Entwined Strangers (BBW Shifter Romance): Sorcery & Shifters Book 4 (11 page)

“Can we find out for certain?” I ask. “You said that there are two packs. Yours and another one. Are any of your pack more loyal to you than Felix?”

“No. They carry my bloodline, but not biologically like Piper. They were all handpicked by Felix for me to bite, turn into werewolves, and train.”

The two men who crucified Mason, Baldy, and Cropped Hair were both despicable. A part of me is glad Trent had nothing to do with choosing them. A point in his favor.

“The pack members I pick would never have been killed so easily,” Trent continues, and then turns to Kumi. “I used to have a pack that I could trust, until you cut them all down.”

“I have a job to do,” Kumi answers coldly. “No less than you, wolf. When werewolves wander too close to my work, I eliminate them just to be safe. Be grateful you escaped with your life. You can keep being a father now because of that happy accident.”

“Felix is a lot more well connected than we thought,” I tell Kumi, eager to break the tension. “He has access to surveillance all over the city, not to mention affiliations with the police. They’ll be on the lookout for us as well.”

Kumi considers that information.

“Candice and Saffron can take care of themselves, but you should call them. Tell them what happened here and to expect werewolves at their homes. Saffron is at my post now, but she might go back to her place at some point. Candice too, when she arrives.”

“Did Saffron have any instructions for me?” I ask.

“No. Just that you did an excellent job. Said she could barely keep up with you and that she’s never felt so invigorated before.”

Kumi is talking about the quicksilver pool without being specific in front of Trent.

“Really?” I ask.

“Overflowing is the word she used.”

I look at Trent in awe. I really shouldn’t in case he starts to suspect that there was more to our latest encounter than I told him. My mind drifts to the quicksilver tendrils and follows them to the pool.

Saffron isn’t kidding. Not only is the reservoir full, it’s still agitated, spilling over the sides even now, long after Trent and I have finished.

The pool was empty when I began to siphon Trent’s lust. It’s been completely filled up after only one casting of Preserve the Lust. Filled up and still turbulent, like a burbling hot spring.

That’s never happened before, not even with Mason. Mason, the man I love. The only man who made it possible for me to cast spells without words… until Trent.

I’m still wrestling with that, trying to figure out what I feel for Trent. It is love or something else? Lust in its purist form? If was absolutely the most primal lust I’ve ever felt. My most voracious desires laid bare. Perhaps it was the same for Trent.

Does that allow me to cast spells wordlessly as well? It certainly filled the quicksilver pool faster than when I make love to Mason. Almost as if “love” gets in the way of “lust.”

“What?” Trent asks me with a confused look on his face.

He’s wondering why I’m staring at him, which is when I realize I am. I look him up and down instead of averting my eyes. My body flushes with blood. He’s so robust and accessible right now. Not a shred of clothing on him.

Kumi can see what I’m feeling.

“
Jessica
. Why don’t you make that phone call.
Upstairs
. Maybe put something on besides a towel. And find something for wolfy here to wear. I’m sure you’ve collected more than a few sets of men’s clothes after all these years. Trent and I will clean this place up in the meantime.”

That snaps me out of it. Bodies. Right. The sickly smell of copper wafting up from the floor of my hallway. It’s like I completely forgot they were there. Or I didn’t care. I was thinking that I could have Trent all over again, right here and now again.

What’s gotten into me? I’m so single-minded all of sudden. I’ve been extremely aroused before, but never like this. That cold shower didn’t do a damn thing.

“Yes, ma’am,” I say.

I spin around in my bath towel and force myself to walk upstairs, like a horny teenager sent to her room where she can masturbate in private.

“So there was nobody there waiting to ambush you?” I ask Saffron.

“No. Kumi was here the whole time until I showed up. Felix may know where we live, but I’m pretty certain he doesn’t know about this place. It doesn't actually exist in the real world, after all. And none of us come or go by traditional methods.”

Saffron isn’t kidding. She created a hidden apartment directly across from the building where Trixie lives. The place looks just like an apartment on the inside, but it exists between two other apartments, with a door that only we can see and open.

