by Christa Wick
The sheltering of new latents threatens to expose the local wolf clan to a secret society of Hunters intent on driving the shifters to extinction. To strengthen the magic protecting their land, the clan's leader demands an ancient ritual that will bring Esme and Dana together for one sexually charged night but could drive them apart forever -- if the Hunters don't kill them first.
**********
Copyright © 2012 by Christa Wick
Sveva font licensed from astype@myfonts. Cover art licensed from and © iconogenic@istockphoto. Use of licensed images is for illustrative purposes only and does not imply the model's endorsement of or participation in any or similar activities contained in this work of fiction. All persons and entities are fictional.
Not for sale to libraries. No lending outside distributor (e.g. Kindle/Nook) terms of service. Otherwise, re-distributing, lending, or reading this e-book without first purchasing a license to do so is illegal and subject to heavy fines.
Curve Charm
Hearing a vehicle in her drive, Esme Foster headed for her front porch, her stomach already twisting in knots. The visitor would be her fourth that morning. Her friend Leah had been the first to arrive with news of more latents en route. Then two women had been delivered to Esme's doorstep frightened and fatigued but otherwise in good health. Fed, debriefed and given fresh clothes, they were now resting in Esme's guest room.
So much traffic so early was slightly unusual, but her house had become a way station for several dozen latents discovered in the six weeks since she and Leah had been kidnapped and tortured by a secret society known only as the Hunters. Esme had spent the first week after her rescue half-comatose from a heavy healing spell her mother Camille had placed on her. After that, Esme submerged herself in the pages of hastily abandoned documents found in a cabin used by the Hunters. Learning their secrets, she had developed spells from their techniques to find more latents, women with regressive wolf DNA who could bear children capable of shifting. She had also figured out a way to flip the charms Hunters used that would allow the werewolves to conceal themselves outside the clan's lands -- at least for a time. The more powerful the wolf totem of the shifter wearing it, the less potency the charm had.
Success came with a price, the least of which was a full house. The land the wolf clan kept as a sanctuary for shifters was starting to "glow," as Camille phrased it, making it harder by the day to keep the look-away spells in place. And the were-cloaking charm made it difficult for Esme to detect when Dana was near. She had the feeling he was close by more than she knew despite his pack leader Seth’s standing order that Dana limit his visits to delivering incoming latents.
Stepping onto the porch, the knots in Esme's stomach double tied and twisted harder as she recognized the driver of the vehicle. Dana -- exactly as she had feared. She stepped back inside, caught Leah's attention and bobbed her head at the door before retreating to her kitchen island and starting the kettle. She could usually sense the instant a new latent entered the house what tea and blend of herbs would relax the woman. Opening the cupboard, she rotated the herb jars and pulled the more calming, flavorful ones to the front.
Leah's voice cut through Esme’s mental inventory. "It's a little boy, not a woman."
"Clan?" Esme crossed quickly to the door, her gaze landing on the child before Leah could answer. He was no older than six with pitch black hair. The coloring gave nothing away, but the youngest child in the clan, a sweet ginger-haired girl, was older than ten. The fertility of the female wolves across the clans had been inexplicably dormant for the last decade.
"Are there male latents?" Leah whispered, her hand instinctively searching for Esme's, the two women as close as sisters since their shared ordeal.
"No, he's wolf," Esme answered. Even with the charm around his neck, she could tell the boy was a shifter. It was in the way his body moved and the unnatural muscular definition for his age despite his small size. When he grew up, he would be like the man helping him from the van, tall, lean and at least three times stronger than the most powerful human male.
Dana shut the truck door, his gaze drifting toward the house to land directly on Esme. With an exaggerated slowness he lifted the charms from around his neck one by one and tossed them on the driver's seat. He was up to four cloaking charms -- even Seth and Jack Cooper, the clan alpha, only needed three. He had kept the charms in place on the drive to stop her from sensing him, now he wanted her fully aware that her natural mate was near. She felt a hard blow of need with just the first of four removed.
