Spinning at hyper-speed... in the flames... and the god serpent...

Tuesday howls and yowls, shapeshifter lovers.

Late, late, late... however, I did get my flash scene written. Finally. Yesterday was one mad rush of everything needing to get done.

Yes, the after affects of Pat's now ex-revivalist preacher, Horton Kirkpatrick, is ongoing. Take a look...
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Spinning at hyper-speed... in the flames... and the god serpent...

"Spinning at hyper-speed..." Kzelle paused, searching for the right description of the scene playing before her mind's eye, "in the flames."

She spoke her inspired words as she typed on her laptop. "She danced in the flames."

Alarmed by the sound of stampeding hooves interspersed with bodies crashing through the underbrush, Kzelle leaned forward enough to gaze below at the great stretch of prairie land.

She'd been coming to this little idyllic spot for the last month -- such blessed peace and quiet. No one bothered her atop the rock outcropping, and she was nearly surrounded by boulders, protected from the chilly winds.

Nope, no one yowled at her -- her brothers didn't roll their eyes -- telling her that her dream of being a writer was at the least, impractical, and at the most laughably ridiculous. Before discovering this hideaway spot, Kzelle endured endless, well meaning lectures from her sire and dam about the joys of mating, and her duty to the pride.

Duty smooty patooty and snooty, who cared? She burned with the need to write, to dance in the flames of her story.

But now, what the friggin' hell? Thundering panic reverberated the ground. Kzelle set her laptop to the side, crawling closer to the edge of the flat rock.

"What the--? Is there a second Noah's Ark I don't know about?"

Astonished to her core, Kzelle stared at the madly racing wolves, the frightened big cats keeping pace, and the herbie shifters galloping with them, and not from them. Several bird shifters flew above the zoo stampede, their flight terrified.

Instinctively crouching in the shadow of the boulder, Kzelle scanned for what or who chased them. Even as she held her breath, waiting, some part of her memorized the scene so she could use it for a future story.

Not one particle of her was prepared for what Kzelle witnessed next. A god serpent. She froze. Another Ice Age might as well have hit with a vengeance as she watched the strange motley herd of shapeshifters race toward her position, then past her.

The monstrous serpent flapped after them battling the kicked-up clouds of dust. In the back of her mind, Kzelle decided last year's partial drought had been a blessed, good thing in this instance. 

Sekhmet behold! Who knew one of Quetzalcoatl's offspring had risen? Winter Solstice 2012 had come and gone with not one report. Now, obviously the obsidian winged serpent roamed the Earth. Not only Earth, but here in this Montana shapeshifter sanctuary.

With all her might Kzelle retracted her claws, halting her shift to lioness. No use making herself a delectable target.

Once the god serpent flew past her, his chase slowed by the billowing dust, Kzelle silently screamed a roar. Fear twisted through her, but so did fury.

Finally remembering to breathe, she growled softly. Kzelle crawled on her hands and knees to the opposite boulder, peeking around it.

With a mighty writhing twist of his body, the god serpent stopped his pursuit. Undulating impressively, he soared straight up, then rolled in midair and flew toward Talbot's Peak.

O Great Sekhmet help! What now?

Kzelle sat back and tried to think what her next move should be. She and her pride had only relocated to the Peak about six months ago.

Admittedly, she'd kept to herself, investigating the surrounding terrain, more than getting to know anyone in Talbot's Peak. Trembling uncontrollably now, Kzelle made a mental list of the small town's leaders.

But what could the mayor squirrel shifter do? Worse, the sheriff was human.

There was the G&B Gazette. Should she tell White Fang, one of their ace reporters, what she'd just witnessed? Let him warn everyone. After all, even she'd heard the gossip about him being some sort of super wolf.

Still shaking, Kzelle stood, and kept her palm pressed against the boulder. When she raised her gaze, she nearly jumped out of her skin. A scream stuck in her throat.

"Are you quite all right?" The hunky man, attired in safari gear, approached fast. He gripped her elbow, steadying her.

Only the real concern shining in his dark eyes, stopped Kzelle from shifting and clawing him to bloody pieces.

"Who are you?" she blurted out.

"You're going to hate me, Princess. Your brother, Zorik, and I are chums from university days."

"He sent you after me, right?"

"Brotherly concern, I assure you. And I am a game tracker in Africa." He paused. "Not for hunting. For management of the herds."

"You can let go," Kzelle reminded him.

With a smile that almost knocked her off her feet, he released her elbow, and took a step back. "I suppose an introduction is in order. Dunkirk Valmorth is my handle, as they say in the states."

When she didn't answer, he continued, "A bit stodgy, but mother is a stickler for family names." 

"Well... Dunkirk Valmorth, did you see what I saw?"

"Ah, yes. I assume you are referring to the risen offspring of Quetzalcoatl. Quite the unexpected sighting, I agree."

"You're not a shapeshifter, how do you... what are you?" Kzelle realized she was having difficulty scenting him. A trace of smoke and saffron clung to his garments, but...

"I hope you will not be predisposed against my kind, as some are." His dark eyes glittered, and a supernatural sheen covered them.

"Djinn," she murmured, shock tingling her down to her toes.

"Actually, Princess Kzelle, if I might address you as such, I am from a human and djinn lineage begun an age ago."

Her heart skipped a beat, then thumped hard and quick. "No wonder you could track me so easily. No wonder I never scented you."

"My apologies for intruding on your privacy. However, I could not leave you unprotected." With a small grin tipping up the corners of his oh-so sexy mouth, he offered his arm as if they were about to enter polite society.

