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.

“Reese . . .” She held out a hand to him weakly. “Please . . . please . . .”

“Hang on, darlin’. I got you.” He scooped her swiftly into his arms and cuddled her close to his broad, bare chest. “It’s okay. Everything is okay now,” he murmured.

Jo buried her face in his neck and breathed in his warm, masculine musk, dragging the wild scent of fur and dark, male spice into her lungs as though it was oxygen and she was drowning.

At once the awful, unbearable agony eased. Her muscles, which had been locked tight with pain, finally stopped seizing and relaxed. With a moan of pure relief, she went limp in his arms.

“Oh, Reese,” she gasped, still lightheaded from the aftermath of the dreadful pain. “Thank the Goddess you’re here. How did you . . . ?”

“Hitched a ride in your knapsack in my tiny form,” he murmured, stroking the hair out of her eyes. “I figured you might be headed for trouble. I’m sorry I was right.”

“Thank you for coming with me,” Jo whispered. “After the way I treated you—”

“Don’t worry about any of that now, darlin’. Just need to make sure you’re safe and well.”

“I . . . I think I’m okay now that you’re touching me.” Jo looked around cautiously. “Where did Bianca and that awful Mr. X go?”

Reese scanned the area alertly while he held her close in his arms. “I don’t see or sense either the other witch or that fucked up hyena thing. What did you say his name was?”

“I don’t know, really—Bianca just called him Mr. X. He’s from some pharmaceutical company. He gave her the formula to activate my Shifter Gene.”

“Didn’t look like any pharmaceutical rep I ever saw,” Reese muttered. “He looked like a fucking unnatural abomination.”

“He’s a Skin Walker,” Jo told him in a low voice. “What I mistook you for when I first saw you Shift. He—ahhh!”

“What, darlin’? What is it? What’s wrong?” Reese was looking at her anxiously as she moaned and twisted in his arms.

“The pain . . .” Jo could barely get the words out. “It’s back but it’s . . . different.”

In fact it wasn’t a pain so much this time as a need. The need to be touched, tasted, filled, fucked . . . Bred, you need to be bred, Jo, whispered a little voice in her head.

Jo knew it was true. Her nipples were tight, achy buds at the tips of her breasts and her pussy was suddenly painfully sensitive. She had to spread her legs to ease the ache of her throbbing clit, begging for attention. Not only that, but she felt empty, so empty inside.

And yet, despite the intense pain and need, she still hesitated.

Fiona had told her that when the breeding heat was on her, her past would be burned to ashes in the fire of her lust. And to Jo’s surprise, it seemed to be true. She could still remember the past—remember all that had been done to her—but it didn’t stop her from wanting Reese desperately. She felt just as she had after performing the lust and fidelity spell—almost frantic to have him in her.

So it wasn’t her past that was stopping her. It was guilt.

This is wrong, whispered the little voice in her head. Your chastity was promised to the Goddess! Not only that, this is the Sacred Glade where male energy is strictly forbidden. Are you really going to break your vow and profane a holy spot all at the same time? Have you no shame at all left?

I’ll die if I don’t, she argued with herself. I need Reese—I have to have him or the pain will tear me apart!

Speaking of Reese, he was still looking at her anxiously.

“Jo,” he murmured. “Are you all right? Your cheeks are all flushed and your eyes . . . they’re wild.”

Jo put a hand to her cheek and felt how hot she was. In fact, her entire body was feeling overheated, despite the fact that she was outside on a cold autumn night, completely naked and sitting in the chilly grass.

“I . . . Reese,” She heard herself say. “I need . . . I need . . .” But then she couldn’t go on—couldn’t say what she needed so desperately or beg him to give it to her.

Reese understood anyway.

“I know what you need, darlin’,” he growled softly. “The only question is, how to give it to you without making you feel hurt or frightened.”

“Maybe . . .” Jo licked her suddenly dry lips and tried again. “Maybe we could start with some of the . . . some of the things we’ve already been doing,” she suggested.

His eyes blazed. “Good idea. But I think you should take the lead. I don’t want to push you too far.”

That seemed fair enough to Jo.

“All . . . all right,” she whispered.

