A Wolf's Oath (43 page)
Sebastian had been wrong when he had told her that she didn’t
like him. Dislike was too mild of a term for what she felt towards
him and if his actions towards her were anything to go by, the
feeling was increasingly becoming mutual. Her hatred of Sebastian
ran deep, there was nothing she could do to change that fact, she
had been living with the feeling for most of her life. His
incessant demands that she explain to him why exactly the sight of
him made her hackles rise only served to deepen her feelings
towards him.
How dare he play the
innocent? He should know what he and his family did but he has the
gall to pretend as though nothing happened? It’s unforgivable! I’ve
had to live with the knowledge most of my life and yet he seems to
have completely forgotten. I will never forgive them for as long as
I live, never!
He was the enemy. Erica couldn’t stay with him. Up until this
point in her life, hating the Lords of the Southern clan had been
an abstract principle, one that she sustained without any
substantial evidence, but now it was a concrete fact. Once she
realised who he was, his initial attempts to be courteous made her
want to hit him. She had in fact done so but it wasn’t enough, it
would never be enough. He had known exactly who she was when he had
spoken to her at the celebration and he hadn’t even demonstrated an
iota of remorse. In fact he had used her to trap her best friend
into a mating that she had never wanted and forced himself upon
her. The more time they spent in each others company, the more
hostile he became towards her and that suited Anna just fine. He
may have pushed his crimes to a distant and forgotten corner of his
mind but his actions only served to bring the past to the forefront
of hers.
“
How could fate be so cruel? Eric can’t be mated to him, she
just can’t,” Anna ranted, her small hands clenching into tights
fists as anger and frustration filled her. Her feet stomped hard
against the stone floor petulantly and she had to resist the urge
to destroy all that surrounded her. “It could have been anyone, why
him? She can’t be with him after what they did. I won’t stand for
it. He must have made a mistake.” Her pacing had increased as the
thoughts had circled through her mind and as she came to a brief
stop, she slammed her open palm against the wall wishing that it
was once again inflicting pain on Sebastian's skin.
“
Eric never wanted a mate. The instinct would have known that,
it wouldn’t have given her one when it was the thing she was most
afraid of in the entire world. The instinct is meant to guide us to
what’s best for us and that is definitely not him. He probably just
saw how beautiful Eric looked that night and decided that he had to
have her,” she muttered her mind fabricating the evidence needed to
justify her claims. “When she told him she wouldn’t go out with him
he invented this nonsense about being her mate. Bastard!” she
cursed. Images of the frequent smiles that had adorned her friend’s
face flooded her mind, trying to dissuade her from this line of
thought. She quickly pushed the images from her mind. She had never
been one to allow reason to get in the way of what she had decided
and now was no different. Her mind was made up and her course of
action had been set.
She can’t be with him. I won’t allow it. He’s taking
advantage of the fact that she can’t remember anything, that’s the
only reason she can smile. If she knew what he was really doing
then she would be the first one to throw him out on his ass. I have
to protect Eric. She’s completely vulnerable right now. He doesn’t
even like me coming to see her. Probably worried that if we spend
time together she’ll see straight through his façade,
she scoffed becoming more and more convinced that
her logic was correct with each word that she spoke.
The full moon is coming and that bastard is going
to use that to his advantage. When Eric eventually gets her
memories back, she’ll be devastated. There’s nothing I can do to
stop him claiming her this time, but I can make the blow less
painful when she remembers.
I have to get
him away from her, permanently if I can manage it.
Her eyes were instantly drawn to the torn piece of card that
lay on her desk and her restless pacing stopped as she walked
steadily towards the desk. Picking up the small card, she eyed the
numbers printed upon it. Though it had been ripped, she had torn it
carefully and all the digits were still easily visible. She had
known then that this would happen but she had initially been
hesitant to commit to it but now her mind was made up.
It’s only fitting.
Her
mobile phone lay on the table beside it, she had been undecided on
what the right course of action would be since she had taken the
card from Erica, constantly picking up the phone and even dialling
the number before hanging up. This time would be different. She had
made her decision and needed to do what was necessary to save her
friend from herself.
The number flowed easily from her fingers, she had travelled
this path several times before and she didn’t even have to look at
the card to be able to make the call. The phone rang and she
tightened her grip on the small handset willing herself not to hang
up and end the conversation before it began. Her opportunity to
back out was removed as the line connected and the faint sound of
breathing told her that someone was on the other end of the
call.
“
Who’s this?” The sharp demand instantly had Anna on the
offensive.
No one speaks to me like that! I’m a lady of the wolf clan
and this hunter thinks he has the right to address me like this!
Never.
“Who I am is of no concern to
you!”
“
You have ten seconds to explain to me why I shouldn’t hang
this phone up right now. It had better be good after that rude
outburst.”
“
You’re Vincent?”
“
I am.”
“
The wolf, Erica…”
“
What of her?” he inquired before realising that he didn’t
recognise the voice and her identity hadn’t been forthcoming. “How
do you know of her? How did you get this number? What’s going on?”
His voice increased in volume with each demanding question until he
was practically screaming at her.
Holding the phone away from her sensitive ears, Anna waited
until she heard the ragged breaths that told her he had ran out of
steam and would now be willing to listen to her. A small smile
emerged on her lips at the curious tone of Vincent's voice,
apparently she had his interest. “She’s no longer your concern. You
won’t attempt to see or have contact with her again. Again, who I
am isn’t important. Let’s suffice to say that I know everything
about you, your organisation and what you do. The wolf will be
having no further contact with you, it’s in your best interest to
let your awareness of her die.”
