A Wolf I recognized from the zoo had shouted the demand.

"There will be no bloodshed if you hand them over without a fight."

"I don't know about the no bloodshed part," a gorgeous male Dragon with an evidently vicious streak purred. "I quite enjoy a little friendly bloodshed."

Dima hissed next to me and smoke wafted from every orifice on her head.

"Daddy?" I asked.

"Yep, but not for much longer," she replied evenly.

"Nice."

"Along with a little spilling of blood, I'd like my daughter to come home. Her loving father misses her so," the Dragon spat sarcastically.

"I'll see you dead first," Dima yelled across the field.

"Now that's not a very respectful way to speak to one's sire," he said silkily with narrowed eyes and fire coming out of his nose.

The feral Wolves growled and pawed at the ground in agitation. I suppose they figured we were a lesser evil than the Dragons. They didn't really like our little mixed species group, but they absolutely despised the Dragons.

"Respect is given where respect is due," Dima shot back to her very displeased father.

"I'm having a problem here," Dwayne called out. "You see, I just had the grounds seeded around my home and you douchecanoes are stepping on it. This makes me grumpy. You are not getting Essie or Hank."

Dwayne paced dramatically as he spoke to the Wolves.

"They have entirely too much to do with planning their wedding. There is not time for them to be incarcerated and tortured by idiots who don't know their heads from their asses. And you," he pointed to Dima's father with his middle finger and a huge smile on his face, "are not getting your daughter."

"Who do you think you are, Vampyre?" an old Wolf yelled.

"I'm Dwayne the Gay Vampyre Drag Queen Priest with a Keen Dress Sense and Fabu Abs. I am the wildly proud father of eight daughters and I moonlight at a wedding shop I also model for. Most importantly, I am your worst nightmare along with my somewhat violent friends slash acquaintances slash occasional mortal enemies... "

"Who want to marry your Cow daughters," Vlad chimed in.

"Yes, well, that's a conversation for another day... or century," Dwayne muttered with an eye roll. "My frenemies like to decapitate things. Say hello to Vlad, Edward, Barnabus, Bones, Dimitri and Spike!"

"Is this a joke?" the Council Wolf growled and began to pace the hillside. "We are your supreme rulers. You will hand over the prisoners or we will take them."

"It's Aramini," Hank said softly. "One of the members who want the reveal."

"Is Gades with him?" I asked as I scanned the crowd.

"He is," Hank ground out. "Only those who want the reveal are here. Interesting."

"I think we know now which Council members are in cahoots with the Dragons," I stated the obvious.

"Our mission should be over," Hank said as he ran his hands through his hair and grunted in disgust.

"Yep, it should, but I'd have to say it's definitely not."

"Affirmative."

"If we live through this can I ride you like a cowboy tonight?" I asked.

"I have no problem with that," he said with a lopsided grin.

"TMI," Dima muttered with a groan. "Some of us are single."

"Sorry," I said insincerely.

"Right," she said with a snort. "Get your head in the game."

"Will do."

The Dragons were up on the hill to the left and the Wolves to the right. They stood about six hundred feet away. Both groups were against us, but they were not together by anyone's stretch of the imagination. The sound of screaming and a body running at us made me pull my Glock and a dagger. The Vamps got ready to shred the attacker and the feral Wolves howled with fury.

"Stand down," Hank yelled. "We know her."

Angela was a bloody mess as she tore forward away from the Council Wolves and ran as if her life depended on it. They gave a halfhearted chase, but she was near death and they didn't seem to care. What was wrong with my people?

"Angela," I cried out as she fell in a heap at my feet.

I was so relieved to see her, but some of the others were not. It was fast and I was so concerned with Angela I was almost unaware it was happening. Almost.

I shifted to my Wolf on instinct as the female feral Wolf my Granny had refused to fight dove forward and went for Angela's neck. I used my body to block her and rolled with her into a now destroyed flowerbed. I wasn't sure if Dwayne's shriek was because I was in danger of biting it or because we'd just wiped out several thousand dollars worth of Knockout Roses.

She bared her teeth and snapped at me as she struggled to get back to Angela. She was strong and large and she wanted Angela-bad. Why in the hell did everyone want to kill my boss? She was a pain in the ass, but being one was not an offense that merited death. I felt the Vampyre blood in my system burst free and flow through my body. My need to fight the female wolf was intense. She was not going to kill what was mine. Only I could kill what was mine...

