Waking Up Dead (The Western Werewolf Legend #1) Read online

  Waking Up Dead

  (The Western Werewolf Legend # 2)

  By Catherine Wolffe

  Copyright 2013 Catherine Wolffe

  All Rights Reserved

  Discover other titles by Catherine Wolffe at www.catherinewolffe.com.

  Cover design by Ally Thomas

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  Adult Content

  In order to protect minors from viewing inappropriate material, please know that this book may contain language, situations or images inappropriate for children under 18 years of age.

  Other Books by Catherine Wolffe

  Comanche Haven – Free Sample

  Comanche Haven (The Loflin Legacy: # 1)

  The Lady in the Mist (A Werewolf’s Tale) – Free Sample

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

  A Dance in Time (J.T. Leighton, Time Traveler #1)

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 The Yankees

  Chapter 2 Belief

  Chapter 3 For the Sake of Brothers in Arms

  Chapter 4 The Journey Begins

  Chapter 5 Challenges

  Chapter 6 Responsibilities

  Chapter 7 Control

  Chapter 8 Close Quarters

  Chapter 9 The Dead Live

  Chapter 10 Rescue

  Chapter 11 Celebration

  Waking Up Dead

  (The Western Werewolf Legend # 2)

  By Catherine Wolffe

  Chapter 1

  The Yankees

  “You’ll be fine. The old witch, Hortence is with you,” Ty said. The devil may care twinkle danced in his eyes as he searched Sonja’s face. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be careful.” He paused, taking her face in his hands.

  The warm blue of his eyes always mesmerized her.

  “This is something I have to do, Nymph. Do you understand?” He traced the dimple in her cheek.

  She’d nodded. Lying to the man she loved seemed wrong, but how could she tell him of her fears when his own determination was so strong?

  The moon glowed through the window bathing the room in ethereal light. His face lay in shadowy planes on the pillow next to hers. With one strong hand, Ty pulled her close and tugged at the hem of her gown. “I told you I liked you naked when you come to bed. Why do you insist on wearing anything?”

  “It’s cold. I’m cold. Hold me, Ty.” The truth remained that the entire world stopped when he held her. His heart beating inside his chest gave her strength despite her woes.

  “Then let me warm you as I want to do.” With a wicked wolf’s gleam in his eyes, Ty pulled her close fitting her near his arousal. “You do this to me. I can’t help the need that blocks everything else in its path when you’re close to me. Push reality’s concerns out of your mind and let me make love to you, Nymph. Time is short and I would have you spend it on more lusty pursuits than concerning yourself with my leaving.” The low growl in his throat spoke of heat and craving.

  Sonja closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, all male and fervid wolf. The vaguely musty aroma of male passion wrapped around her shutting out all else except the hunger for Ty to fill her and give her what she craved.

  His hands traced her breasts before centering their attention on her rosy peaks. Dropping to suck one nipple into a hard crest of desire, Ty moaned sending a delicious shiver up her spine as her core tightened with each tug of his mouth.

  She arched her hips to meet his, her sex rubbing provocatively against his erection. “Please Ty, make love to me. Now, I want you inside me,” she pleaded. Impatience rippled along her nerve endings and played havoc with her emotions. The battle to remain in control wavered with each assault of his mouth on her flesh. His tongue traveled to her belly making the muscles in her center spasm. No amount of concentration on her part could keep the desire from rising in her. Wrapping her arms around the wide expanse of his shoulders, Sonja gripped his slim hips with her legs drawing him further down between her thighs. Her head fell back on a soft exhale of breath. Ty wasted no time in driving deeper.

  “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. Your desire is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I want to stay right here with you wrapped in your arms and buried deep inside you forever. Don’t ever consider leaving me. I couldn’t take the pain.” His words were a husky threat.

  “Don’t even consider the possibility. I love you, Ty. I’m not going anywhere.” She feathered wet kisses over his face, marking every spot with love. “I never thought I’d find someone like you, especially...”

  “Shhh, don’t speak of it. Just kiss me and let me show you what you mean to me.” With his simple words, he warmed her from the inside out. The stroke of his male pride grew forceful and urgent as he claimed her for his own.

  She’d never felt the kind of bliss she found in his touch. Sonja moved in rhythm with him urging him to forge their bodies into one. Her body was on fire and he held the torch of her desire.

  “Your need shows in your eyes, when you make love. I watch your mind relax and feel your body take over. How can I hold back when you look at me that way, Nymph? Ahhh!” Ty threw his head back as the sensation raced through him.

  Like a Greek god, he rose up and thrust himself once more into her, filling her to the hilt.

  Sonja bowed up and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she rode passion’s completion with her mate.

  ***

  The morning song of the birds, the woods’ sounds as the forest awoke to a new day all disappeared with his embrace. Even the bite of the early spring chill waned and her blood warmed with his touch. He did that and so much more to her and yet, she couldn’t share her fears with him.

