Apocalyptic Moon (After the Bane) (15 page)

“Talon has a lot of good years left in him but uhh…that leaves me as the strongest alpha of our pack.”

She flicked her rich brown silk hair back and spoke in his mind.
“You’re destined to be the alpha leader?”

He stiffened and pointed to his head. “Hey, if you don’t mind, not…you know communicating in my mind?” He’d also picked up on her relief that he didn’t wear a wedding ring. She had been ready to ask if rings were traditional in werewolf society, before he stopped further inquiry. The sensitive subject was out of bounds.

Her cheeks matched the filtered reddish hue of the rocks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for telepathy to happen. It just kind of slipped in.” She nibbled her lower lip, completely unaware that the sexy move caused a supercharged dose of testosterone to course through him.

He mustered every bit of strength to rein in his wolf before he took her in his arms and ravished her. Instead, he gave her a sheepish smile. He didn’t need telepathy to know her true feelings toward him. Her dilated pupils, quickened pulse, and her unconscious finger-stroking of her throat and neck tempted him to bite and claim her. The scent of her sweet wetness confirmed her sexual desire for him.

She batted those long eyelashes of hers and again with the lips, which she quickly curled into a smile that almost took him to the edge of having a fully awake adult wet dream. “I promise, no more tuning in.”

He nodded keeping his tone neutral. “We’ll keep telepathic communication only in case of trouble.” He winked. “It’ll be our secret weapon.”

Dora reached for a water bottle. Dirk turned away and stared at the distant bighorn sheep. The last thing he needed to see, were her lips wrapped around a bottle. Listening to her smooth gulps didn’t help either. She grabbed another bottle from the case and handed it to him. “Here. Drink. It’s important to stay hydrated.”

“Thanks. It looks like there are about fifty bottles but if we come across a store, we should restock.” He removed the lid and drank to satisfy his thirst and extinguish the lusting fire threatening to burn through him. He smacked his lips and opened a ridiculously small ration of marble cake.

Dora poked at her meal. “I guess it’s up to you to find an alpha mate and do your pack proud.”

He blushed and scoffed, “Not the marrying type.”

“I see. We have that in common.” She grabbed a tissue and slowly rose. “I need to use the ladies’ room.”

He helped her up. “I’ll take you.”

“Sorry, but some things I don’t care to share.”

“Me, look? Trust me, babe.” He pointed near the car. “Behind that boulder.” He swept her into his arms and their eyes locked. Her lips parted. His heart thumped. No, he couldn’t. He had a responsibility to the pack. An alpha must mate with a werewolf. Duty demanded it. Keeping a witch in their pack was one thing, but taking her as a mate would risk a pack war. At the very least, break the fucking treaty with the Benandanti.

“Dirk, my bladder is bursting.”

“Sorry.” He dashed toward the boulder, set her down and turned his back.

“Umm, can you step away? Non-listening distance.”

As if he could turn off his werewolf hearing. At least the air was free of the zombie stench. “Okay, but watch out for rattlesnakes and scorpions.” He walked to the car, grabbed a garbage bag and cleaned up. No reason to litter, apocalypse or not.

****

Dora walked toward the car but Dirk met her halfway. She raised her hand to stop him from lifting her. As much as she wanted to be held in his rock hard arms, she needed to focus on getting to California and finding Josh and Mel. “Honestly, my knee feels better.”

He furrowed his handsome brow with that protective worried look. The look that made her heart melt with desire. To jump into her romance novel and ride off with the hunk, Dirk the hot werewolf. “Are you sure? I don’t mind. You’re light as a feather.”

“The bandage is enough. I’m a doctor, remember.” She held back her, “Damn it I’m a doctor,” wisecrack.

He threw her a doubtful glance. “Isn’t it true doctors make the worse patients?”

She frowned. “It should be: doctors have the worst patience. We need to leave.”

He laughed. “Good idea.”

“We should stay on the road by day and rest by night.” Encountering zombies in the day time was a hell of lot creepier than seeing them at night, but not by much.

He flashed a rich smile. “I can guard you, while you sleep.”

She shivered at the thought of him hovering near her while she slept. The images of him ravishing her, she had picked up during her
accidental
telepathy. Most disconcerting. Hot werewolf sex had not been on her to do list, until now. “Don’t you need sleep?”

“I’ll get some shut-eye while you drive.”

