Wolf Curves by Christa Wick Read Free Book Online Page A

friendship and hospitality. It had to be hard, even as powerful as Esme was, to live as a human among the shifters. She needed to know that she had an ally, that Leah wouldn't shun her now that she had accepted her place in Seth's life as a latent.
    Stepping into the hall, she found Esme's bedroom door open, the bed still made from that morning. She walked down the hall, only one lamp in the living room on and Esme nowhere in sight. Worry growing inside her, Leah stepped quietly onto the porch. It ran the length of the house, the front door at the center, a small table and two stools on the south side and a pair of rockers at the north end.
    Turning toward the rockers, she saw Esme motionless. The moon above and the lamp from the living room lit her upper body. Wanting to wake her gently, Leah tiptoed up to her sleeping friend. Looking down at Esme, she smiled.
    Killer cheekbones, a strong chin and delicate brows shaped the round face. While she had looked gorgeous enough the night before, she'd taken extra care of her make-up that morning, due in no small part, Leah assumed, to the fact Dana had slept on her couch. The lips were a pale rose, the same color dusting her eyelids before blending into a silver gray beneath her eyebrows. A healthy pink colored the apple of her cheeks, the rest of the skin a soft cream.
    Leah hoped, with a good dose of common sense and at least a little groveling, Dana would straighten up and make her new friend happy. If things could work out between a latent and a shifter, it couldn't be that much of a stretch for a fully human woman, particularly when she was a witch.
    Reaching out to lightly touch Esme's shoulder, Leah froze. The black cardigan Esme wore unbuttoned over her top had shifted, its edges bunched to the side and exposing part of her bra line. Moon glinted off a thin strip of silver -- the underside of a pin. Attached to the pin was the same type of flower Esme had pinned to Leah that morning.
    Mouth flattening into a straight line, Leah carefully folded the hem of the sweater up. She couldn't be sure with just the moonlight and inside lamp, but she thought she saw the glitter of silver thread. She ran her thumb over the area, the texture of spun metal unmistakable.
    She drew back. There had to be other uses for witch's lace and silver thread. Hundreds of other uses -- the silver merely there to magnify the charm. Retreating to the front door, she let it shut loudly enough to wake Esme.
    Leah watched as Esme came awake with a start, her hands quickly assessing her clothing before she looked at the source of the sound. Seeing Leah, she offered a weak grin.
    "He let you out of bed, I see."
    Heart sinking, Leah nodded. While there might be untold uses for the flower and silver thread, there was only one reason for Esme to make sure Leah didn't see them.
    Esme was a latent. A latent in love with a shifter, with the two of them usually at one another's throat.
    Something sharp twisted inside Leah's chest. She'd already been rejected by people she loved -- her mother and her grandmother. And then she had lost Amanda. She wouldn't go through that again. Looking back through the screen door and the hallway, Leah mourned what could never be.
    Esme stood and walked toward her, her smile strengthening. "So you've worked things out."
    Leah shook her head. "I thought so, but…"
    She forced herself not to gesture at Esme, at the spot where the witch's lace rested against her breast or the silver thread worked through the seam of her clothes. She wouldn't tell the witch she knew the truth. She'd let Esme share her secret once she trusted Leah enough.
    "I made a mistake." She fiddled with the uncharmed hem of her blouse, her voice a soft whisper of uncertainty.
    When Esme put her hand on Leah's shoulder, she looked up to find the witch's face filled with regret. Esme gave her a gentle squeeze. "Are you sure, honey?"
    Moving into the witch's comforting embrace, Leah nodded. "Can I sleep in your room