I turned quickly and saw Pallo standing in the hallway. He was staring at me and I had to look away out of some deep-seated shame.

Caleb stepped up. "I... umm... you know the problem with the group from California, well, turns out Malita's gone to them and cut some sort of a deal with them ... if they help to get me out of the picture, then they all get to ...." He stopped and looked at me. I nodded for him to go on, but he didn't. I saw a tear in the corner of his eye.

I stood, unwilling to let Caleb break down in front of the group. "Apparently, the regulators get to have me to do with as they wish."

"What!" Pallo yelled.

"Yeah, I have no doubt that your little love, Malita, thinks I'm quite the lying wh.o.r.e and that by handing me to men trained to kill supernaturals, she'll be able to free you and Giovanni from me."

"I don't think that will be happening. I'm here to see to it that it doesn't anyways," a deep, unfamiliar voice said from the other side of the room.

Everyone stopped and looked at the open back door. A tall man with shoulder length, black, wavy hair came walking in. The first thing I noticed was how broad his shoulders were. The second thing was his dark blue navy eyes. They were almost as dark as mine. He came into the light of the room and I could see how ma.s.sive the rest of his body was.

Pallo let out a noise, sounding disgusted. James stepped in and gave me an odd look. Pallo glanced at the man in the doorway and his voice dropped. "Nicholas, what a pleasure is it to see you again. Tell me, is it the coming full-moon that draws you or did your master call his puppy home?"

Nicholas glared at Pallo and I could tell that there was no love lost between the two of them. "Pallo, I'd be lying if I said it was nice to see you, but I'm sure your bat senses would pick up on that. How are you doing with those anyways? Slaughter any innocent children lately? Kill anyone's mother?"

The whole room grew quiet. Pallo stepped towards Nicholas. I moved in front of him and put my hand on his chest. "Pallo, no, not here."

He took my hand in his and I saw him fighting to keep his demon down. Nicholas must have noticed, too, because he moved in for the kill. "Haven't fed yet today, huh? Maybe, I could fetch you a cow. You could suck it dry, or perhaps there is a village full young mothers you could drink your fill on? We all know how much you enjoy that."

I faced Nicholas. He was a handsome man who appeared to be about twenty-three or so. I should have found him s.e.xy. He was everything I liked in a man, but something about him kept me from thinking of him in that way. I moved away from Pallo and towards Nicholas. I put my finger up and pushed it straight into the center of his chest. I twisted it a little and the royal blue long sleeved shirt he was wearing turned, too. I kept pushing him and kept backing him out of the kitchen. I gave one final shove and we ended up standing on the back porch.

"Who the h.e.l.l do you think you are coming in here and starting s.h.i.t? In case you didn't get the memo, we've got enough of it going on without you. As long as you are here, you will respect the people I care about. Are we clear?"

His eyes shifted to a deeper blue and I could sense something changing in him.

Mikhail appeared next to me. "Control your beast, Nicholas, or it will control you."

I arched a brow at Mikhail. "Is this kid one of yours?"

"Yeah, I called him. He's my second in command. I thought it would be wise to have him near. I thought he'd put aside his petty differences to aid his alpha."

"Fat chance of that, this kid's got the self-control of a spider monkey on crack," I said.

Nicholas's eyes shifted again and I felt him pull up a wave of warm power. I knew that power, it was like my own. There was more to Nicholas than met the eye.

I yanked my power up, as well, if this guy wanted to play, we'd play. Mikhail tried to step between us and Nicholas lashed power out at him. Mikhail leapt back and grabbed his shoulder. Nicholas turned and stared at me. I felt all the rage he carried around within him. So much of it was for Pallo and I didn't know why. His hand came up and fur sprouted all over it. I wasn't worried about him changing into a wolf. I was worried about the magik he possessed.

"What the h.e.l.l's your problem?" I asked.

"I don't owe you an explanation. I came here to help. Instead, I find that f.u.c.king vampire here."

"So, you don't like vampires. I get it, but why the magik show?"

Nicholas glared past me. "Oh, I like vampires just fine, it's that one I hate."

"Join the club, I hate him every second Tuesday of the month, too. I, unlike you, get over it. So, if you're not going to try to kill me, then please knock off the power trip. If you really want to do this, I will."

