Entwined Strangers (BBW Shifter Romance): Sorcery & Shifters Book 4 (12 page)

“So will Mason,” I say.

“Not like Trent can. He’s stronger than Mason. You need to stay very close to Trent right now, Jessica. This is not a suggestion.”

“Are you ordering me to stay with him?” I ask.

Saffron pauses before answering.

“No, of course not, but if I’m right, then we have a real chance to strike a lasting blow at Felix. Had I known what happened between you and Trent earlier, the last time we talked, I might have figured this out sooner. No piece of information is too small, Jessica. You must know that by now. Please share everything with us.”

Saffron is right to scold me. I kept that piece of information from them on purpose. I really need to stop doing that, even if I’m embarrassed or surprised by own actions. In fact, especially then. Candice and Saffron are my coven, after all. I may have wanted a break from it all, but that’s over now. We’re in danger now, and it’s all because of me.

Still, if we’re going to share everything, that needs to be a two-way street.

“How do you know Felix?”

I keep the question simple. I wish we were talking in person rather over our magically linked phones. Then I could read the expression on her face.

Felix talked about Saffron like they know each other from long ago. Saffron has been talking about Felix the same way during this conversation. I can’t shake the feeling that there is more going on here than I know.

“It’s much like you already suspect. Felix and I were lovers.”

Okay. That was honest. No hedging. No minced words. She just came right out and said it.

“I’ve known Felix for a long time,” she continues. “Longer even than Candice, and I recruited her when she was still mortal.”

“How does the warlock stay alive so long? I only know how much work goes into keeping the three of us young. It takes all of us working together to make it possible. How does Felix manage to do it on his own?”

“I don’t know, Jessica. Felix and I were lovers for over one thousand years, but not constantly. It was off and on a lot. He knew I was a witch. I knew he was a warlock, but it was mostly about the sex. We rarely shared our secrets with each other. Too independent, I guess. I didn’t even know about The Vault until recently, twenty-five years ago, when we collaborated on a project together.”

“N
o
!” I say, putting a hand over my mouth too late to muffle it. “Do you mean Felix is Trixie’s—”

“Father? No. Definitely not. Felix is a lot of things, but he would never have sex with his own daughter. He seduced
my
daughter, not his own kin. He seduced Trixie because he wanted to drain her potential and keep it for himself. No, Felix isn’t her father, but he knows her father. He actually introduced him to me. Well, pointed me in the right direction is more accurate.”

“Wait. Let me get this straight. Your lover introduced you to another man, and that man became Trixie’s father?”

“Yes,” Saffron says.

“Should I ask?”

“It’s not complicated. Felix wasn’t my lover any more. We had broken up decades earlier, when he was drawn to another woman. There’s more to it than that, but suffice it to say for now, I was over him. Seducing my daughter, however, was a betrayal.

“I’m only telling you this because events are
still
moving quickly and we can’t talk in person right now. That’s how I know Felix. He’s very old. Maybe even older than me, I’m not sure. What I can tell you is what I’ve learned about the man during the last five years.

“The Vault has been his place of power for longer than I’ve known him. Before North America was really settled by anyone other than Native Americans. Maybe Felix came over with the Vikings, it’s hard to say, but he’s very invested in that place.

“If you spoiled his place of power, even a little bit, then he will definitely want to set it right. Not with half-measures or shortcuts. He’ll want to fix it properly, unweaving what has been woven according the rules of magic and manipulation. Two areas in which he excels.”

That’s when I remember what I almost forgot to write down. The entire sequence I committed to memory. The string of numbers on the chamber slab directly across from the one in which I emerge with Trent. I say them to Saffron.

“What’s that?” Saffron asks.

I grab a pen and pad of paper from my night table and repeat the numbers, writing them down as I speak.

I repeat them to myself again, looking at what I scrawled on the paper. Making sure they match up before answering Saffron’s question.

“These are the numbers from inside his private sanctum. All the chamber entranceways had numbers on them. This was the only set I memorized before Felix darkened the hallway.”

