Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) by Danae Ayusso

have insultingly coined vampires …there is still an unspoken law of our kind that demands our existence remain in the shadows and out of the perceptions of humans.” He sighed, shaking his head; obviously that was the wrong conversation to bring up.
    “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “You don’t have to tell me…you can use a lifeline if you want!” I assured him with a face-consuming, completely fabricated, smile.
    Tanis looked over at me from the corner of his eye and chuckled once , humorlessly. “I will reserve my lifeline for another time,” he informed me with another chuckle, a genuine one. “Our coven is more inconspicuous than most because we do not actively hunt humans…feed on them to the point of death,” he explained when I gasped. “We stroll... While we were in Paris, Georgiana got a little carried away at a party and ended up draining four people; one was a politician’s daughter. Needless to say, because of that clanger we had to leave in a hurry.”
    Holy shit!
    That wasn’t what I was expecting to hear.
    Huh, and here I was under the delusion that vampires aren’t as bad as Hollywood , the elders, and history has made them out to be.
    Oops, my bad.
    “Oh,” was all I could say, and even that was nearly impossible to articulate.
    “Are you scared now?” he asked quietly, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.
    “No.”
    “Liar,” he said and sighed. “I am not like me sister. Ho nestly, I cannot stand her and have tried to stake her more times than I can remember. Vampires are every bit as terrifying as you were led to believe. However, some of us are different from the others. I will not hurt you, I promise you ! I have not taken a human life from feeding in over two hundred years.”
    That’s good to know.
    “How old are you?” I asked.
    Tanis wagged his finger at me in a scolding manner. “It is not your turn, cheeky bird.”
    “Whate ver,” I huffed, rolling my eyes and pouted, causing him to laugh.
    He slowed the SUV and pulled into a parking spot that had just opened up in the front o f a nice restaurant, cutting off another vehicle.
    “Wait, why are you stopping?” I dema nded in a panic, looking around and fought to keep from snarling when the driver of the car Tanis cut off started to get out of his vehicle .
    I will rip your throat out if you lay on finger on him , I silently growled.
    “We are having dinner,” Tanis reminded me—tone noted—and apparently he wasn’t at all concerned by the potential human drama he caused with his European styled James Bond parking stunt .
    “But I can’t afford this!” I argued, my eyes going between him and the pissed off man fast approaching from behind us .
    Did he not hear me when I said McDonalds?
    Tanis rolled his eyes and got out o f the SUV.
    “Hey!” the other driver yelled. “You cut me off!”
    Tanis looked over at him and cocked an eyebr ow, his top lip snarling upward, revealing his small, white fangs, and the man, who was easily six inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier, paled considerably and immediately started backing away from him. Tanis continued to glare at him, a soft snarl of a growl rolling from the base of his throat until t he car peeled out and sped away, running three red lights in the process.
    “Bloody wanker,” Tanis hissed under his breath.
    That was interesting and kind of hot.
    He then opened the door for me, once the apparent danger had passed , and a warm smile filled his face. “I am taking you to dinner and I do n ot do fast food,” he smugly informed me .
    I continued to sit there with my arms crossed ov er my chest and chin jutted out; I rather deal with the pissed off giant whose spot we took then deal with the smug vampire looking at me.
    Tanis may not do fast food but I don’t let people pay for me.
    “I will throw you over me shoulder and carry you in there like a pouting nipper,” he warned.
    Unfortunately, I knew he was serious and would do just that.
    I huffed