Interesting. Not what I was expecting when I pictured a vampire. There are way too many movies and books floating around my head. Tanis is really, really cute, and that British accent is so hot. But I know that it’s one of their natural abilities to entice their meals; looking pretty. That I know to be factual but I never expected, I mean, wow. Tanis is….not an option. He’s a vampire and I’m a werewolf. Two species that don’t blend well together, that don’t harmoniously….well, anything! I’m surprised that he was so cordial and nice to me, even though I’m a werewolf. I wonder if he got the same pep talk that Dad gave me about playing nice in the sandbox together?
“Hello, Earth to Jay Dee,” Yahto said as he waved his hand in front of my face to get my attention.
“Huh?” I looked at him confused.
“I’ve been talking to you for like ten minutes,” he said and groaned loudly before softly knocking into me. “What are you thinking about?” he asked.
There was no way in hell that I was about to tell him that I had a schoolgirl crush on a damn vampire! He’d kick my ass from Lummi to Brookings and back.
“Nothing, are you going to be a ball-hog all period?” I complained, desperately trying to change the subject, and thankfully Yahto was as blond as they came so it worked and he threw the football to me. My last class of my shorten schedule was gym; I shared it with Yahto and six other werewolves so it wasn’t that bad.
“What’s taking so long?” I mumbled and looked at the clock on the wall above the door, trying my hardest to get Tanis out of my mind but his beautiful silver-streaked blue eyes were apparently haunting me because they were all I could see when I closed my eyes.
“Chill, you always get here like fifteen minutes before third period releases.” Yahto tackled me, and both of us slid across the gym floor and into the wall, sending the ball spinning across the room in the opposite direction. “I think you lost some yardage, girlie!” he taunted.
“Yahto, why do you forget that I’m a girl?” I complained from under him. “Or do you even realize that I am one?” I groaned.
“There’s no way in hell that he doesn’t know you’re a girl,” an unfamiliar man said, effectively commanding our attention.
Who in the hell…must be another vampire.
Instantly Yahto was growling under his breath.
“I’m Romeo and these are my cousins,” the interloper said.
I chuckled, thinking he was kidding, and Yahto pulled me to my feet.
“It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Ashton,” I said, looking around Romeo to the blond eying me.
“Miss Jay Dee,” Tanis said with a nod of the head, then smirked when he got a dirty look from Romeo. “Are we playing...football today?” he asked, picking up the spinning pigskin.
We shrugged.
Usually we just ran around like chickens with our heads cut off. Our gym teacher was one of the elders of the pack so he never bothered us with state-required physical testing.
Yahto took a protective half step in front of me, shielding me from the vampires while the other werewolves in class joined us. The invisible line in the sand crap was just ridiculous.
Tanis eyed them cautiously, seemingly understanding. “This is Romeo, and me sister Bitchzilla,” he introduced and the fuming redhead punched him in the arm. “I mean Georgiana. And this is Steffen and his...girlfriend, Abigail...Abby.”
The werewolves turned to me since I was the daughter of the alphas, thus I would have the say in High School werewolf matters.
I looked to Yahto and nodded.
“Jay Dee, Nathanial, Adam, Tosh, Megan, Zee, and I’m Yahto,” he introduced. “You want to play a pickup game?”
“Touch?” Steffen asked with a smirk, eying Yahto and took the ball from Tanis.
I laughed under my breath. “Let’s give them a taste of Northwest touch football, werewolf style,” I said in Salishan.
The werewolves laughed and nodded their agreement.
“Sure. This way, Cousins,” I said with a smirk.
“No offense, but I don’t play with girls,” Steffen said, hurling the ball surprisingly fast at Yahto.
But I was faster; my hand snapped out and snagged the ball from the air.
The vampires looked confused, which was amusing.
“I’m the quarterback,” I said as seductively as possible for some reason.
Romeo licked his lips while Tanis tilted his head to the side; he looked contemplative.
Yahto threw me over his shoulder, as he always did, and slapped my ass as we headed to the football field.
“I need a ride to work,” I told him as we crossed the parking lot, my eyes kept flickering to the intense silver-streaked blue eyes burning into mine from behind us, the veil of blonde hair I was trying to hide behind did very little to guise the fact that I was, once again, checking Tanis out.
“Sorry, Jay,” Yahto said. “I promised Miss Dawson that I’d help her put together those bookshelves during lunch. You can take my truck…oh wait. Shit, that won’t work either. I have to go to Bellingham right after school to pick up some stuff for the party.”
“Damn it,” I mumbled.
The weather was turning and I didn’t want to walk in the rain, but I apparently had very little choice.
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured him when he sat me down. “It will only rain a little bit. Pick me up when I get off work?” I asked hopeful.
“I’ll be there at six-thirty to get you, promise,” he said and kissed my forehead.
Lovely.
I’d be walking home as well. Anytime Yahto promised something it meant that he’d most likely forget. He always did.
I really wasn’t paying attention when they went over the rules, boundaries and all of those important things. I was trying to keep from sneaking a peek at Tanis from the corner of my eye...it was a struggle to say the least. Thankfully the boys and I play football every Sunday after the Seahawks blow it out their asses—the Hawks really had talent but the coaching was questionable at best—so playing with vampires shouldn’t have been that much different.
Zee ran around like a little kid, doing cartwheels and back handsprings down the field, and it helped to distract me from ogling the blond vampire.
“Hit me, baby girl!” Zee called out from the end zone.
Fifty-yard throw, I’ve had longer, so I sent the ball spiraling towards him. Being the theatrical kid that Zee was, he jumped and caught the football singlehandedly. His touchdown dance rivaled those of the women’s US soccer team at the Olympics: his shirt came off, he ran around the field, and slid across the grass on his knees before praising Jesus.
“And I’m spent,” he said and headed over to the sidelines to hang out with his girlfriend, Megan. In Zee’s opinion, he’s too pretty to risk playing combat sports.
“Game on?” I asked, already bored.
“Game on,” they said in unison.