A Wolf's Oath (31 page)

“
Is it true that this branch had actual contact with a genuine
werewolf?”

Vincent’s eyes narrowed at the question. “I’m the one asking
questions here, not you. If that’s all you came here to say then I
think you should leave.”

“
I think you’ll want to hear what I have to say.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes, I do. But before I tell you I want to know if the rumours
are true. It can’t hurt to tell a fellow member if your branch
managed to do what we’ve all wanted to do. If I were you then I’d
make sure that everyone knew. It’s an amazing thing to have
captured one and alive no less.”

“
You aren’t me so you’ll never have to make that sort of
decision,” he hissed. “It’s true. We did catch a werewolf and it
was with us for four days before it escaped.”

Dominic’s eyes widened, before a large grin crept over his
face. “Sir, I would like to request a transfer. I want to move from
my branch and serve under you.”

“
Why exactly would you want to do that? Aren’t you satisfied
with how things are run in your branch?”

“
There’s nothing wrong with my branch.”

“
Then explain to me why exactly you want to transfer
here.”

“
I have a feeling that things are going to get very interesting
around here very soon.”

“
A feeling?” Vincent sneered in disgust. “And just what exactly
are you basing this ‘feeling’ on?”

“
I’ve seen the picture of the woman that you’re looking
for.”

“
That’s inconsequential, I made sure that as many people as
possible saw that picture. I want her recaptured.”

“
It might not be important to have simply seen the picture, but
what about seeing the woman alive and in person?”

That simple statement had the desired effect and Vincent sat
forward in his chair, eager to hear more. “You’ve seen
her?”

“
Yes sir, I have.”

“
Where is she? Is she with other wolves or is she alone? Have
you found a clan?” The questions flowed quickly from Vincent, eager
as he was to follow up on the first actual lead he had. “Answer me
damn it! Is she alone?”

“
No, sir, there’s a man with her.” Dominic answered quickly,
the harsh the tone of his superior’s voice demanding an immediate
response.

Vincent was well known within their organisation for his
violent temperament and he didn’t want to be on the receiving end
of it. Vincent’s rise through the ranks of their organisation was
almost legendary, there had never been a branch leader as young as
he, however it was rumoured that the methods he had used were less
than savoury. Dominic had no wish to find out the truth to the
rumours. He did however, want to join this branch, he didn’t doubt
that within the next few weeks, perhaps even days things would get
very interesting and he wanted to be at the centre of things. There
was almost nothing he wouldn’t do to be a part of what was going to
be happening and the surest way of doing that was to answer the
questions Vincent asked.

“
What does the man look like? Tell me exactly.”

“
I don’t know sir.”

“
You said that you’d met her, have you been lying to me?”
Vincent hissed angrily.

As soon as he asked the question, the seemingly harmless man
began to look dangerous. There was nothing overtly different about
him, but the sudden change in his demeanour certainly inspired fear
in him. “No sir,” Dominic assured hurriedly. “I know better than to
come here and do that.”

“
Then explain yourself.”

“
I’ve met the woman in person. I didn’t recognise her at first,
but the woman I saw is definitely the one that you’re looking
for.”

“
And the man?”

“
There’s definitely a man with her, but I haven’t actually seen
him.”

“
Well that certainly isn’t helpful, I would have liked to see
if the man that’s with her is one of the men that came to retrieve
her from our care.”

“
I may not have seen him, but I can still give you a decent
description of what he looks like.”

“
And just how accurate would this description be if you have
not even laid eyes on the man?”

“
All the people that I’ve spoken to have been very consistent
in describing him, I’d say that the description is fairly
accurate.”

“
Give it to me then.”

“
His name is Sebastian and he’s supposedly very tall. He has a
lean build, not overly muscular. Short cut red hair and brown
eyes.”

Vincent nodded pleased. Though the description was vague, it
matched to what he had seen of the man in the surveillance footage.
“You’ve done well to bring this to my attention
Dominic.”

“
Thank you sir, we all have to do what we can to wipe these
monsters out. I believe that you’re a man who will know what to do
with such information. Not many branches can claim to have actually
captured a werewolf, for this branch to have done so only
demonstrates your ability to lead,” Dominic praised.

“
You wish to transfer to this branch?” Vincent mused aloud,
smiling at the eager look that had appeared on Dominic’s
face.

“
Yes sir, nothing would please me more.”

“
Fine, I’ll arrange for you to be moved to here.”
We’re low on members anyway; eager new blood is
exactly what I need.
“I’m not the easiest
leader to serve under, are you sure that this is what you
want?”

“
Yes sir.”

“
Once you’re a member of my branch, I won’t allow you to leave.
Even trying to do so is seen as the ultimate betrayal in my mind
and you don’t want to know what I do to traitors. So I’ll ask you
one last time, are you sure that this is what you want?”

“
I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life sir. This
is what I want, I won’t change my mind and I won’t try to leave
this branch. If you ask for complete dedication, then you have
it.”

“
Good, we won’t talk of the matter again. You are now, as far
as I’m concerned, a full fledged member of this branch.”

“
Thank you sir.”

“
Now let’s get back to the more important matter of my escaped
wolf. I want to know everything so tell me.”

“
Of course sir. The wolf goes by the name of Erica and she
moved into my town not too long ago. I was away on a training
exercise when she her and the male first moved in, otherwise I
might have been able to discover her true identity far
sooner.”

