by Christa Wick
"Yes," Camille bit out. "Everyone's come to have a go at healing him. They can't let another one of their precious shifters die, can they?"
Camille’s face pinched into a hateful moue. "I wanted to take you home, baby girl, but they wouldn't let me. He started thrashing like a banshee in his bed the first time I tried. No one even told him we were doing it."
Looking at the door, Camille's gaze narrowed. "Seth said you had to stay. And that 'friend' of yours agreed. Like I don't know what's best for my own daughter!"
Esme slowly absorbed Camille's words, her panic easing now that she knew Dana was alive. "How many days have I been out?"
"Three." Camille didn't look at Esme when she answered.
"Don't lie. How many?"
The old woman closed her eyes for a second and then looked at Esme. "Almost five."
Ready to explode, Esme inhaled deeply. Five days! She could have been healing Dana those five days. She shook her head. "I don't understand, mom. If you don't want to help them, you didn’t have to suggest the ritual. The blood oath doesn’t care if you’re useless."
Camille's mouth popped open, tears wetting her eyes. Her arms strained to move but the restraining spell had her tethered in place. From the way Camille's eyes were pleading, Esme knew her mother wanted to stroke her, the thought alien and uncomfortable.
Esme shook her head, communicating to Camille that the restraining spell would stay in place until she released Esme from the same. Camille started to chant, Esme finishing a word or two behind her mother, her body free before she released Camille. Catching her mother, Esme kept her at arm's length. "Why?"
"Baby, I wouldn't have let him soil you if there was another way to break your blood bond." Camille squirmed, tried to free her arms from Esme's steely grip. "But you're free now, you can leave. We--"
Esme stopped her mother. "Mom, I love Dana."
Camille tilted her head to the side, fresh tears splashing hot on Esme's arms. "Well, who else was there to love, baby? One of the other cubs who wanted nothing to do with you unless they needed a charm?"
Esme didn't tell Camille she was off her rocker. There's never any point in telling someone they're crazy. Doing so only has the chance to make them more dangerous. Instead, Esme stood and walked to the door. Stepping into the hall, she closed the door and spelled a lock in place before quickly locating Seth and Leah.
Leah almost tackled her, joyful tears springing to her eyes at the sight of her friend up and walking around. Esme allowed herself a few seconds inside Leah's embrace before she repeated an abbreviated transcript of the conversation she'd just had with her mother.
Leah's eyes grew wider with each detail given while Seth visibly started to steam. Esme raised a hand, trying to calm him. "Whatever you're thinking of doing, this is for the Witches Council -- she hasn't broken her blood oath."
"She kept you from healing Dana," he growled. "He's not well, Ems. He may still be dying."
Esme felt the hammer connect with her head again, the psychic blow almost knocking her off her feet. She licked her lips. She couldn't abandon Camille. No matter how misguided the woman had been, Camille was her mother. "She danced at the perimeter, Seth. Just like I did when I warded my home against Dana's entry."
She paused, took a deep breath in and hoped he wouldn't see past her next statement for what it was -- an empty threat. "Promise me you'll transport her safely to the Witches Council so that I can start healing Dana with a clear mind."
Grinding his teeth, Seth looked to his mate for guidance. Leah placed a comforting hand against the back of Esme's shoulder. Esme couldn't see the slight nod Leah gave him, but she saw the acquiescence in Seth's gaze. Turning to Leah for a quick hug, she whispered in her ear. "I'd like a quick shower first."
**********
Freshly showered and dressed, Esme hesitated outside Dana's bedroom door. Her mate was on the other side, his body still weak and wracked with pain from the mercury and other substances Quentin had injected into him. From Leah's report, half a dozen healers had visited his bedside, each doubtful of a cure and all of them amazed he had lived.
Esme rested her forehead against the door, forcing herself not to cry. She had poured a little bit of her soul into Dana in the van. She would have pushed all of it down his throat if she hadn't blacked out. What was the point of living if he wasn't there to drive her crazy?
Quietly, she turned the door handle. Knowing he had refused to see any more healers, she didn't want to wake him just yet. If she was lucky, she would be able to put a sleeping spell on him and not have him fighting her every inch of the way.
