The Lady in the Mist (The Western Werewolf Legend #1)

  Chapter 4

  Fear

  Over the past several minutes, her breathing had weakened to a shallow pant. Her digression into some fit had him all but paralyzed. Unable to decipher if she dreamed or fell into some trance, Ty realized he could do no more than keep her comfortable and wait.

  Minutes seemed like hours. Sonja went from screaming aloud to bouts of complete stillness. Throwing up her hands, she tried to ward off the demons in her dreams. The guttural growls she emitted as she flailed at her attackers almost did Ty in. There seemed nothing he could do. Ty racked his brain for a solution to the trauma she faced. Her eyes darted back and forth as if in search of something or someone. Stilling to the point of not breathing, she became a stone statue there in the bed. Unable to fathom what went on behind her lashes, Ty spoke softly to her, doing his best to coax her back. "Sonja, wake up. Sonja, you've got to wake up now." He shook her again, harder than before but still no response other than her moan. She perspired too much. Ty fetched a cloth soaked in cool well-water from the pitcher on the kitchen counter. Something had to work.

  "She's in a trance, my boy." The voice startled him. Ty whirled around.

  He faced the old woman and growled low and fierce. "Where did you come from?" The hand he raked through his hair was fraught with tension.

  Hortence merely stood in the doorway, her tattered dress topped by her habitual shawl pulled tight against a night chill.

  Frantic, Ty yanked her inside. "Never mind that, she needs help. We were riding back from the creek. She slumped in the saddle." With a quick yank, he drug Hortence over to the bed. "She's been like this for a while now. Can you do something?" The old woman drew close to the bed.

  Raising one of Sonja's eyelids, she nodded. "There is nothing that needs doing, my boy. She dreams." The green agate stone in the ring the old woman wore glowed in the meager light. "Light a lamp. I will sit with her."

  "Sit with her!" At the moment, Tyler Loflin could have cheerfully choked the old hag. He certainly was not worried about being polite. He did not want to admit, the old bird had scared the bejesus out of him, which only added to his distress. She was not going to do anything more for Sonja than 'sit with her'. "You've got to be kidding me. You're a witch, isn't there something you can do for her?" His voice raised an octave. "She could be dying!" He doubted he had ever been more frightened in all his life. The surge of helplessness that washed over him had his knees buckling.

  "Indeed she is, lad." The old woman took a hobbled step and then another toward him. "Sonja sleeps the trance of the change," she told him. "Tonight she will face The Guardian to become one with the universe." Beady eyes pierced him with their intensity. "Tis' the way of things." She glanced back at Sonja on the bed. "Do you know of what I speak?" Her wrinkled face bore a haunting resemblance to his great-grandmother as she asked the question. "Yours is a heritage, which, not only understands the wolf but reveres his power." The old hag waited.

  He realized she made reference to his being half Choctaw. His ancestors taught all young Choctaw to respect the wild creatures of the land, especially the wolf. Ty did not have the patience for her riddles. His patience wore very thin. He could have torn his hair out at that point if the mere act had helped Sonja regain consciousness. "Look, I don't know what you're babbling about, but if you're not going to try saving her, then get the hell out!" The words boomed with the force of his tone. His eyes burned. Had it suddenly grown hot in the tiny room?

  The old woman remained.

  "Did you hear me, I said get out." Ty's lungs hurt, his head hurt, his heart hurt.

  Hortence simply cut him a cool stare before clucking her tongue in her cheek. "Such bravado." She took a step toward him. Cocking a discerning brow, the old woman scanned him up and down. Nodding briefly, she reached out a weathered hand to flick the collar of his cotton shirt. "The Guardian has chosen well." She gave him a craggy smile. "Tonight you will understand. Yours and hers," she inclined her head toward Sonja, "is the way of the lone one. A wolf has but one true partner in life, his mate." Nodding her head in agreement with her own statement, Hortence squinted eye peered at him in earnest. "What you do with the knowledge will determine not only your fate but hers as well." She leaned in and Ty could swear he smelled wild onions. "Choose carefully, my boy. Choose carefully..."

  The wind whipped around him stirring dust and debris. Ty had to fling up an arm to shield his eyes. When the wind died down, the hag was gone. He rushed to the front room, but there was no one there. Striding to the porch, he scanned the small clearing. Nothing stirred, not until a bird called from a nearby tree. If he had been asleep, he would have sworn the visit from the old woman had been a dream, but he had been wide awake. Questions ran through his brain but before Ty could consider answers, Sonja called his name. He wheeled back to the bedroom.

  She sat on the edge of the bed. Reaching up, she pushed past the long curls framing her face and rubbed absently at her eyes.

  Ty halted inside the door to the bedroom. Something akin to joy mixed with enormous relief filled him as he rushed to the bed. His heart beat deliriously in his chest. "You're awake. Oh, thank God, you're awake." He knelt next to her and gripped her hand, his own shaking.