  Everything in her world was perfect when she’d awoken a little over an hour before. The light filtering through the leaded glass window of her small bedroom had danced in a jagged pattern across the quilt. She’d lay resting on his shoulder, his warmth enveloping her as he slumbered. Remembering their lovemaking the night before, she shifted to an elbow and watched him sleep. His features always softened with rest and he looked younger, more innocent as he lay with one arm flung out, his face turned toward her. Those long, thick lashes splayed over sun-kissed skin. Heavens, the man was something to look at. All that dark hair mussed with sleep, his chin so strong and those eyes, as blue as the sky, could open at any moment and heat with the slightest touch from her. The memory stirred the slow simmering fire she enjoyed deep in her core whenever her lover was near. She wanted him to stay. The Confederate lieutenant wouldn’t, couldn’t stay. She leaned close and brushed a fingertip across the swell of his cheekbone. His Choctaw blood, so evident in his profile called to her in a primitive way. She whispered a prayer to the gods for his safe return and with her fingers shifted his jaw to face her.

  His eyes fluttered open. The groggy smile he gave her filled her for a moment. Only he could do that to her and she tucked away the sight of him stirring from sleep to her memory for safekeeping. Kissing him softly, she laid her head next to his as she watched him.

  “What time is it?” His voice was thick with the dregs of slumber.

  “Five o’clock.” Unable to ask the ques
tion she wanted to ask, Sonja nuzzled his neck and breathed him in instead. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes, I always sleep well with you beside me, Nymph.” He pushed back and looked into her face. “How are you this morning?”

  Sonja understood the meaning of his question. “Somewhat resolved.”

  Ty’s face broke into a wicked grin. “Perhaps, I can convince you of my plan with more than words, hum?”

  She shoved playfully at his shoulder. “Don’t tease me so, Tyler. This is serious. Something could happen to you, alone, out there.” Sonja didn’t want to spend the last bit of time she had arguing with him so she pulled him close and burrowed into his neck. Giving his collarbone her undivided attention, she smiled when he growled low in his chest and reciprocated with nips along her shoulder and upper arm. He threw his long, lean leg over her thigh drawing her close. His erection strained against her stomach as she moved to meld their bodies together. He wasted no time in clamping his large hand across her ass and urging her to focus on his cock, warm and hard against her stomach.

  Sonja’s thoughts disappeared with the feel of him against her, stiff and wanting her so badly. “My man wants me, I wager. You’re going to miss me when you leave. All the more reason, I should go along.”

  “Shhh. Don’t talk, Nymph, just let me pleasure you.” He rose up and hovered over her for a moment before spreading her legs with his knee. Slipping two fingers into her wet heat, she stroked her slowly at first and then with more force as she went liquid under his touch. “I can never imagine being without you for long. Never worry that I won’t return as soon as possible.” With the vow, he lowered himself to her and slid inside, gliding and filling her completely with his fiery need.

  ***

  Sonja lingered in the kitchen as Ty prepared to depart. After defeating the vampires in a battle to end all others, she and Tyler had made plans to leave Pennsylvania and travel to his father’s place in Texas. Of course, the discovery of his men changed their plans. They’d been taken as prisoners of war in a nearby compound. Sonja had pleaded with him to let her go along. He’d refused. She hated the ever-present worry that crept up between them.

  “One so newly turned needs time to hone his skills,” she told him and cringed with the words.

  “We don’t have the luxury of time.” Ty’s face was a mask of duty and dedication to his fallen comrades.

  Without pausing, he continued by pointing out an obvious responsibility she hadn’t wanted to consider. “One doesn’t desert his friends without at least attempting to save them from the evil in these woods. You of all people should understand, Sonja.”

  His words stung. She fisted her hands together. How dare he remind her of the werewolf he’d become because of her actions. Hadn’t she saved him without consideration of her own discovery that night in the swamp? Of course, she wouldn’t have left him to die in the mist shrouded battlefield that dreadful night anyway, but being reminded of his sacrifice, his becoming a werewolf because she was the one to help him, weighed heavily on her heart.

  Resolute, she laid a hand on his arm and tried for peace. After all, those men were his friends. “Please be careful.” Her words had been simply stated but held such emotion.

  ***

  The cold air of March, 1864 whipped around the corner of the cabin and tugged at Sonja’s long, thin robe. She gritted her teeth not only against the cold but against Ty’s decision.

  “Are we ready to go?” Tyler glanced at Abram Clemons and got a nod in response. The Confederate private who’d appeared on Hortence’s front steps had shared information Ty found useful. With Abram as a scout, they’d leave to seek out a Union prisoner-of-war camp, not far from Spotsylvania where his men were being held.

  Ty turned back to Sonja and gathered her close, nuzzling her ear and whispering, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He held her tight for a moment more before stepping back.

  Immediately, the air chilled and Sonja’s chest constricted for a second. Forcing her face to remain calm, she watched them go. Nothing had prepared her for the empty hole in her chest where her heart had been moments before. She wheeled and raced back inside to the bedroom.

