“I am a strong believer in Fate,” I continued, trying to keep from completely losing it but I was sniveling as much as Mom was. “Fate brought the enemy to my doorstep, Fate put me in Toran’s arms, Fate delivered me from the sea to my family, and Fate 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 where 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, “your 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 knew 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 had 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 girl. I was told that I was infertile so we never thought a child would be possible, and we felt that the Gods 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 choked up so Dad continued for her, “When Toran contacted me, he said that he needed our help, 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. “It 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 hoped that it wasn’t the case, I loved 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 doing, 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 loved 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 bag 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 al
ive 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.”
Shit, he’s gone completely insane.
“What are you talking about?” I whined; never had I felt that mentally exhausted, and I knew that it was only going to get worse.
Tanis pulled something from his pocket and looked intently in my eyes. “For me entire life I was locked up in a shell…me mum said me heart was incased in ice, and, sadly, it surely felt as if it were…and then, as if I was living, seeing, breathing, and feeling for the first time in me very long life, an earthbound angel effortlessly saved me from meself. You walked into me heart without much effort, and without even trying, your soul seamlessly blended with mine, and for the first time in me very long life, I knew what it meant to know happiness, to experience love, and to be subjected to abysmal melancholia simply from the thought of losing you.”
My eyes widened when he got down on one knee and opened the black velvet ring box in his hand.
“Miss Jay Dee, I was blessed with the dark gift merely to wait for you to be born, and I started living the day you loved me without question, despite me few flaws and many indiscretions, and permitted me the honor and privilege of being by your side. Your mark I wear proudly and without regret…I beg of you, Miss Jay Dee, please accept this token, a jeweled mark to tell the world that you have given your heart and soul to a groveling vampire who will stop at nothing to see you smile, to keep you safe, and to be the man that I was too scared to show the world.”
Both of my hands covered my mouth and tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Me Duckie, will you do me the honor of being me wife.”
Unable to answer him, I simply nodded.
A smile filled his face and the silver in his eyes appeared to swirl with excitement.
He took my hand in his and slid one of the two rings in the box on my finger, pocketing the other, and stood. “I love you so much,” he whispered against my lips.
I nodded quickly, unable to speak.
He leaned back and smirked, that mischievous smirk of his that caused my heart to race and a whimper to build in my chest. “Do you like it?” he asked, tenderly kissing my hand.
Again, I nodded.
The ring was beyond words. I had honestly never seen anything like it before. The metal was polished and shiny with engraved filigree; the metal wasn’t gold or platinum, it felt warm but that could have been because of the roller coaster of emotions that I was on at the moment. In the center was a princess cut red diamond that was slightly smaller than the one in Tanis’ ring, and the two red diamonds flanking it were nearly as big. Along the band was a channel with black and red diamonds which alternated, encircling the entire band.
“I love you,” I mouthed and smashed my mouth into his and kissed him passionately before pulling away. “Your mouth tastes of….” My eyes widened and I smacked him. “Who did you kill?” I demanded.
Tanis cocked an eyebrow. “Duckie, does it matter?” he countered.
I glared at him. “Should I be pissed?” I groaned.
The smirk was back and he wrapped his arms around me and pulled into him, holding me tight. “Not at all, consider it an early wedding present.”
“Damn it,” I mumbled; he constantly made it so damn hard to be mad at him.
Without him having to say it, I knew what he did; he got rid of the competition.
He opened the door for me and I slid into the passenger seat of my BMW and jumped, startled, when two strong arms wrapped around me from behind.
“Congratulations, Girlie,” Steffen whispered.
I looked back and him and my smile fell. “He staked you all?” I surmised, noting the bloody shirts each wore.
They exchanged looks as Tanis put the car into drive and pulled away from my childhood home for what would, most likely, be the last time.
“Claw marks,” I whispered, eying Abigail’s pants.
“Already healed,” she assured me. “The bitch was a fighter, but I was better.”