“Good. Then do what you want.” He took his arms from around her and leaned backward, resting his hands on the cool grass as he looked at her. “Take what you need from me, darlin’.”

As always, his willingness to let her take the lead seemed to kindle Jo’s lust even more. Her heart thundered in her chest and her mouth was too dry to talk but that was all right—she knew what she needed.

Pushing the shrill little voice of her guilt away, she straddled him so they were face to face. She could feel the hard, throbbing shaft of his cock pressed between their bellies but she didn’t care. Right now she just wanted to get some relief from the burning need that threatened to consume her.

Raising up on her knees, she pressed one of her aching nipples to his lips.

Reese opened for her at once, sucking the tight bud into the heat of his mouth and slowly swirling his tongue around and around her areola and nipple until Jo thought she was going to go crazy.

“More,” she managed to whisper. “Harder, Reese, please.”

He sucked harder, taking her breast deep in his mouth and bathing her with his heat.

Jo moaned and gripped his hair. The strong suction seemed to be shooting sparks of pleasure straight from her tender tips right to the aching cleft of her pussy. Goddess, that felt good!

And then Reese was switching to the other nipple and sucking it deep in his mouth too as he pinched and tugged her other peak until she moaned and gasped and rubbed herself shamelessly against him.

Suddenly she knew she wanted that hot mouth someplace else . . . lower down on her body. The breeding heat inside her demanded it.

Pulling her nipple free of his sucking mouth, she pressed gently against his broad shoulders.

“Jo?” Reese made her name a question. Again, it was hard to talk but somehow she managed to whisper a little.

“Lower . . .” She pushed at him again. “Need . . . your mouth lower, Reese.”

His eyes flashed gold in the moonlight.

“My pleasure, darlin’.”

Lying on his back in the grass, he beckoned for her to come up to him.

For a moment, Jo bit her lip and hung back.

Are you really going to do this? The voice of her guilt demanded. Really going to go so far right here under the light of the Goddess herself?

But try as she might, Jo couldn’t resist the temptation. Crawling up Reese’s lean, muscular torso and over his broad, bare shoulders, she straddled his face and positioned his head just under her pussy.

“Gods, darlin’!” she heard Reese groan. “That’s right—come down on me. Come down and ride my face.”

Jo couldn’t stop herself—didn’t want to stop herself. Gripping his thick hair in one hand and steadying herself on one broad shoulder, she lowered her aching pussy to his waiting mouth.

She heard Reese give a groan of pure hunger and then his big hands were at her waist, holding her up, helping her ride him.

Jo moaned as she felt his hot tongue part her throbbing pussy lips and bathe her inner folds. God, it felt good . . . so good, even though she knew it was wrong with every fiber of her being.

The coven will have to stop using this place for their rites, she thought deliriously. Some of them will probably want to burn it if they find out what I’ve done here—how I’ve polluted the Glade with my lust!

But somehow she still couldn’t stop. Rubbing hard against Reese she could feel his scratchy cheeks abrading the tender skin of her thighs even as he sucked her throbbing clit between his lips and lashed it mercilessly with the tip of his tongue.

“Reese!” she gasped. “Oh Goddess, Reese—that’s good! So good.”

In answer, he released her clit and brought his tongue lower so that he could plunge it deep inside her.

Jo moaned and rubbed even harder—she was close now—so close to coming. Her orgasm, which had seemed to be miles away earlier, was suddenly right on top of her, hovering like a thundercloud ready to split and drench her with pleasure.

“Reese!” she moaned, rocking shamelessly against his face. “Oh Goddess, yes—yes. Don’t stop!”

In answer, his long fingers tightened on her waist and he pulled her even closer. Alternately lashing her clit and fucking her deeply with his tongue, he pushed her higher and higher, clearly willing her to come.

Jo couldn’t help herself—didn’t want to help herself. She just wanted Reese and she wanted the pleasure he gave her to never end.

Suddenly her orgasm hit, drenching her like a summer rain as the pleasure rushed over her in a wave. Jo felt like every muscle in her body was clenching at once—her hands fisted cruelly tight in the big Shifter’s hair, but Reese didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, he tightened his grip on her hips and pulled her down even harder.

