Wiggling out of Jo’s arms, though his Fox protested against it, he backed away from her and Shifted again, going back to human.
He wound up crouching naked at her feet.
“Oh!” Jo gave a little gasp and took a quick step back from him.
“Sorry.” Reese started pulling on his clothes as fast as he could. “Can’t help it—the clothes don’t Shift with me.”
“I see,” she murmured, although she was pointedly averting her eyes.
“So?” Reese asked as he finished buttoning his jeans and reached for his shirt. “You believe me now?”
“I guess I have no choice.” She frowned. “I’m sorry for doubting you—I thought you were like that pack of Skin Walkers that attacked me on the way here. But your, uh, other form isn’t nearly as scary as theirs. They turned into a pack of wolves—huge ones.”
Reese felt a little guilty about not admitting that the little fox wasn’t his only size option, but he wanted to hear more about the ones who had attacked her.
“A wolf pack, you say?” he said frowning. “Where about did you see them?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “In the woods outside of Asheville. I was leaving Avalon and I was already too far away to call for help.” She looked down at the ceremonial dagger still clutched in her hand. “Not that anyone would have come, even if they could have heard me.”
“Avalon? You mean the private females-only Yoga retreat?” Reese asked. “Is that where you came from?”
“What do you know about Avalon?” she demanded defensively.
Reese shrugged. “I know because I bought my little sister, Meggie, a gift pack to take classes there for her birthday one year. She loves that kind of stuff.”
“I miss it.” Jo’s voice had fallen almost to a whisper. “So much. But . . . I can never go back.”
“Why not?” Reese asked, but she only shook her head. Clearly the pain was too great to talk about. He decided to go back to their earlier topic. “Tell me about this wolf pack that attacked you,” he said, going to sit on the porch steps with his t-shirt still in his hand. “What makes you think they were Skin Walkers?”
“Well . . . because they changed. They . . . Shifted from human to animal form.”
“Like I just did, right?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m just asking because I’ve never heard of real-life Skin Walkers before but there are plenty of Shifters around these parts. In fact, just on the other side of Asheville is a town called Wolverton—that’s dire wolf country. They have a pack about twenty or thirty strong—I know their head Alpha, Jase Saunders. Fixed his truck for him a couple of times.”
Her eyes widened.
“Is he a really tall man with coal-black hair and amber eyes?”
Reese nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. Did you talk to him?”
“He tried to stop the others from attacking me,” Jo said. “He kept shouting that they were a bunch of Betas and they had to control themselves. In fact . . . he held them off just long enough for me to get a running start. But then . . .” She shivered. “I looked behind me and I saw them changing. They were so huge—bigger than any wolf I’ve ever seen.”
“Sounds like dire wolves all right. They went extinct shortly after the last ice age—all the animals were bigger back then. Well, most of them.” Reese frowned. “And that sounds like their Alpha, Jase. But I don’t understand why they would attack you in the first place.”
Jo gave a short, hard laugh. “Because they’re men—what other reason did they need?”
“I’m sorry about that,” Reese said quietly. “I just want you to know you’re safe with me. I won’t hurt you.”
She took a deep breath. “Which is why I should stay with you, right?”
“Do you want to?” Reese asked. “I mean, because I want you to—I really do. But I’d like to know how you feel about it.”
“Well . . .” She looked down at her knife, studying it while she thought. “I want a place to stay—a place to catch my breath. It’s true what I told your fox—or you in your other form, I guess—I’ve been traveling for weeks and I’m really tired. And . . .” Her eyes were suddenly huge and haunted. “And I can’t go back in the woods. Not after the sun goes down, anyway.”
“Then you should stay,” Reese said decisively.
“All right.” She nodded as though making up her mind. “I’ll stay—but only on my own terms.”
“Hands off, I get it.” Reese held up his hands, to show he wouldn’t touch her.
“Hands off is right but . . .” she took a deep breath. “I have to be sure about that.”
