To Love a Were Ch. 01

"You know... I do have an excellent idea for you to channel all that frustration," said Dominic silkily into her ear. Amber immediately turned to look at him but he saw that her eyes had soften a little.

"I'm tired, Dominic. Please get me home," she said with a resigned sigh.

"But the night is still young sweetie..." he purred. Dominic knew he wasn't really putting in his all tonight. Usually, this would have worked; he would have managed a wild romp, even if it was in the car. Rejected twice in a day really was not looking good for his reputation as a Casanova.

Following Amber, he too exited the medical centre, deciding it was best to brood back home.

Meanwhile, Eian was untying the restraints holding back the little girl. He had heard her cries the moment he stepped foot into the centre and had all but ran into her ward just to calm her down. When he saw the restraints, he felt his heart breaking. He knew Amber had had no choice, but still he wished that she had not resorted to such a cruel treatment. The slight bruise on the girl's wrists was slowly fading and it lightened his mood slightly. She was beginning to heal on her own.

"Eian?" she whispered.

"Yes, my precious, I'm here."

"Where?" Her hands searched for him, finding his face. He could still feel the coldness in her hands but it was better than yesterday. A quick check on her arms showed that the wounds she had sustained yesterday were completely healed but the bruises were still there.

"So, little one... are you feeling better today?"

"Yes!" she said excitedly. "The pretty doctor let me watch tv today. I heard hi5 singing and I sang along too!"

"You remembered their songs?" he asked hopefully.

"I heard them sang it once then I followed. I can remember a lot of things that all those people said on tv too!" Eian listened to her retell almost everything she had heard with much patience. So this Vampire had a powerful sense of memory... but it seems memories before yesterday had been lost to her. Had a Vampire removed her memory? Or was it temporary amnesia caused by trauma?

"That's nice..." he said soothingly as she related what Barbie did in Fairytopia.

"Eian... will you stay here with me tonight?" she suddenly said.

"Yes my precious, I will. Don't you want me to?" he asked gently. She kept quiet. Eian watched her face with concern.

"If... if... you stay here with me, the monsters won't come and get me right?" she said, shrieking out the last few words.

"Oh darling, no, no... of course not!" he said, sitting at the edge of her bed and gently bringing her close to him in an embrace. The little girl refused to let him out of her reach, so Eian eventually had to hoist himself up on the bed and let her cuddle next to him until she fell asleep. She was really small and Eian put her at about ten years old. The pack had enough young ones for him to roughly guess her age. Furthermore, her scent was still of innocence; not one of a budding young woman.

As he watched her sleep, something stirred in his heart. He had tried to track down her family, combing the areas around the place where he found her.

True enough, he had been appalled to come across a house just at the outskirts of the compound that had been taped off and secured by the police. A whiff of the house told him that at least three people had died inside there and had been recently removed. Eian had been forced to shift and watch behind the bushes so as not to attract suspicions to himself. He noted that there was no blood trail leading from the house to the forest but as he paced through the undergrowth he noticed that there was an area that had been trampled on recently. On closer inspection, he saw that the broken twigs had more than two cracks on them, meaning that they were stepped on more than once; possible a struggle had occurred here.

Precisely then, he heard one of his Betas back in the compound alerting him about the arrival of police. Eian raced back home, hoping to confirm his hunch.

As it turned out, he was right. The police wanted permission to search his land. They suspected the killer to be hiding there. Eian knew it was procedure, although he knew by heart that whoever killed those people was not human. The scent of a Vampire clung to that house. And he had not sensed any Vampire in the forest. As he nodded his agreement to the police, Eian made a mental command to all the werewolves in the forest to return home and stay in doors until he allowed them to go out again. He knew that his wolves were told not to attack those who have been allowed on pack lands but he'd rather not take any risks. These humans have guns that could seriously injure the younger ones.

The night passed by rather quickly and when Eian opened his eyes, he realized that the girl was no longer beside him but perched at the edge of the bed's railing like a bird, watching him intensely. Eian tried to hide his surprise and smiled instead.

"How long have you been watching me, little one?" he asked sleepily.

"For awhile... You are a very beautiful... more beautiful than that pretty doctor."

"How do you know she's pretty when you couldn't see her?"

"I touched her face too..." she said sheepishly. "But then I saw into her mind and I didn't like it. I got angry. She got angry too and she tied my hands!" Eian almost laughed at her desperation to justify her actions.

