Nearly four hours of holding Jay Dee in my arms was more than had I expected to get.
Hell, everything I got was more than I had expected to get.
First, she permitted me to enter her house, knowing that only my lack of invitation was keeping me from being able to enter, and the invitation couldn’t be revoked once given. I got to kiss her, and she kissed me back, a few times. I got to touch her unbelievably soft body, caress it, and hold against mine.
I didn’t sleep…I couldn’t! All I could think about was the barely clothed woman in my arms and how I wanted to keep her all to myself for the rest of eternity.
Never had I thought like that about anyone before, and it flooded me with guilt that I was even contemplating taking young woman’s future away from her by sinking my fangs into her soft, lightly tanned neck, simply for my own selfish reasons.
It’d be a cold day in hell when I would ever, seriously, contemplate turning someone, but it didn’t keep the thought from entering my mind a time or two hundred while I caressed her velvety skin and indulged in the warmth of her caress and the taste of her mouth.
It truly was heaven on Earth in the middle of the reservation, surrounded by sleeping werewolves.
Eventually, Jay Dee fell asleep curled up next to me with her head on my chest, and her thick mane of hair caressed my skin with each breath she took, causing an intense arousal to the likes of nothing I had ever known before to swell in my loins. She had thrown her leg across my thighs in an attempt to keep me from leaving—she didn’t have to worry about that, I wanted nothing more than to stay the night with her—and her fingers absently caressed my ear in her sleep. To my pleasant surprise, Jay Dee talked in her sleep a few times. It was nothing I could completely understand or put context to, but the wide array of facial expressions made it more than clear what she was feeling: happiness, pain, fear, joy, and contentment.
I could relate because apparently there were a mere reflection of my own feelings at that moment.
Watching her sleep was an entirely different experience. I had never watched anyone sleep before, and it wasn’t something I would do again, unless it was Jay Dee I was watching, but hearing her softly moan my name while I caressed my fingers across her bare thigh, and the way she trembled under my touch, was beyond anything I had ever experienced in my very long life.
My pants stayed on, to her dismay, as did her knickers, which took all of my combined centuries of discipline and restraint to achieve, but as she had said, she wasn’t that kind of girl, even though her actions and begging made her seem like that kind of girl.
And that was what ultimately made me deny her pouting and whimpering, her large, puppy dog eyes, and long, batting lashes. I didn’t want to do that to her; make her question or feel like something she wasn’t simply because we had both gotten caught up in the moment.
It should have earned me bloody sainthood.
However, none of that was nearly as hard as leaving her before sunrise.
The soft sound of footsteps coming down the hall pulled me from the blissful heaven I had drifted to in my head, and the possessiveness started to rear its most inconvenient head. It was a struggle to keep from throwing Jay Dee over my shoulder and ducking out the window as I attempted to make run for it.
A very small voice of commonsense reminded me that she most likely wouldn’t look too favorably on being kidnapped by a vampire.
Tenderly I caressed her lips with mine as I carefully slid out from under her.
Jay Dee softly moaned. “I’m not ready to give you up yet,” she mumbled before her soft purr of a snore resumed.
I am not ready to give you up either, me Duckie. However, I do not wish to be in the middle of a dog fight if I get caught.
I unhooked the platinum chain link bracelet I had worn—Jay Dee had given me grief about how I was sporting the Mr. T starter kit…I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but I smacked her on the arse for it just the same—and quickly fastened it around her wrist, a silent way of assuring her that’d I see her again, and soon, before slipping out the bedroom window just as her bedroom door opened.
I ran home in a daze, not exactly sure how I got there, but Mum was just turning in when I crossed the garden.
“Hello, my precious one,” she warmly greeted with a smile. “Do I dare enquire as to why you are turning in at such a late hour?” she asked with an amused smile.
I couldn’t help but laugh, and shook my head. “I would not suggest it,” I teased with a face-consuming smile.
“Holy Hell, Child! Are you trying to singlehandedly start a war between our species?” she asked but there was no genuine concern in her; she was overly amused at my childlike antics.
I shrugged but continued to smile, it was near impossible not to smile when thinking about Jay Dee and the wonderful night we had spent together.
