The Lady in the Mist (The Western Werewolf Legend #1) (18 page)

“She speaks the truth, newborn.”

Frowning, Ty shook his head.  “Why call me that, old woman.  I’m a man full-grown.”

“Not anymore.  You are but a pup in the eyes of time.  Your linage has only begun.”  Watery eyes sought out his understanding.  “Do you comprehend what I speak of, Lieutenant?”

Ty grimaced.  His teeth clinched and un-clinched at the possibility she referred to.  He’d witnessed the wolf change back into Sonja in his own arms in the wee hours before dawn.  Time, reason and logic flew with the tingling and burning he’d experienced as he clutched her close.  The wolf she’d been disappeared and in its place she lay as perfect as he remembered.  Is this the phenomenon Sonja had been trying to explain?  “What now, old woman?”  With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Ty searched the witch’s eyes.

“Find her.  She is your mate for all time.  This is your destiny.  I’ll look out for you both.”  With that, Hortence slumped and expelled a slow release of air.

“No!  Don’t you die on me, you old hag.  Damn you.  Wait, come back.  Auhhh!”  He shook the woman’s shoulders.  Checking for a pulse, Ty realized she lived no more, he threw back his head and howled in utter misery.  He needed answers.  He needed Sonja.

***

Rage, pure and simple had taken over.  His mind was not his own.  What he’d seen was merely somebody’s idea of a cruel joke.  No one turned into a wolf and disappeared into the woods.  Ty struggled with the sight of Sonja transforming into a white wolf before she bounced off into the bushes.  He was hallucinating!  Moving in the direction she’d taken, he shoved at the image of her becoming a four-legged animal.  It had happened so fast.  In the blink of an eye.  Growling low in his chest, Ty attempted to focus instead on finding her before harm came to her like the she-wolf he saved the night before.

Voices bombarded his mind with all sorts of questions, answers and innuendos.  One stood out – Sonja.  “Don’t follow me.  I’ll only cause you pain.”

“No!” he shouted to the wolf as she turned to disappear once again.  Damn it!  Ty charged forward.  Briars close in snagging his flesh.  He kept moving.  The undergrowth bowed over him, tighter still.  He fought to scratch his way through.  With each step, the path grew closer together until he had to use his teeth to tear a hole in the thicket.  Vines all but wrapped around his legs forcing him to reach back, ripping them apart before continuing.  Great holes in the earth appeared beneath the briars. Tripping, he fell into one.  He clawed his way out only seconds before the ground closed shut.  Apparently the forest didn’t want him going after her or so it seemed.  He howled out in pain when one thorn covered briar slithered across his legs deftly binding them to the earth.  He fell head first into the dirt.  Snarling, Ty yanked free and kept going.  His breath came in pants, his mouth parched, and he licked at his lips.  He could still hear the faint sound of the she wolf as she crashed through the bushes up ahead.  Her scent, the scent of a female, permeated the air around him.  With all his strength, Ty rose, untangling the briar from his leg, which now bled from several deep puncture wounds.  He pushed on.

“Halt!  Stop or I’ll shoot.”  The man’s voice held a southern drawl.

Ty obeyed out of sheer desperation.  They couldn’t discover the wolf.  She would have a better chance of escape if he detained them.

Chapter 5

“You’ve traveled a long way, son.”  The general sat behind a desk made from wooden sawhorses hastily constructed for the purpose.  An old plantation door lay atop the sawhorses, serving as a table.

“Yes, sir.”

“Is that blood you’re wearing?  Are you injured, Lieutenant Loflin?”

“No, sir.”  Ty glanced down at the scratches along with several deep punctures left from his war with the briars.  The shackles the Confederates had put him in connected a long chain to cuffs around his hands.  Though still able to walk, he was limited to a hobble by the chain.

“My men reported they could hear you for a mile screaming and ranting like a madman.  One even said he heard a wolf howling.”  General Stewart ran a speculative eye over Ty’s person.  “Do you mind telling me what you were doing out there in the middle of nowhere carrying on at the top of your lungs?”  Without waiting he kept going, “What’s this business about being tied up with vines and briars?  Good God, man, you look like an escapee from a mental hospital.”  Stewart scowled at his lieutenant.

“My apologies, General.  I can’t explain my condition.  He shifted with the pain from his injuries visible for a second on his face.  Soon the wounds would heal.  He should be by himself when that occurred.  Squaring his shoulders more, Ty continued, “I have information regarding the Union Army….of the Union Army’s whereabouts.”  He continued to stand at attention.  Someone had covered his nakedness in a sheet before he appeared before the general.  Thankful for small favors he wished his explanation could be so easily covered.

“At ease, Lieutenant.  Can I get you a brandy?”

“No, but thank you, sir.”  Ty relaxed his stance like General Stewart had asked him to.  He wanted a shot of something so bad, he’d fight for it, but now wasn’t the time.

“Continue, Lieutenant.”

“I have a feeling you already know the reason I’m here.  I don’t expect you to comprehend where I ‘ve been all this time, nor do I expect you to understand why I haven’t contacted you sooner.”  He rested his hands on either side of his hat, the tattered cavalry hat, which was all he had remaining of the striking Confederate uniform encrusted with gold braid and brass buttons from a little less than four years prior.

“You have something to say, son?  Something other than your report, I take it.”  Stewart’s eyes never left Ty’s.

“Yes, sir.  I do.  I’ve come to a conclusion, sir.  I’m not meant for the Army.  If I had my weapon and bars I’d turn them in, sir.”

The general didn’t say anything as he rose to stand to all of his impressive six foot, four inches.  Instead, he walked to the opposite side of his tent and peered out at the men under his command.