Knees going weak, she staggered back toward the familiar comfort of her kitchen. She heard the heavy slap of Dana's boots on her porch and the delighted squeal of the boy followed by the soft thud of his feet.
"Do it again!" the boy cried.
Esme looked over her shoulder in time to see Leah open the door, the boy zooming into view. Dana's big hands gently secured the child's waist and lower ribcage as he swept the boy up in the air and back down for a landing. Seeing both women staring at him, surprise lingering in their eyes, the boy buried his face against Dana's hip.
"It's okay, Oscar." Dana brushed a thick black curl behind the boy's ear. "These ladies are friends. You want to tell them hello?"
The boy peeked with one eye, first at Leah then at Esme, his gaze vivacious but shy. He looked up at Dana, saw the big man smiling at him as his hand moved over the boy's head in a reassuring caress. Seeing the boy's reaction, Esme knew she wouldn't need any herbs for him. Dana's dominance as a male wolf was all the child needed to steady his nerves and make him feel safe.
She only wished she could say the same. Her nerves were officially shot, and not solely from Dana's appearance. She pulled out her favorite tea and a packet of chocolate powder. Holding the packet up, she smiled at Oscar. "Would you like some cocoa, Oscar?"
The other half of his face appeared, a smile breaking broadly across his face as he answered with a vigorous nod. With a hand against Oscar's back, Dana propelled him toward the kitchen table.
"Let's get you settled then." He pointed at Leah. "I bet if you smile at that pretty lady, she'll get you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to go with the cocoa."
Oscar nodded again, his head bobbing faster.
Leah laughed and closed the front door. "One PB&J coming up!"
She joined Esme in the kitchen, already familiar with the contents of the cupboard from the few weeks she'd lived in the house before moving in with Seth. Leah's hand dropped to her stomach, her smile widening at the idea of the child growing inside her. Esme's fingers brushed her shoulder, the witch's eyes glittering with approval.
"You'll make a great mom." Esme gave a little squeeze and then walked to within a few feet of the table. She looked at the sorry state of Oscar's clothes, already sensing the answer to the question running through her mind. "No…" she hesitated, not wanting to upset the little boy with the wrong choice of words. Shifters were fierce parents. Oscar’s were probably dead. "No caretakers?"
A faint shake of Dana's head confirmed her suspicion. "Any idea?"
Another head shake from Dana, briefer than the first, and she retreated back to the stove. She stayed safely behind her kitchen island, letting Leah take the sandwich and cocoa over to Oscar while she watched Dana interact with the little boy from the corner of her eye. Dana grabbed one of the bundles of witch's grass stacked at the table's far end, his fingers busy braiding as he casually asked the little boy questions.
With the two latents that had arrived that morning resting, she and Leah had returned to weaving charms from the fresh green blades and tufts. Leah had proven particularly adept at making the charms. That she was a l
atent pregnant with a shifter's child magnified the charms' effectiveness, but it was already clear to Esme that her friend would make a first class witch and prove a valuable ally to the clan. All the better that Leah was madly in love with Seth and the two were natural mates. She would serve the clan gladly as family and not as an outsider like Esme.
Esme sighed, not realizing she had done so until Dana's head swiveled in her direction, his gaze slicing through any façade of indifference she might throw up. She turned her back on him, shoulders squaring with the memory of their last heated argument. She’d been unconscious when Dana and Seth had rescued her from the cabin. It wasn’t until she woke up from Camille’s spell a week later that she discovered her secret was out. Not only did Dana know she was a latent and had been hiding the fact for years, but her once greatest hope that they were compatible as mates had come true.
Years too late, the bridges all burned -- the rift between them too great.
She picked up an already clean glass from the strainer and busied herself with washing it all over again. "Will the two of you be visiting Coop?"
