Jerk-face had made it exceptionally difficult be mad at him.
However, I had to stand by my principles. And if that meant I would be completely miserable for the rest of my life, and alone since I marked him, so be it.
Truth was, I honestly couldn’t picture myself loving anyone but that annoying vampire.
What was really ironic about the entire situation was that I had heard what he said many times before, and worse. But hearing it from the man I loved, the person I gave my everything to—mind, body, soul, trust, mark…virginity—made it inexcusable.
Last night, I crawled into bed with Jarvis. I didn’t want him to leave, and I kept getting the feeling from him that he didn’t want to leave either, so we stayed up all night and talked. Every time he mentioned the sniveling vampire I was purposely trying not to think about, I’d punched him and changed the subject.
Needless to say, my brother was littered with bruises.
Never did I imagine that my brother, the one who had always been insanely protective of me, would approve of the guy who took my virginity, and then side with him!
When did hell freeze over?
Jarvis and his best friend, Jerk-face, headed to Seattle to put him on his ungodly-long flight to Moscow. Aside from the poor company that took him to the airport, I felt bad for Jarvis because there was a lot of connecting flights and more than eighteen hours of flying ahead of him. First he went from Seattle to Spokane, Spokane to Salt Lake, Salt Lake to Chicago, then Chicago to London, which was cool as hell because I had always wanted to see London, then London to Moscow. Surprisingly, the ticket wasn’t that expensive using online booking sites, but I couldn’t imagine being stuck in a cramped cabin with no room to breathe or stretch for that long.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford first class, and when I tried to give Jarvis my savings so he could get bumped to first or business class, which would give him more legroom, he declined and smacked me upside the head.
“Are you okay, Mom?” I asked as I sat the table, accidentally grabbing four plates when there was only three of us now.
She forced a smile. “I suppose. It’s hard saying goodbye to your kids, even though he’ll be back in a few months. I wish I could call him every night so I can tuck him in over the phone.” She sniveled and wiped the moisture from her eyes.
I hugged her tight. “You can. That a*shole who broke my heart bought Jarvis a satellite phone.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
I groaned; stupid Jerk-face was the hero once more.
“It’s a way for you to call Jarvis regardless of where he’s at in the world, and since the number’s local it won’t cost us long distance charges. The number’s written by the phone.”
Mom breathed a sigh of relief and kissed my forehead. “Thank god. I was going to have to get a second job just to afford the phone bill. I hate my little boy being so far away.”
“Me too,” I agreed.
“Tanis is a good man, Sweetheart. You need get over this.”
I pushed her back at arm’s length. “What? Who are you and what have you done with my mom?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Smartass. You know what I mean. I don’t like the fact that he’s a vampire, I don’t like the fact that he hurt you, I don’t like the fact that you had sex with him-”
I choked and quickly looked away from her.
“And I really don’t like the fact that you marked him.”
Oh my god. She is going to kill me.
“Uh…I did?” I countered in the worst possible attempt at lying in the history of the world.
Mom laughed. “Oh come on. I’m more than a hundred years old, Jay Dee; I was born at night, but not last night. The way you two would look at each other, and smile, and laugh, and the little things you’d do to touch; he brushed against you, you caressed the back of his hand with your pinkie…it’s stomach turning but cute.”
I groaned.
“And Jarvis told me you had sex with him and marked him,” she added and I stomped my feet—I was going to kill my brother. “Jay Dee, that’s what love is. It’s an up and down roller coaster of shit that counters the non-shit. If that makes sense,” she said with a chuckle.
“My family has officially gone insane,” I groaned.
“Insane or not, your father and I have been there.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean? I’ve never seen you two fight, ever.”
She nodded her agreement. “Because I’m naturally always right.”
“But of course,” I dryly agreed.
“Your father and I have been married for eighty-five years, but he wasn’t my first love or the first I marked.”
My eyes widened.
“My first love was a human named Dustin. Imagine my family’s and pack’s surprise when I announced that I was engaged to a human, and let’s not forget, he was a white man. Your grandfather completely lost it. Dustin knew that I was a werewolf, he didn’t like it, but he accepted it because he loved me. Unfortunately, the drama it caused went beyond our borders and pack. Dustin was the mayor’s son, and I was nothing more than an Indian whore who shouldn’t have been allowed off the reservation.
