Chariots of the Dogs

The idea well ran dry today, so I went rummaging through the archives and unearthed this bit from one of last year's newsletters. Now everybody gets to read it. Enjoy!

# # #

Sophie leaned on her back porch railing and gazed longingly up at the sky. Too much light leaked over the landscape to really see the stars, but a few determined celestial orbs blazed defiantly overhead anyway.

“I wish I may, I wish I might,” Sophie murmured. “I wish there were more cute boys in this neighborhood.”

The words had scarcely left her lips when one of the stars began to grow. An airplane, she figured, or maybe a satellite. If so, it was falling. Toward her.

She clung to the rail and watched it plummet. Just before she dashed inside she realized it wasn’t going to hit the house. It was cruising in at a rapid descent, but obviously under some sort of human—or alien—control.

Yes, alien. Now that it had gotten closer she could see its shape clearly in the streetlights. A flying saucer. An honest to X-Files flying saucer! Sophie stayed at the railing. Would the aliens be friendly? And cute?

Maybe they’d be Klingons. Klingons were awesome.

The saucer came to a reckless, skiddy landing in the backyard. Its hatch popped open and half a dozen really cute guys tumbled out. They had to be brothers or cousins or something because they were all blond and looked vaguely alike. Sophie didn’t recognize any of them from school. Maybe they were engineering nerds from college out in Billings.

They lined up in front of the porch and grinned at her. One of them spread his fingers in the Vulcan salute. “Greetings,” he intoned. “We are space coyotes from the planet Talbot’s Peak, come to sample Earth women. Are you an Earth woman ready to be sampled?”

“You are not,” Sophie said. “You’re techies from Billings, aren’t you? I’ll bet that’s not even your flying saucer.”

“Is too.”

“Sort of is too,” one of his brother/cousins clarified. “We kind of borrowed it from this guy our cousin Ewan works for.”

“Appropriated,” another said. “That makes it official. Whatever, it’s ours tonight. So.” He dug the toe of his boot into the lawn. “Y’wanna go do something?”

“Yeah, okay.” Sophie dashed down off the porch. Up close the guys were even cuter, like a pack of rumpled puppies. And they had the coolest transportation ever. Wait’ll she told Nancy and Amber this weekend! “Can we go to the mall?”

“Sure.” Suddenly wary, the spokesman said, “You’re over eighteen, right?”

“Of course I am,” she said quickly. “Are you?”

“Uh, yeah. I mean, if you count it in dog years, we’re way older. Your parents aren’t gonna come after us with a shotgun, are they?”

“Nah. They’re not even home. I’ll tell ‘em I went out with my girlfriends.” Explaining the flying saucer might be trickier. Didn’t Nancy’s brother do a science project last semester? That would have to do. She let the space coyotes take her hands and lead her into the ship. “Can I drive it?”

“Maybe on the way back.”

# # #

Once at the mall, the coyotes quickly got distracted by the video arcade and the food court. They were teenage boys; it couldn’t be helped. Eventually Scott, the oldest, looked up from nachos and pinball long enough to ask, “What time is it?”

“Mrgrrph,” Rory said. He swallowed his bite of roast beef sub and repeated, “I think it’s after 10.”

“We should probably get the skimmer back. If Dante finds out it’s gone, he’ll be pissed.” He looked around. “Didn’t we have a monkey girl with us?”

“She left a while ago. She ran into some friends of hers. I think they went over to the east entrance, where the Goth kids hang out. I’ll bet they’re trying to pick up vampires.”

Scott made a face. “And they say we have bad breath. Better get the pack together. Hey, I know! Remember that big ugly ape with the sheep ranch? Let’s zap over there and buzz his flock.”

“That’ll be rockin’. You know how to get the viewports open? I want to hang out the window.”

No yip-yip doubt he was beguiled...

Tuesday howls and yowls, shapeshifter lovers.

I've been busier than a fox in an unguarded henhouse... including being forced to upgrade to highspeed internet – which I didn't know was now available in my tame-prairie area –  because my dialup number will no longer be available – so that's been somewhat of an adventure, and I lost sleep putting it all together last night. But so far, so good... and a huge improvement over my primitive computer system...

