by Christa Wick
Ignoring Seth's frustrated growl, she disappeared into the guest room and placed the items on the dresser. Re-entering, she pointed down the hall. "Pillow and blankets are on the couch. Keep the snoring to a minimum."
Leah shook her head, the raven black strands settling in a tousle around her face. "He can't stay here."
The hell he couldn't! Seth wrapped a lock of Leah's hair around his finger. Soft, smooth as silk, it made him wonder how much smoother and softer the fur between her legs was. His cock shifted inside his jeans. Not only was he staying -- he'd be damned if he would sleep on the couch, not when she was this close. He'd almost had her. A kiss, a lick along the corner of her mouth and she would have forgotten the ridiculous human rituals of courtship and surrendered.
Esme snorted. "If you can convince him to leave, please teach me."
Seth dipped his head back down to Leah's ear. "Yes, love. Convince me."
He didn't care if Dana's witch was standing right behind him. He exhaled along the curve of Leah's neck, heating the sensitive flesh before the tip of his tongue darted out to stroke it. Running his palm across her breast, he felt the tip harden. Her scent, heavy with arousal, rose to greet him. He took a deeper breath in, realizing she was just days away from ovulating.
As a latent, it was possible she would be able to bear his children. There were no little ones in the pack. A decade had passed since the last child was born to any of the clans. A hungry growl escaped him, his hand tightening on her breast as his chest started to ache.
"Staying right here, beautiful."
Leah reached between them, pressed her thumb against the underside of his chin and pushed. "I'll leave if you don't."
Her voice caught as she rejected him. Seth pulled back, his gaze landing first on her eyes. It hurt too much to look at them. Anger sparked deep inside the pupils. The quiver in her mouth told him he'd gone too far. The lick, the breast, calling her love.
The ache in his chest deepened. If the stories about latents were true, she should be feeling the same connection. His mating instinct would not have been triggered otherwise.
Behind him, the witch cleared her throat. "Seth--"
He growled. Whatever Esme was going to say, he didn't want to hear it. He didn't need the two of them ganging up on him.
The warning didn't deter Esme, just softened her tone. "It's a lot for someone who grew up outside the clan to process."
"You said they were hunting her." Turning away from Leah, Seth glared at Esme. "She's in danger and she's my..."
Feeling Leah stiffen behind him, he swallowed the word down before he could say it. She had looked horrified back at her apartment when Esme had mentioned his mating response. It hadn't helped that he lost control of the change in the stairwell, showing her his fangs. Despite her body's continued arousal, she probably thought he was some kind of rabid beast who would claw her to shreds.
"Fine." He relented with a snarl. "Dana will watch her."
A small swell of satisfaction eased his pain as Esme paled. Petty, he knew, but he felt better knowing he wouldn't be the only one whose night was ruined. Dana and his pretty little witch could be miserable right along with him.
Esme acquiesced with a tilt of her head, her nostrils flaring slightly in irritation before she waved him away. He turned, gave one last look at Leah, who studiously avoided his gaze, and left the house.
********************
Certain she wouldn't get any sleep, Leah started to unpack the duffel. Once she agreed to leave with them, Seth had given her only thirty minutes to gather up a few clothes and any keepsakes she cherished. Lucky for him, her salary at the school only managed to keep her fed with a low-rent roof over her head for the year. She'd been able to bring all of her clothes and her only keepsake -- a silver-framed picture of her and Amanda.
Esme stood just inside the doorway watching. "Do you mind if I help?"
Leah looked over her shoulder at the woman, hoping her eyes countered the indifferent lift of her shoulders. She had a million questions she wanted to ask if she could only figure out how to start and what topics might be off limits.
