The Crazy Cougar and the Mad Bear... Yosemite Week Continues

End of summer howls and yowls, shapeshifter lovers.

Well, here it is, my flash scene for the pic hanging to the right of this post. Likely, it’s rough around the edges since I’m a bit under the weather. But, I hope you enjoy.

The Crazy Cougar and the Mad Bear

Half bombed out of her mind, Sirakusa squeezed the glass between her hands. Blocking out the good-times voices of those around her in the Yosemite’s late night bar and lodge, she stared into the depths of her alcoholic beverage. Made with vodka and coffee liqueur, the drink known as a Black Russian reflected her mood.

“Men are just dogs, doncha know,” she snarly greeted the son of a bitch -- likely a shapeshifter predator of some kind like her ex-fiancé -- and like herself.

Since her third drink -- this was her fourth after eating dinner several hours ago -- he’d been stalking her with his gaze from his solitary position at the bar. Now he towered above her. His burly frame had to be well over six feet, the complete opposite of the young stud who had professed to love her... then left her the minute his pack leader showed teeth.

Yeah, she could pick ‘em, couldn’t she? Balless bastards, every single one of the so-called men of her un-colorful, but long-in-the-fang past.

Why the ‘leave-her-alone’ hell hadn’t the towering, too young cub gone away... as in shoo, I’m not interested? Although, before she glanced back down, Sirakusa had caught a glimpse of bulging biceps beneath his black leather jacket. His muscled chest wouldn’t quit. Oh, and there was his unshaven square jaw, his dark unruly hair... his fathomless midnight eyes... though, she doubted his eyes were merely black in color. She damn certain wasn’t looking up to find out.

“Oh, I get it,” she snipped nastily, “you’re one of dad’s enforcers. Yeah, forgot. I didn’t make my scheduled --”

His weight hit the chair next to her, rattling the table, and her already shaky nerves. Sirakusa figured she didn’t jump out of her skin because she’d thoroughly anesthetized herself, and was nearing drunken collapse.

“Go away. I’ll call tomorrow,” she sneered, or as near as she could get to that tone when three sheets to the effing wind. Speaking of wind, a run through Yellowstone sounded good. If she quit drinking now, she could manage a shift, and work off some of this alcohol -- yeah, lessen her hangover. She had a yen to feel the wind ripple her fur. Her coat had already thickened for winter.

After shoving her drink to the far side of the small table designed for a couple, Sirakusa started to rise. Her head whirled as if she’d thrown it inside a dryer. Yeah, how scat-stupid she’d been to wash the beta coward’s clothes, and act like his wife. They’d even planned a modest human-like wedding.

Holy moly crap! Could she ever catch a break?

No, she thought as her eyes crossed and her body lurched forward. About to catch herself, or, at least, try, Sirakusa felt herself grabbed and hauled sideways. Her butt thumped on top of a pair of iron-hard, humongous thighs.

“Hey! Let go.” Twisting, she took a swing at his unshaven jaw.

When her fist sloppily grazed his neck, she spat, “I told you I’d call. Give dad a report.”

“My handle is Mad Bear. What’s yours?” All too easily his gravelly voice penetrated, and coiled through the center of her numb body, all while he eased her against his unyielding frame.

Bear! With her brain slow on the uptake, Sirakusa didn’t struggle as he wrapped his huge arms around her in a sort of a friendly bear hug. Okay, so he wasn’t one of her dad’s enforcers... who could keep track of them all?

“Crazy Cougar... that’s my handle,” she snapped, although her words lacked any significant bite, even to her ear.

“Cougar,” he growled, vibrating her ear, and vibrating her nether regions enough to wake them up from their liquor-induced stupor. “I thought so. I’d offer to buy you a drink, mountain pussycat --”

“Pussycat,” she shrieked, her tongue not cooperating with her outrage. “Fall’s almost here. Aren’t you about to eat berries by the ton, and hibernate? Or something...”

His thumbs caught her nipples -- the briefest caress. “I do like eating berries. Sucking on them too.” His nose nuzzled the rim of her ear. “For a very long time. Before I even think about hibernating.”

Despite the boozed, liquidy state of her body, Sirakusa shot upright. From their half-mast droop, her eyelids flew wide.

“What if I suck your berries to bright red?” he growly seduced.

