Nicole's POV
--

Ian and Mason grin at Dallas.

"Hello, Dal Pal." Mason says. Ian spins a gun on his finger. The smell of blood becomes apparent; fresh and recent. Dallas stares at the two men.

"What are you doing here?"

"We're here to finish the job." They grin. "Spencer doesn't take nicely to unfinished work." Ian motions towards a fresh scar on his wrist and Mason motions to one on his neck.

"Leave my Mate alone." I say darkly, squeezing Dallas's hand. I can tell he's resisting the urge to step in front of me. That would make him an easier target and I know they won't touch me.

Mason and Ian shake their heads. "Oh, we don't have to kill Dallas anymore, though, we will eventually. We found... Someone else worth just as much." Mason smirks and Ian stuffs the gun into its holster. I don't understand why Dallas turns pale. The blood leaves him completely. I don't understand why. And then he pulls me into his parents' room, past Mason and Ian who walk down the stairs to leave Dallas's home. Their work is done.

Dallas screams and lets go of my hand. Lying on the floor is his mother, a bullet through her thigh. But it's not a dangerous area unless untreated. But then again, it's probably silver wolfsbane.

Dallas sinks to his knees in front of her, his hands shaking and sweating, his face contorted into one of agony.

"No.... No. No. No. No. No!" He chants. He lets out a wail, pulling his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth whimpering. His eyes are horror stricken. "Mum... Mum..."

Her angelic eyes are closed, thank goodness, and her glow is gone.

"Mum..."

Pained by grief myself, I look around. Where is Damian?

Oh, yeah. He's just writhing in silent pain on the floor by the door. I don't even bother to tell Dallas as I walk over to Damian.

He hisses and thrashes, his eyes as wide as the hole inside of him. His Mate is gone. I touch his arm, him becoming instantly still as he looks at me with dead eyes. He's going to die. He's going to die in a way worse than Dallas almost did. Because there is no cure.

"Damian. Damian. I'm going to help you stand. Do you hear me? I want you to close your eyes." I command, reaching my hand down to him. He hisses, but takes it, standing up many inches taller than me. His eyes are closed.

How am I so calm? Carly is dead. The woman that I just teamed up with to hit Dallas with pillows is dead. Gone.

It's because I'm the only one who can spare it. This deadly calm.

After leading Damian downstairs to lie on the couch and start whimpering, I head back up to see Dallas holding his mother's head in his lap. His tears again her death-paled skin.

I tap his shoulder gently and he looks up at me.

"Dallas, come on. Let her go." He whimpers and looks back at her head. His words are a jumble.

"Dallas. Come on..." I say quietly, feeling my eyes fill with tears. The shock is horrible. Why did they have to kill Carly? Why did they have to break the perfect little family they had?

I grab Dallas's hands, pulling him up. Both him and his father need to calm down before they say goodbye. I drape his arm over my shoulders and hold his waist to keep him up. He sags against me, his eyes closed to support the heavy tears forming.

Once I get the Amicus boys sat on the couch, they both sit in their own silent grief, mourning Carly.

I take this time to do the same.

--

Hours later, Damian has stopped his twitching and Dallas has stopped whimpering.

I stand. "Are you two hungry?" I ask, realizing it's dinner and there's no one here to prepare dinner. I'm the best they got.

They both just look at me. I'll take that as a yes.

--

I go through the motions of cooking, preparing dinner for the two people in the living room. I don't know what to do for them. I put some vegetables in a pan on the stove and stir the pasta in the pot next to it. Wiping my sweaty hands on my jeans, I put some salt on the vegetables and almost drop the container when I feel something touch me.

Dallas.

He wraps his arms around me, burying his face in my neck. His tear-stained face touching my neck.

I back us away from the stove and turn so I'm hugging him rather than him hugging me from behind.

He lets out a small sound that sounds like a whimper and I gently stroke the back of his head, his hair soft against my hand. "Shh. Dal, it's okay. It's okay. Listen to me. Your father is out there right now, Mateless. Imagine what he is going through right now. You need to go comfort him. Okay?" He doesn't move. "Dallas.. I'm sad, too. But you have to help your father." I say quietly. He moves then, turning his head to kiss my cheek before heading into the living room with a heavy body.

When dinner is ready, I bring it out to both of them to see Dal holding his father's shoulders while he cries into his lap. I've never seen Damian cry.

He looks up, his silver eyes broken and dead inside. He doesn't have much time left and that pains me.

