A Wolf's Oath (29 page)

“
I was a little distracted,” Sebastian hedged, hoping she’d
leave it at that.

He should have known better, even though she had lost her
memories, Erica was still Erica. “You were more than a little
distracted Sebastian. You looked like you were about to cut off
your finger.”

It would have grown back,
his mind
muttered rebelliously, though he knew he couldn’t tell her
that.

“
What’s the matter?”

He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to diminish his
state of agitation. His hair was now decidedly messy, but he felt
no less stressed. “I was worried ok?”

“
Worried?” she asked puzzled. “About me?”

“
Who else would I be worried about? I have no family or friends
in this town besides you.”
And even if I
did you would still be the one who occupied most of my
thoughts.
He sighed, falling down to sit on
the sofa.

“
Sebastian you worry too much. All I did was take a drive to
town to buy some things for a cake. There was no harm in
it.”

“
But there could have been sweetheart.”

She moved to sit beside him on the chair. Despite the tense
atmosphere she still felt comforted simply being near him and had
to resist the urge to rest her head against his warm chest. “What
do you mean?”

“
You could have got into an accident. Anything could have
happened.”

“
You’re being pessimistic.”

“
No, I’m being conscious of your condition. Erica did you even
think that you might not know how to drive? What if your car had
crashed and you’d been hurt?”

“
I managed to get to town and back just fine so I must have
learnt to drive at some point in my life. Yes, I had those exact
same thoughts when I first got in the car and couldn’t seem to get
it to do what I wanted, but I eventually figured things out. If I
really didn’t think I could do it then I wouldn’t have
gone.”

“
Why did you go without me in the first place? I could have
driven you.”

“
Yes, you could have Sebastian but that would have defeated the
entire point of the trip.”

“
And what was the point exactly?”

“
Sebastian, I want us to work together. Just because I have a
little bit of a memory deficit, it doesn’t mean that I’m completely
helpless. If I just let you do everything for me then I feel
useless. I have to learn how to do things by myself. Speaking to
Dylan and Wyatt reminded me of that.”

“
How did speaking to your siblings inspire the need to do
things alone? What exactly did they say to you?”
I thought they knew that there were certain
things that they could and couldn’t say to her. I’m going to have
to have a serious talk with those two when I next see
them.

“
It wasn’t anything that they said, it’s just that speaking to
them made me realise how difficult things must be for them. Our
parents are dead. I don’t even remember how they died and as far as
I’m aware I don’t have any other family. Do I’ve any other family?”
She asked for confirmation. Sebastian shook his head telling her
that her presumption had been correct. “That means that to those
two kids I’m the only parent like figure they have. First our
parents died and now I can’t even remember who they are? I don’t
know how they’re managing to be so cheerful, but the fact is
they’re coming to see me soon. They really want to see me and even
if I can’t remember them I have to try and act as though nothing is
out of the ordinary. How can I do that if I have to have you do
everything for me? It isn’t fair to them and it’s most definitely
not fair on you. We have to try and share the burden, that’s what
it means to be in a relationship.”

We have to act as though nothing is out of the
ordinary?
he scoffed.
Erica, you’re a wolf, so am I and so are they. The only thing
that’s out of the ordinary is you thinking that you’re
human.
“The world is a dangerous place
Erica, it’s only natural that I worry,” he mumbled under his
breath.

“
You act as though the world is out to get me Sebastian.” She
laughed, easily dismissing his misgivings.

Not the world sweetheart, just a small group that would hurt
you without a thought and you can’t even remember how to recognise
them. Of course I’m concerned for you.

We must protect her,
his wolf
growled, agitated by the mere thought of Erica being hurt
again.

We will, trust me.
“You’re not going
to change your mind about this are you?”

“
If by this you mean be doing things by myself, then no. I’m a
grown woman. I’m perfectly capable of going out alone, doing things
alone of my own initiative. I want a relationship with you
Sebastian, we’re engaged and one day we’ll be husband and wife. I
don’t want you acting as though you’re my father and I’m some sort
of wayward child. I’m not going to change my mind about this so
don’t even ask. There’s no need for you to want to be watching over
me every second. It must be exhausting. Besides, you can do things
that you want to do as well.”

“
Fine,” he sighed. “It’s not illegal for you to go places
without me.”
Though maybe it should be.
Bad things seem to happen to you when I let you out of my sight.
The first time I listened to your desire to be alone, hunters
captured you. The next time I let you out of my sight, you got shot
off a cliff. And if what they say about bad things happening in
threes is true then number three should be a real jaw-dropping
event.

“
Sebastian, it’s not as though I’m going to avoid going places
without you. I just want you to be aware of the fact that if I want
to go somewhere alone, I will.”

At her last comment, Sebastian began to laugh. It started off
small; a low chuckle but soon it became a fully-fledged roar. He
clutched his sides as the laughter continued to pour from him,
while Erica began to frown at his strange behaviour.

First he almost cuts himself, then he gets all worried about
me going out alone and now he’s laughing? What the hell is wrong
with him today?
“Sebastian, just exactly
what are you laughing at? I haven’t said anything that’s funny and
neither have you.”

“
It’s not anything that you said.”

“
Well then what exactly is it?” she snapped, folding her arms
over her chest.

