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

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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 latent 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 inside 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.

"In nine generations, you're the most powerful witch the clan has known and this…" Camille rubbed her hands against her legs, her words getting lost in the movement.

"Pick the wolf or I'll do it myself!" Coop bellowed and pushed the coffee table between them to the side as if ready to immediately carry out his threat.

Dana rose, his growl telling Esme he was seconds from transforming. Coop growled back, coarse hairs sprouting along his hands and neck. As clan alpha, his display of power should have been enough to force any wolf to submit, but the younger wolf seemed immune to the command. Esme heard the pop of muscles and cartilage behind her, Coop's dominance slowing but not stopping Dana's shift.

Seth moved from the door, his hand up as a signal for Coop's beta to stand down. "Dana--"

"I told you not to bring him," Coop snapped.

Esme wished Seth had listened. The request was humiliating enough without Dana there to witness it.

"It's not my oath," she whispered, shaking her head, knowing that her protest was lost on the clan alpha. Blood bound blood, no matter how many generations had passed. There was no stronger law in magic than that. Her ancestor’s oath was all Coop needed.

"You'll be free if you do," Camille whispered. "This kind of blood magic will break the oath's power. Whether you stay or leave, it will be by your choice."

Esme thought she saw tears shining in her mother's eyes. She shook her head. Tears weren't possible, not from Camille. And her words were lies, whether the older witch realized it or not. Even if the ceremony broke the oath, a new oath likely would be extracted or she would be forced off clan lands. Coop had her coming and going and he knew it. The other clan alphas would follow his lead, particularly after Gordon, the last unbound healer, had betrayed them.

She would be degraded if she obeyed, dead if she didn't.

"Esme." Dana pushed past Seth and dropped to the ground in front of her in human form. His hand covered her knee for half a second before she shrank from his touch.

She knew he was staring at her face, could feel the searing intensity of his gaze, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. "Make him leave."

"Baby, we--" His hand wrapped around her ankle, the grip possessive and demanding.

She jerked her foot up, curling her leg between her ass and the cushion as her body protectively folded in on itself. There could be no "we" between her and Dana. Once, a long time ago, the possibility had been there. But he'd walked away from her. Slowly at first then like a fucking freight train.

That kiss she had waited for in the field fell on another woman's mouth and then another's. His hands had wrapped around other women's hips, held them tightly to him as he penetrated their bodies.

She'd had a decade of loneliness -- a cold hard bed with just her in it, the very quality that had led her to this moment, to Coop's demand that she spread her legs and let a wolf take first blood.

Now Dana was all but begging to be that wolf. Not because he actually loved her or wanted her -- he'd had ten plus years to claim her. No, he'd been sniffing around her the last six weeks because a sequence of chemicals commanded his selection of her as his mate.

"Ems…"

She felt her chest crack open. He'd called her that only a handful of times over the last decade. Each time had been like a knife in her heart, reminding her of what could have been, sparking the stupid hope that something had changed when nothing ever changed, not his casual indifference, not his frequent if only temporary bedmates.

"I only wanted you to have what I couldn't give you."

The words caught as they left him, hooking and tearing chunks of flesh as they passed through his throat and out his mouth. She still didn't believe him, wouldn't be so stupid as to let that hope back in.

Esme looked up. Refusing to meet Dana's gaze, she glared at Coop, her acceptance issued as a single word. "Cade."

"Ems--"

"Cade," she repeated, her whole body wanting to climb up the chair and away from the wolf at her feet.

"Esme." Dana's voice was a low rumble of menace.

"Cade." Her voice shook on the final reiteration, her heart pounding in her chest to shake the name free.

Dana rose, his eyes as dead as they were deadly. "Fine," he snarled. "I'll fetch him for you. How many pieces?"

He spun on his heels, Seth trying to growl him into obedience. Fabric started to strain as both men hovered at the edge of their transformation.

"Move." Dana's claws extended.

Seth's claws quickly followed suit. From the opposite door, Coop's beta moved at last, his clothes ripping and falling to the floor. The clan alpha hovered at the edge of his seat, snarling and snapping to no effect.

The knowledge that Dana would not back down until someone was bleeding half dead on the floor cracked Esme's chest open a little wider. She could care less about Coop and his beta, but she didn't want Leah's baby born fatherless, didn't want…

She tried to shake the image of Dana dying on the floor from her head, but the vision wouldn't dislodge.

"Stop!" Her cry was wet with tears. She buried her face against the chair's leather cushion, not wanting anyone to see her capitulation. "I won't choose Cade."

"Baby--"

She felt Dana's hand on her shoulder, slapped blindly at it. "Go! I don't want to see you before or after!"

He hesitated and she screamed into the chair. "Leave now or I'll take it all back!"

Eyes glued shut, her hands covering her ears, she felt Dana slink away. Another long week would pass before she saw him again, when her magic and Dana's wolf totem were as full as the moon in the black sky above them.

**********

Esme spent the week in self-imposed isolation. Her magic unstable from the strong emotions running through her, she had Seth find other homes to foster the latents. She refused to meet his gaze when he came to retrieve them, knowing rage and resentment burned in her eyes. It sizzled across her skin, the air around her crackling with energy.

The whole house seemed possessed with her anger. Doors opened and slammed shut without her near them. Glasses shattered inside the cupboards. When Camille visited the day before the ceremony with instructions for Esme's ritual cleansing, the blue skies vanished on her arrival. Big black clouds materialized to drop hail the size of grapefruit on her mother's car.

When the night of the full moon finally arrived, she stayed in her room. She greeted none of the four witches summoned to mark the compass points outside her home while Dana mounted and shamed her. Facing her bedroom window, her stare blank, she ignored Camille as the older witch dressed the bed in charmed linen. And when her mother had the audacity to approach her, to reach out as if to place a comforting hand on Esme's shoulder, the floor-to-ceiling wardrobe began to quake, its vibrations building until it threatened to crash down on both women.

Alone, the robe around her naked body uncharmed, she waited for Dana's arrival with her eyes closed and her head filled with memories. She saw the two of them, both outsiders within the clan, running through the woods together. Only ten and human, she was no match for his shifter's speed but he never pulled too far ahead, just enough to duck behind a tree so he could scoop her up when she ran by, twirl a circle with her in his arms, his forehead touching hers, and then place her back on the ground and run ahead. Esme at four, a lisping shy girl in her mother's healing room when Coop came back from a rescue mission with an unknown, orphaned cub who couldn't -- or wouldn't -- shift to human form. Esme sneaking back into the room that night against her mother's orders, her already generous frame curled against his shivering body as she smoothed her fingers through the dense undercoat and whispered her favorite calming spell. Her waking hours later next to a little boy with blond hair as dark as her own and yellow-gold eyes that sparkled like topaz.

Feeling Dana's arrival outside her home, Esme wiped angrily at her eyes and wished she could live life in reverse -- that tonight was long past and tomorrow she would wake and look into those tawny eyes for the first time, everything between them fresh and full of promise.

All the way at the opposite side of the house, separated by three walls and sixty feet of floor space, Esme sensed Dana's first step on her porch. The vibrations of the impact rippled across wood and carpet, growing heavier with each step until Esme felt like she was on the ocean, tossed by giant waves.

He didn't knock, just paused outside her door for a few seconds with his palm against the wood, feeling her presence as clearly as she felt his. Still alone in her room, she shook her head. It wasn't right to feel someone so strongly when she wanted nothing more than to forget he ever existed. She inched toward the headboard, stopping when her back met the hard, cold surface.

The knob twisted. Dana pushed the door open, taking everything slow and cautious as he studied her face. His cheeks flushed a dark red. His chest lifted in deep breaths made deeper by the wide flare of his nostrils. Black pupils clouded three quarters of his iris, leaving only a band of gold around the glittering dark inset.

His hand brushed along her cheek, cupping her face. "We'll take it slow--"

She shook her head, the dark blonde curls whipping around her face. She wanted it over and done. This wasn't mating or lovemaking -- only ritual fucking. It required neither time nor desire -- just a shield and its penetration.

