Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) (46 page)

Sonuvabitch!
Tanis is the one Jarvis went out with?
Damn it.
I didn’t see that one coming, not in a million years.

I yawned, too tired to fight, too tired to argue with him, too tire
d to try to come up with a half
-
ass argument
as to why he shouldn’t spend his hard earned money on me
.

Now that we
’re
in a relationship
, at least that’s what I translate
exchanging I love yous and having sex, taking my virginity, and professing that
I’ve
loved him before I was born,
as being, I
should just accept that the few people in my life who love me are going to do what they want
regardless of what I tell them
. Besides, it wasn’t
like they were off killing people together to avenge me for some reason; they went shopping.
At the very worst, they
bought something
frivolous like a
MP3
or something like that.

“Thanks,” I
said and
yawned again.
“Damn I’m tired.
Wake me in a few
...
”
my words trailed off and my eyes closed.
..

…
t
he unmistakable stench of blood and death hung stagnant
in the
air.
The fires from the
village
burning in the distance
was
a haunting reminder of the three thousand lives that were lost,
including Queen Aesa’s husband
, King Olaf.
Only seven guards survived; the queen’s private royal guards.

“Your
highness,” one of them bowed, “
w
e cannot afford to stay here any longer than needed.
The Aslak army is headed this way.”

Aesa’s breathing was labored and the stabbing in her stomach was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
“I can’t…” she
started to say before she
screamed out in agonizing pain, holding her stomach
as she doubled over, dropping to her knees
.
“The ch
ild comes tonight!
”
she panted
.

In a remote cave, lit only by a small fire, Aesa gave birth to a daughter.
The child bore the symbol of her people on the inside of her wr
ist
:
a faint white outline of a Val Knot.
Aesa took her necklace off and secured it around the child’s neck,
and
summoning her last bit of strength
, she
bless
ed
her child
with the crown
; she rubbed her thumb against the inside of the child’s wrist and the faint white Val Knot disappeared.

“Take my daughter and flee.
You are her
only hope, my dearest friend
. Keep
her safe until
they can be united
.”

The amber-eyed vampire nodded
once
, taking the tiny
,
fair-haired child in
to
his arms.
“Aesa, I will keep her safe
.
I pledge it on my life.”

Aesa’
s eyes rolled back in her head
and
her breathing
bec
ame deathly
shallow.
“I know, Toran
,” she whispered. “
Keep
my precious Kaia safe.”

Toran nodded once and i
gnored the sting in his eyes as
he disappeared into the darkness of night, and Aesa’s
breathing stopp
ed as the Aslak army approache
d the cave…

...
M
y eyes snapped open
.
“Herregud! Hva inn i helvete var det? Hva søren var det?
Hvor er jeg?
” I choked.

Wait, what in the hell was that?

Tani
s was at my side in an instant
.
“Hva er galt?” he asked.

“Huh?
What did you just say?” I
asked and
sat up,
pulling the covers up around me
.

“
Duckie, are you
well
?
You were speaking Norwegian.”
Softly he car
essed the hair off of my cheek
and tucked
it behind my ear.

I shrugged and shook my head at the same ti
me
.

Norwegian?
I’ve never even heard Norwegian before.
Maybe I
’
m crazy
after all
.

“
Hmmm,” he said. “You truly are a
strange bird,” he
whispered
.
“T
he sun will be down in an hour
so mum
will
be able to leave the house
then
. Would
you
care
to get ready
so we are not
horribly
late?”

Unfortunately
,
he was already dressed
:
jeans, white dress shirt with black tie and
black dinner
jacket.
If he weren’t dressed
,
I’d
have to entertain playing with him all over again.

The vampire truly awoken a insatiable beast within me
.

“
I really have to go?” I pouted
and continued
undressing him with my eyes.

“Yes,
and stop mentally undressing me
,
”
he scolded, well aware of what I was doing.

I rolled my eyes and huffed, causing him to laugh.

