Speaking of Bianca, what had happened to her? How had they gotten through her spell and managed to get free? These questions and others drifted in and out of Jo’s mind like fuzzy thought balloons but she was too weak to catch them.
Finally, though, she opened her eyes one day and everything around her was clear. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest and she could breathe—really breathe again—for the first time in what felt like ages. The IV was gone from her arm and she felt better.
“Where . . . where am I?” Her voice sounded rusty and dull in her own ears but at least the words were understandable.
Fiona, who was sitting beside Jo perusing an ancient book with a cracked leather binding, looked up alertly.
“Ah, Jocasta! At last the fog has lifted.” She put down her book and took Jo’s hand. “How are you feeling, my dear? You’ve had us all immensely worried.”
“I . . .” Jo licked her lips which were terribly dry. “I don’t know,” she admitted at last. “What happened to me? Where am I?”
“Most of your life-force was drained through the use of some extremely dark magic.” Fiona’s ageless face was grave. “And you are in my spare bedroom. I wanted to keep a close eye on you, my dear.”
“Thank . . . thank you.” Jo coughed and tried to sit up but she was as weak as a kitten. Fiona helped her and soon she was propped upright against a mound of pillows with her legs covered by a colorful patchwork quilt. Jo looked down at her arm. “I thought . . . I dreamed I had an IV.”
“You did, my dear. You’ve had fluids and several blood transfusions. But the past two days you’ve been showing signs of improvement and Samantha judged it time to take the IV out. You may not remember, but I’ve been feeding you broth and you ate it just fine.”
“Oh . . . thank you.” Come to think of it, she did have a fuzzy recollection of someone spooning something warm and salty into her mouth. But something else stuck in her mind. “Blood transfusions?”
“As I said, your life-force was almost drained. You needed an infusion of new Shifter blood. Don’t worry.” Fiona smiled at her. “We found a willing donor.”
“Um, okay.” Jo coughed. Her throat still felt incredibly dry.
“Here, have some water, dear. Everyone is going to be so pleased to know you’re on the mend,” Fiona told her as she held a glass of water for Jo to sip. “You’ve had a lot of people very worried, young lady.”
“Did I?” Jo remembered all the concerned faces she’d seen as she drifted in and out of the fog that had covered her mind for so long. And then she remembered the one she hadn’t seen. “All except Reese, I guess,” she said, looking down at her hands, twisting aimlessly in the quilt.
“Oh my dear—you couldn’t be more wrong.” Fiona shook her head. “He’s very worried about you. So much so that he’s been sleeping on my couch these past three weeks. And who do you think donated the blood that brought you back from the brink? Luckily you two are the same type. I think he would have bled himself dry if Samantha had let him—anything to heal you.”
Jo shook her head. “But if he’s so worried, why don’t I remember seeing him?”
Fiona sighed and a look of aggravation passed over her face.
“Because the silly boy will not listen to reason. He believes that what happened to you was a punishment on him by Lady Moon.”
“What?” Jo exclaimed. “But why would the Goddess punish him? I’m the one who should have known better! I’m the one who broke my vow of celibacy and let him . . . uh . . .” She felt her cheeks go hot. “Let him breed me right in the middle of the Sacred Glade. Reese didn’t know we were defiling a holy place! It’s not his fault.”
“It’s no one’s fault,” Fiona said sternly.
“Yes, it is,” Jo insisted. “I broke my vows. Not only that, I committed blasphemy by breaking them in the Sacred Glade—”
“Which had already been defiled by the senior witch, Bianca, when she worked dark magic there,” Fiona said crisply. “And as for your vow of chastity, I told you before that you cannot be a Shifter and be chaste—the two are incompatible.”
“But—”
“My dear, Lady Moon has called you to be doubly blessed,” Fiona said firmly. “She has need of more Shifters. Since only Rejuvenated females such as yourself can bear the next generation, she had need of you.”
Jo bit her lip. “So . . . you really think she forgives me?”