Stepping inside the room, she knew her plan had already failed. She could feel his gaze on her, hard and penetrating. She shut the door and approached the bed, her eyes focused on the floor.
"Camille said you were in a coma."
Esme bit at her lip, uncertain how much to tell him. The truth would likely make him furious. Heaven forbid he might actually agree with her mother, but who knew how he would react! From the tone of his voice, he already wanted an excuse to drive her from the room.
Mute, she sat on the bed. Without asking his permission to do so, she reached up and grabbed the edge of the fur blanket covering him. He grabbed her wrists, no strength in his hands to stop her if he wanted to.
"She said I almost killed you."
Esme lifted her gaze to meet his. "None of this was your fault."
His mouth twitched, telling her she was wrong. She shook her head and freed her wrists with a gentle twist. "None of it," she repeated and peeled the blanket further down his chest. The veins stood out, black and throbbing but no longer whipping around beneath his skin.
He pushed impotently at her hands when she tried to place her palms against his chest. Only his voice remained strong enough to command her. "It weakened the others."
She continued meeting his gaze. "I'm stronger than any of them."
It wasn't a boast, didn't sound like one. She moved her hands lower down his stomach, her fingers wrapping around his trim waist. Even poisoned and disfigured, he was the most beautiful man she could ever imagine. When she looked in his eyes again, tears brimmed in her own. "And none of them were your mate. That makes me even stronger when it comes to healing you."
Dana blinked, the gesture a small capitulation granting her permission to try.
Esme released the breath she'd been holding and slowly lowered her head until her mouth hovered over his rib cage. A tilt of her head brought her nose into contact with his skin. She lightly brushed the tip back and forth, inhaling as she did so. Lungs full, she slowly breathed out. Her lips skimmed the surface of one fat black vein, the blue light leaving her penetrating the pulsing membrane. Black lightened to a deep indigo.
She repeated the process, her hands surfing along his body at the same time. Her fingertips trailed along the smaller veins. Black ash so fine it looked like a fog floated toward the ceiling. She knew it was really working when Dana grabbed her head, his grip strong enough to force her to look at him.
She let him stare long and hard into her eyes before she told him. "I’m okay, love."
That last word shattered any protest left in him. His fingers relaxed in her hair but he didn't let go. His hands moved with her head. When she captured one blackish-blue nipple and sucked it into her mouth, he groaned. His hips lifted. She pressed him back down with a palm against his lower belly.
Feeling the hard poke of his cock against her wrist, her chest swelled with hope. The magic wasn't just working. It was really, really working. Muscles that had wasted almost to nothing thickened beneath her touch. The veins receded, their color a faint bluish green beneath his skin.
Taking control of the healing session, Dana flipped Esme onto her back. Completely naked beneath the fur blanket, he wanted to equalize the situation.
Immediately.
Fingers that couldn't twist a juice cap that morning deftly unthreaded the buttons on her blouse. Pushing the fabric to Esme's
sides, he paused to look into her sea green gaze. Watching her cautiously, he bit at his bottom lip. "You said love."
She nodded, acknowledging she had, indeed, called Dana love. "I said mate, too."
His eyes fluttered shut. His head dropped to nuzzle between her full breasts. Covering the valley with wet, sucking kisses, he slid his hands beneath her to unhook her bra. Eager to be just as naked as her mate, she helped Dana relieve her of the rest of her clothes.
Bare flesh against bare flesh, he lightly cupped the sides of her face. "I've been a complete bastard."
She nodded, knowing it wasn't right to lie to her mate. But acknowledging it wasn't the full truth. She cupped his face in return. "And I've been an absolute bitch."
Dana shook his head, his denial sincere. "You didn't give me any hell I didn't deserve."
Esme's chest tightened painfully. She didn't want to cry, but he had to know. "Neither of us deserved it, love. It just was."
Dana kissed away her tears, his hands exploring her body at a leisurely pace. With her tears erased, his lips moved down to her mouth. He teased her lips apart with little licks and a gentle sucking, his fingers mimicking the motions between her thighs.
