“
Erica?” Dylan began anew.
Deciding that the questioning session might continue for some
time Erica sat down at the foot of her sister’s bed sighing with
relief as her feet received a well earned rest. “What is it
now?”
“
Anna said that you were going to look for a boyfriend is that
true?”
She hedged not liking where this line of questioning could
lead. “Anna says a lot of things Dylan.”
“
That doesn’t answer her question,” Wyatt pointed out calmly,
turning to lie on his side so he could watch both his
sisters.
“
You’re right as usual. Anna did want me to go and look for
someone I could spend some time with.”
“
Did you find anyone?” Dylan pressed.
An image of Sebastian as he stood smiling in the moonlight
flashed through her thoughts and she had to resist the urge to
growl as her body continued to work against her and in his favour.
“No Dylan, I didn’t find anyone.”
“
Oh.”
“
Did you want to find one Erica?” Wyatt inserted.
“
No, I’m happy with my life just how it is. I don’t need any
one else. I’ve got my family and that’s all that matters right?”
Wyatt nodded vigorously and she smiled widely at him, the false
smile she had previously worn fading the longer she spent amongst
her family.
“
Erica, are you going to leave us?” her sister asked, twisting
the sheets roughly in her small hands.
“
Why would you think that?”
“
I heard from Isaac that when you get a mate you’re going to
have to leave us and everyone is always saying how pretty you are,
it wouldn’t be hard for you to get a boyfriend. Is it
true?”
Stupid Isaac, next time I see him he’s dead,
she assured herself picturing her hands wrapped
around his throat. Though almost fully mature, Isaac continued to
astound her with his childish antics and this latest prank was
simply another bad mark against his name. “Guys, how many times do
I have to tell you that I’m not going anywhere? I promise. Trust me
a little more ok?”
Her brother frowned at her claim. “But what if you find a
mate?”
I’ve apparently already found one of those.
“It won’t change anything.”
And you don’t Sebastian; you don’t change one little thing.
This is my life and I’m going to live it how I choose, and I have
no need of you in it.
Want,
her wolf continued to
whine.
Shut up,
she snapped hoping to
silence the constant whimpering. The pleas continued and she
groaned.
“
But people are always telling us that there will be a male one
day who will need you to be his mate,” Wyatt continued.
“
Well that’s his problem, not ours.”
No matter how attractive he is,
she
admitted silently to herself.
Her tantalising scent still filled the corridor even after she
had left and Sebastian found himself returning to the party in an
attempt to escape from it. His eyes were unseeing as he wandered
the room aimlessly with no direction in mind and his thoughts were
filled to the brim with her.
She rejected
me. She rejected me. Why? Why would my mate do such a thing? She’s
a wolf like me; she knows how much I would value her. This is
unreasonable.
Go after her,
his wolf growled, the
sound rumbling around his mind.
Go after
her. Leave now, you’ll still be able to catch her.
We’ve got to try and think logically about this. She’s one of
us so she knows how important a mate is to a male, therefore there
must be a reason why she rejected me. There has to be,
he reasoned, refusing to believe
otherwise.
Stop trying to be calm! Our mate is getting away from us the
longer we stay here. Chase her and bring her back to us.
And then what? What do you propose we do after
that?
We make her see reason.
How would you go about doing that?
I don’t know and I don’t care! I want her, are you telling me
that you don’t?
Nothing could be further from the truth. Our mate is
beautiful how could any male not want her?
And yet you let her escape! She doesn’t bear our mark. Others
may try to take her from us.
The thought turned his stomach and a low growl escaped his
lips. Ignoring the curious stares from those that stood around him,
he continued his aimless stroll through the room.
She said that she didn’t want a mate; she won’t
take another.
The words meant to reassure
his wolf felt distinctly hollow as he spoke them.
That could mean that she’s involved with someone and simply
doesn’t want us, her true mate, to separate them.
The growl that passed his lips was louder this time.
You’re being ridiculous, she didn’t smell of
another male, she’s ours. There’s no one else.
Then do as I’ve been telling you and chase her!
She doesn’t want us to. We’ve got to give her time to see
that we’re right, she deserves at least this one night alone with
her thoughts.
She doesn’t need to be alone when she has us.
Though it was faint, Erica's fragrant scent teased his
sensitive senses and he stopped abruptly, his head turning as he
tried to find where it came from.
She’s
come back. Perhaps she has finally seen reason.
The trail of her scent led him to a small brunette.
That isn’t her.
He sighed
in defeat.
It was too much to hope that
she would simply return considering the way she ran from
me.
The brunette turned, smiling widely at him. “Hello,” she
purred, the tone of her voice should have been pleasant but
Sebastian felt himself slightly repulsed by it now that he had his
mate’s smooth and honest tone to compare it against.
Years of tuition in manners and etiquette kicked in and he
felt his mouth moving automatically. “Hello.”
“
I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Anna.”
The few words that he had spoken with his mate returned to
him as he inhaled the lingering fragrance of his mate that
surrounded the woman before him and he cocked an eyebrow in
interest. “I’m Sebastian, it is nice to meet you.”
“
I can say the exact same thing about you.” She
grinned.
“
May I ask you a question?”
“
Of course you can, it doesn’t mean I’ll answer it, but nobody
is preventing you from asking.”