Dana shook his head in return, denying her any hope of a quick ending. His other hand came up to capture the opposite side of her face and hold her immobile as his fingers trailed down her throat to slip beneath the robe's lapel. He pushed lightly, baring her pale white shoulder.

Shifting his weight, Dana placed one knee on the mattress. He traced her collarbone with one fingertip, the trail descending down between her breasts as his gaze soaked in more of her exposed flesh. Leaning closer, he forced her head to tilt back as his other hand dipped inside the robe to palm her breast.

Heat radiated from his palm, searing her flesh like an open flame. His lips brushing against her cheek, he tugged at her nipple. A kiss followed, just below her ear as he pinched her breast’s swollen peak. "I said slow, baby. All night if that's how long it takes for you come to your senses."

Esme turned her head to stare at the lamp, her vision blurring. She sucked a hard breath in, aching with the knowledge that her own body was complicit with the clan's betrayal. When he touched her, it hurt. When he stopped touching her, it hurt even more.

Dana sank to his knees on the floor. One arm rested along the outside of Esme's thigh, keeping her caged between his body and the headboard as his fingers unknotted the robe's sash. Thinking of all the women he had bedded, their trim, athletic bodies, she reached for the light.

He pushed the lamp out of reach and returned to the knot. "There’s no hiding tonight."

Dana slid the sash from the loops. Fisting the lapels, he guided Esme onto her back. His hand slipped beneath the fabric to possess her hip. His cheek brushed hers, his mouth resting lightly against her ear. "I've always wanted you. You were my first wet dream, baby."

"Don't call me that." Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her body fighting for more air as her lungs constricted inside her.

He shushed her, his grip on her growing more possessive as he tugged her closer. "Children, you said. Do you remember that? You wanted lots and lots of children."

Dana captured her face with both hands, forcing her to look at him as one leg slid across her thighs, his body lightly draping hers. "You wanted the one thing I couldn't give you -- stop punishing me for trying to let you find it elsewhere."

Within the tight confines of his hands, she shook her head. He'd done no such thing! Even if she had wanted another male, human or not, he wouldn't let anyone near her. Already outcast as one of the only humans on the clan's lands, he'd isolated her further, few males stupid or confident enough to dare his fury by getting closer to her. He'd discarded her and made sure no one else would pick her up.

"Love--"

"Don't!" She pushed at his chest. "Don't call me that! Not love, not baby. Finish this so I can be through with you!"

His gaze hardened, the yellow-gold of his irises starting to glow with red embers. A needle of fear pushed into her chest. He wouldn't hurt her. Not physically, not even intentionally. But he had so many ways to make her pay for denying him, whether he knew it or not.

Dana pulled back. Standing, he stripped his shirt off, his hard stare never leaving her. Esme had seen him bare chested before, mostly when healing an injury when Camille was off clan lands. She’d never allowed herself to get lost staring at the sculpted muscles, massive biceps or the brush of gold-brown hair along his chest that narrowed and darkened as it disappeared below his beltline. But never before had he been minutes from mounting her.

"Roll over," he commanded.

Lips trembling, Esme closed her eyes and rolled onto her stomach. His hands swiftly stripped the robe from her and she shut her eyes more tightly, so tight light danced against the inside of her eyelids. He pushed her knees up under her, her ass elevated in the air in a pose of submission. Still in his pants, his feet on the floor, Dana leaned over her. One hand smoothed along the curve of her bottom as his teeth gently sank into her shoulder. He licked the spot he had just bit, his tongue moving in sync with the glide of his fingers against her lower lips.

"Notlove, you're wet."

There -- notlove, mocking her arousal -- that was him hurting her as only he could.

"I'm going to take what I've always wanted from you, notbaby." His callused fingertips found her clit, bullied it with soft strokes along its length. "At my pace."

He pinched the clit, making Esme gasp with need and surprise. The sweet rub of his fingers resumed, his voice rumbling through his chest as he taunted her. "Again and again, I'm going to take it from you."

Yes. She couldn't say it, but the word rang inside her, low and with its own insistent throb.

Dana stepped back to strip the rest of his clothes away. When he returned, she felt the wet rub of his cock as he trailed the head along the inside of her thigh. His body oozed a slow, thick stream of pre-cum that he marked the back of her legs with before his hands took up their slow tease of her pussy once more. He kissed her lower back, center spine and moving up as he increased the pressure against her clit.

"Getting wetter, notlove." He kissed her throat, sucked at the flesh until she was sure he had bruised her. Her ass started to wiggle, her hips taking shallow thrusts she couldn't control. He rubbed his forearm against her slit, soaking the soft brush of his body hair with her juices. "That tight little pussy is absolutely leaking, notbaby."

Esme pressed her face against the mattress, her arms under her and wrapped around her stomach in a futile attempt to contain her need. Dana stepped behind her, his thick cock sliding easily between her plump, lubricated thighs to rub against her pussy. His fingers smeared her juices up between the heavy cheeks of her ass, over the clenched pucker of her anus. He bent down behind her, his tongue following the same path, teasing the entrance to her pussy, sliding across the smooth skin of her perineum to rim that other hole.

She whimpered, her whole body relaxing in a single hot rush before she clenched her muscles tight in denial. She felt the soft rumble of laughter against her backside. He took a small nip of her lush bottom then thumbed her cunt, stretching the hole open to admit his tongue. She jerked, her body rocking forward for an instant before slamming back to meet his face. Another bite along her bottom, a little harder, more demanding. His fingers smeared more of her juices between her cheeks, the tips growing bolder.

"Look at me, Esme."

There was no denying the command in his voice. His dominance curled like a fist around her spinal cord, jerking her head until she faced him, eyes open and glaring. He glared back, the red-gold irises trying to stare her into complete surrender.

"It's gonna break hard -- you're gonna break hard," he warned, "if you don't stop fighting."

He stroked his hand along his dick, drawing her gaze to its mouthwatering size and teasing another squeaky whimper from her throat. Pre-cum still oozed from the fat crown. Dana rubbed his sticky fingers against her breasts, thumbed it across her nipple and along her stomach, marking her as his. Heaven help any man that came near her while his scent still lingered.

Esme pushed at his hand, her stare hardening. She wasn't his, didn't want marked, didn't want the memory of him on her skin. Growling, he bent down, grabbed his pants and pulled a small wrapped disk from one pocket.

"You can't!" He couldn't claim her with the latex on. The instructions had been clear. His skin against hers for that moment of contact before he obliterated her shield or her sacrifice was wasted.

"I know." His gaze grew more predatory. A wolfish smile shaped his mouth as he rolled the condom down his heavy shaft. He gently caressed the opening of her pussy. "I'm not taking your sweet cunt, notlove. Not yet."

The smile broadened, a hint of fang showing as his hand moved up her perineum. "I'm taking something else entirely."

"No." She barely got the word out, her throat constricting to trap the air in her lungs.

"Yes." He moved behind her, his hands heavy on her hips as he pulled her to him. "You're not driving this train tonight, Ems."

He rubbed his cock between her labia, her heavy juices soaking the latex. He bent one last time, his face pressed between the globes of her ass, his tongue teasing the hole into relaxing as his hand drew more moisture from her and coated his dick.

"No," she whispered, pleasure tightening her chest as Dana pushed in, the wide head stretching her slow and steady, forcing admission with a dip and roll that left her quivering. Her opening accepted him, swallowed the whole head and sucked at the shaft as she started to moan.

Dana draped his torso across her back, his forearm against her belly, his fingers parting her labia to tease her front and back. "Every inch of your body belongs to me tonight."

He started to push against her, a light bounce that dragged his cock back and forth through her, his fingers rigid against her clit as she slid up and down their length, moaning, rolling, holding back her pleas of harder, faster. She panted against the linen bedspread, her breath tinted blue with the magic that uncoiled inside her. More blue light seeped from her pores, her pussy, each moan bent and hued as it left her.

Dana growled, the deep throb of Esme's cunt telling him she was close to surrendering her first climax to him. "Every inch." He pressed his lips against her shoulder, the fangs denting her skin before he kissed along the back of her neck. "Mine."

He growled. "Always."

