Oath Sworn

by Kristen Banet

  Carey fell asleep only a few minutes into the drive, and I let her rest. Something like that had the tendency to either keep people awake for days out of fear or drain them of all their energy. I took her sleeping as a good sign that she was tired, scared, but felt safe with me. Safe enough to close her eyes anyway.

  I looked down at my phone for a split second and saw the number I needed. Hitting it, I put it on speaker and on my lap, then turned the radio down. He answered before I finished doing that.

  “Harrison. What do you need, cat?”

  “We were attacked. Five werewolves, four in wolf form, and one with a gun loaded with silver,” I started, not stopping for pleasantries. “They wanted Carey to flush out her father.”

  “Damn it. We’ve been looking for Heath since this all started, but no one has gotten a bead on him.”

  Heath. A good name, a strong name. Also, one that made me think of a particularly sexy actor. So that was the Dallas-Fort Worth Alpha. I finally had a name. Not that I needed one, but it was nice to know. I couldn’t have asked for it since it wasn’t pertinent to my Duty, but now I didn’t need to wonder.

  I stayed silent, because I couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t be potentially meddling in affairs that weren’t my business. He must have noticed, so he continued instead.

  “I don’t know if this is going to help you or not, but maybe it can help you keep her alive and safe. Here’s what we know.” His volume dropped and I raised an eyebrow. He was going to tell me more. Interesting. He didn’t want others to know, either, since while it didn’t break any Laws, he was giving a lot of trust to a werecat. “Right now, the coup’s leader doesn’t want anyone to know who he or she is. Whenever two werewolves meet on the street, even in broad daylight, they ask if the other is for or against Heath. If they answer different, it’s a fight, normally until the death. We’ve got ten dead wolves from just that. The initial coup has five more bodies, a few in Heath’s inner circle. His sons are still missing as well, and some are even saying the family might already be dead except for Carey.”

  That gave me chills, and I couldn’t resist commenting now. “That’s not how wolves do things. There’s no such thing as assassinating an Alpha and his family. Any resulting pack made from that would be unstable. It would result in anarchy in the region.”

  “Hm, so you do know a bit about our kind. You’re right. This doesn’t happen. Alphas are normally challenged publicly, and getting permission from the Council is preferred. We don’t assassinate people. It’s a sign of weakness.”

  “So I’m dealing with wolves who break your rules,” I said quietly. “That is helpful, thank you. I had my suspicions when five of them came into my bar and demanded I give up on my Duty and hand Carey over.”

  “And?”

  “I killed them all. What do you think?” I snapped, suddenly tense again. Five wolves, all dead by my fangs and claws. I could still taste the blood when it rushed over my tongue, hot and heady. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.

  “Of course. Of course. I take it you’re about to demand something of me because of this, aren’t you?”

  “Get people to my bar. It’s on US-175, just outside of Jacksonville, Texas. It’s called Kick Shot. I know they left some sort of vehicle somewhere on the road and there’s a dirt bike in my parking lot. There’s going to be bodies everywhere. Two downstairs and three in my apartment above it. Clean it up and tell me who to scream at for repairs.” I damn sure wasn’t going to pay for it. I could afford it, but I wasn’t going to let the wolves destroy my life and not pay for their part in it.

  “I’ll send a team,” he agreed. “How is she? Was she injured?”

  “Fine and no. Do you know her? Would she feel comfortable talking to you? I want her to have some comfort, but I can’t trust any of the wolves in Dallas. The ringleader of the ones in my bar…he was one of her guards. She had told him she was safe with me and he came after her.”

  “No. I only know Carey through her father and what he tells us. He would show us pictures every time the council had a meeting.”

  “Damn it. He was a council member?” Not every Alpha was. Generally, there could be a few packs in a region, and the strongest pack was the region’s council representative, the Alpha who answered for all of them. Kind of. I pulled over and cut the engine, getting out of the hatchback and taking the call off speakerphone. “It fucking changes things if he’s a council Alpha, damn it.”