“Oh?” Every boyfriend she ever had always insisted he drive. “A man who doesn’t mind a woman driver.” Maybe he was more canine in this respect, wanting to stick his head out and let the breeze hit his wet nose.

“Considering there won’t be much commuter traffic, I think my manhood won’t be tarnished.”

She poked his ribs and he bent with a rush of laugher. Hmm. A werewolf sensitive to tickling, how cute is that? She thought of her family pet dog, Cookie, a poodle mix who had a tickle spot on her belly that made her left leg shake.“Be warned, I’m a fast driver.”

He held his ribs. “Just keep the car on the ground, witchy babe.”

“A flying car. Now there’s a thought.” Yet, self-doubts flooded her mind. Was her ability to fly some weird adrenalin driven reaction that caused her muscles to twitch into action? Like the mother who lifts a car to reach her pinned child?

They reached the car and he handed her the keys. “While you were taking care of your business, marking your territory, I packed. We have three fuel cans. Even so, we’ll need to find a fueling station or even another vehicle to make it to our destination.”

She climbed in the driver’s seat, turned on the ignition and glanced at the GPS display. Like an airplane pilot, she checked out the dashboard. How cool. She scrolled through the screens, checking out the different options. “Nice.” She released the brake and drove.

“Have you ever driven this kind of vehicle?”

The SUV smoothly rode off trail. “I mostly rode my bike to work, but on rainy days I drove my Mini Cooper.”

He quirked a brow. “You drove a toy car, but I have every confidence in you.” He draped an arm over her headrest, making her almost lose focus with the leviathan of a vehicle. Didn’t werewolves, especially hot-looking ones, have any sense of personal space? “If we head west for the next forty miles, we’ll hook up with Route 66.”

She donned the oversized sunglasses she’d found in the glove compartment and focused on reaching the main road. On dirt terrain, it would take about an hour or more.

After getting the hang of driving the boat-sized car, she pried, “So after we find my brother, are you going after Jaeger?”

“Not until we return to my territory. Besides, maybe Maddox will reach Jaeger first.”

“A werewolf buddy?”

He scoffed. “Not even close. He’s the Benandanti’s best hunter of the Kindred. We are unofficially competing on who will kill him first.”

“As long as he stalks Jaeger and not me.” She accelerated at the reminder of the witch hating werewolves, intent on making mincemeat out of her.

His tone was hard. “Once you’re in our territory, they won’t dare hunt you.”

“Maybe it’s best if my family and I not cause trouble for your pack. We can search for other survivors.”

“Don’t worry. Uncle Talon will be more than happy to offer you sanctuary, especially you being a medical doctor.”

She shrugged. “Cool.” She was being a romantic sap, thinking he would beg his uncle to offer her safe sanctuary, not because she was useful but because he was fond of her. Even if it was just for sex. Lustful wolf. She meant nothing more. As it should be. An alpha werewolf needed to mate with a she-werewolf. That’s how it worked. At least with real wolves. She kept her disappointed eyes on the road. “Maybe you should take a nap.”

“Kind of bumpy ride, babe, but I’ll try.” He closed his eyes with a sweet smile as if he were the fox that just raided the chicken coop.

Two hours later, she slowed as she closed the gap to Route 66. The apocalypse grew evident. Cars, tanker trucks, trailers and buses strewn on the road as if a tornado had passed through. Doors left open, windows smashed, tires flat, and a few vehicles burned beyond recognition. Abandoned. Blood painted the roads. Zombie graffiti.

Dirk woke and grabbed the steering wheel. “Stop!”

She slammed on the brakes, creating a whirlwind of dust around their car. “What?”

“I smell them.”

“Where?” She rolled down the window and looked at the nearby terrain as if expecting them to erupt from the dirt.

He handed her binoculars. “Over there on the main road.”

She took off her sunglasses and looked through the binoculars. Zombies. Everywhere. They stood, frozen in place, with lowered heads and dangling arms like ghoulish store mannequins. None sat, although the heat was merciless. “They’re in that weird resting state.”

“Yeah, zombie sun bathing.”

“I can’t believe it.” A yellow lab seeing-eye dog still wore its harness and followed his former blind owner, now a zombie. Though the blind zombie did not hold on to the leash, the dog stood near him. Blood around the dog’s mouth meant it must be eating. The blind zombie must hunt entirely by scent and sound.

“What?”

She handed him back the binoculars. “Look at the dog.”

