He recalled all of it as he held on tighter to his Sable, his center.
We are one, brother, the hissing voice chanted, filling the dark recesses of his mind. We are one.
It would be a while before he closed his eyes in sleep.
Because something else occurred to him, the thing that made his body quake in fear.
Zultha’s death…? He enjoyed it.
Outtakes
As a bonus from author Stephanie Burke to all her loyal readers, here are a few outtakes. These are scenes that just quite didn’t make the final cut of the story.
Outtake One
First Zultha and Torn bedroom scene, Take one!
Grinning, she stepped forward, allowing one hand to brush his chest as she stared into his purple eyes, reading the hunger that dwelled there.
“I have what you need.”
Then her hands were pulling his loose tunic over his head, her nails scratching at his nipples as she ripped the hapless garment from his body.
“You know what I need?” Torn questioned, a smile in his voice.
Torn was no virgin, untried in the ways of love sport. But he had held his urges back with his mate, first to quell the small warning voice that was always with him and two, to honor her parents. He would show she who would be his mate all due respect.
But apparently, Zultha was more than ready to take this step.
“I know what men like,” she purred, her tongue lashing out to lap at his lips. “I know what men need.”
Taking a step back from her bewildered lover, she smiled an evil smirk, eyes narrowed as she ran her tongue over his lips.
Torn gulped as his eyes widened. Was he going to get…? Yes! She was licking her lips and staring at his crotch! He was getting a BLOW JOB!
Torn sat up, eagerness painted on every feature of his face.
She turned her back to him, but paused to sling her hair around to stare into his face, her eyes glittering though a curtain of silky red.
Oh Boy! He was getting a BLOW JOB!
Then she spun around…and he realized that he wasn’t getting a blow job!
“WHY?” he bellowed to the sky, falling to his knees in anguish! “Why? Creator, why?”
But then he noticed that she was holding something in her hands.
A remote to a strange thing called television and a six-pack of beer! And not just any beer, the imported stuff!
“You do love me!” Torn cried. He then crawled over to her on his knees when he discovered what else she was holding!
Magically she’d managed to produce a porterhouse steak, a pound of western fries, and a programming guide that had the Porn Boy Channel and TTPN, The Tractor Pull Network, all paid for and programmed in the remote.
“You know it baby,” she purred, blinking sweetly down at her man.
“We’ll get hitched tomorrow, right after the three o’clock tractor pull and ‘When Triplets Attack with Dildos’,” he added, already playing with the programming on the remote.
“No rush, dear,” Zultha added as she reached behind her and pulled out a butcher knife.
“You are the greatest!” he almost purred…between bites.
Looking at him, then the size of the knife, she shrugged and tossed it over her shoulder and walked over to the closet to find something better.
“Most women don’t appreciate the finer things.”
“Un-huh,” she purred, bent over and tossing things around.
Finally, she came up with a blowtorch, took one look at the size of the man, then shook her head and that one went over her shoulder too.
“I mean, food and porn,” he gushed.
“Yeah, baby!” she purred. Then stood up with the biggest missile launcher ever to grace that realm. “Take your time.”
She carefully aimed at the man who was torn between tearing into the food as if he hadn’t been fed in ages and gluing his eyes to a wide-screen plasma TV that showed two women licking each others breasts, and reaching for a rather large, um, toy to share. “Take your time!”
Blam!
Outtake Two
Never argue with the author.
“Please Stephanie! Don’t make me do it!”
Hush, Torn. I know what’s best.
“But I’m shy!”
You are not that shy! I saw what you did in that dream last night! And I am your creator, for goodness sakes! I really didn’t need to see that, Torn.
“But you needed to see, to describe my size correctly,” he grumbled, tossing a few locks of hair behind his head. “I had to do it! It was a mercy orgy!”
Yeah, right!
“It was! I bet this is punishment! You are punishing me! I know you are!”
I am not! I could never punish you, Torn! You are my baby! So stop it with the watery, wobbly purple eyes. That crap stopped working after the first time you gave me writer’s block.
“But…”
No buts, Torn! And I am tired of having this argument! Get out there and do what I told you to do!
“But…”
But nothing! Or do I have to call in the secret weapons?
“You don’t mean…”
Yes! I will bring in Ani, and Patti, and Jen wanted you in that thong, and then Liz and Bree wanted to try that tag-team spanking, and then there is Shi and Diane wanted to try that hot wax, and then Sahara wanted to use that new riding crop, and… Torn? Where are you going?
