Curve Charm (Paranormal BBW Erotic Romance) by Christa Wick Read Free Book Online Page B

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