Dana grunted and she had the sense he wasn't happy with the thought of handing the little boy over to anyone, even Jack Cooper. As clan alpha, Coop would place the boy with a pair of mated shifters, perhaps a set that already had a child.
Esme's chest tightened. Just shy of three hundred wolves inhabited the surrounding land. More than a third were beyond childbearing years. Another twenty-five were between eleven and eighteen. Not all of the adolescents had parents still living. The last one orphaned had created a thick chord of tension that still vibrated through the childless wolves, each couple more than eager to raise the cub. With Leah pregnant, the women in the clan had a bad case baby fever burning through them. Oscar, so young and undeniably adorable, could start an all-out war.
A peal of laughter from the little boy spun Esme around, her mouth involuntarily curling in a smile until she saw the crown of leaves on his head. She forced the smile back in place before Leah looked up.
Leah clapped her hands then embraced the boy. "Isn't he a little prince?"
Esme nodded, trying to look at Oscar's face and not the crown, too many painful memories resurfacing.
Hands gripping the granite counter top of her kitchen island, she felt herself drifting away, her plump body as light as a dandelion seed floating across a field to land on the cheek of her much younger self. A crown, fastened by the same hands, rested upon her head. On her back in the high grass, a blanket beneath her, she smiled up at Dana. He was on his side, up on one elbow, smiling down at her. He was eighteen to her sweet sixteen and every time she saw him, she felt a flutter of need deep in her stomach.
He'd never kissed her, but, on that faraway day, she felt like he had been dancing around it for months. He was close enough to do so, no one -- especially her mother -- there to scowl over the possibility of a wolf choosing to love a human. As far as Esme was concerned, there was no choice to it. She would stop wanting him the day she stopped breathing.
Not a second sooner.
Closing her eyes, one hip resting against her kitchen counter, Esme could see his lips moving on that distant afternoon, asking what she hoped the future held for her. She had swallowed her immediate response, still too shy to express her feelings. More than anything, she wanted him in her future, but instead she answered with what she naively believed would flow from loving him.
Children. Lots and lots of children.
She had been too young to realize humans and shifters couldn't reproduce together unless the female was a latent. Another four years would pass before she learned that her mother had been sewing charms into her clothes since before Esme hit puberty to hide the fact that Esme and every other witch in the nine generations of her family that had served that clan were latents. By then, the wall between Esme and Dana was too high. Like that dandelion seed, he had drifted away, randomly at first, then into the arms of other women, shifters and humans, all of them sleek and smaller than she could ever hope to be. When he looked at her at all, his gaze had grown another degree colder.
The sound of a second vehicle on her gravel drive pulled Esme away from the memory. She turned back to the sink, quickly brushing away the tears that threatened to spill. Another brush of her hand along the edge of her bra assured her that her charms were still in place. With his wolf senses, Dana could smell a great many of her emotions but, with the charms, he could only guess at some of them.
"Who's that?" Oscar's voice had grown cautious.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Dana scoop the little boy up. Esme knew by the energy crackling through Leah that, however many visitors had arrived, Seth was among them.
Leaning across the table, Leah parted the curtains and waved, a big smile lighting her face. "It's just my baby's daddy, little man."
"And my boss." Dana tweaked Oscar's nose. "Not as cool as me, but he's okay."
Leah's smile disappeared before Seth's boots hit the porch. Sensing something was wrong, both women headed for the door. Esme bent to grab her healer's kit, the door missing her by half an inch as Seth stepped inside and Leah wrapped him in a hug.
"What's wrong?" Leah kept her voice low, not wanting to frighten Oscar.
Seth didn't answer immediately. He rubbed a reassuring hand up and down Leah's back as his gaze landed briefly on Esme before jumping to Dana.
Seeing Oscar, his brow furrowed. "The boy should be at Coop's."
"His name is Oscar, love." Leah wrinkled a brow at Seth, her gaze asking him to turn his boss voice down a notch as the little boy buried his face against Dana’s neck.
