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
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
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