“Starting a war?” I asked, overly amused by her wording. “I can confidently tell you that I did nothing which would warrant a war between our people,” I said the latter ominously and she rolled her eyes.
“The Lightfoots are dear, old friends,” Mum scolded. “Playing grab arse with their youngest child could possibly start a war to the likes of nothing my overly confident and proud son could ever imagine. They are very protective of the girl,” she informed me and I made a face at her. “With that said, you must tell me,” she said with a mischievous smirk, “you did not do anything which I will have to fight with my husband over, did you?”
I bit my lip and blushed.“Possibly,” I admitted. “I did not play grab arse, however, I did kiss her.”
“That is a reason to smile,” she agreed and offered me her hand.
I escorted her into the house and to the kitchen so I could make something to eat before picking Jay Dee up.
Mum sat and watched me move around the kitchen, gathering what I would need to make a vegetable omelet. Softly she laughed with a content sigh while I hummed a happy song under my breath as I chopped mushrooms and green peppers.
Finally, she huffed, not able to take it anymore.
“My precious one, you are simply the worst kind of tease,” she complained and I laughed. “Tell me all about it, leave not one detail out. You went to her house and…” she prompted.
I looked up at her and cocked an eyebrow. “And you have the audacity to call me the worst kind of tease, when you, yourself, Madam, are salivating for gossip.”
Mum batted her long, black lashes. “You speak rather boldly of one whom has been shackled to a small town and has to resort to stalking the night in order to alleviate her boredom.”
I gave her a look. “Hypocrisy at its finest,” I dryly informed her with a smirk. “Was it not you who begged me to attempt to find complacency in this wolf infested shitehole…” I instantly cringed.
Mum cocked an eyebrow. “Be happy that your father was not here to hear such words spill from your lips!” she scolded in a hiss. “Some of my most trusted friends have been werewolves, and the fact that you, yourself, have been consorting with werewolves as of late, and yet you speak so brazenly of them, is hypocrisy at its finest!”
Being forced to go to bloody high school with werewolves does not constitute willfully consorting with them. And neither does staying the night in a house filled with sleeping wolves with a young woman in my arms…that does not count!
I sulked around the granite island and wrapped my arms around her and tenderly kissed the top of her head. “My most heartfelt apologies, Mum.”
She tenderly patted my back. “Be thankful your father, or Jay Dee for that matter, were not present to hear your words. I would work on minding your tongue, if I were you.”
I nodded my understanding and went back to my food. “I must admit, the story is rather romantic, if I dare say so myself,” I smugly informed her, desperately trying to change the subject, and she snorted, well aware of what I was doing. “I could not sleep, not in the least. All I could think of were the pink pillows of my desires which I was so very close to caressing with mine...speaking of which, Romeo is on me shite list.”
Mum laughed. “When is he not?” she countered.
“True, however this time was worse than all the others put together.”
She shook her head. “I am patiently waiting to hear this tale of romance and young love.”
I gave her a look. “I am over three hundred years old, Mum. I am anything but young.”
“She is nearing eighteen,” she countered.
Buggers.
I licked my dry lips and plated my food. “Mum, that will prove to be a problem, will it not?” I asked.
Her face fell. “Tanis, my precious one, age is nothing but a number to the hearts of those it seemingly effects, and yet is an ever constant in the eyes and on the tongues of those who do not matter. When you look upon her, Tanis, do you see a child or a young woman who acts her age?”
Did I? I know that she is young, much younger than I, but she is one of the most responsible and mature people I have ever met. Most of the time, I feel as if I am the young one between the two of us.
My lack of an answer caused her to sigh and shake her head. “Tanis, for the first time in your very long life, listen to what is in your heart and not the fear of what could happen, and the nightmares of what has happened before. None of that was your fault.”
I scoffed. “And yet Toran told me the exact opposite,” I sneered, absently stabbing the plated omelet with my fork.
Mum growled. “You do not say?” she hissed. She was going to kick Toran’s arse when she saw him again, and it served him right.
“I got up to grab something from the kitchen,” I said, continuing the story, “however, me feet did not stop when they reached the marble floor, they seemingly had a mind of their own. In a daze, I walked in the rain to her house, and by the time I got there, I was completely saturated with water, however, I had never felt warmer. Simply the thought of her fills me with this...” my words trailed off and I shook my head, trying to clear it.
