Stone Cold Fox Read online

  “Well—” Jo began.

  “Look, Jocasta, do you want to come home or not?” Bianca demanded.

  “Of course I do!” Jo exclaimed. “I haven’t thought of anything else from the minute you kicked me out.”

  “Well now, ‘kicked out’ is a rather harsh term, don’t you think?” Bianca purred. “I prefer to think of it this way—we sent you on a sabbatical and now you’re being recalled. But you must come right now—as soon as the car pulls up. The meeting of the Elders is already being convened.”

  On sabbatical—right, Jo thought sarcastically. A sabbatical where I had to sleep in the woods and had no place to go and nothing to eat. But she didn’t say any of it out loud. She was too busy thinking of home—of Avalon.

  “All right,” she heard herself saying. “I’ll be ready.”

  “Good. Mindy is driving—you remember her, don’t you?”

  Jo did vaguely recall a younger witch by that name—she was one of Bianca’s recruits and was slavishly dedicated to the older witch. Jo didn’t particularly like her but then, she didn’t particularly dislike her either. Maybe Mindy could fill her in on what had been going on since she’d left.

  “Um, yes, I remember her,” she said. “I’ll be ready to go when she comes.”

  “Very good,” Bianca said shortly. “I expect to see you soon, Jocasta.”

  The older witch had never been much for prolonged goodbyes. With a sharp click, she hung up the phone in Jo’s ear.

  “So you’re going? Just like that?”

  The deep, familiar voice made Jo jerk so hard she nearly dropped the phone.

  “Oh!” She put a hand to her racing heart.

  Reese was standing there, just inside the doorway. He raised one eyebrow at her sardonically when their eyes met.

  “I didn’t even hear you come in. How did you open the door without the bells jingling?” Jo demanded.

  “I’m sneaky like that. Haven’t you heard the expression, ‘sly as a fox?’” He laughed like he was making a joke but the bitterness in his voice couldn’t be disguised. “So . . . you’re going?” he said again, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “How long were you standing there, anyway?” Jo asked, ignoring his question.

  “Long enough to hear you making an extremely questionable decision, darlin’” Reese said dryly. “Isn’t Bianca the one who got you kicked out of Avalon in the first place?”

  “Yes, but she’s had a change of heart.” Jo lifted her chin. “She and the whole Council of Elders want me to come back. I’m going to be reinstated.”

  Reese raised an eyebrow at her. “And you think that’s a good idea? Going back on the night of the full moon?”

  “I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Jo snapped. “And the moon has nothing to do with it.”

  “You’re fooling yourself, darlin’” he said quietly. “You’re going to have your first Shift tonight—you can’t hold it off again and you know it.”

  “I know no such thing.” Jo hung up the phone and reached under the counter to get out her battered pack. She was using it as a purse and had a few odds and ends in it. Of course, she had no clothes but hopefully her old clothing from her life before at Avalon hadn’t been thrown out. The only thing she was really worried about leaving was her athame, which was back in her room at Reese’s house. Well, she would have to send for it later as Bianca had suggested.

  “Jo, this isn’t safe,” Reese argued. “Why would they want you back all of a sudden? How do we know Bianca doesn’t have something to do with the man who attacked you in the woods the other night?”

  “That’s impossible. The witches of Avalon have no contact with males,” Jo said coldly.

  “Look, at least let me drive you up there if you’re so hell-bent on going,” Reese said, coming up to the other side of the counter. “To make sure you’re safe. And to be near you when the moon rises tonight.”

  “If you think you’re going to . . . that I’m going to break my vow just because the moon is full tonight . . .” Jo shook her head. “It’s not going to happen, Reese. And no, you can’t drive me because, as I said, there are no males allowed within the borders of Avalon.”

  “But—”

  “Look, I need to go write a note for Fiona and make sure things are straightened up in the back room,” Jo interrupted him. “I’m sorry but I just don’t have time to talk about this right now. My ride will be here any minute.”

  “Are you that eager to get away from me, Jo?” he asked and there was a note of sorrow in his voice that tore at her heart. “You don’t trust me? Can’t stand to be near me after what I did—is that it?”

  Jo’s heart felt like it was tearing in two. It was true she didn’t trust him anymore—not like she had, anyway. But did she want to leave him here and never see him again?

  No, whispered a voice in her head. No, of course not! I care for Reese. More than that—I don’t just care for him, I lo—

  Jo cut the voice off sternly. There was no point in thinking such things. She was going back to Avalon now, leaving the new life she’d made in Cougarville to return to her old one. And since no males were allowed in Avalon, there was no place for the big Shifter.

  “I’m sorry, Reese,” she said at last, her voice breaking on his name. “But I belong in Avalon.”

  “No, darlin’ . . .” Reaching over the counter, he cupped her cheek tenderly in one large hand. “You belong with me. Please, Jo—don’t leave.”

  The throbbing in her temples eased at once, erased as though it had never been, and her whole body flooded with longing for him. Jo felt every part of her yearning to be close to the male touching her so tenderly—every drop of her blood was on fire for the big Shifter whether she wanted to admit it or not.

  “Reese . . .” For a moment she almost gave in. But then the bloody images she’d seen on the Internet rose before her eyes. I can’t stay here—I need to get back home—back to Avalon, she told herself. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

  Pulling away from his gentle touch, she ran to the back room and sat down at the small desk to write Fiona a goodbye and thank you note. But when she grabbed a piece of paper and sat there with the pen poised over it, she didn’t know what to say.

  Dear Fiona, she began and then just sat there.

  All she could think of was Reese—of how he’d pleasured her and loved her right here, in this very room the day before. Of how good his big body felt against hers and how badly she wanted to be with him.

  Before she knew it, tears were dropping onto the paper, smearing the ink and ruining the letter before she even started it.

  Damn it! Jo crumpled the paper and reached for another sheet. Then she put her head down on the desk and sobbed. She had to get hold of herself and go back to her life in Avalon but just for a moment, she couldn’t help losing control. The tears took her and for a long, awful time she couldn’t stop crying.

  * * *

  Reese listened to her soft, helpless sobbing and felt like a spiked fist was squeezing his heart. He wanted to go to her, to try and explain, to beg her to stay . . . but he could tell nothing he said was going to convince her. Actions speak louder than words and right now Jo couldn’t hear anything over the act of bloody vengeance he had committed.

  Never mind that he had been taking vengeance for her. Reese understood now that by killing her rapist, he had shattered the image of himself that Jo had built in her mind. By showing himself capable of such gory violence, he had also shown her he was like every other male she’d ever known—at least in her eyes.

  Yes, Reese understood, but that didn’t make her rejection of him hurt any less.

  Forget about your hurt feelings, his Fox growled. This is no time for licking wounds—our female is going into danger. We have to stop her!

  Reese frowned—his other half was absolutely right. Jo was going into a sketchy situation—every bone in his body said so. But she was determined to go and leave him here—what could he do?

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