Thus and so, here's a continuation of my flash scene from last week, titled: Coyote Shapeshifter Lost On Earth

~~~~~~

No yip-yip doubt he was beguiled...

Her tantalizing odor tickled his nostrils, an unceasing wonderful torment that drew Drukr closer...and ever closer. No yip-yip doubt he was beguiled by the woman coyote beauty who'd been chasing his furry and his bare-butt tail. For good reason.

Yet he couldn't return to Ship. He'd been laser tagged by an alien spec-ops team, who were serious as a sucking blackhole about capturing him. And, not just bagging him for interrogation and gruesome experiments, but for Borg-ing the silicon-control structure of his commerce spaceship.

The tech was from another alien race who were obviously in cahoots with Earth humans military. With the first sting, he'd known, and run like a starving vampire toward a hot-blood dinner.

It had become a Wiley-coyote game, even silly cartoonish at times -- keeping a few paws ahead of the various black-ops teams they'd sent to trap him. Part of him grinned most of the time, enjoying the hell out of winning against their amateurish attempts.

Then the game escalated to galactic proportions. He'd had to outwit her. Kesza, tracker extraordinnaire by any measure in the known galaxies.

Now she was an endangered alien species because of her unable-to-shift exhaustion. No way would Drukr let her be taken captive. So, he'd be her bodyguard. Only...

If he wasn't evading her relentless search for him, he was prey to wanting her. Yip-yip-howl, with an insatiable carnal appetite.

Feeling her eye his approach, Drukr padded more slowly. She raised her lovely coyote head, a snarl beginning low in her throat.

'Drukr,' he announced telepathically, and halted his approach. At the same moment, she caught a whiff of hm, the growl dying in her throat.

He watched her ears swivel back, and she gave him a disgusted look. 'Where have you been?'

'Tagged. I can't go back to the ship.' Drukr figured simplicity was best. Besides, the smell of her fatigue suggested she wasn't up for a lengthy explanation of his plight.

Alarm registered in her dark lustrous eyes. She sniffed, and Drukr felt her energy zag through him. Even tired down to her beautiful bones, she still checked out the truth of his words. 

'Now we're both targets.' Drukr moved toward her again, but as if he walked atop a bed of cactus. Even worn out, she could viciously attack. Nail him with her superior-fighting skills, and force him to return.

No star-way would he let the ship's systems be assimilated. Not only would the city-large craft be compromised severely, it could mean the death of everyone aboard.

'Targets', she mind-yawned. 'You don't happen to have a safe hideout, do you?'

'There's an abandoned gold mine...' he began.

'Before I collapse, let's go,' she interrupted. Rising quickly, Kesza stretched, every lean gorgeous line of her, and Drukr lustily salivated. 'I feel the enemy nosing around.' She padded over the mattress toward him.

'We'll have to lay down a false trail,' Drukr spun around, knowing she would follow.

'Don't say lay down,' she sniped inside his mind. 'Go! I'll keep up.'

Drukr snapped his head around even as he trotted over the desert floor. He had to witness with his own eyes, that she was behind him. 'There's a more comfy mattress with bedding at the gold mine,' he encouraged.

With the sun's heat threatening to burn their hides, Drukr launched into a ground-eating trot. Just to make certain, he kept one ear tilted back listening to Kesza's gait, somewhat jerky because of her depleted state.

As minimally as he could, Drukr circled and zigzagged them toward his lair. Once they reached a shelf of weather-bared stone, he wove them between several enormous outcroppings of rock.

The opening to the gold mine was rudimentary, a hole in the ground long covered over by a thick patch of sagebrush. Drukr slipped inside, immediately crawling the short distance to a mine shaft that was significantly cooler, and could accommodate his human height.

He whipped around, morphing to man in the same instant. Behind him, Kesza collapsed in his arms. She was so limp Drukr gathered her close to his chest as he walked to his sparse yet comfortable enough living area.

He'd been able to stay hidden longer than usual, and had furnished the mined cavern with throwaway finds from an isolated, wealthy community. Rather proud of himself for staying free and alive on Earth, Drukr spent hours planning on how to sneakily accumulate the comforts of home.

Given it was about an hour's travel as coyote to the community, he often hijacked unattended vehicles, disabled their sensor electronics, then used them to hide his treasures -- where he would retrieve them much later.

Before Drukr could place her on a warm waterbed, Kesza had fallen into a deep sleep. With a gentleness he didn't know he possessed, Drukr laid her in the center, a pile of limbless beautiful fur.

On impulse he lightly kissed her cheek. By the grace of the Grand Coyote, she hadn't been tagged, not marked in any way. She could return to Ship.

But Drukr already knew he'd miss her like a knife stuck between his ribs. No, a knife piercing his heart.

Drukr stepped back and gave her the sniff test. All Kesza needed was uninterrupted sleep, and a good meal. All she need was him watching over her. Until she recovered.

Mournful howls to their homeworld, there had to be a way to remove the laser-implanted tag embedded in his lung. Sitting on his bare-ass haunches, Drukr watched her sleep without a twitch.

If he could get them to Dante's Pleasure Club, the alpha werewolf, just might have the hidden-world contacts to help him. Drukr also knew for a fact, the massive underground club had the advanced tech to keep it shielded from satellite and Tesla-energy ground surveillance -- even though his small mapping craft had been able to penetrate, and he'd observed a playground of eroticism.

~~~~~~


Wishing you love and passion on the wild side ~ 

Savanna 

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance

Coyote Shapeshifter Lost On Earth

Sunny howls and yowls, shapeshifter lovers.

This flash scene is based on the pic above, which was featured  at Coast to Coast am ~coasttocoastam.com/photo/category/nature-environment-earth-changes/#72434/coyote-on-bed~

AND, also on a flash scene I wrote some time back. Here's the beginning:

Shapeshifting Coyote in a Flying Saucer

Drukr almost yawned. He hated these reconnaissance assignments. It was either accept them, or be prepared never to set foot on the planet they currently investigated. That’s what he lived for, the on sight investigations. 

He wanted to run the terrain, not merely holo-map it. He wanted to mingle with the life forms where he could, not merely observe them through the scope.

His skill as a pilot, served him well, and also did not. If the saucer malfunctioned, he was the man for the job. Otherwise, the metal brain, as he called it, controlled everything. Star scat, he was only along for the ride, the days’ long ride.

So far, the wilderness night life entertained him enough, right now. Earth, and this Montana state, possessed it’s natural charms. However, several minutes ago the abundance of animals suddenly vanished. Drukr searched for the cause, and could discover no predator, or human hunters. That’s when his bored yawn had begun.

“What the furball unholy...?!” he barked.

