Raven Moon (30 page)

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Maddox left the Western clothing store and wore blue jeans, cowboy boots and a white shirt. No Stetson, though there was quite a variety to choose from. Not his style, but he couldn’t very well drive the police car, he’d found, as a seven-foot tall werewolf. Feeling like the marshal in a television series, he sat in the squad car. His heart ached on seeing Rave’s satchel on the passenger seat. For an entire year, he’d avoided Rave like the plague and now, life without her was unimaginable.

Her raven feathers had stopped appearing five miles back. Maddox rolled down the windows and focused on her sweet residual scent. Without turning on the sirens, he sped away, responding to his wolfish 911 call,
save my mate
.

Night had fallen but he switched off the squad car’s headlights as he turned off the road toward a base. Time to rely on wolf night vision. Coyotes howled and the landscape seemed tranquil, the temperature mild. Opposite of his warring emotions regarding his dread for Rave, now at the mercy of the Kindred. His fangs emerged and he emitted a low growl. Rave was close.

Maddox parked behind a garbage dump and got out of the car. He continued on foot and scanned the area. No zombies. Silver trailers glistened under the waning moon and parked outside was the monster truck where he’d last seen Rave. He cocked his head. The whirring sound of generators and lights inside meant he’d found them. Behind the buildings, small planes, one drone and helicopters littered an airstrip. Amongst the aircraft stood the stolen Benandanti helicopter. He inhaled. Rave was inside the back trailer. He let her aroma linger in his nostrils until he caught another whiff. The beta wolf, Nick was inside as well. Prisoner or accomplice? The pilot’s scent indicated he was not under duress. Traitor. His concern for Rave heightened. If anyone could identify Rave as his mate, it would be a fellow werewolf. Knowing they were mates, the Kindred would torture her to draw him out. A strategy that always worked. His inner wolf’s heart thumped, anxious to rip and tear but if he struck without weighing the situation, she’d be killed.

Maddox dashed to a shed next to a single inactive turbine windmill. He undressed, shifted to wolf form and snarled at nearby coyotes. The canines looked at the massive wolf and ran toward the desert. He stalked toward the building, imagining the taste of Nick’s betrayal-laced blood as he ripped deep into his throat. First, he would get answers. Why would a lone Benandanti side with their greatest enemy? His hackles rose. Was Rave spot on about his pack bargaining with the devil?

Two Kindred guards stood in front of the building. If he was shot, likely the bullets were silver. Would he need another dose of the anecdote? And would the wolfsbane in it knock him out again?
I’d be useless to Rave
. Maddox jolted to a stop as the sudden high pitch whine of a helicopter engine booting up pierced his ears. Bloody hell!

As he circled around the trailer, Rave was carried into the helicopter and the door shut. The helicopter rose and veered north. No! The Benandanti helicopter and Rave was inside. Why was she unconscious? Bastard!

She had been right. His pack had cooperated with the Kindred. His wolf’s rage spiked. Rave taken. To be brutalized by his former Benandanti pack. In a maddened rage, Maddox shifted. Tonight, blood would spill. Everyone, except a pilot. Not an easy task in his maddened state. He leashed his wolf.

Maddox stalked the area. Leery of Kindred traps, he scanned for trip wires. None. There were no bloodhounds used to detect his kind. The former base was just another transitory holding area, not wired for animal detection. However, in the front was an infrared camera. He avoided the camera and counted the Kindred. Five men outside and three inside. Jaeger and the rest of his crew were not here, but Anthony Savoy was. Savoy enjoyed wearing the skins of his kills. A she-wolf had bitten off his balls, too bad he survived. In return, he drew great pleasure in torturing werewolf women until they begged for death, and continued until they stopped howling.
Not anymore.

Maddox crept near the backside of the trailer. One guard.

He recognized the smell of seven of the eight men. Except one. A new recruit. He smelled of jet fuel. A pilot?

Chapter 20

Rave blinked. The bright sunlight blinded her and she lowered her gaze.
How long was I out?
She was strapped in and sat bound on the helicopter seat next to Nick. Her ankles and wrists were duct taped. Nearly asphyxiated by the beta goon, she had passed out. Oblivious to boarding the helicopter and the takeoff. Without working wings, her hopes of escape were dashed. The so-called Benandanti Prophet Lazarus would execute her in a most gruesome manner. She shivered at her vision of blood staining the snow. Her blood or theirs? “If I were you, I wouldn’t return to your pack.”