“Not only does the Goddess—Lady Moon as we Shifters call her—forgive with lavish generosity, she loves her children with intense affection.” Fiona squeezed her hand. “You, my dear Jocasta, are one of her children. She will not hold you to vows that are impossible for you to keep or punish you for fulfilling your destiny in a spot sacred to her. In fact, I would think she would be much more likely to be honored than to be angered by such an act.”
Jo felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her heart.
“Really?” she asked Fiona in a small voice.
“Really, my dear. Lady Moon loves you and needs you in her service.” She patted Jo’s hand reassuringly. “And Reese needs you, too. He has been at your side every night, you know, as you slept. I can barely get him to eat or drink anything—he’s tormented by worry for you.”
Jo felt tears prick at her eyes and a lump in her throat she couldn’t quite swallow.
“Then . . . he really does care?”
“So much he’s half out of his mind, my dear.” Fiona gave her a sad smile. “He really is dreadfully in love with you, you know. But he thinks he had to give you up. He even talked me into making . . .” She shook her head. “Well, never mind. Suffice it to say, he thinks he, ah, was a bit too rough with you during your first breeding and that he deserves to lose you because of it.”
“But I asked him to be rough. I needed him to be.” Jo shook her head. “He asked me if it brought back memories of my . . . my past.” She swallowed. “But you were right—in the heat of the moment, I couldn’t think of anything else except, well . . . getting bred.”
“Speaking of that, my dear,” Fiona said primly, “There’s a little test I think you ought to take.”
“A test?” Jo frowned.
“It’s waiting for you in the bathroom—if you think you’re strong enough to get up?” Fiona asked.
“I think so. And if we’re going to the bathroom, I’d really like a shower.”
“I’ll bet you would, dear. But let’s see how well you get around first,” Fiona said.
Slowly and carefully, Jo swung her legs over the side of the bed. She still felt weak but after Fiona helped her to her feet, she found she was able to walk into the bathroom on her own.
“All right now,” she said once she got there and was standing in front of the sink. “Where’s this test? I—” She stopped abruptly, cut off by the sight of her reflection in the bathroom mirror. “Goddess,” she whispered, reaching up to touch her hair. “It . . . it’s back.”
The pure silver streak which had completely disappeared during her Rejuvenation had reappeared. It twisted through the left side of her hair, adding a dramatic flair to her bright red strands.
“Ah, yes—I believe that is the result of the life-draining spell the other witch worked on you,” Fiona said. “In my opinion, it is the only adverse effect the dark magic had on you but I’m afraid it is permanent. Of course . . .” She patted her own auburn hair, streaked liberally with veins of purest silver. “Such hairstyles can be quite becoming on a woman strong enough to wear them.”
Jo let out a little laugh.
“I think I’m strong enough,” she said dryly. “After all, I had it for years before I started Rejuvenating.” She frowned. “The rest of my face still looks young, though.”
“As I said, I believe that lovely silver in your hair is the only lasting effect,” Fiona told her. “You’re very lucky Reese was able to call for help and the spell was stopped before Bianca drained you completely. But I believe there is a reason Lady Moon spar
ed your life.”
“Oh? And what’s that?” Jo asked.
“Take the test and see,” Fiona said mysteriously. “I think you’re steady enough on your own so I’ll just be right outside the door if you need me.”
She shut the bathroom door, giving Jo some privacy.
“Okay, well thank you,” Jo called and turned towards the shower. She had no idea what Fiona was talking about but she did know one thing—she was dying for a shower.
She would just get in and get clean, she decided. Then after she was done she could ask Fiona what she had meant when she said something about taking a—
Her thoughts cut off immediately as her gaze fell on the small, rectangular box sitting on the back of the toilet. Jo stared at it, her eyes widening as the wise woman’s sudden meaning came rushing over her.
Take a test . . . she told me to take a test. But that means she thinks I’m . . .
But she couldn’t finish the thought, even to herself.