"Humpf... what the h.e.l.l is a little girl like you going to do?"

I smiled at him and lowered my head. I called on the wind. I concentrated on pulling it past the trees and around the house. I let it circle around him and I used it to pull him up off the ground an inch or so. His dark black hair lifted high into the air and his blue eyes locked on me. I noticed how he had a dimple in the center of his chin as he pulled his face into a smile.

"You can stop it now. I won't hurt you!" he called out.

I let the wind die down and Nicholas' feet touched the ground again. "You must be Gwyneth." He put his hand out to me. "Nice to finally meet you."

I gave him an odd look and took his hand. His grip was firm. Mikhail made a noise and we glanced over at him. He was lying on the ground holding his shoulder to himself.

Caleb came running out. "I got this."

Pallo appeared behind me. He was beyond mad. I could feel his cool power threatening to rise up. I turned and put my hand on his chest. I let my fingers move over his carved alabaster-like skin. "No more tonight, please. He's done, aren't you, Nicholas?"

Nicholas smiled and nodded. Pallo seemed to be trying to appear okay with this, but he was failing miserably. His body language told me that he was not fine with the idea of Nicholas being here and I couldn't blame him. In the five minutes I'd known the guy he'd already hurt one person and tried to use magik against me.

Mikhail stood and came over to us. He put his arm out and twisted it around. He glanced over at Nicholas and gave him a dirty look. Nicholas backed away, his gaze coming to me. I gave him the old 'you're screwed' look and walked back towards the house. There was someone I wanted very much to see.

I managed to escape into the house relatively unnoticed. Everyone was too focused on the impending Para-reg attack to bother keeping tabs on me. I headed up the stairs and walked down the hall towards the back bedroom. When I tapped lightly on the door and got no answer, I turned the k.n.o.b and opened the door slowly.

The room that had been yellow when I'd left. It was now a cool blue with white trim. The bed that had been mine growing up was still there. It looked like it hadn't been slept in. I pulled the door shut and walked back down to my room.

Giovanni's suitcase was still sitting on the dresser. The honey scented bath salts I'd left lying on top of it hadn't moved. Giovanni never came in to change and by the looks of the room down the hall, he never even went to sleep. I went to the window and stared out. Everyone was still on the backside of the house, no doubt arguing. I reached down and picked up the pack of bath salts and held it to my face, breathing in the fresh scent of honey.

Catching a flash of black moving near the pine trees at the end of the lane, I stared harder to see what was moving down there. I felt my stomach pull in, if Malita and the Para-regs decided to attack now, then they'd easily ambush the others. I dropped the salt and turned around.

I took the stairs four at a time and burst out the front door. I ran around the porch and did my best to not trip over the wicker furniture that sat on it. I rounded the corner and found that only Pallo, Caleb and Ken were still standing there. They looked up at me and all of them came running.

I pointed down towards the road. "Something... I saw something moving down there," I said, short of breath.

Ken pulled his gun out and nodded at the other two. Pallo took my arm to lead me back up to the house. I dug my heels in and glanced out and over the yard.

"Where's everyone else?"

Pallo motioned back towards the barn on the left. "The omnis retreated to discuss the incident and James is cooking dinner. I have no idea where Caradoc has gone off to."

I stared into his brown eyes and I pleaded with him to understand who in particular I was asking about, without making me have to come right out and say his name.

"Ah, I do not know where he is at. The last time I saw Giovanni was before sunrise. He was walking on the edge of the woods."

We heard a gunshot and both of us took off running in that direction. I could see Ken standing with his gun drawn. Caleb was looming over something. As we got closer I saw that it was a large pale gray wolf. Caleb shook his head and I knew that meant the wolf was gone now.

Something moved in the bushes near us. I turned to see a pair of eyes reflecting the light back at me. I screamed as Pallo thrust me forward at Caleb. I tripped over the carca.s.s of the dead wolf and Caleb grabbed me. His grip was the only thing that kept me from landing face first on a dead werewolf.

The vampire senses that Pallo had pa.s.sed on to me with his bite kicked into full gear. I could sense that we were surrounded by the enemy. The entire farm was. Someone had to warn the others. They'd be fodder without a heads up. I turned to run back towards the house.

"Gwen, No!" Caleb yelled.