Oh! Now you decide to strip like I told you! Never listen to the author, but when I start bringing in other writers, then we do all sorts of things to cooperate.
“But I’m taking my clothes off now! See? I’m stripping! Down to the undies!”
Noo! Can’t listen to the one who knows what’s best! Bring in a bunch of rabid women with stress to work off and no end to research in sexual torture, and then you fall in line!
“Stephanie? Steph? Flash?”
That does it! Where is a cliff! I feel the need to have you fall off something. Hmm…
“Mama. NOOOOOOO!”
I wonder if a man can survive without having sex for more than half a book?
“For the love of the Creator, no! Please, Stephanie!”
Zultha? I think I should give you special powers!
“Please?”
Sable? How about a yeast infection?
“What did I do? Punish Torn!”
“Sable? Et tu, Brute?”
Stop it! You don’t speak English anyway! Sable, back to the woods where you will be dragged, kicking and screaming. Torn, back to the strip club. Grind and thrust, and grind and thrust.
Damn, he’s good. I think I got a frozen quarter around here somewhere…
Outtake Three
The Cliff Scene
“Sable!” Torn thought, as he dove over the side of the mountain again.
His beloved was all that was on his mind, his beloved and the determination to reach her.
He pulled his wings in tight as he tried to make his decent faster, willed the forces to push his body down with greater speed.
There!
Just ahead, he could make out the flapping cloak and a wild tangle of two kinds of red hair.
It was them!
Sucking his breath in deeper, making his body more streamlined, he urged himself faster and faster, closer and closer.
But he was still too far away and the ground was catching up fast.
He raced, and reached, then… There! He was an arm’s length away. Reaching out, his hands snagged onto a trailing leash…
“Oops.”
Torn watched as he overshot the target by a foot.
Rising to his feet, he looked out at the readers and said…
“Damn. I missed. How did that happen?”
He turned back to look over the edge of the cliff, then at the assorted heroes and shrugged his shoulders. Then again, he looked to the readers, tossing hanks soft wet hair over his shoulder.
“Um, Medic?”
Outtake Four
&nbs
p; “What news?” the mad one asked as she watched her servant scurry into the cavern.
Zultha, her red hair matted to her head and her clothes dirty with days of accumulated grime and filth, was the perfect picture of the Queen of the Insane. Her eyes glittered in her madness, more frightening because of the…
“Wait? What do you mean matted hair? Dirty clothes? What’s wrong with you people? I mean, do you know what I’m worth? I have enough money and power to buy and sell you a million times over, you skinny tart! Dirty hair? Funky clothes? I mean what turnip truck did you fall from? Have you seen this script? And don’t go callin’ any of your friends either! We got nothing but space and opportunity here, woman! Bring it on? You know what? You are not even worth my time! Wardrobe? I need bottled water and I want it like yesterday! And get my agent on the phone! Dirty hair my ass! My hair is insured by Lloyd’s of London! Screw this crap! I’m so outta here!”
With that, Zultha stormed off the set, leaving a cast of bewildered minor actors and cast members…thus ensuring her painful demise in the end.
Note to everyone else, don’t mess with the author! Take notes!
Nodding, the masses comply.
About the author:
Stephanie is married to the most wonderfully maddening Irish Viking ever created and has given birth to two children, affectionately known as The Viking kittens. Stephanie’s main support in her writing career has been her wonderful parents who are always willing to take her spawns, uh, children for a weekend so that she can work, her older sister Teresa, the stuffed chicken, and of course, her Irish Viking, Dennis. Stephanie loves to write paranormal and fantasy characters with a lot of humor, because there is no such thing as enough laughter in the world. She also loves to write erotica, just to shock people, but in her heart she is a romance fanatic…
Stephanie welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at 1337 Commerce Drive, #13, Stow, Ohio 44224.
Also by Stephanie Burke:
Dangerous Heat
Hidden Passions Vol. 1
Hidden Passions Vol. 2
Keeper of the Flame
Lucavarious
Merlin’s Kiss
More Than Skin Deep anthology
Seascape
The Slayer
Things That Go Bump In the Night 3 anthology
Threshold Volume 2 anthology
Wicked Wishes anthology
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
www.ellorascave.com
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