Wait. Where did that come from?

She hissed and growled. Hank shifted and had my back. The male feral Wolf, who I also recognized, had hers. The Vamps floated above ready to dive in at my first sign of distress. I needed no help whatsoever. I blocked her every move to get back to Angela and her frustration was evident. However, she refused to engage me. What was her problem? Did she fear me? Why in the hell would she fear me? I was smaller and clearly not as old or as skilled as she was.

She made the mistake of looking away and I pounced. I held her pinned under me and she whimpered only once before she offered her neck to me in submission. Why? Why was she doing this?

"Kill her," Angela hissed. "Kill the bitch. She wants me dead. Kill her. Now."

Angela was both frightened and furious. She had to be in shock from repeated beatings, but what she wanted from me was wrong.

It would be so easy to follow orders, but I had stopped taking orders from Angela several days ago. I wasn't going to start now and kill a Wolf that had offered its throat to me. To do so would be cold-blooded murder. I would kill-it was part of my job, but only when necessary or provoked. Period.

I backed off of the female Wolf and gave Angela a withering look as I shifted back to human.

"Bring her in the house," I told Pat and Harley, referring to my boss. "She's in no shape to fight."

"I told you to kill her," Angela rasped out as blood poured from a cut over her eye and from her nose.

Holy hell, they'd worked her over good.

"You'll be happy later that I followed protocol and didn't kill a defenseless being. You'll be safe inside."

"When I tell you to do something, you do it," she screamed as she let Pat and Harley lead her inside. "No one is listening anymore."

I noticed the Aramini and Gades chuckling at the scene. The Dragons appeared bored and the feral Wolves pinned me with stares.

"What?" I snapped at the ferals. "What do you want? And where are the rest of you? There are supposed to be thirty of you... well, I guess twenty-three because of the other day, but..."

"Thirty," Hank said in shock. "There were thirty."

"Ferals?" Dwayne asked confused.

I felt cold and hot at the same time. My head was light and I felt a little like I was floating above myself. It was all in front of us the entire time...

"Agents. Thirty missing agents presumed dead with no proof of death," I said as my body started to shake uncontrollably. "Oh my god," I shouted at the entire hillside. "Is this what you're hiding? Wouldn't the rest of the Werewolf nation be interested to learn that service to your government means you end up as an experiment with half of a fucking life? Is this why you want me? So I can be part of your game along with my parents?"

I wanted to peel my skin off and I wanted to throw up. I was fairly certain at this point I had almost just killed my mother. I had also dropped the f-bomb which was something Granny would wash my mouth out with soap for, but it felt right and Granny was inside.

Of course... now it all made sense. Granny had recognized her daughter and her son-in-law. She had been sure which was what had killed her. It's why those two Wolves stayed and protected her body... and it's why they were still here.

"This ends now," I ground out through clenched teeth. "All of the Wolves and Dragons on the hill die today. Are we all on the same page?"

"Yes, we are," Vlad said as he rubbed his hands together with glee.

"Cows, inside the house," Hank directed as the Wolves on the hill began to shift and howl.

"We will fight," Harley said as she and Pat came back out of the house.

"Absolutely not," I said. "Your blood will not be on my hands. Inside. NOW."

The howling of the Wolves and the unfortunate shifts of the dozen or so Dragons did not bode well for us winning. However, I was not going down without putting up a fight and I planned to take a few Council members with me.

I sincerely hoped I survived the day and I prayed I made it through with all of my limbs intact. I wanted to get married with all of my original parts. But I also hoped the two feral Wolves made it. I was pretty sure I knew who they were now, but I was too frightened to hope it was true.

The Cows ignored us and shifted, which was one of the most alarming things I'd ever seen. There were roughly the size of the cab of a Mac truck and their tusks were about five feet long. The gals were hairy and their eyes bulged to the point I thought they might fall out. No one would believe me if I described them. It was like your worst and strangest nightmare come to life... and they could speak.

Holy crap.

"Everybody stand back," Pat bellowed in a voice definitely more manly than girly. The Vamps flew around and squealed like girls. "It's gonna get stinky."

"Oh my hell," Dima sputtered as she pulled me back toward the house. "Are they going to kill my father with anal acoustics?"

