A Wolf's Oath (38 page)

“
Hiya Claire, how are you?”

“
I’m fine thanks, you?”

“
As good as I can be considering my situation.”

“
Yeah, I heard about that. Amnesia?” Erica nodded in response.
“That must be hard, to not remember a single thing about your
life.”

“
I would prefer not to talk about it.”
I’ve decided that I’m not going to let it control my life so
I can’t afford to have everyone treating me differently because of
it.

“
Fair enough,” Claire responded. “If you ever need anyone to
talk to then you know where to find me.”

“
It’s nice of you to offer,” Erica admitted.

“
So who are these two cuties? Are they yours? They seem to have
taken after the best that both you and Sebastian have to offer.
Speaking of which, where is Sebastian?”

None of your business.
The voice
within Erica's mind growled at scenting Claire’s attraction to
Sebastian.

Though Erica found that she agreed with the voice’s
sentiment, she forced her lips into a smile and folded her hands
tightly in her lap so that she wouldn’t leap from the seat and try
to wrap them around Claire's throat. “Dylan, Wyatt say hello to
Claire.”

“
Hi.” They grinned, waving at the waitress.

Maybe I should let her think that they’re ours. It might put
a damper on her inappropriate thoughts towards Sebastian.
The idea came to her mind unbidden but was quickly
dismissed as she realised the flaws in that plan.
News spreads quickly in this town and the twins
would just get confused as to why people thought I was their mom
and Sebastian was their dad.
“Sebastian and
I don’t have any children, yet,” she added, staking her claim on
him. “This is my brother and that’s my sister. They’ve just come to
visit me.”

“
Oh, I’m sorry,” Claire spluttered. “It’s just that they look
so much like you and they have brown eyes like Sebastian, I just
assumed…”

“
They’re my siblings, of course they’re going to look like
me.”

“
Well yes, that’s obvious. I just meant…Oh.” Claire groaned
loudly covering her face with her hands. “Just pretend that I
didn’t say anything. Have you decided what you want to order?” she
asked, her tone all business.

“
I’m going to have the pancakes. You were right, they’re very
good. Dylan? Wyatt? Do you know what you want to eat?”

Dylan put the menu down on the table and turned to face
Claire. “I want pancakes too and I want bacon and toast as
well.”

“
That’s a lot of food for such a little girl, are you sure you
can eat it all?”

“
Of course I can,” Dylan beamed.

Claire opened her mouth to contradict her but then remembered
the easy way that Erica and Sebastian had ploughed through the
contents of their entire menu and thought better of it.
Perhaps the ability to eat enormous amounts of
food is genetic,
she thought before turning
her attention to the little boy sat beside Dylan. “And what do you
want?”

“
I want scrambled eggs, toast, beans and sausages, lots of
sausages. Oh and hash browns, I like them.”

“
I want hash browns too,” Dylan added.

She jotted down the order. “Anything to drink?”

“
Apple juice.” The simultaneous reply from the two children
brought a smile to Claire’s face. “And anything for you
Erica?”

“
I’ll have the same.”

“
Right, I’ll be back with your food as soon as possible.”
Claire turned from the table and began making her way back to the
kitchen.

“
She seemed nice,” Dylan commented.

“
I suppose,” Erica conceded, eying Claire’s back as she
retreated. She was well aware that the level of her jealousy was
unreasonable. She shouldn’t hate the woman for simply finding
Sebastian attractive, he was a handsome man after all. Reason and
emotion didn’t mix well and the knowledge behind Claire's reaction
to him didn’t lessen the ugly emotion in the slightest.

Dylan turned to talk to her brother and the two soon became
embroiled in a childish discussion over what game they would play
once they returned home. Erica's gaze wandered the breadth of the
diner absentmindedly but a deep voice calling to her from above her
head had her snapping to attention.

“
Erica?”

She turned to face the source of the voice and came face to
face with the man that had been standing outside. His voice was
even and calm but Erica couldn’t prevent her body from shivering
for a moment at his quiet delivery of her name. She still couldn’t
recognise him and didn’t know where she knew him from but he
clearly knew her. He continued to look at her expectantly and she
realised that she had been staring. “Yes?”

“
Can I speak to you for a moment?”

His voice was polite, courteous even but still her eyes
narrowed in suspicion, there was something odd about this man. “Do
I know you?”

“
Yes Erica, we shared a very important period of time together.
I heard that you’re having memory problems and I knew that I should
come and speak to you.”

The voice that she was becoming accustomed to in her head,
growled angrily, she could feel its rage pulsing through her but it
said nothing. It’s silence made her even more anxious, the voice
was rarely quite and had an opinion on almost everything. What was
it about this man that made it stay quiet? “About what
exactly?”

“
It’s private,” he murmured, his eyes wandering to the two
small children still caught up in their discussion. “I don’t think
that you want them to over hear this.”

“
I can’t just up and leave them,” she informed him.

“
I wouldn’t expect you to. I was only suggesting that we go
over there.” He pointed to an empty booth in the corner of the
diner. “You’ll still be able to see them but they won’t be able to
hear us.”

“
Is it really that important?” she questioned, she couldn’t
shake the feeling that there was something off about the man in
front of her. His outward appearance didn’t suggest anything
untoward but the slight tremor that had flooded her body upon
hearing his voice had to mean something.

“
It’s a matter of life and death. We must talk about this as
soon as possible.”

“
Fine,” she conceded.
The quicker I
get this over with, the quicker he’ll leave.
“Dylan, Wyatt, I’m just going over there. I’ll be right back.
Don’t do anything naughty I’ll be able to see you.”

