Free Entwined Destinies by Robin Briar Page B

intents and purposes, Candice and Saffron can not only feel what I do when Mason’s having his way with me, but they can slake themselves on his lust as well. That’s right, Jess. You’re a walking bag of contradictions. Definitely more trouble than you’re worth.
    Okay, to be fair, this is big for me too. I met a guy who snuck past all my usual seduction faces. A guy who sees me as I really am, and likes the person he finds. A guy I satisfy as well. A relationship in the truest sense of the word, which is a unique experience for me after all these years of using men strictly for their lust.
    I feel like the rest of the world could stop existing for Mason and I, but we would still be completely happy. Shut in, but happy. Except I don’t have him all to myself . I have to share him with his sister. Which is to say, I have to share him with Sylvia if I want Mason to feel anything.
    He can cut his sister off by wearing the pendant, but then he’s also cut off from his own feelings. I didn’t win either way, or so I thought, until I realized how foolish I was being.
    It took not having Mason in my life for two weeks to see how selfish I was being. It took a summoning ritual to bring him back. It took the perfect reproduction of a painting to cast that spell. It took draining one-half of the quicksilver pool to make that possible. The same reservoir from which Candice and Saffron cast their spells.
    It took almost losing Mason to change my mind, to finally stop caring whether his twin sister can feel everything he does. I’m over it now. Officially.
    Which allows me to ask a new question I didn’t want to explore before. I wonder what’s it like for Sylvia?
    She must have been piqued a few times recently, especially after the afternoon Mason and I just had. I imagine that as twins, they must have developed a way to cope over the years. It would be embarrassing otherwise.
    You could be having a conversation one moment and an orgasm the next. What if you’re talking to your parents? Or in the middle of a meeting? What if you’re giving a speech in front of a room full of people? It could be mortifying.
    They probably check in with each other, especially when there’s something important in their schedule. I can imagine the kinds of messages they must send to one another. Trying to close a deal. Keep it in your pants until I’m done!
    Come to think of it… I may have seen the aftermath already. The day Sylvia showed up at the studio was right after Mason and I had sex in the shower. She did look more disheveled than normal, and that was only a hint of his wolf coming out. I’ve had him twice since then as a half-man, half-wolf.
    There’s a knock at my door. It completely breaks my train of thought.
    I look over at Mason. He doesn’t stir. Good. I’m dressed enough to be presentable for whoever could be dropping by. Saffron? Kumi, perhaps? I close the bedroom door so that Mason can keep sleeping.
    The knock comes again. Louder this time. It’s not my neighbors. They never knock that urgently, even when the matter is urgent. Could Candice have returned from her trip already?
    One more time. Even more insistent. Okay, that’s kind of annoying. I don’t want Mason to wake up.
    I swing the door open with an irritated look on my face. The person on the other side better have a good reason for being so forceful. Whom I see surprises me. I shouldn’t be caught off guard, but I am.
    It’s Sylvia. She’s standing in front of me, but only barely.
    Her eyes are bagged and her dress is wrinkled. Her buttons are completely misaligned. Not only is she put together badly, she’s utterly exhausted. There’s an overnight bag slung over one of her shoulders. A tag still dangling from the strap that I recognize. It’s a Scandinavian airline.
    “Jess. I… I had to come here. I don’t know why, but I… needed to see you. To be here. To find…”
    Sylvia trails off as her eyes roll back.
    I manage to catch her as she slumps