Grabbing some hangers from the closet, Esme opened the suitcase. "You know, if you're curious about anything…"
Leah chewed at her lip, uncertain which question to start with. Esme had already fed her information on the drive. Leah knew they were in a remote area an hour out of the town she lived in, with all of the surrounding land owned by the clan under various names. She knew the clan consisted of several packs, each numbering anywhere from a handful of werewolves to a couple dozen and headed by a pack leader like Seth. Years past, packs would have been blood related, but the people Esme referred to as the Hunters were close to achieving a complete genocide.
Her stomach did a sick back flip at the thought of so many people ruthlessly murdered.
Pulling a pair of slacks from the duffel, she handed them to Esme. "Are there other humans living with this clan?"
"Two." Putting the slacks on the hanger, she walked over to the closet and hung them. "My mother, Camille, and a healer named Gordon who looks as old as Moses."
Opening the suitcase, Leah unwrapped a blouse from around the silver frame. Both women in the picture had pure black hair. Frail from childhood, Amanda was the smaller of the sisters despite being three years older than Leah. They had their arms around each other, their heads turned toward the camera, lips puckered in a playful kiss to the friend snapping the photo.
Leah placed the frame on the nightstand and looked over her shoulder. "Is your mom a…uh..."
"Witch?" Esme laughed and nodded. "My family has served the clan for nine generations."
Returning to the bed, she gestured at the picture. "You and Amanda?"
Clearing her throat, Leah looked away. "Yeah, the summer before she was murdered."
"About the frame," Esme scratched at her chin for a second then pinched at her lower lip. "You have to be careful with silver around the pack."
Leah's head swiveled. "You mean that silver bullet mumbo-jumbo is true?"
"Not exactly." The suitcase and duffel empty, Esme settled on the edge of the mattress. "Silver is a conduit for magic -- it magnifies potency. It's dangerous to the pack in my hands because I'm a very well-trained witch. So if I chucked a silver tea tray at Dana's head…"
Looking as if she'd contemplated the act more than once, a grin erupted across Esme's face before her expression quickly sobered. "Anyway, as a latent, there's a certain magic inherent in you, even if it's unschooled."
Leah started to protest, but Esme cut her short. "No one ever called you a jinx growing up?"
Leah didn't answer.
"You didn't have a talent for finding things people lost?"
"Anyone can figure--"
"And you didn't always know exactly before someone you cared about or really disliked showed up or called?" Esme studied Leah for a few seconds before grinning again. "Hot damn, three out of three!"
Picking up the suitcase and duffel, Leah turned away and put them in the closet. She felt her cheeks heat up, the witch almost as good as Seth at making her feel self-conscious. Leaning against the closet doorframe, she watched Esme put fresh linen cases on the pillows.
"I sort of shut it off after Amanda died." Suddenly cold, she wrapped her arms around her chest. "The week before she was murdered, I had a feeling of dread, leaden…suffocating."
Esme stopped dressing the bed and stared at Leah. "You've had it again since then."
Leah nodded. "It started a few days ago. I didn't recognize it until you said Amanda's name at the apartment."
Crossing the room, Esme gently took Leah's hands and held them. "That's why you came with us."
Blinking, Leah felt a small trickle of tears. Freeing one hand, she wiped them away. "I was going to run a few errands this afternoon after I started a load of laundry but the sensation got really heavy. I locked myself in my apartment until it stopped about ten minutes before I ran into Seth."
"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 of the house 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."
Leah's cheeks heated and she hoped the witch couldn't actually read minds. A man like Seth, virile and beyond handsome, wouldn't look at her on the street, in a restaurant or anywhere else. His reaction wasn't an aesthetic attraction to her. She needed to prove it to him and to her own foolish heart before she started believing he really did like her.
She met Esme's gaze just as 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.
********************
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.
Certain that the source of Esme's fury was Dana, Leah dressed quickly, washed her face in the guest bathroom and headed down the hall hoping the man would behave better with an audience.
"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 to 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 by the time you got up 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 had detected more than a flicker of irritation from Dana when the other shifter had 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 porch 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. C
ade 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 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.