Raven Moon by Eva Gordon

not you.” He glanced at her with distain and snorted. “You don’t look like the type who appreciates classical music.”
    She scowled. Snob! “Hey, Wolfiegang, our family supported the San Francisco Symphony.” Now was not the time to tell him she quit piano at age twelve to play the electric guitar. Maybe she’d knock him out and play a classical tune as he fought the effects of wolfsbane. She huffed. “Besides, I can’t imagine you playing anything more than chopsticks.”
    “Not all werewolves are sex-starved pub brawlers.”
    Shame. At least about the sex-starved part. “Didn’t you gain the reputation as the Benandanti’s unbeatable alpha in the wolf pits?”
    “I earned my title of Alpha Templar in God’s arena.”
    “Call it what you want, it’s still a bad assed reputation. Although, you never fought Dirk Gunderson, so…” Rave looked away, not wanting to antagonize him any more than she already had. She must still rely on the surly werewolf to take her to safer grounds.
    Maddox huffed in annoyance. “I would make him piss like a cub.”
    Rave almost smiled, knowing she’d drawn out his arrogant inner wolf. Of all the packs, only the Benandanti, Dogs of God, suppressed their base wolf. Kind of like a healthy male suppressing his sexual needs, only ten times worse because the lunar cycle influenced the werewolves. Other shifters were not tied to the moon and had more control over their totem animal. However, the werewolf shared their human psyche with their wolf. The Benandanti believed the devil controlled their wolf persona. They wasted their gift by denying their wolf, only releasing the feral beast to fight greater evil. Battling fire with fire. Not so easy for a werewolf, which explains why the Benandanti were always pissed off.
    Maddox set her down on a lobby sofa. “I’ll check out valet parking and get us a fast vehicle.” He stopped at the counter and grabbed a complimentary bottle of water. He unscrewed the top and handed it to her. “Drink it. You need to stay hydrated.”
    His kindness warmed her, hell, even turned her on. “Thanks.” Her guilt on wanting to slip him a wolfsbane Mickey stabbed her heart. She took a swig and gave him a sheepish grin. Maybe he would just let her drive off? “Actually, I’d hate to keep you from hunting the Kindred. Especially since you only missed them by a few days.”
    He stiffened. “You saw them.”
    “No but Gary, a man we met did. He’d already been bitten by the chimpanzombies and we weren’t able to save him. He turned into a zombie Tarzan. He saw them capture five chimpanzombies. Fortunately, according to the original number of apish ghouls Gary said had escaped, you killed them all. We need to kill the remaining five before they get loose and turn humans into faster zombies with a taste for animal meat.”
    “Faster human zombies?”
    Why not tell him the truth? “He filmed it on his camcorder. That’s when I saw Jaeger.”
    He glared down at her, brutal contempt in his voice. “Why should I believe you, raven trickster?”
    Rave glared at him, her face flushing from his anti-raven shiftist remark. “Really? Name calling?” Okay. Wait until I ‘trick’ you into getting wasted on wolfsbane . One moment, hero, the next asshole. She muttered, “Benand-nut with issues.” Rave winced as she took out the camcorder. “Here! Look for yourself. I stopped viewing when Jaeger turned around.”
    Maddox grabbed the camcorder and glowered at the still shot of his enemy. His canines emerged and a low growl escaped his throat. He turned up the volume and cocked his head. Slowly, he nodded, his wolf ears picking up conversations too soft for her to hear. He emitted a fierce growl.
    Rave stared mesmerized as Maddox flickered from human to bipedal werewolf form and back again. Deep emotions, such as rage and lust triggered the alpha wolf eclipse phenomenon. A rare occurrence but one she’d last witnessed when Dirk raged to protect his mate.