Against her usual nature, Kzelle placed her arm on his. "Who should we inform about the serpent god?"
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Wishing you shapeshifting love on the wild side… 

Savanna

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance

Lord (and Lady) of the Jungle

Illustration by Burne Hogarth

Katrianna leaped forward with a roar of surprise. She’d heard and scented nothing, and she should have. Her attacker locked his legs around her torso and dug his fingers into the skin of her neck.

Human, then, in shape if not species. That she could deal with. She dropped and rolled onto her back, a trick she’d learned from her equine clients. It was not a lion move, and ought to throw her attacker off balance. But not crush him, hopefully. He’d paid for a wrestling match, not a fight to the death.

He responded with his own bend in the rules. She’d been told he’d be wearing a knife as part of his costume, hard rubber instead of sharp steel. He used its hilt to clip her on the side of her head. She snapped automatically. His grip loosened. She rolled free and they broke apart. Both shot to their feet and faced each other.

To give him credit, he looked the part he’d chosen. Over six feet, lean and well-muscled. A tousled mane of black hair set off by gray eyes. His leopard-skin loincloth was made of faux fur. Her nose told her that much. It told her nothing else. Of only one thing she was certain: he wasn’t fully human. Nor was this some simple fantasy to him.

They circled across the floor of the fake jungle, two predators at the peak of their power, seeking an opening. All at once he smiled and tossed his knife away. Kat recognized the gesture as a show of contempt. He was taunting her, trying to goad her into an attack, and her with fangs and claws. Was he bloody insane?

If he does the yell, she thought, I probably will kill him.

He called her a name she hadn’t heard since she’d fled Kenya. Kat bristled and her tail lashed. Lucky guess? Or certainty? Did he have a connection with Mustafa?

All right, then. She leaped.

He met her charge with no attempt at evasion. Instead he caught her and went over backwards. Her own momentum and the lack of resistance threw her off stride. She scrabbled for balance on the polished gym floor beneath the imported leaf litter. By the time she recovered herself, he’d wormed onto her back again. He snaked his arms beneath her forelegs and locked his hand behind her neck.

Panic flashed through her. She recognized the move, knew what he was attempting. His greater-than-human or even shifter strength began to force her head toward her chest. Enough pressure and her neck would snap, as the lion’s had in the book.

No choice, then, but to rewrite the story. Kat flung herself at the wall. Her shoulder hit it hard enough to spark a galaxy of stars behind her eyes. His head did likewise. His hold on her faltered. She threw herself again. This time she made sure his body moreso than hers hit the wall. He reeled on her back. Kat borrowed another trick from her horse clients and bucked him off.

He landed hard but was already scrambling upright when she shoved him back down with a paw on his throat. She let her claws come out, just the tips, and snarled a warning into his face. He gasped out the safe word they had agreed upon. “Kreegah.”

She backed off and shifted, signaling the end of the session. He stayed on the floor. Playing it safe, although that smug grin of his made her want to try another charge.

“You cheated,” he accused, still grinning. “There aren’t any walls in the jungle.”

“My clients don’t normally try to kill me.”

“You had plenty of time to shift and surrender.” He climbed to his feet, keeping well out of her reach. “I want a rematch. We should still have some time left on the clock.”

“No.” She indicated the gym’s jungle dressing. “Half your fee went to set this up. I’ll refund the rest. Get dressed and get out and don’t try to come back.”

The man lost his grin. “We have a contract. I didn’t overstep the rules.”

“I don’t care. I’m breaking it.”

“Why?”

Katrianna sucked in a long, steadying breath. “You called me—” She stopped. Even now she couldn’t say it. “Who told you that name? Was it Mustafa?”

His smile returned. “That would be telling.”

“You’re not human. What kind of shifter are you?”

“That would also be telling.” He must have sensed he was nearing her limits, because he held out his hands in apology. “All right. It was a fair enough fight. I’ll take what I can get.”

“For what it’s worth,” Kat said, “your techniques would have worked on a real lion.”

“But not a shifter,” he said, and rubbed his head where it had hit the wall. “You can think outside the box. I have to remember that.”

You, she thought. Not “us”? “You haven’t answered my questions.”

“I’ll tell you what. If it will set your mind at ease, I’ll answer what questions I can if you’ll have coffee with me. My treat. I paid enough for your services.” Kat snarled. “Your company,” he amended. “I don’t know anyone named Mustafa. Does that help my cause?”

“It’s a start.” If she agreed, she’d have a chance to pry the truth out of him, and claw out any lies. “What’s your name?”

“Clay.”

She sniffed at his loincloth. “As in John Clayton, I imagine.”

“No, that’s just coincidence. For now, ‘Clay’ will suffice. You’re Mistress Katrianna?”

“To you, for the rest of the hour, yes. Get dressed. I’ll meet you at the desk.”

“Yes, Mistress.” Both his tone and smile were heavy on the irony. “Don’t you want to hear the yell?”

“Only if you want to die.”

“I’ll meet you in ten minutes.”

Six Sentence Sunday ~ Red Lioness Tamed

These are the first ‘six’ sentences from my first shapeshifter novella ~ RED LIONESS TAMED

Chapter One

“Frax! My brain feels like it’s been spun out of cobwebs,” Sun Rocket muttered. She squeezed her eyelids open and shut several times, shifting slightly on the hard metallic surface. Expelling a breath, she attempted to open her eyes. “Frax it to the sun! More cobwebs,” she angrily complained.
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Have a Magickal Six Sentence Day!

Savanna

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~

~~~ Find out more about Six Sentence Sunday at ~ sixsunday.com ~~~