One man stepped out from the line to answer him. David was his new second in command now that Ian was dead. Vincent was sure he couldn’t have asked for better. David was dedicated to the cause and was ruthless in his methods. Exactly what they were going to need if they were to win this war. Though not overtly built, David was deadly and used his physical build to his advantage. You never knew just how dangerous he was until you messed with him and by then it was too late. His face was scarred, showing the severity of the training their members were put through. His dark eyes were intense, revealing his hatred for the creatures they sought to eradicate. And as those intense eyes turned on him, Vincent felt a measure of pride. He had trained David personally and was now about to reap the rewards of his work. “Yes sir. We shall dispose of them as soon as you give the order.”
“I know that for many of you this was your first encounter with a real werewolf but I hope this incident only strengthens your commitment to our cause. The werewolves are dangerous and vicious, a blight against humanity and it is our job to remove them from existence. We lost good men last night, but there are always casualties in a war and I hope this has reminded you that that’s exactly what we’re fighting here, a war. If you aren’t willing to make such sacrifices them tell me now and you can try to return the world of ignorance. I doubt it will be easy, you will know that there are creatures that lurk in the dark.” Silence reined, no member prepared to leave the safety of this branch. “Good. Now get rid of them,” he ordered casually. I’ve got other things to worry about. His section leader had followed him back to the base to personally investigate the progress he was making with the female wolf and now he would be forced to justify his actions.
The men quickly filed out of the room, eager to fulfil his orders, their vigour for the gruesome task of the organisation renewed. Turning on his heel Vincent too left the wide space where the bodies had been found, making his way to the back of the building where his small office resided. Opening the door he found his section leader reviewing the surveillance tape from the previous night’s attack.
“Come in,” Robert urged, from his seat in Vincent's large chair.
How dare he order me about in my own office? Vincent internally fumed though he outwardly remained silent. If I had got the information from the girl then I would have been promoted and you would have been demoted. Following his superior’s order, Vincent entered his office, sitting in the seat opposite Robert, separated from him by a large wooden desk.
“Well,” Robert sighed, “last night’s incident wasn’t unexpected.”
“Sir?”
“What really surprises me is that it didn’t happen sooner.”
“There was no way that the woman managed to make contact with them sir. We ensured that. She was confined by silver shackles and no one here would have helped her to escape.”
“I would never doubt the dedication of your members Vincent. That isn’t what I’m saying.”
“Then what exactly are you trying to say sir? That I didn’t make adequate security provisions to keep her here? She was here for four days and in that time she never once showed that it would have been possible for her to escape. After the things I put her through that first night, if she could have escaped then she would have done so then, when she was at her strongest.”
“Vincent, there is a reason why we advice killing the females on sight and I’m sorely disappointed that you aren’t aware of it. If you ever want to become a section leader then you still have a lot to learn.”
The almost condescending tone of his superior’s voice grated on him, but Vincent gritted his teeth determined not to show his dislike for the man in front of him. “What exactly is it that I’m not aware of, sir?”
“In the long history of our organisation we have found that if we keep a female alive for too long a male will inevitably come to retrieve her. The results of such a confrontation are never pretty. We both know how much stronger than humans these creatures are.” Vincent nodded, aware that if the female hadn’t been caught in a silver trap she could probably have dealt with him and the two other men that had retrieved her. Female werewolves were strong but the males were much more powerful, in some cases monstrously so. “When their female is threatened the males are even stronger. We’re not quite sure why this is. None of the males we have caught have ever said anything about it. Historically the males have usually come for their females much faster than this one. So that gave us a valuable window of opportunity. Honestly, when you first told me that you had caught a female werewolf I only expected you to have her for a day at max before someone came to try and get her.”
“And you didn’t think this was important enough to tell me? I could have increased the security around her, had more men watching her. This blood bath could have been prevented if only you had said something. We lost good men last night.”
“I didn’t tell you because I thought you would have known this. You should really study up on our history more, then you’ll be more aware of exactly what we’re dealing with. Knowledge is sometimes more dangerous than bullets. Besides, not all the females we’ve caught over the years have had a male come to try and save them, so there was a possibility that nothing would happen. Despite the fact that we lost men, I’m actually rather relieved that you didn’t know.”
“What?” Vincent spluttered confused by his superior’s cavalier dismissal of the massive damage his branch had sustained.
“If I had told you that a wolf was probably coming to help the woman escape would you have had more men watching her last night?”
“Of course.”
“Well then it’s a good thing that you didn’t know. You would probably have had your entire branch watching her. You might even had requested support from other branches and then we would have lost even more good men.”
“Why exactly is that?”
“Have you not had a chance to watch the surveillance tapes?”
“No sir, I’ve been busy clearing out the bodies of all the men we lost last night.” Vincent replied, his tone frosty.