“My father was so irate he sent me to the Pacific Northwest where his friend was the Alpha and could keep an eye on me, but Dustin followed. We ran away together and were married. We spent twenty-five wonderful years together before a heart attack took him from me. Depressed and not knowing where to turn or what to do, and considering my father refused to speak to me again, I went back to the Pacific Northwest and the pack there. Your dad was a young, cocky thing, but he was compassionate. He refused to allow his father to turn me away when they discovered I had marked a human. To your dad, it didn’t matter that I was Yavapai and he was of the Lhaq'temish, or that I had fallen for a white man and marked him as my own, or was a widow. He challenged his father, and in a bloody fight, he became the Alpha male.”
“Holy shit!” I gasped.
She nodded. “I wasn’t ready to move on with my life; I had just lost my husband, the only man I thought I’d ever love. But your stubborn dad was willing to wait. He said that I’d come around,” she amusingly informed me. “I eventually did, but only after becoming friends for over a decade first. Then our friendship turned into love and something else, something that I never experienced with Dustin: mutual respect. Dustin always had a slight attitude of superiority over me because of the werewolf thing, but your dad didn’t. It wasn’t because we were both werewolves, it was different; your dad looks at me as if I am the first and last woman on earth, and because of that, he makes me feel as if I am better than him. It’s sexy, really sexy.”
“Ew, I think this conversation has taken a turn for the worse,” I pointed out when she softly moaned and bit her bottom lip.
Mom laughed. “It was getting there,” she admitted. “Jay Dee, my point is, the way that your dad looks at me is the same way that Tanis looks at you. Men do lots of stupid things, but what makes us better than them is that we point out their mistakes and then forgive them for their shortcomings.”
“Vampire aside, you were married before Dad?” I wanted to clarified.
That was news to me.
“Yes. Jarvis doesn’t know, not many do anymore. It was long ago. Jay Dee, everyone has a past, including your mom.”
I nodded; unfortunately, she gave me more stuff to think about.
We ate in silence. Dad was absently picking at his food. Mom had read the same page in the romance novel next to her at least a hundred times. And I was completely mentally preoccupied thinking about what Mom had said about Dustin and my need to forgive Jerk-face.
A loud pounding came at the front door, and it startled all of us.
Before Dad could answer, the pounding came again and the handle jiggled.
Dad sniffed. “Yahto,” he whispered and pulled the door open.
“What flight was Jarvis on?” Yahto demanded as he pushed his way into the house.
“I’m not sure, why?” I asked, following him into the living room.
“Find out!” he yelled, startling me; I couldn’t remember the last time Yahto had raised his voice to me.
Mom went to the kitchen to get the copy of Jarvis’ flight itinerary.
Yahto turned on the TV in the living room and flipped it to CNN.
The images of something burning in dark water flooded the screen. The reporter shuffled his papers, a look of unfathomable despair on his face, and in a grave tone said, “This just in from our London affiliate. A little over two hours ago, American flight ten-eighteen from Chicago to London crashed forty-kilometers from land. The wreckage and debris is covering a span of nearly three kilometers from the point of impact in the Atlantic Ocean. Reportedly, one hundred and twenty-five Americans were onboard. An FAA spokesperson has confirmed that it has turned into a recovery effort. Again, American flight ten-eighteen departing from Chicago to London has crashed with no survivors.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No. No!” I yelled.
Not possible.
This can’t be happening.
“Mom, what was Jarvis’ connecting flight number to London?” I choked.
When she didn’t answer, I knew the answer.
Mom screamed so loudly that it nearly dropped me to my knees.
“No, it isn’t possible. Jarvis is fine. I can feel it,” I argued as the dark images on the television blurred beyond recognition from the tears flooding my eyes.
Yahto sat on the floor crying.
Dad was trying to console Mom, but tears were staining his dark cheeks as well.
“This isn’t happening,” I said. “My brother is fine. My brother is alive.”
“I’m so sorry, Jay,” Yahto stammered.
“Jarvis missed his connecting flight,” I argued. “He gave up his seat to someone else and is taking a later flight or different airline.”
“Stop,” Dad pleaded.
“He got drunk and they kicked him off of the plane until he sobers up,” I continued. “The Air Marshalls mistaken him for a terrorist because of his beautiful dark complexion and have him in a holding cell somewhere. I don’t know what happened but I do know that he wasn’t on that plane.”
“Stop,” Dad yelled.
“This isn’t…no,” I whispered and grabbed the phone and started to dial 4-1-1 for the airline, for anyone…anyone who could tell me that my brother was alive.
When I started to dial, I saw the post-it note next to the phone.
I dialed his cell phone number instead.
“Please, please, please answer,” I chanted over and over.
I felt like I was going to throw up.
After two rings, the line picked up.
“Hey, I was just about to call you.”
“Jarvis?” I choked.
Please don’t let this be his voicemail.
There was silence.
Voicemail, damn it.
