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

by Ayusso, Danae

  I waited on the front porch, munching on a banana and a handful of strawberries, while I enjoyed the quiet morning. The birds were singing, dew was covering the ground and glistened in the early morning sunlight, and the moisture rich breeze blowing through the trees caused them to sway back and forth. The moment was serene.

  That is until the unmistakable purr of a five-hundred horse power, six-thousand RPM, eight-cylinder engine purred through the air. I was still shaking my head in resignation when the metallic plum purple Porsche Panamera Turbo pulled up in front of my house.

  Sure why not, let’s go shopping in a hundred and sixty thousand dollar car! Isn’t that what everybody does in Lummi on Fridays when there’s no school? I’m getting the feeling that this is going to be the longest day of my very short life.

  “Dude, you so owe me,” Jarvis sang from the passenger seat.

  Hopefully, Abby was able to get Jay Dee to Seattle before we head over to the mainland. Nothing would be more embarrassing then getting caught trying to buy her birthday present.

  “Why do I owe you?” I finally asked to pacify the strange pup who was bouncing with excitement next to me.

  “She said ‘dress’!” he beamed with a face consuming smile.

  This pup is completely nutter!

  “Is dress a profanity in your home?” I asked to pacify him.

  “Might as well be,” he said with a shrug. “My sister hasn’t worn a dress in years.”

  I snarled and my hands tightened on steering wheel.

  “I am well aware of that,” I hissed. “Marsha Heder is on me shite list despite your sister telling me to let it go.”

  However, the idea of Jay Dee in a sexy slinky designer dress was very agreeable to both heads.

  Jarvis looked at me confused. “What does that train pulling cow have to do with anything?”

  Bugger! He does not know. Shite.

  I shrugged and turned the stereo up.

  “No, no, no!” he shouted over the music. “You know something I don’t,” he accused and turned the music off. “Spill, Count Suckula. What do you know that I obviously don’t?”

  “Regrettably, Mr. Jarvis, tis not my story to tell. You must understand and respect that.”

  He pouted in his seat during the entire ferry trip, and then he laughed like a lunatic when we reached the mainland.

  “If you don’t tell me,” he said, “I won’t tell you how to end each of my sister’s arguments regarding the present you’re about to get for her before they can even leave her lips.”

  Bollocks. The mongrel had a good counteroffer, an unarguable one.

  Damn it.

  “Damn it,” I huffed.

  I told Jarvis what Jay Dee had told me, and his response was much the same as mine: a dark, menacing growl rolled from his chest and his hands balled into fists on his lap.

  “I could not agree more, Pup,” I said.

  “We can make a detour to that bitch’s trailer on the way back,” he suggested, studying the thin, white lines on the inside of his arm. “It will only take a moment, unless of course you want to torture her, in which case we should go tomorrow morning so we aren’t pressed for time.”

  I laughed. It was rather amusing, finding out that I had something in common with the puppy, even if it was merely revenge and homicidal tendencies.

  “As much fun as that sounds, let us do as your sister wishes and let it go...for now.”

  “For now,” he dryly agreed. “Accidents do happen,” he reminded me with an evil grin.

  To my surprise, I was smiling in much the same way.

  “What are those?” I asked, motioning towards his arm.

  Jarvis shrugged and looked back to the thin, white lines. “Blood trophies,” he said, as if I should have known what they were.

  “Consolation prizes?” I mused.

  “The consolation prize is death,” he said quietly, stealing the mirth from me. “When we take a life of another wolf, the scar is a permanent reminder on us. I have six, but not once have I second guessed or felt guilty about...protecting my baby sister is all that matters to me,” he said in a tone that was so level that it was terrifying. “So what are we shopping for, and why did I need to come,” he cheerfully asked, seemingly going from one extreme to the other in mere seconds.

  “You are here for two reasons,” I explained, slightly intrigued by the realization that there truly was two sides to Jarvis Lightfoot—the young college student who was just starting to make his mark in the world, even if it was only his world the mark was being made in, and the werewolf-Indian warrior who would stop at nothing to protect his sister—and I honestly respected him for both. “One, to pick out the camera and laptop you want, the gift your sister actually wanted. The second is to drive one of the vehicles back.”

  “Huh?” Jarvis looked over at me confused.

  He was a smart kid; it would register soon enough.

  “Wait, what?” he choked. “You’re getting her a car?”

  I nodded.

  “Dude, I was kidding about that car thing...well, not really, but I was. You’re seriously insane.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I am not nutter.”

  “Could have fooled me, Nutter Butter Suckula,” he scoffed.

  “Mister Jarvis, you have to remember the century in which I was born. In the seventeenth century, courting a woman would require jewelry and paying a fee to her family for simply marrying her. A car is considerably cheaper than traditional means when you take into consideration the rate of inflation over the past three hundred years.”

  His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide.

  Buggers, that did not come out how I had intended for it to come out.

  “I am not trying to court your sister for marriage,” I quickly explained. “I do, however, want to express my gratitude for her companionship and what we might have if she is willing to work around some things.”

  “Like the fact that you’re a vampire?” he pointed out appallingly.