* * *
“She’s calling for you, Reese. You must go in and talk to her,” Fiona said firmly. “No more excuses, it’s time to show your face.”
“I . . . I don’t know.” Reese ran a hand through his shaggy hair. He’d been taking regular showers while he stayed at Fiona’s house because the wise woman had badgered him into it. But he hadn’t been shaving and it had been weeks since his last haircut. He could barely even remember to eat. All he could do was worry about Jo.
But though he thought of her constantly and held her hand every night as she slept, he hadn’t dared to explore the bond that was between them. He didn’t deserve to have formed it in the first place, not after the way he’d taken her, he told himself. He didn’t deserve to have her in his life at all . . . which was why he was prepared to offer her a way out.
He fingered the small vial of potion in his pocket. He’d begged Fiona to make it for him and at last she had, though he knew she strongly disapproved of what he was planning to do.
“I know you’re still uncertain, but Jo is feeling much better and she wants to see you,” Fiona told him. “The fog has lifted—she’s herself again. And I think she has something she wants to tell you.”
Something like get out of my life and never come back, probably, Reese thought morosely. Well, there was no use in putting it off. He’d known since the vow he had made in the forest that he would have to give her up. It was time to face the music.
Sighing, he got up and walked down the hall to Fiona’s spare room. He’d wanted to keep Jo with him and Samantha had wanted to take her to the hospital. But since Jo’s illness was magically induced, Fiona had insisted on keeping her close and nursing Jo herself. It was a compromise they could all agree on, though it left Reese’s back sore from sleeping on her couch.
The pain in his spine was nothing compared to the pain in his heart, however, as he opened the bedroom door and looked inside. What he saw made his heart leap in his chest.
Jo was sitting up in the bed where she’d laid so still and quiet for so many days. Her hair was long and damp around her shoulders and her face, while thin, was still beautiful—though she was always beautiful to Reese no matter what.
“Hi, darlin’,” he said, stepping into the room. “Fiona said you wanted to see me. She said you have something to tell me?”
“Yes. Yes, I . . . I do.” Two spots of color burned high on Jo’s pale cheeks and she was fidgeting nervously with the patchwork quilt on her lap.
Probably trying to think of the best way to let me down easy, Reese thought. Well, he would save her the trouble.
“Here,” he said, digging the vial of potion out of his pocket and holding it out to her abruptly.
Jo took it from him uncertainly and stared at the dark green liquid in the small glass vial.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a potion—the same one Fiona took to suppress her Shifter side after her mate died,” Reese explained stiffly. “I . . . thought you might want it.”
Jo frowned. “What? Why would I want to suppress my Shifter side?”
“Well, because . . .” Reese gestured awkwardly, feeling like a fool. “A Shifter female has . . . needs. Monthly cravings that only a male Shifter—her mate—can satisfy. And I figured that if you didn’t want anything else to do with me, you wouldn’t want to be bothered by those cravings. So . . .” He let the sentence hang, letting her grasp the implications for herself.
“So . . . you think I want to get rid of you? That I don’t want you in my life?” Jo asked.
Reese sighed harshly and raked a hand through his hair.
“Wouldn’t blame you a bit if you didn’t, darlin’. After what happened in the glade . . .” He shook his head. “I’m sorry about that. So goddamned sorry.”
“You think you took me, uh, bred me too hard—is that it?” Jo asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
Reese nodded shamefacedly. “I wanted to do things right—wanted to be so gentle with you, darlin’,” he said earnestly. “But then I just kind of . . . lost control. There’s no excuse, I know—”
“No excuse except that I asked you to—that I needed you to take me like that,” Jo said quietly. She was still blushing but she spoke steadily and kept her eyes locked with his. “Nothing else could have satisfied me, Reese.”