Nick grinned. “And why is that, devil’s whore? I’m not the one who will be eviscerated and then burnt at the stake.”

Okay, no need to share, I get the picture.
Rave frowned. “Eviscerated. I haven’t used that word since I last played ‘Words with Friends’.” In a vision flash, there were no guts, but rather death by drowning. She gasped for air, and took a long breath. Odd. Maybe she was too scared to tune in to her raven foresight, but for the fact that she smelled death on Nick. His blood not hers. Now it was her turn to share. “I had a vision of your blood warming the snow.”

He laughed. “You’re wrong. What you see is my beautiful human female, Sloane warming my bed.”

“I can’t believe your prophet allows mating with human women.”

“She is not my mate but a holy concubine.”

A woman probably captured by tankers and sold to the Benandanti. Hard to believe the Kindred would tolerate the rape of human women. It was one of their edicts that humans should never succumb to the sexual allure of the werewolf. Part of their ‘don’t screw with Eve’ religious creed. “I doubt your concubine had any say about being a sex slave.”

“Sloane loves me more than my mate does.”

“Yeah right.”

He growled. “Nonsense, trickster!” He stared at his helicopter instruments then scowled. “I should just snap your neck.”

“What and rob your leader of the pleasure of killing me?”

He growled. “I could break both your wings, instead.”

Rave glared back.
You are so dead, mutt.

He laughed, tinged with a sinister edge. His glance flicked to her cleavage. “I can see why Maddox did not kill you immediately.”

Rave stared out at the snow-covered forest. “Poor sucker, Maddox thought he was your prophet’s holy ass.”

“With the death of our blaspheming Templar and your capture we’ll celebrate for weeks.”

“What did Templar Maddox do to earn a death sentence?”

He smiled as if imparting a secret. “Besides breaking our most sacred of vows?”

“As in what?”
He couldn’t know we were mates.

“Our prophet gave him the greatest honor by selecting Maddox, our hero, to be second in command. Next in line as alpha. Instead, the fool chose to hunt the Kindred.”

Rave snorted loudly. “You wouldn’t want him threatening your new allies.” Lazarus must have ordered Nick to help the Kindred kill Maddox.
Looks like my to-be-killed list just got longer.

“If he had listened and returned with useful humans and especially young women, he would have been welcomed back. However, my master doubted Maddox would have accepted an alliance with the Kindred.”

Never in their history had the Kindred ever aligned with any werewolf pack. Had the zombie apocalypse changed all the rules? Or had their fear of a powerful witch, Dora and the possibility that she and Dirk could have dragon children made them sign an alliance with the devil? Kind of like Stalin and Hitler’s early pact. In the end, Hitler betrayed Stalin by invading Russia. “Even after the Kindred massacred your pack on Beaver Island, the Benandanti are okay with that?”

“A few dissenters who fought our alliance with the Kindred were dealt with, but the rest of the pack has faith in our prophet’s vision.”

She muttered, “Myopic vision.”

Nick growled. “We must unite with the Kindred to stop the devil worshiping packs from ruling the new world.”

“Hello? The real problem happens to be billions of zombies roaming the earth. Time to give up that old ‘combating the denizens of hell’ bullshit.”

“The witch killed thousands of zombies and half of Pater Valeray’s soldiers with her dark magic.”

“Yep, she’s crazy awesome,” she boasted.
Girlfriend will kick all of your asses.

“If she and Dirk breed, God’s kingdom will be lost forever.”

“Says you.”

He frowned back at her. “Prepare for landing.”

Prepare? I’m already belted and tied up.
She gazed down. Her skin tightened at the sight of a dozen people laying bricks over a tall wall that surrounded a massive property and lodge. Slave labor or devotion?

“Our human devotees are finishing the wall before the snow melts and the zombies thaw out.”

“You mean your human slaves.” She huffed. “You guys are no better than the Vircolac Pack.”

“Tsk, tsk, such animosity. We protect our human flock and they serve us with love.”

Like your concubine sex slave.
Rave rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I bet.”

The helicopter landed behind the lodge on a cleared landing pad.

Two soldiers and a woman dressed in a white wool cloak over a tight white ski pants approached. The woman was breathtaking. Tall and shapely in all the right places. The soldiers, Jaeger’s men wore wolf fur. The ultimate fashion faux pas if the Kindred really had signed an alliance with the Benandanti. Odd welcoming committee. Not one of them a werewolf.