  “He is…was. All of the packs in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana use him as their representative on the council. Be careful not to meddle, cat.”

  I did the mental math. “That’s…that’s ten wolf packs,” I said quietly. “That’s probably a thousand wolves.” Maybe more.

  “Yes. Why does this—”

  “I’m protecting Carey from potentially a thousand wolves.” The realization sank in slowly. This could reach well out of his home city. I couldn’t take her to another werecat in the region because the wolves were now probably watching every werecat they could find, hoping I showed up with her.

  I was well and truly on my own with an eleven-year-old girl, and I had to treat every wolf like the enemy. I was strong. I was a werecat, for fuck’s sake, but I couldn’t kill a thousand werewolves, especially if they were carrying around silver bullets.

  “I wish you the best on your Duty. Thank you for the update. Good luck, Jacky Leon.”

  My name rattled me out of my fear of impending doom and death. There was nothing more to say, then. “Thank you for the information and clean-up.” I hung up on him, leaning against my hatchback in the dark. I was out of my territory now, so I kept my nose up, hoping to pick up anything important on the wind. It wasn’t the safest thing to do, but I needed a moment to think instead of just driving.

  There was nowhere safe for Carey, not if this was bigger than Heath’s home pack. If this reached further, it meant I would need to run her out of the entire southern half of the country, and even that might not be far enough.

  I called Lani next, trying to collect my thoughts.

  “Hey. I was hoping you would call. I have werewolves all around the borders of my territory,” she said immediately when she answered.

  “Figured as much,” I replied. “I was attacked.” I ran through what happened to her, since repeating it seemed to make me feel better. Not really, but I liked to believe it might one day.

  “Well, this is a right mess, isn’t it?” Lani snorted on the other end. “Yeah. They must be watching all of us in the region now. A council Alpha…That’s the sort of information that gets dangerously close to meddling in their politics, Jacky. You know that, right? That’s against the Law.”

  “Yeah, but it’s information I needed to know to help keep Carey safe. I’m off my territory and every wolf could be a threat. It’s important.” I closed my eyes, suddenly exhausted. “I haven’t even had her in my care for twenty-four hours and they tried to take her. It took everything in me not to eat them after I killed them. I wanted to. If I have to break the Law to keep her safe, I’m going to. She’s so strong. Hell broke loose in her father’s pack and she still made it to me, dirty, tired, and alone. She’s so…she’s a good kid and she’s scared and now her life is a mess. I can’t let them have her.”

  “Okay. If this goes sour and you end up breaking the Law about meddling to keep her safe, you’ll have my support. I’ll make some calls to my other allies, other werecats in the region. I know a couple in different areas of the country. I’ll see what kind of backup I can get to protect one of our own against the Law when Duty is involved. It’s not like you started the coup or anything, and your involvement only started when Carey showed up.”

  “Thank you.” I let go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding. This couldn’t get worse, could it?

  “Too bad Hasan has been missing for the last century. He knows the Law better than anyone and would be able to defend you the best if it needs to happen.” Lani
sighed. “You might not have heard about him, but he was there when the Laws were written. He would know best what to do. Regretfully, he went missing when his youngest daughter died.”

  I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t the dead daughter. I was the next one he made. Hasan, by his own words, made many children over the centuries. Four sons and three daughters. Only one was dead, his previously youngest daughter. He was still in hiding, still refusing to interact with the rest of the supernatural world thanks to whatever happened. I didn't want to consider what would happen if people started finding out exactly who made me because it made me a sort of feline royalty. Not announcing who Changed me gave me a reputation, but it was one I was willing to live with. The royalty aspect of being Hasan's child wasn't one I was ready to deal with.

  “You weren’t there?” I asked, changing the topic. I knew Lani was pretty old, but not exactly how old.

  “I was in Africa at the time,” she answered, something wistful to the words. “Still human. I was Changed just after the Laws were written.”