His claim made, Esme's release thundered through her body. Her ass tightened around his dick, milked its surface for the tactile pleasure offered by each contoured vein and hard ridge as the flared head hooked and pulled inside her. His, completely, utterly, but only for the moment. She refused to give him more than that.

Dana slowly eased out. With no bulge of a knot in his thick girth, she knew he hadn’t been close to climax. Whatever pleasure he had derived from mounting like that, he had wrung it from her submission.

Giving Esme no time to recover, Dana flipped the witch onto her back. Seeing his cock start to balloon with need a few inches up from the base as he stripped the empty condom from his flesh, Esme was certain he would take her then. Instead, Dana dropped to his knees.

His gaze soaked in the glistening pink folds of her pussy as he sucked at his bottom lip. The color perfectly matched the kissable pucker of her mouth. Pinching one plump labia with each hand, he exposed her pussy more fully. He nosed the line of her clit, his breath as hot and moist as the juices steaming her cunt.

The tender contact threatened to whip another orgasm from her and she had to bite down on her tongue to keep from moaning. Lifting his head, Dana glared at her. The thick fringe of his eyelashes magnified the intensity of his gaze. "This is my pussy, Esme."

Dana took a slow, lingering, sucking, climbing lick along the line of her cunt, from the quivering hole, to the sensitive nodule hiding under the hood to the top split of her mound. Rolling his lips to smear her juices, he growled. "Mine to suck and lick and fuck."

His head descended again, his mouth delivering every promise and threat he’d just made. He'd practiced -- his tongue trained on woman after woman after woman. Her reserve no match for his skill, Esme squirmed as he continued to lick her, her fingers unclenching to tangle in his thick hair and guide his mouth. He sucked the hood of her clit, his tongue flicking over and over against the fleshy pearl hidden inside. Her head lulled back, magic expelled from the deep well inside her with each groaning, shuddering breath she released.

Esme came again in soft, jerking motions, her throat locked in a vibrato of dove calls.

His hand massaging her mound, Dana surfed up her body, a trail of warm, wet kisses marking his path.

"Baby…" He'd abandoned those awful words, notlove, notbaby. Words she had goaded him into using.

Dana cupped her face, stared into her eyes to see if he had erased even a fraction of the pain from her gaze. "Ems?"

Still there, raw and trembling but needing him nonetheless. Dana moved to kiss her mouth, his body straining forward as his fingers manipulated her clit. She turned her head at the last second, her lips trembling as she evaded the kiss. She closed her eyes, tears escaping their tight press.

"Love--"

She shook her head. "Finish it."

He didn't argue, not at first. He lifted her legs, coaxing small movements from Esme until he had her positioned in the center of the bed, her body vertical. He nudged her thighs apart, his torso lightly pressing against her breasts as he rubbed gently between her legs.

His hand slowed. "Not without a kiss."

Esme looked at Dana, her eyes imploring him once more to penetrate her and end the ritual. "Please don't make me," she whispered, a soft hiccough punctuating her distress.

He shook his head, gentle but unyielding. Between her legs, she felt his fingers close around his shaft and push the head down until it rested at her gate. His thumb flexed forward to stroke the swollen nodule still hiding inside the hood of her clit.

His gaze grew fragile for a heartbeat. "You think you were the only one aching all these years, love?"

His lips brushed the line of her jaw, his nose rubbing at the corner of her mouth. He shifted his hips, the change bringing his mouth closer to hers as his cock settled more firmly against the swollen entrance to her cunt. He didn't wait for her to acquiesce or refuse. He took a small, careful bite at her lower lip and then his tongue pushed into her mouth, his body’s weight sinking, his hips pressing against her. The head of his cock nudged her opening, the small amount of force still more exploratory than penetrating.

His tongue worked deeper, one hand knotted in her curls to keep Esme from turning away. A slow rock of his hips and the thick tip wedged itself within the tight ring of muscles. He could feel the way her cunt danced, the throb of her last orgasm rhythmically pulling it tight. He timed his progress, rocking his hips between the backbeat of her pulse when her pussy would relax.

There, in, fast, battering past her last defense to sink balls deep inside her pussy. Forgetting herself, she kissed him back, retreated. He pushed up on his arms, his control exhausted from fighting her. Staring into the shifting depths of her sea green eyes, he pulled back, drove forward. Again, the rush of a short-lived victory flushing his skin as her head tilted back and her lips parted. Her tongue slid out, curled against her top lip, held as her hips began to dance left, right, back, repeat. Another plume of magic escaped her to twine like fingers through Dana's hair.

He felt the tug of energy at the same time her muscles coiled and whipped around his cock. The erectile tissue near his base started to balloon. One puff…two. Locked insider her, he groaned.

"Baby…" Now he was the one breathless, aching for the next throbbing squeeze of her body along his shaft. ""Not yet...not."

Esme moaned, arched, neither one of them in command of the other.

"Love, a little more…time…" The air froze in his chest, the skin on his balls pulling tight. "Inside you."

Her pussy rolled up and down his cock, sucking, tugging, the muscles of her cunt every bit as deft as her mouth or hand might have been. She arched again, the pressure on his dick multiplying his pleasure. A dip back down, her cry visceral as she slammed her hips back up, her cunt seizing with the hard demand that he come with her.

Groaning, Dana thrust all the way inside her, the fat tip lodged against her cervix, every inch of his cock embraced by the hot rolling muscles of her cunt. Beneath him, Esme panted and squirmed. Her hands grabbed his muscled ass, her sharp nails threatening as she cinched him in place, denying his retreat.

"More…" Dana pressed a kiss against her neck as he fought his body’s total surrender to his mate. He couldn’t unleash, not yet. He had to drive her to this point again and again until she admitted that she wanted him every bit as badly as he needed her. If he finished now, she would force him from her bed the moment he unknotted. He had to possess her completely, had to leave her gasping and begging.

He wanted to see the sun rise on her naked body, watch its golden rays flicker approvingly inside her sea green irises as he descended down her lush body for a proper good morning kiss.

Sexy little whimpers escaped her as she bit and licked at her lush lips. He watched her do it, his eyes locked on her pearl white teeth, the scarlet tongue and that sweet pink pucker that was as pale as the lips he’d licked and sucked a few minutes before.

"Now," Esme pleaded, her hips rotating to pull him a little deeper inside.

"Not--" Dana came with a harsh moan, his mouth buried against Esme's throat. He pulled back as far as the knot would allow, her nails dragging along his flesh. He slammed forward, his cock pulsing, her sheath squeezing and jerking relentlessly along his length, delivering ecstasy from base to tip.

The last pulse of cum left him. He nestled closer to Esme, his lips against her throat as his tongue sampled the salt of her smooth skin. Feeling himself slowly deflate, he remembered to breathe again.

Shifting his weight, Dana tried to wrap his arms around her. She pushed at him, wiggling and shoving until she was free. She whipped the robe around her body, tying the sash in place as she quickly stepped to the window and slammed her palm against the glass to signal Camille that it was over.

"Esme."

She could hear the confusion in his voice. Confusion and pain. She wanted to wrap her arms around her head to muffle the sound, but forced her hands down to her sides. "Nothing changed," she told him. "I don't want to see you ever again. All you have to offer me is your absence."

"Ems--"

"Go now, or I will -- away from the clan, any clan or shifter!"

Eyes corkscrewed shut, Esme listened to Dana pull on his clothes and leave, not another word spoken. Camille entered a few minutes later to strip the linen from the bed, her attempts to draw Esme from the window ignored until she gave up and left.

Another hour passed with Esme staring out the window, her gaze on the stars in search of some elusive meaning to the night's events. She couldn't know how many female shifters had prostrated themselves before their mates, their wombs quickening for the first time as they were mounted. She couldn't know how many children were conceived across the clan as Dana finally surrendered inside her or how, at the exact moment Dana claimed her virginity, a clot lodged itself deep inside Jack Cooper's brain and started growing.

She couldn't know.

She sure as hell didn't care.