For the rest of this scene ~shapeshifterseductions.blogspot.com/2011/04/shapeshifting-coyote-in-flying-saucer.html~

~~~~~~

Coyote Shapeshifter Lost On Earth

'Worn down to parts I didn't even know were there,' Kesza mentally complained to herself. Unable to shift from coyote to human form because she was so insanely tired, Kesza laid her head on the discarded mattress.

Humans on Earth were a strange breed. No big fat scat doubt about that. Who knew if the undamaged mattress had been tossed as garbage, or lost when whomever was in route in one of those smelly, overly loud vehicles roaming along large ribbons of asphalt.

Kesza sighed to herself, and suppressed a yawn. Her mouth felt like she'd been chewing on sagebrush. No use giving the unforgiving desert a chance to dry it out further.

The sucking blackhole hell of it, she'd never failed before. This mission to track one of her ET shifter kind had begun auspiciously enough. Drukr, an accomplished planet mapper for their commercial-trade starship, had been mysteriously missing for half a year, Earth time. 

She'd carefully analyzed the 3D holo-recording of his small mapping craft as it was laser-beamed out of the sky. The last image she'd seen was Drukr bolting as coyote from the plasma-arcing, destroyed craft. He'd raced at top speed into the old-growth forest, his tail on fire.

Even though, the robotic rescue ship arrived within a quarter day's time, and performed a grid search, there'd been no sign of, or from Drukr. The melted smoldering craft had been encased in an ice cocoon, and brought aboard for in-depth analysis.

Data had been recovered from the craft's core matrix -- the Earth terrain mapped, and a recreational stop at an underground shapeshifter complex known as the Interspecies Pleasure Club. Drukr had earned the privilege, and there'd been no evidence to suggest an ensuing problem.

While investigating the source of the laser beam attack by a competing merchant space race, as she discovered, Kesza had pinpointed their Earth base. When she'd used the ship's sensors to sweep the mountain cavity, suddenly Drukr's emergency ping registered. Yet as swiftly it disappeared.

Using her feminine coyote wiles, Kesza infiltrated the competitor's base. She'd accessed their surveillance system. Drukr had been there alright, but as a quick in-and-out intruder. Most likely he'd been looking for evidence. But why?

Once she made her escape from the mountain base, Kesza tracked Drukr through infrequent 'pings', and the various Mexican cuisine establishments he favored on Earth. Finally, after months, she'd lost track of him when he'd rented a car, and began a road trip through the Four Corners region.

Why he was on the run, Kesza hadn't found a scat-scent of a clue... if he was on the run. Often, she wondered if he'd decided not to be found. Although, her usually reliable sixth sense suggested otherwise.

Just two weeks before she'd nearly caught up with him at the car rental agency, Kesza had caught the barest whiff of his scent on a restaurant's barstool. Fear permeated the molecules.

Now... here she was lost in the middle of the desert, and lost on Earth, since her own emergency locator had 'somehow' been deactivated. To top it off, whoever the enemy was, they'd also disabled the Jeep she'd rented, zapping the hood with a manufactured lightning strike.

She'd shot away like Drukr from his craft, and run for miles as coyote. Then, there'd been the confrontation with a desert coyote pack. When the males had shown signs of accepting her, the hostile females attacked.

Not wanting to waste what remained of her energy fighting them off, Kesza outraced them, only to leap from a striking rattlesnake and slam her side into a huge cactus.
While her healing had been rapid, that had depleted her further.

Several days in search of civilization had cost her dearly. When a few skinny mice crossed her path, she'd snapped them up, hungry beyond belief.

Sighting a highway, albeit with no visible traffic, Kesza had numbly slowly padded toward it. Until the abandoned mattress. The oasis called to her, an irresistible force since she'd rarely slept -- then only curled up on the hard desert floor.

Weary down to every last bone she owned, Kesza began to drift off into a much needed snooze. Desperation, the fact that she was an easy target, kept her on the edge of consciousness -- kept her awake enough to hear the cautious approach of another coyote.

She opened one eye...

TO BE CONTINUED... since I've run out of time and energy... yeah, too many unexpected interruptions today.

~~~~~~


Wishing you love and passion on the wild side ~ 

Savanna 

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance

Our Space Chariot Awaits

Tuesday howls and yowls, shapeshifter lovers.

Gosh, I've been lost in the doldrums today, as in lacking energy. The high humidity doesn't help. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this little fantasy-fun flash scene.
~~~~~~

Our Space Chariot Awaits

"My kingdom for a real man." Khaidan leaned on the windowsill of her favorite window gazing up at the star-filled night sky. "Maybe that should be, my queendom for a real man."

Once again the desperate urge plagued her. Over the long years, she'd tried various self-help methods but hadn't been successful in ridding herself of this sharp terrible longing. No, the emotional pain seemed to own her soul.

Yeah, likely it would always own her soul. Khaidan sighed, then leaned farther out the open window, having removed the screen when first moving into the place. The view had been more important than dealing with the insect population.