More than that, because of the extra-dimensional nature of this apartment, it can move around, allowing us to watch over Trixie wherever she may be staying. The best part is that while we can see out into the world, nobody can actually see us, kind of like a one-way window, but without a reflective mirror on the other side. A perfect outpost for spying.

“And Trixie?”

“Having the time of her life as usual, entertaining the mountain climber. I don’t sense anybody watching the place right now, but then I wouldn’t if they have those tattoos. If there are werewolves nearby, they’re being inconspicuous. Maybe waiting for one us to show up. I’ll head outside when Erik leaves and see what I can shake out of the woodwork.”

I’m talking to Saffron on our magically networked phones while getting dressed in my bedroom. She teleported to the hidden apartment directly from Mason’s car.

She’s the only member of our coven who feels confident enough casting that spell based on a mental image. Not even Candice would attempt it without a teleportation circle securing the destination point, but she’s flying into the city as we speak.

She’ll still get here a lot sooner than Mason can drive.

“The two werewolves in my home were a surprise, but it’s strange, Saffron. You would think that would upset me more, but it doesn’t. Not even a little bit. All I can think about is Trent right now. He’s downstairs, still naked because he couldn’t care less about wearing clothes. What the bloody hellions is wrong with me?”

“You clearly hit it off. I still can’t believe the two of you were able to fill up the quicksilver pool that quickly.”

I close my bedroom door. I’m sure Trent has ears even more sensitive than Mason’s. There’s no telling what he can hear from downstairs, even with the door closed. I cup the phone and lower my voice for good measure.

“That makes two of us. It was so primal. I mean, it’s like that with the Mason too, but loving as well. This was
much
baser. More urgent and needful. Like there wasn’t really a choice in the matter, especially once he changed into a half-man, half-wolf.”

“Well, there
was
an urgent need for the pool to be filled again. Could the stakes have been ramped up for that reason? Maybe that’s why you’re still keyed up even now?”

“I don’t think that’s it, but I will say this. The pool was hungry. Once I cast Preserve the Lust, there really wasn’t any quicksilver left. When the tendrils latched on to me, they took over my entire body. Resistance wasn’t an option. I had zero freedom of will, unless I went along with it.”

“The pool does have an appetite,” Saffron says, “especially when it’s empty. I should have warned you. We were moving pretty quickly at that point and it didn’t occur to me. Sorry about that, Jessica.”

“No problem, Saffron. I was concerned about Trent’s werewolf control for a moment there, but he held it together.”

“Thinking about it now, however, maybe that’s why you still feel so horny. It could be a residual side effect of being connected to the quicksilver pool so completely. I wouldn’t be surprised if your bond to the pool is even stronger now.”

“That might explain something else then,” I say. “I was able to cast spells wordlessly again. Until now, I’ve only been able to do that with Mason. Isn’t that only supposed to happen when I’m in love with a man? So what, do I love Trent now too?”

Saffron doesn’t say anything. The silence continues long enough that I wonder if we’re disconnected.

“Saffron? Are you still there?”

“I’m here. I don’t know what to say, Jessica. That’s a question only you can answer.”

Strange. Saffron doesn’t normally deflect like that.

“I don’t know how to answer that question. I just don’t feel the same way toward Trent as I do toward Mason. If I can only cast spells wordlessly when I love a man, then I don’t see how my feelings for Trent would qualify. They’re more instinctual, almost devoid of emotion.”

“Almost?” Saffron asks.

“Well, there is one emotional component. But it’s small. Insignificant.”

“And what might that be?”

“Well, I may not have told you everything that happened between Trent and I under The Vault.”

“Then perhaps you better do that now,” Saffron says, stern now.

A part of me wishes I were talking to Candice.

“Well, shortly after we teleported, I tried to kill Trent while he was still weak. For all the good it did me. There was a hole through his gut, but he was still able to overpower me. I felt pathetic. I couldn’t beat him with speed or strength, but I wanted to beat him somehow.

