Free Love in the Time of Zombies by Cassandra Gannon

glower at Caleb.  “She wouldn’t have just abandoned me unconscious on
the ground.  Not without even a good-bye.  What did you tell her?”
    “I
didn’t have to tell her anything.  You Changed in front of her, dick for
brains.”  Caleb seemed greatly amused by that.  “From what I understand, you wolfed
out, collapsed, and she dragged you into the ladies’ room.”  He grinned.  “That
story will never not be awesome, by the way.  If we weren’t in the middle of
the zompocalypse, I’d be telling everyone I know.”  Caleb paused.  “Huh, do you
like ‘zompocalypse’ or ‘zombageddon’ better?”
    Zeke
rubbed at his forehead.  When he Changed without the full moon, it messed with
his memory.  He remembered being with Scotlyn in the Wal-Mart and the kiss that
convinced him that --with a tiny bit of encouragement-- the goody-est good girl
in Vegas could be wonderfully bad.  Then, the zombie grabbed her and terror
filled him… and he’d woken up here with Cale.
    Shit!
    Scotlyn
knew he was a shape shifter.  No wonder she’d left.  It wasn’t fucking safe out there, though.  Zeke wrenched open the bathroom door and stalked out into
the destroyed store.  Mangled bodies and debris were everywhere, but there
didn’t seem to be any zombies moving around.  “I take it from the fact you’re
not wearing a mask that the pink shit is gone?”
    “Dissipated
yesterday.  I’m not sure it would infect us, anyway.  Haven’t seen any zombie
shifters, yet.  I’m betting it was just meant for the humans.”
    “How
long was I out?”
    “Thirty-six
hours, give or take.”  Caleb strolled out after him.  “If you’re determined to
waste our time finding your secretary, you’d better put these on.”  He grabbed
pair of sweatpants from a sale rack and tossed them to Zeke.  “No sense in
disappointing the girl before you have to.”
    Zeke
snagged them and slanted his pack-mate a glare.  “Did I invite you along?”  And of course Caleb would pick the ugliest color of neon purple ever
invented.  He yanked the pants on, anyway.  “I cannot believe you.  Scotlyn’s
tiny little human and you let her wander off into a city full of monsters!  If
she gets hurt, I swear to Christ I will kill you myself.”
    “What
was I supposed to do?  I couldn’t watch over your unconscious ass and follow her.  I had to choose.”
    “Well,
you chose fucking wrong .”  Zeke scowled and headed into the shoe
department to shoplift himself a pair of shoes.  “I can take care of myself.  Since
when are we so damn close that you can’t bear to leave my side, huh?”
    Caleb
gave a snort.  “Since you became everyone I know, jerkoff.”
    Zeke
hesitated.  “You really don’t know where the others are?”
    “Nope.” 
The word was flat.
    “Not
even Darcy?”
    “We’ll
find her.”
    “And
the rest of those idiots?”
    Caleb
shrugged.  “We’ll find them, too.  A pack should be together.  That’s the
entire purpose.”
    “Kinda
depends on the pack.”  Zeke retorted.  Except for Darcy, he didn’t give a damn
about the others and neither should Caleb.  In fact, the rules of the pack said
you left behind anyone who couldn’t keep up.  In times of crisis, all shifters
looked after themselves.  None of the other Macreadys would help him ,
that was for damn sure.
    …Except
Caleb had .
    “It
took me forever just to get a signal on the phone when things went to shit.”  Caleb
continued.  “Even that was spotty.  I finally got through to your secretary and
convinced her to let me help you, and that was it.  The others could already be
dead.”
    Caleb
had looked for him before the others?
    Zeke
slanted him a frown.  He could understand Caleb forgetting about the “every man
for himself” rule, since his entire purpose in life was the pack.  Cale had
been born to be the next Alpha, so it was hardwired into his brain.  Too bad
for him, the rest of the Vegas shape shifters were a