Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) (41 page)

Shopping wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

It was a thousand times worse!

They dragged me around to
so many goddamn
stores,
half of which I didn’t know were in the mall or
even
existed, and
then
they
tried
to play dress up with me like
I was their own personal
life-size
Barbie doll
.
But the worst was when
Romeo had to
explain to me how to get into
a damn corset
!
He
had
to think that
I was
mentally retarded or something
by that point.
I had
never been more embarrassed in my life!

Luckily, I was able to sneak off to the arcade.
I got in nearly two hours of video games before they found me.
I fell asleep
in the backseat
—I was up way too late last night and got up way too early—
but
immediately
woke
when a new smell filled the
car:
Georgiana.

The bitchy redhead
called
Abigail
while we w
ere passing through Bellingham
;
she wanted a ride since she got caught in the rain.
Of course she snarled and growled at me the entire time.
Romeo
even had to trade
seats with her so
I didn’t have to sit next to
the criminally insane vampire
.
But that put me stuck
in the back seat with Romeo
, who
kept
giving me those large
,
puppy dog eyes of his.
The
vampire
was
amusing when he
wasn’t
trying to hump my leg
, but it didn’t distract me from the bitch in the front seat who wanted to kill me.

The snarling redhead turned around in the passenger seat and glared at me.
“You need to leave m
e
bloody
brother alone, you stoney wanker!”

“
Huh?
”
I tu
rned to Romeo who was groaning
.
“Translation?” I asked.

Romeo
shook his head.
“Broke bitch, in essence.”

“Oh,” I
said and
nodded my agreement.
“Is that all
?
” I asked condescendingly.

The long string of profanities
that flowed from her lips
was impressive but I
only
understood every
sixth or
seventh
word
, most of which would
have made
my brother blush!

Finally Abigail couldn’t take it anymore and slammed on the brakes, sending the irate redhead smashing into the windshield, and slamming
both
me
and
Romeo
against our seatbelts.
Mine didn’t catch fast enough, and my face smashed into the back of the driver’s seat.

“Ow,” I complained,
pinching my
nose.

For being a kick ass werewolf,
I
got
nosebleeds ridiculously easy, and
at that moment,
my nose was starting to bleed.
Usually this isn’t a big deal;
it simply translated to
a ruined shirt
or a stained bandana.

However,
in a car full of vampires,
a bloody nose was a big
effing
problem.

As if everything was in slow motion, I raised my gaze to Romeo and he was staring at the red seeping
from between
my fingers
with black eyes
, his usually handsome face twisted into something else, something vampiric.
The bitchy redhead looked even crazier, her pouty lips
were pulled
up into a snarl, exposing her seemingly elongating fangs.

This sucks.

“Jay Dee, get out of the car
.
Now
,
”
Romeo said through clenched teeth.

He didn’t have to tell me twice.

Blindly, I searched for the door handle, not wanting to take my eyes off of the three vampires staring at me like I was a damn ‘all you can eat’ buffet.
I had just gotten the door opened when
someone
slamming
into my body, sending
both of us
flying across the road.

Georgiana was on top of me, snapping at my throat like a craz
ed
wild animal.
I held her back with my hands the best I could, but the crazy bitch was stronger than I
had given
her credit for
.

We rolled across the grass, our bodies tangling into a knot of flesh.
Luckily,
when we smashed into the trees
,
I ended up on the bottom.
When you’re a werewolf, being on the bottom
wasn’t
a disadvantage.
I positioned
a foot against
her sternum and pushed as hard as I could,
launching
her up into the air.
I
flipped from my back to my feet
and crouched
, readying
myself
for her attack when a blur of black slammed into the charging redhead, knocking her into a tree.

“Run!” Abigail
yelled
, throwing herself at Georgiana again.

I didn’t wait to be told twice
and I
ran in the opposite direction.

Talk about first impressions!
Tanis is going to be so pissed.
I hope he lets me apologize and explain
what happened
before he realizes that I’m no good for him
,
and that it’d be safer for him and his family if he stayed as far away from me as possible.

Ugh!
Damn it, this sucks.

