Entwined Strangers (BBW Shifter Romance): Sorcery & Shifters Book 4 by Robin Briar Read Free Book Online

watch over my patient for a while longer.
    If this works, and all the silver has been removed from his body, it shouldn’t take long before he’s back on his feet. His breathing is more even now. I can even see color returning to his face.
    Trent regains consciousness a moment later with a start. He takes a deep breath, then sits up, crimson eyes bolting open.
    “Daddy! You’re alive!”
    Piper throws her arms around him, and he hugs her back right away.
    “It sure feels that way,” he says. Trent looks down and notices the first-aid kit and the surgical instruments beside him.
    “Ms. Aberdeen saved you!” Piper explains.
    Trent looks up at me, sitting a few feet away. My head is propped up with one hand. Elbow on my knee. I smile.
    “Thank you,” he says. “I owe you my life.”
    “Yeah you do,” I throw back sarcastically, “and don’t think for one moment that I won’t call in that favor one day.”
    “I hope you do. You could have let me die. I’ve certainly given you reason to want me dead, but you didn’t. You saved me instead.”
    “I did, but not for the reasons you might think. Suffice it to say, I want you alive.”
    “Are you sure about that? Everything I’ve done so far has been motivated by self-interest. I won’t lie. I helped you escape so you could help me get Piper away from Felix. If I didn’t think you could help me, you’d be back at The Vault right now.”
    I roll my eyes. “Oh gods. Fine! I won’t pretend you’re a good person if that’s what you’re worried about. We just happen to be on the same side through no fault of our own. Is that better?”
    I look over at Piper, who is trying to make sense of our conversation.
    “Besides, how could I not save this little girl’s father? If Piper thinks so highly of you, then you must have some redeemable qualities. Even if it was happenstance, and not kindness, that caused you help me.”
    I get it. Trent’s trying to assert his gruff nature again. He doesn’t realize that it’s too late. I’ve seen how vulnerable he can be and there’s no going back from that now, no matter how assertive he wants to be.
    The funny thing is that—and he probably doesn’t even realize this yet—he likes the fact I’ve seen his soft underbelly. Not just that, but I don’t think any less of him for it. I’ve been privy to the real person behind the alpha male façade that everybody else sees, including Sylvia.
    I can see from the look on his face that Trent already regrets saying what he did. Still, I won’t give him the chance to take it back. I stand up and strut away before Trent has time to respond. Better to keep him on the hook.
    “Don’t leave this room,” I tell him. “There’s no telling what sort of mundane traps Kumi set upstairs while I was gone. I’ll check it out and make a call to Candice and Saffron from that magically linked phone I was telling you about.”
    I cancel the Hide from Magic spell. There is a permanent ward on my brownstone that does the exact same thing.
    I stroll out of the room knowing full well that Kumi didn’t set up any mundane traps inside the house. I just said that to keep Trent from wandering around.
    The protective spell adjusts to include anybody else who enters the brownstone at the same time as me. Therefore Piper and Trent are already grandfathered in because of my presence here. It’s a security loop in the magical ward, but a small one.
    I make my way upstairs to the bedroom, where I keep a spare phone beside my bed. It’s weird being home again after nine months. The place is immaculate and all the windows are still shuttered. I would have thought that Kumi would have opened them while she was saying here. I guess not. It’s definitely for the best right now.
    My spare phone is right where I left it.
    I call Candice and Saffron at the same time. This should be an interesting conversation. They pick up right away.
    “It’s me,” I manage to get out first.
    “Jessica! Where are