“
Well I hope you will answer me then. Do you know someone
called Erica?”
“
Eric?”
He frowned at the masculinisation of his mate’s name but
continued regardless. “Yes, she did mention that her friends called
her that.”
“
So you’ve met her then?” Anna beamed, clapping her hands
together joyously before rubbing them in what appeared to be
immense satisfaction
“
Yes I did. She looked beautiful in the dress, you did good
work though I believe she would look just as attractive in whatever
she chose to wear.” He smiled weakly feeling increasingly nervous
around the exuberant female he stood beside.
I’ve got to do this,
he repeated to
himself, trying to calm his agitated nerves and brace himself for
the next part of the conversation.
But if
this Anna is her friend she may be unwilling to tell me what I need
to know if I tell her the truth.
Then lie,
his wolf
suggested.
I’ve never been very good at lying. I’ve never felt
comfortable doing it and I give away too much in my scent. I’ve
always been caught out.
Well now is the time to get good or do you want to lose our
mate?
The wolf’s words touched him and he found himself smiling
brightly at Anna, his nerves now surprisingly calm. “I did meet her
but she seemed very anxious around me.”
If
I’m going to lie then I must stick as close as I can to the truth
otherwise she will probably be able to tell that I’m being
untruthful.
“
Damn!” Anna cursed under her breath.
His grin widened as he realised that he had a potential ally
in the cheerful brunette. “I did manage to speak to her for a few
moments.”
“
You did?” Anna gasped, sounding increasingly excited.
Sebastian nodded. “And? What happened?” she demanded.
“
I very much enjoyed her company.” Anna clapped quietly in
delight before he continued. “But –”
“
But?” she interrupted angrily. “What do you mean
but?”
“
Well, when I expressed that I was interested in spending some
more time with her.”
That isn’t exactly a
lie. I do want to spend more time with her, my lifetime’s
worth.
“She ran away.”
“
She did what?”
“
She ran away,” he repeated.
“
Why did she do that? In fact never mind the why, how did she
do it? She could barely walk in those shoes I gave her let alone
run.”
“
She abandoned the shoes,” he explained calmly. “She did
apologise to you. They may still be out on the balcony if you wish
to retrieve them.”
“
I went to all that effort to bring her here and introduce her
to some nice males and then she runs off.”
“
I would like to apologise to her for whatever I did
wrong.”
“
It had nothing to do with you Sebastian, Eric isn’t
comfortable around males that express a romantic interest in her.
The girl is paranoid about –” Anna smacked a hand over her mouth
realising that she may have let too much slip, but Sebastian smiled
on as though he hadn't heard a word of the latter part of her rant,
while storing it away for future reference.
“
I would still like to apologise and perhaps get to know her as
a friend,” he continued.
Mates can be
friends,
he justified.
Very good friends.
“
I’ll tell her you said sorry.”
“
If possible I would like to deliver the message to her, if you
could just tell me what clan she’s from then that would be much
appreciated.”
She hesitated a moment, taking in his bright eyes and honest
smile. “Well I suppose it couldn’t hurt, besides I don’t know
what’s wrong with that girl running away from an attractive man
like you. If I knew you before I had met my mate…” She trailed off
allowing his mind to fill in the gaps before responding to his
question. “Eric and I are from the West clan.”
“
Thank you very much for your help. I should stop taking up all
of your time and let you get back to the party.”
“
Don’t worry about it, it’s not as though it was a hardship to
talk to you.”
“
Thank you.” He smiled before disappearing into the
crowd.
Are we going after her now?
His wolf
demanded.
No. I said that we were going to give her tonight alone and I
meant it. We will be spending enough time with her later; there’s
nothing wrong with us leaving her alone for a night. Besides she
should have some time alone to overcome her aversion to taking a
mate. But tomorrow is a different matter.
He grinned, slipping out of the ballroom to make his way back
to his own rooms.
The night passed slowly for Sebastian as he struggled to
subdue his wolf’s incessant needs and urges. Remnants of her scent
lingered on his skin and while they made his wolf increasingly
frantic in its demands that he go to her that night, he was
reluctant to wash the smell from himself, breathing deeply and
allowing his senses to linger over the trace of her
existence.
At least I didn’t have to wait
two hundred years like Tobias.
He grinned
trying to console himself despite her rejection of his
claim.
She exists and that means there’s
hope. I know where to find her and come morning, I’ll go to her
directly.
Sleep, however, didn’t come easy.
As soon as he closed his eyes images of Erica flitted across his
eyelids and the wolf’s demands would begin anew. When morning
finally arrived he sprung from the bed, showering reluctantly as he
assured himself that he would be in her presence again soon enough
and her scent would once again linger on his skin.
He raced along the corridors; desperate to reach the entrance
and be free to visit her once more, however a loud commotion in the
entrance hall caught his attention. A large man was screaming
loudly, demanding attention and receiving it.
A worker from the kitchen ran to his side. “Lord Sebastian
thank the heavens that you’re here, we don’t know what to do with
this man. You have to help us.”
He sighed, eyeing the open doors with desire in his gaze.
“Fine, let’s hope that this is over with quickly then.” He stepped
forward until he could tap the man lightly on the
shoulder.
The man spun round small dark eyes locking with his own. “Who
are you?” the stranger spat.