Entwined Destinies (BBW Shifter Romance): Sorcery & Shifters Book 2
Page 10
Sylvia is wearing a light dress made from a dark fabric. Her long hair is tied up off her neck, like mine. I didn’t change out of the cuts-off I was wearing, and unraveled the plaid shirt to wear it properly. Sneakers for my feet.
“Please come in. Can I get you something to drink? Iced tea? Lemonade? You must be thirsty after the afternoon you’ve had.”
Yes, you know Mason and I were having sex because of the bond you share. I get it.
“It has been an eventful day. Lemonade sounds perfect.”
I walk into her house for the first time. It’s very well appointed. Beveled skirting on the floor and wainscoting on the ceiling. Hardwood floors, not laminate. Large framed entrances. The furniture I see is simple but expensive.
There’s a painting on nearly every wall, which isn’t surprising considering what her parents do for a living. The entire place otherwise has all the personality of an immaculate display suite. I don’t gawk at the wealth, but give it a cursory glance. I’m not here to snoop, after all. I couldn’t care less about other people’s money.
“Let’s sit in the breakfast room,” Sylvia suggests. “There’s a cross wind in there.”
The distance to walk here was short but hot. My body was shiny with sweat by the time I arrived at her door, but the spell I cast is already regulating my core temperature.
Sylvia grabs a pitcher of lemonade from her stainless steel fridge and sets it down at the breakfast table. I sit down when she does.
“So what brings you across town, Jess?”
No point in waiting. I get right to it.
“The similarities between you and your brother don’t stop at being twins. When I carried you to bed, I couldn’t help but notice that you have similar taste in tattoos.”
The truth is I didn’t actually see anything at all, but Sylvia doesn’t know that. It’s a bluff. I’m going entirely by what Candice told me. If Sylvia does have a tattoo, it’s not on her chest like Mason’s. I can plainly see that much through her plunging neckline.
Right away, I can see from the look on her face that she’s been caught off guard. Her calm veneer cracks a little. She doesn’t know what I know and decides to keep quiet for now.
“Are you going to deny it?”
“Deny what? That I have a tattoo? No.”
Got it. Sylvia is in lockdown mode. She’s isn’t going to reveal any more than is necessary, which means she’s on the defensive. I can work with that. I have to make some blind assumptions next, so I keep the language vague.
“Fair enough. You need to know what I know before you come clean. Fine. You and Mason have similar tattoos. Similar in that they were both inked by the same artist. I could tell by looking at the style and technique that was used. Which means the Romanian witch who inked Mason’s tattoo inked yours as well.”
I pause to see if that prompts any sort of response from Sylvia. Still nothing, so I keep going.
“Now, we both know why Mason got his tattoo. It gives him control when he used to have none. What I didn’t know, what I suspect Mason still doesn’t know, is that your tattoo serves the same purpose. You’re a werewolf too. You have been for a long time.”
“What makes you think I’ve been a werewolf for a long time?”
“That’s easy. Your tattoo is older. It’s faded over the years. At least a decade, I’d say. Probably longer. His is still relatively new.”
Sylvia considers my words. She knows that I know. The question is, what will she do next? Rip my throat out? I’m prepared for that too.
“What do you want from me?” she asks coldly, all business now.
“I want to know why you kept such a helpful secret from your own brother. Why did you let Mason struggle against the wolf for all those years? I know he found that Romanian witch on his own. No help from you whatsoever.”
Sylvia’s eyes flare at that last part. She opens her mouth, wanting to say something, but then doesn’t, which doesn’t seem like her at all. Instead, she starts again with a different train of thought.
“Mason cut himself off from the family, from me. That was his choice, not mine. He only came back to work for the family again after he got the tattoo. What could I tell him after that?”
“Really? Your own twin goes through something that confusing and hellish, but all you care about is that he didn’t come to you for help?”
“Mason wanted to figure it out on his own. He’s stubborn like that. He wouldn’t have accepted my help, even if I offered.”
