Raven Moon (34 page)

Jaeger wiped his bloodied face and in a maddened rage charged toward Rave and her decoys. Two ravens pecked Rave, encouraging her to move. She flapped her wings and scrambled through the snow with her look-a-likes.

He fired, hitting the ground scarce inches from the fleeing ravens, showering them with the explosive snow. The panicked ravens flew, leaving her alone. The ravens continued their relentless mobbing of the men, though many of their brethren lay on the ground dead.

Rave cawed. “
Fly before they kill you all!”

Jaeger whipped out the net and flung it over Rave. He barked, “Shoot as they come near her.”

The sky rained shot birds as his men fired. Rather than frightening them, the ravens became more relentless and fierce in protecting her.

Rave mustered her strength to get out of the net but the more she fought the more tangled she became. “Cawww!”

Jaeger yelled at his men. “Get her!”

Ravens mobbed and the sky continued to rain black feathers.

On her side, Rave made ready to shift. The battle was lost. The sacrifice too much. Instead, she was lifted. Five ravens, including the alpha female dragged her up toward the sky.

Men ran after the airborne-netted bird. One shot at the birds and killed two, causing the net to dip but it managed to stay ten feet above the ground.

Jaeger barked, “Hold your gunfire, damn it!” He mounted a snowmobile in hot pursuit while his men scrambled to follow on foot.

The ravens flew over the frozen lake, their only hope of escaping the snowmobile with their load. They flapped hard, but how long would their talons hold on to the heavy silver studded net and a larger than normal raven?

Rave dropped lower as they struggled to stay above the thin iced shimmering water. Oh, no, if she fell, her weight would crack the ice. She cawed in audible stress.
“Take me back to shore!”

The alpha female clucked, and the heaving ravens veered to the shore. Too late. Exhausted one lost his grip, and then the other. They struggled to hover in the air, but failed, and dropped her.

Rave plunged through the thin-layered ice and into the freezing lake. The frigid water penetrated her feathers and scraped her skin with death’s ugly bite. She held her breath and flapped in a desperate attempt to untangle herself from the heavy netting. The cold shock overtook her. Her only option was to shift and tear the netting with human hands.

She mustered every bit of strength and shifted to human form. The netting remained wrapped around her body but not her legs.
If I can kick off to the surface
… However the shock of her body temperature from normal raven to a human’s body temperature enveloped her in icy cold. She kicked but her legs cramped. Panicked, she gasped for air, breathing in water that seared her lungs with burning pain. She sank deep down to a watery death. The one that her raven foresight had foreseen.

Her heart slowed and a beautiful white light appeared above her. No longer connected to her physical body, her raven soul soared toward its beckoning brilliance. In the distance, Cashel and Beccan glided toward her. Their feathers glistened brilliant blue black. The light shone and the warm thermals soothed her in contrast to the freezing cold that had engulfed her.

So beautiful. She cawed to her companions. Instead of hearing them answer, the heartrending howl of a wolf made her stop in mid-air. Maddox. So sad. Her mate. A tear escaped. Goodbye my beloved.

Chapter 23

Maddox ran at breakneck speed toward the raven’s raucous caws. The scent of Rave’s aroma imbued with Jaeger’s stench maddened him. The savage murderer had his mate.

The notorious Kindred leader drove his snowmobile hard as he chased the ravens that carried a netted raven. Ravenna. Three ravens desperately tried to keep her from dropping but they lost their hold.

Maddox yelped in horror as Rave, tangled in silver mesh netting plunged like a lead weight into the lake’s depths.

The three ravens skimmed above the water, cawing in desperation as they failed to grasp the netting.

Jaeger’s snowmobile skidded to a stop at the edge of the lake. He leapt off and roared in frustration.

Maddox ignored his enemy. He had to save Rave.

The ravens circled where she had gone down. He shifted into his most powerful bipedal werewolf form and raced to the lake. The crack of gunfire from above him did not deter him. He snarled and dove into the icy numbing waters.

Maddox popped to the surface and sniffed, honing in on her exact location. Jaeger fired and a bullet whizzed bloody close. He dove and with powerful strokes reached Rave, who had shifted to human form and floated. Tangled in the net. Dead. No! His claws tore the silver netting from her. The metal didn’t burn his skin, most likely due to the silver antitoxin. Maddox sliced a hole big enough to grab her, and then shot to the surface. He turned her head to face the air but she was blue and her heartbeat had slowed to a death drum.

