lady killer as in a wolf

Tuesday howls and yowls, shapeshifter lovers. Ever wonder about the raw unpolished version of a story, of a scene? Well, today is your lucky day. Because that’s what you’re getting with my flash... because, heck, I didn’t have time to give it any polish, or even a proper title. And it’s a long sucker, too [but not the vampire kind of sucking].
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Despair dogged her soul like her neighbor’s two spoiled rotten, yappy, oh-so ugly dogs. Muffster and Vinnie dogged her footsteps, nastily snapping at her heels whenever Karysa made the mistake of going outside while they were ‘doing their duty’.

No amount of civilized appeal ever made any difference whatsoever to the older couple. But, why for crap’s sake was she wasting her thoughts on ‘the muttsters’? It had to be a sign of just how deep her depression truly went.

Oh, jeez, was she in trouble. How low can you go? Now, the stupid lyric from the Limbo looped repeatedly through her mind.

Crud to the nth degree, what had her life become? Karysa sighed. The feathery hiss that passed between her lips might as well have been her life essence leaving. Yeah, never to return.

“So, yeah, I’m just a damn balloon leaking air... deflating... deflating,” she chanted to herself as she gripped the steering wheel harder. “Great, oh great. Where the hell is that road sign?”

Okay now, she obviously had a worse problem. “I’m lost,” she whispered.

Slowing her small car to a crawl, Karysa looked back and forth carefully, then craned her neck looking for any dots of light that meant there was a house or a small town close. Anything!

But, there was nothing. Near inky darkness surrounded her. She must have made another wrong turn while trying to retrace her route from the first wrong turn. Damn.

Oh, god, help. That’s what she got for contemplating her crappy life while driving back from babysitting her preteen nephew and two nieces -- and after listening to her youngest sister berate her on her ‘poor’ life choices.

Karysa had stayed only long enough to collect the meager amount of money she’d been promised. If the rent hadn’t been due, she would have left the moment her sister gave her ‘the look’, and opened her mouth.

Okay, depressed she might be, but Karysa wasn’t quite ready to end it all by getting lost and dead in the forest. “Lions and tigers and bears,” she whispered, rolling past tall dark trees. “Well, no tigers... but probably mountain lions and certainly bears... oh my.”

What a time to lose her cell phone. But how like her. Not like she had GPS, either. Since she rarely traveled that far anymore.

Karysa thought her eyes might be playing tricks on her when she first saw the little glimmer of yellowish light. But then, she spotted the sorta road to her right that appeared to head toward the light that was now a round glow.

So, maybe a hatchet murderer lived there. Who knew? She could see the barest outline of a building. Karysa straightened fast once she drove closer. The lit-up chrome from what could only be expensive motorcycles beckoned.

“Wow.” Inside a large clearing, Harleys and other tricked out bikes, were lined up like horses at a large long hitching post.

She sped up as a sudden attack of curiosity seized her. A bar? Out here? Karysa figured it must be one rootin’ tootin’ hellacious bar. But, right now, it was looking like her only lifeline.

Okay, she’d been hit by an ugly stick several times over, and was far from being a spring chicken... soooo... maybe there wouldn’t be a problem as far as any ‘unwanted’ sexual attention.

If she was lucky, maybe someone would take pity on her, and give her directions back to the main highway. And, well, if she wasn’t... what did she have to live for, anyway? If she was brutally honest with herself.

Karysa parked her car on the edge of the illumination, and stepped out before she changed her mind. Or her common sense got a hold of her.

A feral smell enveloped her, and Karysa wondered how close the wild animals were. Not that she anything. Not even a pair of eyes in the darkness.

Okay then. Grabbing her courage by the scruff of its neck, Karysa walked toward the heavy wooden door, her small bag clutched tightly. Yep, definitely a party of some type going on inside by the raucous male shouts.

Wait! Did she hear singing? As in a folk guitar, and a ballad?

Swallowing hard, Karysa hesitated as she reached for the door handle. No, she was going inside. Firming her chin, she gripped the large brass handle, and pulled on it with authority. She knew how to bring that part of herself out when she needed it.

Once inside, she blinked leaning against the door. It was a scene out of a Hell’s Angel movie, only not. There was something radically different she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Yeah, they all looked more dangerous than Rambo on a bad day, and several of them stared at her, scoping her out... yet, oddly she didn’t pick up any bad vibes directed at her.