Nick smiled. “It’s Sloane.”

The woman dressed in white with a hood hanging below a short blonde pixie haircut threw him an icy smirk. His concubine did not appear submissive. She met his eyes; her posture straight as if meeting an equal. No, more like a subordinate. Did badass Nick get off on being the bottom? Nick got out, opened Rave’s door and ripped the duct tape from her ankles. He grabbed her and threw her out. She slipped on the snow and fell on her knees.
I should teach you manners after I peck your eyes out.
“Jerk!”

Nick ignored Rave and smiled at Sloane. “Beloved.” She bowed her head in mock submission and approached. He drew her in. “I’m surprised Prophet Lazarus allowed you to come welcome me.” He nodded at the Kindred and then gazed down at her. “I give you permission to speak.”

“Welcome home, master.” Her tone was scathing and the horny beta’s mouth slacked. Hidden beneath her white robe she drew out a silver dagger and stabbed him in the heart. “Now die!”

His eyes widened. “Bitch!” His fangs emerged and he raised a clawed hand but before he struck her, one of the Kindred shot him in the head. He fell and his blood turned the snow a dark cherry color. His eyes clouded blue from the silver poisoning as he stared at nothingness. His former concubine twisted a smile.

Rave lifted her bound hands in a show of solidarity. “You don’t know how happy I am to see you.”

Sloane laughed and turned to one of the men. “Tell Father, the beta dog brought Princess Ravenna.”

Father as in Jaeger or somebody else? He had never had children or had he? Rave sighed. “Oh, good. You know me. King Corax will reward you with as much silver as you can load for saving me.” She pointed her chin toward her tied wrist. “Little help. Ms…?”

“Sloane Jaeger.”

“Your father is Vince Jaeger?”

“Surprised, shifter?”

“I didn’t know he was the family man type.”

“He wasn’t, not until after the Z-phage pandemic.” She grabbed Rave’s arm. “Come, I’ll introduce you.”

“That would be a little over a year ago. Kind of late to be daddy’s little girl, isn’t it?” Not that she was little. Daddy’s Amazon girl was a better description.

“If the packs knew he had a family, I may not be standing here. My parents parted ways before I was born.”

“And how does Mom feel about that?”

Sloane stopped and her gaze focused on nothing in particular. “Her name was Brenda Clery and at age twenty-seven she was murdered by the Benandanti.”

“She was a witch?”

“Yes, no one knew. Father didn’t even know she’d died or even that she had been pregnant. I was six when a wild beast killed her during a camping trip. I was raised in foster homes, but I had a photo of a man named Vince Jaeger that my mom kept in her wallet. His name was also on my birth certificate. When all the shit went down, he searched for us. He searched for my mother only to find out she’d been horribly murdered and years earlier she’d given birth to his daughter. He tracked me down in a Nevada underground bunker and we were reunited.”

“Are you a witch?”

“Apparently not since I’m thirty and I have no special powers.”

Not a surprise since in order to have a witch baby the father must have some recessive shifter DNA. However, in order to be a member of the Kindred, one’s family tree had to be clean of shifter blood. Lucky for her she was only human or the Benandanti would have hunted her. No wonder Sloane was pissed. The Benandanti had executed her witch mother. “Does Jaeger know which witch hunter murdered her?”

“Yes, he found out a few months after our temporary pact with the Holy Hounds of God. While combing through records of witch kills, he found the name Brenda Clery next to her killer, Lazarus.”

Oh, snap. All this time, Jaeger had been planning revenge. “Hey, since I’m not on team Benandanti, can I leave?”

Sloane shot Rave an incredulous look. “We have one more Kindred Hunter to kill, Maddox.”

“Too late. He was shot with silver and died in some small town.”

“Our camera from our Texas base shows otherwise. He’s on his way.”

“Not when he sniffs the dead werewolves.”

She grabbed Rave’s hair and pulled it aside. She laughed. “True, but we have his mate.”

“Are you crazy? He’s a Benandanti. Hello…his pack and my raven clan are blood enemies. Why would we mate?”

Sloane smiled. “The tape the drone filmed made it pretty obvious, although dear old Nick was blind to the fact a devout Templar would mate a raven.”