Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) (47 page)

“Butt
-
munch?”
Tanis tried to say with a straight face and ended up roaring with laughter
.
“I do not recall being called a butt
-
munch before.”

“Keep it up and I’ll infuse your overly formal seventeenth
-
century vocabulary with a whole plethora o
f modern public school verbiage
,
” I warned
and
he pulled me to my feet.

Tanis laughed
even harder and
slapped
my ass
when I headed towards the door.

“Keep it up,” I warned him.

“Or you will do what?” he asked, sounding uninterested.

“Two can play
that
game,” I
warned
an
d hiked up the back of my dress, rolled my hips as I walked. Teasingly
,
I
moaned
and knotted a hand in my hair
.

“Me Duckie,” he whispered,
appearing behind me and wrapped
his
my hand
around mine.

“And only yours,”
I reminded him, pulling
down
the neck of his collar some and eyed the teeth marks at the base of his neck on the right.
I smiled, reveling in the mark which would stay
on
him for
all eternity: Tanis Ashton
w
as marked as mine and only mine.

“You truly are naughty,”
he whispered.

“You have no idea,” I informed as seductively as possible and buttoned the top button of his dress shi
rt and straightened out his tie for him.

Downstairs
,
Sabirella waited with Abigail.
They both looked amazing, overly fancy for a bonfire party, but amazing
nonetheless
.
Standing next to them
,
I
felt
very plain, regardless of what Tanis
said. I was
a one and a half, a two at most,
compared to his mom and cousin
; they were
tens, possibly even elevens.

Sabirella wore a beautiful vivid azure-blue
sari
with black and gold accents; against her dark skin and light eyes, the
contrast was
breathtaking.
Abigail opted for one of the new designer dresses
got at the mall:
red, tight, low cut, and super short.

“How are you feeling,
Sweetheart
?” Sabirella
asked and
smiled warmly at me.

“Fine, thank you.
Nothing a nap couldn’t fix.
You look lovely,”
I said; it was
hard not to smile back at her, and somehow even her fang-filled smile
was
breathtakingly beautiful.

“Nap?” Romeo laughed from the living room so Steffen punched him
in the arm, warning him to mind his tongue
.

Tanis rolled his eyes
,
and
I b
l
ushed.

Sabirella rolled her eyes, a delicate snort escaping
her small nose
.
“Never mind my son, he is
merely
jealous.
Am I overdressed?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Yes,” I bl
urted out and her face dropped.
“As
is
Abby
, and your sons, and
,
well,
everyone
who doesn’t really belong there.
..myself included,
”
I mumbled the latter.

Abigail groaned
, making a face.
“What’s in store for us tonight?”
she reluctantly asked, eying her shoes that she obviously didn’t want to ruin.

Nervous,
I slid the Jerusalem cross pendant back and forth on its chain
and it pulled Sabirella’s attention and she gasped, her eyes widening, going between my face and pendant
.

Suddenly she was in front of me and cupped my face between her hands and looked at me curiously. “By the Gods and stars,” she whispered and tears streaked down her cheeks.
“I knew it.”

“
Mum, is something the matter
?” Tanis asked, his voice flooded with concern.

“Did I do something wrong?” I whispered.

Sabirella shook her head. “
You
did nothing wrong at all, Sweetheart. You
look simply...you are beyond words.” Tenderly she kissed my forehead before caressing Tanis’ cheek.
“I knew...destined to be...”
she whispered.

Abigail, sensing something that I was oblivious too, raised her hand. “Mom’s an emotional creature, always has been, so back to me now. Am I going to ruin my
shoes?” she asked with a huff
and Sabirella nodded and stepped back to compose herself.

“Will she?” Steffen called out. “I won’t get laid for a year if she ruins those damn shoes.”

