Entwined Destinies (3 page)

“You came to my apartment? I don’t remember that.”

“I knocked, urgently, but you didn’t answer. I could smell you inside. I could hear you breathing as well, but it was ragged. Shallow. I may have broken your door to get inside.”

“May have?”

“Okay, I splintered both doors. The lower one and your loft entranceway.”

“I forgive you,” I say with a sarcastic grin, thinking it will make him smile. It doesn’t. He continues in the same even tone of voice.

“You were so weak when I found you, and there was nothing to eat in your place. Well, nothing edible, at any rate. Then I remembered what you said. That I didn’t hurt you when I half-shifted in the kitchen. That there was some part of me which held back.”

I blink in disbelief at what I’m hearing. I lied to Mason about that part of the story. The half-wolf didn’t hold back. If I hadn’t protected myself with a spell, Mason would have torn me to shreds.

“I was in so much pain already,” Mason continues, “trying to resist the change, but I couldn’t leave you like that. So I placed my pendant around your neck. You seemed to understand what I was doing, but you weren’t really conscious. Still, you held on to my back, even as I changed beneath you. That was the last thing I remember… until the sun came up and I found myself at your feet.”

I place a hand over my mouth as the realization sinks in. It wasn’t a dream.

“I didn’t bring you here, Jess,” Mason continues. “The wolf did.”

Mason looks ashamed. He considers giving in to the wolf a failure on his part.

“I’m just glad you’re here,” I tell him.

“To be honest, it didn’t feel like much of a choice. I had to see you. Despite what you said.”

I reach forward and hold his head between my hands.

“Forget what I said. So what if your twin sister can feel what you feel. It’s no weirder than anything else in my life.”

He shakes his head in my hands.

“No, it isn’t. I understand, Jess. I get it. I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t. I want you all to myself as well. How can I expect you to be okay with my bond to Sylvia, knowing that I’d be bothered by it if our situations were reversed?”

Okay, now I really feel like a heel. If Mason only knew the truth about me and my mentors. Now would be the time to tell him. I want to. I’m on the verge of spilling all my secrets, what I did, what I am. That I’m one of three witches in a coven. That I’ve shared our experiences with two other women through the connection we share.

I’m about to tell him everything, but then I bite my tongue. I can’t. It’s not just about me. I swore a pact of secrecy and I can’t betray that trust, not after all this time, simply to put Mason at ease.

So I kiss him instead.

I don’t have much strength after how badly I treated myself, but I kiss him with all the vitality he’s given me. I want to balm the wound in his heart. The emotional dagger I buried there. Even now Mason is trying to see things from my perspective, by putting his feet in my shoes. He’s trying to sympathize with me when I’m the villain here. A hypocrite who has to remain silent about her hypocrisy.

If only you knew, Mason! How differently you might feel about me then, about us. You came back to me. You saved me from myself, from wasting away. How can I not kiss you now? You are fighting for us because I was too self-absorbed before. I let you walk away like a fool. I can’t kiss you enough right now. It’s everything I can do to show you that I was wrong.

Mason wraps his thickly muscled arms around me and lifts me to my knees. I can feel the strength in my limbs returning, but he gathers me up and returns my kisses. His hands tighten on my body, grip me like he doesn’t want to let go. I don’t want them to let go.

I’m weak, but I can do this. No matter how tired I am, there is an ember of stamina in me that wants him inside of me. It’s not even hard to find. I drink deeply from his lips and fan that spark alive. It returns my investment. The warmth spreads quickly through my limbs. My fingers dig into his shoulder, anchoring themselves there.

I break from the kiss and adjust myself to straddle his lap. Then I look down at Mason from my perch.

I want him to see the desire I’m feeling for him in my eyes. I need him to know that I don’t care what his twin sister feels, not if it means we can be together. Not if it means that he will be there for me like I will be there for him.

That’s the deal. The agreement I strike with myself, even if he has no idea. Mason won’t know that I occasionally share our times together with my coven. He will, however, know that I’ve come to terms with sharing our time together with his twin.