  “That specifically,” I dryly agreed, well aware that I was asking for the near impossible. “What kind of car would your sister fancy, and what do you want?”

  I didn’t care to continue the conversation. There were horrible complications when it pertained to vampires having relationships with humans; blood, mortality, how delicate they were in comparison….the list was endless. In good conscience, I could never turn someone, regardless of how much I cared for them...loved them. It simply wasn’t an option.

  “You don’t have to get me anything,” Jarvis mumbled. “And I’m not putting out regardless of how many pretty things you try to buy me.”

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

  “Jay is just one of those ridiculous Mother Teresa types that always wants something for someone else, regardless of her needing it or not.”

  I was already well aware of that, but what I wasn’t aware of was that Jarvis was just as ridiculous as his sister.

  I pulled into an electronics store, ignoring his mumbled complaints.

  “Get out of the bloody car and pick out what you want and will need,” I snapped at him. “Jay Dee is going to kick me arse for the car, so I might as well get her what she really wants in order to get some positive points on me side.”

  Jarvis made a face.

  “I will throw you over me shoulder and carry you in there like a bin lid,” I warned.

  “Huh?”

  “Like a kid,” I clarified and he stuck his tongue out at me and thankfully got out of the bloody car.

  For the first thirty minutes, he complained while he looked at the cheapest ITEMS he could find.

  “I will make a scene,” I warned.

  “I can’t wait to see my sister beat your ass in front of everyone,” he mumbled and started shopping.

  “What about this one?” he asked, motioning towards a camera.

  I looked at it and shrugged. “Electronics are Steffen’s thing,” I said and pulled my mobile out and dialed. �
�Steffen, will you please help Mister Jarvis with his electronics questions?” I asked.

  “Of course. Put him on,” Steffen said with a chuckle.

  “Thank you, Cousin,”

  I handed Jarvis the mobile and he was off and running after that. Both of them were rambling so quickly that I couldn’t understand either of them, so I wandered around. I liked shopping, what posh Brit didn’t? However, I already had everything here, or Steffen had it since he loved his electronics—he still uses a bloody eight-track to listen to the Bee Gees; according to Steffen you can’t listen to disco on anything but an eight-track.

  However, the strange puppy with me, and his beautiful sister, didn’t have any of it so I shopped as well.

  “I swear to god if that pillock mongrel breaks her new car, I will kick his arse. Why is he driving as if he is a retarded kid in a candy store, slamming through all seven gears?!” I groaned, watching the red sports car driving in front of me swerve back and forth for no apparent reason.

  We went to four different dealerships until I found the right car. Jarvis was trying to pick some used Japanese import because it was cheap.

  Jay Dee was all about performance and engineering, a total car buff, so shopping for a cheap Japanese econo-box was out of the question. Her bedroom walls were covered with posters of pinup girls on the hoods, or leaning against, beautiful classic trucks, there was a large x-ray print of an internal combustion engine, many impressively detailed pictures of the insides of various mechanical devices, and hundreds of classic muscle cars.

  We couldn’t find a classic car that spoke to me, so since I am European, I decided that Jay Dee will drive a European import, even if it’s German.

  The beautiful metallic red BMW M6 Coupe was beautiful and when I saw it, I could picture Jay Dee stretched out across the hood in a barely there bikini, licking her lips, beckoning me to caresses the luscious, velvety, rose-tinted pillows with mine...

  The woman was kicking me arse without even knowing it.

  Lucky for me, not so lucky for the owner of the dealership who had ordered it specifically for himself, we came across it just as it was unloaded off of a trailer early enough in the day that we could still get lunch before heading back to Lummi before Jay Dee and the others returned. Jarvis was most impressed with the significantly reduced price tag, but it was like I told him; you never pay retail when you have thrall at your disposal.

  Regardless of finding the perfect present, Jay Dee was going to hit me, this I knew without a doubt, and Jarvis advised that I duck. The young had honestly bewitched me—mind, body and soul—and she was so damn difficult in all of the ways that I wasn’t used to women being difficult in. Usually women wanted lavish gifts, expensive dinners, jewelry, everything and anything money can and can’t buy.

  However, none of that appealed to Jay Dee.

  Jay Dee only wanted for others and the most simplistic things which she could afford herself, otherwise she didn’t want them. Her humility and non-materialistic nature were very attractive traits, but they drove me completely insane. However, nutter or not, and as irritating as it was, Jay Dee was more than worth it.

  My mobile rang; it was Romeo.

  “Yes?” I asked.

  “Hey T,” he started then laughed; that was never a good sign. “How’s it going? Can we head back yet?”

  “Yes, we are in line for the ferry. How did it go?”

  Again, he laughed. “Well, I got to lace her up in a corset.”

  I snarled and he laughed again.

  “Trust me, Cousin, she is kind of hot and all, and her tits are amazing and wood inducing, but whoa. That girl has absolutely no idea what she’s working with or how to work it. She didn’t know how to put a corset on, she didn’t want to put it on, but Abby made her try some stuff on.”

  Knickers, sexy knickers that are not cotton and sold in packages of ten at a discount store, very nice.

