"Trust me, I know, kiri," he said. "I feel like I had a meltdown last night."

"You? Never," she said. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself."

"I'm hard on everyone," he reminded her. "No exceptions."

"I just want this Europe thing to be over. You do enough for us anyway," she said.

"You're my family. I feel like I should be doing more. I just don't have the time."

"You need to take care of yourself, Dusty," she advised.

"I will, kiri," he said. "We're a lot alike, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are," Sofi agree. "And this is how I know you're not taking care of yourself as much as you should be."

"Doesn't make a difference now if I die this weekend, does it?" he mused. She looked away. "I told Darian not to let you help him."

"He can't do it on his own, Dusty, and it's not because I'm being overprotective. Bianca healed me earlier, and I thought I could do more than I could, especially since ...." A troubled look crossed her features. "Dusty, I'm worried about him. To take his place as the Grey God, he has to overcome some really large hurdles. I don't know if he can do it."

"The Darian I remember was the strongest man I'd ever known," he said. "I believe ... I hope ... that man is still inside of him somewhere. If so, he'll take his place and probably knock the shit outta Damian and Czerno both a few times."

"I hope so, too," she replied. "He's about to run into something bad. I can't see well enough yet to know what happens, but it scares me. It'll make or break him, and I don't feel like he's anywhere near ready." Her words sent a streak of cold through him. His phone rang.

"I gotta get going," he said.

"Dusty, remember that Bianca can heal anyone and any wound." Her eyes were swirling again.

"You sound like the Watcher," he said warily.

"Just keep it in mind."

"Boss." Toni's voice was accompanied by a tap at the door. Dusty excused himself to join the Guardian. "I dug this out of a box of electronics upstairs and programmed it to be your new phone. That flip shit is so old school. I didn't get you the full touch screen, though. Your paws are too big to text." Toni held up a sleek phone and Bluetooth earpiece. "I tagged both with GPS and a speck of C4, so if you lose either, we can blow it up."

"Do I really want that next to my head?" Dusty asked with a frown. "It's bad enough that it might fry my brain."

"Thank the gods we're immortal." Toni grinned, took his phone, and swapped SIM cards with the new one. Dusty clipped the earpiece to his ear.

"You gave Bianca a phone?" he asked.

"No."

"Someone did."

"Not one of our issues," Toni said. "I've repaired the computers in your office, too. Boss, you had so much malware I don't know how you got anything done."

"Yeah, e-shit isn't my forte," Dusty admitted. "Glad you're here. Make sure Bianca's phone is tagged as well." He tested his new phone by sending Damian and Jule a text.

911. He didn't know if they'd reappear before his weekend went to shit, but he hoped they did.

"Now for the bad news," Toni said. "This weekend looks worse than we thought. Jenn's guys got something. They're at the safe house off Biscayne."

"Have her call me when she's done talking to them. Send Jonny to see Sofi sometime this morning," Dusty directed. "Darian in his room?"

"He's in the gym."

"Call if you need anything." Dusty strode to the gym, surprised to see the Grey God up so early. His wards rarely rose before mid-morning. Darian was at a row machine, covered in sweat. His long, lean muscles bulged with the workout.

"Darian!"

The Grey God rose, a guilty look crossing his features. Dusty eyed him, waiting. Darian swiped his towel from another machine and approached.

"I'm sorry. I know you said no," Darian grated.

"Then why'd you do it?" Dusty asked.

"I didn't want the cat to stay all alone at your condo. It's not fair. She's in my room. I won't let her out, so she won't bother you."

Dusty almost rolled his eyes. He was expecting worse than a cat in Darian's room. It was the least of Darian's many offenses.

"We'll deal with that later," he said. "Go get ready. I want you to start learning what it means to be in charge of something."

"Really? Oh my God!" Darian darted towards the house. Dusty sighed, unable to reconcile the Grey God, the man who had been Darian, and the man running gleefully into the house as being one and the same. He hoped, no he prayed, Darian regained himself someday soon.

His gaze strayed towards the barracks, where he'd left Bianca. Regret sat in his stomach. He'd done the right thing. Rather, he'd done the decent thing and spared her further heartache. Yet he couldn't shake the memory of her body against his, the way she'd looked at him last night. No woman had gotten through his guard ever.

And then he thought of how he'd felt when he thought the vamps took her from his condo. Cold fury replaced the regret, and he knew he'd do anything to keep her from danger. The safest place she could be was with him, and he'd nearly gotten her killed by lowering his guard.

There was a reason he'd severed his connection to his emotions all those years ago. He didn't need the distraction, but Gods, he wanted her in a way he'd never wanted anyone else! The safest thing for both of them was for him to keep his distance and remain objective. After all, he didn't think he'd survive the weekend.

He returned to the house to await Darian, not surprised to see Bianca's black and white cat darting down the stairs. It slinked down the hall and slid into the narrow space of the cracked door of the library.

He almost preferred the idea of death at Czerno's hands to the mayhem his wards caused. Reminded he didn't give Bianca the rules he gave Darian and Sofi, he retrieved his phone.

