Raven Moon (15 page)

“Them’s the rules,” barked the bearded man with the green baseball cap.

“Then we’ll leave.”

Rave gave him a double take. “Wait, I’m okay with it.” She puckered her lips in defiance.
You’re not the boss of me
.

He glowered at her. “I’m not.”

Rave tugged from his grip, about as useless as getting out of cop cuffs. She stared up at him. “Excuse me?”

“Leave her be, Randy,” said an authoritative woman’s voice. “I’ll check her myself, if need be.”

The men took off their caps and bowed their head. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Git! I need room,” she ordered.

They stepped out of the cage and let the older woman in.

Maddox gently dressed Rave in her sling. She winced and then mouthed, “Thank you.”

“Welcome to Stonefield. My name is Mama Moxie, head of the hospital.” The older plump woman, with the southern drawl, reminded her of a southern matriarch in charge of a plantation. A dead ringer for actress, Kathy Bates. She wore a nurse’s blue smock, so why did she go by ‘mama’? She smiled at Rave and sighed in joy. “And who are you, hon?”

“I’m Rave and this is Maddox.”

Mama Moxie turned to him. “Get dressed, son.”

Maddox did so immediately. Yet unlike most naked men who were vulnerable-looking, he seemed more powerful naked than fully dressed. All muscle.

Rave’s creepy-monometer went up a notch as Mama Moxie ignored hot-looking Maddox and sized her up as if she was Grade A meat. Her tone dropped from alpha female to somewhere between kind granny and proud brothel madam, “My, ain’t you pretty.” She pressed a hand over her breast. “How old are you, honey?”

“Not that it matters, but I just turned twenty-three.”

“Oh, joy. And no children yet?”

Maddox answered, “No. Ravenna Corax, my fiancée and I don’t plan to have children, not in this climate.” He took Rave’s hand and squeezed it.

Fiancée? Rave’s mouth slackened and she shot him an incredulous stare. One moment, she was his prisoner, and the next his intended bride? She stammered, “We…Maddox and I plan to set a date…when we get back to…um Canada.”

A shadow of disappointment crossed Moxie’s face but she recovered with a smile. “How sweet, we rarely see couples.”

Mama Moxie turned her attention to Maddox. “English.” She chuckled. “Stuck on this side of the pond, eh?”

Rave nodded. “Maddox and I met shortly after the zombie apocalypse.” She threw him a sheepish smile. “He captured…my heart the moment I met him. Almost a year ago, right?”

Maddox neck muscles tensed. “Do you have the materials to set a broken arm?”

Mama Moxie laughed. “We sure do and working generators so don’t worry.” She took out keys from her smock and unlocked the door. “Come in.”

Maddox held Rave’s arm. “I just need to get our weapons and personal items.”

The men stepped into the cage’s entrance and lifted their rifles. Mama Moxie shrugged. “Fine by me. Just don’t try anything stupid. You are outnumbered eleven to one.”

Rave suppressed a giggle. She bit her lip. “We see that, ma’am.” She dragged her glance toward the well-positioned armed men. “Don’t worry, we know the odds.” In werewolf form, he could take them out before she finished applying a fresh coat of lipstick.

Maddox leaned to her ear. “Come, love, let’s get our things.”

“I can wait here.”

He glowered at her and she acquiesced, “All right, all ready.”
Could you be more obvious you aren’t my real BF?

Maddox opened the car and handed Rave her satchel. “I’d hate to see you go without your preening tools.”

“Most kind of you, honey yeti.”

He grabbed his pack and katana and quirked a brow. “Honey yeti?”

“All fiancés have endearments. Actually, I kind of like Wolfiegang Amadeus, but not until you perform a personal concert for me.” Rave scoffed. “I may end up calling you ‘Chopsticks’ instead.”

“We can stop pretending when we are alone.” He cocked his head. “I’m curious, why yeti?”

“When you shift to werewolf form you look like a tall yeti on steroids. But leaner, like David Beckham,” she amended. Others might have told him about his human resemblance to the former soccer star.

“Beckham? Humph.” He locked his arm with hers and whispered, “I’m in charge. Think of it as being handcuffed to my wrist, understood?”

Rave exhaled. “Sure. Why not?” At least they weren’t really engaged. Having a bossy alpha werewolf as a husband would hinder her carefree style. Besides, she’d always given the orders. Although, she grew moist when he’d mentioned handcuffs. Thinking of him going BSDM on her was so hot.

They walked through the massive cage and into their fortress.

“Follow me. I’ll take you to meet our doctor.”

