Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) (31 page)

Why
was
it that when you want
ed
the day to drag ass, it race
d
by faster than you
could
remember?

It honestly was
as if I blinked on the way to school, and then
I
was suddenly driving away from it, heading to work with Tanis tapping his fingers on the steering wheel
; it was annoying the hell out of me
.
He was distracted
all day.
When we arrived
to
creative writing
, he pulled my seat
out for me
, the one next to the window,
and joined me once I sat, and he absently caressed the side of my thigh with the back
s
of his fingers. I was rather confident
he knew he was turning me on...
hell, the werewolves in the front row even knew, but he appeared completely
oblivious to it. During gym, he wouldn’t leave my side and h
is eyes were constantly roaming, as if he was looking for danger.

I wasn’t entirely sure if I like
d
his sudden
possessiveness, but at the same time, I found myself doing that
with
him; I growled more than once at the bitches that got too close to him.
I mean, it
could have been my imagination, but I was pretty damn sure that it wasn’t; something was on his mind, I just didn’t know what
.

“Did you want to go on a murderous rampage with me tonight and suck an orphanage dry while I dance naked in the moonlight bath
ed in the blood of the innocent?
” I asked conversationally while
watching the speeding scenery pass by
.

Tanis absently nodded. “Whatever tickles your fancy, Duckie.”

“I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,” I sang—everyone love
d
Johnny Cash.

“That is brilliant, Duckie
.”

I punched him in the arm.

“Ow, what
in bloody hell was
that for?” he complained, rubbing his arm.

“Dude, seriously?
You’ve been spacing off since you picked me up
this morning
.
I’m used to being ignored, but I was
hoping that you were different,” I pouted.

He shook his head. “Draining an orphanage, not something I am in support of, however I am in
full
support, in every meaning of the term, of watching you dance naked in the moon light
...
being
bathed in blood
is
not necessary
. Johnny Cash is on
e of
me favorites, he was a good lad that I had the great pleasure of getting pissed with
him
more than once in the nineteen-
fifties and sixties.” He looked over at me and I fought the urge to smack him simply because of the smug look on his face. “I assure you, Duckie, you are not being ignored.
I hear everything you say and all of the silent words that are so very clearly heard when I gaze into your beautiful eyes.
”

That was hot as hell.

”Okay then, what’s
up?”
I asked; my
face felt as if it was on fire from embarrassment.

He looked at me curiously, then laugh
ed at the expression on my face.
“
My apologies for appearing distracted, I ass
ure you it was not my intention.
I heard everything you
have
said since picking you up this morning. I am mentally preoccupied with…family matters,
”
he struggled to explain.

Oh, Georgiana wasn’t at school today.
I hope she didn’t fall off the wagon and drain a bunch of people.
That would suck, but mainly for selfish reasons:
I’m not about to give her brother up yet.

“
Me brother is in Washington,” he said under his breath. “
Georgiana saw him last night while I was with you
, and her love of theatrics
has inevitably created
a barney for me
.”

“Huh, and that’s a bad thing
why
?”
I didn’t understand. Family wasn’t like that, from what I was used to, so the Ashtons extreme dysfunctionality was beyond my limited experience in the world.

Tanis looked at me and sighed, shaking his head.
“Duckie, you have to understand that not all vampires are as
brilliant as I
.”

I laughed, silently hoping he was kidding, but the realist in me knew that Mr. Tanis Ashton was serious; he thought very highly of himself.

“
A large majority of
vampires are
much like
those you
have seen
in movies
, on the tele,
and read of in books…
well, minus that whole sparkling in the sun shit
e;
that was just bloody retarded
and an insult to vampires and beaver leavers everywhere
.
”

I roared with laughter; his sick, cynical
,
and extremely dry sense of humor amused me, especially since it usually
wasn’t
intentional.

“Anyway,
” he said, shaking his head, “m
e bro
ther is the worst of the worst. Where your brother loves you to no end and would do anything to see you happy, me brother
thinks of only himself, and will kill
you
an
d not think twice about it simply because
I fancy you
.
I d
o not
know what
he is
doing
here in Washington
, and
, I will admit, I am
simply terrified to ask…”
his words trailed off.

My eyes widened.

Holy shit. That’s a total mood killer.

“Oh,” was all I managed to say and it came out
as a choked whisper
.

I was anything but the picture of cool, calm, werewolf composure.

“Duckie,
until
I know what he wants and why he
is
here,
I will appear to be a little distracted, all while being ridiculously over
protective.
Me brother
longs
to
destroy everything I hold dear.”

