It was slightly warmer than it had been the day before. And by that, I meant very slightly. But in the dead of winter, I took any slight additional heat I could get and considered myself lucky. Charlie was digging in the snow while Lydia watched him. Her mother was having a bad day and had asked Lydia to adjust her schedule to help a bit. She’d done it without blinking. That was what Lydia did. She made things work for others.

I didn’t know why I was nervous, but I gripped the stupid dog I’d carved Charlie like it was really important, when, in reality, it was a dumb toy the kid would probably hate.

“Hey.” Lydia waved to me as I came close. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

I shrugged. The bed was cold without her. “Couldn’t.”

She raised her eyebrows. “One word answer. I think you’re tired.”

My girl was right. It had been a long night without her. She’d had to help at home and that meant no training, no patrolling, and no cuddling with me. I’d apparently become that guy, the one always thinking about or missing his girlfriend.

“I’m going to go sleep. But I wanted to give this to Charlie.” I handed it to him and turned around to leave.

“Doggie,” the child cried out.

Lydia darted to her feet. “Deacon.”

I stopped and reluctantly made my way back. She pointed at the dog. “Where did you get that?”

“I made it. I know, it’s a bad rendition. I wanted him to have something to play with.”

She threw her arms around me. I had to be better prepared for her to do those things because once again, I went down, this time, back first into the snow. We both oomphed, and then she laughed. “You made my brother a toy.”

“I did.” Were we stating the obvious?

She kissed me all over my face, and then Charlie ran over to us, giggling. “The doggie goes woof.”

“He loves it.” She kissed me again. “And I’ve missed you. I couldn’t sleep last night, and now you’re going to go fight without me. Dad can take back over tonight. They’re all trying to help the blacksmith get the machetes done.”

I nodded. “You do what you need to do.”

A scowl crossed her mouth for half a second. “You’re grumpy. Tired. And missing me. Don’t act like you don’t care.”

I leaned up on my elbows. “All right, Ms. Lydia. I’ll do whatever you say.”

“Don’t mind him, Charlie. Deacon gets funny when he needs a nap.”

She was right.

The days passed in a pretty easy routine. More and more of my trainees stood guard at night. There were occasional Werewolves to deal with. I’d become convinced they were passing by here on their way to somewhere else. We were a regular rest stop. If they happened to kill someone, perhaps it was just part of their travels. Eventually, word would get back to the Alpha that this was not a safe area. Then we’d see what happened. They’d either adjust their travels, or they’d attack us.

There were still no Vampires, and it was almost day fourteen. If Micah could be counted to arrive when he said he would, he would be putting in an appearance sometime that day.

Lydia had stopped to see her parents, and I was on my way to pick her up, having stopped to thank the old women who had knit me a new hat. Every day there was something on my porch, a present to help.

What I really needed were machetes, and they were coming as fast as they could.

The door swung open at my approach, and Gilbert stepped outside. “Hello, son.”

I waved. “Hi.” I still really didn’t know how to deal with Gilbert or Emma. Was I supposed to make conversation?

He tilted his head to the side. “Are you okay?”

“Sure.” I rocked back on my feet. “Just waiting on Lydia. I can leave if she’s not coming out.”

“She’ll be right out.” He rubbed his chin. “It’s you I’m concerned about. You look like hell.”

Did I? I showered every day. I had changed my clothes. “Um, I’m sorry.” Was I stained? Or not dressed correctly? I looked down at myself.

He shook his head. “It’s around the eyes, Deacon. They’re all bloodshot. And it looks like you’ve not shaved in a few days? Your posture. I’m not criticizing, more like concerned.”

Lydia made her way around her father. “Don’t do that, Dad. I know you mean well, but he’s not used to it. And if he doesn’t look cared for or rested, it’s because he doesn’t sleep even when he’s supposed to. He worries. About all of us. He’ll be fine once this is behind him and the fate of the small portion of the world is off his shoulders.”

She hugged me, and I did feel better that she was there. I’d never thought to be so needy but there it was, and I was pretty comfortable with it, too.

I put my arm around her, and we walked down the street. “Do I really look that bad?”

I would admit it had been a while since I’d looked in the mirror. She shook her head. “Nothing sleeping for two weeks, sex with me every day, sunshine, and something sugary to eat couldn’t fix.”

“Just those four S words, huh?” She was so adorable. “It must be bad.”

“No.” She pinched my side. “You’re still the sexiest guy I’ve ever seen.”

When she used words like sex, I got instantly hard. Although we spent a lot of time together, we actually weren’t having sex every day. I wished we could. Half the time it was me conking out when we were together and the other half it was her. She was right, however; I wasn’t sleeping much. Maybe an hour before I’d wake up in a cold sweat thinking of something else I had to teach them before the Vampires came.

