She lowered a bandana from her nose. “After seeing baked zombies, I don’t think I’ll ever sleep.”
“I hear you.” He took his foot off the brake and drove on. Alongside the road, a huge billboard displayed, Proceed To Closest Evacuation Center And Follow National Guard To The Isolation Facility. Food, Immunizations And Shelter Will Be Provided. A FEMA worker drawn on the billboard, leading a smiling mother and child inside a stadium, filled with nurses and clean beds. The signs that once said food and gas had a post below, Restricted Area. Do Not Enter.
Dirk ignored the warning and pulled into the truck stop. With all her wiggling, he sensed she needed to take a leak. Besides, time to refuel. There were several abandoned cars for siphoning gas. They could also use more water.
He scanned the silent stop. The convenience store’s windows were broken. Probably looters, or zombies charging at the living. The only residents were tumbleweeds. He flared his nostrils. “It’s safe.”
“You don’t smell zombies?”
“Just residual zombie and human scent. Whatever happened here happened at least a month ago.” He remained on full alert. The smell of ash from the burnt road messed with his sense of smell. At least it wasn’t smoke or fire, which would block a werewolf nose, a vulnerability he couldn’t afford.
“I don’t even care if the toilet doesn’t flush. I got to go.”
She dashed to the store and he grabbed her arm. “I’ll join you.” He held her hand and together they walked to the women’s bathroom. He kicked it open.
She snorted. “So much for knocking first.”
“Stay here.” He went in, made sure it was empty and gave her a nod. “Go on.”
“I’ll scream if I get visitors.”
“Don’t need to, Doc, I’ll wait, right here. But feel free to enter my mind if you’re in any danger.”
“Got it.”
Dirk
looked around. No sign of looting. Brown bloodstains on the floor said it all. He followed an especially bad residual scent out the side door. A man or rather what must have been a zombie lay on a bed of weeds. His skull had a gaping hole from a large caliber bullet and his flesh already decomposed, leaving a dressed mummified skeleton. Probably the owner of the store and when the army came by, he attacked and his miserable zombie life ended.
Dora beamed. “Instant coffee!”
Great, more pit stops. He walked back in. “Grab that and some eats.”
She shoved candy bars in a bag, before moving on to more nutritional foods, like nuts and canned baked beans. “I can’t believe the guys that stole our SUV didn’t raid all the food.”
He grabbed several bags of beef jerky. “They headed in the opposite direction. Besides, there are more empty stores than survivors.”
The reminder of how the Bane had decimated mankind cut through her. Dora shrugged her sorrow palatable. “You’re right.”
He drew her in. “Don’t worry. Humans are not going to get wiped out.”
Especially you, babe
.
She met his eyes. “I don’t know. It looks pretty grim.”
“Trust me, the Consortium will help.”
“How? Our cities are gone and by now farmlands have gone wild. Even people in isolated areas cannot hold on against the global
zombiedemic
. Where will the Consortium be safe?”
“In the beginning, many cities were well organized and followed FEMA protocol. Lucky for us, this included National Parks and Monuments. As I mentioned earlier, Yosemite National Park was cleared in the early weeks of the Bane.”
“What about the ones FEMA evacuated? You don’t think these people are safe somewhere?”
He shook his head. “Raven and hawk shifters flew over military bases and football stadiums where people were brought in. The Bane took them all.”
Dora knelt to the ground and sobbed. “No, I can’t believe it. No, not everyone. All those people looking for help? Gone?”
Oh fuck, Dora, don’t cry
. He’d sensed her despair riding her subconscious but hadn’t expected her sudden breakdown. She acted so tough. Unbeatable. But she finally melted over what happened to her kind. He understood her grief. Last time he cried was when his uncle told Sierra and him that their parents and brothers were massacred in a volley of silver bullets and then their house set ablaze.
He knelt by her side and held her as she cried buckets of tears. She felt so fragile in his arms, like a delicate sparrow. She reminded him of the first time he held tiny Fang as a trembling nervous puppy. His need to protect and yes, cherish her. The clouds above as if in response to her sorrow darkened as night descended. “Shh, don’t cry, Dora. I promise, we’ll find Josh and Melanie.”