“
Abby
brought your bag in
,” he said. “
I peeked and was pleasantly surprised.
However, your overly ambitious shopping companions purchased a few
items
in your behalf when
disappeared to the arcade.”

I groaned
; it
couldn’t be good.

Tanis laughed
with a face-
consuming smile.
“
If I may be so bold to ask, I would fancy
a private showin
g…
later tonight perhaps?”

I smacked him
in the chest.

“Shut up.
I take it they got me underwear?”
I mumbled, making a face.

“Yes
. French silk and lace knickers that will masterfully present your delicate bits…” his words trailed of and he bit his bottom before adjusting himself. “Suddenly, staying in is sounding more agreeable by the second.”

He is going to kill my self-restraint.

“
No, my parents would be even mor
e disappointed in me than they’
re already going to be when they find out I lost my virginity. Am
I’m going to need help getting
into the underwear
?”
I asked.

“No
...
maybe, would you like to find out?” he
teased
.

Goddamn he’s
super sexy when he does that.

After a quick shower,
by myself,
I changed in the bathroom.
I put on one
of the underwear sets and
pulled the
simple
,
white cotton dress I got at the mall
over my head
.
The underwear weren’t as bad as I thought they were going to be; lace and silk with corset details without being a corset, and thankfully they weren’t sheer.
The white underwear set wasn’t the best for a dress but
they covered nearly everythin
g, leaving
the bottom
half of my cheeks hanging out
.
As long as Tanis
thought I was
attractive,
that was
all that matter
ed to me
, and while he caressed and explored my body earlier,
he told me many times just how breathtakingly
beautiful I
was
to him.

I was pretty damn sure that
he was just trying to get laid
…thinking like that was easier to accept and believe then the truth
of
his words.

I really did have some self-worth and self-esteem issues that I needed to work on.

Tanis
was silently pouting on the bed still because I wouldn’t let him watch me dress
,
so he absently thumbed
through a magazine,
trying to make a silent stand,
when I exited the bathroom.

“
Would
you do me the honors of joining me for dinner in Seattle tomorrow?”
he asked
, making a face at something he was looking at on the glossy pages
.

“
If it tickles your fancy,” I said in the worst British accent ever heard, and he chuckled, shaking his head. “
I need t
o grab some shoes from my house
before we hit up the party.
”

Tanis
looked up and dropped the magazine to the floor.
His eyes worked over my body many times before a smile filled his face.
“If I
would not
have seen you naked, I would swear that you
could simply
not
get any more beautiful.
Why
do not
you wear dresses more often?”
he asked, his head tilting to the side—his brother does that as well
; it
must
have been
an Ashton thing.

“I’m sorry, did you just meet me?”

“I did not,”
he said with a smirk. “I have know you for five wonderful days.”

Smug prick.

I
push
ed
him back on the bed.
“Remind me
again
where I work
?”
I said.

“Easily resolved,”
Tanis
pointed out. “Just say the word and you will never have to work another day in your life.”

Damn it, I walked into that one.

“No. How about this, remind me again how
overly girlie I am
?” I countered, knowing he
wouldn’t
find an argument
which
he couldn’t attempt to resolve by throwing money at it
.

“Point made,” he reluctantly admitted.

I crawled up on top of him
and he sighed contently.

Teasingly
,
I traced the tip of my tongue over his lips.
Eagerly his
lips parted, but I pulled back
, pulling the tip of my tongue up the underside of
his
tongue
when he tried to
deepen
the kiss
.

“Tease,” he complained
and his
hands
slid
up
under my dress.
“I
dare say
,
Duckie,
I think the knickers, or lack thereof, are
an
exceptionally
exquisite choice this evening
.”
He grabbed my ass and rolled
us
over, pinning me to the bed.
His eyes
moved over my face before
he sighed
.
“
Bloody hell. If
we
do not
join the others we
shall not
, and
I will admit, I would
be hard pressed to give you back.”

Quickly he kissed
me, teasing my tongue with his
, and
all too soon he pulled away, causing
me to whimper and pout
.

“And
you call me a tease, butt
-
munch
,” I mumbled.