If the past few days have shown me anything, it’s that I’d rather be with Mason than not with Mason. I’ll make it work.

I’m still wearing his shirt and a stretchy pair of capri shorts, but no bra or shoes. I’ve been barefoot all night.

“One of us is overdressed,” I tell him.

My shirt is the first article of clothing to go. I pull it off over my head. Mason’s eyes dance in that excited way men can’t help, no matter how hard they want to stay calm. He tries and fails. I like the transparency of his lust.

“Jess, nothing has changed. Are you sure? With my pendant off…”

“I’m sure.”

If Mason ever finds out about my coven, maybe my acceptance of his connection to Sylvia will earn me some good faith regarding that secret. For now, I need to forget all about his twin. It’s just Mason and I in our favorite place.

I stand up in front of him. My legs are shaky, but the huckleberries and handfuls of water helped tremendously. I don’t feel quite so hollow anymore.

“I’m warning you. You’re not getting me at my best.”

Mason raises an eyebrow at me. “You’re always at your best to me.”

I narrow my eyes at Mason and smirk at him with my lips pressed together.

“Those are some thick rose-colored glasses you got there.”

I grab one of his broad shoulders to steady myself and push the stretchy shorts down to my ankles, balancing on one foot and then the other. I bend my lower leg up to pull them off completely.

My head swims at the lopsided gesture, but I manage to avoid falling over, which is a small miracle in itself. I’m not sure how to get through this yet, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. It’s certainly not for lack of arousal. Still, I ask for clemency.

“Will I be getting Mason the man or Mason the wolf?”

“There’s always a little of both, but I’ll make sure the wolf takes his lead from me.”

“You’ll hear no complaint from me.”

My hipbones are sticking out a little more than they normally do. I really starved myself to finish that painting. I cover them self-consciously, but Mason can tell why I place my hands there and looks up at me admiringly.

He gently lifts my hands away and kisses the skin inside the slope of my hipbones. My nethers quiver as he tickles me with his lips.

“
My
bones,” he says.

I want him so badly now. The energy I was worried about not having surges through my body. Mason grabs both sides of my hips, pulls me forward, and buries his face between my legs. His tongue curls up between my lips, spreading them open with one forceful flick after another. I gasp at the cadence of his mouth.

Mason brings his hands up the inside my leg, brushing the skin ever so lightly, and then moves his lips to my belly. He dots me with kisses as his thumb draws across my breach. The engorged nub is easy to find, and he strokes me steadily. Unhurried.

His fingers are rhythmic. Mason slides his other hand up the side of my body until he finds a breast. He cups it in one hand and massages the nipple between two fingers. I gasp at the sensation as the ability to think clearly slips away from me. Mason pinches the nipple and I squeal. The momentary pain sharpens my thoughts. I’m back.

A growl erupts from his throat, slow and continuous. Mason rubs his face against my stomach and nips at the flesh, marking me with his scent again.

His hands reach up behind me, almost to my shoulders, and then trace my spine downward. His touch is light, barely in contact with the skin, teasing me. They pass over my backside, the whisper of a touch, until he reaches the back of my knees. The sensitive flesh that’s always soft.

My knees buckle and I fall into his lap.

I can feel his arousal bookending me, rising up behind my backside. Making sure I can’t get away. He grabs both cheeks and takes my weight. I must feel like a sheet of paper to him today.

He circles my hips, grinding my nub against his stomach muscles. I reach behind my back, grab his girth in one hand, and caress him. He throbs easily at my touch. I lean back and stretch further down to cup his sac, already pulled tight against his body.

I loosen my grip and grab it again, over and over, clenching my fingers harder each time. Now I’m teasing Mason, seeing how much he can take. He’ll have none of it.

Mason grabs me by the waist, lifts me high, and then lowers me down around him. I spread open for him eagerly. The look on his face is like coming home. This is where he belongs, after all. I missed having him inside me more than I realized. I think Mason feels the same way.

How could I have ever let him go over what feels like a trivial matter to me now? A little abstinence was all I needed to realign my thoughts.