Stunned, but suddenly burning with what could only be labeled needy desire, Sirakusa tried in vain to think quickly.

“No hibernating,” she ended up muttering.

“No. No hibernating,” he rumbled in a base note that strummed her to mating heat. “Mmm-mmm, don’t you smell ripe and juicy?” His large, very large fingers gently shoved between the apex of her thighs. “What if I lick that berry later?” Applying just the right pressure to her pussy mound, he stroked upward.

Sirakusa stifled a yowling moan. Still, she arched, the back of her head pressing hard against his chest. Rawrrrr... oh yeah, her hedonistic side was about to take control.

“I scented you the first moment I entered... my little crazy cougar.”

His enormous hand settled on her belly, and he rubbed lightly. Again, his strokes were just the right pressure. Wondering if he had an internal touch o’sex-meter, Sirakusa simmered on the ‘I want it’ heat setting. She was about to boil wild and hot for it.

If he didn’t stop doing... but, she couldn’t do this. Not again. Unless...

“Tell me you’re over thirty... at least. Maybe...”

He stilled, and she had her answer. Okay yowls, she gave him credit for not wanting to lie.

“What does it matter?” His lips nibbled her ear, and he possessively vised his arms around her. “We’re shapeshifters. We have a longer than long lifespan.”

So, Sirakusa concluded as she wantonly trembled inside, not only was he not looking for a one night stand... maybe, he was planning on ‘not’ hibernating with her during the winter months.

In that instant, Sirakusa realized her nose hadn’t been wrong. Even through her alcoholic haze, she scented his need to mate with her. Beneath her butt, his cock rose to the occasion. Then kept on rising with impressive strength, lifting her butt.

“This can’t happen.” She shivered violently, her emotions gathering like stormclouds.

“I carry my tribe’s ancient potion. A longevity cure-all --”

Sirakusa’s strangled scream interrupted Mad Bear’s startling revelation. The tattoo below the nape of her neck sparked pain through her. That meant only one thing.

“Raid,” she yelled at the top of her lungs. “Run! Shifters, run!” Sirakusa threw back her head and loosed her kind’s warning scream.

Bolting to his feet, the chair crashing behind him, Mad Bear cinched her middle with one arm. He slung her against his side and sprinted for the bar’s side entrance.

With her head pounding like Metallica performed inside it, and her tattoo still spraying fire through her, Sirakusa hung on for the ride. Around them, at least half of those inside the lodge’s large bar dashed for the nearest exit. Heedless of who was in their path, they pushed outside. Anything to escape.

Sirakusa didn’t blame them. It was why her family had held the magical ceremony when she was a mere toddler-cub. Her aunt, a medicine woman, had drawn the tattoo on her, then with the sacred smoke she’d burned it into her human skin.

Since that moment, Sirakusa always knew when the military’s elite, secret Shapeshifter Hunters were about to strike. She rarely knew who they targeted, or if they were casting a wide capture net. Because she ran far and fast, and never looked back.

It was only later that she heard the horrific, break-your-heart stories by those shifters who escaped their capture.

Mad Bear kept her tight against his side as he stealthily ran between the parked cars, SUVs and pickup trucks. Knowing they owned the advantage, most of the shifters had taken to the surrounding terrain. And, if they were smart, they would have scouted out the best escape routes, as she already had.

Halting beside what looked like a heavy duty Jeep to her, Mad Bear uttered a low growl as he quietly unlocked the passenger door. “They’ve got the place surrounded.”

Efficiently, swiftly, he placed her inside, and shut the door without a sound. Sirakusa had to wonder why they weren’t racing through the densest part of the forest. Not that she was in best shape to run for her life. Pain stabbed her head repeatedly, and her metabolism remained sluggish, even with adrenalin surging through her veins.

Noiselessly slipping inside despite his bulk, Mad Bear turned the ignition key. She heard a bare hum of sound, and the Jeep seemed to start. At least, they crept forward.

“Why...?” she began.

“Electric motor,” he whispered, interrupting her.

A sudden blaze of light caused Sirakusa to clap her hands over her eyes, and hope they weren’t being targeted.

“Hang on,” he growled. “Sorry in advance for your head.”

Seconds later, they whipped back and forth between the parked vehicles, and from lane to lane. Sirakusa grabbed whatever she could hold onto, and wished she’d never thought about drowning her sorrows.

