Entwined Secrets

Entwined Secrets

ENTWINED SECRETS
Sorcery & Shifters
Book 1

Description: 
Jess is a sexy, curvy witch hiding out in a small town.

When she meets a refined, gorgeous man named Mason, she's shocked that her usual charms don't work on him. He's still attracted to her, but it's intensely physical. Jess has never felt a bond so magnetic as the one growing between her and Mason.

What Jess doesn't know is that Mason is a shifter with an Alpha appetite.

Jess and Mason try to take things slowly, drawing out each other's secrets over time, but powerful forces are at work. It's more than just intense sexual attraction. Something else is happening as their witch and wolf fates converge.

Something dark. Something dangerous.

The full moon is coming, and soon new identities will emerge.

If their new love can withstand the revelation of their secret dual natures, and if they fight hard to stay together, they might not lose everything
.

Category:
Paranormal erotic romance.

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

The pool of water lay before me, ten feet across, smooth as glass. The others were gathered around me. Two of my three companions were forced into their animal forms, powerless to resist the change. Something in the heart of this alpine valley was affecting them, this strange pool of water.

None of us knew we’d followed the coordinates to a
Well of Transformation
.

I reached down, curious, one finger extended.

“Be careful, Jess,” warned the only shifter in my group who hadn’t been forced to change. “There’s something unusual about this pool.”

I touched the pool anyways. His caution only made me reach for the water faster. I’d spent my entire life listening to people who did nothing but hold me back. I was recruited by the coven at eighteen, pulled away from a loving family and normal life, given the role of Maiden, and put to work while kept in the dark.

Magic comes easily to me. It always has. That’s why my mentors kept secrets from me. Deep down, I’d always suspected there was a quirk in my nature, some duality that had been hidden from me all these years.

They kept my true nature a secret because they were afraid of the power inside me.

If I’d known, I would have been afraid, too.

I dipped my finger into the pool. The water didn’t feel like water. It wasn’t wet, yet a circle rippled out from my finger.

That was when, one by one, archaic runes ignited beneath the surface and began to glow.

My hand hovered over the pool, now shimmering with light, activated in a way it hadn’t been before. A hush fell over the group. I wanted to reach forward again, touch the illuminated water. It wasn’t simple curiosity anymore. The pool itself seemed to be controlling my actions, urging me to make contact again.

It took all my willpower to jerk my hand back and stand up. I was breathing heavily from the effort. I would have looked around at the others to see if my companions felt the same way, but they’d ceased to exist for me.

It was only Mason’s bark that gave me pause.

He let out one sharp bark, not two. Two was for no, and one was for yes.

Mason couldn’t have known what I was about to do, but he supported me, unlike certain other people in my life. He had become someone I always listened to when he spoke, even if he couldn’t speak with words. So I paused long enough to look up and make eye contact with him.

Warm brown eyes gazed back at me. Even in his wolf form, his humanity shone through.

He was the first man I’d ever loved, and I’d fallen for him because, for once, I hadn’t pretended to be somebody else. Once all the secrets were known, and even beforehand, it was
honesty
that set me free and allowed me to experience his love. I didn’t know what the
Well of Transformation
was, or what it would do to me, but it felt real, like knowledge, like everything I’d been searching for without realizing it.

That’s why it was Mason whom I locked eyes with at the end. He was fighting his own war, but still completely focused on me. I was so full of love for him in that moment.

“Jess, don’t do it!”

Another warning from the shifter who could still speak. The words fell on deaf ears. I paused just long enough to smile at Mason, and then took that final step into the well.

My foot slipped through the surface, and although the water appeared to be only inches deep, it swallowed me whole. My leg, and then the rest of me.

I plunged down into darkness, into fire, nothingness, and truth.

I plunged into pain. So much pain.

My body tore apart, because it had to at that point. A necessary step in any transformation. I was about to become the creature I am today.

ONE MONTH EARLIER

Every day starts the same now. I can’t wait to stand in front of my canvas. Even before coffee in the morning.

My regular life wasn’t like this. I tried to paint whenever I could, but my schedule was packed full of assignments by my mentors, the elder witches in my coven.

I’ve escaped!

Okay, I haven’t exactly
escaped
. I had their blessing, but I still feel like a runaway at heart, and that at any moment, when I relax and enjoy myself too much, they’ll insist I come back.