The memory of Mason that I’ve nursed and the reality of his body quickly overlap. The reality, however, is better than I remembered. We haven’t had sex in I don’t know how many days, so I’m snug again, just like our first time.

Mason is good to his word. He gently lifts and lowers me on his pillar, controlling our tempo. I may as well be riding a carousel horse for all the work I’m doing. I can tell he doesn’t mind. I think we both needed this, to know that we didn’t dream each other, that we didn’t imagine how good this felt.

This man is even more amazing than all of my recollections, but I need to give back now. I can’t coast forever.

I stretch upward with both arms above my head, elongating my body for him. Assuming the posture of his curve inside me. I’m confident Mason will brace me, and he does. Then, just as my stretch comes to an end, I drop my hands onto his shoulders and lean back, taking a more active role.

My eyes lock on him, able and determined. This will take everything out of me, but I’m okay with that. Resolved. I choke up on Mason between my legs and take him deeper into my well, savoring his girth. Mason is quick to adjust, matching my pace, and times his thrusts to coincide with me crashing against him. Gives me the resistance I want.

My heart is already racing at the effort. It won’t calm down anytime soon, not that Mason keeps me waiting. I feel him stiffen between my legs, the moment before his release. The swelling before the onslaught, which I know all too well. I’m right there with him.

The warmth spreads through my body like a flash sweat. I’m being draw into Mason’s gathering storm. The two of us are ready to pour out of ourselves after being separated for days. The whirlwind of his pleasure becomes my own.

A part of me doubted I could get here, tired as I am. I would have been ecstatic just to be here for him. I should have known better.

Mason jolts out of himself, setting me off like chained lightning. My scream is one part exhaustion, one part relief, but if I think that’s all my orgasm has in store for me, I’m mistaken.

The vision descends on me without ceremony. The grass, river, and trees disappear beneath me as I soar high above it all. I’m outside my body again, looking down at Mason and I in among the trees. I can still see our bodies, but we’re so tiny down there on the ground.

The perspective changes, shifts toward the horizon, and then, without warning, telescopes across land and sea. I’m being transported far away. The speed is incredible. My vision has never been this vivid before.

I’m flying over cities and towns in the blink of an eye. The perspective pitches toward the earth as I approach a mountain. My speed slows, but I’m passing through trees now, moving closer to the surface, until I see the opening of a cave.

It’s pitch black, but that doesn’t stop me from exploring inside. I enter what I realize is a burrow, twisting and turning through underground tunnels. That’s when the vision finally comes to a complete stop.

There’s a presence in front of me. I can feel the enormity of it, a musk so oppressive I can barely breathe. My eyes adjust the dark. There’s a wolf in here with me, curled up and sleeping. It’s massive. I don’t want it to notice me, but what I want can be damned, apparently.

The head of the creature lifts up, and it smells the air, turning to look in my direction. Two glowing eyes fix on me. Red and vicious. They see me. How can they see me? Am I actually here? Or is this part of the vision? I can’t tell anymore. The creature has my scent. There’s no hope for me now.

That’s when I see her. A body nestled into the chest of this monstrous wolf, draped around his neck. A human woman. Naked and peacefully content. She’s the reason I’m here. This is what my vision wanted to see.

There’s something familiar about her, but I can’t put my finger on it. Not at first. Then I see it. The similarities. The shared traits.

It’s Mason’s twin. It’s Sylvia.

I must have passed out on Mason, because when I regain my senses, he’s hovering over me with concern in his eyes. My mouth moves before I know what it’s going to say.

“How did Sylvia scare off the werewolf that bit you?”

Mason is stymied by my question. It did come out of nowhere.

“Are you okay, Jess? You fainted.”

I sit up. Mason helps me.

“I’m fine, just a little lightheaded.”

Mason shakes his head.

“This was a bad idea. I should have taken you home the moment I changed back. I never should have let myself get carried away. I just wanted to be with you so much.”

I reach up and touch Mason’s face, hoping to calm him.

“I’m glad you got carried away. That’s exactly what I wanted as well. Besides, I’m perfectly all right.”

I smile, but truthfully I’m exhausted.