“Repeat them back to me,” Saffron asks.

I do, reading them off the sheet this time. I can hear her writing them down as well. Then she repeats them to make sure they’re correct.

“Jessica. Do you have an atlas or a map in your house?”

“Yes, in my library. Why?”

“Grab it. Don’t use the internet—Felix might be monitoring it as well. These numbers are a set of coordinates.”

Kumi and Trent have been busy downstairs while I was on the phone. They’ve already wrapped up the werewolf bodies in plastic and cleaned the floor with bleach. Piper slept through the entire ordeal. In fact, she’s still sleeping.

Trent assures me that a long, comatose sleep is normal when young werewolves shift. Their bodies aren’t used to the change and so it really taxes them.

I managed to find some old clothes that fit Trent, which actually turned out to be pretty easy. I have a steamer trunk full of clothes that belonged to my father, albeit from the 1920s.

It was casual wear back then, but they look almost formal now. To be honest, they look really good on Trent despite being dated. Trent and my dad were definitely of a similar body type. Freud would have a field day with that.

We carry the werewolf bodies into the aqueduct tunnels behind the door that my apothecary hides, and then leave Kumi alone with them. I know what she’s going to do, but that’s not an ability she’s prepared to share with Trent yet.

Suffice it to say, it will get very hot down there when her foxtails come out. There’ll be no trace of their bodies when she’s done. Not even the bone will be left behind.

Trent and I sit down in my library and pore over the most current atlases I own. I share what Saffron told me regarding the coordinates and we start working together.

Sitting at a table across from each other is the most civilized we‘ve ever been, but I still can’t help but feel aroused by his proximity, especially in those old clothes.

His scent is fuel for my libido, but really it’s everything about him. A heady musk mixed with a dated style of clothes. Why is that so exciting? I do my best to remain focused on the task Saffron gave me.

We track the latitude and longitude, which turns out to be here on the coast. Not that far from the city. It’s a mountain range, one peak in particular. A tall, inaccessible spire. Saffron was right. The numbers are coordinates. It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise.

I’m certain that this is the mountain I saw in my vision during that last orgasm with Trent. I descended on this peak from high above and floated down through the trees until reaching the lowest point of the valley.

That’s where I found a pool of clear water and gazed upon a likeness of myself. A version of me with red eyes, right before I fell in the water.

It would seem I had a vision about the coordinates I memorized before I knew they were coordinates.

Kumi joins us shortly after we make this discovery. She looks no less composed, but definitely smells like fire.

“There,” I say, pointing to the map. “These are the coordinates I memorized from that slab entranceway beneath The Vault.”

Kumi leans in and takes a closer look.

“And you mean to go there?” she asks.

“I do. Not only that, but I’ve seen this place before.”

I look at Kumi with a focused stare, hoping she understands my meaning. I’ve seen this place in a vision. She nods, knowing exactly what I mean.

“This looks like a mountain. Are you going to climb there?”

“I am, but it’s not going to be easy. It’s steep, treacherous even. I would need to go with somebody who knows what they’re doing. An experienced climber.”

“Erik? Trixie’s Erik?”

“Who else?”

“He certainly knows what he’s doing, but if Erik is going, then Trixie will want to come too. What about Candice? Maybe she can fly there instead. Wouldn’t that be easier?”

“I’ll mention it to her, but something about this place is calling to me, like I have to see it myself.”

Kumi nods.

“Trixie? Who’s Trixie?” Trent asks. “Another witch?”

Right. I’m so busy hiding that I have visions from Trent that I forgot he might not know about Trixie. We’ve been dancing around her name for a while now. Kumi and I look at each other. It appears we’re trusting him, but there’s no reason to tell him everything.

“A good friend. Somebody we protect from Felix. She’s not a witch and she doesn’t know I’m a witch, or Candice and Saffron. We’d like to keep it that way.”

“You protect her from Felix? Is this friend of yours a redhead, by any chance?”

Kumi and I both look at Trent. He knows something about our charge.

“Why do you ask?” Kumi says sternly.