**********

Leah visited Esme the next morning, and the morning after that and all the mornings after that for the three weeks the witch remained cloistered inside her home. Esme allowed only Leah and the sick inside and she left only for emergency healings. Even Jack Cooper had hauled his annoyed ass to her doorstep for a headache Camille couldn’t cure.

At the end of the third week, Leah followed her morning visit with one in the evening. She carried a binder of fabric tucked under one arm. Her green eyes twinkled, her whole body glowing.

Closing the door behind Leah, Esme tossed a dishtowel over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at the fledgling witch. She headed back toward the kitchen to put some water on for tea.

"What's got you over the moon?" She turned to the sink in time to see Leah lift her shoulders.

"Oh, you know."

Even with the ten feet of distance between them, Esme detected the blush of a lie across her friend's creamy cheeks. She quirked a brow up, her gaze narrowing just so she could watch Leah squirm with guilt. "Am I going to have to put a truth spell on you?"

Another blush, hotter than the first, and Leah swiveled in her chair. Shaking her head, she opened the sample book. "You're going to finish making me my tea, witch, and then help me decide on colors for the nursery."

Esme snorted. "Brown, green and...oh, yeah, more brown."

A scowl marred Leah's pretty face. "It's not going to look like a hole in ground!"

"They're very instinctual at that age." Esme cautioned. "I remember Tala's mother trying a traditional human nursery. Camille's ears are still ringing from trying to cure that case of colic. Ended the day the den was restored."

"But, it doesn't mean the room has to be ugly." Bringing the tea tray over to the kitchen table, Esme sat down across from Leah and took the swatches from her. "You can put some coppers and silvers in there, gold and pewter."

Looking up, Esme saw worry pinch at Leah's brow. "What's wrong, bestie?"

Leah rubbed nervously at her stomach, her cheeks pinking once again. "When he comes out…"

Esme tilted her head, nostrils flaring in search of Leah's scent. As a latent, her sense of smell was far removed from a wolf's, but a dozen times better than any human's. She couldn't detect enough of the baby's smell within Leah's signature to tell the cub’s gender. "He?"

Leah nodded, smiling. "Seth thinks so. He gets all growly and rubs himself over me, says that's because it's a boy." Her gaze turned serious again, her voice dropping an octave as she finished her question. "What will he look like?"

Esme relaxed back in her chair. "Like every other baby you've ever seen in your life, maybe just a little leaner. He probably won't shift until he's about seven."

Leah finished adding sugar and cream to her tea. Blowing on it, she took a little sip. "What do you mean by probably?"

"Assuming he's alpha like Seth," Esme explained. She had arranged the front of the binder with a rainbow of browns, greens, dark aqua and teal, rust and metals. Leah's smile when Esme passed the binder back to her eased a little more of the last month's weight from her shoulders. It was near impossible to feel sorry for herself when her friend was across from her beaming joy. "If not seven, it might be as late as nine or ten. I only know of one who shifted before seven…"

She trailed off, hoping Leah wouldn't ask which wolf she was talking about. Leah looked up from the fabric, understanding glowing in her eyes. Leah took another sip of tea, her expression and the energy buzzing around her telling Esme the question about the baby and the nursery were just two of the reasons Leah had stopped by for a second visit that day.

"Don't keep me waiting all evening," Esme teased.

Leah spent a few more seconds chewing at her bottom lip before she sucked a big breath in and released it, the news spilling out with the expelled air. "I'm not the only one pregnant!"

Esme nodded. "I hoped your pregnancy would trigger something in the--"

She stopped talking when Leah vigorously shook her head, the raven black hair flying around her shoulders. Leah froze, looked away, her mouth puckering and moving in some kind of internal debate before she turned back to Esme and captured her friend's gaze.

"They seem to have gotten pregnant on the night of the ceremony and I think there are a couple more pregnant, but…" She gave a little flick of her nose, indicating it wasn't something she would be able to smell and no announcements had been made.

Trying to deny Leah's meaningful gaze, Esme closed her eyes. It was nothing more than coincidence if the female shifters actually had conceived on the night of the ceremony. Just like it was coincidence that the baby well ran dry around the same time Dana rejected her a decade ago. The two events weren’t connected.

Esme shook her head. "Their bodies just needed a little time to catch up after they started scenting your pregnancy, Leah. That's all it is."

"What about you?" Leah asked softly. When Esme lifted a confused brow, Leah gestured at the witch's stomach. "Are you -- you know -- pregnant? Seth said you weren't allowed to use a condom."

Leah finished with her eyes cast down, another hot blush burning across her cheeks, the same one that surfaced on the two occasions she'd tried to talk to Esme about the ceremony. Closing her eyes, Esme soaked in the energy leaking from Leah and knew her friend felt ashamed that the clan had demanded the ritual and even more ashamed that a part of her, the part that wanted to keep her baby safe, was glad they had.

Esme brushed a tear from her own cheek and made sure her voice was even before she answered. "No, I'm not pregnant, thank the gods and goddesses."

Leah looked up, her shame transformed to a deep sadness. Esme reached across the table and wrapped her hands around Leah's.

"I am overjoyed that you are carrying Seth's child and that, when your baby is born, he'll have playmates to grow up with. But…"

Esme trailed off, thinking of how wrong everything would be if she were pregnant with Dana's child. Never mind Dana's claim to the child -- the whole clan had a claim. Knowing Coop, he might deny her the right to raise the baby and she couldn't flee off the clan's lands and keep the child safe. She shook her head, the very thought of it all making her faint and cold.

Leah reversed the position of their hands until she was holding Esme's. Feeling how the fingers had turned to ice, she rubbed at them. Mindful of the fragile look on Esme's face, she kept her voice soft and gentle. "But what?"

"But you have Seth."

Leah turned Esme's left hand over and softly brushed her thumb over the heart line. One line, unchained, unbroken -- one love her whole life through. "And you have Dana," she whispered and then her voice grew stronger. "All you have to do is crook your little finger and he's here."

Esme shook her head, the dark blonde curls bouncing in denial as she pulled her hands away and folded them in her lap. "It's not my palm you need to read, little sister. He hasn't been around the property at all -- unless he's wearing half a dozen charms."

"He's giving you room and time. He doesn't want you leaving the safety of the clan's lands." Another guilty look flashed across her face. "But he made sure Seth has you well guarded, and the wolves report to Dana, not Seth."

Another flash of pink rose on Leah's cheeks and Esme realized her friend had been eavesdropping on a private conversation. Only there was no eavesdropping around wolves. Seth would have known his mate was listening.

"Coop insisted you be watched, too," Leah continued. "Said it was Dana's head if you pulled a Gordon."

A shiver ran down Esme's spine as she remembered Gordon's betrayal and his death. Free of any blood oath, he had helped the Hunters kidnap her and Leah, his promised reward a siphoning off of Leah's magic to restore his failing reserves. He'd died with a Hunter's knife buried in his throat to keep him from spilling any secrets when it was clear that Seth's pack had discovered the cabin and was closing in.

Still, why would Coop blame Dana for anything Esme did? She looked at her friend, asking just that question.

"Because Coop wanted to extract a new oath from you." Leah fingered a dark brown swatch of fabric, her gaze tracing the faint coppery threads woven into it. "I swear Dana was going to take Jack out, but Jack backed down. Said it was Dana's head if you betrayed us."

Catching the import of "us," Esme raised her hand from her lap and gave Leah's arm a little pat. "I'd die first," she said and gave another soft pat. "And I'm not going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. Have to see that cub of yours born."

Leah's head bobbed. "Especially since you're his godmother."

The smile that had started to lift at the edges of Esme's mouth slammed flat. "Leah, honey, that honor is traditionally reserved for pack alphas or, since Seth is a pack alpha, to the clan alpha and his mate."

"Yeah, I've been told that." Leah crinkled her nose. "But it's all worked out. Jack said he was fine with it."

Esme wrinkled her eyebrows at that. "Coop said okay?"

Leah nodded, then started chewing at her bottom lip again. "He said it was almost as good as getting you to take a new blood oath."

Esme sighed and shook her head before a reluctant laugh escaped her. "That old bastard's right."

Standing up, she circled the table and bent down to give Leah a hug. "And I'd be honored to be your cub's godmother."