  “Ah.” That made her just over eight hundred years old. Now I had that answer. Werecats tended to get old, very few died under a hundred years of age, but most alive were also Changed after the Laws. That was because most before the Laws were killed in the war between the werewolves and werecats. “Stay safe, Lani.”

  “You too, cub. I’ll get to work.” She hung up on me.

  I shoved the phone back into my pocket, considering my options. I needed to find a motel or something, but nothing in a city center. Something off the beaten path where a fight wouldn’t risk innocent humans.

  I got back into my hatchback and saw Carey still sleeping there, easing me just a little. My charge was safe for now and that helped crush the restlessness in me. I got us back on the road and stopped at the first gas station I could, jumping out without waking Carey.

  I grabbed some snacks and drinks before going to the counter.

  “Where’s the nearest motel?” I asked quickly, dumping everything on the counter. The human gave me a look that made me concerned. Did I miss some blood on my face? Was it in my teeth?

  “Next door,” he answered.

  “Oh!” I wasn’t expecting that answer. Sure enough, when I paid for the goodies and walked back out, I cursed my own tunnel vision and smirked. Perfect. It was a run-down little thing, not even one of the chains. No one would expect us to stay there. I got back into my hatchback and rolled into the adjoining parking lot, stopping in front of the main office. This time when I got out, I paid more attention to the world around me. I looked over the pine trees that seemed to run for miles and sighed. This was actually perfect. It was right off the highway, but there was nothing else around. It was a pit stop, a gas station and a motel. All one needed for a long drive and more secure than sleeping at a rest stop.

  I left Carey in the passenger’s seat and walked into the office, stopping at the desk. There was no one there, so I dinged the bell. I chuckled as I heard someone jump in the office behind the desk. An older gentleman walked out and looked me over as I raised an eyebrow.

  “I need a room, preferably on the first floor and not close to the office.”

  “Not a hooker, are you?” He huffed, giving me a confused look.

  “No. I just want to be able to listen to loud music without pissing people off.” I didn’t want anyone to hear me talking about a sensitive topic, and the place seemed deserted enough that the only person around was this guy. “Do you own the place?”

  “Yup, and the gas station next door.” He was still eyeballing me pretty hard and I took a sniff of the air and bared my teeth.

  “Damn it,” I muttered, shaking my head. “What’s a fae doing running a little motel and gas station combo in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere?”

  “What’s a werecat doing here?” he fired back.

  “On Duty,” I answered. “Do you have a room for me or not?”

  “Oh shit. Yeah.” He grabbed a key from the back wall and I resisted shaking my head again. The motel was so old it was using keys instead of cards. One would think a fae trying to live in the modern world actually would update, but apparently not. “It’ll be sixty a night. Cash or card?”

  I considered my answer before pulling my wallet out. I could have run to the gas station and used the ATM for cash but I had multiple names for this very reason. Everyone in Texas knew me as Jacky Leon, so I could use my fake ID cards. I handed him the credit card with Jane Brown on it and let him do his thing.

  “I’ll close out the account when you check out. Be safe and good luck on your Duty.” He was respectful now, and I knew it was because one day, he might need it. No one fucked with a werecat on Duty, except, apparently, for the werewolves dead in my bar. I grabbed my credit card back from him, tucking it away safely in my wallet again.

  “Keep an eye out for something, would ya? Werewolves. I don’t care what they say. If you see any, please let me know.”

  “Can do.”

  I nodded once to him and left with the key, not bothering to say thank you. I wasn’t an idiot. No one thanked the fae.

  When I parked my hatchback in front of my room, I sighed, looking over to Carey. It was time to wake her up and bring her back to the nightmare that was her life now. I knew the idea of it was depressing, but it was the truth.

  I didn’t wake her up immediately, though. I grabbed our things and bags, taking them into the room, leaving her for last. It was night out and no one was around. The fae was trustworthy in a sense. He wouldn’t get involved in werewolf politics, no matter what they offered him. If he was caught messing around outside his own kind like that, his kind would kill him, probably in a painfully slow way. He could help a feline in her Duty, though, and that was what I needed.