“But after what you went through—”
“My past does not define me.” Jo lifted her chin defiantly. “Not anymore.” She shook her head. “I told myself I worked through it but, I spent years running from what happened to me back in college. But now, after being with you—feeling so wild and free and having so much pleasure when we . . . when we made love . . .” She made a gesture, as though trying to gather her thoughts. “I don’t know, Reese. I feel like the other night in the glade I finally reclaimed a part of myself. I mean, I felt guilty for what we were doing and where we were doing it because of my vow of chastity. But I never felt attacked or hurt or forced by you. I felt loved,” she ended quietly.
“Darlin’ . . .” Reese felt like his heart was going to burst. Was she really saying what he thought she was saying? He wanted to ask . . . wanted to be sure but he couldn’t make the words come out somehow.
“So I’m sorry, Reese,” Jo continued. “But I can’t take this potion.” She held out the small vial of dark green liquid to him. “Because I don’t want to be separated from you. Because I love you. And because . . .” She bit her lip and finished in a low voice. “Because it might hurt the baby.”
“Jo!” The second she said she loved him, Reese surged forward and gathered her into his arms. She felt so right against him—her petite body so soft and fragile he was afraid to hug her too fiercely though emotion was pouring through him like a waterfall.
Then, a moment later, her other words hit him like a sledgehammer.
“Wait a minute.” He pulled back and stared down at her, holding her by the shoulders. “Did you say . . . baby?”
Jo nodded, her eyes welling up with tears.
“I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have told you so suddenly like that,” she whispered. “I just didn’t know what to say or how you’d feel about it. So . . .” She bit her lip. “How do you feel about, um, being a dad?”
“How do I feel about it?” Reese looked at her incredulously. “How can you ask me that?”
“Well . . .” Jo sniffed. “Because not many guys want to be saddled with a baby after only knowing a girl for a month. Or I guess it’s more like two months now since I was out of it for so long—”
“Saddled with a baby?” Reese could barely believe her. “Darlin’, don’t you know that after having a loving mate, that’s what every Shifter male in the world wants most—a child to love and care for and carry on his genes?”
“Really?” Jo looked up at him hopefully.
“Really,” Reese assured her. He raked a hand through his hair. “You don’t understand, Jo. I came in here expecting you to give me the heave-ho and instead you tell me you love me and you’re having m
y baby? I feel like a condemned man who finds out that instead of getting fried in the electric chair, he just won the Mega-Millions lottery!”
Jo laughed through her tears.
“What a way to put it! Well I’m relieved too, although I can’t think up a metaphor to top that one.” She took his hand and gripped it in both of hers. “I really do love you, Reese. I should have said it before this but I don’t think I knew it myself—or else I couldn’t let myself admit it.”
“I love you too, darlin’,” he said earnestly. “But . . . you’re not still upset about what I did? The act of vengeance I took?”
Jo sighed. “It doesn’t make me happy but I forgive you as long as you promise not to do anything like it again.”
Since all the other men who had attacked and hurt her were dead, Reese thought he could safely promise that. He frowned, well, except for Mr. X. What the hell had happened to that Skin Walker bastard anyway?
But Jo was cuddling up in his arms, so he pushed the worry away to think of another time. She was his now—his little witch, bound to him and carrying his child. No one could take them apart.
“We’re a family now,” he told her, kissing her shining red hair with its gorgeous new silver streak. “You and me and baby makes three.” “I love you, darlin’,” he added through their bond.
Jo’s eyes widened. “Reese? Is this . . . part of it? Part of our bond?” she sent back. “Being able to hear each other’s thoughts?”
“That and a whole lot more. You’ll have plenty of time to find out—we both will.” He kissed her again. “Come on, darlin’—I’m taking you home.”
Epilogue
“I hope I’m not intruding.” Jase Saunders stood in the doorway to The Cougar’s Den bar awaiting entrance. He was a tall male in his early thirties with coal black hair and pale amber eyes almost the same color as his Dire Wolf’s.
He’d been Alpha of his own pack for years now but he still had enough sense and courtesy to ask before entering another Alpha’s headquarters. Besides, the Cougars didn’t often interact with the Wolves, each keeping to their own small towns, on either end of the greater Ashville area.