A skinny pockmarked twenty-something dude stood by the emergency entrance. Rave widened her eyes at the young man’s crossbow. “That’s a Carbon Express Covert CX2.” In California, they had raided a gun and archery shop and she’d helped herself to ten for her ravens. “Crazy, amazing.”

The skinny kid threw her a quick look. He blushed, probably shy on meeting a new girl. Speaking of, Mama Moxie was the only female she’d noticed thus far. These days, women survivors all did guard duty.
Please don’t tell me the women are inside cooking or doing laundry.

Randy took off his baseball cap and scratched his thinning hair. “The little lady knows her crossbows.”

Rave scowled.
Not just knows but I’m quite skilled.
“I know a thing or two,” she was about to finish but Maddox interrupted her before she could continue.

“Quit showing off, love. Once your arm heals, you can go back to practice,” Maddox quipped with amusement in his cobalt blue eyes.

A warm sensation washed over her. Rave loved how he called her ‘love’. Even if he was just playing a role, why did it feel crazy good? She sighed and winked at the shy skinny guy. “I suppose I can’t trade for it?”

He caught Mama Moxie’s stern face and lowered his head. “No ma’am…not mine.”

Hmm. What power did such an unlikely leader, who didn’t even carry a weapon, have over these men?

“Go guard the west side, son,” said Mama Moxie. She turned to Rave. “Come on, honey. The doctor is on the second floor.”

They walked up two flights of stairs and passed five armed men. How long had they been holed up here? Still no sign of other women or even children. Except for Mama
bossy
, maybe there never had been any.

They entered a huge office, which at one time must have belonged to the hospital director. However, the plaque had been removed and not replaced by the current caretakers.

Maddox glared at the little man wearing a lab coat, who shot up from his chair and glanced at the matron before giving them a hesitant smile. The shifty-eyed doctor offered his hand to Maddox. “I’m Doctor Ted Larson. But everyone calls me Ted.”

Without dropping her hand, Maddox shook the doctor’s hand in his tight grip as if in warning before letting go. “I’m Maddox and this is Ravenna, my fiancée.”

She elbowed him. “Honey, you know I like being called Rave.”

Ted rubbed his sore hand and shook her hand. “Rave. You both have unusual names but since Z-phage, most of our visitors never bothered using their real names.” His shoulders drooped. “No point in last names anymore.”

Rave glanced at Moxie. “Speaking of, what’s up with the Mama moniker?”

“Mama Moxie.” She chuckled. “I’m a midwife. I earned that title long ago.”

Rave wasn’t sure what was stranger, the fact Maddox pretended they were engaged or the leader mid-wife called herself Mama Moxie? Especially in light that there were no women, let alone pregnant women around.
I’m thinking she’s psycho mom
.

Maddox stared at the doctor, his voice stern, “Can you set a broken arm?”

“Why of course. Before Z-phage, I ran the emergency room.” The doc smiled, and then cast his gaze down. Who could blame him? Maddox glared at him with the fierceness of a pissed off alpha werewolf. Rave stared at the doctor’s groin to see if he had wet himself.

Maddox remained tense. “Good, I’ll assist.”

Rave’s inner raven pulse raced. Something was off. His wolf must have sensed it twofold. Fake smiles and gentle voices didn’t fool shifters. These people were not to be trusted.

Mama Moxie shook her head. “No, Mad Ox, I’ll be assisting.”

“Maddox,” he corrected.

The midwife gave him a grandmother’s smile. “Yes, of course, dear.”

Rave giggled. “You must admit, honey, sometimes you do act like a mad ox.”

Mama Moxie turned to Randy. “Why don’t you show Mr. Maddox to the cafeteria, make him a nice hamburger and get him a cold beer?”

Rave raised a brow. “Fresh beef?”

Moxie smiled. “Yes, hon, but you’ll have to wait until after surgery.”

Maddox stood still. “I’ll wait as well.” As if on cue his stomach rumbled.

Rave gave him a gentle shove. “No, dearest, go on. You must be famished.”

Maddox reddened and hugged her. Any harder and he’d break her good arm. His tone sharp as he shot her an icy smile. “I’m not leaving your side.”

The doctor nodded. “There’s a nice waiting room outside the O.R. I’ll get you if we need you.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Maddox. We’ll take good care of your fiancée,” drawled Mama Moxie.

Maddox released his hold and rubbed his brow as if warding off a migraine. “Very well. If anything happens to her…”

Rave was turned on by his protective possessiveness, which she sensed was not pretense. “Shh. Don’t be such a worrywart, Wolfiegang.”

