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
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
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