Tuesday yowls and howls, shapeshifter lovers.
Yes, they’re here. The edits for KANDY APPLE AND HER HELLHOUNDS. It’s been a quagmire and a half just to get the files to open for this go round. No, I won’t go into the gory details. Suffice it say, I don’t like Word, and I’m paying for it by having to use one file to see the corrections, and another file to view the comments.
The good news, so far, is that the edits have been minor. Will it hold? Who knows, I’m going page by page. Yep, for the foreseeable future, I’ll be deep in the editing cave.
~~~~~~
Wolf-Lion Man
Lily sauntered into town. She’d prepared for the long trek by gorging herself on a crop of tasty mushrooms. With her pace slow but steady, she followed the beast-roar of Stephanos’ Harley.
He had just passed her by, unaware of her presence. Granted she was small, and the mind-greeting she’d sent him had been quick, and not strong.
Curious to know why the Guardian rode with a human woman, Lily decided to find out before investigating Talbot’s Peak as her tortoise self. Nobody’s fool, she stayed beneath the foliage, and avoided the sidewalk.
Since Stephanos slowed to a crawl, and wheeled toward a parking spot, Lily angled to intercept him. Making good use of a parked car, she stretched her neck and put on the jets.
Pausing next to a tire, she peeked around it to make certain no one would impede her dash toward Stephanos. As Lily scrabbled onto the sidewalk, the smell of brewing coffee hit her full force.
***
I stare at the large box turtle now staring at us. By us, I mean me and the stud biker who has lifted me from Razorback, and is now dismounting behind me. He keeps hold of my arm.
Dare I say, or even dare to think his touch feels darn possessive?
I blink, and bend down a bit, curious. Plus, I’ve always had a strange fondness for turtles. In the back of my memory, I recall male box turtles have red eyes. Okay, this is a girl.
Not understanding why this extra large box turtle isn’t heading for safety somewhere else, I want to shoo her toward some nearby bushes. “Cute turtle,” I mutter. “I mean tortoise.”
When Mr. Unbelievably Sexy drapes his arm around my shoulders, I point, even though my hormones are take-me crazy.
“Lily, what are you doing here?”
Lily? Despite the fact that he’s talking to a turtle like she’s a good friend, his purring rumble is juicing that part of me that should never be interested in what that part of me wants. Hot sweaty sex.
Ohgawd.
“Lily?” I squeak because my throat is so tight.
“Yeah, I recognize her. She’s my yard turtle because she visits so often. I have a place about ten miles outside of town, as the crow flies.”
“Lily’s traveled quite a ways.” The turtle appears to give me an appraising look, which I return.
“Yeah, not smart.” With a lithe fast movement, he scoops Lily up. Damn, his hand looks large and fine wrapped around Ms. Extra Large Box Turtle.
Wrapped around me... well hell, once again, I’m plagued by erotic images of him, and what I want him to do to me. What I want --
“Stephanos!” The barking shout from across the street halts my too raunchy imaginings. Fortunately.
“Devon, you’re leaving. We’re heading inside.”
“Got a hot date. And we’re late. “Werewolves on Wheels” is playing at the Full Moon Theater,” the preppy-handsome man hollers, and gives a wave.
The gorgeous Asian woman beside him eyes me like a tigress who is deciding whether I’m worthy of being her prey. I shiver, and Stephanos pulls me tighter against his side. Good lord, what does he eat? Raw steak for breakfast. His thighs are so strong with muscle, I tremble with more unbridled desire. Also disbelief.
“We’ll catch the flick soon,” Stephanos calls back.
We? Somehow, I don’t think he means him and Lily.
“Cold?” He turns toward me.
Wondering at the intimacy of his gaze, I numbly dumbly shake my head ‘no’.
“I guess Lily will be joining us for coffee.” He lifts the box turtle to eye level. “Can’t have her wandering around town. I hear turtle soup is on the menu.”
Lily shrinks inside her shell, but peers out at him.
“Hey, wolf-lion man, what are you doin’ in town? Heard you were headed up to the bike rally.”
As if he’s run headlong into a wall, the biker dude approaching us stops. His gaze swings to me, and I feel like I’m suddenly being burned at some invisible stake.
I avert my gaze, instinctively shrinking into my shell. Stephanos gently hugs my shoulders, then urges me forward. My feet cooperate, and we move inside the coffee shop. I don’t mind saying, it’s a huge relief to see a welcoming smile on the face of a young woman with artistically arranged blue hair.
~~~~~~
Happy Sun in Gemini Shapeshifting
Savanna
Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~
14 comments:
Nice! Sounds like the horse whisperer may find herself whispering to lions and tigers and turtles, too!
Mmmm...nothing sexier than a man who protects and cares for those around him! Go Stephanos!
Ugh...let's hope the edits stay minor! Have fun in the writing cave. :)
Rebecca, yeah, she may 'be' whispering to shapeshifters... soon.
Serena, true, nothing sexier. ~smiles~
I'm so hoping the edits will go relatively smoothly... hey, an author girl can dream...
P.S. Stephanos had already taken off her helmet, and his.
Whoa! So much story fodder in only a few hundred words. A wolf/lion combo? Bet Sunday dinners around that table were interesting. Gotta love Lily the box turtle. Is she a slow-moving gal who talks with a southern drawl, or does she chug Red Bull to get up to speed? Dawne doesn't know what she's in for, but I get the feeling she's going to enjoy it.
And a shout-out to "Werewolves on Wheels!" (Which I've never seen.) Hope Devon and Rakshasi like the movie.
Here's an editing horror story to make you feel better. Before I got the laptop I was writing my stuff on my ancient home computer, the Troglodyte 1000, which is incompatible with modern systems. This means I had to retype everything into the library system so I could email it out, and do edits on disk at the library for the same reason. I once had to do edits on a novel in 4 days because it was February and I had a job, and between snow and work I couldn't get to the library. Now that I have the laptop I can copy files from email, take it home, and do edits in bed with a cup of tea and the radio blasting rock music. Hope I brightened your day.
Pat, you always brighten my day! If I liked working on Word, likely there would be no problem. But, gosh, the creative process is hard enough without having to face writing on something you don't like.
Kudos to you on persevering no matter what.
I couldn't resist writing Lily into the story, since I had an encounter with an extremely large box turtle yesterday when I accidentally threw a bucket of gray water on it. I couldn't see turtle, I think it was a she, since she was beneath some tall foliage. No harm to turtle.
If she made any noises, they were probably turtle swear words.
Savanna- Now you've got me curious. What word processor do you use?
Pat- Troglodite 1000? LOL!
Pat, no, no turtle noises. But what she thought well... I dunno. She just hid head in her shell while I apologized. Of course, her shell was gorgeous and shiny. It didn't take her long to come out, then turn and calmly go on her way.
Rebecca, I use the now ancient Wordperfect 12 on my ancient XP. Apparently files from Word 2007 won't open in Wordperfect from what I read on the internet. I haven't had a whole lot of probs until now.
Sure they do. You might get some funky results with the stuff normally found under the "reveiw" tab of Word and you won't be able to add comment bubbles the same way, but it should work.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4898107_use-microsoft-word-wordperfect.html
Forgot to mention that you need to save the Word 2007 doc and a Word 97-2003 document first.
Rebecca, thanks! I'll check out the link. That was done, but didn't work.
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