The message was clear—take what you want—take what you need. And Jo was more than happy to accept his generous offer.

She didn’t know how long she ground against him, wringing the last drops of pleasure from her orgasm as Reese looked up at her, his eyes blazing gold with lust.

It felt so good Jo never wanted it to end but though the orgasm had satisfied part of her need, another part was growing. The emptiness inside her was swelling, threatening to swallow her whole with its insatiable hunger.

“I need you inside me,” she blurted, looking down at him. “Goddess, Reese, I feel like I’m going to go crazy if I’m not filled soon.”

“That’s the breeding heat.” He lifted her and sat her gently on the ground beside him. “Tell me how you want it, darlin’—how you need it.”

Jo found she couldn’t answer—not out loud. The voice of her guilt was back, demanding to know if she was really going to break her vow of chastity right here in the middle of the Sacred Glade.

It’s an affront to the Goddess, the little voice insisted. Sacrilege . . . blasphemy!

But the need inside her was too great to be denied. Biting her lip, Jo got to her hands and knees in the cool, ticklish grass. In Yoga, this was called “tabletop position,” but now she thought of it as something else.

Breeding position—that’s what it is, she thought as she spread her thighs wide and felt the cool autumn wind caress the wet, open folds of her pussy. Because that was what she needed, she suddenly realized—not just to be fucked but to be bred. She needed to feel Reese thrusting inside her until he filled her with his come—with his seed. She needed to give herself completely and take all he had to give in turn—it was the only way to satisfy the breeding heat that rode her like a cruel master, demanding she defile this sacred place with her lust.

Reese seemed to sense her need but he was hesitating. After all her fear and the way she had shown him her past, Jo wasn’t surprised. He cared for her—he didn’t want to hurt her—that much was clear. But by now she needed him so badly she felt like she was going to die if he didn’t fill her soon.

“Reese,” she moaned. “Please, I need you.”

“Darlin’,” he said, stroking her trembling back with one big, warm hand. “I know you’re in need—I can feel the breeding heat coming off you, and your Juvie scent is making me fucking crazy. But I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t—I swear you won’t! Please, Reese, just breed me,” Jo heard herself begging shamelessly. “Take me—fill me up. I need you to.”

“Tell you what I’m going to do,” Reese murmured. “Gonna put just the head of my shaft inside your sweet pussy. Then you can do the rest—back up against me and take as much as you need. All right?”

The fact that he was being so careful made her simultaneously want to weep for his sweet consideration and curse him for his reluctance to give her what she so desperately needed. Jo did neither. Instead she nodded and spread her legs a little wider, offering him complete access.

“All right,” she whispered. “Do it.”

Reese got on his knees behind her and she felt the broad, mushroom shaped head of his shaft kiss the slick folds of her pussy. At first he just rubbed against her aching clit, drawing a sharp cry of pleasure from her throat. But then, finally, he slid down and slipped just the tip of his thick shaft into her entrance.

Jo moaned with relief—finally. He was finally inside her—although not nearly as deep as she needed him to be.

“All right now, darlin’.” Reese’s voice was hoarse with emotion. “You take it from here. Take me however deep you want me.”

Jo didn’t have to be told twice. Tilting her hips up, she backed to meet him, impaling herself on his long, thick shaft—taking him to the root.

“God, darlin’,” she heard Reese groan as he finally hit bottom inside her. His hands came up to her hips and squeezed reflexively, possessively.

Jo did some moaning of her own as she felt her inner walls stretch to take him in. Goddess, he was huge, but he had made her incredibly wet and ready to take him. Though she had never felt so thoroughly filled in her life, it didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt amazing.

But just being filled by him wasn’t enough for long. Soon she felt the need to move—to feel him thrusting inside her. This was a problem, though, because Reese seemed determined to stay completely still on his knees behind her, letting her do what she wanted.

What Jo wanted was to feel him moving inside her and she did the best she could to get what she needed. Leaning forward, she let the thick shaft slide almost all the way out of her wet sex before pressing back again to fill herself to the limit. Only when she felt the broad tip of his cock kiss the mouth of her womb did she feel satisfied.

“God, darlin’,” Reese groaned again. “That’s right—take what you need. Fuck yourself on me—fuck your sweet little pussy on my cock.”

