A Wolf's Oath (40 page)

She was therefore justifiably shocked when Sebastian arms
wrapped themselves around her, pulling her to him and holding her
in an iron grip. His eyes opened suddenly, the flash of amber
drawing a gasp from Erica. Her eyes widened in shock, but the eerie
colour was gone almost as quick as it had come fading to
Sebastian's natural brown.
Did I just see
what I thought I did?
her mind
demanded.
That wasn’t on the list of
symptoms. Maybe there is something different about him.

“
Erica?” His warm voice easily garnered her attention and her
internal thoughts quieted. “Did you have another nightmare?” The
hands around her loosened their grip and began to gently caress the
line of her spine in a soothing gesture.

“
No,” she squeaked.

“
You can tell me if you did,” he urged, his voice gentle and
reassuring.

“
Nothing happened Sebastian.”

“
Then why are you here?”

“
I just wanted to sleep with you tonight. That isn’t a crime is
it?”

He threw the duvet off himself, shifting his body to pull her
under with him before covering them both. “No sweetheart, it’s not.
In fact it’s the furthest thing from that. I love being with you
like this.”

“
Maybe we should think about making it a permanent
arrangement,” she purred, the warmth of his skin seeping into hers
as his scent surrounded her. His smell was intoxicating, she could
never seem to get enough but that didn’t mean she didn’t try. Her
head was against his chest and she breathed deeply, relishing in
it.

“
You shouldn’t say things you don’t mean Erica. It’s not
nice.”

“
And who said I didn’t mean it?” she quipped.

His hands forced her head away from his chest and she had to
resist the urge to whine at the separation. “Nothing would please
me more sweetheart.” He sat up, pulling her close before his lips
met hers and thought fled.

He may be different, but different isn’t a bad thing. In fact
in his case, it’s most definitely a good thing. Right?

Chapter Thirty-Eight

“
Sebastian.” At the sound of his name being called by a
familiar young voice, his fingers stopped their movement against
his keyboard and he turned to face the door, readying himself. He
knew that tone of voice and he prepared himself to being persuaded
to do something that he normally wouldn’t consider. He was quickly
proved right as the door to his study was flung open and Dylan and
Wyatt barrelled into his private space. The duo didn’t give him
long to brace himself before they leapt onto him, climbing onto his
chair and hanging off of whatever limb was available to
them.

“
Careful guys, you shouldn’t just jump on someone without
warning. What if something had gone wrong? Doing things like that
could end up hurting someone.”

“
There’s nothing wrong with you,” Dylan pointed out. “You’re
fine.”

“
Besides,” Wyatt added, “if something happened, you’d
heal.”

“
Ssh,” he hissed, extracting himself from their small hands and
standing up to close the door. “Don’t you remember? You can’t say
things like that, Erica might hear you.”

Positioning herself into Sebastian's now vacant seat, Dylan
smiled in the face of his anxiety. “Erica’s outside,” Dylan noted.
“She won’t be able to hear us.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. His heart had begun to race at
Wyatt’s innocent comment. Erica couldn’t find out about what they
were, she might never recover if she did. “What’s gotten into you
two? Is something wrong? You usually behave a lot better. I don’t
normally have to worry about what you’re going to say.”

Odd behaviour seemed to be a growing trend within his small
family, first with Erica and now Dylan and Wyatt seemed to have
caught whatever was going around. It had all started when they’d
returned from town after getting a new power generator. Erica had
become increasingly introspective and refused to voice her thoughts
on whatever was bothering her. There was something worrying her, it
was embedded deep within her scent how could he not know, but
whatever it was she refused to tell him about it, brushing off his
questions easily. The strange behaviour had all culminated last
night when she’d slipped into his bedroom. His body and his wolf
were always aware of her but his mind had been adrift, lost in
dreams of her. He’d been vaguely aware of her touching his skin,
running her hands over his fingers, it wasn’t until she’d slipped
her fingers into his mouth that his mind began to rouse. The thin
line between dream and reality had blurred in that instant. In his
dream Erica had been beckoning him, her arms had been open inviting
him to slip in to the haven of her body and he’d reacted, pouncing
on her like any true predator. In reality something all together
different had happened and he’d pulled Erica into his bed, his mind
becoming increasingly alert at the feel of her soft curves pressed
against him. There had been many times over the last day that he’d
wished he had managed to remain unaware of her actions, managed to
keep his mind in the dream and follow it where it led. He could
feel his body responding as images of what might have been
assaulted him.

