“Why didn’t you take it yourself then?” Jo demanded in a shaky voice. “Why give it to me?”
“Oh, I didn’t just give it to you, Jocasta—no, no! Why, the formula was put into our water supply here—all of Avalon got it. You’re just the lucky one it affected.” She smiled sadly. “I, alas, do not have the Gene myself at all—nor does Mr. X, which was why he approached me in the first place.”
“I’ve always wanted to be one of you—to be a Shifter,” Mr. X said, eyeing Jo in a hungry way that made her stomach flip over with sick fear. “To change my skin and run and hunt as an animal—I’ve spent the better part of my career in Pharmaceuticals researching ways to scientifically change my form.” He looked at Bianca. “But in the end, science failed me and it was magic that brought me the answer I’d been searching for so long. You see . . .” He held up the hairy, spotted pelt from which wafted a very unpleasant musky, sour odor. “I can’t become an actual Shifter. But with help from Bianca, here, I can become a Skin Walker.”
“A Skin Walker?” Jo felt like an icy hand was squeezing her throat. She stared at Bianca. “You can’t do that—it’s the darkest kind of magic! It’s forbidden—it will stain your soul for eternity.”
“Mr. X is going to make it worth my while,” Bianca said primly. “In addition to a tidy monetary payment, he promised me we could both have what we want. I will work the spell to turn him into a Skin Walker and in return, he gave me the formula to awaken your latent Gene, Jocasta. And once you are bred and Shift for the first time, your power will be ripe for the plucking. So tell me once and for all, my dear . . .” She leaned forward, glaring at Jo. “Have you been bred by that damn Shifter whose house I had my demon-shadow chase you to or not?”
Jo felt like her heart had stopped and for a moment she couldn’t say anything.
“The . . . the thing in the forest,” she finally managed to get out. “You sent that to chase me?”
“It worked beautifully. You ran right into his arms and he was supposed to have bred you by now. I was so certain he would, I even cast an illusion spell to make you see the incantation you wanted with ingredients which could only be found in the forest.” Bianca frowned. “But you disappointed me, Jo—you didn’t breed as you were supposed to. Please tell me I won’t be disappointed again.”
“I . . . you . . .” Jo shook her head, keeping her naked body as well covered as she could. “You know I wouldn’t break my vow of chastity to the Goddess,” she said at last in a shaky voice. “I would never—”
“He still hasn’t bred her!” Mr. X sounded disgusted. “I suppose I’ll have to do it myself.” He leered at Jo. “Of course, I’m not a regular Shifter so I’ll have to take a few extra steps to be certain the animal side of you is satisfied.”
Jo’s mouth felt dry as sawdust.
“Ex . . . extra steps?” she whispered.
He nodded. “A natural Shifter could breed you in his human form and satisfy your craving to release your inner beast. I will have to breed you in my Skin Walker form to achieve the same result.”
“You . . . you what?” Jo could hardly make herself believe what he was saying and her eyes kept returning to the hairy pelt hanging from his hand.
“You heard me.” He gave her a leering grin. “You and I are shortly going to be much better acquainted, my little witch.”
“Indeed you are.” Bianca nodded. “Very well, Mr. X as soon as you enter the circle I will begin casting the incantation. When you feel the change upon you, breed the girl. The moment you deposit your seed inside her, she will be able to Shift and her power will be complete.” She looked at Jo greedily. “And then I can begin the second spell—to claim her youth and abilities as my own.”
The huge man stepped into the circle, his bald head glowing in the last faint rays of the setting sun. Soon the moon would rise and bring with it unspeakable changes.
But Jo wasn’t concerned with the moon just now. She backed away from Mr. X in horror.
“Stay away from me,” she said in a trembling voice. “I don’t want anything to do with you!”
“Don’t worry, my dear.” He gave her a most unpleasant smile as he slipped the hairy pelt over his head and let it dangle down his bare back like a macabre headdress. “You won’t have anything to do with me—it’s my beast you can look forward to meeting.”