Amidst gunfire, Maddox swam to the far side of the lakeshore, shielding her from bullets. Nothing mattered but keeping her alive.

Fortunately, help arrived. A bevy of ravens swooped in, relentlessly mobbing Jaeger. He fired back and started his snowmobile.

Maddox dragged Rave out of the water and shifted to human form. Naked and exposed, blood surged through him in panic to save her, heating him from the icy cold. He administered CPR.
Come on, Ravenna. Breathe for me, my love.

He continued breathing life into her as Jaeger careened toward them while the remaining ravens mobbed him.

A raven clawed near his scarred right eye, Jaeger swatted at the winged foe. Losing his grip, he plunged into the snow as his snowmobile spun out of control and crashed against a tree. He held his bleeding brow and crawled to his assault rifle as the ravens savaged him. He rolled on his back and beat them with the rifle. After he hit several, he pulled the trigger and then fired. Ravens crashed to the earth, while others continued their relentless attack.

Maddox shook her. “Breathe!” Six ravens landed and clucked, encouraging her in their language.

Rave gasped and then sputtered out water. Her glance darted behind him. She coughed and wheezed, “Get Jaeger.”

“No, I must get you warm.”

Her teeth chattering, she clucked to the ravens and they surrounded her with their warmth. “Now go!”

Maddox grinned. “Don’t move.” He winked. “You’ll need more CPR once I’m done.” He stood, shifted to natural wolf form and howled.

Rave frowned. “Wait, don’t you want to go bad ass werewolf on him?”

Maddox gave her a big wet tongue lick, turned and charged toward Jaeger. Killing in natural wolf form satisfied his primal cravings for revenge. He ran at full speed toward his target, the weakened leader of the Kindred.

Jaeger stood amongst a black carpet of fallen ravens. Like a bloodied moose that would not last another winter, but with enough fight left in him to still take down a wolf. As if he was some cowboy gunslinger, Jaeger drew two revolvers and shot the white wolf.

Maddox flinched and roared as a silver bullet struck his shoulder. Another bullet sank deep in his chest, and he rolled. He lay still as pain engulfed him.

Jaeger dug out a gleipnir from the fallen snowmobile and sneered. “I still have time to dig out the bullets after I enslave you.” He drew out a dagger and approached.

Maddox attempted to get up but crashed back down. Apparently, the vaccine took time to work. He snarled and looked down at each bullet hole. Each hurt like hell but the holes closed and the pain diminished. He lifted his large wolf head and his fangs snarled a grin.
Time to die asshole.
Still weak, he fumbled up and then collapsed.

A loud familiar caw echoed above him. Bloody hell. Rave. Flying. Not gracefully. Her broken wing, not sufficiently healed. Nonetheless, only six feet above the ground and with herculean effort, she dug her talons into Jaeger’s face.

Jaeger dropped his dagger and gleipnir, and he wretched her off then threw her.

Rave pummeled onto the snow. Spent, she lay on her side, mouth panting and wings spread. Jaeger, his face stained red with blood, approached. She rolled on to her feet but exhausted she folded her good wing, unable to move.

“You will die first, bitch!” He aimed his gun. A raven swooped down and pecked his wrist. He dropped his gun but then reached for his dagger and stabbed at the raven. It retreated and Jaeger, holding his dagger, stomped through shin deep snow toward her.

Maddox mustered his strength, stood and shook his fur. He roared a growl at the man threatening his mate.

Jaeger’s eyes widened. “Fuck!” He raced for his rifle.

The white wolf leapt on Jaeger and slammed him to the ground. Maddox sank his fangs into his throat. Jaeger beat fists into his ribs, then stilled and gurgled out blood. Maddox chomped through his neck and decapitated him. The man who’d murdered Mariah was no more.

Maddox turned to Rave. Back in human form, she was nestled within a cocoon of ravens warming her with their bodies. He ran to her, shifted to human form and knelt at her side. Maddox cradled her in his arms. “You flew.” He took in her perfumed aroma, enhanced by her wet skin.

Rave blinked up at him with her startling beautiful eyes. “Yeah. How crazy was that?”

He smoothed a hand over her sodden hair. “You tell me.”

She shivered in his arms and furrowed her brow. “It was kind of like how a mother lifts a car to pull her child from beneath sort of thing.”