“
We’re bored,” the duo whined, swiftly pulling his mind back to
the present.

“
You have lots of toys in your room,” he argued. How they could
be complaining about having a lack of things to do when he well
remembered how many things they had brought along for entertainment
he didn’t know.

“
We know that Sebastian, we’re not blind,” Dylan
quipped.

“
Then how exactly can you say that you’re bored?”

Wyatt moved across the room, coming to stand directly in
front of him and looked him directly in the eye to emphasis his
point. “We want to run.”

“
Run?” Sebastian kneeled to be level with the young boy,
throwing a quick glance over his shoulder to ensure that his mate
wasn’t nearby. “As in take to the woods and run? As a
wolf?”

“
Yes!” Dylan cried in relief, coming to stand beside her
brother. “We haven’t had a good run since we got here. It’s not
fair.”

“
Oh,” he sighed unsure of what exactly he could do.
I should have known that this was going to happen
sooner or later,
he realised. It was
natural for young wolves to transform frequently into their lupine
form. The need to change was akin to a compulsion in wolf cubs, it
was how they grew, how they developed, it was the most natural
thing in the world and they were being denied it.
The few days that Dylan and Wyatt have stayed
with us must have been difficult on them.

“
Please Sebastian,” Dylan began. “Just a little run, it’s not
as though we’re hurting anyone.”

“
That’s true,” Sebastian agreed.

“
Please Sebastian, it doesn’t have to be long. The woods behind
the house will do,” the little girl pleaded.

“
What about Erica?”

“
She doesn’t have to know,” Wyatt replied easily, his desire to
be free overcoming his wish to be near his sister.

Smiling at her brother’s suggestion, Dylan decided to throw
her support behind him. “Yeah, we can sneak out, run a little and
be back before she even realises we’re gone.”

“
I’m not going to lie to her if I can help it. We can’t just
leave without telling her, what if she comes looking for us? She’ll
be worried.” Both Dylan and Wyatt groaned at Sebastian's statement,
resigning themselves to being increasingly uncomfortable. Their
skin itched constantly, the pelt beneath their human skin begging
to be released. Their small arms were covered in red lines marks
from the constantly scratching and it was beginning to hurt.
Sebastian watched, increasingly concerned, as their claw like nails
wounded their young flesh again.
I can’t
just let them suffer,
he decided. “But that
doesn’t mean that I’m willing to let you two put up with this
anymore.” Brown eyes widened in expectation, small smiles emerging
on their faces. “I’ll think of something. Get ready to
run.”

“
Yay!” The loud cheer made Sebastian smile as he stood and left
the room to search for his mate.

Erica wasn’t outside as he had been told, she was instead
sitting on the sofa in the living room, her eyes glazed over as she
continued to stare into space. There was something wrong with her,
there had been for the past two days but whenever he broached the
subject she dismissed his concerns. He’d initially thought whatever
was plaguing her thoughts might be related to her amnesia, but he’d
dismissed the idea almost as soon as he had thought of it. Erica
was very vocal in her frustrated attempts to regain her memories;
she was never this pensive. It was something else, of that he was
sure.

He approached the sofa and yet she did nothing to indicate
she was even aware of his approach. His hands came to rest lightly
on her shoulders and he rubbed gently. “Erica,
sweetheart?”

She blinked rapidly bringing her surroundings into focus.
“Sebastian?”

“
Who else would it be?”

She turned slightly, careful to keep his hands on her
shoulders and gave him a half-hearted smile. “What’s going
on?”