"You should not get angry at Amber... She has been kind to take care of you personally. Don't ever do that to her again, understand?" he said softly but with a hint of sternness that made her nod her head. Eian was slightly impressed now- So a Vampire who had a fantastic memory and one who could also read minds by touching?

When Eian got up, she jumped off the bed railing and reached forward to hug him. Feeling defeated, he lifted her up and carried her into the attached bathroom. He was hoping to wash himself up but the way she clung so tightly, he was sure she wouldn't let go regardless of any amount of persuasion.

So with the little girl clinging on to him like a baby koala, he rummaged his small bag for his toothbrush and facial wash. Her weight didn't seem to bother him much and he carried on his business as if she wasn't there. After drying his face, he looked into the mirror, caught her gaze and spoke with a stern face.

"You're going to need a bath now. Can you do that on your own? Or would you like Amber to do it for you?"

"I can do it myself!" she said with a haughty tilt of her chin. Grabbing the bottles of shampoo and soap, she pushed him out of the bathroom and closed the door. Eian laughed as he felt himself shoved out of the bathroom but his laughter died when he saw the message coming from his phone.

Dominic had sent him an email. There was a picture of a family and at the bottom, they showed an individual photo of a little girl, asking if anyone had information to her whereabouts. Eian immediately got out of the room to give his Beta a call. "This was in the morning news?" he asked desperately.

"Yes. She's the girl isn't she?"

"Dominic... I need you to come here as soon as possible. Tell Amber to hurry too. I can't leave her here alone."

Whatever objections Dominic had, died in his throat when he heard the pain in his Alpha's voice. Not wanting to waste another minute, Dominic climbed into his car and sped to the medical centre.

When Eian got back into the ward, the little girl was on her bed already, smelling of his shampoo and soap. Her skin seemed much more radiant now and she was laughing at something on TV. However, her hair was still wet so he took the towel she had carelessly thrown on the bed and came closer to help her dry it off.

"Little one, can I ask you something?"

"Okay," she said although her eyes still remained glued to the television.

"Do you remember your name?" Eian made sure he said the words slowly so that she would not think that he was forcing her to remember.

"I told you I don't remember..." she said softly after awhile.

"It's alright darling... really. Well... maybe you could tell me about your beautiful hair?" he asked instead, trying to take her attention away from recalling her name.

"My hair?" she looked like as if he had asked the most stupid question on earth. She pursed her lips and twirled her hair in her fingers. "Why don't you have white hair?"

Eian was simply lost for words.

"Do you want something to eat?" he asked after awhile; dropping the subject of her past altogether.

She thought very hard then shook her head.

"I'm not very hungry..."

Eian watched the child with worry. For her not to be hungry after recovering from massive injuries meant only one thing- the Vampire who bit her had been a Pureblood and whether he had planned to do it or not, he had Sired her because she had bitten him back somehow and now carried his stable blood in her. Of course Eian did not discount the fact that the Vampire could also be a female but for now, he was going to assume it was a male.

Dominic's knock on the door surprised him. He had brought some food as well and Eian immediately reached for the coffee and took a few gulps. Dominic watched him closely, establishing their mental bonds with each other.

We shouldn't keep her here you know...

Where else should she go, Dom? Did you see what happened to her family? They'll put her in foster homes! She's going to become no one's child. Do you think I could live with myself if I let her go?

You don't seriously think she's going to fit into the pack do you?

I had already decided. She will be adopted into the pack.

What the fuck Eian! No!

His sudden outburst was sensed by the girl for she turned around and looked curiously at the two men. They weren't saying anything but she felt a surge of energy and by the looks of it, it scared her. Eian's eyes immediately narrowed and he glanced at Dominic angrily.

I told you not to scare her!

She cannot be adopted into the pack! I won't allow it!

Eian didn't respond but looked at Dominic sharply as his green eyes bore into Dominic's.

You won't allow it? Dominic immediately understood that he had crossed the line.

No please, Eian... I'm sorry... I didn't mean it that way. I was just thinking about the pack's safety... I'm sorry Eian... I really am. I kept thinking about Pearl and her pups and I got carried away with worry. Please forgive me... I will not repeat my outburst again.