“
Ok Erica.” Wyatt grinned before his attention returned to his
twin.

She slid out of the booth, careful to maintain a good
distance between her body and the stranger. His arms moved as
though to guide her in the right direction but she shifted away,
her strange mental companion’s warning flaring to life within her.
She didn’t want to be close to this man. They arrived at the empty
booth and her gaze immediately swung to Dylan and Wyatt, the
stranger was right, she could see them from here. She breathed a
sigh of relief, she didn’t feel comfortable letting them out of her
sight, she felt as though something terrible was about to occur.
Sitting down she stared at the man in front of her and waited for
him to speak.

“
You probably don’t remember me, my name is
Vincent.”

“
You’re right, I have no idea who you are. What exactly do you
want?”
There’s no need to be polite when
just being around him is making my skin crawl.

Good girl,
the wolf praised.
Now, just get up and walk away. Do it
now.

The wolf’s instructions were interrupted as Vincent continued
to speak. “You’re very blunt.”

“
I don’t see any reason not to be. If you have nothing to say
then I’m going back to my family.” She stood up but his hand
wrapped around her wrist, stopping her from moving. A subconscious
growl slipped past her lips and Vincent released her, rushing on,
desperate to finish what he’d come to do.

“
How well do you know the man you’re living with?”

“
Sebastian?” Erica inquired confused as to why this man had
asked such a strange question.

“
Yes, Sebastian. Do you really know him?”

“
Of course I do. He’s my fiancé.”

Vincent leaned over and placed a black briefcase on the
table. “I think there’s something very important that you don’t
know about him.”

Their new close proximity caused the wolf to howl, long and
loud, the sound echoing through her mind. A string of curses fell
from its lips.
Stay away from him Erica!
Honestly, if you knew the truth…if you could remember….I’d rip his
fucking throat out!!

Her tone was frosty when she next spoke, confusion about her
mental companion’s state of agitation swirling through her. “Oh
yeah? And what exactly is that?”

“
The man you think you know is actually a monster.” He pulled
his high collar closer ensuring that his tattoo was sufficiently
hidden, he didn’t want anything about him to trigger the return of
her memories. He was taking a huge gamble with his plan anyway, it
might cause her memories to return but he had to take the
chance.

Her eyes narrowed in anger.
How dare
he talk about Sebastian like that!
“Sebastian has been nothing short of a saint to me. You have
no idea what you’re talking about.” She rose to stand again, she
didn’t want to hear this man slander Sebastian any further but his
hand shackled her wrist, preventing her from leaving. “What do you
think you’re doing?” she hissed, pulling her hand from his
grip.

“
I want you to hear me out.”

“
If that’s what you wanted then maybe you shouldn’t have
insulted Sebastian. I don’t want to talk to you any more.” Her
voice was low, venomous.

Thank you, thank you! Get away from this bastard.

“
You may not want to but I’m telling you the truth. I have
proof. If you don’t believe me after seeing it then we’ll have no
further contact with each other. But you owe it to those children
to hear me out. Sebastian is a dangerous man,” he rushed, his tone
urgent and demanding.

Erica laughed at Vincent’s declaration.
Sebastian, dangerous? Is this man drunk?
“Are you sure that we’re talking about the same
man?”

“
I’m positive.”

“
If I look at your proof, you’ll leave once I confirm that
you’re talking complete and utter nonsense right?”

“
I don’t think that you’ll feel that way,” Vincent informed
her.

“
Well I do. So will you leave?”

Vincent’s grey eyes regarded the woman in front of him, fury
banked in their depths. His hands clenched sporadically under the
table as he struggled to prevent himself from simply reaching
across the short distance that separated them and trying to choke
her. “Yes.”

“
What the hell, us crazy people should at least listen to each
other’s mad ravings right?” She shrugged, eager to leave. The voice
in her head was beginning to give her a headache with its
ranting.

“
I don’t understand,” Vincent stated, his brow creasing in
confusion at Erica's words.

“
Don’t worry about it,” Erica chuckled, waving off her previous
comment. “Just show me your proof so that I can go back to having
breakfast with my family.”

Vincent reached into the briefcase and extracted a portable
DVD player and placed it on the table in front of her. “Once you
see this then I’m sure you’ll believe me. Just to warn you, it’s
not a pleasant sight to see. Whenever you’re ready, just press
play.”

Well let’s get this over with quickly.
Erica decided, pressing the play button. The sound was low but
she could hear the sound of growls and screams coming from the
small device. The picture quality wasn’t the best she had ever seen
but the images were clear enough that it wasn’t too much of a
strain for her to make them out. Her eyes widened as she watched
two wolves attacking a group of people viciously. Their large
canines and deadly claws easily tore through flesh, creating havoc
and spewing blood everywhere. The picture frame never moved telling
her that the camera was stationary and she watched as one of the
wolves approached a door, trying to open it by forcing its heavy
bulk against the solid door. Her heart began to beat faster as she
watched the wolf begin to transform before her very eyes. Her eyes
widened in shock as the now human wolf turned for a moment and
Sebastian's face stared at her. Her fingers shook and she paused
the video, her eyes scanning the image in front of her. No matter
how her mind wanted to deny it, it was Sebastian staring at her.
The wolf that had transformed into a human was her
Sebastian.

“
What’s going on?” she croaked.

“
Do you believe me now? He’s a monster.”

“
I asked my question first. What’s going on?”

“
Your fiancé is a werewolf. A vicious, violent monster that
gets it’s pleasure from causing others pain. I want to help you
Erica. Bring him to me and I’ll ensure that he doesn’t have the
chance to harm another soul, I give you my word.”