Excerpt from GRYPHON'S HEART

Teema stormed up to her favorite cliff side and plopped down, still muttering under her breath. “Idiot! You don’t confuse logic and emotion. They’re mutually exclusive, you brainless Gryphon!”

She stared down at the handful of catnip she’d snatched up on her way out the cavern entrance. “And even though I’m so angry at you, what do I do? I pick catnip for you anyway. “ She sighed and shook her head. “That’s telling on me, isn’t it? The heart always wins over what the head says.”

She put her chin on her knees and put her face into the wind. “My head says that I should run deep into the forest and submit before Aahz. I’d have the pups I so desperately want before the year was out.” She shuddered in revulsion. “But I don’t love Aahz. I love you, you feather-covered oaf. I want you to cover me and make me submit. Why can’t you just do that, instead of wrapping it all up in ugly bloodlines and cold logic?”

She could imagine it so well; she cast an illusion before her. A magnificently naked Lionel, golden and strong, snatched the miniature Teema onto her toes and kissed her. He ripped the clothes from her body with one stroke of his sharp nails until she wore nothing but a few shreds. Teema, hot and willing, spread her legs, and straddled his erect cock, begging for what he could give with her body.

The illusion Lionel threw her on her back in his nest-bed and dove on top of her, giving Teema no chance to change her mind. She could see the tiny Teema cry out when he entered, not in pain but in ecstasy. Lionel ignored the clawing scratches raking his back while he used her ruthlessly. Both Teemas shuddered with need, longing for release.

Lionel withdrew and flipped the writhing Teema on her stomach to use her as any good werewolf might. He took what was his while the miniature Teema clawed the sheets of his nest to shreds and screeched silently. Her whole body moved with the force of Lionel’s plundering as she fought to remain on her hands and knees. Lionel roared his pleasure without sound and Teema shuddered beneath him, accepting his hot semen deep within her while she cried out with her own ecstasy.

Aching and on the verge of tears, Teema dispelled the illusion.

She heard the thunder of wings, and remained where she was, with her knees tucked under her chin, on the edge of the cliff. Lionel wasn’t about to get an apology out of her, no matter how he blustered and displayed. He’d get the bundle of catnip she held if Teema decided he’d groveled enough.

“I’ve come to apologize and talk with you, Teema,” rumbled a feminine voice with a Gryphonic accent.

Teema looked up into the dinner plate sized eye of Nin-Kaa. “Why do you want to talk to me? Why do you wish to apologize? You weren’t the brainless oaf I turned into an ass.”

Nin-Kaa chuckled in the trilling way of Gryphons. “The brainless oaf is my son, and Kella has explained to us what you found offensive. I’m sorry, my dear, that we seemed heartless. Especially since that bundle of catnip in your hands tells me you do love the brainless oaf. “ Nin-Kaa sat down beside Teema, her one visible eye winking.

Teema looked down at the catnip in her hands. There was no sense hiding it, now. “Yes’m. I do love him,” she sighed. “I’ve been hopelessly in love with him for years. That is why I repeatedly refused to rejoin the Pack. Aahz is a fine Pack Leader, but I’m…” She shrugged. “Uninterested is perhaps the best word.” Teema looked down at the Pack Lands, easily visible from the cliff. It was so dark and peaceful there among the trees. Why wasn’t it home to her?

“Let me see if I understand. You can correct me if I am wrong, no?” Nin-Kaa put her beak into the wind and breathed deeply. “First and foremost, you want the emotion of love, if you can get it. Passion, if you can’t. Correct?”

Teema nodded. “Yes, I do. Mama Kella has taught me love matters most. Moreover, I am a werewolf. At a minimum I expect desire before I lift my tail for a male, but I’d rather get love.” It was so strange to have a conversation on this subject with Nin-Kaa. It was so clinical and orderly; it was as if they discussed not emotions but response patterns in prey animals.

“Ah! That can happen, I think. There is more, than this, no?”

“Lionel wants kittens, doesn’t he?” Teema put her chin back on her knees.

“Cubs, yes, he wants those. I think he is wanting fatherhood very much.” Nin-Kaa turned her head and caressed Teema’s cheek with the tip of her beak. “Your solution is simple. If you are not objecting to cubs and wish to attract Lionel, you must become a Gryphoness. You will have his passion at minimum, possibly his love, and his cubs, if you desire them.”

Teema jumped to her feet still clutching the catnip. “I want him to love me for myself, not a form I can become!”

Nin-Kaa didn’t move, but she -grinned and her eyes gleamed. “Ah, but he is male. He thinks first with his groin. You attract him first, win his lust, and his heart will follow. Why do you think Gryphon males are called cocks, hmm?”