Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) (54 page)

The front door slammed shut behind her.

“Ow,” I groaned.
“I
do not
think that went very well.”

“You think?” Romeo
snorted
.
“She totally kicked your ass.”

“I deserved it, and then some,” I dryly agreed.
He h
elped me out of the windshield
.
“I
a
m going
to walk
home...I must clear my head. C
an you take
me car back
?”
I asked, handing him the keys.

“What about her car?” he asked.

“
It is
hers, not mine.
Leave it.”

“Do you want me to tell
M
om?” he whispered.

“She already knows,”
M
um growled from behind us.
“Tanis, we need to talk.”

Bloody hell.
This was not a conver
sation that I wanted to have
just yet
.

“Yes ma’am,” I
mumbled and
took her offered hand and escorted her to the road.

Once we
were out of earshot, I started
before she could,
“I
fucked
up.”

“Yes
,
you did,” she dryly agreed.
“
Why would you say such things,
S
on?
I expect that from your brother and sister, but not from you.
You are different, you are more human than most and yet you treated that poor girl
as if
she was a damn slave.
I have never been more
embarrassed and ashamed
in my life
than
I am
of your actions tonight.”

Holy hell, that
i
s saying a lot
considering who m
e
siblings are.

“Tanis, you love Jay Dee, correct?”

“
Unequivocally,” I automatically answered.

“You cannot change the past,
” she informed me. “W
hat is done is done, and said is said.
If you wish to repent for your blasphemy,
you are going to have to grovel
and beg, and not give up.
Jay Dee is a strong woman with a very strong mind, spirit
,
and soul.
However, you
have crushed her heart in ways that
it has never experienced before
.
”

I winced; I
was
not worthy of her forgiveness.

“
All
pains can be healed,
my precious one. T
he question is,
how long do you plan on forsaking yourself to grovel at her feet?”

“As long as it takes,” I
said without delay
.

“You are no longer hindered by her
mortality
, so that could prove to be a very long time.
However, if you wish to win back the love, but most importantly, the trust, of the woman you love, time will no longer matter to you.
Day and night will cease to exist, and her forgiveness will become your
only purpose in life
.
It is a very long and painstaking process, ask your
f
ather
.”

“What should I ask
Toran
?”

“You know that I stabbed him?”
she asked with a mischievous smirk.

I nodded.

“Do you know why I stabbed him?”

“No, he refuses to tell me
the story,” I admitted.

“I will happily tell you
the tale
.
Toran was the
High Commander
of
the Finnish Legion of Vampires
, this you know. However, what you do not know is that he
was a real
piece
of egotistical
shit,
to say the least.
My lovely husband thought that he could take whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and didn’t think twice about it or the consequences
behind his actions...
when he drank
.
While
he was visiting Western Russia, one of the Pashas ordered a caravan of concubines and I was one of them, stolen from my bed while I slept, my husband’s throat slit so he couldn’t fight them.
”

I gasped;
that
was news to me.

“W
e were paraded in front of the men like slabs of m
eat
at auction.
I
still have nightmares about it
. However,
when I remember that I stabbed one of them, it makes
me smile and feel slightly better.
Sorry, I
am
getting distracted.
Y
our father was one of the men being entertained by the Pasha, and nearly
all of them tried to claim me
, naturally. Toran
was unarguably the best fighter, and they
were not
going to risk a beheading over a woman.
I was chained and taken to his quarters, and when he came in and tried to bed me, I stabbed him in the chest.
”

“Oh,” I said in a choked whisper.

“I did not
know what Toran was, and imagine my surprise whe
n
the bastard did not
die.
Instead
,
he snapped back, fangs and all, and bit me.
Once I woke with the hunger, I was irate.
It was rather interesting
I
suddenly
disappeared in a cloud of smoke,” she
said with a
chuckle
.
“Toran turned me accidental
ly, it was never his objective
of course, he was merely trying to nurse his wounded pride
since
he was bested by a concubine.