With her heart on permanent ache, Khaidan swept her gaze over the familiar constellations, and wondered if she'd also catch sight of a UFO. Oh yeah, she'd seen a few obvious 'unknowns' zigzagging across the sky. Then there were the stationary, Christmas-tree light objects that formed arrows, as if pointing to something.

Nothing tonight. Only the gorgeous array of stars. "I can't even wish on the first star," Khaidan murmured, while desperately wishing her painful desire would simply cease to exist. "Poof, go away," she ordered in a whisper that sounded pathetic to her ears.

Despite being exhausted earlier, Khaidan hadn't been able to sleep worth a damn. Now she felt wired in a strange way, as if she stood on an invisible precipice.

To amuse herself, she made up, "Starlight, star bright, all the stars I see tonight. I wish I may I wish might have this wish I wish tonight." A real man. A planet full of real men. Anything...

A howl split the night air, the sound eerie, with a force that tingled through her veins. Nervously, Khaidan threaded her fingers through her loose hair, then shook her head. Supernatural, she thought.

Okay, coyotes roamed the rural area, and she was used to hearing their howls and hunting yips. But this...

Another howl. Larger than life, with a power that caused her to outright tremble. Khaidan stepped back from the window. Brawny arms wrapped around her.

Stunned, fear racing through her, Khaidan froze. Her mind blanked. Yet she felt a male body that could only be described as hunky in the extreme. Whoever he was, whatever his foul intentions, he held her like a lover.

When her thoughts kicked back in, Khaidan envisioned a dozen different ways to save herself -- the scenes flashing rapidly. Yet, even with adrenalin quickening her heart beat, her body didn't respond, staying perfectly still.

"I have found you," a sinfully smoky voice poured into her ear. And before she knew it, Khaidan was whirled around.

She stared into fathomless dark eyes with glints of starlight, at a face that looked both primal and aristocratic. Her tongue refused to untie itself, but the question echoed through her head, who are you?

Aware the man continued to hold her in a lover's embrace, Khaidan's arms finally moved, her hands instinctively planting themselves on his chest. No need to ask if he worked out.

"I have searched the galaxy for where you incarnated." Again the smoky irresistible tone.

"Incarnated," Khaidan squeaked out, but huskily. Damn, could his mouth be more kissable?

"A long story. You were kidnapped. Before I could rescue you, your soul escaped."

Khaidan frowned, befuddled to the max. He sure didn't act like a rapist, or her idea of one.

"Your memories will return once..." He paused, studying her with an intensity that made Khaidan want to squirm... but not squirm out of his arms. "The shadow of incarnating in this realm blocks your soul's remembrance."

"Does it now?" she semi-snapped back, some of her spirit returning. "Have a name?"

Khaidan's breath rushed past her lips as his gaze glittered with amusement, as his lips tipped upward into a small smile. "I am known as Zherkol, the Sky Coyote."

Something indefinable tugged at the back of Khaidan's memory, flitting away before she could grab hold. "Sky Coyote?"

"Dreams," he prompted. "Do you recall your recent dreams of a coyote?"

Crystal clear, the images appeared, and Khaidan jerked as the large handsome coyote morphed into a human figure. "You?" she mouthed, disbelieving, thinking somehow she'd fallen asleep, and had to be dreaming. Instead of...

"Me," he announced, his gaze teasing her.

"I don't understand."

"You know you've always adored shapeshifters."

His words certainly rang true, given her raging appetite for shifter romance novels, and for reading nonfiction paranormal books on the subject.

"I am dreaming this, right?" Sure, right, here she was asking a dream character if he was a dream. Yeah, that worked.

"You've always been my dream woman," he intoned flirtatiously, even as he rocked her in his embrace.

"And how did you get here?" Khaidan asked, as if the question mattered to anything in this over-the-top bizarre scenario.

"Wanna take a ride?" Zherkol singsonged in his virile voice. "Our space chariot awaits."

Khaidan opened her mouth to speak, but what did she say? A myriad of emotions charged through her, with total bewilderment at the top of the list. Discovering she stroked his forearms, Khaidan tried, "Where are we going?"

"Not to infinity and beyond," Zherkol drily bantered. "Just a hop and a cloud-skip away to a place called Talbot's Peak, Montana."

"That's over... well, a long way from here." Khaiden spun inside, dizzy with what happened... or didn't... or...

"It's a haven for shapeshifters. If you like the place we'll settle there. That is, once we get to know each other again." The confidence in Zherkol's tone couldn't be missed.

Khaidan found herself running her hands up his beautifully muscled arms covered in some kind of mystery fabric that reminded her of silk and suede combined. "Just pack up and move?"

"Why not? The space chariot makes a good, is it 'moving van'? when needed." Zherkol swept his hands over her back, and Khaidan nearly moaned. "Can I entice you into dining with me? The selection of establishment's is most excellent."

"Not a thing to wear," Khaidan spoke her first thought, her hands wandering over his chest.

"Easily solved, Khaidan."

"Hey, I didn't tell you my name."

Before she knew it, Zherkol hauled her upward and handily tossed her over his big broad shoulder. Pivoting in the small room, he strode for the back door of Khaidan's farm house.

"A man always knows the name his woman has chosen... once he finds her."

