimmering in her eyes.
"Seth will be by soon."
Leah nodded. She expected as much. Between Seth and Dana, she'd seen enough to know that male shifters were protective as hell, but also on the possessive side. She could practically hear MINE blaring in Dana's head while Cade had flirted with Esme. That was without Esme having any "latent" effect that Dana was tuned into.
Seth had said on the drive back he'd sensed her in the building before she ever stepped onto the elevator. His awareness of her had kept him reaching into the back seat to brush her knee or run the back of his hand along her leg most of the drive. The signal went both ways, she just hadn't realized it until her final talk with Esme the night before.
Esme removed the cloth from her neck and pressed it to her forehead. "I'll remove the spell. Seth can just break Dana's fingers or something the next time he gets out of line."
Leah reached up, her hand fiddling with the top button on her blouse. "He wouldn't really do something like that, would he?"
"Probably not, and it wouldn't deter that stubborn idiot anyway." Esme grimaced. "The only thing I can think of is having Camille stay."
"Dana listens to your mother?" Leah kept worrying the button, another solution forming in her mind.
"Hah!" A genuine smile split across Esme's face, light springing back into her eyes. "No, but he's as quiet as a statue when she's around. It's almost worth putting up with her."
Dropping her hand to her lap, Leah traced the pleated line running up one leg of her slacks. "There's another option…what you said you could do last night."
Esme said nothing at first then a long sigh escaped her. "He'll think you're rejecting him."
"No." She pinched the pleat, sharpening its edge. "He'll realize this is just a bunch of biological nonsense and that he's not actually attracted to me."
Leah didn't expect the scowl that whipped across Esme's face. The witch rubbed her hand from one cheek to the other like an eraser along a blackboard, her expression detached by the time she completed the motion.
"Nonsense or not, if I put a cloaking charm on you, it only works one way." The kettle started whistling and Esme stood. She walked into the kitchen area and turned the burner off. "You'll still sense him, know when he's near, smell him in a way that's unique between mates and their offspring."
She started to pour water into the teacups Leah had set out earlier. Her hand shook, hot water splashing along the tea service. Placing the kettle back on the burner, she braced her hands against the counter.
"And you'll want him just as badly as you did last night." She wiped a dishtowel across the spilled water. "That feeling will never fade."
Pulling her feet onto the chair, Leah tucked her legs under her. Her elbow on the armrest, she propped her chin up and watched Esme finish making the tea. "How do you know this?"
There was a long pause, as if the answer was a secret too big to divulge.
"I have the last known latent's diary." Esme returned to the couch with the cups and tea service on a tray. Glancing up, she saw the question in Leah's gaze. "She died sixty years ago, most everyone's forgotten about latents since then. Obviously there are others, you're living proof."
Leah added cream and sugar to her tea, blew thoughtfully at the steam rising up from the pale brown liquid. "If you do this, the Hunters won't be able to find me. I can go back to my apartment, my job, the kids at the school…"
"Eventually, if you can learn to work the charm yourself and there's enough magic in you to do so." She took a sip, put the cup down and then leaned across the table to stare intently into Leah's eyes. "I know Seth. He won't let you go until he's sure you're safe and he's had plenty of opportunity to change your mind. Even then, I'm not sure he'll let you go."
Leah closed her eyes, tried to picture a future in which Seth didn't take one sniff, find her normal and walk away. She couldn't. It had been sixty years since the last latent had lived in proximity to a wolf clan. A diary of devotion was no proof, just a romantic fairytale.
She opened her eyes to find the witch studying her with open curiosity. Giving a little nod, she signaled her readiness. "Let's do this now, before he shows up."
*****
Near dusk, Seth threw his van in park, the bumper almost on the front steps of the witch's porch. He bounded out of the vehicle, his throat clamping down on a growl. The lights in the house were on, the front door open, the screen shut to keep the insects out. He heard the witch's voice, but knew something was wrong.
He couldn't feel Leah. It had taken a quarter mile of distance last night before he'd lost the sense of her nearness. If someone had taken her or she left after Dana's little show that morning, he'd break every bone in his second's body -- after Seth had Leah safely back with him.
He ripped the door open, the latch on the other side breaking like a cheap plastic toy. He shouted her name.
"I'm right here."
Seth spun to his left to find Leah wide-eyed and a little breathless at his entrance. He quickly assessed her appearance, finding no signs of injury. Looking right, he saw the witch on the other side of the kitchen island, a little nervous and her hand wrapped around a silver sugar bowl. Not caring that Esme had been his friend since childhood and was as much his family as any shifter in his pack, he growled.
The soft hairs along her bare arm stood up and she took a step closer to the island's center.
"What have you done to her?"
"Only what I asked her to do." Leah pressed her palm against the back of his shoulder.
The heat of her touch penetrated, calming him -- until her words sank in. She'd asked for this, whatever this was. Some sort of cloaking charm, he guessed. He turned slowly, said nothing as he studied her face.
It struck him again how beautiful she was. Dark, finely arched brows framed eyes he could stare into forever. When she blinked, he physically felt the sweep of her thick lashes against his skin. Her lips parted, the sight of their soft contours birthing a low growl of need inside him.
Without asking if he could, he reached out, wrapped a hand around her hip and pulled her closer. Unlike the female shifters he'd known his entire life, with their hard, athletic frames, she was a cushion of softness. He squeezed, not enough to hurt her, just hard enough to feel her flesh yield. More softness was to be had, the plump thighs would mold around his cock when he finally sank into her as would that sweet round ass when he took her from behind.
Her gaze grew larger and
he realized he hadn't quite stopped growling. He turned his head, his eyes still on Leah but wanting the witch to know he was addressing her. "Leave."
No sound of movement. His mouth hardened until Leah gave a faint nod, her attention focused beyond his shoulder. A few seconds later, the screen door lightly slapped shut and he heard Esme's footsteps disappear off the porch.
Leah swallowed, her gaze bouncing everywhere but in his direction. "She said you wouldn't like this."
"I don't." He curled his free hand around her other hip.
She wet her bottom lip, his eyes drawn to its quiver. "She said you would take it as my rejecting you."
"You're not?" A small flame of hope sputtered inside his chest. Dana's little show had cost him, but Leah was still here. That had to count for something.
"I just want you to see what you're reacting to." She gestured loosely at her lush frame before taking hold of his wrists, her hands too small to encircle them.
Seth knew she wanted him to release her. Still holding onto her hips, he opened a little more distance between them. His gaze traveled down her body. His cock straightened inside his pants, the tip crawling up toward his belt line as his flesh stiffened.
He needed to be inside her, had spent a restless night imagining it over and over. He licked his lips, inhaled deeply. The charm had buried her unique scent as a latent, but the warm, musky feminine odors rolling off her were enough to drive him crazy.
Looking back up, he saw her gaze unfocused. The mix of surprise and languor in her face and the inviting part of her lips made his cock ache.
"You can still sense me, can't you?"
She nodded. Her full breasts rose and fell as she breathed deeply, each intake coming a little quicker than the last.
"You feel how badly I want you--" Smelling a fresh burst of her cream, he groaned. His thumb caressed her hip and he stepped forward. Her breasts moved against his chest, the hard little nipples dragging up and down.
He pressed closer, felt the soft swell of her stomach against his erection. Dropping his mouth close to her ear, he whispered his reassurances. "We're not them, Dana and Esme. It's different. You're blood, even if you can't shift. We're meant for one another."