A Wolf's Oath (25 page)

“
I’m Erica,” she replied easily, but a frown formed on her face
as soon as the words had left her lips.
That doesn’t sound right. I wouldn’t say that to someone I
had just met.
She continued to shake his
hand while she frantically racked her mind trying to find the right
words. “No, that isn’t what I said. You can call me
Eric.”

Sebastian smiled at correction. She was remembering. “That’s
exactly what you said to me that night. And like I said back then,
that’s a man’s name and you’re no man.”

“
It’s what my friends call me,” she responded automatically,
her body walking her through the steps of that night. Taking her
hand out of his, she stepped back, his scent was wreaking havoc on
her body and she couldn’t seem to think straight when they were so
close.

Apparently Sebastian had taken affront to the distance she
was putting between them as he stepped forward and breathed deeply,
much like he had that first night taking her scent deep within
himself. “Erica.”

Her heart began to pound as the vague memory of that night
filled her. Something was going to happen if he spoke again though
she couldn’t remember what it was. There was almost no space
between them now and as she breathed she could feel her chest brush
lightly against his.

“
Sebastian,” she gulped, unsure of if she truly wanted to hear
what he had to say next.

Unconcerned with the warning in her voice he pressed forward.
“Erica, we’re meant to spend the rest of our lives together. You
belong with me and I with you.”

“
No.” The word slipped past her lips though she couldn’t recall
wanting to say it. She took a step back, intent on increasing the
distance between them.

“
Yes Erica. There is only you for me and me for
you.”

“
I can’t,” she gulped. Her heart was beating so fast within her
chest that she was surprised that he couldn’t hear its frantic
beating. The expression of sadness on his face made her want to
stay but even though she couldn’t remember why she would do such a
thing, she ran. The snow beneath her feet was cold but she
continued on, desperate for an unknown reason to escape him. The
feel of cold snow trickling down her neck as a hard projectile hit
her, stopped her wild run and she turned back to Sebastian. There
was another ball of snow between his hands and he was smiling at
her despite her rejection of him. “That didn’t happen that
night.”

“
No, it didn’t.” He laughed, throwing the snowball at her. She
managed to dodge his aim but he laughed harder. “If there had been
snow that night then I’m sure it would have.”

She watched unmoving as he bent down to gather more snow in
his hands. The ball was formed quickly before he threw it directly
at her. She shrieked as the snow hit the exposed skin of her arms.
He moved again, preparing to gather more snow and she leapt into
action, gathering snow of her own to throw in his direction. She
laughed in satisfaction as her snowball hit him directly in the
chest but her victory was cut short as he threw more snow in her
direction. Retaliating quickly she threw an unformed fist of snow
in his direction laughing as some of the flakes landed in his
mouth. They continued their playful fight in the snow until they
both conceded defeat and accepted a draw.

Falling flat on her back in the snow, Erica watched as more
snow flakes drifted down from the sky. Warmth began to penetrate
her body as Sebastian settled down beside her. He grasped her hand
lightly, turning to smile at her. She returned the smile and
shifted closer towards him, uncaring of the sorry state her clothes
were inevitably in. As they lay side-by-side in the thick snow a
sense of peace and happiness crept through her. Even though she
couldn’t remember much more than she had the previous night, she
had Sebastian and for now that was enough. A curious thought began
to intrude on her sense of peace.
Why
would I be so desperate to get away from him? I was running like he
was the devil or something. It doesn’t make any sense.

You ran because you were an idiot. That’s the only
explanation for it.

She barely suppressed the urge to groan aloud at the strange
voice’s return.
I’m ignoring you. Right
now it doesn’t matter that I can’t remember anything, he’s willing
to stay with me. I’m not sure how true that’ll be if he finds out
I’m crazy so I’m ignoring you,
she stated
resolutely, banishing the intrusive thoughts of why she had run
from him and hoping that the voice left with it.
It doesn’t matter why I ran; he obviously caught
me and made me see sense. Thank God for that, where would I be
without him?

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Sebastian felt a momentary feeling of guilt as he sat on the
sofa in the living room in his wet clothes but quickly reasoned
that as he was paying for the house he could use the furniture
inside it in whatever way he saw fit. The smell of the roast beef
made his stomach grumble in hunger but his mind was preoccupied
with other thoughts. Erica was currently in the shower, her human
habits making her believe that she was cold enough to warrant a
shower to warm her. As he was coming to expect his wolf was fixated
on images of her in the shower and was projecting them into his
thoughts. He could feel his body begin to react to the visual
stimulation and groaned.

Stop this.
He glanced down at his
rapidly hardening shaft, his cheeks flushing as his wolf forced a
particularly detailed and vivid image of Erica naked to the
forefront of his mind.
You’re going to
make me embarrass myself. Just give it a rest.

Never. I’ve yet to see our mate naked and so I have to
content myself with this. It is your fault that you’re suffering
now. If you had just allowed us to claim her during the last full
moon then we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first
place.

Don’t you think that I know this? I beat myself up enough
without you making me feel guiltier. Erica is like this because of
me and I’ve come to accept that. If she doesn’t recover then that’s
also my fault. I’m perfectly capable of assigning blame.

That’s good to know but you seem to have overlooked
something.

What’s that?
he questioned, mentally
bracing himself for something that he undoubtedly wouldn’t want to
hear. His wolf rarely delivered good news to him.

What if she hasn’t recovered by the next full moon? It will
inevitably come around and we won’t be able to hide what we’re from
her.

I hadn’t even thought of that! Shit! What rules apply when
your mate thinks she’s human but is really a wolf? Do I have to
show her what I’m as though she were genuinely human? But if I tell
her will that make her worse? I want her to get better not
worse.
He groaned, wishing that his wolf
hadn’t told him anything.