I nodded. “They were the last of my kind,” I whispered, turning back around and looked out the window.
Romeo dropped a wad of silver in my lap. I picked it up and gasped: rectangle with a square in the middle and a starburst. “They weren’t your kind, Girlie,” he informed me. “That bitch’s carpet didn’t match the drapes, to say the least. We got them before the pack could.”
Tanis took my hand in his and pulled it to his lips and tenderly kissed it. “Me wife to be,” he beamed, “where would you care to go?”
I looked from the Aslak necklace in my other hand to him. “Vegas,” I said and rolled down the window, then threw the necklaces over the bridge we were driving across.
A smile filled his face. “Brilliant idea.”
“And along the way, I’ll need Abby’s help to pick out a wedding dress.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Duckie, unfortunately I am still married to Sam.”
“Do you want to be?” I countered.
He gave me a look.
“You haven’t been married to that money grubbing whore since she screwed half of the vampire legion while you were at work.”
The three in the backseat roared with laughter and Tanis groaned.
“Tanis, if you can still love me, want to be with me, marry me, despite the fact that my love will most likely kill you and everyone you love and have ever cared about, I can still love you and overlook that you made a mistake over three hundred years ago, when you were human mind you, so we can start living the life that we’ve been waiting our whole lives to live. Agreed?”
He kissed my hand again. “Sadly, you make an inarguable point, and yes, I still love you despite everything you mentioned as to reasons why I should not love you.”
Sadly, in his mind that was a compliment.
“Some people’s vampires,” I said with a heavy sigh.
“Not some people’s, yours and only yours,” he corrected and tenderly kissed my hand again.
Thirty-six hours after she said yes, Jay Dee Lightfoot, daughter of Reign and Sky Lightfoot of the Lhaq'temish, crowned Queen of the Varulv, said I Do to a vampire who had waited his entire life to hold her in his arms, to love her and be loved by her…
It was more than I deserved.
Vampires, by nature, were selfish creatures.
Men who had the adore and devotion of a beautiful woman were considered selfish creatures, as well.
But a man who just happened to be a vampire. Who had waited more than three hundred years to hold the woman he
was born, created, and blessed with a gift that he had always considered a curse, simply to love said beautiful woman. Who was the last of the Varulv, a beautiful and rare breed of werewolf hailing from the frozen north. Who coincidentally was their crowned Queen. And let’s no fail to mention, their love and union was foreseen, which would result in a war that will spill more blood than the mythical world had ever seen. Who are on the run from a purist sect of werewolves who were hell bent on killing them and everyone they had ever loved, all to prevent a well overdue blending of the species…
It was beyond selfish, to say the least.
The moment d’Artagnan pulled the stake from my chest, I knew what I had to do, and that was to defend and protect my heart.
Toran was right, in a sense. I had no idea how to properly protect Jay Dee. I was a cynical bastard, not a fighter, but that was what I needed to be. I had to protect her, even if it meant protecting her from her own people, who coincidentally, turned out not to be her people, and in fact, were Aslak soldiers or spies. I hadn’t figured out which, but I knew that they needed to die…even if they weren’t Aslak, they needed to die because I could smell the resolve emanating from Mikkel’s pores: he was going to take Jay Dee from me, and that I couldn’t permit.
The moment Jay Dee said I Do, and wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me passionately, I knew that there was nothing that I wouldn’t do for her, wouldn’t sacrifice simply to protect her and see her smile, from that day forward until the end of time she was mine and only mine.
Our battling lips never slowed as we took the elevator to the penthouse; her legs were wrapped around my waist and my hands greedily grabbed at every inch of exposed flesh they could find as I navigated us to our room. Jay Dee loosened my tie and started on the buttons to my dress shirt while I grabbed her firm arse with one hand as the other blindly struggled to get the key in the slot marking our room. More than once I thought I had it and accidentally slammed her back against the door trying to open it, getting a choked gasp in return which quickly turned to a deep growl of raw sexual desire.
Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) Page 36