Wolf Bound

Chapter 18: Forgive Not Forget

Vincent and I were alone. Staring at each other. His hands were folded together under his nose. Every time he breathed, the hairs on his knuckles moved. It'd been five minutes since their meeting ended. Neither of us had acknowledged any of the voices downstairs though. This was more important to me than anything else at the moment.

Vincent let his hands fall to his sides. Following, was a short sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back on the edge of his desk, which he was seated on. When he removed his hands from his face, he looked straight at me again.

"I owe you an apology," he started, "for suspecting you . . . mistreating you . . . and doubting you." He inhaled a soft breath in between each sentence. I sat quietly, waiting for him to finish.

He continued, "I don't intend on falling back on my word. Which means we won't go back on the promise we made with you. We'll uphold our end of the bargain and fulfill the deal we made. As my father said, it's only right that we repay you for the trouble we've caused."

"Do you regret everything?" I blurted. My leg wouldn't stop bouncing.

My sudden outburst caused his eyebrows to shoot up. He crossed his arms, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. His eyebrows eventually lowered. They lowered until they were latched together. He thought about my comment for a few seconds.

After thinking carefully, he said, "I'd be a liar if I said I did."

My stomach quenched. "You don't regret everything?"

"I regret wrongly directing all of my anger and stress towards you. Regret being unforgiving. Especially now that I know for sure you weren't feigning innocence. And for that, I need to make things right. But if you're asking me if I regret everything, including my feelings. . .

"Then, I don't. All of my emotions, my reactions, and my actions were genuine, and have always been genuine concerning this very situation. So, I can't regret the feelings that I hold about his death. No matter who it should be aimed at." His voice didn't waver one bit.

I took a deep breath, nodding my head slowly. "That's fair enough."

"However, again, that doesn't mean you deserved any of my anger. So again, I'm sorry. I'm sure my apologies mean nothing," he kept going, "after all, it can't make up for everything I've done and said to you. It's not like you're obligated to forgive me anyways. And you shouldn't."

I pressed my thumb to my bottom lip, chewing on the skin inside my mouth. "Now do you believe me? About the shadows and everything else?"

He gave me a nod. "I'd be a fool not to."

We sat there for a minute. Vincent's face sunk into solemn, as if he was lost in a daze, thinking hard. I noticed his eyes drifting to Amaury's photo on the desk. They drifted once, then twice. Every time they did, the solemn on his face grew heavier and heavier. His shoulders were slumped too. I observed in silence. It didn't take long to figure out what was bugging him.

He tilted his head back. His gaze was set on the ceiling above us. His hands were clutching onto the edge of the desk. The rest of his body was as still as stone. I followed his gaze up and let out a quiet sigh.

"For what it's worth, what happened between Amaury and I shouldn't change your views on him. I know he didn't bite me with malicious intent. . . He stayed true to his morals to the end." I fixed myself in my chair, hugging my knees to my chest. "The thing I saw took control. He wasn't himself. I witnessed him changing. There was no saving him. I should know. . . I tried."

I had to stop myself before I said more. Now wasn't the time to bring up my communication with his dead brother. However, I still wasn't sure when the right time was. Would it have been okay to tell him now? Even if Amaury and I were still investigating? Amaury told me to wait until we had a better understanding of these things and I gained Vincent's trust.