Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) (49 page)

Reign
made a face
.
“Smart ass
,
”
he mumbled under his breath.

“That is the prevailing opinion,” she and Jarvis said in unison before everyone laughed.

“
Everyt
hing is taken care of. Go
play...
and be safe,”
Sky
said.

“Thanks,”
Jay Dee
said and
kissed
both of her parents, then
motioned for us to follow her.
“Why is your brother lingering in the shadows?” she whispered.

“Hmm?” I asked.

She motioned with her chin
towards the woods
,
and sure enough,
my annoying brother
was leaning against a tree watching the festivities with a beer in hand
in the shadows
.

How
in bloody hell
did
she know he was
here?

“
I never know,” I admitted. “d’Artagnan was not
supposed
to be here
.
Though you needn’t worry;
Georgiana is staying in.
Mum
staked h
er and left her in the basement
in a well overdue timeout.
”

Steffen laughed
.
“It’s the perfect place for the little troublemaker.
We
’
re
really
sorry that she
tried to eat you
.”

“What happen?” Jarvis asked.

Jay Dee shook her head.
“
It’
s a lesbian thing,” she said and he nodded his understanding before looking at her with wide eyes. “Dude, it
happens.
I hear I’m a hot piece of
ass in the eyes of the Ashtons,” she amusingly informed him.

“You are so wrong,” Jarvis groaned.

“Yup.
I’m curious, Meat Head,”
she said, turning to Steffen and he chuckled at the amusing pet name she gave him, “you mention staking, but
isn’t supposed to
kill you or something?”
she asked and
grabbed a couple of bottles of beer and passed them back.

He
laughed
;
Hollywood and their over
ly
active imaginations.

Romeo th
rew his arm over her shoulders
.
“Well, Birthday
Girl, staking doesn’t kill us
. I
t ju
st puts us in a state of…
well, I guess
the best way to describe it is
like a coma or vegetative state.
The stake can’t be made of just any wood though; it has to be white oak or the few others of that particular species.
It hurts like a bitch at first, and
then
you just kind of lay there looking at everything and everyone until they pull it out.”

“Sounds like your sex life,” she mumbled under her breath and I laughed.

Jarvis roared
with laughter.
“No toothpicks for you
four
.”

Okay, that was slightly
amusing
.

“Come on, fanged Romeo of Romeos, l
et’s get you laid
!” Jarvis beamed.

“Hell yeah!” Romeo jumped up and down, excited like a little kid,
before
head
ing
off with
his werewolf wingman
towards a group of girls.

Jay Dee groaned
.
“This isn’t good.”

“What do you mean
?”
Abigail asked.

“Romeo will do anything with breasts, and my brother likes old
broads
.”
She shivered
and made
a gagging sound.
“So needless to say, those two are going to be c
ausing all sorts of trouble t
onight
.”

“You
fancy
older men,” I smugly reminded
her
.

“No
I don’t...
oh,” she
groaned when understanding washed over her.
“You’re old as dirt, aren’t you?”

Before I could answer, she pulled me back, sending me staggering backwards into Steffen, just as a black and pink haired girl flew through the air.

Jay Dee crouched down in time
just
as the girl sailed over her head.

“You may be older,
Si
s, but I
’
ll always be faster!”
Jay Dee said with a chuckle
.

“
Yeah, yeah, yeah, minor details
,
”
t
he pink haired girl
mumbled before she
skipped towards Jay Dee.
“So whatcha, or who’ve ya, been doing to get a bad ass car like that?”
she asked.

The two hugged, Jay Dee
was
nearly a foot taller
and the girl playfully buried her face in her cleavage.

“Damn it, Cain.
Stop teasing me like that,” Jay Dee giggled—there’s a first.

It
wa
s
stimulating, to say the least
.
Romeo
would be narked if he knew
he missed
the
show.

“And to answer your question, he bought it before I did him.
Tanis, this is Cain, Yahto’s older sister.
Cai
n, this is Tanis and his cousin
,
Steffen
,
and his wife
,
Abigail.
They are of the vampire variety.
Jarvis is playing wingman with Romeo somewhere around here,
Romeo is anything but a Romeo,
and
there’s
another
lurking in the shadows, but he’s a
total
tool so I’d stay away from him.”

