Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) (37 page)

Married, that sucks.
But
, they aren’t together
anymore
and haven’t been together for over two centuries, so
that has to count for something...I think.

I mean, come on,
Tanis has dated and slept with other people in that time.
Just because I haven’t slept with anyone...actually, damn it. He’s
the first boy I’ve
ever kissed
,
and you can’t
exactly call him a boy.
Tanis is a man, a man who has seen more than three centur
ies
worth of world changing events.
The
most I can brag about seeing is
..
.nothing really.
Not in comparison to the wonders he’s seen.

Shit! This isn’t going to end well. I know it...it can’t! Yes, ag
e is nothing but a number, and
Mom
kept
reassuring
me
of
that while we folded my laundry after Tanis left last night, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept.

“Sweetheart, age doesn’t matter when it comes to matters of the heart,” Mom assured me. “Hell, if you tell anyone this, I’ll kick your ass, but I’m older than your Dad.”

That I didn’t know and it actually made me feel slightly better.

Mom was nice to Tanis. Dad walked him to the door and only glared at him a little bit. And
Jarvis seems to like him; they were talking privately before Tanis left for the evening.
I hope it was friendly
banter
and not more death threats from both sides—boys are ridiculous most of the time.

“
Count Suckula is here
!” Jarvis called up the stairs.

Damn it.

I woke up late and barely had time for a shower.
I threw on whatever was folded on the top of the laundry basket.
Since nearly all of my clothes
were jeans and tee shirts, it was safe to assume that it
match
ed
.

“Any day now!” he
yelled
.

“Bite me!” I
yelled back as I scrambled
to get my shoes on.

Jarvis
was waiting at the bottom of the stairs when I slid down the railing.

“You’re a real douche bag,” I informed him, taking the sack lunch he was holding out for me.

“And you love me for it,” he smugly
reminded me
.

“
You have your moments,” I said and kissed him on the cheek before
heading out the door.

Leaning against the passenger side door
of a pearly white European carriage was
Tanis
with
a smile on his face.
Of course he look
ed
like a damn model standing there in his expensive designer clothes.
Even though
he was
just wearing jeans and a v-neck sweater with a
dress shirt and necktie under it
,
I was
more than
confident that t
he outfit co
st more th
e
n I make in a month
;
he looked
like a British
model
.

“Good morning,” I greeted,
hurrying
to the
SUV
.

“Duckie,” he
greeted with a nod
.
“How was your night?” he
asked then smirked
.

“You tell me, you were there,”
I reminded
him
, trying to keep my voice down so Jarvis didn’t hear that Tanis snuck in the window again last night for a couple hours in Heaven
.

“That I was,” Tanis amusingly agreed with a mischievous smirk and smacked my ass in passing, causing me to jump.

When I slid into the passenger seat
,
I nearly
hop
p
ed
back out.

In the backseat
his
cousins sat smiling wide at me, fangs clearly visible.

“Er, hello?” I
greeted and
nervously tucked my hair behind my ears.

“Hello,” they said in unison before laughing.

Tanis appeared in the driver seat in a blur of movement and smiled at me.
“I thought
it would
be
lovely
if you got to know me family more,”
he said.

“Huh?” I asked dumbfounded.

“I dare say, you are
not nervous about being in a car full of vampires, are you?” he
teased
.
“I thought Miss Jay Dee
was not terrified of anything, especially vampires
.
Especially after
that little showing at the garage with me brother,” he mused.

“SUV,” I instantly corrected.
“
And n
o, not really.
Just surprised is all...and I was armed when your douche bag brother was around.
”

“Indeed,” Tanis said, his smile falling and he handed me the silver dagger that I had slammed into his brother’s hand.

“Thank you,” I said and smiled wide causing him to shake his head.

Romeo leaned forward, popping his head between
our seats.
“Don’t let our presence stop you two from doing whatever it is you do on the way to school,” he
said
then
smiled wide.
“Seriously, I
am an avid supporter of voyeurism
.”

Steffen punched him in the arm, knocking him back in his
seat
.
“Shut up.
It’s a wonder you can get laid at all, you’re such a child.”

And the bantering started.

After that they
,
hardl
y noticed that I was even there so I just sat back and watched.