She shuddered and sniffed. “Really?”
He kissed her hair and scooped her up. “Time to find you that cup of hot coffee.”
And me, a shot of whisky.
He set her on the cashier’s chair and shut the door.
Dora grabbed tissue from a box and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry for falling apart.”
Dirk looked out the window, fighting his realization that she meant more to him than he thought possible. He turned. Her red eyes, flushed face and blubbering made her even more irresistible. He stepped beside her, grabbed another tissue and handed it to her. “Don’t be. I’m surprised that this entire time, you’ve been so brave.”
She took the tissue, blew her nose and quivered like a nervous filly. She took a big breath and slowly exhaled. “I feel better.”
“Good, it’ll be night soon, best we hunker down here for the night.” He grabbed the bags. “I’ll pack these in our trunk.”
She looked up at him from tear-stricken eyes. “But we need to find Josh and Mel.”
“Zombies mindlessly hunt at night. It’s best we travel by day. Our first priority is to make sure we survive long enough to find them.” Might as well give her some hope. “This exotic cat sanctuary where they’re hiding is isolated, right?”
She sniffed. “Very. Marti, the lady that owns the place, made sure the private sanctuary was far from neighborhoods and trespasser-proof. Even the marijuana growers avoid the area. The cats are not man-eaters, but the growers don’t know that.”
“Zombies are too clumsy. They can’t walk through thick forests without announcing their presence. Any predator that heard their creepy gait and smelled their stench would make mincemeat out of them.”
“Josh agreed and that’s why he wanted me to join him ASAP. That was my intention before I was bitten and placed in isolation. They didn’t give me the courtesy of one phone call.”
“Contacting him would have been impossible anyway. Everyone overloaded the mobile phone networks.”
“Just when we got so used to doing everything over the phone…” She frowned. “How safe is your pack compound?”
He helped her up. “Very. It’s isolated and the road is blocked and guarded. However, Talon will soon relocate the pack and move with other shifters of the Consortium.” He opened a bottle of water and handed it to her. “Drink. I’m going to refuel.”
She shifted the bag of food on to her shoulder. “I’m coming with.”
Dirk siphoned gas, while Dora dropped the food and water into the motorcycle’s good-sized trunk. Everything set for the next day, they returned inside and gathered flashlights and matches.
Dora scanned the store. “Where are we supposed to sleep?”
He walked to the back of the store, grabbed travel pillows and throw blankets. “I’ll make sure we’re comfortable.”
She joined him in the aisle and turned to the wine section, in particular, the more expensive wines on the top shelf. “I could sure use a glass of wine,” she said.
He lifted a brow. “Don’t get drunk. You might just decide to fly out of here.”
“Hmm. FUI. Flying under the influence,” she quipped.
He laughed and then raised a serious brow. “I think I figured out why you couldn’t fly last night.”
“Why?”
“Every place you’ve flown or levitated had a ceiling. In fact the ceiling was the only thing stopping you from floating away.”
“Yes, it must be a failsafe against flying into the stratosphere. Maybe that’s why witches flew on broomsticks as some sort of stabilizing mechanism.”
“When we get back to my territory, I’ll see if someone from the raven murder can meet you. Ravens and witches have a long history of cooperation.”
“As long as
murder
isn’t on their mind,” she muttered before returning to the task of food gathering. “How about you select dinner while I choose the wine?” Dora opened a cabernet and poured the wine into coffee cups.
Dirk didn’t bother with the long rotten refrigerated foods and scanned the rows of cans. “Beef stew looks good.”
They ate under candlelight and opened a second bottle of wine, more for tasting than finishing the entire bottle. He listened to her amusing list of rules to survive the zombie apocalypse. It felt fucking good to be light-headed.
Dora raised her cup. “New rule, never moon a werewolf.”
He laughed. “My rule, cute women doctors can always moon a werewolf.”
She giggled. “I’ll pass that on to my colleagues.”
He loved the sound of her inebriated giggling. This was Dora before the Bane.
They stepped outside and viewed the starry night. The earlier unbearable heat was replaced by the desert’s contrasting nighttime cold. The desert came to life with nocturnal creatures and a lone coyote howled, reminding them of the desert’s wild solitude. The moans of the zombie swarms so common on former highways replaced by the peaceful chirping of insects.