  Sonja stared as if she did not understand. "Of course, I'm awake. Why wouldn't I be?" She glanced about, and her forehead creased. "Why am I sitting on the bed?" Before he could get the answer out, she scanned his face. Reaching out, she laid her palm against his cheek. "You're as white as a ghost, Lieutenant. You have to get back in this bed now." Rising, she pointed to the quilt. "You've had a relapse."

  Ty rose alongside her. Watching her intently, he could not help the joy, which filled him. "The Great One heeded my prayer." His voice shook with relief.

  "What? Have I grown horns of a sudden? Stop goggling and get into this bed. That's an order." She reached out taking him by the arm.

  Ty's muscles reacted in a way he had not expected when instead, he pulled her into his arms. "You scared the holy hell out of me." His voice shook with relief. He cupped her chin as his mouth descended on hers with the procession. When he released her, words came out of nowhere. "The old woman stuck her nose in the door. She said you were in some change." He ran one unsteady hand through his hair. A dry laugh escaped. "She said you were a wolf, and I was as well." Ty shook his head in disbelief. "Imagine that? Then she went on babbling some nonsense about a change you were going through or some such nonsense." He paced away before wheeling and coming back to her. "I couldn't get you to wake up!" His panicked voice broke over the last words. "There was no waking you!" He had let fear ride roughshod over rational thinking as he took her mouth with his.

  Sonja shoved against him, protesting weakly to be free. "Wait?" He continued his attack. Soon she ceased to struggle. Instead, she laced her arms around his neck, her fingers running up through his hair, before fisting in the strands. The kiss shifted before turning ardent and tender. Ty sensed the need she harbored as she molded her firm breasts to him. Her breath came out in a whisper when he released her mouth. He yearned to be able to cherish the woman he held in his arms. "I'm the enemy as well." Ty hated to admit the truth aloud, but he had to put all his cards on the table.

  She sniffed rubbing a hand under her nose. "Why? Because you're a Rebel soldier or a half-breed?"

  "Most places I go, the sentiment is the same." He shook his head. "You deserve better. You have to understand I've been alone for a long time, and the pain doesn't concern me anymore. But you have your whole life ahead of you. You deserve better than the existence you'd have with me." He gathered her closer until he could feel her blood beneath her skin. "You have no idea how badly I want you. It's as if a piece of me dies each time I look at you and know I can't be the man for you."

  "Why do you say I have my whole life ahead of me? You don't know me, Ty. I'm not the beautiful, pri
stine woman you take me for."

  His hands ached to reach out sinking his fingers into her long mane. She had used his given name for the first time. His soul ached for her as he stood there in her bedroom with the air fairly burning around them. He had found his mate. All the years of loneliness ebbed away. The pain of being an outcast dissolved in her hold. The desire to know this woman intimately spiraled out of control. Shoved at the confines of reality, he hacked out a small piece of bliss right there in her arms.

  Burying his head in the curls at her neck, Ty gave in to the need to put his hunger into words. "Christ, Sonja. Never say you aren't perfect, lovely and all the things a woman should be. You're wonderful." He leaned back to look in her tawny eyes. The heat in them could melt all his troubles away, Ty mused. Tapping a fist on his chest, he furrowed his brow. "I'm to blame, I can't help myself. I shouldn't even be asking this, but I want you so bad. Let me lie with you, if only for the night." Ty grazed her nape with his teeth, the sensation running through him. She tasted of honeysuckle.

  Sonja reached up running her fingers into the length of his hair. The soft moan pouring from her lips felt like bourbon's heat sliding down his throat. He wanted to taste her because she tasted sweeter than any confection he had ever known. He wanted desperately to hold her because she was the world, his world, and he wanted to love because he could not help himself.

  Her voice went soft and throaty. "Lie with me." Her tawny eyes had turned the color of warm liquor over rocks. She traced the edge of his face with her fingertip. Lie with me and leave the world with all its pain behind for just a little while. Together we can make it go away." Letting her fingertips glide through the hair on his forehead, she waited.

  Ty's mouth opened to object out of sheer instinct. But the old hag's words surfaced in his head once more and in cadence with his desire, the witch said, "Choose carefully, my boy. Choose carefully."

  Thankful for quick reflexes, Ty's reasoning shifted, and he lowered his head, capturing her mouth to taste the sweetness only this woman processed. The flavor of her was intoxicating, and Ty forced the words of the old woman and the danger of his decision to the back of his mind as he ran his tongue along her teeth. A purely primal groan left his throat as Ty sank into the fire.

  Sonja urgent response had him molding her body to his. In a fevered rush, Ty worked at the intricate buttons of her dress. She in turn showered his face with kisses all the while murmuring low inane words in his ear as she ran her hands under his shirt and up the hard expanse of his chest. Her fingers ignited tiny flames of lust. The need grew with each taste of her. Her scent swam in his senses, all sultry, all woman. He let go with the force of her passion letting her lead the way with her nails, her tongue, her teeth, which nipped at his shoulder, his neck, his lips.

