“What?” he asked, his voice deep and gruff from sleep.
“You like me. I can tell and I can hear you growling deep down so your animal likes me too,” she said, her eyes squinting at him with laughter. He liked looking at her in the morning, she looked beautiful. Dangerous too.
“What’s not to like,” he said and smoothed her hair back away from her face. Her smile disappeared.
“I’m totally fucked up. I’m really not someone you’ll want to care about, Xander. All I know is killing and there’s nothing else inside.”
“Let’s just worry about what’s outside for now. I think you see things a little skewed, but I wouldn’t change you for anything. I’m thinking about heading back to the cabin, there’s nothing for us here and there sure as shit is nothing for us in Washington, if anyone or anything is left there.” He felt her hand come up to his chest and felt the heat of it. He’d not held a woman in years. Years and years. He’d dated a woman in France sixteen years before; he’d been there on assignment for two months and had taken a chance and it had been wonderful but short. He’d not let her get close to him, she was his cover and so he’d used her. But holding a woman in his arms had been a rare and wonderful thing and Zahara was small and fragile and so strong.
He could smell the wolf in her now and his heart rate picked up. His ears picked up the cough from the next room. Ethan was waking up.
“Are we taking Moreno with us?” she asked.
“Unless he has someplace else to go, I think we should.”
“He was going to kill me.”
“He was going to try. And he didn’t even do that. He’s a good guy. Besides, I think we’re gonna need all the guns we can get. Do you hear all of those things outside the window?” he asked, shifting his arm and propping his head up.
“I was wondering about that. Sounds like there’s a shit ton of them out there. I thought they went into hiding when the sun came out?” she said and her hands were moving over his chest and his body was starting to heat up from the touch of her. He wondered why she was touchy, touchy all of a sudden? Was it because it was the end of the world? An apocalyptic romance? He wanted to snort at the idea of it. He looked at the window and though the curtains were drawn closed, there was bright light bleeding through.
“Maybe they’re changing, getting used to the sunlight. That’s gonna be a problem.”
“No shit. We need more ammo,” she said.
“We need to get the hell out of Huntsville and away from all these zombies.” He sat up and shoved the sheets off of him and stood with his back to Zahara. His body was responding too easily to her and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like not having control over himself. He looked over his shoulder and saw the mischievous grin on her face. Her canines were long and her eyes glowed. She was letting the wolf show and he shook his head. He guessed there was no reason to keep it hidden any longer. Something had set her free and he didn’t think he could rein her in. He kind of liked the wilder side of her, it called to his inner self.
An hour later they stood in the lobby of the hotel looking out the large windows. There were hundreds of zombies milling around in the parking lot.
“How in the hell are we going to get to the truck?” Ethan said, his hands on the top of his head.
“I know how, but you’re not gonna like it,” Zahara said in a singsong voice. Xander looked over at her and her eyes were glowing now, bright and gold. His mouth flattened out. They could shoot their way out but what happened when the bullets were gone? How many zombies could they fight barehanded? Hundreds? Thousands?
“If we get bit, we might turn,” he said softly, his hands beginning to unbutton his shirt.
“I’m okay with that. If you want, I’ll go out and kick some zombie ass and if I don’t turn, come on out and join me,” she said and giggled, shifting from one foot to the other. He watched as she began to undress and Ethan’s mouth fell opened and Ethan looked from her to him. Xander shrugged.
“If we use our weapons and we run out of ammo, we’re dead, there are just too many out there. So, Zahara and I will go out and clear the way. You might want to stand back,” Xander said as he tossed his shirt to a chair. He kicked off his boots and his eyes shifted to Zahara, who was flinging her clothing to the floor, her teeth already growing. She really is enjoying all of this, he thought. He felt the tingle of exhilaration from not having to hide the animal within. He could feel the animal starting to surge forward and felt a kind of euphoric savagery burst forth.
Ethan backed up and his hand rested on his weapon. Not that it would do any good if what Zahara had said about killing her was true. His mouth grew dry as the two of them stripped down naked. There were soft pops and snaps as their bodies began to shift and change. Ethan could feel his heart begin to pound in his head and
