Entwined Enemies

Entwined Enemies

ENTWINED ENEMIES
Sorcery & Shifters
Book 3

Description: 
When the terrifying man from Jess's visions suddenly appears in their lives, she and Mason are plunged into more danger than ever before.

Jess faces the painful choice between keeping her secret and saving Mason's life.

This new test could either strengthen the couple's bond, or tear them apart.

Now Trent, an Alpha werewolf and pack leader, has a proposal for Jess, but one that comes with a cost.

Jess can either turn to her coven for help, or give into Trent's demands, a shifter with his own private agenda.

Category:
Paranormal erotic romance.

ENTWINED ENEMIES
is the third book in the SORCERY & SHIFTERS series. The books of this series should be read in order.

“Maybe I’m just kinky that way,” I tell him.

The man with salt-and-pepper hair, by all rights a stranger, smiles at my comment, which I expected him to do, oddly enough.

What I didn’t expect is how his smile would make me feel. Naked, as if I’ve already been stripped bare by him. As if he already has me in his grip, or could at any moment. As if he could have his way with me at any moment and I would be powerless to stop him.

His red eyes flare wide open with an appraising look. He was thinking I would cower. I imagine that with his presence, he’s probably used to being treated with deference, not pluck.

I know his type. I’ve dealt with men like him many times before. They want to conquer you, but they don’t want it to be easy. Granted, those were ordinary men. This man is most certainly a wolf. An extremely large, very well built wolf. He just happens to be in the shape of a man.

“Then you would be unique in my travels,” he says in a powerfully resonant voice, “for a mortal.”

He’s not convinced by my kinkiness. There was too much amusement in his tone. At least what I think is amusement. It’s hard to tell. He might be testing me.

Something tells me I’m about to find out. He strides toward me purposefully.

I don’t move. I don’t even flinch, standing my ground. My nerves are ice. The man stops directly in front of me, looming over my body. He’s even broad and tall up close, more so than Mason, forcing me to look up at him if I want to maintain eye contact. I do. Transfixed by those crimson orbs.

The man places a hand under my chin, gripping my jaw. I’m already holding it up, anticipating this touch. His hand is like a vise, but I’m not resisting.

He doesn’t realize it, but this isn’t me anymore. I’ve already inhabited a character. Where Mason snuck under my guard and came to know me as I really am, this wolf is already too late. I’m ready for him.

He turns my head to one side and leans in to my neck while letting a growl escape from his throat through clenched teeth.

He wants me to be afraid, to fear him, but it doesn’t work. I close my eyes languidly instead and focus on his breath against my skin. The rumble of his voice vibrating against my throat. Now it’s all about substitution.

I replace him with Mason in my mind. It’s a trick every woman has done before when their current partner is not who they want him to be. The benefits of an active imagination.

My nethers blossom with warmth, awakening my whole body. I actually shiver with excitement.

The man inhales deeply. If he’s anything like Mason, then he knows that my arousal is real. He can smell it. That’s when he leans back, standing up straight again, and relaxes his hand on my jaw. Perhaps surprised by his discovery.

I turn my head back to look up at him again, but with shortened breaths. My whole body is piqued by his touch, not petrified, and he can tell. His chest heaves in response to my arousal. I’m no werewolf, but even I can smell the musk he’s casting off. The man doesn’t just want me—he wants to be inside me.

“
Trent!
” Sylvia yells.

She’s standing behind me. I almost completely forgot she was still in the room. Trent apparently forgot as well. We were the only two people who existed for a moment. Nobody else mattered.

You can’t fake that kind of connection. It either happens or it doesn’t. Mason and I feel it all the time, but I’ve felt it with strangers too. This stranger has a name now. Trent. If we do have a connection, it’s because I’m allowing it to happen, or so I tell myself.

Trent pulls his gaze away from me, turns to Sylvia with great effort, and shoots a look at her of my shoulder that is withering. He didn’t want to be taken out of our moment.

I turn around to face Sylvia, expecting to find her in a defiant stance, but that’s not what I see. The look on her face is one of terror. She spoke out of turn and Trent has let her know as much with a look. Sylvia shuts down completely. She even stares down at the floor, as if waiting for her punishment.

Something tells me she’s going to pay for her outburst later. I turn back to the wolf in front of me and try to change the mood.

“Trent. You knew my name before we met. It’s only fair that I learned yours.”

He looks back at me, composed again. The way he started before I clearly aroused him.

“I can see why Mason is drawn to you,” he says. “You don’t scare easily, I’ll give you that. Just the opposite, in fact.”