“
Whether
it was
pity or guilt, I
still
do not know, but he professed his dedication to me and swore to be by my side and protect me from those who wished to do me harm.
I
did not
understand his words or
where
his concern
was coming from, and
when I ran from him and was nearly consumed by the sun, I was even more livid.
I
did not
say one word to him for
many years
.
I hated him.
Hated what he did to me.
Hated what he made me.
Hated the way he looked, tasted, smelled,
his voice...simply his
presence irritated me to levels of madness
that were stab
-
worthy
.
Every day of every hour he apologized, for everything, even that for which he
was not
responsible
, and that made me want to stab him even more.

“Eventually, my distain turned to respect.
From watching him and being by his side, I learned much about the man whom I now call ‘husband’.
He
is
fearless and endlessly compassionate, determined and selfless,
was
a man of his word, and never once in the years that I was by his side in silence did he touch me or try to get into my bed.
Eventually
, I told him to
stop apologizin
g,
and if he
wanted to make amends, then
do so.
Toran tracked down the men who
m
took me and killed my husband, and he slaughtered them and freed their caravan of captives.
..I will admit, it was more than I thought he was going to do,” she mumbled the latter an
d I tried to keep from chuckling
. “Eventually
,
I
agreed to marry
him aft
er another century
, and we have been together since.”

I
nodded.
“Mum, you are seriously twisted and stubborn.”

“Indeed I am,” she
agreed with a
smile
.

“Do you think
Miss
Jay Dee will
eventually
forgive me?” I whispered.

“I do not know
,” she admitted. “
You two are truly destined to be together, however,
what
you said was very harsh and it broke the young girl’s heart.
Miss
Jay Dee is
so
much like you,
my precious one. S
he
does not
enjoy the life of immortality in which she was born, yet she
is doing the best she can
through unimaginable odds.
Miss
Jay Dee smiles and tries to play peacekeeper, even to those who wish her harm and do not respect her.
From what her
mum was
saying, she has always turned the other cheek, even when she
should not
.
However, you hurt her on a level that she cannot
simply
turn away from, or overlook.
You were her first, the one she gave herself to,
the one she marked as hers and only hers for all eternity,
and she asked for nothing
from you
in return.
Openly, Jay Dee gave you her heart, love, trust,
soul,
and body.
You gave the same, but then you snatched them away, leaving her questioning everything about herself.
Even I
would not
forgive you so
readily
for that.”

“Thanks,” I
mumbled
and she pulled me to a stop.

“Tanis, be the man that I know you are.
Miss
Jay Dee saw
the
wonderful man
beneath
the surface, and he is the man she fell in love with, not the cynical
asshole
who
m
is bitter at the world
and hates everyone around him.
Jay Dee fell in love with the Tanis
Ashton
that I see when I look
upon
you, the Tanis that you keep from the world in fear of your brother and sister ruining him.
You deserve to be happy, as does she, and if you make each other happy, then come hell or high water, somehow you will make amends and she will accept you back.
”

“Do you truly believe she will forgive me?”

She smiled warmly. “I pray
she will
. I
must
admit, I was scared that, with their commonalities in mechanics, cars
,
and heaters, that it may have been the
other one, as much as I love him
and want to see him happy as well
,
but I prayed
for centuries
that it was
you. Y
ou
, my precious one,
d
eserve her love and to be happy
more than anyone
.”

My brow furrowed.
“Huh?” I asked, scratching my head.

“
I think we need to go shopping through the
catalog
!
”
she beam
ed with a face-consumi
ng smile, changing the subject. “I know the perfect piece.”

“Thanks
, M
um,” I
whispered and
hugged her tight
. “Perhaps I should take up praying as well.”

“
Possibly, it
might
help.
Word to the wise,
my precious one,” she whispered in my ear. “I
f the girl
will not
talk to you, talk to those
who
m
the
girl talks.”

I nodded my understanding
:
Jarvis, Yahto
,
and Cain
were
going to become my new best friends, and fast.