Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) (73 page)

“While the elders argued around me in a language that I couldn’t understand, a golden-eyed boy stood in front of us, his long jet black hair was peculiar to me beca
use it was the opposite of mine
,” I said with a chuckle and a tear rolled down my cheek. “
Jarvis just stood there looking at me in
his
mother’s arms.
One would think that he’d be jealous, and he was
he later told me
, but not of sharing
his mother, he wanted to hug me
,
too.
Even on that first day he was so protective of me, and caring and kind.
For the first time that I could remember, even though I couldn’t remember anything at the time, but I do now and I stand by my statement, I f
elt loved and I knew I was home
,” I informed them.

“I am a strong believer in
F
ate
,” I continued, trying to keep from completely losing it but I was sniveling as much as Mom was. “
Fate bro
ught the enemy to my doorstep,
F
ate put me in
Toran’s
arms,
F
ate delivered me
from the sea to my family, and
F
ate brought me
to Tanis
.
I feel horrible that all those werewolves and people had to die, even the ones that Georgiana killed
which
forced part of their coven
to
move to Lummi, but I will not apologize for it.
I will not apologize for loving
him
, and I will not apologize for feeling the way I do.
You two are my parents and will always be my parents, the tribe is my tribe, and the pack will forever be my pack, but w
here I feel I should be
is in
Tanis’
arms
and by
his
side for all of eternity
…I love him
.”

They
both nodded their understanding at
what I was silently trying to express but was too
cowardly
to actually say the words aloud.

“
Sweetheart,” Mom whispered, “y
our dad and I
…
you need to know why
we took you in,
because it will explain
why we will fight to protect you and your heart
.
We love you very much and we’ve only wanted good things for you.
Initially
,
you were only supposed to be placed with us on a temporary basis, but after I held you, I kne
w that I couldn’t give you back
,” she whispered and brought our hands to lips and tenderly kissed them.
“In the nineteen
-
sixties, your dad and I h
ad a child, a daughter
…
she is the one in the black and white
photograph on the wall that your dad can’t look at.
She was our little gir
l.
I was told that I was infertile so we never thought a child would be
possible, and we felt that the
G
ods were blessing us
when Raven was born
.
However, on her nineteenth birthday, we discovered that she had cancer and that it was terminal.
Her condition deteriorated quickly, and she died less than nine months after her diagnosis.
When Raven died, I never thought that I could love a child again.
Then when
Jarvis was born, we were both so scared that we’d lose him too, but he was strong and nothing like Raven, who was delicate and fragile from birth.”

Mom started to
get
choke
d
up so
D
ad
continued for her
, “When Toran contacted me, he said that he needed our hel
p
, that Olaf and Aesa needed our help.
After talking it over with your mom, and the possible emotional repercussions that would be involved
with
taking in a little girl, we
reluctantly
agreed to help him.
We were waiting at the docks for your ship when Daisy and Max informed us of what their sons had found on the beach.
Immediately I was having flashbacks to Raven, we thought we had lost another child, and this one we hadn’t even met yet.
As soon as your mom saw you she was in love, and we knew that you would be our child no matter what.
I swear to you, we knew nothing of Mikkel and Disa.”

I nodded, and when I did, more tears stained my cheeks.

“
Jay Dee, you are our daughter no matter what.
Blood means nothing to us, and that’s ironic considering we are a species who are completely dictated by bloodlines.
We only want you to be happy.”

“I will not sleep with that vile beast,” I stammered.

“
No, you won’t,”
Dad
agreed in a hushed whisper
, squeezing my hand
.
“You need to run
and
hide, use your savings until
we
can scrape up all of the extra cash that we can and get it to you somehow.
You have to get out
of here as soon as possible
, Jay Dee.”

Thankfully they understood what I was trying to not-so-directly tell them I was going to do, though I suppose,
they figured it out while they watched me pack my bag in silence.

“Keep your necklace on always,
” Mom whispered. “I
t will keep you from being tracked.
That is only one of its many powers, so keep it safe.”

“Thank you.”
I hugged and kissed them both, feeling that
it would
be the last time I ever
saw
them.
I hope
d
that
it wasn’t
the case, I love
d
them so much
, and
if anything happened to them it would kill me where the Aslak had failed.
“I love you both.”

“We will talk to you soon.
We are
going to check the perimeter so you
can make your escape.
Be safe
, Sweetheart
, and call us when you can.”

After many hugs and kisses, and many more tears, they left me alone
to finish packing
.

I sat on the edge of the bed and looked around my room, around my childhood home, and it broke my heart to think that it would be the last time that I would be home and it caused debilitating sobs to render me completely useless.