"Very nice," I said as I pitched a throwing star at some incoming bad guys, removing a head and making the others duck for cover. "I'm impressed. I will accept that gross pun and raise you a booty belch, anal salute, cheek squeak and sphincter siren."

"I'm going to be ill, but I will counter your offer with a butt bazooka, a crack splitter, Horton hears a poo, and a nice bout of rectal turbulence," she shot back as she beheaded something flying low over her head. Thankfully it wasn't a Vamp.

"Can I play?" Hank asked.

"Of course," I told him.

"Panty burp, roar from the rear, air tulip, and ass ripper," he added proudly.

"I will marry you," I said with a grin. "Your disgusting mind matches my own. And you deserve my friendship," I told Dima. I gauged how fast the enemy was coming and how close the Cows would let them get before they let go with a blast of insane methane.

"Don't know if that's a compliment or a curse," Dima said as she backed farther away from the Cows. "Will we live through this?"

"Um... not sure," I admitted. "Stay upwind and hold your nose."

"How will I breathe?" she asked.

"Through your mouth," I said logically.

"Oh, hell no. Then I'll taste it," she gagged out.

"Point. Can't help you there," I said, as I pondered the situation and waited to see what happened next.

The Wolves and Dragons didn't want us alive, but they were hesitant in their attack. Possibly Hank's and my reputation for killing Dragons had surfaced. Or maybe they were simply too important to fight-something they usually left to the commoners-like me.

However, I didn't have to ponder it long. Nope. What I saw would stay with me always, even though I would pay good money to have it removed. The butt yodeling was only the tip of the iceberg. The rest was almost unexplainable.

The Cows turned, bent over and ran backwards toward the incoming aggressors. The Dragons and Council Wolves were confused and amused. Clearly they had no clue what was coming next. I believe their condescending shouts were their undoing. The Cows might have been satisfied with asphyxiating them, but the bovine slurs were what landed them in hell... which was where I assumed most of them were headed, one way or another anyway.

The booty bombs were in technicolor and they were loud. I now wondered if the explosions earlier were my Cow friends practicing. Dragons literally fell from the sky and Wolves curled into balls and convulsed as they gasped for air.

The Vampyres cheered loudly. Their fangs glistened as they blew raspberries and kisses to their bovine loves. The feral Wolves had backed up to the front porch and were clawing desperately to get in. I didn't blame them, but I didn't let them. I was unsure if it was to get to Angela or to get away from the smell.

The next part is what I wanted to close my eyes for, but morbid curiosity and healthy respect for five foot tusks made me watch. There was a reason Cows were feared. Dwayne's gals were no longer pacifists. They had found their inner killer with a vengeance and they were having a blast.

The Council Wolves and the Dragons... not so much.

Hank pulled me to the porch along with Dima and Dwayne. It was the first time in my life I relaxed in a battle. There was nothing for me to do. It was all being done for me... and Hank... and Dwayne... and Dima and the Vamps.

After the initial butt crack concert, the Cows went berserk. It was not exaggerated how poisonous their tusks were. A simple prick would have killed even the strongest paranormal. However, the girls weren't satisfied to poke and run. They were more into gore, shake, and hurl at least three hundred feet or so. They seemed particularly focused on the Dragons. This made sense, considering the Dragons had burnt their family alive.

It was like watching a warped child's version of what happened to bad guys. It was bloody, ugly and short. Giant clouds of purple Dragon smoke and small fires littered the lawn. Dwayne's grass would definitely have to be re-seeded. It was a freakin' mess.

"He got away," Dima cried out as she ran the grounds and searched for her father. "Damn it, he got away."

This was not good. At all.

"We'll find him and we'll kill him," I promised her as I stepped over the dead bodies of Aramini and Gades.

It would be interesting explaining this clusterhump to the rest of the Council. I had no idea if they would believe us or if they were all in on this sick game. Yet another big hurdle to not look forward to.

"Guys, back off." Hank growled at the feral Wolves as they continued to try and claw their way into the house. They were led by the two who were familiar to me. My instinct was to shift and help them-strange.

"I don't know if Dwayne will want you guys in the house if you're going to fight or cause trouble," I told them. "Tell me what's wrong."

I could feel their tension and I shared it. I had no clue why, but a feeling of unease skittered up my spine. It was strong and I wasn't able to push it to the side or ignore it. The Wolves had spoken to me once before and I was hoping now they would speak again.