Free Apocalyptic Moon (After the Bane) by Eva Gordon Page A

enough.”
    He smiled . “Okay, let’s finish eating. We’ll need our strength.”
    “Okay, shutting down communication.” The use of telepathy weakened her body, as if she suffered from anemia. Her new abilities made her malaise worse and gave her an instant headache. Her mind raged over tumors that might cause such odd symptoms. She sipped her already cold bitter tasting coffee, hoping the caffeine would lessen her throbbing head. A world without gourmet coffee made by expert baristas sucked.
    She took a bite of her scrambled eggs. “Jaeger said you were one of the strongest beasts he’s ever run across. What did he mean?”
    “I’m an alpha.”
    “Hmm. Like real wolves? So you are the dominant pack leader?”
    “Yes, but more. The alphas can control their shift and achieve two forms, the fierce large wolf and the bipedal monster or lycanthrope form.” He laughed. “Although humans aren’t supposed to know of our existence, the movie, The Howling, got our lycanthrope appearance right. The lower rank werewolves can only shift on the full moon and then only in the large wolf form. I’m considered by many as one of the most lethal creatures of the Mythos Consortium.”
    God knows, he had better be The Werewolf of London , if they were to escape. “So I take it your parents were alphas?”
    “No, it doesn’t work that way. In our pack, my uncle Talon is the alpha. At age ten, our uncle determined that me and my twin sister, Sierra were alphas.”
    “So how did such a powerful alpha allow a human to capture him?”
    Dirk blushed and stared at his plate. She wondered, was he angry or ashamed? “I hate to admit it. But I have a soft heart for dogs. And humans, too.”
    Why was he embarrassed? A werewolf with a heart must be a weakness. Goes against all the fierce legends. What’s next a vegetarian zombie? “That’s good to know. What happened?”
    “I spent a few weeks hunting Jaeger, but I lost track of him in Idaho. Werewolf hunters know every trick of the trade to mask their scent. Anyway, I went to work on my next assignment. Mapping out all the available fuel stations. Other pack members were sent to search for pilots and boaters.” He threw her a roguish smile. “Top priority is to find medical and engineering professionals, like you, Doc.” He quirked a smile and swallowed his last strip of bacon.
    She sighed. So much for calling her babe. She was no love interest, but just a useful pawn in a werewolf board game. With her witch status, would they want her, doctor or not? “And then what happened?”
    “I found a station and fueled my tank when my radio went off. A man screamed that he was surrounded by zombies and they were killing his dogs. Kind of odd, because zombies only go after humans, still I heard barking and asked for his location. I thought, maybe their feeding habits had changed. He radioed he hid inside a school, locked in the gym. I took out ten zombies and headed in. I found two beautiful dead shepherd mix dogs, their throats slashed.” He winced. “But not by zombies. It was a trap. I prepared to shift but Jaeger and his men shot me with wolfsbane. Pretty stupid, huh?”
    “For running into a dangerous situation to help a complete stranger? No, I’d say your heart was in the right place.” In a dreamy tone, she said, “You were heroic.” Shit, I sound love-struck.
    He shrugged and wolfed down his miserly breakfast. It wasn’t enough for a man or rather werewolf of his build. At this rate, he’d starve. He sipped his coffee and then met her eyes. “I’m done rescuing puppies. I think I’ll stick to rescuing you.”
    Oh? She drank her coffee, hoping the rim of the cup hid the worst of her heated cheeks. She wiped her lips. “So why didn’t the pack search for you?”
    “Before my cell phone died, I phoned Talon and reported that I’d need another month or more on the road to locate fueling and power stations. He agreed and said he would tell my sister to continue