~~~~~~


Wishing you love and passion on the wild side ...

Savanna 

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance

Predators Meet Prey ~ The Rabbit Trickster

Almost Full Moon Howls and Yowls, shapeshifter lovers.

Oh, what a discombobulating past week, and it looks like there will be no let up this week. Suffice it to say, I have several authorly projects on the proverbial burners. Burning away... and my hot little fingers are tapping away on the keyboard.

Anyhoo, and Halloween seasonal boos, here’s a costume party you might like to attend. I know I would.
~~~~~~

Predators Meet Prey ~ The Rabbit Trickster

Standing before her bedroom’s full length mirror, Karly peered over her shoulder at her large fluffy white bunny tail. She gave her butt a shimmy-shake, appreciating how the realistic puff wiggled invitingly. She also took several long moments to appreciate how her trim athletic figure looked in her version of a Playboy Bunny costume. That is, what she could throw together at the last minute from lingerie shops, and the small costume boutique in Talbot’s Peak proper.

After a wicked little smile at herself, Karly strutted in her black stilettos across the floor and reached for her witch’s black velvet cape. With a flick of her wrists, she swirled it, draping it around her shoulders.

She gave her gently waving, sable-colored hair a toss, freeing it from beneath the cape before she grabbed her evening bag. Being a black coyote shapeshifter, the color was a close match to her coat.

Satisfied her rabbit ears remained secure, Karly grinned, anticipating her trickster prank. After all, every now and then her perverse nature needed to assert itself.

“Predators Meet Prey, Hunters Moon Costume Party, here I come,” she murmured, moving down the winding staircase toward her brother.

Per the party rules, Kevin had made his shifter side obvious with a faux coyote tail and ears. He’d attired himself in the swashbuckling style of a Musketeer, complete with a rapier dangling at his side. To her sisterly eye, his handsomeness couldn’t be, and wouldn’t be denied.

Waiting by the front door of their parents’ well-to-do, newly constructed home, he jerked it open impatiently. “I should never have let you con me into this. You and that fox-sly tongue of yours.” Kevin scowled at her as if she’d just caused him to lose a plump pheasant dinner.

Holding the door, the reluctant gentleman, he growled, “We’re going to be late. Late as in I don’t want Reba shaking her fluffy tail for any other predator.”

“Oh, get a grip, cavalier stud. We won’t be late. Not with the way you drive. Lead foot and all.” Karly passed beneath his arm, smirking a smile up at him -- some combo of sibling irritation and her deep fondness for him.

With a soft snarl, Kevin followed her to his low-slung, expensive sports car, parked nearby on their circular drive. “Just remember, we don’t know each other.”

“Oh, don’t get your butt fur in a matted wad,” Karly sang, once she gripped the passenger side handle. “We don’t look like each other, and we’re new in town.”

***

Having politely fended off several men who wanted a piece of her bunny tail -- two wolves, a fox and a damn fine mountain lion -- Karly took a sip of her Flirtini. Keenly aware she had several, hard-panting admirers, Karly rolled her hips as she sauntered toward the spacious dance floor.

True, when she’d first arrived at the Pleasure Club, Dante, the werewolf obviously in charge, despite his low-key presence, had given her the once over as if he suspected she wasn’t playing by the rules. His intense gaze had raked her but good, and Karly held her breath for several moments. However, after a quick upturn of his lips, he’d looked away, attending to another matter.

So far, her little trickster game had been highly amusing, in a twisted, predator-mind bending way. Also, it’d proven entertaining to note the different approaches, the different come-ons predators used when flirting with the prey shapeshifters they wanted to jump, hump and bippity-bop bump to the lusty heights of orgasmic pleasure.

And, if it was one thing Karly enjoyed, it was learning for the sake of learning itself. Simply because it suited her, she taught online college courses -- Animals in Myth and Legend.

On the far side of the dance floor, an excellent samba ensemble played both recognizable tunes and their original music. The quality surprised her, given Karly hadn’t expected this level of sophistication in the backwater Montana town.

All about survival these days, her parents had decided on making the move to Talbot’s Peak while they could easily do so. Karly hadn’t protested too vigorously, given she realized a change was needed in her life. And, here it was.

And, yes, there it was. Twins by the nearly identical look of the two coyote shifters, who were costumed as Native American Skinwalkers. Holy damn, the two bronze-skinned, gorgeously sculpted men with shoulder-length dark hair, eyed her like a hunting prize.

Karly continued across the room at a leisurely pace. When they locked their gazes on her, both of them, she moved in their general direction, swaying in time to the samba music.

Only... why couldn’t she scent them? Karly had masked her own canine smell. Before she could think of how to sniff them, they suddenly darted toward her, striding powerfully, silently.

Karly froze in her tracks, an unusual reaction for her.

***

Dirk angled around the woman shapeshifter he and his brother had decided belonged to them for the rest of the evening, and long into the night. With her sleek, yet luscious curves displayed to perfection by her Playboy Bunny costume... her long shapely legs begging for their caresses... her onion-round ass their loins ached to feel as they took turns mounting her... her pert breasts shaped for their hands and the roaming pleasure of their lips...

Deke roved his gaze over the woman’s refined lovely face first... then he stared at the shining beauty of her dark, red-burnished hair. Her wary gaze, the golden yellow glow deep within her black-as-midnight eyes gave her away now. His shaman senses hadn’t lied, despite the fact that he and Dirk hadn’t been able to determine her species scent.

She was coyote. Coyote shifting woman.

Stepping toward her, Deke took her drink and set it to the side. He captured strands of her hair, letting the heavy silkiness slip through his fingers. “Beautiful trickster, you are caught.”

“You are caught,” Dirk echoed, as he gently trapped her against his body from behind.

“Caught?” she burst out breathlessly, then made a move to escape them.

Deke pressed himself against her, halting her steps. He watched as his brother stroked his hands down her arms, and held her lightly. Feather-soft, Deke slid the back of his finger beneath her chin. “What’s your name, coyote woman?”

“Rabbit,” she accused instead. “You two are rabbits.”

“Hare, actually.” Dirk teased his nose down a strand of her hair until his lips brushed the rim of her ear. Her breath jerked inward, and her eyelids fell shut in pleasure. “Even though, we are called jackrabbits,” he rasped into the shell of her delicate human ear.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Deke cautioned in a joking tone. He touched his fingertip to the center of her full lips.

Her gaze flew to his, vulnerable yet wild and fierce with warning. “Why not?”

“For us, deception is often a matter of survival.” Dirk cupped her shoulders, and caressed.

“Why is that?” she snapped with coyote haughtiness, even as her body became molten against Deke.

Dirk pressed closer, and she gasped a tiny whimper.

“Shamans have many enemies in these times,” Deke answered. Threading his fingers in her hair, he tenderly slipped his thumbpads along her lovely, lovely cheekbones.

“As your kind does,” Dirk added. “Dance with me, coyote woman.”

“Skinwalkers,” she murmured only for their hearing, even as she moved to turn toward Dirk.

Deke watched her, felt her flow into his brother’s embrace. Already her hips undulated to the Samba’s sensual beat. “You are caught. Tell us your name,” he gently ruled.

“I don’t know your names,” she protested, her voice husky with her rising heat. “Rabbits,” she uttered. “Hares,” she corrected herself. “I am caught by Jackrabbits. It should be the other way around.”

“Didn’t you know?” Dirk crooned to her, as his hands swept over his hips, then her sweet-riding ass. “Rabbits, Hares are the original tricksters.”

“So, it was decreed by the Goddess many, many moons ago.” Deke lightly gripped her thighs, and stroked upward. His palms claimed the full swell of her ass before he tugged her fake tail. Briefly.

Like the sassy woman coyote she was, their captured trickster shook her rabbit tail for him. Deke rumbled a carnal growl.

“Karly,” she announced in a queen bitch’s tone. “My name is Karly.”
~~~~~~

Have a Magickal Shapeshifting Full Moon Day!

Savanna

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

Shapeshifting Coyote in a Flying Saucer

Tuesday greeting yowls and howls, shapeshifter lovers. Yes, it’s occurred. Mindblock... roadblock... a blank screen before my mind’s eye... what now for today's post?

Yeah, sure, there are lots of animal shapeshifters parading through my head, taking over my thoughts temporarily... horse, of course... giraffe, buffalo... lion, dragon, a space-faring shapeshifter... oh, did you know there is a legendary wereshark in Hawaii, who likes to make friends on land as a human, and then he invites the friend to go swimming... guess who doesn’t come back?

Yeah, lots of tempting possibilities... but... nothing is claw-grabbing my writerly imagination... yet.

I am penning on my latest WIP, so, at least, it’s not writer’s block. Thank the sacred muse.

Okay, there is this. What did I discover on my cement walkway, not twelve feet from the door yesterday... most likely, it was coyote poo... somehow, it felt like a little message of some kind? Given Ms. or Mr. Coyote could very easily have poo-pooed in a spot not seen, given the size of the yard, and the surrounding tame prairie... well, what does the Trickster want?

Her or his own shapeshifter story? After all, it’s not likely Maggie, the gossip columnist, is the only coyote shifter in Talbot’s Peak... although... ???

