by Christa Wick
He tilted his head, his gaze drifting between her and her driver's license. "Leah Howard, twenty-eight, five-foot-seven, hair black, eyes green."
She nodded, a little hiccup of air leaving her. "What are you going to do?"
His gaze raked over her, lingering at the swell of her breasts and hips. Just as he had in the elevator, he wet his bottom lip and then he took a deep breath through his nose. His eyes drifted shut, his lips parting before he looked at her again.
Seth lifted his ass just enough to drag the chair to the edge of her bed. His hand came down on the mattress to grip its side. "What do you want me to do, Leah?"
For one wild second she pictured his handsome face between her thighs, his tongue running the length of her pussy before it disappeared between her wet folds. She forced the image away. She couldn't let her attraction to him cloud her thinking. She had no doubt she was in danger. No sane, law-abiding person acted like Seth, which meant he was crazy, a criminal or both.
Pushing her fear aside, she calmly looked him in the eyes. "I want you to leave."
A sad grin pulled his mouth to the left before disappearing. His hand surfed closer to her body, traced the air in front of the feminine swell of her chest before stopping over one erect nipple. The heat of his palm penetrated her blouse and bra, the sensation tightening the skin on her breast until her cunt ached.
"Please…don't." Swallowing, she pressed her lips together to stop their quiver. As much as she should have been, she wasn't afraid. That first bite of gnawing hunger she'd felt in the elevator upon smelling him was still with her. It deepened by the second, twisting down through her stomach to wrap around her uterus like a fist and squeeze.
Meeting his gaze, she repeated her order. "Leave. I don't want you here."
Seth pulled his hand back, surprise momentarily widening his features. His face quickly hardened to a determined challenge. Putting both palms flat against the mattress, he leaned in, his nose starting near her head. He brushed the tip against her forehead, traveled along the slope of her nose. Moving to her mouth, he took a leisurely lick, nipped her chin. Reaching her breasts, he pressed his face against the fabric guarding her cleavage and breathed deeply.
Slow, so slow, lower and lower until he was even with her hips, his forehead almost touching the cushion of flesh above the bone. Another deep breath and he groaned. The sound vibrated against her mound. Her thighs tensed, her lower torso starting to tremble as her labia squeezed at nothing.
Growling softly, he looked up at her. "You're lying, baby."
Half lying, she amended. Part of her wanted him gone. The rational part -- not the part between her legs, so wet it threatened to soak the sheets. She pulled her knees up and tucked her legs against her body to control their shaking.
"Pretty little liar." His knowing gaze penetrated her. His forehead nuzzled her hip. "I can smell your cream, feel your heat."
God help her, she was drenched and only getting wetter. Contractions gripped her cunt, intensifying her need. She didn't care that the blond was in the room, watching them with a puzzled expression. Seth was right. She wanted him in her, spearing her with that thick, unyielding shaft she'd felt pressed up against her stomach in the stairwell.
Have you completely lost your mind, girl?
This was crazy. He had her trapped in her bedroom. She should be thinking about escape instead of wrestling her arousal. She looked at the blond, her gaze pleading. "Can't you make him go?"
Seth growled again, this time like a dog protecting a bone as the man shifted position behind him. Seth flexed his shoulders, his hands curling, the fingers widely spaced and menacing in their tensed position.
A smile ghosted the blond's face. His right hand closed around his left. Squeezing, he popped the knuckles. "Not without killing him."
Seth swiveled at the waist. His hands left the mattress to grip the armrests. The fabric covering the chair ripped as his hands tensed. "Wait downstairs for Esme."
Leah snapped back to reality, her arousal extinguished. Now she had two names. No matter that they were only first names, the chances of identifying him and this Esme person had doubled.
Whatever Seth had planned, he wasn't worried about Leah exposing them. She'd watched enough cop shows to know that could only mean one thing.
"You're going to kill me." She kept the whimper waiting behind her lips in check. She might die, but she wouldn't grovel.
Seth whipped his head back in her direction, all the intensity draining from his face. He sank back into the chair. "No one will hurt you."