“This is not the first time I’ve seen dogs hanging around their zombie masters. Most leave but a few either hunt on their own or learn to eat human flesh.”

Dora shivered and her stomach roiled at the thought of Fido eating people. “Some of the lanes are clear. Do you think we can speed through?”

He handed her back the binoculars. “Not a chance. The minute they catch the scent of fresh flesh they’ll mob the car.”

She opened the door to get a better view. He leapt out and stood at her side. Her mind turned clinical. She raised the binoculars. “UV light must keep them from completely decomposing. Maybe vitamin D plays a role.”

“I don’t know about that, they sure smell like they’re rotting to me.”

Without putting down the binoculars, she nodded. “Mansfield said the ones kept in complete darkness seemed to decompose faster, which is the direct opposite of how normal dead material behaves. He’d also noted that normal saprophytes did not consume them as rapidly as non-infected bodies.”

“Sapro what?”

“Decomposing microorganisms. Not even blow flies go near them.”

“Can’t say I blame them.”

She handed him the binoculars. “Looks like we’re not going to get much help from Mother Nature.”

“Our best bet is to napalm them. That’s what the military did on several highways in major cities. That is, after they rescued survivors. Or so they claimed.”

“How, do you guys own airplanes?” She puckered her lips. “Do you think I can get a broom and do a fly over?”

He smiled. “You’re not the only one that flies. Bird shifters can, too.”

“Sure, but they don’t have hands to drop incendiary chemicals over the zombies.”

Dirk sniffed loudly. “Don’t move.” He growled and twisted.

Dora leapt out of her skin and whipped around. Instant relief washed over her. “Just a coyote.”

“Not just a coyote, a shifter.”

“Oh!”

The coyote turned, ran into a den, and then a few minutes later an old weather-beaten Native American stepped out wearing deerskin pants. “Brother Wolf, you and the woman should stay away from Route 66.”

“I am Dirk Gunderson, alpha wolf of the Fenrir Arbor Pack. This is Dr. Dora Adler. We need to find clothes and shoes.”

“I am Yiska Coyote Ears, Dineh Medicine Man. My grandson, Ed, can take you to a small mall we captured a few months ago.” Above them a red-tailed hawk whistled.

“You captured a mall?” Dora asked.

“For the young people. It was built a few years ago near our casino. After we cleaned out the dead walkers, we moved in.”

She raised a brow. “Did your people become infected?”

“We lost most of our human brothers and sisters. We shifters were able to save some human children. A few others from the rez joined us but we only number thirty-eight.”

“You are more than welcome to join our pack out west.”

“No, this is our land. Again.” He opened the back door of their SUV and looked inside. “Nice. Let’s go, before the dead walkers get wind of your scent.”

Chapter 9

They drove up a mesa to a gated fence that led to the Cloud Sky Nugget Casino and Mall. Built in adobe style with a modern twist that included solar panels, the casino blended with the southwest environment. Not a zombie in sight. Good for them, thought Dirk. A loud trumpet cut through the desert air, with the reveille played by the U.S. Calvary during the Indian Wars of the 1800’s. The medicine man waved at the guard and the gate opened. Dora drove in and parked in front of the main building. A young raven-haired woman approached with a Belgian sheepdog.

The coyote man opened the door and turned to them. “Coyote Woman and our dog will sniff the woman for infection. My sense of smell is not what it used to be. Once you’re cleared, you can enter our compound.”

Dora stepped out and nodded. “No problem.”

Dirk’s protective instinct spiked to full alert. He shoved her behind him, and growled at the dog. It whimpered and cowered behind the woman.

Dora entered his mind.
“Dirk, it’s not like the dog is going to bite me.”

“Tune me out, the medicine man knows.”

The woman narrowed her eyes at Dirk and sniffed the air. “The woman is clean.”

The old man raised his brow at Dora. “You’re a witch.”

She gave him a hesitant nod. “How do you know?”

Dirk kept a protective hand on her shoulder. One thing was certain; they must get to Talon’s territory before the Benandanti caught wind of her location. He could take on Theo, however if he came with a pack of two or more, he wouldn’t be able to protect her. Nonetheless, they would eventually locate her with the bloodstone. Each time she used her power of flight the Benandanti Priest, Obadiah, got a reading from the bloodstone. What if Talon refused to grant her sanctuary, knowing it would ruin the treaty to save humans?