A sharp spike of joy crackled around Leah. She turned her head and planted a kiss on Esme's cheek. "Now, what are we going to do about my baby shower?"

**********

Releasing a tired puff of air, Esme wiped a hand across her sweaty cheek, leaving a streak of blue paint. Straightening, she put her brush down and placed both hands against her lower back, kneading at the sore muscles. She'd just spent a full hour painting temporary charms on the walls of the clan's meeting hall.

Anyone who had spent a little time touring the farmhouses of Pennsylvania would recognize the work. Circles enclosed a geometric mix of birds for luck and happiness, wheat for abundance, stars for more good luck. Colors enhanced the symbols, blue for protection, white for the infant's purity, more abundance, love and luck with green heart shaped clovers and dashes of red to make the love and protection more fierce.

Alone in the hall, she took another swipe across her face to erase the sweat trickling down her brow. "Who knew baby showers were so much work!"

Picking up the brush, she moved a few more feet down the wall with a smile on her face. She didn't mind the work, needed it after the weeks she'd spent hiding in her house. Drawing a fresh circle, she felt a zap of energy flow through the brush and her smile deepened. It was probably just the break from what had become almost a 24/7 work schedule, but her magic was seriously juiced.

Her brow crinkled as she realized the pregnant shifters also could be giving her a boost. Weird how it worked, but that had always been true. When the clan's numbers flourished, so did the magic of its witches. The documents Seth had carried away from the cabin noted the phenomenon, too. The papers also contained nasty spells for stealing that power, both from shifters and witches. Stealing her magic had been her captor's plan. From Quentin's notes, it appeared that he had killed many a latent and lone wolf. Except, if the notes were to be believed, he'd been doing so for more than one hundred and fifty years. Either Quentin was bug-shit crazy or the magic he stole prolonged both his life and youthfulness. The sadistic, gleeful face leering at her as he heated the branding iron in preparation of searing her flesh hadn't looked a day over thirty-five.

Scowling, Esme grabbed a wet rag and erased the charm she'd been drawing. Hooking a plastic bag, she tossed the small cups that held the various colors of paint in it. She dumped the cheap brushes in next and then tied the bag off. Going back to her work table, she released the dark energy that had grown as she thought about Quentin. With the last of it expelled, she loaded fresh cups and brushes onto a tray, her mind directed at Leah and the baby so she wouldn't taint the magic working its way into the charms.

Picking a fresh spot a few inches above the area she'd spoiled, Esme visualized the most powerful symbol she could think of. An eagle, gold with red-tipped feathers, took shape at the end of her brush. Carefully guarded within its deadly talons was a wolf cub, a crown of blue eight-point stars adorning its little head. Emanating out from the eagle and cub, she painted a sun wheel of darker gold and brown, red and black rings intersecting the spokes and forming the circle that contained the charm.

Finished, she took a step back. A satisfied smile played across her face until she heard a thunk behind her and felt Dana all at once. His presence was a fifty foot wave slamming into her. Her knees gave out, her fingers extending in search of something to grab hold of. Paint splattered as the tray and its small cups hit the floor.

She would have joined the mess if two strong arms hadn't wrapped around her waist to stop her fall. Dana's arms around her, Dana's hands curving along her flesh, one just below her breast, almost cupping it, the other wrapped around her hip.

His mouth instantly found her neck. He nuzzled the curve of her shoulder and she felt him draw a deep breath in, scenting her. Buried between the generous halves of her ass, she felt the thick steel of his erection, the sensation transporting her back to the ritual.

She choked on a whimper, tried desperately to quell her body's response as she remembered him taking her. All the thrusts and sucks and nips that had driven her to multiple orgasms crowded her mind before melting and dripping down over her body, hardening her nipples and clit until they throbbed.

Esme stiffened in his embrace, her throat relaxing just enough to bite out a short command. "Let go of me."

"Not until you straighten your legs." His lips whispered along her ear. "I don't want you falling and bruising that sweet ass of mine."

Her heart did a little backflip at his possessive claim. His ass -- his everything given the way her body reacted right then. Muscles she'd tried to ignore for almost a month started to flex and roll. Her eyelids became too heavy to keep open. Not a limb or nerve responded to her command.

Until he kissed her ear and her legs snapped straight. Her body surged up, the hard upward brush of her ass tearing a moan from Dana's throat.

"Fine, I'm standing. Let go!"

"Mm-hmm." His hands released Esme with a slow slide across her body as they traveled in opposite directions, his fingers splayed for maximum contact.

Trying to ignore him, she bent down and salvaged what she could of the paint cups. Moving a few more feet down the wall, she started a fresh circle, a calming chant running through her mind. A growl shattered any chance of her reaching a calmed state. It was one of those ass-up, belly-down growls Dana made, her pussy instantly flooding in response.

Her brush hand shaking wildly, she glared over her shoulder at him and prayed he wouldn't growl like that again. "Why the fuck are you even here?"

Dana stepped closer, his gaze slitting as a wolfish grin curled along the right side of his face. He scented her, nostrils wide as he breathed. Seeing the rapid dilation of his pupils, she knew her arousal had been exposed. He stepped a little closer, his attention locked on Esme's heaving breasts as she bordered on hyperventilating.

"Leah needed some supplies dropped off."

Damn it! Esme cursed inside her head, trying hard to be mad at Leah, who knew exactly how Esme was spending her afternoon before the shower started. The little witch was only doing what a female pack alpha would do -- sticking her snout where it didn't belong. That instinct would be even stronger in Leah now that she was heading into the den phase of her pregnancy. She needed everyone happy before her cub came into the world.

Trying to be angry with her bestie was futile. Dana on the other hand -- he made her wish witches really could turn people into frogs! She’d be dining on turtle soup and frog legs if that were true.

Turning back to the charm she had been painting, Esme gave a dismissive shrug. "Drop them and go."

His arm brushed her shoulder as he planted one palm alongside her. His other hand took the tray with its brushes and paint away and tossed it down on the table to her right. Dana's chest pushed lightly against her back, her spine stiffening in response.

She turned, forcing her hands between them as a wedge. "Back off!"

His lips parted and a long, rumbling growl -- that growl -- teased its way across his tongue to dance and lick all along her body. His other hand came up, caging her between his arms. "We're not over."

Leaning in, he let his weight push her until she was flush against the wall and staring helplessly up into the red-gold glow of his eyes. A shift of his hips and she could feel his erection rubbing against the bottom swell of her stomach.

Esme took a hard breath in and held it. His head dipped closer and she knew he meant to claim her mouth with a kiss. She tried to turn her head, but he captured the bottom curve of her jaw in a gentle caress.

"You're mine." He kissed the side of her mouth, rubbed his rough cheek against her smoother one. "You know it."

His hand left her face to glide down to her breast. Her traitorous body pushed against his palm, begging him for a squeeze and the warmth of his mouth. "Your whole body knows it, love."

Dana took one deep breath, inhaling the fragrance of her pussy and the warm spices of her skin before his mouth fastened at the curve of her neck. Sucking the delicate flesh of her throat, he dropped both hands to her lush hips. His thumbs teased the sensitive, outer perimeter of her mound as he cinched Esme closer.

Knowing mere seconds separated her from complete surrender, Esme drew on the wards she'd just drawn. Magic enveloped her, deadening her expression and voice. Cold flowed through her, her skin chilling at Dana's touch. She had the sensation of jagged ice crystals slicing through her, but knew it was just the pain of pushing him away, of denying her body what it wanted more than anything.

To submit to his touch and be possessed by him -- any other response was pure torture to her.

Dana pulled back, his hot gaze cooling with caution. Seeing pale blue frost the air around her, he shook his head. "Drop the magic, baby. This is between me and you."

He countered her mute refusal by cupping her mound, his lips parting as he prepared another warning growl. Esme shook her head, pushed at his chest. She couldn’t let this happen, not again. "Don't make me hate you any more than I already do."