“He’s your brother! You don’t offer to help at a time like that. You give him help whether he likes it or not. Especially if you’re the only person who knows what he’s going through!”
Sylvia bites her tongue. She’s visibly angry, but I don’t care. I’m angry too. There’s no holding back now.
“He only left to protect you and your family from what he was becoming. You let him suffer through that torment alone when you could have helped him. How could you cast aside your own brother like that?”
My words are making Sylvia furious, but she’s got competition. The rage I’m feeling for her right now is searing hot. The idea that she could abandon Mason so callously is infuriating.
“What about you, Jess? You cast him aside too, and after I told you that he would bolt at the slightest provocation! Yet you did it anyway. Don’t presume to judge me when you’re no different than I am!”
Oh, now she’s kicked my hornets’ nest.
“That’s not even remotely the same! Mason and I were dealing with our own private issues. Well, at least I thought they were private until I learned about you. I had just found out that you and Mason share all the same powerful emotions. I was upset. What was I supposed to do? Keep those concerns to myself? Deal with it on my own?”
“If you love him, then yes, that’s exactly what should have done! Are your trivial concerns really more important than what he’s going through? Are they more important than his daily struggle against the wolf inside him? I seriously doubt it.”
My mouth falls open. That actually strikes close to home. I was being selfish at the time. I had a problem with Sylvia being able to feel everything he feels, especially when he was having sex with me.
Meanwhile, Candice and Saffron can feel everything I do when I’m having sex with Mason. The double standard is blatant. Not just that, but I got over it. The whole thing was silly of me in retrospect, especially considering what was at stake.
I almost lost Mason. I would have lost him if I didn’t accidentally summon him back with the painting, but Sylvia doesn’t know that. She just thinks that I should keep all my trivial concerns to myself. Well fuck that.
“My feelings are no less relevant than Mason’s. I might not be struggling against a wolf, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my own issues, or that I should be quiet about them.
“I’ll be there for Mason when he needs me, and he’ll be there for me too. That’s what it means to be in a relationship. And you know what? Telling Mason what I’m going through made us stronger. Not weaker.
“So no, Sylvia, I’m nothing like you. I fought to keep Mason in my life. You cast him aside when he needed you most.”
I let that sink into Sylvia like a hard punch. It definitely has an impact. I can see it on her face. Good. I’m sure she’ll rally in a moment to justify herself, but for right now the guilt is being felt. Deeply.
Just when I think Sylvia is about to respond, she doesn’t. Somebody else does.
“Send the message,” a deep voice commands.
I spin around to see who’s standing there. I didn’t even know anybody was there until I heard him speak. It’s an older man speaking into a cellular phone, robust and powerfully built, natural grey streaks in his hair, tall, with a chiseled, handsome face.
Yet none of those qualities are what stand out the most. No, that’s something else much more frightening and insidious. The man presses a button to end the call before speaking again.
“You know more than you’re letti
ng on,” the man says with a resonant voice that fills the room. I can’t bring myself to respond, so he continues.
“Enchanted pendants. Magic tattoos. You’ve come to terms with a lot of supernatural occurrences in a very short period of time, haven’t you? Werewolves. Witches. You talk about these things like they’re ordinary. Commonplace.
“Most mortals… nay, all of them in my experience, would have tucked tail and run by now, even if they were in love. Not you. You’re either wiser than your years or older than you look. There’s more to you that meets the eye, Jessica Aberdeen, and I mean to find out what.”
There is more to me than meets the eye. Most people can’t tell by looking at me, but this man can. I’m transparent beneath his stare, perhaps because he’s looking at me with eyes the color of blood.
It's him. It's the werewolf from my visions, finally manifested in the flesh. Except I seem to have walked directly into his den.
ENTWINED DESTINIES
Sorcery & Shifters
Book 2
You've just finished reading Sorcery & Shifters Book 2, Entwined Destinies. The story continues in Book 3, ENTWINED STRANGERS.
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