It took me nearly an hour before I could move, before I could stop crying enough to breathe and see without looking through a blurry veil of tears.
My bag was already
packed from my earlier resolve
,
but it was missing something.
I ran down to Jarvis’ room and took a few of his shirts for sentimental reasons, and took one of the picture frames off of the wall that had four pictures in it
:
the family, Jarvis and me as kids, Yahto and me, and one of
Mom
and
Dad
.
After throwing everything in the bag and zipping it up, I grabbed my pillow and headed down the stairs.

I didn’t know where I would go.
I knew that
the Aslak would somehow find me wherever I went since they came to my birthday party even…and realization hit. Mom and Dad never talked about their blood trophies, but I noticed that they were always coming home with new ones. I didn’t ask because I figured it was tribal or pack business which didn’t
involve me so I never asked, but now I was starting to realize that they most likely trophies earned because of me…because they were hiding me.

That realization made me even more guilty and slightly sick to my stomach.

I wanted to call Tanis and cry to him,
and to
assure him that I wasn’t going to breed like some kind of prize show dog with that disgusting piece of shit, but I couldn’t.

If Tanis knew what I
was d
oing, he would have stopped me, or came along, and that would have only put him in even more danger.

I couldn’t risk it.

If something happened to him, I could never forgive myself. It was selfish of me to mark him, to condemn him to death, simply because I…I love
d
him.

“It isn’t fair,” I whispered and hastily wiped away the new set of tears that were streaming down my cheeks.

It’s now or never.

With one
last look around my
home
, the only home I’ve known,
my stomach twisted and painfully knotted
and my breathing
became ridiculously
labored, but leaving
was
the only way to keep my family safe.

I pulled the front door open and jumped back as a cold hand covered my mouth.

My eyes were wide and they focused on the bloodshot eyes in front of me, the silver streaked-blue appeared darker than normal, and his shirt was horribly ripped and tattered, a bloody tear blemishing the white cotton.

Tanis forced a smile and removed his hand.

“What…what happened?” I stammered.

“Me Father staked me,” Tanis answered curtly and my eyes widened. “Surprisingly, me brother pulled it out and now Mum is taking care of it.”

His
family is completely jacked up
and dysfunctional
.

“Oh, of course,” I whispered.

His eyes flickered to the b
ag at my hip. “Are you going somewhere, Duckie?” he asked.

I nodded. “I’m running away…but not joining the circus,” I tried to tease but failed miserably. “Why did Toran stake you?”

He cocked an eyebrow, his eyes meeting mine. “Honestly, I am not entirely sure. The man, I fear, has gone nutter. Either Mum will beat some sense into him or the word of Jesus.”

I laughed, thinking he was kidding, but there was no mirth in him.

“Oh,” I said. “I’m sorry he staked you,” I apologized; I was rather confident that Toran staked
him
because of me.

He
merely nodded and slipped the bag off of my shoulder and motioned towards the
driveway. I closed the door behind me, making sure it was locked, before sulking down the stone pavers leading towards the driveway where my BMW sat.

“Are you mad at me?” I asked.

Tanis shook his head. “Not at all, Duckie.”

“Why are you quiet…okay, stupid question. You just found out that I’m supposed to bump uglies with, quite possibly, the most arrogant sonuvabitch to ever live, loving me will most likely kill you as it’
s
obviously done to everyone else that I’
ve
ever known and loved, my parents have been trying to keep me alive for years and have at least twenty blood trophies between them because of it…Tanis, I know why Toran staked you.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Did you plan it with him?” he asked.

“No,” I mumbled.

“Well then, you have nothing to do with it. Toran…let us
not
speak of him at the moment,” he strongly suggested and popped the trunk and placed my bag inside, quickly closing it before I could offer to do it.

Damn it. I was hoping that I could have just sent him a Dear John letter in a couple of months. Now I have to do it face to face.

“Tanis,” I said and struggled to swallow the lump in my throat.

“Miss Jay Dee,” he interrupted, “you have been born with an inarguably Herculean burden on your shoulders. We agree?”

I reluctantly nodded.

“And are we to agree that regardless of you marking another werewolf, a
Varulv
,
a vulgar pikey,” he choked on the term and I cocked an eyebrow, “or a stunningly good looking three-hundred year old British vampire with fabulous highlights and
a strong jaw line, you would
still
be targeted by the Aslak.”

“Are you drunk?” I asked.

“No,” he said in a clipped tone. “I am beyond livid that the Aslak have spilled as much blood as they have, killed your biological parents,
who
from the grave tried to force you into
mating
,” he
shivered
on the term, “with a
pillock
bastard. However, there are no words to describe how…well, beyond narked, I am because they have forced me to change my plans and the brilliant date I had arranged to do this.”