"The others, I have to tell them."

Pallo came back out of the bushes, brushing his hands off on his pants. "They know. I contacted James and Caradoc already. They are going to the others as we speak."

A wave of relief hit me. I'd forgotten Pallo only had to think about his vampires to be able to communicate with them. The hairs on my arms stood on end and I knew that at any moment we'd be completely surrounded.

The first growl and blur came from our right. Pallo reached out, grabbed the brown coyote hybrid by its neck and snapped it. I hardly had time to register that one when three others came barreling out at us. Ken fired and hit one. It dropped with a thud to the ground. A flood of what could only be omnis came out at us.

Caleb and I both called our power up, but I knew it would only take care of a handful of them. Screams and snarls came from the other end of the property. I wanted to call out to the others there to see if they were all okay, but I knew that would just bring more omnis down on us.

Caleb moved his body in front of mine and Pallo and Ken followed suit. They enclosed me in a circle and kept their gazes on the omnis. I lost count at twenty. They just kept coming and coming. The noise level had risen dramatically. There were sounds of high-pitched screams and low growls everywhere.

Ken fired and took several more down. He glanced over at me and I knew that he was low on bullets. He was human, or at least more human than the rest of us. If he got attacked by an omnimorpheleon there would be a good chance he'd end up one himself. There are three ways to end up an omnimorpheleon, get attacked, get cursed, or be born that way.

I touched Pallo's arm. "Take Ken back to the house."

All of them turned and looked at me. "What?" they asked in unison.

"Pallo, you're the only one of us who can go airborne and if Ken gets bitten he'll be furry in a week."

I saw the thought register with Ken. He hadn't considered that one. "Gwen, I can't leave you."

Reaching out, I touched his arm. "You've got to make it home safe and not as an animal for Beth now."

Pallo went to protest and I put my finger to his lips. "Don't try to argue, you and I both know that it would only take a knick for him to be one permanently."

Two omnis tried to jump in at Ken. He shot one and Caleb threw the other away with his magik. I turned to Pallo. "Now!"

He reached out and s.n.a.t.c.hed Ken by the arm. In a matter of seconds, they were airborne. Caleb and I moved in so our backs were touching.

"Now what?" Caleb asked.

"Oh, sure now the bounty hunter loses his expertise," I said with a shaky voice. Trying to be funny while I was scared to death wasn't working out so well.

"Gwen, when I say go, let your power loose and run back to the house. I think we can take enough of them out to make it."

I touched his leg. "Caleb, be careful. I don't want my groom dead."

"Yeah, ready, set..." I felt the rise of power swarm around us. I loaded my hands with as much power as I could muster and waited for Caleb's signal. "Now!" he said. I let my power loose and sent half the circle of the omnis pummeling backwards. I took off running in the direction of the house and saw Caleb moving in the other direction. He was heading down towards the river.

It hit me then what he was trying to do. He knew they were after both of us and he wanted to lure some away. The thought of running back to the house and leaving him never crossed my mind. I turned and ran after him.

Something crashed into me from the right and I rolled with its weight on my body. I put my hands out and pushed against the weight. It didn't budge. Something snarled and I felt more weight hit me. I screamed and kicked as hard as I could. My foot came into direct contact with something heavy and it moaned. I knew that voice.

"Pallo?"

He grunted and I heard another sound of an animal. Gasping, I watched in horror as I saw an omni going for the back of Pallo's neck. I thrust my hand upwards and pushed my fingers through its eye. It pulled away and ran for the forest. I moved my hand away from Pallo's back and saw blood moving down my arm. It wasn't mine. I knew that I hadn't been bitten. I touched Pallo again and knew then that the majority of the blood was his.

"Pallo ...."

His body weight was heavy, pinning me to the ground. I pushed lightly on his shoulder. "Up, we've got to get up."

He turned his head and looked at me. Another round of howls came from down by the river. I pushed Pallo off me with all my might and he rolled over onto the ground. I dropped down next to him and moved the wave of brown curls out of his eyes.

"How bad is it?"

"I just need a moment ... look out ...." He pushed me away and a huge furry beast came crashing down on him. Jumping to my feet, I kicked out hard. My foot connected with its ribs. I knew I'd managed to break some, but the thing kept tearing at Pallo. He had his arm up deflecting it. I leapt onto the omni's back and wrapped my whole body around it. I squeezed hard with my legs and felt its already broken ribs giving more. I grabbed the sides of it head and twisted hard and to the left. Its body went limp below me and we crashed to the ground.