  “What did she get?” I asked.

  “Have I told you what a pain in the ass she is?” he mumbled.

  “She did not buy anything, did she?” I surmised and groaned; stubborn woman.

  “No, not exactly...well, she got something to wear tonight. But she bought it herself. The stubborn girl refused to use your platinum card, and then after she turned many shades of red, from the whole lingerie store incident, she disappeared.”

  Note to self; never send a six hundred year old vampire with a shopping addiction with my platinum card and Romeo to babysit again.

  “You found her?” I surmised.

  “Playing video games in the arcade, surrounded by preteen boys with hard-ons watching her kick ass in some fighting game. She’s a strange one.”

  Jarvis warned that would happen. Shopping wasn’t Jay Dee’s thing in the least.

  “Where are you now?” I asked, annoyed that it wasn’t exactly going according to plan, and yet at the same time it was as expected.

  “Seattle. Jay’s stretched out in the backseat sleeping, and Abby disappeared in a shoe store with your credit card. I’m guessing we’ll be here for another couple of hours.”

  In all fairness, Abigail did warn me that she wouldn’t be coming home empty handed. I just wished that Jay Dee would have bought some clothes.

  Damn overly difficult bird.

  “What did Miss Jay Dee get?” I asked, running my hand through my hair in frustration.

  “I’m not telling,” Romeo teased. “You’ll have to wait and see. Can I ask you something?” he asked, turning serious.

  “Can I stop you?” I groaned.

  “Point for you,” he conceded. “Where do you see this relationship going? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see you happy and I’m over the whole ‘she turned me down’ thing, but seriously, Cousin, where do you see it going? You’ve known her for like what, five days? And you just bought her a car, you’ve told her nearly all of our secrets, and…well I don’t know what else, but it isn’t normal.”

  Regardless of what Romeo said, he was still narked that I got the girl and he didn’t. However, his curiosity was well founded; I hadn’t been with anyone for more than a quick shag in nearly two centuries. That was mainly because of my brother, but at the same time, I hadn’t met anyone who I was interested in. Why did that suddenly change when Jay Dee walked into class on Monday?

  “Honestly, Romeo, I do not know,” I admitted. “A car was much, much cheaper than jewelry, but obviously not cheaper than a shopping spree. I have bought you cars before,” I reminded him. “And most of the time I cannot stand you. I only keep you around because you usually amuse me with your stupidity, and we are a coven, a family.”

  “T, you know love me and want to be like me. At least you used to, until you started getting laid again,” he said with a chuckle.

  I snarled. “It is not like that, and you will remember to maintain a level of propriety while in the presence of the daughter of the alphas of the pack which we are stuck in the middle of. Tell Abby to hurry her arse up in order to avoid traffic, so we may change before the party.”

  I hung up the mobile without a goodbye.

  I wasn’t entirely narked at him; I was more upset with myself. What was I doing? I met had Jay Dee on a Monday and by that Friday I had bought her a car. I sent her shopping with my credit card and two vampires, one who could barely keep it in his pants only half of the time and who got to lace her up in a corset—lucky bastard. I had told her nearly all of our secrets, most of which would have gotten me in a barney if anyone on the council had found out, but more importantly, told her nearly everything about me...even my siblings and wife didn’t know the real me.

  There was no way that it would end well, it was damn near impossible for it to end on a positive note. Even if Jay Dee eventually loved me, and I loved her, she wasn’t meant for the life of shadows and the inconspicuous lifestyle which vampires must live. She was a glowing star in a world of darkness who deserved to shine. That’s how she was to me; a white haired angel who got me on le
vels that I didn’t even get myself.

  Would she be narked if I bit her?

  I shook my head to clear the thought. I could never do that, especially not to her. Jay Dee deserved to grow up, grow old, and have a long happy life with children and grandchildren, and eventually, death.

  Then again, what would a short-term relationship hurt? We could mutually go our separate ways once she goes off to school, or whatever she decides to do after high school. That could possibly work...or not. Either way, I am more than willing to find out. Perhaps we should talk about that. Not today though, today is her birthday. I will wait until she is not narked about the car and gifts before I talk to her about something that will put an expiration date to whatever this is going on between us.

  Yes, that will work. Let her kick me arse for the car first, and we will talk about whatever we have and where it is going later. According to Romeo it is always better to put off today what you could do tomorrow, or next month, or in a couple of years.

  Even I didn’t believe my own lies.

  I knew that it wasn’t going to end well for either of us, that I was certain.

  Shopping wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

  It was a thousand times worse!

  They dragged me around to so many goddamn stores, half of which I didn’t know were in the mall or even existed, and then they tried to play dress up with me like I was their own personal life-size Barbie doll. But the worst was when Romeo had to explain to me how to get into a damn corset! He had to think that I was mentally retarded or something by that point. I had never been more embarrassed in my life!

  Luckily, I was able to sneak off to the arcade. I got in nearly two hours of video games before they found me. I fell asleep in the backseat—I was up way too late last night and got up way too early—but immediately woke when a new smell filled the car: Georgiana.