Dana tossed one of his patented I-don't-give-a-shit smiles, but kept his tone level as he answered his pack leader. "Just getting a little food in him and making sure he didn't need any healing."
Seth sniffed, his nose telling him that the boy was in no immediate need of healing and that his beta had used the child as an excuse to see Esme. Seth's mouth flattened into a straight line. "Camille is a quarter mile from Coop's, she could have met you there and checked him over."
"I’ll remember that next time," Dana shrugged, knowing next time likely would never arrive. Not only was the cub the youngest child on Coop’s land, until Leah’s baby arrived, he would be the youngest child across the seven North American clans.
Lifting a hand to the boy’s face, Dana softly stroked Oscar's cheek. "Guess it's time for you to meet the big boss."
"No." Seth planted a kiss on Leah's forehead before extracting himself from her tight embrace. "Watch the cub, baby, and the women. Jory is just a few minutes behind me."
Leah nodded, her gaze landing on Esme as Seth turned toward the witch. "Leave your bag, Coop needs to talk to you."
Esme's brow shot up. Jack Cooper wasn't her biggest fan, far from it. He'd already tried to move her to another clan after she had spelled her house against Dana entering. If she hadn't been kidnapped by one of the Hunters and pulled a few new charms out of her ass after studying the documents found at the cabin, said ass would be parked somewhere north of Seattle.
Dana placed Oscar on the ground, gently shushing the child's protest. Straightening, he glared at his pack alpha. "What's this about?"
"Oh, you'll find out soon enough." Seth opened the door, his hand sweeping out in an invitation to leave. "You're coming with us."
**********
Esme sat in a chair in Jack Cooper's cavernous living room. Seth stood with his back against one door, Jack's second in command holding a similar position at the room's other door. In front of Esme, her mother sat, hands folded in her lap, her eyes locked on her interlaced fingers. Jack sat next to Camille, his elbows on his knees as he tried to stare Esme into changing her mind.
"You're blood bound, girl. You'll do it or face the consequences."
"Fuck that." She folded her arms across her chest, her gaze jumping between Coop and her mother. A little behind her and several feet to her right, she sensed the tension coiling insid
e Dana, but she forced herself to ignore it.
She focused her attention on Camille, still stunned that the idea had come from her mother. "Mom, this isn't…"
She stalled, words escaping her. What Coop was asking -- commanding -- was beyond wrong. It was barbaric. That Camille had brought the idea to him was a complete betrayal.
Not that she expected any better from the witch. Esme's whole life had been filled with reminders that she was an accident, a child that never should have been conceived. A mistake long before she started looking like one with her too round face and plump body. A mistake from conception, to delivery to…
Esme’s brain faltered, the room starting to spin. Breaking a blood oath meant death.
Behind her, Dana growled. She could feel the vibrations rolling off him, his desire to shift almost uncontrollable. She blinked, tried to rid herself of his energy and the heavy fog that settled atop her brain. She needed to think straight if she was going to avoid Coop’s demand.
"Your oath, girl." Jack slammed his hands down on his knees. "Name the wolf and be done with it. There's no need for all this fuss."
Oh, but there was. Otherwise no one would have suggested she…
Esme took a deep breath in, unable to finish the thought. Forcing herself not to turn and look at Dana, she closed her eyes. If she refused, would Coop actually order her execution or just ban her? Either was a death sentence. As much protection as she gave the clan with her spells and charms, she drew power from the magic inherent in shifters. Away from clan land, with no shifters, she would be easy prey to the Hunters.
Opening her eyes, she looked at Seth. She saw kindness when he looked back, but no help. Her compliance, if Camille was right, would offer greater protection to Leah and his unborn child, everyone in the clan. As a pack alpha, maybe even clan alpha when Jack stepped down, it was his job to enforce the oath as much as it was Coop's.
"Baby…"
The word dripped like poison from Camille's mouth. Not once could Esme remember her mother having used it before this meeting. Now she was repeating it for the third time.