Steffen
was a good guy, very likeable...he reminded
me of Jarvis.
His wife
, Abigail, wa
sn’t what I was expecting
, to say the least
.
She
was very sweet and warm, m
ost of the time she
was
stuck playing pe
acekeeper, however what she sa
id
was
final
;
none of them question
ed it
.
She
was
a woman with power in an SUV full of boys—well, minus me.
Tanis sat quietly, laughing at them, occasionally shaking his head at one of them in the rearview mirror, his free hand wrapped around mine, drawing circles with his thumb on the palm of my hand
as he drove
.

“Do you work tomorrow?”
Tanis
asked when we got to school.

“No, Joe is closing the shop for the day because of the party.
Why?
Oh god, what did your brother do to the shop?” I groaned, expecting the worst.

Again, they
laughed.

Steffen wrapped his arms
around the seat and hugged me.
“Nothing.
I kept an eye on the little shit, even got to taunt him.
I wasn’t
nearly
as good as you, but it was still fun.
I made sure that he picked everything up and closed up properly before I gave him his ring back. Let me tell you, he bitched and whined the entire time.
”

Thank God.

Abigail giggled.
“I don’t think anyone has ever put
that jerk in his place before. B
ravo
,
girlie.”

“Thanks,” I
mumbled and blushed
.
“It
wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done
, but I’ve never been known for my common sense, case in point, I’m in a car full of vampires.”

“SUV,” Tanis corrected with a smile.

“Would you like to go shopping with me tomorrow in Seattle?” Abigail
asked with a
smile
.

“Huh?” I
choked and
turned
around to face her
.

She rolled her large
,
dark brown eyes and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
“Shopping.
I know that this area doesn’t have a mall or anything, but Seattle isn’t that far away and we’ll be back in time for your party.
Just some early morning shopping to arouse the senses and caress the soul,” she
said with a longing sigh.

“Again, huh?” I choked.

“It’s been far too many days since I’ve been in a dressing room, so how about it?”
she asked.

Nervous
,
I chewed on my lip.
“Um
...
well,”
I stammered.

How do
I word this
without offending her
?

“Are you scared to be alone with a vampire who isn’t physically attracted to you?” she asked, cocking her head t
o the side, her thumb absently spinning her diamond encrusted wedding band around her ring finger.
“You are beautiful and your tits are amazing, especially since they’re natural, but I only like to watch those earning what I throat as they spin around a pole. Sorry.”

I laughed.

“Scared? Y
es,” I admitted. “Of a vampire?
N
o.
I don’t like shopping,” I
said
and they laughed.

Tanis coughed, trying to clear the
amusement
from his
voice
.
“It
is not
nearly as bad as you think it is, Duckie.
You might actually like it.”

I opened my mouth to
argue with him,
b
ut he pinched my lips together.

“Worst case scenario, you drag them to an automotive store and go shopping there.”

Everyone was laughing again, even me.
Abigail thought
Tanis
was kidding but he was serious, and he
knew
that I’d do just that.

“Fine, it isn’t like I can get out of it.
What time?”

“Six,” she beamed and I groaned.

“That sucks
.
The Seahawks play their first preseason game tonig
ht
,” I mumbled.

Steffen popped his head between the seats that time. “No shit? Did you want to come over and watch? We have a theater in the basement we can watch the game on.”

Tanis groaned and softly bashed his head into the steering wheel.

“No shit?” I laughed. “Hell yeah...oh wait, I promised Jarvis and Yahto that I’d watch the game with them.”

Steffen smiled wide. “Bring them! The
family isn’t like most vampires
. We don’t
have anything against werewolves. In fact, Toran has been
considered
the
werewolf to vampire relations advocate for centuries, since he was turn
ed
...yeah, I shouldn’t have said that. Either way, bring them. I’m sure your man can whip up some food while we watch the game since he wouldn’t be caught dead watching a ‘football’ game.”

I smirked and looked over at Tanis. “You don’t like sports?”

“Bloody Americans and their
football
.
You do not hardly ever use your bloody foot so why call it ‘football’?! It should be
bloody called what it truly is
!
Americanized rugby with pads since Yanks are obviously pansies,
” he said, making a mocking face so I punched him in the arm, getting a growl from the vampire I assaulted in return and a roar of laughter from the three behind us.