"I brought some dinner. Damian, think of what she would want you to do." I set the food in front of him, indicating that he should eat and then motion at Dallas. Dallas leans forward, placing the plate of food in his father's lap and then settling to eat his own. It's horribly silent.

Damian stares at his food and I walk towards him, sitting next to him.

"Damian. Mr. Amicus. You need to eat." I say. He looks at me, his hollow eyes becoming hard.

"You smell like him. Had you not come into our lives, she would still be alive. It's your fault she's dead. You need to leave. I will not let you kill me or my son." I stare at him as if he 's foreign. Dallas is there in a flash, knocking the food out of his father's lap. He growls at his dad.

"You will not blame her for Mum's death. It is not her fault. How dare you say that. Just because you're sick and moody doesn't mean you need to blame her. She's trying to help. She made you food. " Dallas starts to shake. I reach out, touching his hand and he turns his dark eyes to me, instantly becoming lighter.

"Dal, it's okay. It's grief." I say quietly. Then I turn to Damian. "I'm sorry. I know it's my fault. But I won't let either of you die. I won't let anything happen to you or your son, Mr. Amicus. But blaming people won't get her back and sitting here won't either. I think we should say our goodbyes. In the morning and then bury her. Unless you want to save her ashes." Damian looks at me and I can see I'm breaking through. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring my life crashing into yours. But I'm trying to help Carly. And this is what I can do." I say, motioning at the food on the floor.

He blinks. Once, twice. Seven times.

"I'm sorry." He says quietly. "Dallas is right. It's not your fault." He cleans up the food on the floor and stands. "I'm going to go get some more." He walks then, stopping only for a second to look down at me and say a quick 'thank you for dinner' before continuing on.

I nod with a small smile and look at Dallas looking at me.

He smiles kindly, it not reaching his eyes. "I'm sorry. About Dad." He says. Why do I keep forgetting he has an Australian accent?

I shake my head and then he's right next to me, his nose next to my neck, breathing in my scent. "Thank you." He says quietly, his breath stirring the hair around my ear.

"It's what I can do." He places a kiss right behind my ear, hugging me.

"You hungry?" He asks. When I don't answer, he lets go and returns a few minutes later with food on a plate. "Even the cook needs to eat." He grins.

I take it with a grateful nod and sit on the couch, eating. Damian returns moments later to collect the dirty dishes from everyone.

Everything seems dull and lifeless without Carly. The lights. The food. Color.

Then we all sit in silence, three grieving people praying for life in the morning.

--

When morning comes, we all wake from our spots on the couch, Dallas on one side of me and Damian on the other. Damian isn't sleeping, though. And I know why. Dallas, however, is almost drooling on my hair. This makes me laugh and him startle awake.

In a silent agreement, we all three head upstairs to see the body of Carly.

Just like she was the day before. Dead.

Her hair is sprawled around her head like a halo and she almost looks as if she's sleeping. But we all know better.

Dallas stands next to me, not trusting himself. Damian, however, kneels next to his Mate and lays her head in his lap. He kisses her forehead, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His words are quiet, for her ears only.

Dallas and I bow our heads.

--

After saying goodbye and burying Carly, we all come sit around the dining room table again. None of us wants to go into the kitchen again. It smells like her.

It's late. AGAIN. Took us all day to bury her.

Damian looks as if he's about to fall asleep. Dallas does, too.

I throw blankets at them and realize that I need to get another for myself. I know of one in Dallas's room. So that's where I go.

After grabbing the blanket, I turn around.

To come to face with.

My father.

I want to slap him.

"Hey, love. Ready to go home?" He asks.

"I am home." I say. He laughs.

"No, love. Your real home."

I shake my head. "I can't believe you. I can't believe you would kill Damian's Mate! I can't believe you would kill Carly! Why would you do that? And then you think I would betray my own Mate. I love Dallas. He is my Mate. I know you don't care about yours, but leave mine alone."

He growls.

"I hate you. I will never go anywhere with you." I glare angrily at him and take a step towards him.

"There is more than one way to get you to come back with me." And that's when I scream and my father lurches forward to grab me. I kick at him. He won't hurt me. But I'll hurt him.

I hope for Dallas to come as Spencer starts dragging me to the window. I scream again. And kick.

"Let go of me!" I growl and lurch forward. And then the door bangs open revealing a furious Dallas. His eyes narrow on Spencer and he rushes him. Spencer hisses and drops me, shoving Dallas off of him. Dallas doesn't even care about Spencer anymore. He reaches for me as Spencer climbs out his window.

His brown eyes lock with my blue ones. A silent promise.

He'll come back to collect me later.