Reese frowned. “You want me to give you my word? Because I will.”
“And if I knew you better, I would take your word,” Jo said. “But I’m afraid I have something else in mind—something you might not like.”
“What? Try me.” He wanted her to stay so badly he would have agreed to almost anything. Inside him, he could feel his Fox yipping eagerly. She was going to stay! The wonderful female with the fox-red hair was going to stay!
We’ll see, he sent cautiously to his other half. Settle down.
Jo took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes.
“I need to cast a spell,” she said. “A binding spell to keep you from touching me.”
Chapter Three
Jo waited to see what he would say to that. Most males, she thought, probably wouldn’t have taken it well. Not that she’d had much contact with the opposite sex for the past twenty years or so but from what she remembered they were a thin-skinned, easily offended bunch only interested in one thing besides their egos.
Reese, however, just looked at her thoughtfully for a long moment before nodding.
“All right,” he murmured in that deep voice of his. “If it makes you feel better, that’s all right with me.”
Jo looked at him uncertainly. “Wow, you really do want me to stay.”
“I do,” he said simply. “I honestly don’t know why. I know we just met and this isn’t something I normally do, invite strange girls over to stay at my house. But I can’t help it—I just . . . feel like you belong here.”
Jo studied him carefully as he spoke. If he was acting or pretending she certainly couldn’t tell. He seemed to be thinking deeply about this and his warm, mellow voice was completely sincere.
Why does he want me to stay so badly? she wondered. An even trickier question was, why did she want to stay as well? Because she did. Now that she was (mostly) over her fear of the big Shifter, she felt herself drawn to him, drawn to his house and the grounds around it—and not just because she needed to stay out of the forest and avoid the shadow creature.
Her old mentor, Miranda, had taught her that physical places can hold memories and feelings. The big old Victorian house with its wraparound porch and green trim seemed to echo warmth and joy and love. She didn’t think she would get such happy echoes from a place where anyone evil or wrong-intentioned lived.
“Well,” she said at last, thinking of his comment that he didn’t normally invite strange girls over to stay. “I’m hardly a ‘girl,’ although you might think I’m strange when you see me casting.”
“Why?” Reese raised an eyebrow at her. “Is it weirder than watching someone turn into an animal in front of your eyes?”
Jo felt her mouth quirk upward in a smile.
“Okay, point taken. No, I guess not. Listen . . .” She cleared her throat. “I’m going to cast out here, in your backyard if that’s all right.”
“Fine by me.” He shrugged, his bare shoulders rolling. He had yet to put back on his t-shirt and she couldn’t help noticing that his broad, muscular chest with its dusting of reddish-brown hair was very attractive. Not that she was attracted to men—not after her past. But still . . .
“Okay well, I’ll need some time to get ready. And . . .” Jo bit her lip, wondering if he would accede to her next request. “And I need something of yours to use to bind you from touching me. Something person
al that you’ve worn next to your skin.”
He regarded her quietly for a moment, then nodded and held out his T-shirt to her.
“Will this do?”
Jo took it from him, scarcely believing his willingness to go along with her request.
“Yes,” she said, clutching the warm, soft cotton to her chest. It had a spicy, masculine fragrance that must be the scent of his skin. “It . . . this will do fine. But I don’t understand . . .” She shook her head. “Why are you so all right with this? I mean, I’m preparing to cast a spell specifically to keep you from . . . from touching me the wrong way. Any other male would have been insulted.”
“I heard what you said back in the shed,” Reese said quietly. “Somebody hurt you, darlin’—hurt you bad. I can understand you wanting to do everything in your power never to let that happen again. And if this is what it takes to make you feel better—to help you trust me—then I’m all for it.”
His quiet response surprised Jo more than she could say. She clutched the warm t-shirt to her chest and stared at him with wide eyes. Reese met her gaze and looked back, his brown eyes filled with quiet understanding. For a moment, Jo felt like she could fall into those eyes and stay there forever. Then she pushed the idea away—it was ridiculous. He was a male and therefore inherently untrustworthy. Plus, even if she had been interested—which she absolutely was not—he was way too young for her.