“
I...I don’t think so,” I offered with a shrug. “
There’ll
be a big bonfire, and lots of food, not that you guys eat or anyt
hing
. Um…
music and dancing
on a dance floor, not in the dirt. There’s a
local band made up of some of the elders
and they’ll
be playing
classic rock and blues.
Once everyone gets all liquored up, they’ll start their pissing contests
...not literal pissing
.
The boys call it ‘Werewolf Games’.
One will challenge another in something stupid like a foot race, or wrestling, or something else completely ridiculous just to prove who has the bigger penis.”

They laughed,
obviously the awkwardly emotional moment had passed and was not that unusual.

“It sounds interesting
,”
Abigail
said, forcing a smile. “Will there be women there?”

“There better be!” Romeo called out. “Little Romeo needs some loving!”

I
made a face and shivered
.
“
They’ll be bitches there but
they typically don’t challenge
each other,
so no mud wrestling, sorry
.
They’re usually dressed up like
Res
trash beauty queens and phasing would ruin their makeup or tear their Wal-Mart garbs.”

Tanis wrapped his arms around me and laughed.
“
This will prove to be a night to tell the others about
.
Rayland will surely miss out on the festivities.
I
cannot
believe
Dad
agreed to this,” he
said, shaking his head before
kissing the back of my head
when I elbowed him in the stomach.
“
We will
head out
since I
still need to give
Miss
Jay Dee her
birthday presents
.”

“I thought yo
u already gave it to her good,
Little Brother
,
”
d’Artagnan
called out as he exited
the kitchen.

Tanis snarled at him.

“Tempe
r, temper,
L
ittle
B
rother.
Save it for the puppies who’ll be sniffing up your lovely lady’s skirt all night.”

Sabirella vanished, reappearing in front of d’Artagnan,
and
her long
,
slender hand wrapp
ed
around his throat.
She picked him off of his feet and slammed him into the wall, her usually beautiful face contorting in rage.
“You will mind your tongue,
S
on, when speaking
of
Aes
...
your brother’
s
companion
.
This is my house, thus you will respect my rules.
I will not think twice about ri
pping your head from your body,
S
on
. D
o I make myself clear?” she snarled.

Tanis
purred in perverse pleasure
with a smug smile on his face while
Romeo and Steffen laughed hysterically from the living room.

“Yes, ma’am,” d’Artagnan choked.

“Good.
Now apologize,”
Sabirella
hissed and
dropped him
,
disappeared
then she
suddenly
re
appeared next to me.
“d’Artagnan has some
thing
he would
like to say to you,
S
weetheart
,” she
warmly informed me.

“Sorry,” he
snarled
and sulked back into the kitchen.

“Not a problem,” I
said with a chuckle
.
“Next time I’ll just let your mom kick your ass for me.”

The front door opened behind us and Sabirella’s head snapped to regard the interloper.

“Sorry, Dear. Fog caused a delay then the ferry was late. Let me shower real fast and I’ll be ready,” an unfamiliar,
yet strangely familiar, voice
said
as
he rummaged through his briefcase, never looking up to acknowledge anyone
.

“
We are already late,
Dearest Husband
,”
Sabirella
sneered
in a detached tone that caused him to look up to regard her, and when he did, his
warm amber eyes
snapped to mine and they widened.

“Toran?” I
choked
under my breath.

“
Jay
, you
seriously
have to hook me up tonight
,
”
Romeo pleaded from the back seat
then
leaned
forward and
wrapped
his arms around
my girlfriend
.
“It’s been like two weeks since I’ve indulged in the pleasures of female companionship
…
.because Mommy warned me to keep it in my pants or else I’d be put in timeout.
”

Jay Dee rolled her eyes and tenderly caressed his arms.
“I’ll see what I can do, however my horny little vampire friend, you have to remember that I’m not the most popular person in
the
pack or
the Lhaq'temish
.
I’ll point you towards the clean girls
though
.
I don’t know if vampires can get crotch rot or saber tooth crotch crickets, but I’d
rather you be safe than sorry
,” she parentally told him.