Then, come to think of it, there are UFO sightings by the boatload these days. UFOs over Chinese airports. Over a Norway airport recently. Over the Chicago O’Hare airport. UFOs are everywhere in Mexico, and heck, they get in the way of the landing airplanes.
~~~~~~

What Does the Trickster Want?

Drukr almost yawned. He hated these reconnaissance assignments. It was either accept them, or be prepared never to set foot on the planet they currently investigated. That’s what he lived for, the on sight investigations.

He wanted to run the terrain, not merely holo-map it. He wanted to mingle with the life forms where he could, not merely observe them through the scope.

His skill as a pilot, served him well, and also did not. If the saucer malfunctioned, he was the man for the job. Otherwise, the metal brain, as he called it, controlled everything. Star scat, he was only along for the ride, the days’ long ride.

So far, the wilderness night life entertained him enough, right now. Earth, and this Montana state, possessed it’s natural charms. However, several minutes ago the abundance of animals suddenly vanished. Drukr searched for the cause, and could discover no predator, or human hunters. That’s when his bored yawn had begun.

“What the furball unholy...?!” he barked.

Jerking forward, he adjusted the scope quickly. Monstrous wolves with red-gleaming eyes chased what appeared to be a female of their kind. A bitch alright, by the readings. Not only that, she was in the middle of her cycle.

“Good luck, and happy mating, sweetheart,” Drukr whispered, though he owned no clue what the breeding habits of her kind precisely were.

What he viewed next, shocked the asteroid scat out of him. The underground complex itself wasn’t so surprising, it was the occupants and what they were engaging in. Sex acts a contortionist could be proud of. A couple of orgies that rivaled those on Orion moon proper. Shapeshifting couples, paired with their own kind, rolled and mated with lusty abandon. While other shifters, extraterrestrials included, consorted with species who would normally have been dinner.

One couple riveted his gaze because Drukr knew the rabbit shapeshifter from the Saturn casino they both frequented while on leave. Blade Runner. Damn, he could hump and bump his little fox vixen. All she could do was yip and moan with pleasure.

“Get your freak on,” he whispered the Earth phrase he’d heard on some oldie goldie music station. “A boa constrictor and a wolf.” After watching for several moments, he added, “Two thumbs up, fellas.”

A faint golden halo caught his eye, and he re-aimed the scope. Yet, it couldn’t be. There was only one immortal race with that radiant signature.

Taking command of the saucer, he maneuvered closer to the lavishly furnished suite where a man and a woman kissed, their mouths fused so strongly he knew they weren’t any of the Earth shapeshifter breeds he’d studied for this assignment. Passionately entwined, consumed by their fierce feelings for each other, they rolled together with a lover’s frenzy.

“What a trophy coup,” Drukr muttered. In the next instant he wondered how the wormhole hell he could warn the Syxxrion wolf shifter there was a bounty out on his kind. The Attsuq fleet was already midway through the solar system.

As a canine shifter himself, he felt the ferocious need to warn the Syxxrion. Certainly, the intergalactic wolf shifters would return the favor, as they had in the past. The question was how. His saucer wasn’t designed for landing and taking off again.

Pondering, he stared at the woman, still trapped by his disbelief. He took a moment to make certain his readings backed him up. The naked woman’s extreme beauty would have held him in thrall, except for the fact that she belonged to an ancient race believed to have abandoned Earth once the Egyptian empire had fallen.

The enormity of his proof smacked him right between his bronze-colored eyes. He highly doubted the feline goddess was the only one of her kind remaining on Earth. Somehow, the immortals, who possessed incredible supernatural abilities, had concealed themselves from the galactic prying eyes of the Capturers.

Right off the top of his head, Drukr counted three enslaving races who would offer a fortune for the knowledge he now possessed. Part of his coyote nature yipped to take advantage, and make a killing in platinum coin.

He ignored it. His real advantage lay in warning the super-advanced wolf and his feline goddess. Surely, his native cunning could be counted on. Rarely, had he failed whenever he’d set his mind on a goal of this importance.

Drukr knew how to trick the saucer into hovering for a time. How to cover his tracks long enough, once he leaped out... but, how the howling-hell did he get close enough to communicate shifter man to shifter man with the Syxxrion?
~~~~~~

HAPPY SPRINGTIME SHAPESHIFTING

Savanna

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~

Hallloween is Near ~ What Scares Your Shifters?

The Trickster ~ http://doublejayvisions.com ~

WHAT SCARES YOUR SHIFTERS?

By Pat Cunningham

With Halloween approaching, the question arises: mere mortals quake at the thought of the supernatural, but what do supernatural beings fear (other than Buffy and the Winchester boys)? Let’s ask …

VAMPIRE – Well, that’s a no-brainer. Sunlight. Crosses, garlic, holy water, even stakes, we can deal with that. You can come back from those. Sunlight, though, that’s pretty final. It’s like that line from Terminator 2: you get caught out after dawn, and anybody not wearing two million sunblock is gonna have a really bad day. We can move around when it’s cloudy, but that’s chancy. If you’re a weatherman, you’d better get the forecast right or we’re coming after you. Well, those of us who are left.

WOLF – Our biggest fear has to be the safety of the pack. Guns, diseases, threats from humans, protecting your mate, challenges from other wolves – we worry constantly. Look at me, I’m shedding just thinking about it. My personal fear is leg traps. My uncle lost a hand in one. When I go to a park or the State Game Lands, I stay on the paths. Better safe than sorry.

CAT – Werewolves, the big bullies. They’re always chasing me. I end up climbing a tree, which is a mistake because I’m afraid of heights and I always get stuck on a branch. One time I was so scared I shifted up there. There I was, stark naked, stuck in a tree and crying my eyes out, all because of some nasty wolf. What? Oh, the fire department got me down. Six companies showed up. They were all so nice about it. And cute. I like firemen.

HORSE – Spurs. Spurs and bits. I don’t go in for pain. Some of us are into the whole S&M scene – saddles, whips, reins, tight cinches – but not me. I don’t ride that trail. I like a rider with a good seat and a firm hand who’ll give me a rubdown afterwards. Now that’s heaven.

JAGUAR – What do we fear? Pah! We are jaguars. We fear nothing. We are kings of the jungle. I will admit to some unease regarding snakes. The way they slither, that legless undulation, it is – creepy? Yes, that is the word. But fear, no. We need fear nothing with these claws. Ah, little gatita, I see you admiring my claws. Come here, come sit beside me. I will drive the big bad wolves away. You like the firemen? Smile, and I will be on fire for you. You make such a lovely purr.

COYOTE – I was dating this girl, another coyote, she knew positions even I never heard of, but anyway, everything was cool until one day she starts using words like “marriage” and “puppies” and telling me I should get a job. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Scariest thing that ever happened to me.

GIRAFFE – Power lines. You can get tangled up in those buggers for days.