He beamed a smile. “You did it to rescue your mate.”

“Hmm. I suppose I did.” She smiled. “That makes us even in saving each other’s lives.”

“Not that I’m counting but I think I’m still ahead. Rescue from the apes, the errant missile and from drowning.”

“But…”

Maddox quieted her alpha competiveness with a strong drugging kiss. He released her and narrowed his eyes. “I’m not saying I’m unappreciative you saved my arse, but I’m not fond of you risking your neck to do so.”

“Okay, no more score keeping,” she mused.

The hoot of chimpanzombies echoed from the forest, interrupting their reunion.

Rave shivered. “Looks like the Kindred missed their targets, again.”

Maddox nodded. “Time to go badass werewolf.” He transformed then, lifted her and ran, not giving a damn about the apes. Not until Rave was safe and warm.

****

Rave held on as Maddox ran with the speed of a racehorse toward a plane waiting on the other side of the large lake.
So that’s how he got here so fast.
Above them half a dozen ravens flew as aerial backup. In the distance, screams, chimpanzombie hoots and snowmobile engines tore the air in a cacophony of noise.

He reached the plane, set her down then shifted. Naked in the snow but not showing any signs of freezing, he held her face between his large hands and kissed her. His rock hard muscular body radiated heat, warming her shivering skin. She melted. Together. But not alone. He broke their kiss as the chubby pilot stepped down from the plane.

On seeing the large naked man embracing her, he quickly looked away. “Dude, put on some clothes before you freeze your ass off!”

She gaped. Never had she heard an out of shape human boss an alpha werewolf. She smiled. Yay! An ally against bully werewolves.

Maddox reddened, but he didn’t rip his throat out, instead he remained cordial. “Dennis, you met Princess Ravenna?”

She scoffed. “No titles, just Rave, and yes we met. In fact, we had a dinner date.” He blushed and Rave winked. “Although I don’t think eating together while being held prisoner counts, does it?” His parka had barbecue potato chip flakes, reminding her how famished she was.

He nodded, and lowered his chin. “Honestly, I had no choice.”

Rave narrowed her eyes at him and then at Maddox. “We all have choices.”

“Indeed.” Maddox smiled. “Let’s get you inside and into dry clothes.”

Dennis took off his parka and handed it to her.

“Thanks.” She draped it over her shoulders and turned to Maddox. “You packed me a bag?”

“No, but there are jumpsuits inside.”

“You mean coveralls?”

“How about a mishmash of clothes?” he snarked.

Dennis glanced toward the forest and the incoming sound of trouble of apish proportions. “Let’s get out of here before those creatures get us.”

Maddox turned to Rave. “Do you know how many got out?”

“I killed one but two others got out.”

“So two are still locked up?”

“No. Jaeger only brought three. Barker Creed took the other two but who knows where?”

Maddox growled and went partial werewolf, his ears furred, fangs out and claws ready to shred. “Bloody hell.”

She blew on her chilled hands. “I’ll dress and we can kill them before they spread the infection.”

“No. You get warm.” He kissed her. “I can handle two mad apes.”

Dennis waved her over. “I’ll heat some coffee for you.”

Rave sighed and gave Maddox a hard look. “Okay, but don’t think this is a macho, my mate stays safe in her den thing.”

He grinned, bore his curved fangs and gave her a claws up sign. “Werewolf’s honor.”

She leapt on him and kissed him. Satisfied with his pledge, she slipped down. “Don’t get yourself killed or I’ll show you raven rage.”

“Thanks to your cure, I won’t.”

Rave cawed to the ravens.
“Six of you, fly with my mate and alert me if he runs into trouble.”
They agreed. “My friends will keep an eye out for you. If you run into trouble, they’ll let me know.”

Maddox winked. “I welcome the company.” He shifted and ran toward the hoots, gunshots, and screaming men.

Rave and Dennis got back into the plane. He walked to the back amongst a trash of candy wrappers, empty bags of chips and soda cans. She noticed her satchel and looked inside. She sighed, relieved. The vial of silver antidote and the camcorder were still there. With any luck she’d soon report to Dirk and Dora on their successes and failures.

Dennis grabbed a bag of clothes. “Not sure about coveralls but you can have your pick.”

Rave unlaced her boots and threw them off. “Socks, too I hope.”