“I’ll need some time to prepare,” she said briskly. “Casting under a full moon is best but since Lady Moon is new right now—”
“You know about Lady Moon?” he asked, interrupting her.
Jo frowned. “It’s a name for the Goddess—yes, I know about her.”
“It’s just . . . that’s the Shifter deity. The one who looks after Shifters and supposedly started our race in the first place.” He shrugged. “Just never heard of a non-Shifter who knew about her.”
“Oh, well . . . we Wiccans think of her as just one aspect of the Goddess, but there’s definite power in the moon. Although I never heard of her creating a whole different race of people.”
“It’s a Shifter legend.” He smiled a little. “I’ll tell you later if you want—since you seem to like myths and legends so much.”
“Okay, I’d like that.” Jo found herself smiling at him. “I love to learn new lore. Now . . .” She cleared her throat. “As I was saying, it’s better to cast under a full moon but since I can’t, twilight will have to do. That’s a time of power as well.”
“Okay, well I have to get back to work for a little while.” Reese rose from the porch steps. “I own Fox’s Auto Body Repair here in town and I have a car up on the rack I promised would be done by closing time tonight. Do you need anything else before I go?”
“No, I think I have everything I need to cast in my pack. But . . .” Jo bit her lip, uncertain how to ask.
“But what?” Reese said patiently. “Just ask, Jo. I’ll get whatever it is you want—as long as it isn’t a million dollars in small unmarked bills.” He grinned, that warm, easy grin she was already beginning to like more than she wanted to.
“I don’t need anything,” Jo said. “I’m just . . . really thirsty. And I’d, uh, like to use the facilities.”
Which was a nice way of saying she had to pee. Of course, she’d been managing by peeing in the woods for weeks now—more often than not she hadn’t been near a bathroom when she had to relieve herself. But she was tired of that—so damn tired. It would be nice to act like a human for a while instead of living the life of a hunted animal. Plus she really didn’t want to go back into the forest—not even during the daylight hours—if she could help it.
“Oh sure.” Reese walked up the porch steps and opened the back door for her. “You want to go before I leave?”
“Um . . .” Jo hung back. She didn’t want to enter the house with him until the binding was set. He seemed like a nice guy and every instinct she had said she could trust him but still . . . she couldn’t risk letting the past repeat itself. She just couldn’t.
Reese seemed to understand her reluctance.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Tell you what, I’m going to run upstairs and pull on a shirt before I drive back to work. But I’ll leave the back door open for you—you go in and, uh, do what you need to do while I’m gone. That way you don’t have to feel worried.”
“Thank you,” Jo said. “That’s very kind of you but you just met me. Aren’t you placing an awful lot of trust in a complete stranger?”
Reese gave her a long look.
“I guess I am, darlin’,” he said at last. “But my Fox says you’re trustworthy and he hasn’t steered me wrong yet.”
Jo thought of the adorable little red fox he turned into and got a sudden case of the warm fuzzies. It was hard to believe that such a huge, muscular man could turn into a fluffy little ball of fur with those big brown eyes and that unbearably cute pointed muzzle but Reese had proved he could do it.
“I like your Fox,” she said impulsively. “He’s so—”
“Cute? Cuddly? Adorable?” Reese grinned at her.
“All of the above,” Jo agreed.
“Well he is actually me, you know,” Reese pointed out. “The other half of me, anyway.” He frowned. “This spell—once you cast it, I won’t be able to touch you at all? Because . . .” He cleared his throat and got red in the face. “Well, because my, uh, Fox really likes the way you scratch behind his ears. He doesn’t take to many people that way. In fact, you’re pretty much the first.”
“No, no,” Jo hastened to assure him. “You’ll still be able to touch me in your Fox form. And um, in your human form too. Not that we would have, uh, reason to touch.” She felt her cheeks getting hot as she tried to explain. “You just won’t be able to touch me the wrong way.”