She wrapped her arms across her chest. "Then why don't you wait downstairs?"
That earned a short laugh from the blond. "She's got a point. It's better if you wait for Em anyway."
Seth shook his head. "I'm not leaving her alone with you."
The blond closed his eyes, a soft sigh escaping. "Don't worry about me, boss. Big girls aren't my thing."
Leah took a sharp breath, tears stinging her eyes. Bad enough one of them was crazy and holding her captive, the sane one had to be rude. She looked away from both of them, staring at a cobweb high up in the corner of her room. Whatever happened, she would not beg for her life and she sure as hell wouldn't let them see her cry over something she'd heard hundreds of times before. They would think her weak and as soft as she looked, making whatever they planned for her would that much worse.
Seth rose, trailing one fingertip along the edge of the bed while he stared at Leah. Turning, he stepped until he was chest-to-chest with the blond. "You're a selfish asshole, Dana, and a liar."
Seth left, Dana stayed. When Leah glanced at him from the corner of her eye, she found him staring at the floor. She turned her head, looked at him more directly and saw a blush fading across his cheeks.
Ten minutes later, she thought she understood why when Dana slinked off into the room's empty corner. His gaze skipped toward the bedroom door before landing on Leah. His expression slackened into something that reminded her of the bored, disaffected students in the discipline room she supervised at the nearby middle school.
A second after she saw the change in Dana, she heard a woman's voice. The corner of his mouth ticked right and then he folded his arms across his chest. The door opened and a woman walked in, Seth following behind her.
From where he stood in the corner, Dana's gaze swept over the newcomer, taking in the full curves and the dark blonde hair that fell in curls around her shoulders before his attention settled on the pink pout of a mouth. Big girl or not, she was a stunner with her pale skin, high cheekbones, thick lashes and a kisser that was pure Hollywood glamour.
She approached the bed, her right hand extended. "Hello, Leah. I'm Esme Foster and I wish we could have met under better circumstances."
Surprising herself, Leah took the woman's hand. Faintly warm and dry, it had a soothing effect. Reminding herself she had no reason to trust the woman, she let go and pointed at the chair. "Would you like to sit down?"
Esme's eyes sparkled when she smiled at Leah. "I was just about to ask if I could. Thank you."
She settled into the chair. It was big and cozy, meant to hold Leah without pinching at her hips or generous thighs. Seth had dwarfed it with his muscular frame, but Esme fit perfectly. She arranged the long skirt she wore and rubbed lightly at the chair's armrest for a second before she turned her attention back to Leah.
"I'm a witch, in case you're wondering why I'm here."
Leah's brows shut up. She felt her odds worsening.
Two crazies and one rude, possibly sane, one.
Esme leaned closer, as if she had a juicy piece of gossip to share with an old friend. "Seth wants me to put a forgetting spell on you, but I'm not going to."
Seth offered a surprised grunt.
Dana shot out of the corner to stand next to Esme's chair, his face tight and gaze furious. "The hell you won't. You're blood bound to protect the clan."
Esme brushed at her skirt, never looking toward Dana. "If you
want your dog to stay, Seth, keep him chained."
The men exchanged a look, Seth's gaze darkening. Dana retreated to the corner with a scowl marring his good looks.
Seth rested one hand on the back of the chair and looked down at the crown of Esme's head. "He's right. You must hold to your ancestor's oath."
"Right, I'm sworn to protect the clan, yadda, yadda, yadda." She rolled her eyes then smiled at Leah again. "Thing is, she's clan."
A dismissive snort sounded in the otherwise quiet corner.
Seth shook his head. "She's not, but…"
"I was told she triggered your mating response."
Mating response? Was she freaking serious? Leah looked at Seth to find his eyes locked on her mouth. His own lips had darkened, parting slightly to reveal a hint of teeth and tongue. His cheeks flushed, nostrils widening as he lifted his gaze to meet hers.
"She did."
Leah responded with a soft gasp.