The hot, dirty words excited Jo, sent a shiver of pure lust down her spine. Moaning softly with need, she repeated the action—pulling away and pushing back to fill herself with his shaft. She did it again and again and again.

But her own motion simply wasn’t enough to satisfy the intense need inside her. She kept feeling like there was another level she wasn’t getting to—that there was something else her body desperately hungered for that she wasn’t giving it.

“Reese,” she gasped at last. “Reese, this isn’t enough. Please, I need your help—I need you to breed me—hard.”

“Don’t want to hurt you,” he objected but his deep voice was hoarse with desire and she could feel his fingers gripping her hips as though he was dying to thrust.

“You won’t hurt me,” Jo promised breathlessly. “Please, Reese—this isn’t doing it for me. I need more.”

Her words seemed to spur him to action and she felt him shift behind her, as though changing his stance, getting ready to pound into her.

“All right, darlin’,” he growled in a low, hungry voice. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure—I swear it! Please.” To show him she meant what she said—that she was serious about what she was begging for—Jo lowered her head and pillowed her face on her crossed arms. The cool grass felt good against her flushed cheeks and the new posture opened her pussy even more for him, leaving no doubt that she really meant what she said. “Now,” she told Reese in a trembling voice. “Now give it to me—hard.”

With a low roar, he gripped her hips, pulled almost all the way out, and then slammed back into her.

Jo cried out sharply as he skewered her with his huge shaft but though there was pain in the deep, penetrating stroke, there was also relief. Finally, she was getting what she needed—what her body had been crying out for, begging for.

She knew it was true, because the minute Reese became an active participant in the breeding, her pussy clenched tight around him and the most intense orgasm she’d ever felt wracked her body.

Jo gasped as her pleasure crested . . . and then kept climbing. What was happening to her? Why was the orgasm not ending? It felt like her pussy was clenching and sucking around Reese’s cock, almost like a mouth.

Milking him, she thought dimly. My body is trying to get him to come—to fill me with his seed. Until he does, until he breeds me, this won’t be over.

Moaning and crying, she backed to meet his deep thrusts as her pussy sucked at his invading shaft. And all the while the intense orgasm ravaged her body, forcing her to heights of pleasure she’d never before experienced, making her come so hard she saw stars in the darkness before her eyes.

“God, Jo—you’re squeezing me so tight, darlin’!” she heard Reese groan. “Can’t hold out much longer. Gonna come.”

“Do it,” she begged shamelessly, pressing back to meet him, to get as much of his thick shaft inside her as she could. “Do it, Reese—come inside me. Breed me. Fill me with your seed.”

“All right—gonna get in you as deep as I can before I shoot, before I fill you with my come,” he promised hoarsely. Then, suiting actions to words, he gripped her hips so tightly Jo was certain she’d have ten finger-shaped bruises there the next day—not that she cared.

With a final hungry growl, Reese slammed into her as hard as he could, driving his shaft to the root inside her sucking sex. Then he held rock-solid and steady, and Jo felt something hot and wet gush inside her.

Her orgasm, which felt like it had been going on forever, suddenly climbed another notch as her womb drank his seed in thirstily.

Wrong, so wrong, she thought dizzily as they completed their act of fornication and desecration there in the Sacred Glade. But if it was so wrong, why did it feel so good, so right?

Jo didn’t have an answer—she only knew that the feeling of Reese spurting inside her, of his thick shaft pumping her full of his seed—was the most intense pleasure she had ever felt. She gripped the thick, slippery grass and tried to hold on, tried to be open enough to take all of it. She could feel her pussy drinking his cream greedily, soaking it up like sponge.

What if I get pregnant? The thought drifted into her mind and drifted out again. She was too immersed in her orgasm and the feeling of Reese coming inside her naked, unprotected pussy to worry about it now.

At last, with a groaning sigh, Reese pulled out of her.

Jo felt him go and then collapsed slowly onto her side. She felt spent—completely exhausted as though she’d just run a marathon. For a moment the only thing she wanted was to catch her breath.

She closed her eyes and just concentrated on breathing but inside, the voice of her guilt was back and louder than ever.