Cain’s pink lips twisted into a pout, and she shoved her black plastic glasses back up her nose.
“Huh,” she finally said
.
“Carmine!” she called out
.
“How come
I
don’t get a damn BMW?
You
are
a vampire after all
,” she whined.

All eyes went to the hulking vampire crossing the da
nce floor with two drinks in
hand.
“Becau
se I’m of the working variety,
W
oman.
If you hadn’t noticed, they’re ancients,” he
grumbled under his breath
and
shook
his head
.

She smacked him in the chest, giving him a warning look.

“Sorry,” he mumbled and handed
her one of the drinks.
“I’m Carmine,” he offered me his hand and
I
gave it a firm shake.

“Whoa, wait, what?” Jay Dee
stammered before laughing, and
then
wrapped her hand around mine
.
Obviously she
felt
much safer in the company of the strange pink and black haired girl with the hulking tattooed vampire boyfriend.

Cain
nodded.
“We met at the club I dance at.
Carmine
’
s a bouncer and, well, I’m just awesome like that, and one thing led to another.
We’ve been together, what, like a year now?”

“Close enough,” he said
,
seemingly uninterested.
“This place creeps me out,” he
said, turning to me and Steffen
.
“Seriously, how in the hell can you stomach hanging out in this place?”

Steffen
shrugged.
“We just got here.
We had to relocate fast, don’t ask
...
”

After
that they were chatting it up
like lifelong friends; b
oth were into sports and electronics.
Steffen had
an uncanny ability to befriend anyone.
Abigail rolled her eyes and started
talking about shoes
with Cain.

Jay Dee wasn’t i
nterested in either discussion
and kept
looking ar
ound for something but I
wasn’t entirely sure what.

“Are you
well
, Duckie?” I whispered.

She
nodded and
walked us to the edge of the dance floor
which
had started to fill with people while the band warmed up.
We sat on one of the makeshift log benches, her hand still wrapped around mine.

“Talk to me,” I pleaded, upset that something was obviously upsetting her.

“I don’t like this,
” she whispered. “
I feel like something bad is going to happen.
I don’t know what, but I know it’s going to suck whatever it is.”

“
I will
protect you,” I assured her.

“Uh huh,”
she
huffed, giving me a look
.
“
Hate to break it to you, but most
likely I will be the one protecting you.
Either way, it should prove to be interesting.
”

I glared at her; she truly knew how to insult my manhood without even realizing it.

“
What did Carmine mean when he said ancients?”
she asked, changing the subject.

I will give you a bloody spanking for that comment
later
.

“Carmine is young, less than a century old most likely,
thus
he would be considered
along the lines of a
fledgling, a
newborn
vampire
...
a child in essence.
Ancients are hundreds of years old, and usually the older you are, the more established you are.
Unless you are daft and
do not
plan for the future.
When you have eternity
ahead
of you, you have to plan for it
accordingly
.
That is
why me portfolio is so expansive.
I have to support me siblings and a
fifth of me coven, as well as m
e
self and Samantha.”

“Wait, why her?”
she asked.

“
Samantha
is still m
y
responsibility.
Until I get an annulment
or become a widow,
I support her.
She resides in one of m
e
estates, switching between them as she sees fit, and she gets a yearly allowance of a million pound
s
.”

“Why haven’t you gotten an annulment yet?” she whispered.

I shrugged
.
“I had no reason to
put meself through such drama
.
Duckie, I will always love
Sam
on some level; she was
m
e
best friend.
If something happened to Yahto, would you not do what you could for him, regardless?
The same applies, only I have the means whereas you
do not
.
I think a large part of m
e
reason for supporting her is out of guilt for her being turned.
It was wrong of me to ask her to sacrifice so much for me own selfish reasons.
Sam
wanted children and grandchildren, she wanted to experience the world, and for us to grow old together.
I took all but one of those things from her, something she constantly reminds me of,” I inadvertently snarled.

Jay Dee squeezed my hand
and it brought me back to her
.

“
My apologies. T
o answer your
question
: I am considered an
ancient because of how old I am and because of m
e
established rank in
vampiric
society.”