Jo wondered numbly what kind of beast he would become. It was too dim in the Sacred Glade to see what kind of animal the spotted, scruffy hide he was wearing had once belonged to but whatever it was, she knew she didn’t want it anywhere near her.
“Please,” she begged Bianca, looking at the older witch. “Don’t do this to me! Don’t let him . . . let him . . .” But her throat closed up with fear and disgust and she couldn’t finish her sentence.
“You did it to yourself, my dear.” Bianca tsked and shook her head as though she truly regretted what was about to happen but could do nothing to stop it. “You could have allowed yourself to be bred by that nice, sweet Shifter boy I sent you to,” she told Jo. “Then all this breeding in Shifted form could have been avoided. But no, you had to be stubborn. So you see, my hands are tied.” She lifted both hands as though to illustrate her point. “You must be bred so that I can have your power and your youth and if this is the only way, well—so be it.”
“You can’t—” Jo began but the older witch was already raising her arms high and chanting words that sent shivers of pure dread through Jo’s entire body.
“Spirits of Night, Spirits of Blight,
Forces to stop a man’s heart with Fright
I summon thee now in all thy power,
Heed me in this sacred hour.
That which was human must now be beast
The fur his power, the lust his feast . . .”
“Stop!” Jo shouted. “You don’t know what you’re doing!” She looked at Mr. X, who seemed to be growing larger under the furry hide that dangled down his back. “You don’t know what a curse this spell is. Do you know what you’ll have to do in order to ever change back into a human again?”
He grinned at her fiercely, his teeth long and sharp and white in the dimness of the glade.
“Oh, I know, little witch,” he growled and his voice no longer sounded human. “I know what I’ll have to do—I just don’t care.”
Behind him, Bianca was still chanting.
“Allow this male to shed his skin
And fully loose the beast within
To run through shadows, over forests and hills
He’ll not be human again until he kills
So mote it be!”
She clasped her hands together over her head and then threw her arms forward, almost as though she was flinging some heavy, invisible object into the circle at Mr. X. The huge man staggered forward, then fell to all fours in the invisible circle.
Jo backed as far away from him as she could—backed up until she felt the cold barrier of magic pressing against her bare back. A cold sweat—the sweat of fear—was trickling between her shoulder blades, making her itch. She wanted to run but she was frozen to the spot, unable to move or look away as she watched Mr. X’s transformation.
She had watched Reese Shift plenty of times before and there was always a gracefulness in the act—a feeling that his body knew exactly what it was doing and that it was enacting a natural process. What was happening to Mr. X was nothing like that.
His bones didn’t move and shift like Reese’s did—they just seemed to grow bigger. And the fur didn’t sprout naturally from his skin and flow over him in a rippling wave like it did with Reese either. Instead, the strange, spotted hide he was wearing seemed to wrap itself around him, almost as though it was possessed. It clung to his skin, sliding over him like a hungry snake and covering him in a thick, coarse pelt.
The only part of him that seemed to change, other than growing larger and hairier, was his mouth. It elongated into a gaping snout with sharp, crooked teeth jutting out in ragged profusion. The furry e
ars of the hide twitched at the top of his head and prickly, spotted fur covered his face. And yet his eyes remained human—human and hot with lust as the thing Mr. X had become looked at Jo.
The snout-mouth opened and a long, red tongue unfurled, dripping saliva onto the grass of the Sacred Glade.
“Come here, little girl,” the monster said in a low, snarling voice like a dog with a bone lodged in its throat. “Come here—I want to eat you up.”
For a moment Jo felt like she might black out with pure panic. She couldn’t let that thing touch her—couldn’t let it anywhere near her! If it tried to take her in this hideous half-form she would go crazy—she was sure she would.
“No,” she whispered, inching away from the thing which was not completely animal but not human anymore either. “No, stay away from me!”