His hand dropped from her flesh. He stared at her face, trying to penetrate the frozen mask of magic that shielded her emotions. His mouth closed then opened again. He inhaled, slowly, and Esme was certain for a second that he was going to growl at her with every last ounce of his wolf energy, shattering her defenses and bringing her to her knees to dominate her. Moisture flooded her mouth and pussy, both prepared to accept his cock. Her clit, achy at the absence of his body against hers, swelled to breach the seal of her outer labia.

Her eyes closed and she realized she'd started crying, tears slowly rolling down her round cheeks, tinged blue and sparkling like pale diamonds. Her heart beat inside her chest, each squeeze of blood through the chambers like a heavy hand falling against a fat drumhead. The liquid rush and heavy thrum drowned all other sounds out. She counted the beats until she realized she was alone.

Finally screwing up the courage to open her eyes, she saw the door swing slowly shut behind Dana.

"I love you," she whispered, too softly for him to hear.

**********

Leaving the hall, Dana drove the long way around to Jack Cooper's. He had no business with the old man, but Coop hadn't fostered out the cub Dana had rescued a month back. Considering the way Angelica, Coop's mate, looked at the boy, Dana wasn't too sure the boy would leave the old man's hearth.

Oscar's growing attachment to Angelica was the only thing that had kept Dana from separating Jack's head from the rest of his body when the old wolf started going on about forcing Esme to take a new blood oath or leave. That and a last shred of sense that had forced Coop to back down and pretend to see reason. Truth was, the old man hadn't changed his mind -- his time as clan alpha was over and he knew it. Another season and one of the pack leaders would ease him aside.

Pulling up behind Coop's house, Dana buried the thought. He didn't care who the next clan leader would be so long as the new top dog stayed out of his business. Opening the door to his truck, he heard the back screen slam open and small feet hitting the rocky ground at a furious pace. Shutting the truck's door, he braced for impact.

"Dana!" The cub leapt, hitting him center of his chest and wrapping his arms and legs around the big man. "I haven't seen you in three days!"

"Two," Dana corrected, shifting Oscar's weight to one hip as he reached through the truck's window and pulled out a backpack.

"Three," Oscar argued, holding up two fingers.

Laughing, Dana pushed another of the boy's stubby little fingers up. "That's three, little man."

"Hmmmph!" Oscar crossed his arms across his little chest and glared at Dana.

"Sorry, little man, I didn't make the math rules."

Forgiving him, Oscar buried his face against Dana's neck. Seeing a flash of red metal poking from beneath the backpack's flap, he fingered one of the straps. "Is that for me?"

Trying to keep his voice neutral, Dana looked at the little boy from the side of one eye, his brow lifted in a question mark. "Are there any other cubs here?"

Oscar shook his head, a shy but excited smile lighting his face. He tried to squash the smile and match Dana's serious expression. He pointed at his chest for emphasis. "Just me."

"Well then," Dana put the boy down on a patch of grass and sank to his knees. Hiding the bag to one side and peeking beneath the flap, he teased until the Oscar started hopping around on one foot. "Okay, okay. Settle down, cub."

Dana reached inside and pulled out a die-cast fire truck. Squealing, Oscar jumped up and down on both feet, his hands clapping together. Putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, Dana got him to stand still long enough to put the truck in his hands.

Angelica chose that moment to open the screen door. "You've got ten minutes to play before you take your bath and get suited up for the baby shower."

Oscar toed a fat pebble, his mouth collapsing into a frown. "Do I have to?"

Angelica nodded, an indulgent smile hiding behind her raised hand. "You like Miss Leah, don't you?"

Oscar gave a grudging nod, his small mouth corkscrewing in indecision.

"And you want to play with her baby when he's born, don't you?"

Another nod, more confident than the first. His gaze narrowed, one finger pointing at the ground and bobbing up and down as he asked, "Ten whole minutes starting right now?"

"Not a second less," Angelica laughed, returning to the kitchen and setting the timer for fifteen.

**********

From Coop's, Dana drove to what he internally referred to as Latent Central. Without Esme sheltering the women their first few days and more streaming in, Coop had ordered an old dormitory refurbished. The latents occupied the second floor, with a few guards on the second and a rotating house mother.

Knowing most of the guards would want to attend the baby shower, he stopped by to see if he could relieve anyone. Not a bad plan, he thought, right until he opened the office door and saw Camille scowling over an old map.

Poking his head back into the hallway, he frowned. "Are all the guards gone?"

Camille gave a little sniff, her mouth puckering like she was balancing a lemon slice on her tongue. "I think Ash is in one of the supply closets."

Dana angled his head, his ear twitching as he tried to locate Ash. Hearing a few soft, feminine moans coupled with masculine grunts, a smirk pushed one side of his mouth up. "At least someone's getting a little."

The cocky grin evaporated a second later when he struck him that it was his mate's mother he was talking to. Glancing at her, he added a second imaginary slice of lemon inside her mouth. Her whole face puckered with distaste. As far as anyone in the clan knew, Camille had engaged in coitus once. The human or wolf, unknown.

There could be a heartbreaking love story hiding beneath the old witch's bitter shell, but no one knew it, not even her only child. Dana shook his head, trying to dislodge the anger slowly building up inside him.

Looking up, Camille read his hard stare in a heartbeat. "You blame me, don't you?"

Dana bit at his lip, his mind slowly turning over the two decades he had lived with the clan. At six, he'd been found on a North Carolina beach, begging for scraps in his wolf form, the other children happy to throw the "puppy" scraps of their burgers and hot dogs until their parents caught them. Beer bottles and rocks would follow that discovery.

He had only the vaguest memory of the beach and no idea how he got there. Whenever he tried to push beyond to even older memories, his internal eye fixed on the ocean with its bands of blue and green and his first night in Camille's home. As a matter of survival, he'd been in his wolf form for so long, he couldn't remember his way out.

Shivering, wondering if the people who had caught him would feed him again, he'd whimpered in the dark room in which they'd left him. And then she came.

Esme, as alone in her own way as he was in his. The only human child on clan lands, she was a plump, pretty little morsel with eyes that matched the ocean he'd been stolen from. Like the children on the beach, she wanted to stroke his soft fur. She sang to him while she did so, her voice a soft, sweet lisping sing song that stopped his shivering.

He didn't want to leave her side, but they made him. When he escaped to visit her, they disciplined him, foster family after foster family until Seth's father took him in and let him run as wild as Camille would tolerate.

In the end, he'd walked away from Esme on his own, knowing he would never be able to surround her with the children she craved from her own years in isolation and a mother who called her a mistake.

Did he blame Camille? Fuck yes!

Lifting a shoulder, he dismissed her question with the larger truth. "Not nearly as much as I blame myself."

He turned to leave the office, but the witch called him back.

"I may have found something."

He glanced over his shoulder, his attention focused on where one long finger pointed at the map. "What?"

Camille bit her bottom lip, her nail scratching at the map's surface. "It might be an echo, it's very weak."

Dana stepped back into the room, his hand sweeping down to push her finger aside. She had been scratching at a little town called Walland. Traveling on twisting mountain roads, it was maybe ninety minutes past the clan's borders. "Could be someone half dead, too."

He scratched at his chin as he thought it through. "If the Hunters have a latent--"

Seeing Camille's mouth flattened he stopped. "Is it a latent?"

She brushed his hand away. Her elbow resting on the map, she let the string holding a crystal pendant at its end unspool from her palm. "I told you, it might just be an echo."

"A latent's echo?" When Camille did nothing but swallow, he wrapped his fingers around the unmoving pendant. "A cub's?"

"Their signatures are almost the same," Camille answered.

Dana released the pendant, motioning impatiently for her to continue casting. She closed her eyes and he felt a little pull of power as she siphoned off some of his energy to feed her magic. The pendant didn't respond, not even the slightest vibration trembled through its string.

"Walland, that's all you got?" Dana pulled the armory keys from his pocket. He had his gun and holster in the glove box of his truck and a deer rifle on the window rack, but. if he was heading into town, he wanted one of the Bushmaster Carbon 15s.

Camille rose from the desk, trying to block him. "You can't go alone."

He pushed past her into the hallway, growling as he unlocked the armory's door. "Even if Ash is buried balls deep," he stopped and gave a sniff, "in that little redhead we pulled in this weekend, he has to stay here to protect the other latents if anything happens."

