***
"You have a right to your privacy, but after last night, I figured you'd understand you can trust me." His eyes bore into hers. The tight set of his jaw told her he was not buying any of it. Sonja stood ramrod straight on the front porch with nothing on but her gown. Both of them stood barefoot and cold in the cool morning air.
Sonja used all her might to hold that gaze. She failed. With a quick shake of her head, she shoved from him, heading for the door to the front room. Annoyance at her own ineptness and the insurmountable pain of losing him had her brewing for a fight. "You assume a lot, Lieutenant." She stared into the fireplace, wishing for a lightning bolt to come down from heaven and strike her dead. Then at least she would not have to hurt him.
"I woke beside you this morning, woman. Don't tell me I assume too much." He yanked her by the arm around to face him. "I lay down beside a white wolf last night, a wolf who could speak to me with her mind. I believe she was you, Sonja!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" She jerked free before stomping to the fire. With her back to him, she tried for calm disbelief by huffing out a breath. She could hear his thoughts, though. The whole damn thing was too much to bear! Closing her eyes, she willed her mind to clear. She needed to think.
"Are you going to stand there and accuse me of imagining the fact that I watched Yankee vampires almost carved you into cutlets last night?" He stepped toward her. "The beast that helped me said we were 'mates.' What did he mean, Sonja? God damn it, look at me!"
He reached out, but she evaded. The need to run came quickly. "Lieutenant, you had a nightmare. That's all it was. Perhaps our time together has made you decide you need to protect me. After all, I told you I wanted you, so you assumed I meant I had feelings for you?" Sonja made sure what little strength she had she forced into sounding surprised. "We're both people who have no one to turn to, and I merely took what you offered. It's as simple as that." Convincing herself she sounded flippant, Sonja gripped the mantel tighter. A heartbreaking silence filled the cottage. She dared not turn around. Why didn't he say something? Anything!
"You're lying."
He could not have hurt her more if he had slapped her across the face. Sonja shut her eyes against the tears, frantically fighting the urge to panic when they began to stream down her face. Yes, perhaps she was a liar, but she could not stop now. "Don't be silly, Lieutenant. You can't believe that last night meant something, can you? I mean really, I thought you were a learned man, not a bumpkin." With a half-laugh, she tried throwing it back in his face. "I enjoyed your company and looked at what you've gone and done. You have conjured up this fanciful tale of rescue and mayhem. Of course, the Yankees are cruel, vicious men, but they are men, Lieutenant." She waved her hand in dismissal before giving him a smirk for good measure. Sonja's enhanced sense of hearing detected molars grinding. The rumbling from somewhere deep and dark followed. Christ in heaven, what had she done? Before she could react, he was snatching her around to face him once more.
The smoldering rage she witnesses in that devastating face made her cringe inwardly. Had she gone too far? His hands on her arms made her cry out. His grip was like steel. "If you want me to leave I will, but you're gonna have to do better than that, Sonja. How about the truth?" His breath, hot with fury, swept across her lips. His features blurred. He still had her by the arms, but the hold shifted with static. The sensation of needles puncturing her flesh made her tug at his grip. His voice grew deeper and more of a vibration than a man's voice. She could not help gasping at the change before tugging harder.
"Let go of me!" Stumbling when he complied, Sonja fell against the wall. Pain shot up her arm. Looking down at the bruising already forming, she realized he had shoved her. The rocker beside the hearth flew across the room. He had not touched it, yet the wood splintered against the far wall. The sound echoed in the room. Glaring at the lieutenant, she forced her legs to hold her. "How dare you?"
Hell's own fury reflected in his eyes. They grew black and cold. His bronze skin took on a silvery gray. In a shimmer, he changed. "Tell me the truth!"
"I want you out of here now. Did you hear me? I said I want you to get out. No one shoves me." Her chest heaved as the adrenaline pumped through her. The creature was not listening to her. She yelped when he pushed the chair at the table, and it skidded against the doorway. "What's wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?"
Ty, or the creature, emitted a low rumbling growl before snarled at her. His teeth had grown longer it seemed. She must be hallucinating because he looked horrid. Ill, mad, or both he lunged toward her. She darted out of his reach as he landed in front of her. When he ran fingernails across his chest, blood ran from the claw marks. He glared at her, his chest heaving before throwing back his head and howling at the rafters in the small room. Sonja imagined her heart stopping at that moment. He turned to glare at her. Cold blue orbs stared from the face of a steel gray wolf standing on his back legs. Dark, drawn skin stretched across long, protruding bones and muscles. His neck thickened and pulsed. Hair appeared along his chest and over his nose and chin. She must be in the midst of another nightmare. A scream tore from her throat as she fled, nightgown flapping about her legs.
The Lady in the Mist (The Western Werewolf Legend #1) Page 24