"It's not as distressing as it might sound." Esme reached across the mattress to cover Leah's hand before looking back at Seth. "You touched her forehead and she responded, right?"
"Not exactly." Seth shook his head again, the gesture less certain than before. "She passed out -- not the same."
"Your hand was tingling, that's why you used it -- you sensed her wolf totem and responded as alpha to calm her and avoid exposing the pack."
"You're all crazy," Leah whispered and withdrew her hand from Esme's.
"I wish I were, honey, but the sad truth is you're a latent." She closed her eyes, her mouth pressing into a flat line, her voice just as even as she explained. "Somewhere up the family tree you have a pair of shifters and a child born to them who couldn't shift."
Dana growled in the corner, his weight restlessly flexing from one leg to the other. "Latents don't exist."
Esme looked directly at Dana for the first time since her arrival. The right side of her top lip curled and she flicked her hand at him. "Neither do werewolves."
Her focus returned to Leah. Tears shimmered in her eyes as she finished explaining. "The scent in a child that cannot shift is different, detectible at birth. Used to be such children were killed straight away, a draught of something every midwife carried to put them to sleep and they never woke up. The wolf clan considered it a mercy. The children couldn't run with the pack, but they would be hunted and killed by the pack's enemies all the same."
Feeling a knot form in her throat, Leah tried to swallow it down. It bubbled back up, releasing with a soft whimper. Who the hell would do that to a baby and think it was a mercy?
"Stop this, you're upsetting her." Seth put his hand on Esme's shoulder. "Just cast the spell."
"You don't understand." Esme brushed his hand away and inched closer to Leah. "These two came to the building tonight looking for a Hunter, one who finds and kills shifters. Only the Hunter wasn't looking for a shifter here -- there aren't any. He was looking for you. I'd be signing your death warrant if I put a forgetting spell on you."
Seth suddenly lifted his hand, stretching his fingers as Leah crawled toward the opposite side of the bed, her gaze growing bigger and her breathing becoming erratic. He shook his hand then balled it into a fist and rubbed his other hand against it.
Esme glanced over her shoulder. "It's tingling again. Do you believe me now?"
Seth nodded.
"Good, leave us alone for a few minutes so we can talk."
"No." He folded his arms across his chest, his stance widening.
Leah slid off the bed and crouched between the mattress and the wall. Her fingers tightened into a fist. She couldn't hope to win, but they'd leave here bloodied. "You're all crazy and I want you out now."
Esme pinned her in place with a hard stare and four words. "You dream about shifting."
Leah shook her head but her mouth trembled with the truth.
"You do." Her gaze narrowing even further, Esme nodded. "And you're so quick to say we're crazy because you grew up around people with violent mood swings. You have them yourself. You don't want to believe us because you think that would mean you're crazy, too, and there's nothing you're more afraid of than that."
Esme rubbed at the chair's armrests again, her eyes fluttering shut. "This is your favorite spot in the apartment -- maybe the whole world right now." She reached up, her hands caressing the flared wings of the chair's back. "You come here when you're afraid, lonely, missing someone very close to you."
Behind Esme, Seth growled but she ignored the warning. "Amanda…"
Tears flowed down the cheeks of both women.
Leah sniffled. "What do you know about Amanda?"
Esme's hands started to move across her stomach, her expression growing increasingly strained. Dana moved from the corner, his hand nervously reaching for the witch's shoulder but freezing before he touched her.
"She was like you," Esme answered. "Same hair…same eyes."
"My sister." Leah sank onto her bottom, her back against the bedroom wall and just her head showing above the mattress.
Esme took a shaky breath, her hands gripping the flesh of her belly, her nails pressing into her blouse and the skin beneath. "She's gone now."
"Murdered," Leah confirmed.
Esme nodded, her hand coming up to brush at a lingering tear. "You should come with us, but I won't put a forgetting spell on you if you refuse. No one will believe you if you say anything."
She rested an elbow on the mattress, her hand reaching across the bed toward Leah. "But whatever you do, you have to leave here tonight. If not with us, then go far, far away. And you have to keep on moving. You can never stop running."