"There are plenty of people at the shower, you can--"

He shook his head, rejecting the idea as he freed one of the Bushmasters from the rack, his big hand popping a thirty-round magazine into it before grabbing two more magazines. "You said it's probably an echo."

"Or a trap," she argued. "Or a latent with half a dozen hunters on her trail--"

"Or a cub." He pushed past her again, grabbing one of the two-way radios. "Don't pretend like you suddenly care, witch."

"I don't," Camille snapped. "Not about you. Esme would be devastated."

Dana shook his head, the memory of Esme's last words fresh in his head. "She made it more than clear that's not true."

Herding Camille back into the office, he pressed the radio into her hand and pointed at the map. "Keep casting and keep your mouth shut unless you find anything useful. I'll be back before the party is over."

**********

Three hours later, with no contact from Dana, Camille entered the hall, her gaze searching for her daughter and Seth. She wanted to avoid Esme seeing her while she talked to Dana's pack leader. There was no reason for the girl to start mourning the lone wolf before anyone was certain he was dead. She’d had enough heartache this last month.

She spotted Esme in a far corner, the young witch wearing a scowl as she tried to touch Jack Cooper's head. The old wolf tried to move out of reach but his wife firmly propelled him back toward Esme. Something to do with that headache he'd had, no doubt.

Good. Esme would be too distracted to notice anyone but Jack for a few minutes. Camille ducked behind a very tall, broad-shouldered wolf, her mind so absorbed in picking Seth out from the crowd that she didn't recognize the man sheltering her.

He turned around, his warm, mid-Western accent immediately giving him away. "Good evening, Camille."

"Cade." She acknowledged him with a quick upward glance. "Where is Seth?"

"I hear I have you to thank for almost getting me shredded limb from limb." There was no menace in his voice, just mild curiosity.

"She certainly couldn't have picked her friend's mate." Camille's nose twitched, the magic in her still strong enough to send a little spark of annoyance along its tip. "Not my fault you're the only wolf she's comfortable around besides Seth."

"Actually, it is your fault." His tone flattened, but he didn't press any harder. Extending one finger from the hand wrapped around his glass, he pointed across the hall. "Seth is over there, at the head table. If you ever attended any of these events, you'd know that."

Her fingers flexed, more energy dancing at their ends. She swallowed a knot of pride, wanting to get rid of the wolf next to her but knowing Dana and, by extension, her daughter, would need Cade's help. "Come with me, please."

She walked away, her legs briskly carrying her through the crowd. She expended a small amount of energy on a look-away spell, not enough to prick Esme's radar -- or so she hoped. Not looking behind her to see if Cade followed, she approached the table. Catching Leah's attention first, she offered an apologetic smile before bending down to whisper at Seth.

"Dana is missing."

Seth's brows knitted together for a second before he shook the idea off. "He's somewhere licking his wounds."

"Or letting someone else lick them for him," Cade joked as he reached the table.

Leah's gaze cut through the crowd to land on Esme before flicking back to Cade. The slow burn of green ringing her irises erased Cade's smile. He nudged Camille. "What's this about, then?"

"I was casting for more signatures," she started, her hands coiling and uncoiling around each other. "And I thought I detected something--"

Leah's gasp interrupted the older witch. "Why didn't you notify us?"

Ignoring his plump little mate, Camille kept her gaze on Seth. "It was faint...and fleeting. I could only catch it the one time--somewhere this side of Walland."

Leah interrupted once more. "Esme or I could have casted again. You should have--"

Camille rapped a bony knuckle on the table top. "I was certain it was just an echo, someone having passed through and gone, maybe one of the very latents we're sheltering now or little Oscar."

Seth nodded. "But?"

"The minute I said it could be a cub, Dana left."

"Tell me you didn't let him leave alone?"

Camille straightened like a spring rod at the sound of her daughter's voice. She swiveled her head, not far enough to face Esme, but enough to acknowledge her daughter. "You think he listens to me? To anyone?"

Camille turned back to Seth. "It's been three hours."

Next to her, she heard Esme step to a side table, ordering the couple casually eavesdropping away as she stripped the linen table cloth to expose the wood. She slopped a hand into the cranberries on one plate, squeezing until her fingers were red with their juice. Marking a compass on the table, she chanted. Still chanting, Esme grabbed a nearby candle and spilled the melted wax in the center.

Her words growing in volume, Esme's eyes glazed and then her lips stopped moving. She stumbled backwards, Cade catching her before she hit the ground.

"Ems, where is he?" He hoisted her up, her soft pleading moans as she caught glimpses of her mate being tortured unnerving everyone around her. "Come on, baby girl. Tell me where he is before you pass out."

She tossed her curls, her hands clawing at Cade so he would release her. "He's at the Laurel Mill."

Everyone who heard Esme voice the location froze. Laurel Mill was an unmarked battlefield in the Hunters war on the clan. A former enclave of shifters, the hunters had attacked the location en masse, not a single member of the thirty families surviving.

Camille broke the silence. "There would be plenty of echoes there. Plenty of..."

She trailed off. No one needed a reminder of the cubs who had been herded like sheep into the old building and slaughtered. "I'll go--"

"No." Esme's hand chopped through the air. She pointed at Seth. "I'm going. With or without your permission."

Seth nodded, kissing Leah's cheek as he rose and signaled to the gathered members of his pack. "Let's roll."

**********

Three black vans traveled winding country roads, the Great Smokey Mountains that sheltered the clan's land at their back. Packed into the middle van, Esme continued casting for Dana's location.

There were five male shifters in the van, four in each of the others. Only the drivers were fully clothed. The others wore nothing but loose spandex briefs, their bodies in varying degrees of transformation. Seth sat next to Esme, human enough but for a heavier than usual dusting of body hair and a wolfish point on his ears.

Fidgeting with his rifle's modified stock, Seth growled lightly "If you weren't his mate, you wouldn't be able to locate him this easily."

Esme's hands stopped moving over the map as she glared at Seth. She didn't need the reminder that Dana was her mate. The hard knock of her heart inside her rib cage had reminded her every second of the last hour. She also didn't want to remember that the last words her mate had heard out of her mouth was that she hated him. He'd been reckless to leave the safety of the clan all alone. Guilt that she'd triggered that recklessness weighed her shoulders down.

The driver turned a sharp corner too fast and sent her bouncing. Her head hit against the side of the van, its metal wall ringing with the impact. At the same time, a fist plowed into her face. Her head snapped forward, her vision dancing until she realized she wasn't looking at the van, wasn't even inside her own head.

Her body still traveling inside the van, her lips moved. "No please don't hurt him."

A syringe appeared in front of her face, a man's head just beyond it.

Quentin - the Hunter who had kidnapped her and Leah.

Blood smeared his mouth, but there was no sign of injury. He looked more like he had been snacking on barbecue ribs. The impression was confirmed when he licked the blood from his lips to reveal unmarked skin. "I know your taste, wolf."

His tongue darted out again to catch a stray drop and his eyes rolled back in his head. "That little hint of honey. Now where was that from?"

A leer stretched across his face, turning it into a Halloween mask of sadistic hate. "Oh yes, those two! Quite a set of fighters - an alpha's alpha. What a treat to find them as outliers."

Quentin pressed the plunger just a fraction, something that looked like quicksilver squirting from the tip. "Hunted your little ass for days after I found that tunnel they'd popped you in."

Quentin pulled back for a second, almost as if he admired the wolf sagging in front of him. "What were you, five?"

Hearing no answer from Dana, he pushed against the wolf's chest. A network of black veins stood stark against Dana's flesh. Quentin trailed the needle's tip down Dana's belly, the metal scraping a trail of blood as it moved. "We've still got a clean spot here," he laughed as he tugged the waist of Dana's jeans down to reveal the wolf's lower abdominal muscles.

Quentin pushed the needle in. His thumb lightly caressed the plunger, the pressure too faint to inject the liquid into Dana. When the Hunter lifted his head, Esme felt like he could see her.