“I love the things you say, Lydia.”

She blushed, another favorite thing I got to see her do. “I was talking to Cherie.”

“Should I be worried?”

“No.” She shook her head. “What I should have said was that she was talking, and I was listening. She was filling me in on how some of my students were doing. Anyway, there’s something I’d like to try.”

Lydia had my full attention. “What’s that?”

“Maybe I could show you.”

Sure, I was game.

I hardly remembered the rest of the walk home. I’d obviously done it but all of my attention fell to thinking about Lydia’s naked body. Sex wasn’t quite so awkward now. All of the hotness with a lot more ease. I couldn’t get over the fact I got to see her naked, that she trusted me with her body. I’d never stop being grateful for the moments we spent together.

She stood in front of me, unabashedly stripping off her clothes. My heart rate picked up, and my slight erection became full blown hardness in my pants. I reached for her, and she backed up. “You get to look but not touch yet.”

“Oh, really?” I reclined on my elbows. “Is this part of what Cherie was talking about?”

She nodded. “I’m putting my own touch on it.”

“Then by all means.”

I smiled at her, and she beamed right back at me. For just a moment, it felt like we were the only two souls on earth. Nothing mattered, nothing could go wrong. She made the earth move.

She tugged at my pants, letting them drop down to my ankles. Then my underwear. I liked where this was going. Anything that got my penis inside of her was okay by me. Although I loved the foreplay. Touching her, watching her squirm, hearing her sighs, knowing her body was getting ready for me and that she loved it.

Lydia dropped to her knees. She pushed my thighs, and I fell back onto the bed. Well this was different…

It only dawned on me what she was going to do a second before she did it. Her mouth came down on the top of my cock. I gasped, utterly unprepared for how her hot little mouth was going to send jolts of pleasure straight from the top of my erection to every space in my body. “Shit.”

She pushed down further, and when she couldn’t get all of me in her mouth, she slid her hand down the rest of the way, playing with my balls while she was at it. I could hardly breathe. She pulled up, imitating the way she would ride me if we were doing this and she was on top, one of my ten favorite positions.

Over and over, she bobbed her head until my hips threatened to come off the bed. I really didn’t want to do that. Might that hurt her? It really would help if I knew what I was doing more, sometimes. She pulled up and moaned. Was this… turning her on? The thought made my cock grow even harder. I loved to make Lydia hot.

“Lydia.” My cock was downright throbbing now. “I’m going to come. You might want to, I don’t know, pull back.”

She met my gaze and in it was all I had to see. My girl had no intention of not seeing this to the end. It took longer than I thought it would for me to come. Maybe I just didn’t want to miss out on seeing any of this. Maybe it was just I had so much pent up tension but rather than letting loose right that second, it took her minutes to bring me to completion. She didn’t seem to mind. As I moaned, so did she. Although I hadn’t touched her, there was no question in my mind Lydia liked this as much as I did. She had me in her power—in the best possible way—and she was enjoying it.

I lost myself in her mouth. I couldn’t think to control myself. My hips came off the bed as I came. My mind was devoid of… anything. Lydia kept her mouth on top of me, her hand on the bottom of my erection, stroking me, giving me jolts of pleasure the whole damned time. How did she do that?

When she finally pulled away, I forced myself to move even though my muscles had gone completely languid. I yanked her to me. She squealed, and then her mouth was on mine. I kissed her. How would I ever say thank you for that? With everything we’d done, and I’d never discount any of it, her mouth bringing me pleasure had to be one of the most intimate things, ever. It couldn’t have been easy, either.

I kissed her cheeks, her eyes… everywhere I could reach.

She finally got enough distance from me she could speak. “Looks like you liked that. I wasn’t sure I would know what to do.”

“You’re just amazing.” I flipped her over. “I bet I could use my mouth on you.”

She bit down on her lip. ‘Well you could but not today.”

“Why not?” Were we in some kind of time limit?

“Because I got my period this morning.” She scrunched up her nose. “Next week work?”

It took me a second to realize what she was telling me and that was only because sometimes I was really dumb. I had so few women in my life. “Right. Okay. Do you need anything?”

She shook her head. “I’ve got this. Maybe just a snuggle.”

That I could do. I’d learned over the last weeks that Lydia really liked to be basically half on top of my body when I held her. Just side-by-side didn’t seem to offer her the same comfort. I’d come to love the contact, too. But it left her exposed. What if something awful came through the door? She’d be the one to take the hit. I couldn’t allow that.