  When he ran his hands down her the length of her bare back, he was sure satin could not compare to the feel of her. Ty closed his eyes on the feeling of her exquisite flesh under his hand. "Are you a dream?" he murmured close to her ear.

  "No, Lieutenant, no dream. I'm flesh and blood born to love you and be loved by you."

  Moments passed. In the fog of his own need, Ty missed the fact that she struggled with her clothing. "Help me, Ty."

  Caught off guard, Ty raised his head to note how she fought with the last of her buttons on the dress she wore. She looked damned beautiful standing there in the dim light of the room fighting with something as small and intricate as buttons. The feeling swamped him as he reached out stilling her hands. Her breasts strained against the thin cotton of her slip. Two perfectly damp circles appeared on her slip that matched the imprint of his mouth on her nipples. His shaft flinched in response to the sight. Needing to taste, he went down again to the deep cleft between her breasts. Sonja cried out in frustration. Sure that she would become angry, maybe even lose the mood, he stilled her fingers.

  "Here," he deftly undid the rest of her dress before undoing his pants to step free. The scar along his thigh, still tender, stretched taught. He had a moment's hesitation wondering how his stamina would react to such a wound. Maybe because of the fact there had been so much time since he had been with a woman, he doubted his control. Ty swore low as his shaft jumped when she touched him. Blood surged through his body like a fire through dry tender. He dropped his head back and reveled in the sensation. "Ah, Sonja." No woman had ever made him feel like she did.

  Sonja's hands awakened nerve endings with their soft caress. Her tentative hands gliding down his abdominal muscles to the band of taught flesh above the crisp hair surrounding his shaft almost undid him. Her expression filled with anticipation as she touched his heat, and he throbbed in her fist. With the warm glow of passion in her eyes, Sonja took his hand in her own before leading him to the bed.

  Ty followed her silently to the edge of the bed before running his hands down the length of her back to where the dress hung precariously from her hips. With one push, he sent the homespun dress falling to the floor in a pool of cotton and aged lace. Taking his big hands, he molded her to him, skin against skin, and heat against heat. She fit perfectly, the hard plains of his body sinking into the soft flesh of hers. His fingers traced the lines of her delicate, womanly shape before seeking out her mound, where the soft curls covered her sensuous region. Her pubic hair resembled cornflowers, all gold and gentled twisted by the wind. She let out a moan that left her lips parted in a seductive circle. She burned with the need for him. He planned to fill that need very soon, but first he had a duty. She whispered his name and the sound of it on her tongue undulated over him like a warm breath. Hovering over her, he allowed his hand to explore the tender folds of her erotic flesh. The woman in his arms moved in slow, silky thrusts with his touch. Her need built to a fevered pitch. The wet and eager woman pressed his cock into her mound. She called to him.

  "Tyler, please?" Taking his hands in hers, she laid them over her breasts. He massaged the tender flesh, using his thumb to bring her nipple to an exquisite point of attention. With her head limp on his shoulder, he sucked the precious mound until she gasped tightening her hold as her hips moved in time with his mouth. Sonja leaned back on the bed. With one slender hand, she reached for him. "Now!"

  Ty scooped her up before depositing her under him in one smooth move. Their eyes met as he ran his fingers down the length of her body from neck to thigh. No woman had ever stirred him like Sonja. The sound she made deep within told him she had embraced the primal side of her being. Rich and ripe, her invitation begged him to follow. With a low growl at the pulse in her neck, he fell atop her. His shaft, hard and impatient to claim her as his own, jerked with the need roaring inside him. She picked up his rhythm immediately dancing to the notes he played. With his hips between her legs, Ty never took his eyes off her as he rubbed against her most sensitive spot. He waited, and her eyes came open searching for the reason he had not penetrated her yet. "Yes, love, I'm here, and I want you to keep your eyes on me. I want you to know you're mine. No one will ever separate us. Understand?" Her voice, hoarse with desire and impatient with craving peered into his face. Her passion-filled eyes spoke louder than words as he drove himself into her, plunging deep and feeling her fist around him. She bowed with the sensation. "Yes, Ty, oh yes!"

  Driven by some inner privation, Ty sank deeper into the heat as the nymph turned sorceress writhed under him. Her moans gave way to growls as ancient as their mating. The hunger for the pleasure grew in them both as wave after wave of the storm bombarded them. Urged on by the craving, Sonja dug her nails into his back. Ty tasted blood in his mouth as teeth bit and tongues searched for sucker. His world spiraled upward, further and further to a fever pitch, the likes of which he had never experienced. The pain became a sweet pleasure while ache became longing as this woman matched his lusty thrusts with a furor of her own until their appetite brought them to the pinnacle of the storm. His world exploded into thousands of tiny ligh
ts as she screamed his name to the four winds. Then he spilled his seed into her.