And the odors. Beer, yes, leather, right on... both mixed with the locker-room smell of male sweat... but, strangely, a wet-dog like odor also hung in the air.

And, where the hell was the smoke? As in cigarettes?

“You here for a beer?” A friendly voice boomed toward her.

Karysa unglued herself from the door. Her gaze followed the all male voice that had stroked the pit of her stomach -- the deep voice that reminded her she was still a woman. Dammit.

A handsome biker type with a square jaw, the bartender gave her a quick teasing grin, then waved her over. Karysa knew she moved like an automaton toward him, through the path that seemed to magically open up.

Holy crap, if he didn’t remind her of the actor who had recently played Thor... another movie she’d missed on the big screen.

“Yeah, a beer,” she managed, as her butt thumped onto the barstool he’d indicated. Not that she liked beer. But, hey, while in Rome or in a biker bar...

“What’s your name?” the handsome-as-all-get-out Thor asked conversationally. At the same time, he whipped a tall glass beneath a tap and began filling it. The deep golden liquid foamed slightly. Good lord, his arm muscles flexed beautifully.

Did she dare tell him her real name? Well... her tongue apparently decided for her, overcoming the sudden dryness of her mouth. “Karysa. What’s yours?”

“Turbo.” The loud bark from the man on her left caused Karysa to jump slightly. “That’s what we call him ‘round here. Be careful. He’s a lady killer.”

God, she hoped he was a lady killer as in a wolf, a seducer of women. Not as in a real lady killer. As in she’d end up being the victim of...

Thor-Turbo interrupted her thoughts with a smile that was definitely a lady killing smile. After setting the beer before her, he leaned closer, and rasped, “Turbo is my nickname. Got turbo jets on my ‘cycle.”

“Oh.” Automatically, Karysa picked up her beer and tried a sip. After all, she wanted to blend in... yeah, like that was going happen. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting that.” With the arch of his brow, she continued, “I mean, it’s really good. I don’t usually... but, I appreciate your... uh, whatever, I’ll pay.”

She’d started to open her bag when he sexily rumbled, “On the house, little honey.”

Little honey? Now that threw her for a giant ole loop. After she’d mumbled a polite ‘thank you’, Karysa took a draw. She’d never tasted any beer like this. The closest had been some apple ale she’d tried at a Renaissance festival.

Straightening, Turbo turned that overly gorgeous body of his slightly, then hollered, “Marlow, I’m due a break. I’m taking it now.”

“Got ya covered,” a husky voice shouted.

Karysa could barely believe it, when he faced her again, bent and propped himself on one elbow. His gaze was certainly disconcerting. Dark eyes that leapt with flame studied her.

“Tell me all about yourself.”

Karysa froze inside, iced to her core. Every expectation of what could occur was shattered by one blow of Turbo-Thor’s hammering come on. What the hell?

Was she reading him right? Was it a come on? Okay, his gaze didn’t waver. His eyes flamed higher. He waited.

“I...” She took another swallow, hoping to help her parched lips. “I only... only need...”

“Need?”

Hormones she’d forgot she had, exploded, firecrackered into existence. She perspired. Her breaths came too fast. She clutched the glass too tight.

“Yeah.” Karysa almost choked on the word. “I... uh... want to know how to get back to the highway. If you could...” She halted at the raw intensity of his expression. As if he wanted devour her whole. Eat her up with lust.

“Want,” he repeated, his tone on the edge of rough. He moved back a few inches when she stilled, the glass held midway between the bar and her mouth. “Sorry, little honey, let’s try this again.”

Again?

“I’ll show you the way to the highway once I’m off duty. For now, just talk to me, Karysa.”

The way he said her name made Karysa want to crawl onto his lap, kiss him senseless, and do anything and everything he wanted. But, what the holy heck was wrong with him? Was the bar lighting so poor he couldn’t see she neared senior status? Maybe his eyesight wasn’t that good.

Quivering inside like an awkward teenager, Karysa managed another drink of her beer. “Sure.”

“What do you do for a living?” he asked, as if they’d met for the first time at a social event.

“Down and out writer. And damned depressed about it right now.” If she hit him between the eyes with the truth that might turn off his weird attraction to her. “Do you have another job other than bartending?”