I took the covers, pulled them over both of us, and then managed to wiggle until I was half on top of her, my leg basically pinning her to the bed. I’d take any attack that came.

She rubbed her hand down the side of my face. “When this is over, you’re taking a week off. I swear we’ll be able to guard the town that long without you.”

“Nothing I’m doing is that big a deal.” I was happy to do it. “I want this place safe. You live here, and I love you.”

The thing was… I hadn’t planned to say it just then. I knew I would, eventually. Love made me uncomfortable even though I wanted to roll around in it like a happy puppy. It had been on my tongue a million times. I simply hadn’t said it because I was a coward.

She raised her head. “Deacon Evans, you can’t ever take that back. I can’t live without it now.”

My own words stated back to me. I understood them. “Never ever.”

Lydia kissed me so sweetly. “I love you.”

I stared at the Full Moon rising over the horizon. It wasn’t a night anyone wanted to run into a Werewolf. In my new clothing, I wasn’t cold.

“Come on, kid. You lived with the Vampires for years. You know I’m right.”

I turned, expecting Keith to be there, except, of course, he wasn’t. This was a memory.

“Come on, kid. You lived with the Vampires for years. You know I’m right.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever I knew about living with the Vampires, I’ve left there.”

“No, listen. Everyone else thinks I’m crazy but you know I’m not.” Keith pushed his red hair out of his eyes. “We know the Werewolves are moon-bound but I think the Vampires are, too.”

The man was out of his mind. “Keith, Vampires don’t shift. They’re Vampires all the time, regardless of the moon cycle.”

“They’re harder to kill on the Full Moon. That’s the night the Werewolves kill them, too. Otherwise they’re left alone. Come on, you’ve seen it. I know you have. Something happens to the Vampires that night.”

He was right. I’d noticed it myself.

But I didn’t tell him that. I shrugged. It was better to be silent. I wasn’t invested in any of this crap, and there was nothing he was going to do that would make me give a shit.

Lydia grabbed my arm, taking my hand in hers. “Deacon, you okay? You haven’t moved in a bit.”

“The Vampires are harder to kill on Full Moon. Most people don’t notice. Even Warriors. We don’t… pay close enough attention. Keith did.” And I’d been a total asshat.

She furrowed her brow. “Okay. What does that mean?”

“It means they’re coming tonight. The Vampires are all coming tonight. And so are the Werewolves.”

Why hadn’t I thought about the moon before that second? Because I wasn’t all that concerned with Werewolves. Okay. This was happening. I had to think.

Lydia sucked in a long breath. “We’re ready, right?”

“No one could ever be ready for this. Not even Genesis. Full on assaults. Damn it. Okay. We can’t let them into the town. Or anywhere near it.”

She nodded. “What do you want me to do, Deacon? How do I help?”

“Take three of the trained then go round up the sick, the young—whoever didn’t work with us. We need to move them. One location. The shed, the big one on the east side of town. Block the doors. The window. Make it stink like death. The Vampires hate that. The rest of us, we’ll meet them head on.” Sort of. “Go. I love you.”

I was glad I added the I love you. I wasn’t sure when we’d see each other again. Or if we would. The sun would come up; it always did. We just might not be here to see it. She raised her mouth to mine and kissed me. “Believe in this. I’m going to.” She nodded once. “And I love you, too.”

She walked away, each step she took was too far from me. I had to let her go. She believed. How was that possible?

I grabbed the rest of the group and started talking. Fortunately, they listened to me very well because I wasn’t at all certain I was making sense.

I pointed in the direction of the shed. “The vulnerable will be over there. We need the monsters, if they get this far, to stay west.”

Trevor nodded. “How do we do that, Deacon?”

I held up my hand. “Look, I don’t know if this is going to work or not. But it’s a worth a try. We’re all going to cut our hands. I want blood everywhere on the west side of town. Not enough to get you dizzy or sick. But if we all start bleeding, maybe they’ll be drawn to the scent.

I hadn’t thought about the Full Moon. Every night I thought about this battle, it was the Vampires. Why hadn’t I considered this? Why was I such a fucking idiot, and why did I think Micah could do the impossible and get back in time for tonight? These people were going to die, and I was going to go down with them.

We were going to be slaughtered. At least I’d go out fighting, and maybe Lydia could make it through the night. I grabbed my machete and used the edge to cut my hand. I dropped blood in the snow. I’d lead them where I wanted them to go.

My little group of newbie fighters were rubbing their blood on walls, on the ground. Finally, I had to stop. I couldn’t give too much more and stay upright.

Right at the moment, I felt them. The monsters were there. Both kinds. I laughed, which must have made me sound deranged. There were so many my body was practically overwhelmed with the sensation of their arrival.