“Well when you have a minute you should look at them. If you look at them carefully you can see that there were two wolves here last night not just one. We might have been prepared for one because in the past it’s only been one wolf that comes to get the female, in this case we might not have come out on the winning side. We have to think ahead. That’s our responsibility as leaders.”
“Yes sir,” Vincent agreed, though acting submissive to the man in front of him left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Now our meeting last night was interrupted by all this business so let’s just have a quick run through of your progress now.”
“Yes sir.”
“So what exactly did you manage to find out?” Robert questioned, leaning eagerly across the table.
“Nothing sir. I tried everything I could short of killing her to extract the information and she refused to say a word to me. I think it was probably because she had family among them, I’ve read enough of our history to know that they are very concerned with the safety of their families.”
Robert nodded in agreement. “Yes, that’s true.”
“She was prepared to die rather than risk the chance that they would be hurt. She refused to say a word that might jeopardise them.”
“So that leaves us with nothing, we have made no progress despite the massive losses we’ve sustained,” Robert sighed, standing up from Vincent’s chair. “I’m going to report what has happened here to the high commander. It’s a shame that the capture of the woman didn’t result in anything more fruitful than this, but it isn’t as though there won’t be other opportunities. We will try to replenish your numbers as soon as possible.” With that Robert left, leaving Vincent alone with his thoughts.
The idiot actually thinks that this is over? Does he not realise that almost anything can be achieved with a little creative thinking and large sums of money? His loss is my gain. We have pictures of her and t
hat’s something we didn’t have before. If I make the right kind of discreet inquiries, I’m sure I can find her again and when I find her, we’ll find the males and maybe even one of their clans. There’s no way she’s going to get away from me. And when I do catch her, I’ll be promoted and I won’t need to listen to that idiot anymore. The thought brought a cruel smile to Vincent’s face.
Chapter Eighteen
Sitting in the doctor’s office Sebastian struggled to understand exactly what the woman across from him was trying to say. His mind unwilling to believe that just when he thought he had his mate back she had been snatched away from him. “Could you repeat that? I still don’t understand.”
The doctor sighed, she had already explained what had happened to Sebastian several times, but he seemed unwilling to accept the reality of her diagnosis. “Erica is suffering from what’s known as total amnesia, she doesn’t remember anything about her life prior to when she woke in the infirmary.”
“Nothing?” he pressed, still unable to comprehend exactly what had happened to his mate.
“From the tests we’ve run that’s correct.”
“So she doesn’t remember me?”
“Erica doesn’t even remember her own name.” The doctor sighed in exasperation. “She doesn’t remember you or what your relationship with her is. While her lack of memory regarding your relationship may be your number one priority it isn’t mine. There is a more important issue that’s really concerning me.”
“So there’s something else?”
“Well yes. Erica seems to have forgotten what she is.”
“What do you mean?”
“She doesn’t know that she’s a wolf. When we asked her simple questions about our people she couldn’t answer them. She thinks that she’s human. All her memories and thoughts regarding being a wolf seem to have abandoned her alongside those of her life.”
“Why on earth would she do that?”
“She isn’t doing it deliberately. I believe that it was the trauma to the head from the wound combined with the events that surrounded the injury that have caused this reaction. People often forget things that they find are too painful for their mind to deal with. In this case Erica was subject to a great deal of physical distress because of her wolf heritage.”
Physical distress? What a great way to word torture, that’s what happened to my mate, nothing less. “So she just chose to forget that she was one?” Sebastian pressed still confused.
“As I’ve said, I doubt it was a conscious decision on her part, but that abuse combined with the head injury have left Erica as she is now. It is almost reasonable for her to want to forget the incident, she very nearly suffered irreparable damage.”
“There’s no need to remind me of her injuries, I was there. I saw them all. I’m aware of exactly what state she was in, but all her other injuries healed why won’t this one?”
“We’re gifted with the ability to heal from almost all physical injuries, this however isn’t physical, it’s mental. She will most likely heal if she’s given time.”
“Most likely?” he demanded.
“There have been cases where sufferers of amnesia have never fully recovered their memories. I can’t say with absolute certainty whether this will or won’t happen to Erica. There has never been a case like this among our people as far as I’m aware.”
“Is there anything I can do to help her? There isn’t anything I would do to help her get better. Even if she doesn’t remember me, I don’t want her to have to live without the memories of who she was and the events that moulded her into the person she is now.”
“You’re a very good mate.” The doctor smiled. “And the only advise I can give you is to keep being exactly who you are. Be there for her and help her when she needs it. Losing all your memories is a very stressful event and she will need your support.”
“That’s all I can do?” Sebastian demanded once again feeling helpless.
“Yes, this kind of injury either heals by itself or it doesn’t. There is one thing I must tell you though. You should not try and force her to remember her life before the injury that sort of pressure will only make it more difficult for her to recover.”