A curl of his lip told her she was right. "Better hurry, witch, or you'll miss watching him die."

Another lurch of the van and Esme lost the vision -- or Quentin cut the signal. She couldn't be sure which it was. She turned to Seth, one hand clutching at his arm. "They know we're coming."

Peeling her hand away, Seth shoved an electronic tablet at her. The screen showed a satellite capture of the mill.

"Where, Esme?"

She pointed to the center of the building. Her finger tracked right, to the east end. She tapped the screen. "Guards here." She tracked back across the screen to the opposite end of the building. "And here. Two each."

She drew a circle where she had first indicated Dana's position. "Quentin is with him." Along the south wall, she traced another line. "Two more behind Dana, along the wall."

Seth gave a grim nod and radioed the lead van. "Take out the west corner -- smash it to motherfucking pieces."

Another press on the radio and he told the driver of the third van to take out the east corner. Constructed of wood and over two hundred years old, the mill's walls wouldn't stand up to the reinforced vans. Reaching up, Seth switched off the interior light and then he leaned forward and opened the panel separating the van's cargo area from the driver.

"Hit it just enough to break the wall. Dana's about six feet beyond that." Before moving to the van's side door, Seth pushed Esme into Cade's arms. "Keep her safe."

"Brace yourself," Cade whispered into her ear. One arm circled her waist to hold her tight, his form no longer human. His other hand curled around one of the inside support bars.

Esme had half a second to let the warning sink in before she saw the south wall of the mill coming up fast. Her hand flew to join Cade's along the bar as her other hand shot up to press against the roof of the van, her mouth voicing her surprise as the wall disintegrated in front of them.

"Holy shit!"

Seth was out of the van before the dust settled, rifle up and firing. Unslinging his rifle, Cade pushed Esme behind him. The impact or one of the Hunters had taken out the mill’s lights, preventing her from seeing anything other than muzzle flashes beyond the van's interior. Her ears told her men were dying -- human males pleading and screaming in pain. She wanted them torn limb from limb for what they'd done -- to Dana, most of all, but also to Leah and the other latents, Quentin's murder of Leah's sister Amanda.

The cries were extinguished with quick snaps, the broken necks too merciful in Esme's mind. To her right, the van's back doors were thrown open, the interior light automatically turning on. Seeing Seth carrying Dana's limp body in his arms, Esme pushed out from behind Cade. The back doors slammed shut and then the side door, everyone lurching as the driver threw the vehicle into reverse.

With the van moving, Esme knelt on the floor in front of Dana. Seth and another shifter held him across their laps. His upper body bare, she could see the network of bulging black veins. They moved in an obscene writhing pattern over his stomach and chest, crawling up his neck and along his shoulders. It reminded her of the spell she'd cast to keep Dana out of her home and the way his body had reacted when he obstinately tried to enter.

"Did you get a sample?"

Seth grunted. Esme’s eyes flicked up, saw him nod at a pouch then flicked back down to her inert mate. He hovered at the edge of death. She looked at Seth, nailing him with a hard stare. "I need Camille and Leah at the closest border house, and as many of the other latents as you can bring."

Seth nodded at Cade. "Radio Ash, tell him to bring the latents to Eckels stat." He looked back to Esme. "Leah and your mother are already there."

Ignoring the grateful tear sliding down her cheek, she leaned over Dana's chest, her palm directly over his heart. She stroked his hair, using the caress to tilt his head back, his lips parting from the gentle force. Esme sucked a deep breath in, sealed her mouth against his and slowly blew.

Sometime before the van reached Eckels, she blacked out.

**********

Esme woke in a room she didn't know by sight, but her nose told her Dana had frequented it. She stretched, her muscles as sore as when she'd woken up a week after Quentin almost murdered her. Her head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. Cautiously, she reached up and touched her scalp, her fingers gently exploring to make sure no one had actually hammered her skull.

Finding no damage, she tried to focus her thoughts. They refused to coalesce. She had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there. She searched for the last memory she could grab hold of.

An eagle holding a cub.

Blood.

Black snakes writhing…

She brought her hands up to her face, trying to block the images in her mind. If she didn't know better, she'd think someone had placed a forgetting spell on her. She needed to find someone -- Leah. Leah would help her figure out what was wrong. She needed to sit up, struggled like hell to do so. Her chest felt like it had a mountain lion perched on it.

Something was wrong, very very wrong.

Should she scream?

Esme strained to hear voices or any sound that would tell her where she was at. All she heard was a slight ringing in her ears. Looking for more clues, her gaze moved around the room as she listened. It looked like a man cave. The surface beneath her was an oversized leather couch with thick layers of fur for extra padding. No television, just overflowing bookshelves.

Drawing a deep breath in, she ran through the detectible scents. Dana at the front, every surface saturated with his honey-dipped fragrance. The ghost of his presence calmed her and she inhaled again to find a trace of Leah and Seth. The most recent scent was her mother’s.

Esme released an inward sigh of relief. She was safe. Someone would return soon and tell her what was going on. Now that she was awake, she could assist in healing whatever blocked her memory. She closed her eyes, slowly starting to drift to sleep when she heard the door to her room softly open.

Footsteps crossed the carpeted floor. Someone's small body indented the cushion. Esme knew without opening her eyes it was Camille, her mother’s scent hiding beneath a fresh mix of healing herbs. She brought a cool hand to Esme's cheek, brushing the tangle of curls behind Esme's ear.

Esme thought it felt nice to have her mother do that, particularly since she couldn't remember a time when her mother had ever done it before. When Camille leaned over her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, Esme almost said something to let Camille know she was awake. Only the thought that her mother would be embarrassed and instantly turn cold stopped her.

Camille started chanting. The slow curling rhyme wrapped itself around Esme's thoughts, gently blanketing them, her mind's ability to discern their meaning suffocated one word at a time.

"Stop!" Esme's arms shot out, knocking her mother away from her. Sweat popping along her brow, Esme strained to remember the words, her tongue running them backwards as fast as they popped into memory. Everything rushed back to her at once -- Dana tortured, Dana in the van dying, her pouring all the life and magic she could into his body.

Camille tried to shush her. "Baby, shhh, you need to rest."

On her back and unable to raise her torso for any leverage, Esme struggled to keep Camille's hands from covering her mouth. Grabbing hold of the thin wrists, Esme resorted to a restraining spell. Glaring at her mother, she yanked on the woman's rest. "Undo your spell, mother. Now!"

"You're too weak to move, baby."

Esme shook her head. Her mother had placed at least three spells on her -- but only one concerned her at that moment. "Why did you put a forgetting spell on me. Were is Dana?"

At the mention of Dana, Camille glared at her. "Don't waste your energy on him. You arrived closer to death than that beast!"

Stunned by the hate in Camille's voice, Esme sank into the couch. "Is he alive?"

"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?

As little Oscar would say -- hmmmph! That is strictly a need-to-know basis, and if you need to know, then you need to make some noise! If you like it, put a rating on it because more readers will buy and I’ll write more. (Seriously, this is a scientifically proven fact and one of the twelve laws of physics holding the universe together.) You’ve got the power to make it happen!

In between all that shouting, take a little time to tease and please yourself with more BBW erotic romance from my line up! Slow Hand Curves, Curve Contract, Riding Curves, Captive Curves, Curves for Two, Curve Patrol, Curves Ahead and Sunny with a Chance of Curves (which bestselling bbw writer J.S. Scott gave five stars on Goodreads for being very hot, very cute and romantic).

Still got an itch after all those curves? Don’t worry, there’s a cure for that. Just step up to Dr. Wick’s reading table and pinch a little fun from her to-be-read pile.

Jacob's Faith (Wolf Breeds, Book Two) (New school shifters, non-BBW)

Beauty and the Wolf

Valiant (New Species, Book Three) (New school shifters, non-BBW)

Reluctant Muse (BBW Erotic Romance) (Light on paranormal but heavy on the BBW)

Beast Next Door (Paranormal BBW Erotic Romance)

Okay, now that I’ve got you all set, it’s time for me to go. Catch me at wickedchrista.com or on twitter or gmail my sweet ass at wickedchrista.