She sat on the stairs and he joined her. “It looks like we’re in a planetarium show, doesn’t it?”
“I’ve never been to one, but I imagine our sky is even brighter without the manmade projector.”
“Absolutely.” She gasped. “Look, a shooting star!”
Dirk followed the streak of light. “Go on, Doc. Make a wish.”
“I wish I’ll soon be reunited with Josh and Mel.”
“Let’s hope your
witchy
wish powers work. We still have a sea of zombies to push through.”
She sipped her wine and moved closer. “Dirk?”
The warmth of her thigh brushed against his and he swallowed. “Yes?”
“Thanks, and I mean for everything.”
He gave her a wolfish smile. “You mean the kiss.”
She laughed. “Quit flirting. I meant being the lean mean zombie killing machine.”
“Oh.” His voice feigned disappointment. The scent of her hormones screamed for intimacy but he picked up on her emotions. She wasn’t ready to let her guard down. Maybe that was a good thing, since to take her would complicate things. Yet, the feel of her body pressed against his during the long hours on the road and her sweet chatter completed him. She belonged to him. Damn. She’d grown on him as Fang had. Was it too late to stop his compulsion to take her as a mate? An action that would cause repercussions with the Hounds of God Benandanti packs. To hell with them. His pack never mixed with their kind anyway. There was no advantage in having a treaty with them. Who knows, maybe they had already broken their truce on account it included ravens and other shifters.
“Okay, receptive wolf. Yes, I have to admit the kiss, as wrong as it was, rocked my world.”
Dora shivered and he draped an arm about her shoulders. She laid her head on his chest and a satisfying burst of joy mixed with hard lust coursed through his core. He lightly kissed her forehead. “Good. For a second there I thought I was losing my touch.”
“I’m happy to provide you with practice before you meet the future Mrs. Werewolf Gunderson.”
He stiffened then nervously chuckled. At least somebody had some common sense. “Practice makes perfect.” They sat in silence, though tempted to practice. Yet, he was comforted, sitting in the desert night and just holding Dora in his arms. Still, his cock craved for her wet warmth. If he followed his instinct, his wolf would spring loose and mark her as his mate. Already, his fangs ached to emerge. To claim. No other woman had thus far tempted him to give her the mating bite. Marla, the beta, had tried and failed. Sierra warned him, Marla was determined and wouldn’t give up. His only hope was she’d return to her home and find a suitable mate. He erased her from his mind as he listened to Dora’s soft breathing. Was he confusing their isolation in the face of danger as a sign she was his?
She finally broke the stillness. “Are you worried Jaeger will find your sister?”
“Not while she’s with our pack. Long ago, the Kindred had attacked packs, but they were torn asunder. Back then, they had hundreds of hunters. Since the Bane, Jaeger will need more recruits, but with zombies ravishing the land, he’d be stupid to come after us.” Knowing Jaeger, he was in hiding. Just like his coward of a father who also disappeared after he brutally murdered his family. He thought of Derrick, who was only six years old, and baby Sander, who his mother still nursed. Little Derrick admired big brother, Dirk, and begged to go with him to Talon’s for the alpha training.
Dora tensed. “What’s wrong?”
Dirk stared hard at his boots. “I could have saved my little brother, Derrick, but I didn’t.”
“How? You were with your uncle, thousands of miles away.”
He decided to confess to his great shame. Only Sierra, his closest and only living sibling, knew his heavy guilt. “Let me explain.” His last conversation with his little brother haunted his memory. The trip could have been so different, if he hadn’t been so selfish. He related to Dora, the long ago details, but in his mind, it was as if it happened yesterday.
“Please, tell Mom and Dad to let me come along. Please. Pleassse!” pleaded Derrick.
“Uncle Talon says only Sierra and I are allowed.” It wasn’t exactly the truth. His uncle hadn’t said one way or the other.
“I promise I won’t get in the way.”
The problem was Derrick always got in the way. He constantly pestered him to play or to tag along with Dirk and his friends. He ruffled Derrick’s blond messy hair as he always did to show he really wasn’t angry with him. “I promise when I return I’ll teach you scent tracking.”