Excerpt from Evander McGaughey

"What are you doing here?" I asked pulling my knees to my chest, shivering in my soaking wet clothes. 

"I'm here to save your life, as always, wife," Evander replied kneeling down. He snapped his fingers and a small flame erupted from the tips of his fingers. Lighting the wood he'd gathered, he shook his fingers and the flame extinguished. The flames engulfed the wood he'd gathered and lit up the cave. The wood crackled as the fire demolished it. He added more sticks. 

"You going to stay over there and die from the cold?" he asked as he began to take off his wet clothes. "Yes," I grumbled indignantly, still angry with him. 

"Cora, explain to me why you're mad, please." I rose to my feet. "YOU GAVE ME A TAIL, EVANDER! A FUCKING TAIL!" 

He chuckled. "YOU THINK THIS IS AMUSING?!" I yelled shoving him. He continued to laugh. "To be fair, twasn't I that gave you the tail, twas the potion," he stated.

"A potion that you pressured me to take. You said it would help with my fertility predicament. You said that the woman who gave it to you was genuine!" I shouted. 

"She is genuine. She also said we had to spend the next three nights of the fullmoon making love in a tub of goatsmilk and honey, but we've yet to do that and I don't see any of that here in this cave. Maybe the tail is a temporary symptom that will resolve itself and if not you can cover it with your clothing," he suggested.

"I don't want a damned tail...I don't want to be like...." I caught myself and shut up. He eyes narrowed and he stepped closer to me, his face barely an inch from mine. I gulped. 

"You don't want to be like what? Like me?" he asked. "I didn't mean that," I stated. He stepped away from me, turning his back to me. 

"You could never be like me if you wanted to, Cora. I'm proud of who I am. I'm proud to admit I'm a shapeshifter. So what if I don't ken whether my real form is a horse or a man...it doesn't matter because I acknowledge both sides of myself. Something that you need to learn to do as well. You are a completely different person than who you're trying to be. You try so hard to please your family by acting like an upstanding daughter, but MY WIFE, the woman I married...isn't the Cora you're trying to be. You took this potion because you want children, but I'm beginning to think you want children for the wrong reason. You want them just to please your family, who sees you as an outcast because of your infertility. You want to prove to them that you're worth something, but when will you understand that you will never have to prove your worth to me? You don't have to prove anything to me Cora. I will always want you whether we have children or not. Whether you have a tail or not. I will always love you and if I should be reborn into another life I'd look for you in that life as well." 

I watched as he set his wet shirt down on the ground and sat down on it. I came to sit down beside him. 

"I am sorry for acting like a fool. You're right...part of me did take the potion in hopes that I could prove myself to my parents. The other half wanted me to take it because I want something to love and cherish like my parents never did with me. I want to give all the love I never recieved, never had the chance to give, to my own child. But even if I never have a child, I will always have you Evander. You give me the love I didn't recieve and I give you the love I could never show to anyone before. And that is more than enough for me, even if I'm not sure whether I'm worthy of it or not," I admitted. 

"Stop speaking nonsense and remove your wet garments before you die from cold before I've had a chance to make amends with you." I couldn't help but smile. "As you wish," Evander." I disrobed and he pulled me into his arms, craddling me. His body was warm and comforting. I leaned into him, my back pressed against his chest. 

"You make me feel safe," I murmured softly. "That's because you are. You'll always be safe in my arms," he stated placing a kiss on the top of my head. 

I felt him shift against me. "Ahh, look at this wee little tail. It looks very bonny on you," he admitted touching it. I squealed and squirmed in his arms. 

"Do you think, I wonder, that a horse and a pig can have relations together?" he asked curiously, his lips at my ear. "I don't know, should we find out?" I asked. "Indeed," he replied quickly turning me over and pressing my back into the ground. 

All at once he was over top of me and his lips were crushing mine, kissing me passionately. His hands seemed to be caressing every inch of me at once. 

"I love your kisses," I moaned as he left a trail of kisses from my jaw down my throat and all the way to my navel. "I love giving them," he admitted lowering his head between my legs.

"I just need to make sure everything is still in order down here." He parted me and I gasped. "Seems to be in working order," he murmured flicking his tongue.

I gasped again as he continued to stroke with his tongue and suck at the warm flesh between my legs. 

"Evander," I moaned, feeling my release imminent. He pulled away suddenly and came up over top of me. "I'll not have you finish yet," he murmured pressing his mouth back to mine. 

"I want you now," I moaned against his lips as he situated himself between my thighs. "Then you will have all of me," he groaned thrusting himself inside. He was so big he filled me to the core. 

Flipping me over onto all four, he dug his hands into my hair, pulling on it as he thrust into me from behind. 

"Evander!" I moaned as he pulled me up on my knees. He pulled me to him, my back pressed against his chest. One hand still buried in my hair, he began to caress my breasts with the other. "Is this how you want it?" He asked his lips at my ear. I shivered as he sucked on the skin there. "Yes," I moaned.

"Good. I'm going to finish now," he groaned as his movements became more swift. "I am too!" I cried out in a mixture of pleasure and pain as he dug his teeth into my neck, bitting and sucking on it roughly. 

We collapsed together in a heap. "I love you," he murmured. "I love you too," I replied.

I sat up as the cave was suddenly illuminated with a bright light. "Cora?" Evander asked as a golden light began to spread from my hands up my arms, engulfing me.

He reached out to touch me. As his fingers made contact with the light there was a powerful blast of air and he was thrown across the cave, slamming into the wall. I was thrown across the other side of the cave, my head hitting the ground so hard that I was knocked unconscious.

When I awoke there was silence. The fire had all but burned out, just a few sparks left in the ash. It was almost completely dark, but I could make out Evander's body motionless on the ground.

I stood, stumbled, and almost fell as I became lightheaded. Once I regained my balance I made my way over to him.

He had to have been hit with such an incredible force to render a man with such strength completely unconscious. 

"Evander?" I murmured, shaking him gently. My voice sounded strange. "Evander," I repeated clearing my throat. He began to stir. "Cora?"

"Ughh, what happened? Why do I feel like I've been slammed into a wall?" he asked groaning with effort as he sat up. "Because you have," I replied.

There was silence. "What's wrong with your voice Cora?" he asked. "I don't know," I replied.

Snapping his fingers, flames erupted from his fingertips. Just as quickly as the flames appeared they disappeared, but not before I saw the look in his eyes. 

"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked. "Get dressed, Cora. We must leave now. We have to find that wretched woman who gave me that damned potion. You're turning into a pig. We have to get her to stop it. You're not like me, Cora. You're not a shifter. If you change completely into an animal you will lose your mind and forever remain one. We leave now. Get dressed."