A Wolf's Oath (24 page)

It didn’t take long for them to deposit the bags in the trunk
of the jeep after which they were once again on the move. “I’d like
to have a look in the jewellers for a ring for you. If they don’t
have one that you like then we’ll go and look
elsewhere.”

“
Ok,” she replied, her voice quiet.

“
Erica, is something wrong?”

“
You don’t have to get me a ring Sebastian. I’d understand if
you wanted to wait until I got my memories back.”

“
And why exactly would I want to do that?”

“
I’m already a burden, I don’t want to be an even bigger one by
asking you to do things like this for me.”

“
I want to get you a ring sweetheart. I want everyone who sees
it to know that you have someone who cares about you more than
anything in the world. It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember me,
I remember you and that’s enough for now. We’re making new memories
with every second that we spend together. When you get your
memories back, and you will get them back, I want you to look back
on this time fondly. Stop worrying about what you don’t have and
concentrate on what you do have. Like that woman said, you still
have me. You’ll always have me.”

“
Thank you Sebastian. You always seem to know exactly what I
need to hear.”
Though I can’t think of
what I could have done to deserve you.

“
Can we go and get that ring now?” he asked
laughing.

“
Yes.”

“
It’s a good thing that we’re already here then.”

True to his word, they were now standing in front of what she
assumed from the precious gems on display was the jewellers.
Despite her worries, Sebastian had guided her unerringly towards
the store. “And what if I’d said I didn’t want a ring?” she
questioned teasingly.

“
I would have got you one anyway. You were destined to receive
one as soon as you told me you wanted one.” He opened the door, and
jerked his head in the direction of the now open store indicating
that she should go in.

Smiling, she entered the store her feet immediately leading
her to the clear cabinet that held rings beneath its glass
exterior. An elderly couple stood behind the counter and as soon as
they had entered the store, they had separated; the older man
walking towards Erica while the lady ambled in Sebastian's
direction. Erica had immediately struck up a lively conversation
with the man gesturing at the rings she liked the look
of.

A flash of blue caught Sebastian's attention and he found
himself walking towards it, while the elderly lady trailed behind
him. His eyes landed on a stunning ring and he walked towards it,
unable to prevent himself. The silver coloured band of the ring was
slender and embedded on the top was a modest sized blue gem,
judging from its clarity and the way it had easily caught his
attention it was sapphire. A clear diamond on either side
surrounded the small blue stone, though it was the sapphire that
held his attention. The ring wasn’t what he imagined a typical
engagement ring to be like but Erica was anything but ordinary and
the longer he stared at the blue gem, the more it reminded him of
the startling blue of her eyes.

“
It’s unique don’t you agree?”

He turned to find the elderly woman at his side. “Yes it
is.”

“
Is it for you fiancée?”

“
There’s no one else I’d even contemplate buying a ring for.
The metal of the ring, what is it?” Though his eyes led him to
believe that it wasn’t silver, he could never be too careful
especially after what Erica had been through.

“
White gold.” The woman answered easily, confirming what his
eyes already knew.

Perfect,
he thought, turning around
to locate Erica in the small store. His eyes immediately latched
onto the ring that the male shopkeeper was offering her and his
heart began to pound in his chest. The glint of the metal that she
was reaching for was most definitely silver and the thought of her
skin coming into contact with the hazardous metal made his stomach
churn. “Erica!” he called, speeding across the small store to reach
her before she touched the dangerous metal.

“
What’s the matter Sebastian?” she asked when he reached
her.

“
No silver.”

“
Why not? It’s pretty.”

Pretty and lethal to your health,
he
groaned.
But I can’t tell her that.
“You’re allergic to silver.”

“
I thought I didn’t have any allergies.”

“
No food allergies,” he amended. “Silver is something that
you’re most definitely allergic to. If you want a ring in that
colouring then choose something in white gold, platinum, anything
but silver.”

You sound hysterical,
his wolf
commented casually.

I know what I sound like,
Sebastian
snapped.
But she can’t even look out for
her own health while she’s like this. It has me worried.

“
Ok Sebastian, no silver,” she conceded, shrugging off the
urgency in his actions as simple concern for her well
being.

“
Good.” He smiled. “Now that we’re both in agreement on that. I
have a ring I want to show you. I think you’ll like it.”
And it isn’t going to burn the skin from your
flesh either. God, I hope her memories come back soon. It’s bad
enough that I have to pretend to be human but she’s more vulnerable
than ever now. She doesn’t even know the most basic things to
ensure her survival and that worries me more than anything in the
world.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sitting in the living room of their cabin, Sebastian watched
as Erica moved about the kitchen preparing dinner. He had offered
to help but Erica had rejected his assistance with a very forceful
‘no’. When he had asked her why she was so intent on cooking alone,
she had explained that she wanted to see if she could even remember
how to cook. Unable to argue with her desire to see what she could
do for herself, he had left the kitchen and was now content to
watch the fluid and graceful way she moved.

Apparently her body remembered how to cook well if her ease
in the kitchen was anything to go by. Her hands were quick and her
fingers nimble as she chopped and sliced any vegetable that came
within her reach. The many pots and pans on the stove were easily
managed beneath her watchful eye as she heated the oven in
preparation for the roast she had prepared. The longer she was in
the kitchen, the more fragrant the smells that wafted out of the
kitchen became. A curious sense of pride began to fill him the
closer she came to finishing, she might not remember much, but the
fact that her body remembered anything was an achievement in
itself. Erica, however, didn’t seem to share his feelings of
satisfaction. The more competently she moved around the kitchen,
the deeper the scowl on her face became. She placed the
well-prepared beef joint in the oven before slamming it closed in
frustration.