“So I can’t tell her anything? Nothing at all?”
“You can tell her small things like who people are to her, like the children with her at the moment, you can tell her that they are her siblings. You have already told her her name. Favourite food, colour, book those sort of things you can tell her. What I’m referring to is major life events such as the death of her parents. You can tell her that they are dead but not how they died.”
“What about telling her what she really is? Can I tell her that?”
“No. Her mind has removed that information for a reason, she has to come into that knowledge on her own when her mind is prepared to deal with it.”
“But there are wolves everywhere here. She won’t be able to escape that.”
“Well then I suggest you keep her confined to an area within the estate where others can’t tell her what happened.”
“I don’t like the idea of locking her away. She was trapped in a room when I found her.” His mind began to work trying to find a solution to the problem. “Could I take her away from here? Take her somewhere where there aren’t wolves everywhere?”
“That’s another idea. I would suggest taking her somewhere where the surroundings are vaguely similar to those of her home. It may help.”
“I want to see her now,” he informed the doctor.
“You have been in here with me for long enough now. As long as you understand exactly what’s wrong with her then I don’t see any reason that I should keep you here.”
“Thank you doctor.”
“You’re welcome, remember if you have any questions then bring them to me.”
“I’ll remember that.” He smiled before leaving the office and walking the short distance that separated the doctor’s office from the infirmary. He eased open the door and grinned as he watched Dylan unsuccessfully try to braid her sister’s hair while Wyatt tried to explain the differences between two stuffed toys which to Sebastian's eyes looked identical. Erica endured their play with a wide smile on her face, easily talking to them and hope flared within him. Though he had told her siblings that they could only see her on the condition that they told Erica nothing about her life before the accident or who she was, the familiar way that she interacted with them made him hope that she had remembered something.
She raised them, that has to be something hard to forget.
“Hey there, aren’t you going to come in?” she called upon seeing him standing at the door.
His smile widened as he walked into the room. “Come on guys, that’s enough. Leave Erica alone, Ryan is waiting for you at the end of the corridor, go on.”
“Can’t we stay just a little longer?” Dylan pleaded.
“No. Go on you’ve got to eat dinner.”
They dragged their feet but eventually left the room, leaving Sebastian and Erica alone.
“Were they any trouble?” he questioned moving to sit on the edge of her bed.
Her hands reached up to her hair and she began trying to disentangle the knots that Dylan had tied into her hair as she tried to braid the strands. “No they were lovely. They drew me a get well card.” She tilted her head in the direction of the hand made card, wincing as her hair became even more knotted.
“Turn around and let me do it,” he counselled.
She hesitated a moment before doing as he asked and handing the long wealth of her hair over to the stranger’s care. His hands were surprisingly gentle as he carefully finger combed the knots out. He worked in silence and though she couldn’t remember him, she felt comforted by his mere presence. “Sebastian?”
“You remembered my name.” He beamed pleased with this turn of events. Maybe she’ll get better a lot quicker than I thought, she seemed to remember Dylan and Wyatt and she knows my name.
“Of
course I did, you’re one of the few people I’ve seen while lying here. Besides apparently you and I are engaged, I should know your name if we’re meant to be getting married one day.” Her explanation of events dimmed his hopes slightly.
“Did you want to ask me something?”
“Well yes.” She hesitated a moment struggling to ask her question. “Those kids…”
“Dylan and Wyatt?”
“Yes. Are they ours?”
His dimmed hopes were dashed by her question. “No, they’re not. You and I don’t have any children. Dylan and Wyatt are your siblings.”
“Oh, well that would explain why the resemblance between us. I didn’t know and I thought it would be really terrible if they were actually my kids and I couldn’t remember them. I didn’t want to let them know just in case.”
“Well you don’t need to worry about that anymore, I hope your concerns have been put to rest. Your hair is fine now.”
Her hair now free of his gentle hands she turned to look at the man that she had apparently agreed to marry. She evidently had good taste in men if he was anything to go by and though she hadn’t spent much time in his company since she had woken, she felt instinctively safe around him. “What happened to me Sebastian? No one seems to be willing to tell me anything.”
“The doctor says that telling you things about your life before the accident will only impede your recovery. I want you to get better.”
“Look, at the very least I deserve to know how I ended up like this. Is that so much to ask?”
Yes, he thought remembering the brutality that surrounded her fall. Unwilling to lie to his mate, he told a partial truth. “You fell from a great height and hit your head. There was a lot of bleeding and when you woke you couldn’t remember anything.”
“Now that wasn’t so hard was it?” She smiled.
“No it wasn’t.” More lies. Maybe I should try and make a profession out of lying if I’m going to be doing it so much.
“Did the doctor say when I could go home?”
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