I like her this way,
the wolf
began.
She’s far more open to our advances
than she was before. All in all I think that we should take
advantage of this opportunity.

Is that the only thing that you think about? Erica is sick,
can’t you consider her for just a minute?

I’m considering her, in my own way. Trust me if we claim her
now then things won’t be so problematic when she eventually gets
better. I’m sure she’ll thank me for it actually.

The sound of his mobile ringing, distracted him from his
thoughts and he pulled away from his wolf grateful beyond belief to
the person on the other end of the phone for sparing him from
having to further discuss Erica's situation with the one-track
minded wolf. Reaching into his slightly damp pocket he was relieved
that the phone still worked, he hadn’t thought about the potential
damage he might cause it when he had thrown the first snowball at
Erica. He answered it quickly placing the cold instrument against
his ear. “Sebastian?”

He smiled, glad to hear a familiar voice. “What is it
Ryan?”

“
You’ve got to come home.” His brother’s voice was panicked and
it made Sebastian sit up and pay attention, Ryan rarely got worried
and even when he did he showed his concerns even less.

“
Why? What’s wrong?”

Ryan sighed heavily into the phone, taking a deep steadying
breath before proceeding to tell Sebastian of his situation. “It’s
your mother.”

Sebastian groaned. He knew that tone of voice well and when
Ryan started distancing himself from their parents it usually
didn’t bode well. “What has she done?”

“
It’s not just her, it’s your bloomin’ aunt as well! They seem
to have become infected with baby fever and it’s all your
fault.”

“
How is it my fault? I’m miles away from you.”

“
Exactly!” Ryan shouted triumphantly.

“
I don’t get it.”

“
Let me explain it to you then. I don’t know which one of them
started it but judging from the way your mother is doting on Wyatt
and Dylan I’m guessing it was her. Anyway, with those two around
and both you and Tobias having found mates, they started discussing
grandchildren. That was fair enough, the first grandchild is meant
to be a big deal, so I wasn’t so worried back then. But then one of
them must have told the other that their grandchild would be cuter
and that’s where my problems started. Because you aren’t here I’m
being used in your place as a genetic sounding board. If you could
hear them talk…” He groaned before the pitch of his voice changed
as it tried to mimic the words that he had heard so often recently.
“Sebastian was a gorgeous baby. I’d really like for him to give me
a granddaughter, can you imagine, a little girl with bright red
hair and those wonderful blue eyes I’ve heard so much about? Then
aunt Yvonne would obviously have to step in and explain how
adorable Tobias was as a baby. She’s hoping that her grandchild
will have Alex’s eyes. You’re probably wondering why this bothers
me right?”

“
Yes actually I am. If they want to talk about the possibility
of grandchildren then let them.”

“
I would if it was just talking but it’s not! They keep
grabbing me out of nowhere and prodding and pulling at me as though
I’m a piece of meat. Their excuse is that because you’re not here
they have to work off of me to try and think what your kid will
look like. Dylan and Wyatt bless them don’t understand what they’re
doing when they start eyeing them up but me, me they aren’t content
to simply look at, they have to touch as well, pulling at my cheeks
as though I were some sort of fruit they’re testing for ripeness.
Examining my body with more intensity than even a doctor would,
it’s driving me mad. You have to come home! I don’t know how much
more of this I can take.”

Sebastian laughed at his brother’s plight. It took a lot to
stress his brother out but when it eventually happened he couldn’t
help but find it amusing.

“
It’s not funny,” Ryan groused.

“
Ryan who are you talking to?” Sebastian could distantly hear
the sound of children’s voices from the other end of the
line.

“
No one,” Ryan answered hastily.

“
Ryan is that Dylan? What’s going on?” Sebastian questioned
upon recognising the small inquisitive voice.

Ryan groaned loudly into the phone. “Now you’ve done
it.”

“
Wyatt come here,” Dylan shouted excitedly. “It’s Sebastian and
Erica! Ryan give me the phone, I want to talk to Erica.”

“
Me too!” Wyatt shouted.

The sound of a scuffle floated to him across the phone and
Sebastian laughed as he imagined Ryan trying to fight off the two
small children.

“
No,” Ryan said forcefully but the shouting
continued.

“
Give us the phone we just want to talk to Erica. Why are you
being so mean?”

The sound of Sebastian's laughter had floated down the hall
and reached Erica's ears in the shower and as she stepped out,
draping a towel around her wet body she found herself wanting to
know what had caused it. Walking out of the bathroom and down the
hall, she watched as he continued to chuckle in response to what
was being said on the other end of the phone line. The unrestrained
joy on his face brought a corresponding smile to her face. He was
usually so serious, it was good to see him relax and his smile made
him seem even more attractive though she hadn’t thought that
possible.

“
What’s going on Sebastian?” she asked curiously.

At the sound of Erica's voice calling him, Sebastian turned
around to face her and as he did his laughter died in his throat.
The towel that she wore left little to the imagination and his
mouth became dry as he looked at her. His body, already in a
semi-aroused state from his wolf’s visual images became even more
so. The exposed skin of her long legs seemed to be begging for his
touch and the rounded curves of her breasts that were just visible
above the white material of the towel seemed to be pleading for
freedom. He ran the heel of his palm over his now fully hardened
shaft, hoping that Erica wouldn’t notice his current
predicament.

“
Sebastian?” she called lightly. “Are you ok?”

With their superior hearing Dylan and Wyatt easily heard
Erica's voice enter the room and doubled their efforts to speak to
her. “Sebastian let us talk to Erica!” They shouted in
unison.