“Give in,” the snarling thing Mr. X had become told her in its hoarse, awful voice. “Give in and maybe it won’t hurt so much.” He gave a harsh, howling laugh that sent goosebumps rushing all over her skin. “Then again, maybe it will. You’ll just have to wait and find out.”
“No!” Jo gasped. The past rushed back to her like a black, drowning wave and she had to fight not to be sick. Yet everything that had been done to her on the sagging, stained box springs in the crumbling cabin so many years ago would be nothing to being taken against her will by this monstrous half man/half beast.
I’ll go crazy if he touches me, she thought wildly. I know I will! My mind will break—I won’t be able to stand it.
There had to be someone who could help her. Some way to get free of this nightmare. Far away in the distance, she could hear the howling of wolves. Dimly she wondered if it was the pack that had chased her when she first left Avalon but she didn’t know or care. She only knew she had to find help somewhere and fast.
“Help!” she screamed, raising her voice as loudly as she could. “Help me! I’m being attacked! Help.”
Suddenly her abandoned knapsack twitched, then ripped apart. Out of it came a creature who was tiny at first—no larger than a mouse. But as Jo watched, it grew with exponential speed until it was bigger than a horse.
The Fox, she had time to think. That’s Reese’s Fox!
And then the immense creature was leaping into the glade, passing through the one-way magical barrier with ease as it launched itself at the other beast’s throat.
Chapter Nineteen
It was Jo’s cries for help that wakened Reese from the drugged stupor he’d fallen into during the limo ride. He’d taken his tiny form to hitch a ride in her knapsack because he had the distinct feeling she was going into danger. And sure enough, he’d been right. But the gas that had knocked Jo unconscious had nearly killed him in his smallest form. No bigger than a mouse, his tiny Fox had inhaled much more of the sleeping gas than he should have.
In trouble—our female is in trouble, his Fox shouted in his head as he finally came completely awake. Shifting from his smallest size to his largest in the blink of an eye, he leapt from her bag to put himself between Jo and the creature that threatened her. But once he was there, he couldn’t help looking at the snarling, hairy, spotted thing and wondering, What the fuck?
It was huge—a beast and yet not a beast—not completely anyway. It stood upright for one thing, towering nine feet tall like a Kodiak grizzly bear walking on its hind legs. Its muzzle was long and sharp but blunted at the end like a snout and its teeth gleamed white and crooked in its slavering mouth. The fur that covered it was spotted and scruffy.
Its eyes were human. Human and completely evil.
Hyena, Reese thought, eyeing the spotted fur. That’s what it is—only not completely. What the fuck is that thing anyway?
“Get back, Fox—the girl is mine,” it growled at him. “You had your chance and you didn’t breed her. Now it’s my turn.”
It took a step towards him and Reese held his ground, snarling up at the weird, unnatural thing.
Not right—it’s not right! Not what Lady Moon intended! his Fox insisted, and Reese completely agreed with it. A Shifter was either wholly in his human form or wholly in his animal form. This creature seemed to be stuck somewhere in between. It was an affront to the Goddess who had created the Shifter race in the first place. A sacrilege—a blasphemy.
It lunged suddenly forward, clumsy and bear-like in its movements as it tried to get around him to Jo. Reese moved to intercept it and it raked him with its claws, scoring his flank as he snapped at its scruffy hide.
He growled angrily and sank his teeth into the flesh of its thigh, making it shout with pain. Its blood tasted sour and wrong.
“Get off me, you fucking Shifter!” it snarled. “I told you, the little witch is mine!”
For once, Reese wished he could speak in his Shifted form. He wanted to curse this abomination and tell it he would tear it limb from limb before he allowed it to so much as touch his female. But he had to satisfy himself with going for its throat.
The skin was loose and fleshy and for some reason Reese couldn’t get a good hold though he snarled and snapped and dug with his fangs, trying to find the vulnerable blood vessels.