It would
have been
quicker if I ran in wolf form
,
but I don’t want to ruin my favorite jeans.
It was a girlie thought, one that self-preservation should have trumped, but it hadn’t and that was honestly
scarier than the three vampires who want
ed
to have me for lunch, literally.

I
wasn’t
too far from Lummi; the cliffs we dive from
in June and July were only
a couple hundred yards ahead.
It was
safer to skirt the cliffs in case I needed to throw a demonic redhead off of them before making a run for it.
I started
to head north when I heard
it
only a second before the vampire slammed into me.

“You’re seriously starting to piss me off, Georgiana,” I snarled, smashing her into a tree.

“Shut up and die
already,” she hissed in my ear
so
I slammed her into the tree again.

“You wouldn’t li
ke it when I’m angry,” I warned
.

“I will enjoy ripping your throat out,” she purred.

“Not if I rip yours out first,” I countered and
reached back and grabbed two handfuls of red hair and pulled the psychotic bitch over me, sending her sailing through the air.

I crouched
,
ready to phase
, my eyes narrowing
.

Georgiana sat up and her eyes widened
when
our eyes met. “Bloody hell,” she stammered, her complexion blanching.

I growled
at her, a deep, menacing snarl of a growl that was the most intimidating sound that I had ever heard come from me.

Honestly, it scared me more than the vampire who was sitting in wide
-eye terror not more than fifty-
feet from me.

Suddenly I felt exposed with three vampires surrounding me
,
and defensive instincts kicked in and I ran for the cliffs.

The
cries and yelling
coming from Romeo and Abigail nearly made me turn around, but I couldn’t
trust that they weren’t hungry
, and this werewolf was in self-preservation mode.
I knew right away that someone
was following me,
matching me stride for stride
as I raced through the woods, and
the scent was familiar
:
d’Artagnan.

Lovely.
Is this a family thing?
Why is it
that only one of three
Ashtons
is
remotely
normal and sane acting?
Damn it!
I can’t fly, which sucks, but I can swim.
I just hope that the undercurrent isn’t bad today.

Without slowing, I jumped
when the edge of the cliffs appeared
….

...
The church bells in the distance rang over and over, but this wasn’t a celebratory ring,
it
was a warning
:
they were
under
attack.
The villagers
shouted
as they ran through the cobblestone streets
taking up arms
, childr
en were crying, and the
wind carried
the blood curdling screams from the outskirts of the city.

“The outer walls have been breached, my queen.
The guards are mobilizing but there isn’t time.
We ha
ve to get you out of here, now
,” o
ne guard
warned, his silver armor reflecting the fires burning around them.
“Your highness, now, there isn’t time!”

Just then, three large snarling black wolves came crashing through the crowd of evacuating townsfolk.
The guards pulled their swords and engaged the snarling beasts.

“Where is my husband?” the queen demanded, pulling her long
,
white hair back out of her face in preparat
ion for battle
, securing it with a leather tie.

“He is with the troops on the western wall, my queen.
We must go now, it is the only way to save your child!” the guard pleaded.

With silver sword in hand, the queen
looked around at what was left of her village and people, the realization that this truly was the end broke her heart but flooded her with purpose, and she
followed her guards
as her free
hand tenderly caress
ed
her swollen
womb
.

Queen Aesa ha
d
never run from a figh
t in her very long life
, especially when her people
were
in desperate need of protecting, but her child
took
precedence.
Her unborn child
would be
the last of their bloodline and species.

If the child die
d
, their people
would
be lost forever
...

…s
omething heavy
kept
pushing on my chest
. M
y lungs were flooded with salt
and water. And
it felt like I was sinking
into something gooey and slightly sticky
.

“Come on, breathe damn it
!” Was
growled before cold lips pressed against mine and blew into my mouth.
“
Bloody hell,
breathe
already
!” again cold lips pressed against mine and air was forced down my throat.

The hard pressure on my chest was back and I
tried
fight back but my arms were pinned to my sides.

“You can’t leave him, not like this,” he pleaded before blowing in my mouth again.

That time, t
he air was
pushed back out with a gurgl
e
of water
and I co
ughed violently,
desperately trying to expel the
disgusting salty liquid
from my mouth and lungs
.