With a keening moan, she clenched her eyelids. It didn’t do her any good. The tires squealed torturing her eardrums. They spun a hundred-and-eighty degrees, and he sped over rocky ground jouncing her back and forth.

After long minutes of this torment, he slammed to a stop. She felt them make a turn, and the Jeep crawled somewhere. “Get ready to shift,” he boomed. “They’re on our trail.”

Without thought, Sirakusa kicked off her platform shoes. At the same time, she slid out of her velvet stretch top. Within seconds, she’d stripped off her matching leggings. Always prepared to shift at a moment’s notice, she rarely wore anything she couldn’t easily remove. For the same reason she didn’t carry a purse, only using her pockets.

Hearing his door open, she glanced in Mad Bear’s direction, and not only noticed he’d shed most of his clothes... enough of an eyeful in every way... but, also, there was an outcropping of rock around them.

“Jeep should be secure,” he growled fast. “But we aren’t. They got sniffers on our trail.”

Sniffers! “How do you know?”

“Listen.”

The telltale whine of the sonic locator devices entered her ears. Worse, they were being detected. With fear chasing away the nasty fuzzies in her head, Sirakusa initiated her shift, and launched out the door.

“Follow me,” he shouted after her. “I know how to elude them.”

For some reason she didn’t doubt him. Besides, she wasn’t familiar with this territory. The onslaught of smells told her that much. Once Sirakusa landed on all four of her cougar paws, she swept her gaze around.

Goddess do tell, he was a giant of a bear, and she swore she’d never laid eyes on his kind before. He loped in front of her, and soon they were racing up the side of forested cliff, along a narrow path.

All Sirakusa knew was that the creatures of the night had made themselves scarce, and that they traveled for over an hour, running ever upward. With the elevation, the scent of the plants and trees changed.

Feeling the last dregs of her energy drain away, Sirakusa wasn’t aware when she finally collapsed, or when the blessed darkness claimed her.

***

Her head rested on something hard and chilled. Seeking the comfort of her pillow, Sirakusa tried moving her cheek. That’s when she awoke with a start, and felt the sharp chafing of her skin between her breasts, on the length of her belly, and on the inside of her thighs. What in the effing hell...? Where was she?

Feeling a dew-laden breeze on her dangling arms and legs, she cautiously peered downward. In the silvery light of early morning, she saw a huge, apparently naked man. He seemed to be on guard, his back pressed against the substantial tree trunk.

Attempting to ignore the aching throb of her temples, Sirakusa struggled to remember anything. Anything at all. Had they...? Who was he?

Oh, Goddess, she moaned to herself, and briefly shut her eyes. Obviously, she’d tied one on. Yeah, not her usual behavior. But she’d been so despondent, then beyond that, to the point darkness owned her spirit. Everything had seemed endlessly bleak as looked back on her life.

And now... scat!

Did she dare ask him who he was? Why...? What if he’d abducted her?

Uh-oh! Did she morph and make a run for it. He’d risen, and was turning...

“Morning, Crazy Cougar. How’s that head of yours?”

The sound of his baritone voice -- even at this distance she could see the commanding glitter of his dark eyes, his square unshaven jaw. “Mad Bear,” she burst out. With her ire rising fast, she demanded, “Why am I up here?”

“Had to put you up there while I led them away from you.” He paused, tilting his head so he had a better view of her face. “The Hunters don’t aim the sniffers that high.”

Mad Bear gave her a triumphant half grin. Moving so he stood directly beneath her, he spread his magnificently muscled arms wide. “I’ll catch you, sweet little mountain cat.”

Oh, what the... with her head still reeling and rocking, why not?

Sirakusa maneuvered herself with care, then rolled to the side, and let herself drop. True to his word he caught her as if she weighed little of nothing. Definitely points in his favor.

“This wasn’t how I intended our first night together,” he rumbled in a teasing manner.

Lost in his coffee-colored eyes, filled with amber beautiful glints, she murmured, “It’s a long trek back to your Jeep.”

“Yep. But, I’ll hold your hand, my crazy cougar, and maybe you’ll decide to tell me your name.”

“Just... maybe I will.”

His sudden kiss caught her off guard. Sirakusa moaned as his lips took possession of hers and didn’t let go. Not for a long while.
~~~~~~

Have a Magickal Shapeshifting Week!

Savanna

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~
~~~