Leah closed her eyes, drew her bottom lip between her teeth. When she looked up again, she hooked Esme's gaze and held it. "How do I know you're not the ones who want to hurt me?"
"It's simple, honey." Esme stood and shook out the folds of her long skirt. "You'd be dead already."
********************
Seth carried an overstuffed duffel and suitcase into the guestroom of Esme Foster's house and placed it center of the bed. Walking to the window, he opened the curtains and checked the lock. He could feel Leah out in the hall hesitating at the room's threshold. Slightly angling his head, he caught her reflection in the glass pane.
"Promise I won't bite, baby."
He'd meant it as a tease but she started wringing her hands. Sighing, he closed the curtains and turned to her. The room was small enough that it only took a few steps before he stood beside her. He expected her to retreat into the hallway, but she stood her ground, impressing him. Even within his pack, people had a way of backing away from him. Only Dana, his second in command, and Esme stood up to him -- and now Leah.
He closed his eyes for a second, breathing her in. This close, her smell made him drunk with need -- even more than it had been in the elevator or on the car ride back now that he'd had time to study its intricacies. There was a bite of hot pepper to it, like the fire she'd shown at her apartment when she told him to leave. An undercoating of dark chocolate gave just a play of bitter before her scent finally relented and melted across his tongue rich and sweet.
Opening his eyes, he fought the urge to curl his hand along the back of her pale neck and pull her to him for a first kiss. The timing sucked -- he had to figure out what her being a latent meant for the clan, not to mention the whole werewolf thing she had to deal with and the ashes of her dead sister Esme had stirred to life.
"You can go now." Leah lifted her chin, tried not to look at him and failed.
Her face was a work of art, the canvas smooth and pale with thin traces of blue beneath the skin. A barely perceptible cleft dented her narrow chin. He pictured his thumb flat against the spot, using it to control the tilt of her head as he kissed her. Those startling green eyes would close in surrender when his lips touched hers.
Not green. Green was too bland a description. She stared at him with irises the color of pale liquid moss, the kind he could happily roll around in for
hours in his wolf form. Right then, her pupils pulsed, their size huge. Watching them dance, he leaned a little closer and felt heat flare through her body.
God, what a body. The memory of pressing against her made his cock twitch. Definitely on the plus side, she had rounded arms with wide flared hips that dipped back down to plump thighs. Not at all like the women in his clan who were as hard and muscled as the males.
His gaze moved to her breasts. Full and sensuous, he could bury his head between them if she would only let him. But first he would suck the nipples to a swollen peak. Just thinking about it turned his tongue as hard as his dick.
He blinked, his gaze refocusing on the most lush, fuckable woman he'd ever seen. His woman, no matter how much she might deny it. She was a latent. She'd triggered his mating response. She didn't understand yet what that meant, but he knew. All the shifters before them, all the living, fucking, and dying to make room for the succeeding generations had distilled down to this one woman -- his genetic mate.
He reached up, not so much rethinking the kiss as knowing he had to taste her mouth before he took that hot, sweet pussy. She stepped back, her pupils growing impossibly bigger.
She swatted at his hand. "There'll be none of that!"
Fiery, but winnable. He grinned, matching her steps away from him until she had her back up against the door to the opposite room. Wrapping his hands around the door frame, he bent down until his lips were even with her glistening strawberry pucker of a mouth. Seth dropped one hand, slid it along the small of her back and pulled her to him.
"Do you know how much control it's taking not to strip you naked…"
Pausing, he trailed one fang over the curve of her ear. "Throw you on the bed…"
He sucked the bottom of her lobe into his mouth, his cock swelling with the need to plant his seed inside her.
"And lick you head to toe before I fuck you?"
A sexy little whimper, chased by a full-body shiver, ran through Leah. She surged against him for one brief second of pure heaven before she pushed at his chest and glared up at him.
"Do you even speak English?"
"No, but I hear he can howl in both Mandarin and Cantonese." Esme appeared around the corner carrying fresh towels for the guest bathroom and a small travel bag.