“Happiness?” Mum offered.
“Of course, however it is more than that. The thought of her floods me with a peculiar warmth that seemingly races through me body to the likes of nothing I have ever known before.”
She sighed contently and wiped the moisture from the corners of her eyes; mum was never one to be the hopeless romantic in the coven, yet I seemingly brought it out in her.
“There is a large tree outside her window,” I said with a smile, envisioning Jay Dee still stretched out on her bed wearing only a thin cotton tank top and tiny knickers that cut up her round arse masterfully. “I climbed it, not realizing how late it truly was, and I knocked on her window.”
Mum squealed and I looked up at her. “Sorry,” she giggled, embarrassed.
“Mum, you are starting to scare me.”
“Oh hush,” she scolded. “Continue.”
“You are very demanding.”
She smiled wide.
“To my surprise, she answered...after I scared the hell out of her,” I said and chuckled; it was rather amusing in a cheesy teen romance movie sort of way. “She invited me in, knowing that I had to be invited... Mum, she truly is a strange creature and yet I cannot stop thinking about her.”
“So it would seem,” she agreed with a warm smile.
“I was standing in front of her in her room, water dripping all over her hardwood floors, with very little distance between us...but the heat radiating from her was overwhelming and it nearly dropped me to my knees. Before I could stop meself, I told her that for the past two nights I had not gotten to kiss her goodnight and that it simply was not acceptable.”
“You did not!” she gasped; Tanis Ashton and romance were never used in the same sentence or comment, in fact, more than one I had been told that I was quite possibly the most unromantic creature that had ever existed.
“I did,” I proudly informed her. “To my surprise, she agreed. We snogged and it was absolutely perfect! She asked me to stay, so I did. We simply held each other until she fell asleep, and then I went out the way I had come when her father got up to check on her”
“How romantic,” she beamed. “You did not shag, did you?” she asked in a warning tone, cocking an eyebrow.
“No!” I accidently snapped at her. “Snog yes, shag no.”
Her eyes widened but a smile filled her face. “Interesting indeed. So you love this girl?”
“No, not that I am aware of,” I said, though that might have been a lie; I honestly didn’t know. “I respect her too much to do something like that to her. I am not Romeo. I love me cousin, most of the time, however I cannot stomach how he goes through birds like a bog roll, thus I will not do it meself. Miss Jay Dee is not going to be a quick, passing through village, shag,” I informed her.
“I resent…or possibly embody, that comment, Cousin,” Romeo said as he entered the kitchen. “Good morning, Beautiful. How was your evening?” he asked, turning to Mum.
“Good,” she said with a smile and he kissed her on the cheek.
“So tell me, Cousin,” Romeo said with a smirk, “haven’t you noticed that there’s something rather strange about the girl you’re all hot and bothered over?”
I fought the urge to growl at him; he was testing my patience.
“Aside from the fact that she has brilliant taste in men and is immune to you and your bollocks persuasion?” I countered, cocking an eyebrow.
Romeo flipped me off, earning a smack in the back of the head from Mum. “Whatever,” he mumbled under his breath. “There’s something different about her, something that isn’t...I don’t know, right or something. Why would all of the damn werewolves on the res be out looking for her with urgency if she’s just a white girl in the land of the red man?” he asked, genuinely curious.
Honestly, I was curious about that as well, but I wasn’t going to ask.
Mum gave him a look. “Miss Jay Dee is a young girl who has spent her entire life with the Lhaq'temish and her family, her parents are the alphas, and now suddenly there are vampires in the area… Why in the hell do you think they got paranoid?” she asked, seemingly uninterested in the answer.
Romeo made a mocking face at her; no one in the house missed her sarcasm. “But still,” he complained, “there’s more than just the werewolf and white girl thing, I think, that’s up with her.”
Mum nodded. “But you do not know what that is, do you?” she surmised with a smirk.
“No,” he mumbled.
“Just as I thought,” I scoffed. “Mum, he is still narked that Miss Jay Dee picked me and not him.”
“Am not,” he shot back.
