Stone Cold Fox Read online

  Closing her eyes, she felt the cool wind blowing across her body, tightening her nipples into points and sliding between her thighs to tease the lips of her sex. She visualized the clouds parting and a pure, white radiance pouring down from above to fill her to the brim, the way clear water fills a cup.

  Goddess, she thought. Help me do this right.

  Then, opening her eyes, she stooped and picked up a candle along with a lighter from the little pile she’d laid out. Walking swiftly to the east-most point of the circle, she placed the yellow candle carefully upright in the ring of salt and lit it as she spoke.

  “Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the East. Spirits of Air, powers of Thought. I call upon you to lend your essence to this rite.”

  Walking to the western-most point, she lit the blue candle and spoke again.

  “Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the West. Spirits of Water, powers of Emotion. Come to me now and lend your power to this rite.”

  She did the same for the southern and northern points of the circle, lighting the red and green candles, calling the circle as she had so many times in the past. And to her surprise, she felt a power rising in her that rivaled anything she’d ever felt before.

  There were plenty of people who called themselves Wiccans or witches, Jo knew. Many of them went through the motions, doing spells and working rituals but nothing actually happened. That was because while they might have the desire to be witches, they didn’t actually have the aptitude or ability for it.

  “They got no juice, honey,” Miranda had said in her soft, deeply Southern accent. “Ain’t a one of ‘em got the power in their whole body that you got in your pinky finger. You’re a natural witch—you have the strength to work the Craft to your will.”

  Jo had found her mentor’s words to be true. When she cast spells, things happened. She wasn’t just playing at being a witch to make herself feel better or more powerful—she actually was one, and she’d rarely called the circle without feeling her natural talent rise within her. But this time was different. This time . . .

  It’s like I called for soft rain and got a flood, Jo thought, wondering at the sense of pure power that prickled the skin of her naked body into gooseflesh and raised the short hairs at the back of her neck. Like I called for a spring breeze and got a hurricane.

  The feeling of extreme power almost made her pause in the ritual. Was she at some kind of supernatural nexus here? Or did Reese’s presence have something to do with the intensification of her abilities? Whatever the reason, the result was going to be an exceptionally powerful spell.

  I can’t stop now, Jo told herself. I’ve already called the circle and asked the Goddess for help. I just have to make sure I don’t screw this up.

  Taking a deep breath, she continued. Putting down the lighter, she picked up the small, cut crystal bottle of red chrism oil. She dropped a tiny bit on Reese’s white t-shirt, which she had spread on the ground inside the circle and then turned to face him. He was watching her, an intent expression in his deep brown eyes, as though he was drinking in everything she was saying and doing and saving it all to mull it over and process later.

  Jo closed her eyes and intoned:

  “Behold now in this sacred hour, I call upon the Goddess’s power

  Thy body now shall yearn for me and mine for yours again times three.

  Listen as I say the spell, bide the words and hear them well

  As I say, so shall we do, though moon be full or be it new

  So shall we two be bound as one, beneath the moon, beneath the sun.”

  The words of the sexual binding ritual were filled with power—indeed, Jo felt the tips of her breasts tingling and her sex throbbing between her thighs. Desire flooded her and she tried to push it away. It was an uncomfortable feeling—one she wasn’t used to at all. After the attack so many years ago, she’d preferred to think of herself as uninterested in carnal pleasures.

  She heard a low, hoarse growl from Reese. Looking at him, she was startled to see that his brown eyes were glowing with a golden light and his big, muscular frame looked tense, his broad shoulders tight. His reddish-brown hair was tousled as though he’d been running his hands through it and his mouth was open, almost as though he was panting. Clearly, he was feeling the power too.

  The sound of his lustful growl filled her with even more unwilling desire and for a brief instant, she had a mental image of herself on her hands and knees in the moonlight while Reese crouched behind her and filled her with himself, thrusting the long, hard shaft of his cock deep in her willing pussy . . .

  Jo frowned and pushed the erotic image away. Where had that come from? She’d sworn off men and sex years ago when she first came to Avalon and offered the Goddess her celibacy, and she certainly didn’t want to start being sexual again now. In fact, she was working this entire ritual to avoid going in that direction—or having Reese go in it, anyway.

  It’s only temporary, she comforted herself. As soon as she got through the entire ceremony and said the words of reversal, she would feel no more attraction to Reese and he would feel no more attraction for her. They would stay in the house feeling nothing but safe and dependable friendship for each other.

  In the meantime, though, she had to go through the uncomfortable feelings of desire in order to reach the purity and safety of disinterest.

  Almost halfway there, Jo told herself. You can do this—keep going!

  “Reese,” she said, addressing him again. “My body shall you worship, with hands and lips and tongue. My lips and no other’s shall you kiss.” Here she dipped one finger in the red chrism oil and painted a bit of it over her full lips. “My breasts alone shall you cup . . .” Jo dipped back in the holy oil and circled each breast, leaving a shining trail in the light of the setting sun which bathed her in its orange and purple and crimson rays. “My nipples and no other’s shall you suckle,” she went on.

  She felt her cheeks getting hot at the erotic words and the action they called for but there was no help for it—she had to go through the entire ritual before she could reverse it. Dipping her finger in the oil again, she painted two circles around the tight buds of her nipples.

  Power poured through her and shivers of desire seemed to shoot from her tender tips straight to the swollen mound of her pussy. For a moment she swore she could see the big Shifter on his knees before her, taking her aching nipples into his warm, sensuous mouth, drawing them between his lips and sucking hard as he traced warm patterns with his tongue around her sensitive flesh . . .

  One look at Reese told her he was imagining the same thing. His deep brown eyes were still glowing and half-lidded with desire and there was a very obvious bulge in the crotch of his jeans. For a moment, Jo had to fight with herself to stop from crossing the circle and throwing her arms around his neck to drag him down for a kiss.

  She pushed away the urge with incredible difficulty. She didn’t want a man—any man! And certainly not one who was a stranger and too young for her, she told herself. What was wrong with her? Why was this spell so devastatingly powerful?

  For whatever reason, she was deep in it now and couldn’t stop, no matter what.

  Have to go on—have to finish this before the power and desire overcome me! she thought desperately.

  Dipping her fingers again into the chrism oil, she painted two lines on her inner thighs.

  “My . . . my thighs shall part for you alone,” she said, trying to remember the exact lines in Miranda’s book of shadows. She usually had no problem memorizing spells before she cast but the almost electrical surge of power and lust flowing through her, making her entire body ache and throb, was making it hard to think . . . hard to remember.

  “My sex shall you part with lips and tongue, to worship at the altar of my female energy,” she said. Wait—was that in the spell? The words didn’t sound quite right but they came out anyway and the ritual went on. Dipping in the oil again, she reached between her legs.