“Well, if she
is
a redhead, then I’ve seen her before. There aren’t too many redheads in the world named Trixie that would need protecting from Felix. She used to work at The Vault. About five years ago. She used to accompany Felix down into the Vault.

“The same place we ended up today. His private sanctum. I never went with him during those times, but Felix would tell me where he was going in case he needed to be found. I was only supposed to interrupt him in the direst circumstances.”

“So today wasn’t your first time down there?” I ask Trent.

“No. I’ve been down there many times in the past decade. Felix had me recreate the runic circle in that chamber to exacting specifications in any place where I lived for an extended period of time. That’s why I placed one in the house where I was living with Sylvia at the time.

“If Felix summoned me, I was to use that circle and show up where we did today. He made it so that the magic is activated by my blood. Simple magic, provided I break the tattoo on my neck first.”

“Could you do that again if we went back to Sylvia’s place?” I ask him.

“We could try, but I doubt it. When somebody betrays Felix, he locks them out. I’m sure he’s already destroyed the teleportation link.”

“So you really betrayed Felix because of your daughter?” Kumi asks him. “Why not sooner?”

“He only started using Piper as leverage against me recently, after ten years of service, which means my loyalty counts for nothing. There are lots of ways he could have manipulated me. The one he picked was a mistake.”

Kumi listens intently instead of challenging him on this point. I think she believes him, which is good. It’s important that Kumi has a reason to trust him. If she doesn’t, then she’ll always be looking for a way to kill him instead.

“You let your guard down earlier,” Kumi says, “rushing upstairs to check on your daughter. You didn’t even smell the air. You might have sensed me if you did. All you cared about was her safety. If Candice and Saffron hadn’t told me that a red-eyed werewolf was working with Jess, then you would be dead right now. I respect your paternal instincts, but it makes your reckless. You need to watch that.”

“Fair enough,” Trent says. “But it’s hard to think straight where Piper is concerned. I’ve been looking for a way out of Felix’s organization ever since he started holding my daughter hostage. Any plan I came up with had to protect Piper as well. Jessica offered me my first chance to do that.”

This wasn’t an easy decision for him. I reach and put my hand on Trent’s shoulder to comfort him. He looks at me without pulling away, and even seems to appreciate the touch. I know it’s really just an excuse to touch his body again.
So much for sincerity.

“My betrayal will be a huge blow to Felix,” Trent continues. “He’s going to strike again, and soon, especially once those werewolves fail to report in after a reasonable amount of time. He can’t afford to let me live. To be honest, I’m surprised we made it this far.”

“Saffron has some thoughts about that,” I say. “She thinks that Felix wants us alive. You and me specifically. That we… corrupted his private sanctum somehow. She thinks he needs us alive to properly cleanse the damage we inflicted. For that reason, you and I are actually better off sticking together right now. Separating us will only make his job easier.”

I can’t really tell him that the closer we bond emotionally, the more difficult it will make Felix’s job, so I keep that to myself.

“That being said, I’m concerned about Piper getting caught in the crossfire if Felix comes after us again. He may want us alive, but he couldn’t care less about Piper.”

Trent sits with that information and contemplates what it means exactly. If we are staying together, then I would want him to travel with me.

“What’s so special about this mountain? Where have you see it before?” he asks.

It seems that all my secrets are getting trotted out today. Not even Mason knows. Well, if Trent and I are supposed to bond, one way of doing that is by sharing secrets.

“I saw it in a vision. A very clear, very lucid vision, like all the visions I’ve had about you, long before we met. Which is why I knew exactly what you looked like before we crossed paths at Sylvia’s place. Which is why I known that you and Sylvia were nestled together in a Norwegian cave during her trip overseas.”

That causes Trent’s crimson eyes to widen.

“Well, I recently had another vision, except it was about this mountaintop. It came to me right after the last orgasm you gave me downstairs.”

There, full disclosure. It actually feels really good to say it all out loud. I feel a bit saner already.

Trent blinks, but says nothing for a second.

“I see,” he replies, largely keeping his thoughts to himself.