The Bare Witch Project

The Bare Witch Project

Book #1 in the Kitty Coven Series

By Celeste Hall

The Bare Witch Project

Book #1 in the Kitty Coven Series

Copyright © 2014 by Celeste Hall

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Please purchase only authorized editions.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Acknowledgement

This series is dedicated to my amazing Katie-Cat. Ever since she was a little girl, she was always bringing home stray felines. Despite being scratched, bitten, peed on, and a mild case of ringworm, she has never met a cat that she hasn’t liked. If anyone deserves to find happily ever after in the arms of a handsome werecat, it’s her!

Also by Celeste Hall

~ Seduction Series ~

A paranormal erotic romance series, best read in the following order…

Ethan

Kye

Rico

Gavin

All The Queen’s Men

The Brothers Sin – Coming Soon!

~ Kitty Coven Series ~

A new adult romance series, best read in the following order…

Something Wicca This Way Comes

The Bare Witch Project

Love’s a Witch

A Yowling Yuletide

Cheaper By The Coven – Coming Soon!

~ Standalone novels and novellas ~

Fealty

Lady Silence

Prison of Dreams

Simple Musings

His Pale Prisoner

Error: Please Try Again

Secret Admirer

~ Short stories and Anthologies ~

The Inventor’s Throne

A Touch of Irish

Their First Time (A collection of just the first love scene from several of her other books)

The Pied Piper

The Seven Ravens (Once Upon an Apocalypse anthology, via Chaosium Inc.)

The Girl Who Cried Wolf (Once upon a Ménage anthology, via Ravenous Romance)

Beware of Wolves

Chapter One

Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, Morgan? There’s going to be booze and boys enough for even this little slut to drown in. Rachel made a face at Heidi.

Rachel was usually reserved, but tonight she looked sexy in a flattering little black dress and heels. A three inch tall pointy black hat was clipped into her short brown hair at a jaunty angle, symbolizing that she was actually supposed to be a witch. In reality she would have been better suited in an angel costume.

Intelligent and kind, with an even temperament that often designated her as the peace maker between them, Rachel was the angel on Morgan’s shoulder. She was always there for her friends when they needed good advice or a sympathetic ear.

Heidi, on the other hand, was the wild child. If Rachel was an angel, Heidi was the devil on the opposite arm. She was always getting into mischief and dragging her friends along with her. She wasn’t really and truly wicked, but she just couldn’t seem to help being a bit impish and her outfit tonight perfectly highlighted her personality.

She was wearing a skin tight white tank top that wasn’t nearly thick enough to be worn without a bra, yet her nipples were seductively outlined and obviously unrestrained.

Black suspenders held up a plaid skirt that was so short she would almost certainly be showing off all of her assets if she made the mistake of bending over, which Morgan was certain she would, and as often as possible.

Her long chestnut red hair was pulled up into twin ponytails, and she wore tall hooker heels over white stockings that rose clear to her thighs to complete the naughty school girl outfit.

Standing between them, Morgan was the proverbial wet blanket in her ratty old sweatpants and oversized t-shirt. Her dishwater blonde hair wasn’t brushed and she wasn’t wearing a speck of makeup. And it wasn’t a costume.

Halloween was exactly one week away and tonight there was a costume party at their favorite nightclub. It really sounded like a lot of fun and under normal circumstances Morgan might have gone, but she just couldn’t bring herself to attend this year.

It was three years ago - to the day - that her grandmother had passed away and left her a relative orphan at twenty-one. Ever since that night Halloween had lost its charm for her. Now, after the recent horror show that was her break up with Craig, she wasn’t even up for pretending.

You girls go on without me. Really, I’ll be fine.

It was a lie, of course. She was finding it harder and harder to be alone lately, and night times were the worst. Her grandmother’s big old Victorian house made all sorts of spooky noises in the dark.

When she was a child, she’d never been afraid of the dark because she’d known that her grandmother was always there, just in the other room, ready to banish anything from bad dreams to imaginary monsters under the bed.

Are you doing the bare witch project tonight? Heidi asked with a grin, coining a description that made Morgan wince. Because I am totally down with getting naked and doing some witchy rituals together. I think it would be fun.

The three of them had been close friends ever since high school. In fact, it was the ever present support from Heidi and Rachel that had gotten her through all those post-Craig nightmares. But she really wasn’t sure if she could handle having a naked Heidi bouncing around the room when the whole purpose of the ritual was to find a little peace and happiness again.

I think I might be more of a solitary practitioner, Morgan admitted and then rushed on when she saw Heidi gearing up for a protest. Maybe we can get together for a séance on Halloween or something.

Can’t you just put the ritual off until tomorrow night? I mean really. You’ve never done anything witchy before, so why start tonight? All that old stuff you found in the attic will still be there after the party.

Morgan sighed. It wouldn’t matter how she explained it to her, Heidi would have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to stay at home alone when they could be out having fun with their friends.

I promise to call you if I change my mind. But I won’t. I really need a little me time tonight. I have some demons that I need to face and if I go with you I’ll have to feel guilty for another whole year.

Okay, that actually sounds kind of serious, Rachel frowned. Do you want us to stay with you? We don’t have to go out tonight.

Heidi’s expression looked torn between her desire to stay faithful to a friend in trouble and her need to get out, get drunk, and get laid, on one of her very few days off from working as the lead consultant for a stuffy financial company. But her loyalty won in the end.

Rachel’s right, maybe we should stay here with you.

Absolutely not, Morgan growled. Get out of here, both of you. It’s a costume party, go find yourself a half-naked Thor or Tarzan and have some fun.

Is this because of Craig? Rachel asked in a deeply concerned tone. Trust her to make the leap from simply needing time alone to believing that her friend might be having some major crisis. You did the right thing, Morgan. What happened wasn’t your fault. You can’t let him ruin the rest of your life. You deserve to be happy.

Heidi’s expression completely changed the moment Craig’s name was mentioned. Morgan’s ex-boyfriend had been more than just an abusive jerk. He was also an unstable drug dealer that had suffered a chemically induced psychotic break one night while Heidi was visiting.

In a fit of rage, he’d taken both girls hostage for over seventy-two hours, while Rachel had worked with the police to help save her friends.

Feisty Heidi hadn’t taken well to captivity and her fighting spirit won her some severe injuries during those long three days. With multiple broken bones that had gone untreated for too long, she’d required several subsequent surgeries and still felt an ache in those areas whenever the weather changed.

Morgan quickly shook her head.

No, I swear it has nothing to do with him. I really just want a little me time, okay?

It took a bit more persuasion, but she finally managed to shepherd the conversation back to the front door.

Go have some fun and don’t worry about me.

She was just opening the door to let her friends out, when a large black cat abruptly raced between their legs, skidded across the stone tile floor and then bolted up the stairs.

Oh my god! Heidi yelped, What was that?

Look out! Rachel shouted, slamming the door shut again just in time to block the entrance of a nasty looking brown dog. It continued to bark and snarl on the other