“Are too,” I countered just as juvenile. “Romeo, you are not used to being second best. You always have to have the best clothes, the best hair, and the hottest birds on your arm and in your bed. Well guess what, Cousin, not this time. This time, I got the bird!”
Whoa, where in the hell did that come from?
His mouth fell open and he looked at me in shock.
Mum, however laughed, applauding. “It truly is like Christmas all over again. You two, I swear are brothers. Romeo, my beloved little brat, keep your hands, tongue, lips and prick, to yourself. And Tanis, my precious one, do what makes you happy regardless of what anyone says. You have been going through the motions of existing for far too long. It is about damn time you are happy, and if this girl, regardless of what might be different about her, makes you happy, then embrace it just as she has embraced you.”
“Yes ma’am,” Romeo grumbled under his breath and headed to his room to pout.
“Do you think she can...could look past that I am a vampire?” I asked and chewed on my bottom lip.
Mum nodded. “She already has, my precious one. Jay Dee sees you, the man that you are, not the vampire that you were turned into. Revel in the fact that she sees the man you have kept hidden for much too long, and do not allow those walls to go up around your heart as you always do. Take a chance. It is about damn time you take that leap of faith, Tanis.”
I licked my lips. “What if she is not there to catch me…if I take that leap?” I asked.
She smiled. “The question you should be asking is, what if she is there to catch you?”
I had not thought of that.
“Thank you, Mum,” I said with a smile before kissing her on the side of the head, then hurried from the room and up the stairs; there was a girl to see and a leap of faith to take.
It didn’t take me long to shower and change, and when I exited the closet, Georgiana was sitting on the edge of my bed, flipping through a magazine.
“Tell me, Brother, what in the hell do you think you are doing?” she asked.
“Getting dressed. What does it look like?” I rhetorically asked.
She threw the magazine at me. “You know that is not what I meant. A human, are you nutter? I ahve seen you do some ridiculous shite in the past, but falling for a bloody human who is stoney is beyond daft.”
“Miss Jay Dee is not after me brass,” I snapped at her then growled, livid that she was speaking about Jay Dee in such a way.
“Every woman is after money, especially when they do not have any,” she amusingly informed me.
There was no reason to argue with her. Georgiana would argue until she was blue in the face even if she knew she was wrong; you really had to admire that about the stubborn woman.
I nodded that I heard her and headed towards the door.
“I wonder what d’Artagnan will think of you parading around with a human,” she warned.
I stopped in mid-step.
“Why would he care, or know for that matter?” I asked indifferently.
“Because d’Artagnan knows everything, and he was rather furious to find you gone last night.”
I spun around and was across the room before I even thought the action through, and slammed Georgiana into the wall faster than she could register the movements.
“What are you talking about? d’Artagnan is here, in Washington?” I demanded.
She choked on the burst of amusement that broke past her lips. “Not just Washington, but in Lummi, you bastard. If you do nto watch yourself, he will succeed where you failed.”
Bloody hell.
That was going to cause a major barney in my bigger plans, all of which revolved around properly courting Jay Dee.
I slammed my sister into the wall again, dropping the unconscious bitch to the floor then hurried downstairs.
“Mum, I knocked Georgiana out…again. Keep her home today. If need be, stake her,” I called out.
“Of course, my precious one,” Mum said from the top of the stairs. “Remember, take the leap,” she said.
That would be so much easier said than done now. When my lovely brother was around, headache and heartache always followed.
I was in a foul mood when I parked outside of Jay Dee’s house, so I sat in the car and waited while I glared at the illuminated numbers on the dash.
What in the hell is me bloody brother doing in Washington? I have not seen him in nearly a decade, not since I tried to kill him last. I am sure he is still narked about that. d’Artagnan is not known for his forgiving nature.
Bugger! That is all I do not need right now; a narked brother with an attitude putting his annoying nose in my business.
Pounding on the driver’s side window startled me.
I looked over to see Jarvis glaring at me.
Lovely. Another arsehole brother to deal with, and this one is not even mine.
I rolled down the window. “May I help you with something?” I asked with a completely fabricated smile just to irritate him.
“Leave my sister alone,” he warned with a growl.
“No. Is there anything else?” I asked as I continued to smile at the mongrel.