A kiss, the first one she could admit to wanting. Relaxing into the pillow, Esme draped her arms around his shoulders. Letting him control the kiss, she voiced her approval with soft throaty moans. Against her legs, Dana's cock competed with his hand. The long, fat shaft rubbed at her thigh as his fingers stroked her pussy. His thumb massaging her clit, he eased two fingers into her moist channel.
When she squeezed at them, Dana moaned into her mouth, the press of his lips harder. His hips took up an insistent little grind. Between breaths, Esme managed a small plea. "I want you in me."
Breaking the kiss, Dana smiled at her and slowly shook his head. "Not until I've tasted you again."
Her brain melted at the thought. Dana licking and sucking at the juncture of her thighs, her hands free to squeeze her heavy breasts, milking more pleasure as the pressure against her clit built to an uncontainable ecstasy. "Yes," she breathed out, already squirming at the idea.
Chuckling, Dana moved down her lush body, his gaze mischievous when he halted at her breasts. "I didn't say what I wanted to taste."
Hoping he intended to sample everything, she moaned as he sucked one swollen nipple into his mouth. His fingers slid deeper inside her pussy, the knuckles gently dragging inside her as he rotated and emerged covered in her juices. His fingertips slid lower to wetly rub at her anus.
With a whimper of need, Esme forced her thighs further apart, encouraging him to explore exactly where he wanted to. Her body's response ripped a growl from Dana. Abandoning her breast, he disappeared further down the bed until the hot seal of his mouth took possession of her clit. His fingers, slick with her cream, pushed at her anus to slowly coax the muscles of her ass into submission.
Crying out in pleasure, Esme threaded her fingers through his hair. Her hips danced, taking shallow dips, making minute rotations as he gently finger fucked her ass. Bullying the pearl hiding under her clit into complete surrender, Dana multiplied his mate's pleasure.
Soft, fervent whispers of yes and there and ohgoddessyesyesyes told him her release was almost upon her. Backing off from the pressure on her clit, he slowed his exploration of the hot channel of her ass. Esme cursed, then begged. She offered him anything if he would just continue.
His lips pinching at her clit, he shook his head and throttled another plea from her sweet mouth. He had no intention of stopping, wanted her quivering and moaning beneath him every remaining day of his life.
Mewling with need, Esme sat up. With Dana's broad shoulders keeping her thighs pushed apart, she curled around his head. Gravity, and a hand at the back of his skull forcing him tighter to her aching clit, did the rest.
"Oh!" She bucked against his mouth, liquid pleasure exploding the veins inside her body. Another hard sucking lick from her mate and she jerked again, her pussy seizing with jealousy as her ass clenched around his thick fingers and another explosion erupted to fill Dana's mouth.
Slurping at her juices, he continued riding the swollen saddle of her clit, his tongue working the small nodule as he slid a third finger into Esme's ass and she came again. The force of her climax slammed her back down to the mattress.
Only half done satisfying his mate, Dana surged up her body. Spreading her plump thighs, he stared down at the wet pulse of her cunt. Watching the lingering contractions from her climax quiver across the pink, delicate inner folds of her sex, Dana licked his lips.
"So fucking beautiful, baby."
Seeing him devour her pussy with his gaze, Esme combed her nails through the soft fur covering her mound. Reaching the swollen outer labia, she pulled them further apart, exposing more of her pussy to his ravenous inspection. The skin along her clit pulled tight with each pulse inside her uterus.
"I need you in me." Esme whimpered as a strong contraction squeezed her cunt like a velvet fist. Unable to restrain the lust filling her, she rubbed her fingers over her clit. "Please, baby."
Dana licked his lips several times over and then he slowly lowered his cock until it was level with the twisting and rolling gate of muscle. He felt swollen to twice his normal size, knew he was in danger of immediately knotting once he entered her -- if not before he entered her sweet clutching depths.
Biting down on his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, Dana slowly pushed the head of his cock into his mate's pussy. She moaned in submission at the breach. Her fingers stretched her labia before gliding down to stuff more of his cock into her tight channel.
"Oh, yes," she cried softly. "Please love, all of you, now."