So, what are your shifters afraid of? Let’s hear from them.
~~~~~~

COYOTE MOON

Blurb ~

It's that time of the month -- the full moon -- when Willy Alvarez's moods go wonky and her dreams fill up with wolves. A time for hungers she doesn't dare fulfill because they lead to violence. She's resigned herself to a manless life, then Cody Gray arrives.

Cody is cute, funny, charming, and a werecoyote. His nose knows what Willy doesn't: she's half werewolf. He's convinced this repressed half-human she-wolf is his perfect mate. Now he just has to convince her. And quick, because her long-lost pack has learned about her existence, and they've come to town to claim her...
~~~

COYOTE MOON by Pat Cunningham at ~ http://bookstrand.com/product-coyotemoon-14959-330.html ~ Pat’s book has received several top reviews.
~~~~~~

Stupid Things to Think About *for shifter authors*

Pic from ~ http://mordantorange.com/images/comics/misc/werewolf.gif ~

Shapeshifter lovers, Pat Cunningham returns during the dark of the moon with a *what do you do with your natural fur coat?* in today’s cell-phone camera society? When anyone could catch your shift and upload it to mainstream media or put it up on YouTube for all the world to see.

STUPID THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

By Pat Cunningham

In writing paranormals – or SF, or fantasy, or any combination thereof – world-building is essential. What are the rules of your universe, and how do they affect everyday life? There are the usual questions to be answered, like how does the population cope in a world where vampires and werewolves and demons walk the streets, and what to do when you find yourself in love with one, as so often happens in our genre.

Then there’s the really silly stuff, the hey-wait-a-minute questions that tend to hit when you’re bored or it’s late at night or you’re right in the middle of a tense action scene. Yes, I do lie awake at night thinking of these things. Such as:

The police have captured a vampire. The vampire’s not carrying weapons, but he still has his fangs. Would he be considered “armed and dangerous”? Do long, pointy teeth count as a concealed weapon? If he’s caught attacking someone, is that simple assault or assault with a deadly weapon? Plus he’s got that rare but specific medical condition (acute and fatal allergy to sunlight). Is he covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act? If you insist on a daytime trial, or lock him in a cell with a window, are you violating his civil rights? Does he even have rights? Technically he’s dead. The person he used to be is legally deceased. Does he still have to pay taxes? (I wish I could remember the author and the title, but I know someone wrote a sequel to Stephen King’s “’Salem’s Lot,” in which the IRS investigated why an entire town stopped filing their tax returns. Even being undead isn’t enough to get you off the government’s hook.)

Now imagine you’re the poor court-appointed defense attorney assigned to Mr. Fangs, trying to get charges reduced. Let me know how the story turns out.

Do werewolves wear wedding rings? Or watches, or any kind of jewelry? If so, what happens to it when they change form? If a female werewolf wears makeup and shifts, does the makeup stay in her fur? If these are traditional werewolves and only change with the moon, then you’re okay because they can plan ahead. However, I’m seeing a lot more of the shift-at-will variety (I write that kind myself) and these questions aren’t always addressed. Either the wolves need some magic so their clothing appears and disappears depending on their form, or they’ll end up looking pretty silly no matter what shape they’re in.

How do you insult a werewolf? “Bitch” and “son of a bitch” won’t cut it. Those are descriptions, not insults. “Dog” works better because of the servile connotations. Call a were a dog and you’re questioning his wolfhood. Humans are apes, or primates, simians, or anything in the monkey family. A Jane (as in “Tarzan and”) is a female werewolf who runs with human males. It’s the werewolf equivalent of “slut.”
How do vampires, ahem, get it up? Doesn’t that require a heartbeat and a functioning circulatory system? Or maybe they (ahem again) engorge by drinking others’ blood. So there’s your vampire with a massive hard-on and a victim in no shape to help him out. Surely some enterprising madam would catch on and provide facilities for freshly-fed vampires. After all, there’s no chance of the girls getting pregnant or diseased (undead, remember) or even bitten because the john just ate. Just a brief but intense bout of incredible sex, no strings attached. You folks who write erotica, feel free.

While we’re on the subject of the world’s oldest profession, I was watching the History Channel the other night. They had a show about sex in ancient Pompeii, which was rife with brothels, sex shops and prostitution. The top brothel was called the Lupanare, or “House (Den) of the She-Wolves.” I know what I instantly thought of. Anyone else?

There ought to be enough story fodder in there to keep me busy for months. How about you folks? What little everyday bits of trivia exist in your created worlds that could lead to a unique plot? All it takes a little imagination, carefully-applied logic, a bit of boredom and a really twisted mind. And they wonder where writers get their ideas.
~~~~~~

Coyote Moon

Blurb ~

It's that time of the month -- the full moon -- when Willy Alvarez's moods go wonky and her dreams fill up with wolves. A time for hungers she doesn't dare fulfill because they lead to violence. She's resigned herself to a manless life, then Cody Gray arrives.

Cody is cute, funny, charming, and a werecoyote. His nose knows what Willy doesn't: she's half werewolf. He's convinced this repressed half-human she-wolf is his perfect mate. Now he just has to convince her. And quick, because her long-lost pack has learned about her existence, and they've come to town to claim her...

COYOTE MOON by Pat Cunningham at ~ http://bookstrand.com/product-coyotemoon-14959-330.html ~ NOW full-moon rising on Siren-BookStrand’s bestseller list.