“
Erica?” Sebastian began, concern clear in his
voice.

“
I’m fine Sebastian,” she responded easily, breathing deeply as
she tried to calm herself. “I’m just a little upset that I can
remember to do something like this,” she waved a hand to encompass
the kitchen, “and not remember a thing about my life. Will you do
me a favour?”

“
Of course.”

“
You don’t even know what it is yet,” she chided, though the
laughter in her voice diminished the warning’s effect.

“
Enlighten me then.”

“
Tell me about when we first met.”

He groaned loudly upon hearing what her request was.
Maybe I was a bit too hasty in agreeing to what
she wanted.
“Erica,” he cautioned. “The
doctors said it would only impair your recovery if I told you
things like that.”

“
Sebastian please, I just want to know more about my life. You
don’t understand how bad it is to not know. It’s not as though I’m
asking you to tell me everything,” she reasoned. “ I just want you
to tell me this one thing.” The genuine sadness in her voice was
easily overcoming his objections and he could feel the instinct
tugging at him, urging him to give her whatever she wanted. Her
blue eyes caught him and he could feel himself falling helplessly
into their depths. “It’s important to me,” she stated simply and
his defences crumbled.

How can I refuse her?

You can’t,
his wolf answered simply
and Sebastian knew that he was right. It went against everything
within him to deny her something that would bring her
happiness.

“
Just this once,” he sighed, though well aware that if she
asked him again he would most likely cave, the instinct was very
effective in ensuring a mate’s happiness apparently even over
matters that concerned her health.

Rushing from the kitchen, she leapt into his arms and hugged
him tightly. “Thank you Sebastian.”

His arms came up around her and pulled her closer against
him, but it wasn’t close enough, it would never be close enough.
Her joy was infectious and he found himself smiling despite his
earlier objections. He had smiled more in the short time he had
know her than he had in months, having a mate really did improve a
wolf’s quality of life even if your mate didn’t know exactly what
she was to you. “I can’t resist you. Once you decided that you
wanted to know, it was as good as done.”

“
I know that you’re worried that telling me could jeopardise my
chances for recovery, but don’t blame yourself. If anything goes
wrong then I accept any and all blame.”

Pulling away from her embrace, he took her hand and began
leading her outside. The night sky was clear and this far from the
bright lights of a city, the stars shone clearly against the dark
backdrop. It had snowed heavily when they had returned from their
shopping trip the day before and it had continued to snow
throughout the day and the ground around the wooden porch they
stood on was now covered in a thick layer of the white
powder.

“
We met on a night like this,” he chuckled, “Well there wasn’t
all this snow and the moon was much fuller than it is now but the
stars were exactly like they are now and you outshone them all in
my eyes. There was a celebration for my cousin’s wife.” He
hesitated over the use of the word wife, it felt unnatural on his
tongue but he knew that he couldn’t use the term mate if he was to
maintain his human façade. “I was looking for my brother Ryan and
instead I found you. You were wearing this beautiful blue dress,
which I later found out you had been bullied into. Your hair was
down,” he reached for the hair band that was loosely holding her
hair in a messy bun and pulled, releasing the long
strands.

The way she tied her hair was apparently another thing she
hadn’t forgotten. She had accepted the long length of her hair as a
part of life and never complained about how much time she had to
put into maintaining it. Though he loved her long hair, Sebastian
had quickly concluded that if his hair was that long, it wouldn’t
have taken much time before he took a pair of scissors to it.
Despite the time she put into her hair’s maintenance, she rarely
wore it down. The mystery of why she kept her hair so long confused
him and not for the first time he found himself cursing the fact
that he hadn’t asked her about it before she had lost her
memories.

“
You were the most beautiful person I had ever seen. You still
are. I think my heart might have stopped for a second, but then it
began to race. I could practically feel it pushing against my rib
cage. It was right then I knew, I knew you were the person I was
going to spend the rest of my life with.” He struggled to keep the
new version of events as close to the truth as possible and hoped
that his story sounded plausible.

As Sebastian words floated to her ears an image began to form
within her mind. The picture was hazy at first but the longer he
spoke, the clearer it became. Sebastian stood at the forefront of
her mind, dressed in a well-cut dark suit instead of the
comfortable jeans she was used to seeing him wear. He was rocking
back and forth on the balls of his feet in that curiously endearing
motion she had come to recognise during their short stay at the
estate was a sign of his nervousness. His mouth was moving but she
couldn’t hear the words that he spoke and she groaned in
frustration. Though she couldn’t seem to remember the words he had
spoke to her that night, her body remembered the reaction he had
caused within her perfectly.

Her mind was still struggling to hear the words that
Sebastian was saying but her mouth was moving on its own, her voice
slow as she told him what she remembered. “You looked downright
edible in that suit. And the way you looked at me made me feel like
I was the sexiest person in the world. My mouth went dry and my
body became so hot and then you told me, you said…” She groaned
aloud this time as the memory eluded her.

Her words had lit the spark of hope within him and Sebastian
decided to continue helping her fill in the blanks in her
memory.
Maybe the doctors were
wrong,
he concluded before holding his hand
out to her in the human method of greeting. It wasn’t what he had
done that night but there was no need to push his luck. The doctors
may have been wrong when they said that no information was the best
thing for her, but she still believed she was human and if he told
her different she might decide that he was crazy and not to be
believed. She placed her hand within his and he tightened his grip.
“Hello, my name is Sebastian.”