Ty’s hearing caught Stewart chewing on his cigar, the steady grind of tobacco between molars.  The general never lit a cigar, preferring instead to ease the tension of command by the simpler act of tasting the juice.  “That’s a punishable decision, Lieutenant.  I’ve never known you to walk away from a fight even if it was a losing one.  May I ask why?”

With abloom he wasn’t sure would hold, Ty spoke up, “I am unable to explain my reason, sir.  It’s not one which can be explained.”

“I find it hard to believe, Lieutenant Loflin.”  The beginning of irritation laced the General’s reply.  “There’s a rational explanation for everything under God’s heavens.”

Without so much as a flinch, Ty shook his head, I disagree, Sir.”  He met the commander’s bland stare head on.  “My reason isn’t of God’s making, sir.”

Hands still secured behind his back, Stewart turned back and stared out of the tent.  “Perhaps you’d better start from the beginning, Lieutenant.  Explain your movements on the night of May 16
^th
, 1863.”  The words were stern.

Ty expected no less.  After all, he’d told his commanding officer he wanted out of the Confederate Army.  The General was nobody’s fool.  The fact the Rebels were losing on every front and before much longer, the Union Army would begin another spring campaign didn’t make for a good enough reason.  His request would viewed as desertion.

Ty gave his report, which contained just the facts.  Leaving out his relationship with Sonja and their conditions, he lied.  He told the general he’d come upon a few well-meaning refugees, who nursed him back to health as they made their escape.  With the rational, it had taken him quite a while to gain his strength and then make his way back, Ty accounted for the time he’d been gone.

Stewart returned to his desk and listened quietly, his hands steepled on the arms of his chair.

A line of cold sweat ran down Ty’s backbone.  The general keen gray eyes never left his face.  Confident, Stewart caught on to the fact that he lied, he was headed to the blockade for sure.  Funny how lies had a way of compounding one on top of another, he mused.

Sure enough, the general called for the guard.  “Find the Lieutenant a tent, Captain.  Stand guard and don’t let him out of your sight.  I have some recognizance reports to go over and then we’ll see about this mess.”  The cock to his brow told Ty, Stewart may have sympathized, but orders couldn’t be ignored.  “I’ll consider your statement, Loflin.  You’ll have my answer in the morning.  Do you have anyone we should contact?”

The words brought momentary hesitation on Ty’s part.  He glanced back at Stewart.  Stewart’s face held a small twinge of regret.  Ty’s heart sank.  He would be court-martialed.  “Yes, sir.”  A moment passed.  “Yes, sir.  Please give my gold chain to the woman who saved my life.  Sonja Brooks of Brooks farm near Spotsylvania.”  He considered his next words carefully.  “Tell her I’m sorry, I know she did her best.”

Stewart nodded and bowed his own head.  “Dismissed.”

Silently, Ty followed the guard to a small tent pitched near the creek.  Obviously, word had made it around he was there because all eyes followed him as he walked after the guard to the temporary housing.

Ty glanced at the moon, which made its way up over the ridge of the north Virginia countryside.  No one could know of his condition and he had to keep the beast under control.  If there were vampires among the soldiers, he would be under attack.  Too much was at stake.  There would be a time and place to execute revenge on those who’d killed his men.

“I’ll be keepin’ my eye on you, all right.  You jest git on down there and git cleaned up.  Here, these are all you’re gonna get, so take em and hurry up with that bath.  You hear?”

Ty didn’t do more than nod as he hobbled down the hill to the creek bank, the cold water trickling over the rocks shimmering in the moonlight.  With the meager clothes the guard gave him, he shed the sheet.  The she wolf had disappeared and Ty had no way of knowing what happened after the stupid vines had literally tied him up right there on the infernal ground.  The beast got away from him and he’d allowed the Confederates to find him, stupid, green behind the ears mistake on his part.  He’d wanted to contact Stewart on his own terms.  He couldn’t blame the general for seeing a traitor when he looked at Ty.

The moon shone brightly.  The guard would keep a close eye on him.  If he planned a move, he’d have to be quick.  One bullet would do him in.  Or would it?  He stood back up and glanced around as if someone had tapped him on the shoulder.  No one lurked in the shadows.  Or did they?

Unsure if he could hold them off, he’d made his last arrangements in the event, he couldn’t withstand the assault.  Stewart sent a man to deliver the medallion to Sonja.  It wasn’t much, but Ty figured Sonja would understand his meaning.  He smiled into the darkness.  Honor being as important as it was to her, he consoled himself with the idea she’d do the right thing by his family.  At least he could count on her loyalty.  Her love being a different matter made him irritable and edgy.  What he would give for a few more minutes with her to explain how sorry he was and how he didn’t blame her for what she had to do to save him would surely use up the last of his luck.  Maggie’s sweet Irish voice came to him.

“Boyo, get your arss up! Do what you must.  The end isn’t over by a long shot.”  Hands on hips and a snort to her laugh, she gave him a good hard glare out of green eyes.

“Yes, ma’am.”  Ty shook his head.  He must be losing his mind, talking to the thin air was one thing, but seeing apparitions was bordering on crazy.

Back at the tent, he rested on the small palette provided, Ty went over the details of his meager plan.  Sonja’s lovely face kept interrupting his musings.  Her being the only really good and decent thing in his whole horrid existence didn’t escape him.  The chance to make a life for them became paramount in his mind, even if they moved from place to place to survive.  He’d make it work.  Pretty sure they would court-martial him he worked it out in his head.  Escaping with her, no matter what proved out in the end.  He couldn’t die without her knowing the truth.  He loved her, so much, he couldn’t return to his old life without her.  Somehow, he vowed, they’d be together.

***