“Sis, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“Jarvis, is this you or your stupid voicemail?” I choked.
Mom, Dad, and Yahto were suddenly circling huddling around me.
“Not my voicemail,” he said. “What happened? Are Mom and Dad okay…oh my god, are you pregnant?” he gasped.
“Your plane crashed,” I stammered. “In the Atlantic. You should be dead...”
Again there was silence on the other end of the phone before he laughed once, humorlessly. “Holy shit,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Um...Tanis took me to the airport but he had made arrangements for me to take his family’s private jet so I’d have some legroom and a shorter flight. I got to Moscow a few hours ago and I was going to call you guys once I got settled. Holy shit, seriously?”
I handed the phone to Mom.
This can’t be happening.
Mom was crying hysterically. Dad was hugging her tight. I was overwhelmed with relief that my brother was alive, but flooded with guilt over how I had been treating Tanis.
I ran out the front door and didn’t stop until I was standing on the front porch of the three-story home. I pounded on the front door as hard as I could and rang the bell over and over again.
Someone has to be here….he has to be here.
After another minute of pounding, the door flew open and Tanis’ face went from irritation to relief, then to pain and confusion.
“Duckie, what happened?” he demanded, noting my tears through the rain.
That was it.
I completely lost it and threw myself at him and cried hysterically.
“My brother’s plane crashed,” I choked between debilitating sobs. “He should have been killed!”
I was sure that he had no idea of what in the hell I was talking about, but he didn’t ask.
“Jarvis is well,” he tried to assure me, caressing my head. “Duckie, he took me family’s jet. He landed some time ago without complication. Jarvis is alive.”
“I know,” I snapped at him on accident and pulled away from him.
The realization that he truly did care for me and my family seemingly lifted a veil from my eyes and it was like looking for the first time. His face wasn’t perfect, according to Yahto and Jarvis, but it was perfect to me, and it rendered me breathless when I once again gazed upon it. Tanis’ intense silver-streaked blue eyes felt as if they were searing into my soul, searching for all of the secrets, and his presence rendered me speechless.
“I am so sorry,” I struggled to say.
“No,” Tanis scolded and pulled me into his arms, and held me tight to his chest. “I am the one who is so, so very sorry. I apologize for the an unprecedented arse I had been. And I should have told your family that I put Jarvis on a jet…I did it for you, surely you must know that, there is nothing that I would not do for you.”
I didn’t know how long we stood in his foyer, his body pressing against mine creating a pleasant heat to warm me from the inside out, but eventually I stopped crying.
In Tanis’ arms I felt whole.
The man who hurt me and broke my heart, inadvertently saved my brother’s life with his generosity and kindness…with his love for me.
“I hope this wasn’t expensive,” I whispered before wiping my eyes and nose off on his shirt.
Tanis laughed. “It does not matter, Duckie. Can I get you something, anything at all?”
There wasn’t anything I wanted or needed other than him, and I was already in his arms.
“Where’s your family?” I whispered, looking up at him.
“They went to Seattle for holiday. Mum got restless...I did you warn you that it would only be a matter of time,” he amusingly reminded me.
“So we’re alone?” I asked but didn’t wait for him to answer.
I smashed my mouth into his and kissed him passionately, ripping his shirt off in the process. The unmistakable underlying burning passion, emotion, pain, happiness, regret, but most importantly, love in his kiss, flooded my senses and raced through my body like a wave of sexually charged desire.
Tanis ripped my shirt off so I bit his bottom lip since it was one of my favorites and he growled, which was answered by a growl of my own. I tackled him to the floor and started unfastening his belt while our battling lips and tongues continued the struggle for control.
It wasn’t like the first time we had sex, not even close.
It was a million times better!
Instead of the delicate glass he treated me as before, he treated me as an equal. It was passionate, tender on occasion, aggressive and sometimes rough, but it was perfect.
After making passionate love in the foyer, on the stairs, library, parlor, den, and stairs again, we eventually made it up the stairs and to his room. All night and into the late afternoon, our lips expressed all of the emotions that words could not.
Our souls seemingly blended into one, and each caress, bite, lick, kiss, and rock of his hips, brought me to levels of ecstasy that I never knew existed.
The reasons why I was pissed, why I never wanted to see him again, why I didn’t want him in my life, were lost to me. I couldn’t remember what happened, or why it happened, or why I was even mad. I was born simply to love him, that I knew with every fiber of my being, so the past and the mistakes were not of concern.
In those hours of being in his arms, Tanis became my only concern. I never wanted that moment to end, and now that we are together, are whole, there was nothing anything that could keep us from being together...forever.