He smiled as if she’d just asked him the trillion dollar question. “I’m filling in tonight. Dante asked me,” he paused briefly, “he’s the owner of the bar, and my cousin. Used to be a bartender up Chicago way. These days, I work security.”

“Security. Where?” Karysa didn’t stop staring at his longish dark blonde hair, streaked with a gingery red color. She loved it.

“I’m supposed to be asking the questions,” he teased. “Several us own the land around the bar, and I patrol the perimeter.” Bending at the waist, he reached beneath the bar, then placed a bowl of peanuts before her. “They’re organic,” he tempted, a decided glint in his dark-as-coffee eyes.

“Organic. Who can resist?” Karysa tried one simply because she knew he wanted her to. But, it was so good, and she was hungry. So, she popped them one by one into her mouth, and savored.

“What do you write?”

Yep, here it came. The Question. The one she rarely had any satisfactory answer for.

She began to blush, the heat crawling up her neck to her cheeks. “I write romance novels.” There, she’d said it. Let him chew on that one. Of course, she hadn’t said ‘erotic romance’.

His speculative gaze roamed her face. That, then the hot flare of his eyes caused her too look away quick. “You’re published, aren’t you?” he asked, a moment later.

“Yeah, but no big deal. Besides,” Karysa hauled in a breath, and stared at the remaining beer in her glass, “my career is likely over. Such as it was.” Oh, why not spill her guts? Really, what did it matter? And he was a bartender, after all. “Seems as though I can’t connect with readers anymore. Or,” she let a sigh escape, “not well enough. Not enough of them. Not that I don’t appreciate each and every one of them. I do. But, it could be I’m not writing the type of story they want to read. You know, the hot genre trends. Okay, my latest book is selling. But, not like I hoped. Oh, what’s the use? I’ve always been different. Too different. Yeah, I know. Being a bartender you’ve probably heard that a million zillion times. ‘I’m different’, the person says to you. But, I say so what? It’s true. I’ve been this way my whole life. And, it feels like a curse. Always on the outside looking in, that’s me. And, I’ve always written out of the box... on the edge. I can’t help it. It’s just who I am. This time, though, I went too far. Crash, boom, right over the edge... dammit.”

Karysa lifted her beer, and drank to hide the despair written on her face. “And that’s not the worst of it,” she continued after plunking the glass down a bit too hard. “My writing has been hit and miss lately, meaning I can’t settle on one story... and... oh,” she moaned. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Spend the night with me.”

“What?” Oh, yes, she was most definitely in shock. Yes, triple whammy shock. Unless... “Do you mean you want sex?” Karysa heard the utter disbelief in her voice. Feeling the affects of the alcohol -- she was so not a drinker -- she waved her arm. “There are lots of beautiful women...”

His hands clamped on her upper arms, dwarfing them, stopping her words. Thor untamed, she thought, as he hauled her straight up, and onto the bar, so fast her head reeled.

Stunned, Karysa heard the glass fall over, smack the polished wood. His kiss crashed against her lips. Hot. Ferocious. Not to be denied.

And wild. Like a beast who had to have her.

Yet, with an expertise she found thrilling, he slowed his kiss, sensuously savoring the texture and shape of her mouth. Karysa tried to kiss him back, offering what she could. And he took. More, he ruled her lips with a dominance she’d dreamed about, but had never known.

It crossed her mind she could write about this. Would write about this. Then, all thought ended. There was only the feel of his lips and her lips dancing together in a languid frenzy of passion. Never mind, it was the kind of passion she’d desperately sought, and never found.

Breaking their mouths apart, finally, he growled, “Say yes.”

Huffing breaths like a complete wanton, her heart turbo-charged, Karysa whimpered. She wanted to say yes... oh, yes, Turbo. But, she couldn’t. The words remained stubbornly stuck inside her.

“I can’t...I mean...how can I believe this is happening?” Teardrops formed at the corner of her eyes as her emotions welled, then burst inside her like a sudden storm. Karysa didn’t voice them. She couldn’t. She wasn’t certain she could even identify them.

His fingers sank into her hair, tugging until her face was beneath his gaze -- his penetrating, I want you gaze the one that seemed to find her soul, then demand her surrender.

“I’ll make you believe, little honey. By morning, you’ll be saying ‘yes’ over and over again.”
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Have a Magickal Week!

Savanna

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~
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