Hold dear?
He holds me dear?
!
Cool!

I was internally squealing like a little girl at Christmas getting her first air ratchet.

“Take this,”
Tanis said and
handed me a
business card
with his phone number on it.

I quickly memorized it and handed it back
, to his surprise
; now I could bu
g him at all hours of the night!

“Call me
if you need anything
...anything at all
.
I shall be here as soon as school releases and will wait
until
you close up
shop
, then I shall escort you home
.”

And the stalker like behavior begins. Awesome…
sarcasm totally noted.

“Okay,
try to have fun at school,
” I
said and forced a smile before
getting out
of the SUV.

This is ridiculous: vampires, now crazy vampires, and a white werewolf falling for
one of the
not crazy
vampires
but
the
extremely prissy
one
out of the bunch
.
Isn’t that the trifecta, or at the very least, one of the signs of the apocalypse?

Sadly, never did I imagine that my internal bitching would be so ‘spot on’ as Tanis would say.

“
Mr. Ashton-”

“Tanis,” he instantly corrected. “There is no need for formalities between us, Duckie.”

I kept forgetting that he seemingly viewed me as more than just an acquaintance now that he had an open invitation to my home and stayed the night.

“Sorry. Would
you like
to come over for dinner…tonight?
” I asked.
“With
me and
my
family?”

“Are you
nutter
?” he
asked, not at all amused
.

I nodded my understanding and closed the door.

Tanis rolled down the window and forced a smile.
“Duckie, if you
want me to come for dinner that is acceptable
.
However, I ask that you
make sure
your parents are in agreement with opening their home to a vampire who is..
.
Duckie,
today is not the best of day for me to find meself
in the middle of a dog fight,” he
said, sounding aspirated.

“Excuse me?”

He
cringed
, obviously his mouth was running away with him again
.
“
My most heartfelt apologies, Duckie. Believe me when I say that I did not mean for it to come out in such an offensive
and derogatory
way.”

“Uh huh,” I said in a clipped tone.

“I shall
see you soon.
Be safe,
”
he said, his
tone
flooded with remorse and embarrassment and it instantly made me forgive him.

The stubborn, overly proper vampire had a way of seemingly making him forgive him without much effort.

“Sure,” I mumbled, irritated that I forgave him already.

Tanis waited for me to enter the
office
before he headed back to school.

Obviously he really cares
for me, at least in a sense that supersede
s
just being friends. Was he apprehensive about meeting my parents….oh my god! I just asked him to meet the parents. Shit! It is
way too
soon for that type of crap…er, I think. No, I’m pretty damn sure.
Damn it! T
his is going to suck and not in the way that Tanis is used to sucking…oh my god, that sounded so bad.

How in the hell did I end up like this? I’m crushing on a goddamn three hundred year old vampire that I just guilt tripped into having dinner with my parents. Lovely. Could this get any worse? Oh wait, yes, yes it could. His asshole brother might
s
how up and try to kill me. That’s just lovely. Good thing Jarvis made me wear his belt today. I hate that sixth sense of his but I’m grateful for it today if something happens…not that I’ll ever admit
it
to him.

“Like sands through the hourglass, these as the days of Jay Dee’s life,” I
mumbled under my breath before entering the shop from the front office.

“Hey, Jay!
How
was school?” Joe
asked.

I he
aded towards the back to change
into a work shirt
.

“Same old, same old,” I said with a shrug
—that was a lie and a half
. “
What’s on the books for today?” I
asked while I
changed out of my
shirt and buttoned up a black Dickies work shirt.
I carefully tucked Tanis’ bracelet in my pocket so it didn’t get dirty or damaged.
That morning, when
I woke to find him gone, I started to tear up. But when I hastily wiped away the moisture building up in the corners of my eyes, the feel of cold metal sliding down my arm startled me before it flooded me with even more emotions. In my head it translated to Tanis telling me that he’d be back in a few hours and would drive
us
to school
, together
.

Most likely I was giving myself way more credit than I was due, but it meant more to me than he could have ever possibly known.

Joe forced a smile.
“
Sorry, Jay.
Just a couple of oil changes and a carburetor that needs rebuilt.
I need to run to Bellingham, can you handle it?”

“Yup,” I said, grateful to have the shop to myself, even if it wasn’t the safest time for me to be by myself, especially with a
n
asshole Ashton running around unchecked. “Can
you bring me back a box of Twinkies
and some buffalo jerky
?”
I asked. “I know Aunty Songbird has some she just finished
drying
.
”