“So I kissed him. I did it to catch him off guard, and it worked. Really well, actually. Much better than I hoped. But then something else happened. His cruelty melted away. Completely. Suddenly he was a different person. Gentle. Vulnerable. And then…”

“One thing led to another. You are the Maiden, after all. I won’t act like I’m even a little bit surprised.”

“That’s how Felix found us when he opened the slab entranceway.”

Saffron sighs. “It appears you’re emotionally invested in two men now, Jessica, and they’re invested in you. I know Candice will agree with me on this point, but if you have to choose between them, pick Trent.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Love can be such a complicated emotion. It’s fleeting at the best of times. You’re better off with Trent in the long run, especially considering how quickly you and him were able to fill up the reservoir.”

“I’m confused. So you
don’t
think I’m in love with Trent?”

“I think you’re connected to Trent, possibly even magically fused to him in some way by the quicksilver pool. I’d have to examine you both at the same time to know for sure. But love? There are many ways to fall in love. It doesn’t follow any rules and it’s certainly not convenient.

“You showed a vicious man tenderness. You saw him as something other than he appears, and you also appreciated that quality. It might even be how Trent has always wanted to be appreciated. That’s going tug at his heart whether he realizes it or not.

“Evil men can be turned by that alone, Jessica. Trust me, I know. You snuck around Trent’s defenses, and you did it in a warlock’s private sanctum. A space beneath The Vault that Felix probably forged out of cruelty.”

There’s a short pause before Saffron keeps talking.

“Jessica. That’s it! That’s why Felix didn’t kill you right away. You’ve desecrated his private sanctum.”

“I what?”

“You introduced a genuinely tender emotion into his place of power. That’s like poison to him. It weakens his magic grasp on a fundamental level. It erodes his connection to whatever reservoir of magical energy he stores there.”

“I can do that?”

“Yes, maybe even you specifically.
A Maiden
. Especially a Maiden who isn’t aware of what she’s doing. Your magic isn’t bound by normal constraints, Jess. It’s more wild and unpredictable. Tell me, what happened after that?”

“Felix tried to convince Trent that I was merely seducing him so that he would lower his guard and I could get the upper hand.”

“That makes perfect sense! He needs to corrupt the sincerity of your gesture. That’s one way to purge the stain of your connection to Trent. If he succeeded, it would have cleansed the emotional bond you and Trent formed in his private sanctum. That bond is a blight on his domain. This all makes sense now.”

“Are you sure? My gesture couldn’t have been that sincere. I
was
trying to get the upper hand on Trent. My plan was to stab him with the silver spike the first chance I got.”

“And did you get that chance?” Saffron asks.

“Well, that’s when Felix opened the chamber.”

“So there weren’t any opportunities before that point?”

I pause before replying, thinking about the situation again.

“Okay, there may have been a few.”

“That’s what I thought. You were enjoying the connection to Trent, the excitement of it. Even the discovery that there was more to this man than you thought. Felix would have picked up on that right away. His private sanctum is functionally the same for him as the quicksilver pool is for us.”

“And that’s why he didn’t kill me? I don’t know, Saffron. It certainly felt like he wanted me dead. The way his snipers were shooting at me after we leapt out of the building. I would have died if I hadn’t casting Maintain the Flesh so many times.”

“About that. There’s a much more efficient spell Candice and I can teach you for repelling bullets. I think Felix assumed you knew the spell I’m talking about. He probably thought we taught it to you already. After you were shot, did the snipers keep shooting?”

“No, but we were pretty far away by that point.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. Those rifles would have been augmented with magical accuracy. If I’m right, I think they stopped shooting the moment you were wounded. They weren’t expecting that.”

“How can you be sure?” I ask Saffron.

“I’m not, but I’m pretty sure. Felix wants you alive to undo the blight of your emotional connection on his private sanctum. He can do that without Trent, but it would work better if you were both alive, kind of like making an anti-toxin from the poison of the snake that bit you.”

“Then shouldn’t Trent and I get away from each other?”

“No. Felix wants to isolate you from Trent, before the connection you formed with each other, in his private sanctum, strengthens
even more
. Much like he tried to do already, locking you away in that apartment. You’re stronger together than apart. Not only that, but Trent will protect you.”