Its large body pinned my leg to the ground and I tried pushing at it to get it off. I couldn't get it to move. Another snarl came from above my head and I saw an omni go straight for Pallo. I pushed hard and the dead omni's fur started slipping away. Its skin shifted, leaving the very clammy feel of dead human skin against me. I cried out and pushed harder. His dead weight gave and I was able to get out from under him.

"Help!"

I ran towards the omni that was going at Pallo. This one had more sense than the last. It saw me coming and took off running in the other direction. I dropped down in front of Pallo and yanked on his shirt, getting him up and off the ground. It was a major success to say the least.

"Gwen?" Caleb asked as he walked out of the darkness at us. He looked at me trying to hold Pallo up and came running. He supported Pallo's weight and we headed back towards the house. I could feel the omnis all around us still. They were pulling back slowly. Something was driving them away and that something wasn't us.

Chapter Twenty-Six.

I sat on the corner of the bed and touched Pallo's back. Caleb had had to lay him face down so I could see how bad his back wounds were. When I first pulled his shirt away I gasped and felt sick to my stomach. A large chunk of Pallo's upper back, near his neck was missing. He had several other claw and bite marks across him, as well, though none were as bad as the one by his neck.

I leaned over him and kept touching his open gashes with a warm washcloth. James had told me it was a waste of my time and that Pallo couldn't get an infection, but it made me feel better. It gave me a purpose.

The door opened and Caleb walked in. "Hey, how's he doing?"

"Caleb, you don't have to pretend to care. I'm sure he appreciates it, though."

Caleb walked over and put his fingers above Pallo's worst wound. "Gwen, things have changed between Pallo and me. We're trying to get back to that place we'd been before you came back into our lives. We were friends because we shared a common history. That hasn't changed. I'm going to ask him to be my best man-if your father still makes us marry."

I stopped dabbing Pallo's wounds and stared up at Caleb. He couldn't seriously be thinking of doing that to Pallo. "Caleb, don't ask him. That's wrong for so many different reasons."

"No, Gwen, I've put a lot of thought into this. My job keeps me on the move so I've never really developed any close bonds with anyone. Ken and I get along well, but Pallo deserves to stand by my side when I'm joined to you. Let it be his choice, he's earned it."

I set the washcloth down and put my hand on Pallo's low back. The feel of his cool silky skin made my fingers ache to run all over him. I didn't know what to think about what Caleb wanted to do. Asking Pallo to be his best man seemed cruel and I didn't like the idea at all.

"Caleb, I really don't think you should ask him to do this."

I watched as one of the claw marks on Pallo's lower back began to pull back together. His body was attempting to heal itself. That meant he'd be awake soon.

"Gwen, just think about it. He might want to be there."

My emotions ran amuck. "What about what I want, Caleb? I don't want to be forced into marriage right now. I'm nowhere near ready to commit to you or anyone else right now." I turned my head a little. If I kept looking at Caleb, I was going to break down and cry. "Have you ever once thought that maybe, just maybe I can't have Pallo there? G.o.d, I can't f.u.c.king do this! I can't hurt him anymore. I can't hurt either of you anymore. Don't you understand that's what makes me so attracted to Giovanni? He doesn't make me choose and he doesn't suggest tying the knot with you two standing next to him. He doesn't make me feel like I have to make a choice ... he just is-and that's what makes me want to be around him."

"Gwen, I'm trying my best to be like him. I am. I've already given you the green light on him and I'm going to ask the guy who is my chief rival for your hand to be my best man. I'm trying here and nothing I do is right. You tell me what to do. You tell me and I'll do it."

I glanced down at Pallo's neck. "Heal him and don't ask him to be your best man. Caleb, I'm going to say this once and I'm sorry if it hurts you, but I wanted him to stand up and object to our engagement. I wanted him to step in and tell my father that he wanted my hand. You'd already turned your back on me... on us and I wanted Pallo to stop things before they got any worse." I was harsher than I'd intended to be, and I wasn't sure that I believed in what I was saying, yet it came out all the same.