Maddox captured her hand and kissed it, sending a tingle through her. He smiled at Mama Moxie. “Let me know if you need my help holding her down. She tends to squirm.”

Rave winked at him. “I only squirm in your arms, honey yeti.”

Maddox turned deeper red than she’d ever seen. He heaved a heavy sigh. She berated herself for teasing him but enjoyed how reactive he was toward her.

Chapter 10

Maddox paced outside the doors of the operating room, pounding his boots so they understood. If they tried anything, he’d break the door down. His wolf didn’t trust them. Everything seemed too serene, too perfect. Considering it was the zombie apocalypse. Two floors down his wolf ears picked up an excited man communicating by ham radio to who knows who. Fresh meat, beer, working generators that lit the entire hospital, and no zombies outside the gates. There had been enough noise to attract the undead even if the human’s scent was masked. Yet he had not scented other living women or children. And how did a kind sounding matron become the alpha of this ragtag group of men only survivors? What did she hold over the men to enforce their compliance? He stopped and rubbed his temples. Why weren’t there any other women?

Maddox sank down into the too small armchair and folded his arms over his chest. Outside night had fallen and thunder echoed, but too distant for human ears to hear. He stared at the double door. At least Rave hadn’t screamed. She was brave but not that brave. No whimper or any other sound. Only her soft breaths and gently drumming heart. They must have given her a good dose of anesthesia.

At last, the doors opened. Moxie stepped out wearing surgical scrubs and smiled. “All done. We’ll have burgers brought up for you in the recovery room.”

Maddox smiled. “Thank you.” The doctor brought Rave out in a wheelchair. She looked like she just woke up and wore a white hospital gown. She looked young and virginal. His inner wolf snapped. They stripped her! He raged. For a broken arm?

Her arm was covered in a pink cast supported by a black sling. The doctor smiled. “Good news. I just looked at the post op x-ray. Her bone is mending at a rapid rate. Are you sure it broke only a few days ago?”

Rave chuckled. “Actually, I meant three weeks, isn’t that so, honey wolfiegang?”

Maddox blanched at the lover’s endearment she’d given him. At least it was better than Mad Ox. “Umm. That’s right, Princess.”

Rave beamed, as if enjoying how he went along with her hints about their kind.

The doctor rubbed his chin. “No, the first x-ray clearly showed a fresh break compared to the second one.” He shook his head in disbelief. “There was a marked improvement.”

How would he explain to a human that her raven shifter DNA sped the healing process? At least in her human form. Although he trusted some humans to know of their kind, his inner wolf balked at trusting them with the disclosure.

Rave shrugged. “Your machines are probably faulty since the zombie apocalypse.”

The doctor shook his head. “Something is healing you at a miraculous rate.”

Maddox forced a smile at Rave and then turned to the doctor. “You’re right. My prayers have healed her.”

Mama Moxie shot him a glance. “You don’t look like the religious type.”

Rave laughed. “Oh, you don’t know my fiancé. He’s very devout.”

Larsen refused to let the topic go. “This is no miracle.”

Maddox glowered at him. “Enough said. Rave needs her rest.”

Rave smiled. “I’m looking forward to that cold beer.”

Mama Moxie’s voice gentled as if talking to a young child rather than an adult woman. “I’m sorry, hon. We don’t allow women of child bearing age to drink alcohol or take recreational drugs.”

Rave frowned. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She pointed to her flat belly. “I’m not preggers.”

“But very healthy.” She threw her a wink. “While the doctor worked on your arm I gave you a feminine exam. I’ll give you a pregnancy test in the morning.”

Maddox and Rave gaped simultaneously. Rave blinked. “Wait…what?” Her tone went alpha raven in severity, “While I was out you examined me? Down there?” She raised her voice to that of a haughty royal princess. “Without my permission!”

Mama Moxie chuckled. “I was once a gynecological nurse before I became licensed as a mid-wife.” She beamed. “You’re in perfect health.”

Rave glared at her. “Ooh! You better bring me something stronger than a beer.”

“But dear, alcohol is not good for young women.”

That bitch! No wonder why Rave was stripped. The woman ran some sort of human breeding farm and needed to determine Rave’s fertility. Guilt tore his heart. He shouldn’t have left her side. He gently massaged Rave’s shoulders and snapped at Mama Moxie, “Get her a beer. I mentioned earlier, we are not ready for children.” He sneered. “Who would be until the zombies are eradicated?”