Jarvis rolled his large amber eyes and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Seriously, leave my baby sister alone.”
“You did not say please,” I amusingly informed him.
Obviously I haven’t lost it and can still be a condescending, cynical bastard when I fancy.
“A*shole,” he mumbled under his breath, and quickly walked around to the passenger side and got in.
Bloody hell!
“I do not recalling offering you an invitation to join me,” I spat through clenched teeth.
“I’m not a damn suckhead so I don’t need an invitation,” he smugly informed me.
You cannot be serious?!
“So back to the problem at hand: Jay Dee,” he said. “I don’t want my baby sister running around with you.”
This day will never end, and yet it just started.
“Well then,” I said, “it is a good thing that Miss Jay Dee is an adult, is it not?” I countered.
I really didn’t want to be talking to that damn lapdog at the moment, I had enough arsehole brothers to deal with.
However, what he said next surprised me.
“I know,” Jarvis said with a heavy sigh. “Jay is different; she’s beyond special. I guess it only makes sense that she’d fall for a goddamn vampire...an old ass vampire.”
I shook my head.
“She’s never done anything that would be considered normal,” he continued. “What’s your interest in her? If you just plan on bumpin’ uglies and running, save both of us the trouble because I really don’t feel like burying a body before I head back to school.”
Again, it wasn’t a conversation that I wanted to have, especially with him.
“Do not fret, Mr. Jarvis,” I said. “You would not need to worry with burying a body, a dust buster would suffice. Heaven forbid that one of such distinction should get their nails dirty.”
Jarvis growled before laughing. “I’ll give you that one. Are you avoiding the question?” he asked. “I mean, I really don’t want to talk about my baby sister’s sex life, I’m hoping lack of sex life, with a damn vampire. But I’m much calmer than my parents. Right now, they’re fighting in the house, still; they’ve been going at all morning. This is a first, my parents fighting with Jay; usually she’s the one trying to keep the peace. What can you do though? You’re not going anywhere and she’s too attached to you now…” He sighed and started fiddling with the controls on the digital display just as his sister did the first time she was in the passenger seat.
“I promise you, Mr. Jarvis, I am not going to hurt your sister,” I assured him. “My intentions are...honorable.”
“I know you’re not….honorable? Dude, you sound like you’re about to go to war or some shit,” he scoffed before roaring with laughter.
Bloody children.
“The safest place for my baby sister, right now, is with you,” he said once he regained his composure.
Apparently I missed something, or this mongrel is speaking in riddles simply to see me narked. It would be in his best interest if he attempted to stay on my cheery Tanis side, and not arsehole Tanis side.
“I beg your pardon,” I said.
“Something bad is coming. I can feel it. That’s why I dropped out of my summer classes and came home. The last time I had this feeling, Jay Dee washed up on our shore. I don’t know what’s going to happen, or when, but I’m rather confident that it’s seriously going to suck.” He looked over at me and laughed. “Catching flies, Count Suckula?”
I closed my mouth which had fallen open in surprise, and shook my head. “No. You are a Seer?” I asked guardedly.
He gave me a look. “Do I look like I’m carrying a crystal ball and Ouija board?” he scoffed. “Werewolves don’t possess strange and unique abilities like vampires do…to my knowledge,” he said the latter contemplatively and scratched his head.
Please tell me he is not that daft when it comes to his own species!
I looked over at him.
Bloody hell, he is serious!
“We have heightened senses, some are more heightened than others,” he went on, completely oblivious to how godsmacked I was by his ignorance. “It’s weird. I always know when Jay is happy, sad, or in pain when we’re near each other.”
I scoffed. “Aside from the guilt and unfathomable emotional pain and distress she has been in for the past thirteen years at the hands of those you call pack and tribe?” I venomously countered.
Jarvis growled, his eyes narrowing; obviously he was upset about that as well. “Yes, minus all the shit she was keeping to herself for all these years,” he snarled. “I love my baby sister very much; her happiness is my only concern. Sadly, since you’ve been around, she’s been a raging roller coaster of emotions.”
That is not good. I am hurting the bird emotionally. That is far worse than physically hurting someone, a thousand-times over. Bruises, bite marks, broken bones, and lacerations heal quickly compared to emotional pain. That is it then. This will be goodbye.