He leans in close.

“You should be scared.”

His voice booms with menace, which I’m sure is warranted, but washes off me like nothing more than a bracing wind. He doesn’t know I’m a witch.

If all else fails, I have that magic at my disposal. I’ve already cast Maintain the Flesh on my body before entering Sylvia’s house. If I cast openly in front of Trent and Sylvia, there’s a good chance they’ll figure out my secret.

For now, I’m still confident I can deal with this situation using my other tools.

A spellcaster might be perceived as an opponent by Trent and dealt with differently, more harshly. I want to be underestimated. If I do cast a spell, I need to choose the moment carefully.

Trent is obviously used to being in control. I don’t want to challenge him too soon. Not until I figure out what this is all about. Fools rush in. I’m a fool for love, apparently, but I’d like to stop there.

“You’re both werewolves,” I say, looking back and forth between them. “You clearly know each other, but I don’t know you. Sylvia knows me, which means that I’ve been the subject of conversation. I hope you weren’t bored. It couldn’t have been that interesting.”

I run through what I know and what I think I know in my head. I’ve seen them both in a vision, nestled together in a cave. He lives in Norway, if I had to guess. They fuck at the very least, but are lovers at the very most. Sylvia is definitely subservient to him. I’ve never seen her so timid before.

“More interesting than you think,” Trent says. “Sylvia told me a lot about you. How well you paint for somebody so young. Like the Masters of old, which is high praise coming from somebody with her family connections. Still, nothing you don’t already know, I’m sure.”

“How do you two know each other?” I ask.

He smiles at my question, perhaps knowing that he owes me nothing, but answers anyway.

“We met a long time ago. Two lost children in a Norwegian forest, a veritable Hansel and Gretel waiting to happen. I was going to eat her brother Mason. He was just a morsel to me that day, barely worth treating as prey, but I who am I to be selective?”

Trent brushes past me and walks toward Sylvia, no regard for me whatsoever as a threat. He doesn’t have the slightest concern about turning his back on me.

I use the opportunity to cast a spell.

Trent is talking
to
me, but not
at
me. His attention is elsewhere. There’s a good chance both of them will hear me.

“
Perspiciunt Quid Verum
,” I whisper under my breath.

Discern What is True.

“What was that?” Trent asks.

I turn around to face them both at the same time.

“Your speech could be vainer,” I say out loud, mirroring the Latin in English.

He narrows his eyes at me, but picks up on my sarcasm.

“Fine. Let me tell you about Sylvia, then. She came at me with a stick. Full of fear, but not paralyzed by those feelings. I was impressed, which is saying a lot. Mortals don’t easily impress me. So I let Mason live, even after biting him, knowing he would turn the next full moon. A moment of weakness on my part.”

As Trent keeps talking, I keep listening, but barely. Enough to follow what he is saying. The important thing is that I tapped into the quicksilver pool and cast a spell without being heard. For some reason, however, it isn’t working. I can’t tell if Trent is lying or telling the truth.

Trent brushes across Sylvia’s cheek affectionately, and she doesn’t look up. She keeps her eyes down.

“Is that how you remember it as well, Sylvia?”

Sylvia doesn’t speak, but looks up at Trent for permission.

“You can answer,” he says.

She turns to me with contempt in her eyes, still upset at the moment Trent and I shared.

“It is,” she snarls.

There. Truth. The spell told me right away.

“And that’s why you let Mason live?” I ask Trent.

“No. I came out of the forest to kill him. I’d had second thoughts by that point. My bloodline is noble and strong. It’s a privilege to inherit that mantle, to join my pack. Mason was a boy, a stranger to me, and weak.”

Still no read on Trent with the spell. It’s like my magic doesn’t work on him for some reason. I’ve never encountered that before. He keeps talking.

“I found him in his hospital bed with Sylvia at his side. She knew who I was immediately, even if I wasn’t a wolf any longer. The eyes, I’m sure, but I was impressed by that as well. I told her that she would die if she stood in my way. She did anyway.”

I want to test Trent again with another spell, but I don’t dare. I almost got caught casting this one. I can only cast spells wordlessly when it comes to Mason, the man I love. Maiden magic. I still have to speak them out loud any other time.

“I told her that it wasn’t personal,” Trent continues. “That Mason was nobody to me. That’s when Sylvia told me everything.

“I learned the secret about her and her brother, what makes them special. Their twin connection, which you already know something about. She told me about her parents. How she could be useful to me in particular. I was there to kill Mason, but Sylvia gave me another idea.