That’s what I’d like to know.
His
mind quipped before he brought it back into line.
One thing at a time.
“Nothing much, I’m just thinking of taking Dylan and Wyatt out
for a walk.”

“
Oh?”

“
Mmm.” He nodded, bending down to place a light kiss against
the side of her neck. Now that Dylan and Wyatt knew about them
being mates, there was no need for him to hide his affection and he
planned to shower her with it as often as possible.

She leaned into his kiss silently enjoying his touch. “And
what exactly would you be doing on this walk?”

Forcing himself to stop touching her, he lifted his head away
from her neck. His eyes never left her face as he began to gauge
her response to his suggestions.
I need to
find something that she won’t like the idea of doing.
I don’t want her to come, but I don’t want her to
know that.
“I don’t know, I was thinking
that maybe we could do a little hunting.” Her expression remained
unchanged.
Well she’s actually a wolf,
that’s to be expected.
“Maybe do a nature
trail, show them the local wildlife.”
Still nothing,
he sighed. “Or we
could go fishing.” Her lips twisted into a grimace at that
suggestion. “Yes, I think fishing is a good idea.”

“
Are you kidding? What’s so good about fishing? You have to sit
in an uncomfortable position for God knows how long just to be in
with a chance of catching anything and then you have to gut a dead
fish.” The grimace on her lips became increasingly severe as she
listed the negatives of fishing and Sebastian struggled not to
smile.

“
I like fishing,” he stated firmly. “Would you like to
come?”

“
No.” Her emphatic reply forced a smile from him.

I can’t let her get off the hook that easily; she might
suspect something.
“Are you sure
sweetheart? There’s so much fun to be had in just relaxing with a
good rod for an afternoon.”

“
For you maybe, for me? No. Just the idea of touching those
slimy things and ripping out their insides makes me sick. Are you
sure that Dylan and Wyatt want to go? It’s disgusting.”

“
They’re all for it. In fact they were the ones that suggested
it.”

“
Well then you three go and have a good time. I’ll stay
here.”

“
Are you sure sweetheart? I don’t want to leave you here by
yourself.”

“
I’ll be fine, I’m a big girl I’m sure I can find something to
do that will keep me entertained.”
And
hopefully keep my mind off of other things.
“Go. Have fun on your fishing trip.”

“
We’ll be back before you know it,” he grinned. He placed his
lips against her own, intending to give her a chaste kiss but the
moment they met, his innocent plan was annihilated. Erica's arms
wrapped themselves around his neck and he could do nothing other
than to fall deeper into the kiss. Groaning in surrender, Sebastian
pulled her closer towards him, eagerly parting her lips with his
tongue. He swept through her mouth, desperate to engrave the taste
of her into his brain and she responded eagerly. Breath mingled,
tongues met and teeth clashed before he could gather the strength
to pull away.

“
No you won’t, you’re going fishing, you’ll be gone for ages. I
guess that kiss will have to tide me over until you get
back.”

He smiled and stood to his full height, gently caressing the
side of her face. “Trust me, it won’t take us that long.” She
nodded in agreement and he turned to walk down the hall. Dylan and
Wyatt were waiting for him at the back door, shifting anxiously on
the balls of their feet as they awaited Sebastian's
arrival.

“
What did she say?” Wyatt demanded.

“
She’s fine with us going. Come on, I told her we wouldn’t be
all that long.” Taking a small hand in each of his larger ones he
led them out of the back door and into the cold outdoors. They
walked for a few minutes, clearing a path through the heavy snow
that covered the ground. When Sebastian was sure that they were far
enough away from the cabin that the small family of wolves wouldn’t
be spotted by an unsuspecting Erica, he released his grip on Dylan
and Wyatt. “Alright you two, you’re free to run,” he chuckled
before allowing the transformation to wash over him. The twins
quickly followed suit, the change coming swiftly after days of
being restricted to their human forms. Sebastian spared a final
look in the direction of the cabin, wishing that Erica could be
with them before he sped off after his two young wards to ensure
that they didn’t find trouble.