  Wrenching open the armoire, she shoved back the boxes at the base of the massive cabinet. She’d placed Ty’s gun under her most personal of clothing, her camisoles and lingerie, only weeks before. The move was executed with an eye to the future and providing protection in the face of danger. After all, only a fourth night had passed since she’d brought him home to tend. The lieutenant hadn’t regained consciousness yet, and without knowledge of why he’d been in the swamp to begin with, she considered hiding the gun the only prudent thing to do. One never knew when the weapon would be needed or against whom. Guarded toward anyone she didn’t know, the way Sonja had remained alive for the past three years had been by relying on her wits to protect her. She cared little for which side a man’s loyalty lay with – preservation had been her main goal since the death of her husband.

  “I reloaded the revolver with six wooden bullets and put it right here.” Puffs of Sonja’s breath drifted before evaporating in the room. Tapping the bottom of the armoire, she frowned. The fact she’d never had the chance to wear any of the lacey, alluring garments for Tyler after they’d become lovers briefly pricked her womanly conscious. Shoving such nonsense aside in light of the situation, she found frustration bubbling as she gazed deeper into the armoire’s base one more time. “Where is the damn gun?” Growing more vexed by the second, Sonja vowed she would annihilate each Yankee vampire as soon as the bloodsuckers arrived. “Now where was that gun?”

  Ty’s words filtered back through Sonja’s memory as she stood there in front of her armoire staring at the jumbled contents. When she’d asked him why he had to go, he’d gathered her close in the very bedroom where she now stood and offered her his patented grin, which could melt her heart in a snow storm. Now, as she stood going over the words he’d used to placate her, Sonja had to gather her hands together, less she haul off and hit something.

  “Tyler Loflin!” Uttering his name brought her back quickly. The anxious truth was she couldn’t understand why he’d left her at this particular time to search for Rebels held in a prisoner of war camp. She knew the situation was of dire concern to him. He’d been with those men for almost five years. Some ancient wisdom told her he wouldn’t abandon her, yet he had to try and save them. Immediate guilt washed over her. Hortence’s words came to her. “A mortal’s feelings hold little consequence in the overall safety of the world.”

  Reminded of the danger Ty faced, she stamped her foot on the icy floor. A low growl left her lips unbidden. She recognized the signs. Since her attack, her composure frayed easily, her desire for her mate was more primal and her senses had evolved into tools of acute awareness. Receiving the ‘gift’ as Hortence liked to call the change had been both a curse and a miracle.

  Under her feet, the boards of the bedroom vibrated and Sonja sensed the danger headed her way. The Yankees were coming! She closed her eyes, wishing the tremor was something else. In her mind’s eye, horse hoofs pounded the ground in resounding reverberation. Yankee troops on dispatch from Spotsylvania with her old enemy, Perkins in the lead. Her keen sense of hearing, also given to her as part of the gift, picked up the Yankees’ movement, though the dispatch was still miles away. She would face the enemy alone and the knowledge made her heart rise into her throat. You have to gather your wits, woman! There’s no one here to help you now. The sigh she emitted came out in a puff of smoke on the cool morning air. Alone again…

  Sonja’s frown held agitation. Vampires shouldn’t move during the daylight hours, but ironically, a heavy fog had rolled in with the breaking of dawn, making for an overcast sky. Thanks to the fog, if she wanted to challenge her adversary, she too, would be limited to the shadows of the trees. Drawing the bloodsuckers into the deadly light would test her newly honed Wolfen skills. Not a small task for one so recently reborn a werewolf.

 
; Several dozen horses moved, in unison, down the road. In her mind’s eye, Sonja recognized the cut-throat scum – Major Perkins clearly. Two by two they rode, their horses’ hooves striking the hard packed clay of the main road. By all accounts, Perkins intended to intimidate her with their sheer numbers. Having already faced him once and sure she’d ripped the life from him, Sonja was mildly annoyed to find him hale and hardy as he headed her way. The bloody bastard simply wouldn’t die! Arrogant ass, he proved a thorn in her side even now. Perkins needed a stake through the heart as the witch, Hortence, had suggested.

  Futilely, she wished for Ty once more. He would’ve understood Perkins’ plan of attack. Sonja managed a smile as she lifted her chin. Tyler Loflin could hold his own against these bloody bastards. They’d turned into blue-bellied traitors to the Union. Being vampires hadn’t diminished their military tactical skills one iota. No, in fact, they still thirsted for victory in the form of blood. Only, this time, the blood was hers and hers alone. A small reminder of the gift’s power rippled through her. With a frozen smile, Sonja remembered the responsibility she bore as a tingling began to burn along her neck. Tiny hairs bristled as she listened to the hoofs pounding the dirt. The ever-present wolf inside Sonja surged forth. A sneer broke and played out on her lips as she emitted one low growl. Seconds passed before she swiped absently at the beads of perspiration along her temple. A line of perspiration trickled down the valley between her breasts as she fought to control the blood lust rising in her veins. Tamping the call of the wolf down, Sonja willed the beast to calm. She’d gain nothing if she let frustration ride rough shod over common sense. Instead, Sonja breathed deeply and drew strength from the task at hand. Her eyes gleamed gold in the meager light as she caught sight of her reflection in the bedroom’s small mirror. When the wolf was upon her, the surge of anger she battled proved an obstacle instead of an asset. To her favor, the keen vision provided by being a werewolf didn’t miss a thing. Danger rode the morning’s breeze.