  Finally, I was bent over Carey, undoing her seat belt. The pop of the seatbelt was what finally did it. She jumped awake, gasping for air.

  “Woah. Woah, Carey. We’re safe. I found a motel we can hide in.” I grabbed her shoulders, holding gently. I really didn’t need her screaming bloody murder. “Please calm down.”

  She stopped moving, closed her mouth, and gave me a baleful stare. My heart broke a little more each time I saw those grey-blue eyes. Once, just once, I had gotten them to lighten up to a pretty summer sky, but now they were just a dreary sky.

  “Come on,” I whispered, holding a hand out for her to take. “Everything else is inside.”

  She just nodded, grabbing my hand and letting me help her. She was so tiny, only about four and a half feet tall. I remembered being taller at her age. I think. Eleven was a dead spot in my memory.

  I locked my hatchback as she went inside. Not following her, I rubbed my face. How did I end up here again? Oh yeah, that’s right. Not even twenty-four hours before, she showed up at my back door and called me to Duty to protect her until she was safe again and would be safe if I let her go.

  Sighing, I turned and walked into the room. It had a single queen and a decently large flat-screen television. For being a poor, seemingly run-down motel, the fae who ran it kept it updated in some ways, which made it odd. Carey was already sitting on the bed, kicking her shoes off.

  “Want to watch a movie?” I asked as I closed the door and locked it. Then I looked at it and realized there was more than one lock and did the second.

  “Sure.”

  I grabbed the remote from the dresser the TV was sitting on and sat on the other side of the bed. The comforter was scratchy and a floral print, like most motels or hotels. The carpet was beige and the furniture was all a light wood I didn’t like. It was a long way off my dark hardwood floors and deep red furniture, that was certain. The bed wasn’t particularly comfortable either, but I knew better than to vocally complain. I needed Carey to think I was fine, even if my shoulder hurt and my legs burned. My back wasn’t much better, but those injuries were shallower and already healing.

  I turned on the TV, ordered a pay-per-view movie for her, something Disney, and dropped the rem
ote, yawning. I hadn’t watched a Disney movie in years, since I was human. Carey seemed interested and enjoying it, but there were shadows in her eyes. She was probably thinking about her family and what had just happened to us.

  “We should talk,” I said about thirty minutes into the film.

  “About?” She glanced at me, wary. I couldn’t blame her. Watching a werecat kill three werewolves and take a bite of one of those probably didn’t endear her to me.

  “How you’re feeling. You can talk to me. I would understand—”

  “Don’t. How could you possibly understand? My dad is missing and so are my brothers! Werewolves I was raised with are trying to take me prisoner!” She went from subdued to shouting in less than a sentence. “You probably have done this tons of times! How many werewolves have you killed before?”

  “None. This was the first time I’ve ever fought another supernatural with the intention to kill them.” I didn’t let her anger penetrate my exterior calm. “This is the first time I’ve ever purposefully killed anyone, actually.”

  “Really?” The disbelief on her face hurt.

  “What do you think I am, a killer?” Suddenly insulted, I paused the movie. “Do you think your father would send you to a murderer for protection?”

  She sniffed, holding back tears again. I closed my eyes, rubbing my face as I tried to find what to say. There was really nothing except telling her about myself, and I had to be careful about that. I didn’t want to expose this girl to my life and give her secrets and stories to carry that weren’t hers. I just couldn’t.

  “Carey…”

  “My dad said that werecats are solitary, but social. That when a werecat moves around, everyone hears about it, knows who they were Changed by. That you have all sorts of…politics, I guess. But no one knew where you came from. He said I needed to be careful, because you were the closest werecat but maybe not the safest, because no one knows anything about you. He said you would follow the rules of Duty, but…”

  I started to chuckle darkly, my shoulders shaking. Tears threatened my own eyes now. Even the werewolves wondered where I came from. Wasn’t that something?