“Sexually, you mean?” Reese raised an eyebrow at her.
Feeling her face heat even more, Jo nodded.
“Right. Look . . .” She cleared her throat. “Why don’t you watch me cast? It might clear up some of your questions and it’s only fair that you know what the binding keeps you from doing since I’ll be staying in your house.”
He nodded. “I was going to ask if I could watch but I wasn’t sure if it was, uh, polite.”
Jo smiled. “Nothing about casting a binding spell is polite, but it would be rude of me not to include you in the process—especially since you’re being so nice about it.”
“Hey . . .” Reese spread his hands. “Didn’t I tell you? I’m a nice guy.”
That remains to be seen, Jo thought, but she didn’t say it aloud. Instead she just nodded her head.
“All right. Well . . . I’m going to grab a shirt and get back to work,” Reese told her. “I’ll be back sometime between five and six. But . . .”
“But what?” Jo asked, seeing him hesitate.
“Well, don’t take this the wrong way but you’ll be all right, won’t you?” There was genuine concern on his face. “I mean, when I found you, you were just about to . . .” He mimed cutting his wrist. “You’re not just waiting for me to go so you can finish the job, are you?”
“What?” Jo was startled. “No!” she exclaimed. “No, I . . .” She paused and took a breath, thinking about it. “I don’t know why I tried that,” she admitted at last. “I think I was feeling overwhelmed and trapped . . . kind of hopeless.”
“And now?” Reese’s warm brown eyes regarded her quietly.
“Now, well . . . I guess I don’t feel so hopeless anymore.” Jo surprised herself with the words but it was true, she didn’t feel so dejected and depressed. When she’d had her suicidal moment in the shed, she’d been feeling like she had nowhere to go, no hope for the future. She didn’t feel that way now.
I have a place to stay . . . if I want. My options aren’t so limited. And inside a dwelling the shadow creature can’t get me. She hoped, anyway.
“So you’re feeling better?” Reese asked.
“Yes . . . I guess I am. But thank you
for asking. I . . .” She cleared her throat. “I guess it must have been weird for you, finding a strange woman about to slit her wrists in your shed.”
Reese grinned. “Well, it is one of the weirder things that have ever happened to me but I’m a Shifter—I’m used to weirdness. And I’m glad you showed up here.”
Jo bit her lip. “Me too,” she admitted quietly.
“Good.” Reese nodded at the house. “Okay, I’ve gotta go. Make yourself at home.”
“Thank you,” Jo said. “I . . . I will.”
With a final nod, he left her, going into the big old house and letting the screen door bang shut behind him. But Jo noticed that he didn’t close the back door itself—he left it standing open, a clear invitation for her to come in whenever she felt safe to do so.
But do I feel safe? Jo asked herself. Not just to go in the house but to stay there? To stay there with him?
She honestly wasn’t sure, but it seemed she had committed herself. And surely it was safer here with Reese than out in the forest with the shadow creature.
Jo scanned the dark trees of the forest, just beyond Reese’s backyard and shivered. Whatever it is, it can’t get to me here.
She hoped.
* * *
Reese whistled as he drove back to his repair shop. What a bizarre lunch hour. Speaking of lunch, he was still hungry. A few french fries in his Fox form did not make a filling meal. Never mind, he could grab something on the way home. And he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so good.
She’s staying! the Fox yipped excitedly inside him. She’s really staying!
Reese hoped his other half was right. He supposed that he might get back to an empty house and find that Jo had changed her mind and decided to leave after all. But somehow he didn’t think that was going to happen. There was something there—some connection he didn’t quite understand yet. But it was definitely real. His Fox was ecstatic about the girl—about Jo—and that had never happened before. Never, though he had dated around plenty when he was younger.
When he got to the garage, his longtime best friend, Liam Keller, was waiting for him.
Stone Cold Fox Page 4