The hybrid hyena thing ripped at him with its claws and shouted curses in its hoarse, not quite human voice. Its breath was as sour as its blood—rotten and rank and disgusting but Reese didn’t pay any attention to that. He also ignored the curses and the pain its claws caused—he just wanted to put the fucking thing out of commission so it could never hurt or frighten Jo again.
Though he couldn’t seem to kill it, he dragged it to its knees, his teeth locked tight on its loose pelt as he tugged and ripped and growled around his mouthful of sour fur.
Dimly, he could hear the older witch—Bianca, he supposed—standing outside the natural glade they were in and shouting something. He could also hear Jo’s frightened breathing behind him as she tried to keep away from the violence. Far away in the distance came the cry of the dire wolf pack—Jase Saunders, their Alpha, was leading them in a hunt.
The moon must be rising, Reese thought distractedly. A silvery light illuminating his adversary’s still-human eyes confirmed it. Then he heard the sounds around him change.
Jo was no longer gasping with fright—now she was making sounds of pain—of agony. As though someone or something was hurting her horribly and she couldn’t get away.
“No,” Reese heard her moan. “No, please . . .”
“Hurry, you fool, the moon is coming up,” he heard Bianca shout. “You have to breed her now or she’ll die and her power and youth will die with her!”
Jo! Reese unlocked his jaws and jumped from the cursing hybrid to the female he loved.
She was lying on the ground, huddled into a ball. When she looked up at him, her eyes were filled with agony.
“Reese!” she gasped. “Hurts so . . . so bad. Like someone trying to pull . . . arms and legs . . . off.” Then her eyes widened. “Behind you!”
Reese pivoted and saw the hyena-thing coming up behind him. It was still on all fours, putting its head level with his own.
It was reaching for Jo with one long, shaggy, claw-tipped arm.
Without hesitation, Reese snapped out at it, his right front fang catching it in its still all-too-human eyes. He felt the soft orb pop like a grape against his tooth and then the thing was shoving itself backwards, roaring in fury and pain.
“My eye!” it screamed, clapping a furry paw-hand to the streaming socket. “You put out my goddamn eye, you fucking Shifter!”
That’s right and I’ll take the other one too! Reese thought. His chest was filled with rage as he glared at his adversary. This unnatural abomination had threatened his female—he would blind it and maim it and kill it.
The thing scrambled backwards, one paw-hand still to its face and Reese followed it, moving in for the kill.
“Open the barrier!” he heard it shouting at Bianca who was still raging at the edge of the glade. “You fucking open it right now!”
“No! You have to do
it! You have to breed her! All her power will be gone,” Bianca shrieked.
“Fuck that—it got my eye!” The hyena thing stood and began pounding one hairy fist in the air—looking like he was hitting an invisible wall. “Let me out now or you’re not getting a dime from me!” he shouted.
With an angry curse Bianca made a gesture with one hand and spoke words in a language that sounded a little like Latin. The hyena thing, which had been leaning forward against the invisible barrier, suddenly fell through and landed at her feet.
She shouted and jumped backwards. For a moment, Reese saw his chance. The circle was, at that instant, broken—he could leap through it and kill the hyena-hybrid thing.
Then he heard Jo moaning again.
Reese made an instant decision. The hybrid monster would have to wait—his female needed him.
* * *
Jo writhed naked on the grass as the agony ripped through her. Wherever the moonlight touched her, it felt like huge, silvery hands were pulling at her arms and legs, trying to rip them out of their sockets. Her very spine felt like it was being pulled apart like a careless child yanks beads off a string.
Going to die, she thought deliriously. I’ve been fooling myself—lying to myself all this time because I didn’t want to admit I’m a Shifter. Now I’m going to die.
Then suddenly, Reese was beside her, first in his giant Fox form and then, after a split-second Shift, in his human form.
He was huge in the moonlight—huge and naked—but Jo didn’t care. She only knew she needed him—needed his touch on her skin to help ease this awful pain.