His need just as urgent, he sank into her with one sustained push, dominating the muscles of her cunt as they instinctively pushed back. "Mine," he growled at the resistance.
"Yes!" Fingers straining, Esme cupped his testicles. The pads of her middle and index fingers pressed along his perineum at the spot where his thick, heavy balls attached to the rest of his body.
He ballooned immediately inside her, making her gasp and leaving her breathless.
"So big." Esme abandoned Dana's balls to dig her nails into his firm ass cheeks. Knowing he couldn't pull out now that he was knotted, she urged him deeper.
Lightly resting his weight against his mate, Dana faintly rotated his hips. He felt every millimeter of play inside her tight pussy. Her muscles hugged him, caressed him, the contractions rolling through Esme milking a thick stream of pre-cum from his dick. Pushing at the mattress, he forced his arms beneath her. His embrace unrelenting, he reared onto his knees, hauling Esme's lush body with him. Her ample weight forced her down on his cock until just his balls were exposed.
She started to ride him. Her spine arched. Her big, gorgeous breasts bobbed up to tease his mouth before she curled forward, denying his tongue and lips but sending a bolt of pleasure straight through the center of his shaft like he'd been hit by lightning. Another backward curling of her spine and he thought he would pass out from the pure ecstasy his mate offered.
Satisfaction wanted to shut his eyes but he forced them to stay open. She was beautiful to behold -- stunning in her uninhibited arousal as she bounced and wiggled on his dick, the thick knot near its base ensuring she would not slip free. Eyes closed, Esme licked at the lush pout of her mouth, his prick further engorged by the thought of her lips enveloping him.
"Baby…" Dana wrapped his arms around her body, trying to prolong the moment before he succumbed to the fierce caress of her sweet, sweet cunt. "Baby, please…"
Esme shook her head, her eyes tightly sealed as she wedged her hand between their bodies. Her fingers found her clit, their firm press against that swollen little spine of need causing her cunt to move in ways that blew his mind. Dana's head snapped back, his ass lifting to spear his cock higher as she cried out. Her cervix, fully descended, convulsed. The external os just above it dilated. The push of Dana’s cock’s head
as he fully embedded himself inside his mate's pussy forced the narrow aperture to remain open, the rest of her pussy squeezing and fisting his dick as the first jet of his release squirted inside her.
Crying out, Esme wrapped her arms around him, hugging her mate tightly as more of his seed spurted inside her. Tears rolled down her cheeks, jerked loose with each pulse of him inside her. Nuzzling her neck, he told her again that he loved her, that he always had and always would.
Her body still lost in her release, Esme repeated his words, made the confession and the promise her own as he tenderly returned her to the mattress.
His cock slow to unknot, Dana kissed Esme. Along her throat, up under her chin, the corners of her mouth before he plundered that sweet, moist cavern. Hearing her soft moans, he laughed. "I might never be able to pull out if you don't stop driving me crazy with those needy little sounds, love."
She moaned again, unable to contain it. His cock swelled a little thicker in instant reaction. He buried his face against her thick curls. "Baby, I'm serious."
Esme giggled before whispering an apology. He hadn't heard her giggle in a decade. The sound made his chest swell bigger than his cock ever could. He held her more tightly, his face staying buried in her soft hair to hide his tears. He knew a ton of trouble still waited for them outside their home. But he knew trouble traveled in more than one direction. He would shred any man, wolf or witch who tried to take his mate from him again.
Forgetting his tears, Dana lifted his head and told her. Smiling and kissing his cheeks, Esme forced her throat to relax. She stroked his hair, nodding because she couldn't find the right words.
"Forever, baby." Dana kissed her again, then gazed into her eyes until her head bobbed and she repeated him.
"Forever."
Thank you!
You know the story doesn’t have to end here. Like, what the hell is up with crazy mama Camille? And that Cade -- he’s kinda sweet and totally hot. You just know he wouldn’t mind a curvy girl warming his bed, but does he have a craving to be mated to one of his own? Is Quentin dead? Who is Esme’s father? Who are Oscar’s parents. Oh, and what about Coop’s headaches?