Entwined Destinies Read Online Free PDF Page B

what it felt like.”
    Oh, Mason, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to put you through that much turmoil. Why are you even here right now?
    I reach up and scratch his neck affectionately.
    “I just needed time,” I tell him.
    “I know. That’s fair. I guess it just took me driving across several states to figure that out.”
    “Maybe you just needed to take me for a drive in Fancy. I’ve never heard you talk about your feelings with such clarity before. Thank you.”
    Mason actually blushes. I lean over and smash a kiss into his cheek. He’s smiling again when I pull away.
    That’s when we pull up in front of my place. I look around, half expecting the local sheriff to be parked outside. The way Mason described splintering my front doors, the downstairs neighbors might think the place was burgled. Something like that is considered a big deal in this community.
    “Let me get the door for you,” he says.
    Mason steps out of the car and comes around to my side. I look up at my apartment as he opens the door for me. Something is different. I can’t put my finger on it. My mind is still kind of thick. It feels like I’m forgetting something.
    “Mason, when you found me, did you notice anything unusual about my place?”
    He thinks back to the previous night and shakes his head after a moment.
    “Not really, no. Then again, I really wasn’t paying attention. The change was on me. My pendant was the only thing keeping me human. When I saw you on the floor, nothing else mattered after that.”
    “How did you find me? You said I was passed out on the floor, but where exactly?”
    “By the window where you paint. Nowhere near your bed. Your easel was pushed over, like you grabbed it falling down. I think there were quite a few canvases lying around, but I didn’t look at them. I was more concerned about you. I shook you a little and then slapped your face lightly, but you weren’t waking up.”
    “Wow. I don’t remember any of that,” I say.
    “You needed something to eat, but I could smell that the food in your fridge had gone off. That’s when I made the decision to bring you with me. It was very spur of the moment. The pain of keeping my human shape was overwhelming at that point. So I draped you over my back, switched the pendant from my neck to yours, and shifted. I trusted that I wouldn’t hurt you. It felt like a better idea than simply leaving you there.”
    I squeeze his hand.
    Mason based that decision on a lie I told him. He would have hurt me when he shifted during sex, if not for the spell I cast to protect myself. The spell I can’t tell him anything about.
    Except this time Mason changed completely. Not just into a half-man, half-wolf, but into a full wolf. Maybe there really is a part of him that won’t hurt me. Or maybe his silver necklace protected me. I have no way of knowing.
    “I’m glad you took me with you,” I tell him.
    As we walk toward the downstairs door that leads up to my front door, I’m prepared to see a splintered mess of tinder and wood. What I find is nothing of the sort. The door is perfectly intact.
    “Wait? Did you burst through this door? Or the one upstairs?”
    Mason looks no less confused than me. He walks up to the door and brushes his hand along the surface.
    “No, it was this one. The next one as well. I could swear they broke apart as I moved through them. I mean, I didn’t look back or anything, but I remember feeling it buckle and splinter.”
    I look at the door more closely. It’s the same door. All the little nicks and scratches are still there, like the smudges of dirt from my bicycle tire.
    I check the handle. It’s unlocked. That’s unusual, but no less than a broken door restored to one piece.
    I don’t have my keys on me, so I count myself lucky for now. I really do want to wash up and eat something substantial.
    I turn the handle, open the door, and look up. The next door is intact as well. Mason grips my arm and stops me from taking another