I’d only ever felt this once before. We’d almost lost Rachel to the Werewolves. Babies had been dragged off into the woods.

Trevor caught my attention. “What now, Deacon?” He’d become the unofficial spokesperson for the group.

I had to speak. “Place nine people in watch positions. The rest of you with me. Trevor, take the sentry position here. I need you to pay close attention. If they get this far, to the town, protect the shack.” Lydia’s whole family would be in there. “And make sure everyone has a machete if there is one to give them.” I nodded to him.

“I’m on it.”

I put out my hand. “Hey everyone, listen up, I didn’t expect this. I didn’t think we’d have this attack all together. I have to tell you, it’s a huge number. You’re brave. When I took this on, I thought maybe I’d teach a few of you some tricks to fight. I didn’t expect you to all be… incredible. You blew me away, every day. Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.”

I hoped they understood what I couldn’t say. I was glad to be with them. One way or another. I’d keep the monsters away from that shack. My whole life was inside of it.

They came at us fast. The Vampires slid rather than walked. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder and waited for them. As I’d hoped, they were drawn west. I needed it to seem like I didn’t want them to go that way.

“Hey, guys,” I called out, “protect the west side. Don’t let them near the children.”

I ran in that direction, breaking the line and drawing the undead toward me. In the distance, monsters growled. Great, the Werewolves were there. I’d never hated being right as much as I did just then. Maybe they’d kill some Vamps or vice-versa for me in the meantime. On Full Moon nights, the Werewolves didn’t obey the Vampires.

I staked when I could. Ran and jumped as needed. There was nothing I could do for my crew. They were either going to run or fight, live or die. Battle had no rules. It never did.

I ducked away from a swipe from a Vamp claw, kicked it hard in the chest and stuck my stake through its heart seconds before it turned into dust. There was a chance we could burn them to death. Vamps hated fire; it killed them. The Werewolves would run from it but get away. And the problem with flames was they tended to get out of control and make things worse.

I darted to my feet, looking behind me. My nine sentries were still at their posts. Good job, guys. I wasn’t going to shout at them. But I felt it. The pride that they stood unafraid.

Others shouted. There were still people battling alongside me.

I whirled around. A group of twelve Vampires surrounded me, circling me until I was trapped in between them.

“You think it’s going to take twelve of you? A full dozen to take down little old me? I appreciate the compliment.” This would be it. I’d never get away from twelve. Maybe, I’d get rid of three or four of them before the others took me down.

They’d find my body tomorrow, clawed to death and bitten. Unless they turned me. That frightened me more than death. I didn’t want to be one of them.

Well, I wasn’t going down without a fight. I raised my arm, and they all hissed. “Three of you are going with me. Maybe more. Which ones, I wonder.”

Just then a loud horn caught my attention. The Vamps heard it, too, and as a group, all looked in the direction. There were lights, bright ones, coming in the night. Too many for me to count. I sucked in my breath. I knew those lights. Those were Chad Lyon’s freaking cars. The guy was obsessed with restoring them. He looked for gas everywhere we went.

They had come… Genesis was here.

One of the cars turned in my direction, heading straight for me and the Vamps like it was on a mission to ram.

I jumped, colliding with a Vampire, and drove a stake through its heart. I barely managed to get out of the way.

Four people jumped out. Chad. Rachel. Micah. Glen, Micah and Chad’s brother-in-law.

They had their stakes out. Before I could get to my feet, the Vampires around me were no more.

Micah grabbed my arm, dragging me from the ground. “Good job getting out of the way.”

I’d never been so happy to see anyone in my life. “You were going to hit me with that car.”

“I told him not to,” Chad called out. “It might dent the vehicle. Some party you’re having here.”

Rachel groaned. “Don’t mind him. It’s been slow at home. Leave it to you, Deacon, to find the next big Vampire hovel and try to take it on all by yourself.”

Glen patted me on the back. “I always wanted to travel.”

They were here. They were all really here. I just couldn’t believe it. “You guys, you’ll never know…”

My voice trailed off. Werewolves were howling a different song than pain. It creeped me out. What had made them so happy? I burst through the group that made up my friends and rushed toward the noise. I smelled the smoke before I saw it.

The fucking Wolves had set Geronimo on fire. I quit breathing for a second. I had to move. They were all in the shed.

Micah grabbed my arm. “Where did you stash everyone?”

I pointed at the shed. “East side.”

We ran together as the flames bursting through roofs took down the place that had become, in such a short time, my home. They would not take my love. I couldn’t lose her. My feet couldn’t move fast enough.