“
Is that so?”
“
Yes, it is,” Anna snapped.
“
And why exactly should I agree to this?” Vincent demanded,
increasingly curious as to the motivations behind the unknown
voice’s actions. “The wolf is an abomination, a monster. It’s my
responsibility to remove her and all her ilk from the world. We’re
not safe as long as she roams free. It’s impossible for me to do
nothing about that fact. Even if I chose to do nothing, others
would deal with her in my place.”
And take
all the credit for doing so,
his mind
inserted. “No, I can’t simply sit back and do nothing.”
“
She isn’t a threat to you. She remembers nothing about what
she is. There’s no point in focusing your attention on her. If left
alone she will continue to live her life as though she were an
ordinary human. There’s nothing dangerous or sinister in that now
is there?”
“
She will remember eventually all I have to do is bide my time
until then and I will have what I want. She isn’t human. It isn’t
possible for her to live out her life as though she were one. She
might not remember the monster that lurks beneath her skin but it’s
there. She won’t age as human do, the people around her will notice
and she will snap at them, in all likelihood killing an innocent
person that did nothing wrong.”
“
You don’t know very much about amnesia do you?” Anna laughed.
“She might never remember. She might stay that way for the rest of
her life.” The thought saddened Anna deeply but it was true and she
needed Vincent to believe it if her plan was to work.
It won’t happen,
she
declared, trying to reassure herself that it was true.
Eric will get her memories back and when she
does, she’ll thank me for doing this for her.
“It may even be possible for her mind to trick her body into
truly believing that it should be aging. You don’t know. So, like I
said, she’s neither a threat to you nor worth anything to
you.”
“
If you think that I’m about to give up the first genuine
werewolf that our branch has managed to capture in years and return
empty handed all on your say so then you’re sorely mistaken. I’m
not the sort of man that abandons his plans. I have to have
something to show for all the effort that I’ve put into capturing
and finding her. You’re telling me to give up but offering me
nothing in exchange to make me more willing to do so. That isn’t
how bargaining works.”
“
I’m well aware of how to negotiate, I’ve been doing it for a
long time. I didn’t come to the table empty handed.”
“
Well then, show your hand. Tell me what you’re willing to
offer me so that I might develop even a slight inclination to do as
you ask.”
She gripped the phone tighter within her palm, committing
herself to this course of action.
You’ve
come this far,
her mind prodded.
One more thing and then Eric will be safe. You
shouldn’t care about him after all that you’ve been through. This
is justice. He deserves this.
“Sebastian,”
she choked. “I can bring you Sebastian, the wolf that’s with her.
He isn’t like Erica. He knows exactly what he is. If you truly want
to capture a werewolf then it has to be him. I can make sure that
you’re alone with him, if you manage to capture him then so be it.
If he dies then it is of no concern to either of us. There are no
downsides to this plan.”
And once he’s out
of the way, I can bring Eric back into the safety of the clans and
away from the attentions of this lunatic.
The phone went silent for a moment after Anna’s declaration
and she waited anxiously for a response. “Tell me more,
friend.”
“
I’m not your friend,” she hissed, infuriated by his implied
familiarity with her. This man knew nothing about her or what
motivated her actions and that was how she wanted it.
“
Fine,” Vincent conceded. “We aren’t friends, let us think of
ourselves as business associates making a transaction. Tell me what
your plan is. I’m very interested,” he purred, his tone causing a
shudder to run through Anna’s body but her voice was strong, her
pitch calm as she elaborated on her plans.
Lounging against his car, Sebastian waited for his brother to
arrive, certain that Ryan would be able to find him without any
guidance. His eyes scanned his surroundings for a glimpse of dark
fur that would be easily visible against the white terrain. Unlike
him, Ryan wouldn’t be hindered by a need to maintain a human façade
and so would likely be arriving via the distant trees. The clearing
he had chosen to be their meeting place was remarkably devoid of
trees, the nearest ones being a good few feet away. The lack of
vegetation was very noticeable as sharp, cold winds whipped against
his exposed skin. As the seconds ticked on with Ryan yet to make an
appearance, Sebastian began to feel increasingly anxious. He pushed
off the car and started pacing nearby, the sound of the thin layer
of snow echoing clearly throughout the area. While he hadn’t given
his brother an exact time to meet him, he expected him to have
arrived by now, it was an unwritten law between them that when they
agreed to meet, they met at this specific time. That time had come
and gone and there was still no sign of Ryan, his time was short,
he couldn’t afford to waste even a second if he was to escape
successfully.
Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief as a dark brown wolf
appeared amid the trees, it turned its head scanning the area for
signs of danger before loping forward, changing into human form as
it approached him. When Ryan stood in the place of the wolf, he
smiled sheepishly at his brother, the apology leaving his lips
before Sebastian even spoke a word.
“
I’m sorry I’m late,” Ryan began. “I couldn’t manage to get
away from Alex, she wouldn’t hear of me coming to see you two
alone. She’s going to be fuming when I see her again.”
“
Why exactly would you have difficulty getting away from her?”
Sebastian demanded confused as to his brother’s
reasoning.
“
Tobias has asked me to watch over her more intensely. I’ve
practically become her third guard after Tobias and the people he’s
actually assigned to her.”
“
And why is Tobias having you act as a guard? There are people
who spend their lives training for that role.”
“
He wanted someone he could trust to do it,” Ryan
shrugged.
“
And he doesn’t trust his fellow clansmen to do the
job?”