Now I’m here in this small town, a day’s commuter train ride from my brownstone in the city. I could be back in time for breakfast, but I haven’t returned for nine months. With each month that passes, I wonder if I’ll ever use that return ticket.

Most days, I don’t think about my future. Most days, I lose myself in painting, like today. My boss called to say she was running late, and I told her I didn’t mind working a few more hours. It gives me more time to paint, and to hang out with Piper.

Piper is the most talented kid at the studio where I work. She falls into a trance while painting, just like I do. We work side by side easily, absorbed by the subject matter, lost in the brush strokes.

The phone rings again. It’s Sylvia, my boss and Piper’s mother, and she sounds even more irritated than on her last call.

“Jess, I’m really sorry, but I’m stuck in traffic.”

“No problem. I can take Piper to your house. Wait until you show up.”

“No need. It just so happens that my brother is in town. He should be there shortly. I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”

Sylvia has a brother? I had no idea. She’s never talked about him before.

“I don’t think I’ve met your brother. Has he come to the studio before?”

“No. Not since you’ve been working here. And when he does show up, he never sticks around for very long. At any rate, Piper will be happy to see him.”

“Not you?” I pry a little.

“You’re right. That sounded bad. I’m happy to see him too. I just wish he would visit more often. Thanks for the help, Jess. I really appreciate it.”

I say goodbye, hang up with Sylvia, and look down at Piper.

“Mommy late again?” she asks without taking her eyes off the canvas.

“You guessed it.”

I decide to let the arrival of her uncle be a surprise, and go back to work alongside the little painter in silence.

Neither of us hears the door open.

“Stunning.”

A man’s voice behind me. Calm and measured. It cuts through my concentration, which never happens. It’s just the right pitch. Not grating or offensive at all.

I turn around to see who owns this magical voice.

He’s almost a foot taller than me, lean and broad-shouldered. Strong without being thick. A loose bolo cord around his neck holds a small circular pendant. His hair is short on the sides, but long on the top. Swept back.

His comment, I realize now, is directed at my canvas.

“Uncle Mason! You’re back!” Piper screams.

She runs at the man and throws herself at him. He scoops her up into a hug.

I can definitely see the family resemblance to his sister.

“Yes I am, pipsqueak,” he says, laughing.

“How long will you be here this time?”

“Not sure.”

“Will you be here for my birthday?”

“That’s a good question. When is that, anyway? Not for another year, right?” he teases.

“No! It’s tomorrow!”

“Right! I knew I came here for a reason. But wait a second…”

He grabs Piper’s hand and examines the Band-Aid on her finger, frowning, then looks up at me for an explanation.

“What happened here?” he asks. “This is a lot of blood.”

“It’s not so bad as it looks,” I say hurriedly. “I should put a fresh bandage on.”

“But what happened?” he repeats.

Piper sees the concern in her uncle’s face, “I was cutting the bristles of my brush. Like this.”

She grabs a pair of scissors and starts to demonstrate. Mason deftly catches Piper’s hand and stops her from repeating the same mistake.

“You don’t say,” he says, taking his niece’s fingers and kissing the tips. “How about instead of that, we make a pit stop on the way home?”

“Ice cream sundae?”

“It’s like you read my mind. But let’s not be rude. Introduce me to your friend here.”

Piper turns around, glowing. “This is my teacher,” she says, pulling him toward me. “Her name’s Jess.”

“That’s me,” I say. “I’m the one who lets eight-year-olds run with scissors. Tomorrow we’ll graduate to using blowtorches.”

Uncle Mason raises both eyebrows at the name. “Blowtorches? Maybe I’ll stop in and take advantage of that lesson.”

“No you won’t! Tomorrow is my birthday!” Piper chirps.

“I’m Uncle Mason, by the way.” He extends his left hand in a friendly way. “You can just call me Mason.”

It throws me for a second. Shaking with the left hand is odd even for left-handed people, but I make the adjustment. His grip is firm and his fingers are rough. I would say that Mason is in his early thirties, maybe fifteen years older than I look. I notice that he isn’t wearing a ring.

I smile back at him before it even occurs to me that I’m being flirtatious. Does he have this effect on all women? I need to remember that he’s my boss’s brother. Best to be professional.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” I say formally, betraying my dated mannerisms.