“
It couldn’t be helped,” Vincent sighed.

“
I only met her by chance. I was restocking my house with the
essentials that I needed after being away from it for so long and
saw her. As I said, I didn’t recognise her at first, she looked
familiar but I couldn’t place where I had seen her face. It was
only when she said something about having seen my tattoo before
that the wheels in my mind started to turn, joining the dots until
I recognised her as the woman that you were searching
for.”

“
She said something to you about your tattoo?”

“
Yes sir.”

“
That’s odd,” Vincent mumbled under his breath, confused by her
actions. After the talk that he’d had with Robert, he had conceded,
albeit reluctantly that his superior officer had been right in some
of the things he had said. He didn’t know as much about the history
of their organisation as a commanding officer should. He hadn’t
risen through the ranks in the traditional way and as a result he
hadn’t acquired the same knowledge as the other branch leaders.
That fact had been made glaringly obvious by Robert’s words and he
had taken measures to remedy the situation. His wide reading had
told him that it was often the tattoo that all hunters bore upon
their skin that told the werewolf what they were up against. The
mark served as a sign of identification for their members and
though it made them easily identifiable by the enemy, they were in
the right; they had no need to hide what they were. They weren’t
the monsters, the wolves were.

Erica's actions were therefore a conundrum. She had only
commented about the mark and not displayed any signs of aggression
towards a member of a group that had inflicted so much pain upon
her. It simply didn’t make sense.

“
What exactly did she say?”

“
She only said that she recognised it.”

“
No signs of aggression? No evidence of anger?”

“
No sir.”

“
You’re sure?”

“
Yes sir. She asked about my tattoo. I didn’t tell her where it
was likely she could have seen it and then she continued with her
shopping.”

“
She carried on shopping?” Vincent demanded, his tone
incredulous. “After she saw the tattoo?”

“
Yes sir.”

“
What exactly is going on? She was calm after seeing the mark
that told her who you were. She would have known that you were one
of us and she didn’t try to do anything? Something isn’t
right.”

“
About that sir,” Dominic hedged, realising that his news
wasn’t likely to be appreciated by his new commanding
officer.

“
What is it man? Speak up. Now isn’t the time to be acting
shy,” he shouted, slamming his hands against the desk.

“
There is a slight complication.”

“
What sort of complication?”

“
The woman seems to have had an accident of some sort and
apparently she can’t remember anything about her life before
it.”

“
Nothing?”

“
I think so sir.”

“
How can you be so sure? She could simply be
pretending.”

“
Judging from your reaction to her lack of reaction upon seeing
my tattoo, you also realise that something is wrong. She saw my
tattoo sir and she didn’t get angry, she didn’t flinch in fear. All
she said was that it was interesting. She told me that she thought
that she might have seen it before but she didn’t demonstrate the
typical reaction of a werewolf when they see one of our tattoos. I
think that she might have actually forgotten the monster she really
is.”

“
That’s impossible. You can’t simply forget what you
are.”

“
I know sir, but I think that she might have. According to what
I’ve heard, her and the male have only moved to the town in order
to help her recovery. It doesn’t make any sense for them to concoct
such an elaborate story without a reason behind it. From what I
understand, they live their entire lives among others of their
kind, there has never been a case of a wolf being exiled and forced
to live away from the others. They have no reason to be living in a
town full of humans unless what I’ve heard is true,” Dominic
explained, defending his position.

“
I want you to take me to her. There’s one way to find out if
she really has forgotten or not. I doubt that she could fake being
calm around me. If my presence doesn’t draw a reaction from her
then it is possible that what you say is true.”
And I’m sure I can find a way to make her memory loss work in
our favour.

Chapter
Thirty-Two

“
Erica! Erica!” The loud screaming of her name was the only
warning that Erica received before she was almost bowled over by
two small bodies colliding with her. Little arms were wrapped
around her legs and waist so tightly that Erica was convinced that
if they had been a little taller their embrace would seriously have
impaired her ability to breath. Their young limbs were far stronger
than she would have thought possible and their hold refused to
slacken. She tried to bend down to return their hug but they held
tight and she found that she couldn’t bend her legs to reach
them.

“
We missed you Erica.” They smiled.

As gently as possible, she pried herself from their grip
before crouching down so that she was at eye level with them. “I
missed you too,” she said without the slightest hint of
guilt.

The first memory about her siblings seemed to have triggered
a landslide and new memories about them had flooded her mind since
last night and with each new one that surfaced, she found that she
did indeed miss the troublesome duo. Though she didn’t yet possess
all of her memories, she felt as though there was a distinct
something missing without them around. It felt good to have her
family around her once again and as they rushed into her spread
arms, the sensation only got better.

Despite the fact that she now recalled more than she had since
her accident, she wasn’t content. All the memories she had regained
related to the two small children within her arms, no new memories
had surfaced about the man that consumed her waking thoughts. She
wasn’t sure exactly how he managed to stay so calm at all times. If
the situation was reversed and her fiancé seemed to be remembering
everyone but her, she wouldn’t be pleased. The idea that she was
disappointing him nagged at her, but when she told Sebastian of her
concerns, he had simply smiled and told her not to worry. As was
fast becoming tradition, when it concerned her he allowed almost
anything to pass, putting his own needs and concerns second to her
own.
The man should apply for
sainthood.
Was the thought that constantly
came to mind as the recipient of his selfless behaviour.