His laughter gradually died and Sebastian reached forward,
pulling Erica close. The sudden movement was unexpected, but as the
warmth from his body began to penetrate hers, Erica felt any ideas
about pulling away from him disappear. “You’re so stubborn.” He
smiled, gently caressing the long strands of her hair.

“
You say that as though it were a good thing. Most people don’t
see being stubborn as a desirable trait.”

“
Well you make stubborn look very attractive.”

“
I still don’t see what’s so funny about me being stubborn,”
she groused, nestling closer to him.

“
As long as I’ve known you, you’ve been stubborn to a fault. It
seems that even though you’ve lost your memories, the fundamental
characteristics that make you you are still very much in
tact.”

“
Am I very different to how I was before I lost my memories?”
she asked, her voice saddened.

“
Honestly?”

“
Yes. I want to know the truth. Don’t sugar coat things for
me.”

“
There are some things about you that are different
now.”
For one, you’re much nicer to me and
willing to simply be with me like this.
“But you essentially are exactly the same person you were when
I first met you.”

“
Stubborn,” she chuckled against his chest.

“
Yes, you’re still very stubborn. You still do things that make
me worry.”
The very same things that can
drive me to anger.
“But your determination
hasn’t changed. You’re still one of the most warm and kind people
I’ve ever met.”
Even if that kindness
wasn’t exactly directed at me before.
“And
you’re still willing to put the needs of others before your own.
I’ve never met someone as concerned for the well being of others as
you. But Erica, I don’t want you to neglect your needs just because
you think it might have a negative effect on someone else. While
you might try and take the needs of others into your
decision-making, I will always put your needs and wants before mine
and everyone else’s and I will be just as stubborn as you on this
matter. I’m not going to change my mind about this.”

“
What a pair we make. Mr and Mrs stubborn.”

“
You started it,” he laughed. “I’m only being stubborn to
compensate for your unwillingness to compromise.”

“
Compromise is for wimps and those who don’t know what they
really want. If you know what you want in life then there is no
need to compromise. Do you know what you want
Sebastian?”

Yes, I do. She’s right here in my arms.
“Maybe you’re right. I know what I want, so there’s no need to
make concessions to anyone else.”
Because
I’m never going to let you go.
He lowered
his head, unable to stop himself from kissing her and pulling her
body even closer against his. They fit perfectly together like two
pieces of a puzzle, destined forever to be side by side. His tongue
swept into her mouth and the taste of her exploded on his tongue
fuelling his possessive instincts to new heights.
Nothing will ever come between us and
live.

Chapter
Thirty

After their discussion yesterday, Erica and Sebastian had
reached a mutual truce; he would try not to worry so much if she
tried to stop doing things that would cause him to worry. Sebastian
had felt slightly guilty about giving her a promise that he knew he
would be unable to keep. With her mind still convinced that she was
human, it was simply impossible for him not to worry. Despite this
he had given her his word, holding on to the fact that he had only
said he would try and try didn’t mean guarantee. The play on words
did little to ease his conscience.

He had stayed up late into the night trying to help to help
Ryan with some of the more technical aspects of managing some of
their clan’s businesses from a distance, but he didn’t think that
he had done a very good job. There were some things that people
were good at and others that they weren’t. No matter how hard he
tried, Ryan and paper work didn’t go well together and they should
know, both he and his brother had spend decades trying to improve
the relationship before simply giving up. Sebastian enjoyed
paperwork and was quite happy to have that responsibility left to
him. While it could get very noisy within the clan, everyone knew
better than to disrupt the peace and quiet of his office and there
was nothing Sebastian enjoyed more than his peace. So he and
paperwork had a good relationship. However, he was no longer within
the clan and so Ryan had tried his best to pick up the slack and it
had taken a large part of the night to explain something that he
would have been able to do within the hour.

During his night long conversation with his brother, he had
rekindled his love affair with wood and sculpting. He hadn’t had
much time in recent years to dedicate to his favourite pastime, but
after the previous day’s debacle, his hands had been itching to
treat the wood how it should be treated. He had completely
destroyed the beautiful piece of wood from yesterday and he felt
saddened by the loss of what had the potential to be a beautiful
piece of work. So when Erica had gone to sleep he had walked into
the nearby woods and began gathering. With Erica out of sight, he
didn’t have to restrain his strength and speed and so it hadn’t
taken long for him to acquire several armfuls of decent sized wood
and bring them back to the house. While speaking to Ryan, he had
taken his knife to the wood and begun to sculpt once again. The
first few pieces were horrid, years out of practice, he hadn’t been
able to use his fingers to properly sculpt what his mind saw.
However, as the night had progressed and his talk with his brother
continued, his work began to steadily improve, each piece becoming
more beautiful that the last.

Now the morning after his nightlong sculpting session, the
living room was filled with small pieces of sculpted wood.
Sebastian had made a second run into the woods for more material
when he had realised just how long he and Ryan would be speaking
for and he had used almost every single piece. So as Erica walked
into the living room, she was understandably shocked when she saw
that practically every surface was littered with small wooden
sculptures. Having decided to forgo sleep that night, Sebastian sat
in the middle of the living room with a distinctly larger piece of
wood in his hands, chipping away at the firm material. All the
pieces prior to this one had simply been practice ones, to
reacquaint himself with his skill and now that he felt confident in
his ability to produce a good quality piece of work, he had set
himself to making a larger piece of work. While the others could
easily be carried on your person, this one was meant for display, a
gift for Erica.