Dominic's words seemed to calm Eian down a notch. The tension between them had frightened the girl again for she had hidden her face behind the pillow. When Eian saw this, he quickly coaxed her to come to him.

We'll give her another name and she'll take on the MacFarlane name.

Yes, Alpha. I will make the arrangements. Dominic sighed as he left the room. "Arrangements" usually meant a lot of paper work, bribing, erasing of memories and a massive headache. But by the time he's done, Courtney Anderson would cease to exist.

Eian trusted that his friend would do his job so he turned to the little girl curled up in front of him and tried to smile.

"What do you think of Fiona?" he asked gently. The girl's head popped up quickly and she looked into his eyes.

"Is that my name?" she asked excitedly.

"It can be if you want it to be," he replied with a smile. The girl nodded and smiled, revealing a missing tooth grin.

"What does it mean?"

"It means white in my native tongue... just like your hair, see?"

The girl kept quiet for awhile, as though taking in the information.

"If I become Fiona, will you always be with me Eian?" she asked, suddenly unsure.

"Yes Fiona MacFarlane, I will always be with you."

***

Dominic did not need to stress to himself how much pressure Eian was putting on him. His Alpha was really a slave driver at times. Whoever said otherwise was clearly deceived by his gentle smile.

In the past 24hours, he had modified her birth certificate, created a death certificate and bribed at least half a dozen officials to get him access into the her deceased parents' records. He was hoping for a glimmer of hope that her parents had left the girl some grandparents or an aunt or uncle or even a remote cousin but he came up with nothing. This meant that Eian was right. This girl was all alone in the world without kin.

On top of all these, he was still waiting for the other director candidate to arrive. He had delegated the task of the interview to the Beta just below his rank in the office. The Human Resource executive in charge of the interview had been a human and although Dominic conceded that she was efficient, he felt that it was best if a pack member did the interview. In light of recent events, he did not think anymore strange additions would be welcomed. A Were could sniff out the lies from the candidate much more effectively.

The sudden knock on his door jarred his concentration for awhile.

"What?" he bellowed unconsciously and regretted it almost immediately when the scent of strawberries filled his senses.

"Oh... I didn't realize I was not welcomed in your office," she huffed in a slightly accosted voice.

"Uh, no... I was uh..." He fumbled around, closing all the windows on his desktop and clearing away the files pertaining to the girl.

"I did tell your secretary that I was coming... but perhaps you did not get her message."

Dominic glanced guiltily at his message board and saw that she had indeed placed a note about Sydney's call.

"Would you like something to drink?" he said in an attempt to calm his nerves.

"I didn't come here to drink, Mr. MacFarlane..." she said with a tinge of annoyance.

Dominic didn't answer her. Of course she didn't come here for a drink! This was why he hated working with women. He was only good at getting women into his bed, not really hold intelligent conversations with them.

"Well, Mr. MacFarlane... I am here because I have accepted your proposal," Dominic wasn't really paying attention to her words now that she had smiled at him. Her green doe eyes beckoned to him; he could see her smile in her eyes too and for a moment, Dominic simply stood rooted.

"Please... call me Dominic. I hope I can call you Sydney as well. When will you be able to start working with us?"

"I've already sent in my letter of notice, so I should be able to move her by the start of next week." Her smile was gone now as she got up to open the door. "You cannot call me Sydney during office hours."

Dominic got in front of her so fast that she did not even see him move. If she was surprised, she clearly did not show it. Dominic's heart was racing. It looked as if he was trying to stop her from leaving his office with his back pressed against the door. His brain was working on overtime now, telling him to calm down and get a grip of himself.

"You're not bound to our office hours yet, Sydney," he could hear the slight growl in his own voice. "This isn't even my office hours."

Whatever she was about to retort died on her lips as Dominic's lips came down on hers in such a passionate assault that she was too shocked to respond. However, her body involuntarily moved closer; her head tilting slightly to deepen their kiss. Dominic was doing all he could to restraint himself as he felt her lush breast against his chest. He wanted to tear off her clothes, pin her to the wall and do all kinds of things to her. His wolf howled in agreement but Dominic knew he had to keep his canine side to the back of his head.

It was he who pulled away first. He'd expected her to slap him but she simply stood there with her doe eyes looking at him.

"I'm sorry," she said hastily and he moved away to let her open the door to leave.

"I'm really sorry too..." he said, both to her back and to his wolf.

***