Lunar Eclipse, Triple Cross

Yep, it’s Full Moon Tuesday, the full moon is not only a potent force in shapeshifter landia, often ~ but a potent portent for the future. Why is that? It’s a lunar eclipse, the first of three eclipses in a short span of time. The next is a solar eclipse on July 21/22. Then another lunar eclipse arrives on August 6/7. Look out for lots of intense weather happenings, even catastrophic natural disasters.
As an individual, you can use this time to make major changes in your life, the kind of changes that are good for your future. Take advantage wherever you can. Many of the changes are opportunities for greater freedom in your life.
Why Triple Cross? I don’t know the mathematic intricacies of Astrology, or the forecasting fine points. Not at all. However, in perusing a couple of articles on the upcoming three eclipses, the term ‘cross’ was used because of the way the planets align and are relating to each other vibrationally.
For a simplistic analysis, I would say the past is going to show up big time around us. Not only our past on this planet, but those bugaboos which still bug us at an unconscious level.
Yes, it’s time let go of, or resolve those ‘crosses’ we’ve been carrying in our lives. The major opportunity now ~ it’s time to free yourself of these particular burdens and look for the responsibilities that will bring more true freedom into your life, for yourself and all those you love.
~~~~~~

On to the fun stuff! July 7 ~ the Full Moon auspicious release date for... ta-da!

COYOTE MOON by Pat Cunningham ~

You had the sneak preview. Now it’s time for the blurb and excerpt ~

Blurb ~

It's that time of the month -- the full moon -- when Willy Alvarez's moods go wonky and her dreams fill up with wolves. A time for hungers she doesn't dare fulfill because they lead to violence. She's resigned herself to a manless life, then Cody Gray arrives.

Cody is cute, funny, charming, and a werecoyote. His nose knows what Willy doesn't: she's half werewolf. He's convinced this repressed half-human she-wolf is his perfect mate. Now he just has to convince her. And quick, because her long-lost pack has learned about her existence, and they've come to town to claim her...

Excerpt ~

Cody sighed carefully, in and out. She wasn’t really in a state to hear this, but… “Willy, listen up. We’re out of time, so I gotta be blunt. You’re a werewolf.”
She stiffened in his arms. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Definite wolf. Not all the way, though, just half. From what I’m seeing and smelling, I’d say the wolf’s stronger than the human.”
She lifted her head and stared at him. His eyes were inches from hers, and utterly sincere. “You’re serious.”
“‘Fraid so. You almost shifted tonight, that’s what happened to you. The wolf and the ape are all mixed up and your body can’t make up its mind. I’m betting once you switch all the way, everything’ll sort itself out.”
“Switch? You mean, into a wolf?” Good God, this must be loonie night, and here she was stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a naked one. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Wish I could say yes, but you’re showing all the signs. You’re a wolf, and the sooner you own up to that—Hey, where you going?”
“Home.” Willy marched past him, eyes carefully averted, in the direction she figured Coopersburg must lie. The panic had run its course; her brain operated coolly again, all unwanted thoughts and emotions carefully suppressed. Okay, not all, but distance from Cody would take care of that. And maybe by the time she got there, she’d have figured out a way to deal with Beth that didn’t involve homicide. “Werewolf, my ass.”
In the blink of an eye Cody shot ahead of her and planted himself in her path. “I can see you’ve gotten good at this, but you can’t keep running forever. Face facts, darlin’. You’re a wolf, pure and simple, and you better accept it, or what happened tonight’ll happen again. Next time you might kill somebody.”
Like she hadn’t thought of that. Quick, distract herself. She waved her arm at the sky. “Explain why I’m human while a full moon’s out.”
“It only works like that in the movies. We can change whenever we want.”
“‘We’? So you’re a werewolf, too? Well, I guess that explains the lack of clothing.”
“Not wolf. Coyote.”
“Oh? Well, that’s a big difference.” She started walking again.
He got in her way again. She glared at him, seething over the effort it took to keep her gaze locked on his and not let it dip. Her mood swings threatened to swing her in that totally inappropriate direction again. Think of something else. “Okay, I’ll play along. How am I supposed to…switch?”
“First you take your clothes off.”
“That’s what I thought.” She stalked down the hillside. “That’s the sickest pickup line I’ve ever heard.”
She picked the stretch with the fewest rocks and stomped along it. She kept her glare riveted straight ahead, so she wouldn’t have to look at Cody. She could hear him trotting at her side, just out of reach. “Not a line,” he said, “just common sense. You’ll rip your clothes if you try to change in ‘em. Just thinking ahead, is all.”
“Of course,” she said frostily. “And I suppose in order to achieve this `switch’ I have to sleep with you?”
“Well, no. Never heard of it done that way.” His voice lit up. “Might be fun, though.”
“I’m calling the cops when I get home. I’m having you put away.” And maybe herself, right after.
“If that’s what makes you happy. I’m betting it won’t.” He reached for her arm. “For your own good—”
She snapped at him, a move so quick, so instinctive, she had no time to think. Her teeth clicked together just short of his fingers. She followed it up with a snarl that would have backed up a whole pack of wolves. Cody stood his ground and waited her out. The snarl died away when she realized what she’d done. Her color drained off until she was pale as the moon.
“That’s her,” Cody said softly. “The wolf. You don’t let her out, she’ll kill you. Chew you up from the inside.”
“No. I’m not. You’re not. Those things don’t exist.” She would have bolted, but Cody caught hold of her and wouldn’t let go, no matter how much she thrashed and snapped.
“Atta girl,” he encouraged. “Set her loose. I’d rather we didn’t do it like this, but like my daddy always says, any den in a twister.”
Willy ground out a curse and kicked. Her knee fell short of its target. Their legs tangled and they tumbled to the ground. She tried to scramble up, but couldn’t find her footing. Her hands and feet kept sliding all over the carpet of pine needles, and Cody. Like having four legs that refused to cooperate with a brain programmed to deal with only two.
“That’s the spirit, darlin’. Hey, is that hair on your neck?”
She aimed a punch at him, and missed. How dare he make jokes while she—oh crap. While she rolled around on the ground on top of a naked psycho. She shoved away from him and scrabbled back. “Don’t touch me. Don’t come near me.”
“You sure?” His grin infuriated her. “For our breed, this counts as foreplay.”
“You disgusting son of a—”
Coyote. Cody was gone. She blinked and he blurred. The coyote crouched in front of her, forelegs splayed and hindquarters hiked in the air. He waved his tail and yapped at her, an invitation to play.
Willy gulped, hard. I did not just see that.
The coyote lolled his tongue. Cody’s grin on canine jaws. His yellow eyes held Cody’s twinkle. He rocked back on his hindquarters and became Cody again, kneeling before her. “See that? Nothing to it. Now you try.”
I’m not going to scream. Screaming is for sissies.
She fainted instead.
~~~

Purchase at ~ http://bookstrand.com/product-coyotemoon-14959-330.html ~
~~~

Yep, the New Bull in Town will be back... my Serial Flash Fiction, starring Shelley and Darius.
~~~

Shapeshifter lovers, check out CAT NIP. It’s a free read by erotic romance author, Gem Sivad ~ http://gemsivadauthor.blogspot.com ~ and it’s now ready for download!
~~~~~~~

HAVE A WONDERFUL SHAPESHIFTING SUMMER

~ MAY ALL YOUR READING DREAMS COME TRUE ~

Savanna Kougar

~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~

Author of ~

All Shades of Blue Paradise
Red Lioness Tamed
When a Good Angel Falls
Tangerine Carnal Dreams
Murder by Hair Spray in Gardenia, New Atlantis
Black Cat Beauty
Her Insatiable Dark Heroes
Stallion of Ash and Flame ~ coming from Siren-BookStrand
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