“My most heartfelt apologies,” I whispered. “Please believe me when I say that I did not intend…”
Intend to what? I honestly do not know what I did!
“Dude, don’t be stupid,” he groaned. “What it boils down to is: Jay’s conflicted. Confliction is a good thing. She’s torn between being happy with you and being miserable with us. It sucks but it’s a good type of confliction, one that I’m happy she’s finally let her balls dropped so she could have it...that made more sense in my head. Either way,” he said, shaking his head to clear it and I just sat there watching him, not entirely sure what to say about any of that, “I just wish that it was caused by a human or a werewolf, someone who’s on the same level as her, y’know? But beggars can’t be choosers,” he said with a shrug.
What was there to you say to that?
“Thanks?” I offered.
“Whatever,” he snorted. “How much did this cost? It’s hot! I know my sister likes it.”
“I beg your pardon? Are you hitting on me?” I asked.
Jarvis rolled his eyes. “I like old bitches, not old dudes.”
I cocked an eyebrow.
“The Range Rover, dickweed,” he clarified.
Hopefully his sister fancies older men just as her brother fancies older women.
I was trying to stay positive but it was getting progressively more difficult to keep that sliver of hope alive in my heart.
I shrugged. “I do not recall. When you have thrall at your disposal, you never pay retail.” I smirked and he laughed. “What does your sister require for her birthday? I had the audacity to ask Miss Jay Dee herself and she merely wanted something for you.”
Jarvis laughed. “Buy me what you want, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to put out.”
I walked into that one.
He laughed again. “Honestly, it doesn’t surprise me. Jay has always been a pain in the ass like that. I could name off a long list of crap that she should have but she’d never accept, so it doesn’t matter.”
Bloody hell that bird is stubborn!
I looked out the windshield and smirked. “I think someone is silently telling you that they are going to kick your arse,” I amusingly pointed out.
Jarvis followed my pointing finger out the windshield and groaned.
Jay Dee stood in front of the car with her long arms folded across her chest, eyebrow cocked, mouth twisted in irritation as she glared at her brother.
“It was nice knowing you,” I said with a perverse moan; I was hoping that she’d kick his arse real good for bothering me as he felt the need to do.
“Gee thanks,” he snorted, rolled his eyes then got out of the car. “Remember what I said, Count Suckula,” he warned, talking in his big boy voice.
I gave him a look. “You, me, and a dust buster makes three tonight, got it.” I flipped him off and he laughed.
Jay Dee punched Jarvis in the arm, sending him staggering back. She didn’t yell at him, or say anything for that matter, however the look she gave him made me want to step out of the car and apologize for him...before hiding behind him of course—Jay Dee was menacing when narked. Tenderly she kissed his forehead before smacking him in the back of the head, and he rolled his eyes and nodded his understanding.
Jay Dee climbed in the car and smiled wide. “Good morning, Mr. Ashton,” she cheerfully greeted.
Absolutely beautiful. I will worry about the saying goodbye thing later. At the moment, there is a smiling bird waiting for me to wisk her away in my shiny European carriage.
“Me Duckie,” I warmly greeted and kissed her hand; internally I was doing, what Steffen calls, the happy dance when my platinum bracelet slid down her arm. “I beg of you, call me Tanis.”
Call me yours and only yours.
“Okay,” she whispered and licked her lips.
Bloody hell, she is trying to kill me self-restraint.
I swallowed hard, trying to fight the urge to lean into her and capture her mouth with mine.
“How did you sleep?” I asked, my words coming out slightly strangled.
Thankfully she didn’t press my apparent sudden onset prepubescent voice change, and blushed. “Good. Until I woke up alone,” she said with a pout and it made me smile. “However, I understand why you left. What did my lovely brother have to say?” she asked as uninterested as possible, but she nervously chewed on her bottom lip, waiting to hear the worst.
“Nothing of consequence, Duckie,” I assured her and she made a face. “Believe it or not, Mr. Jarvis was helping me pick out your birthday present,” I smugly informed her, and smirked when she groaned.
That was the response I was hoping for, even though I hadn’t a clue what to get her. Sadly, it looked as if I was going to have another sit down with Jarvis to resolve that before Friday.