Rules of the house: 1- u don't leave w/o permission & escort; 2- obey Toni & the other Guardians when I'm out; 3- assume I'll find out, no matter what u do; 4- ask b4 u do anything or don't do it.

She grimaced as she reread the text, torn between amusement and disappointment. Darian was right about Dusty being a dictator. His scent still lingered on her skin, even though she'd taken a shower earlier. He'd wanted her, but he kept his distance. His rules made it clear she was just another of his duties.

She didn't expect it to bother her as much as it did. Maybe that was why she couldn't stop making cookies.

"Look, sis!"

She shoved the phone in her pocket and forced herself to smile as she faced Jonny, who'd been in training since shortly after she awoke. His face was excited as he held out the contents of his hands.

"A gun?" she gasped. "They gave you a gun?"

"Isn't it awesome?"

"Jonny, you shouldn't have a gun! You're only twenty!"

"Old enough to buy a prostitute in Vegas, old enough to own a gun," one of the Guardians she recognized as Toni replied as he grabbed a handful of cookies from the counter.

"He's not getting a prostitute, either!" she replied. "Toni, I don't think he should have a gun!"

"Overruled."

"Are you going to teach him to use it?"

"Yep," Toni said.

Jonny was grinning. "It's not loaded, sis."

"Yes, it is," Toni said, glancing at him. "Why would you carry a gun that's not loaded?"

"Oh my God. This is a nightmare waiting to happen," she said with a sigh and a hot glare at Toni.

"We all carry," Toni said. "You want one?"

"Of course not," she replied and crossed her arms. "I really don't approve of this."

"I'm a man, now, B," Jonny argued. "I'm old enough, and I'm going to protect you from bad guys."

Toni gave him an amused look. She couldn't bear the thought of him returning to the troubled teen he'd been and tried to think of something to say to straddle the line between mothering him and letting him be his own person.

"Man or not, I still worry about you," she returned. "And I'll be the first person to yell at you if you do something stupid."

"No, B, Dusty will kick my ass first," Jonny said, a haunted look crossing his face.

"You got that right," Toni agreed.

She didn't doubt it and felt somewhat satisfied her brother at least knew there would be consequences to any stupidity. Jonny wouldn't listen to his nagging sister, but he'd darned well listen to a man as terrifying as Dusty could be.

"Can I see your phone?" Toni asked, breaking their tense silence.

She handed it to him.

"Not one of ours," he said, examining it. "I'm gonna put a tag in it. Where'd you get it?"

"A friend," she replied. She watched as he pulled a small pouch from his pocket and unzipped it.

"What friend?"

"None of your business."

"As long as it's not tagged by anyone else, I don't give a shit," he said with a faint smile and took the battery out. "Looks clean."

He messed with it for a few minutes then reassembled it and placed it on the table. Jonny took it before she could and looked through her addresses.

"Watcher?" he asked. "Who's that?"

She snatched it from him and tucked it in her pocket.

"Is this code? Are you seeing someone?" Jonny demanded.

"Better not be," Toni seconded.

"I don't think not dating was one of my rules," she retorted.

"Oh, it is," Toni replied with a wink. "Boss put you on the top three to evac when shit hits the fan. It's not because of your cookies."

She shook her head, not sure what to think of his words.

"Anyway, I'm going to practice shooting things," Jonny said, rolling his eyes at the look Toni gave her. He grabbed a handful of cookies and left.

The oven timer buzzed, and she turned away from Toni, not wanting to deal with him any longer. He left, and she gazed at the plates full of cookies around the kitchen.

She didn't know what else to do. She felt wired, her emotions in turmoil. Darian was gone, Jonny distracted by his newfound gun, and she in need of a friend. She flipped through her address book, gaze settling on the Watcher's name. He seemed the most approachable of everyone she'd met.

She hesitated then texted him. Do you want to come by for tea and cookies?

I do indeed!

She smiled at his reply, relieved, then texted Dusty.

I'll leave dinner in the oven. Have a good afternoon.

Chapter Eight.

"Kinda looks like Armageddon." Jenn's voice was quiet in Dusty's ear.

"Yeah," he replied, peering again through the binoculars. He lay under bushes on a hill overlooking the resort area of the clubhouse with another Guardian. It was teeming with vamps, and he'd set up several Guardians around the country club to conduct surveillance on the vamps' activities.

"We can put the explosives around the perimeter," another Guardian to his left said.

"They were seen stringing up motion sensors earlier. I'm expecting a report on their security later," Jenn replied. "I'll forward to you, Jimmy."

"How many we got so far?" Dusty asked.

"We tracked three hundred that flew into Miami or Orlando. No way of tracking how many drove. Talon booked up all the surrounding hotels. He's got space for almost nine hundred. I think that's an optimistic count on our part."

"Two surveillance teams in place," Jimmy added. "We're tagging everyone we can. Talon's a no-show though."

"To preempt or wait," Jenn murmured.