Brance Brenneman is used to harsh conditions -- the eldest son of a stern Amish preacher, Brance was bit by a werecat as a young boy, and managed to keep his secret from his family until he was old enough to leave them and their religion behind. Years later, when the nation is divided by the American Civil War, Brance finds himself enlisted in the Union army. By sheer chance, he meets Caleb Chilson, a Confederate soldier who bears his same shapeshifting burden.<br><br>Together they leave the war behind to forge a new life in the wilderness of Pennsylvania. But trappers near their camp are hunting bobcats, and they don't much care if Brance and Caleb are only in the fur part of the time. Brance finds his peaceful existence shattered, and he has to fight to defend the life -- and the bobcat, the man -- he's come to love.

Beneath a Yankee Sky

For a second,Brance’s finger tightened on the trigger.But the rabbit was gone,and he didn’t want the men in the woods to hear a gunshot and decide to investigate.With a conscious effort to relax,Brance released the trigger,then uncocked the revolver.Sitting up,Caleb pushed past him to glance out into the empty clearing.“What did you see?”


“Breakfast,”Brance answered.He gave Caleb a playful shove back into the depths of the tent before he began to dress.“Might still catch it,too,if you’d get off me already.”


Caleb’s arms snaked around Brance’s waist,holding him down.“Get you off again,you mean.”He licked a tender spot behind Brance’s ear,then caught his earlobe between his teeth in a kittenish nip.“Food is my job.Let me make you breakfast in bed,what do you say?”


Chapter 7