Oath Sworn - K.N. Banet Page 0,11

I was going to be able to clean it up. I had better control than this, but the stress was already weighing on me and my feline was clawing and spitting to get out and defend its new charge, the crying human girl that I could hear in the apartment. Hopefully they only saw the gold and not the cat pupils that normally came with it.

“Let’s go everyone! Jacky’s got family problems and we need to let her handle them.”

I watched them leave. I watched the glances over their shoulders, curiosity in their eyes. Most were harmless. Some were suspicious, wondering what monster was hiding in their community. It was a mess I couldn’t clean up yet. Protecting humanity was higher on my to-do list than keeping the Secret. It had to be, especially if a little girl’s life was possibly on the line. I locked the door behind the humans and watched their cars leave. All the while, I kept in touch with my land and my magic, hoping nothing crossed my borders.

“God damn it,” I whispered, closing the blinds next. I turned off the TV and the lights as I walked out, heading for the back staircase that led to my apartment and office. I hauled myself up in record time, taking several steps at a time. The girl was still crying, and that drove me faster.

Werecats were protective to the point of insanity. Being solitary creatures, when we made a claim, no matter how temporary, we defended that claim to the death. It was part of what led us to the role we now played in the supernatural community.

I didn’t burst into my apartment. I had more sense than that, even if the tears had me wanting to go in and destroy my own furniture for offending my charge. I walked in quietly, searching my dark apartment for her. My night vision was perfect. It wasn’t in color, but it was perfect. I knew from the glow around my eyes that I hadn’t been able to go back to my human eyes. There was probably going to be very little that made me feel safe enough now to calm down.

“Carey?” I called gently. “We need to talk.” I knew she was on my couch, but I wanted her to know I was coming. I wanted her to feel safe enough to tell me where she was. I had never been called to Duty before, but I knew instinctively how to handle it. Kind of.

“I’m here,” she answered, her voice gentle and broken. Scared. She was so scared. Her fear filled the air in my apartment, soaking everything with it. It would be weeks before I lost all traces of the fear she felt.

“Hi,” I whispered, rounding the couch and sitting on the other end. She was a scared little doe and I couldn’t invade her space without risk of her losing her ability to trust me. “We’re safe right now, but we need to talk about a few things.”

“Will we stay safe?” she asked, sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest. She seemed so small. There was probably a time in my life that I seemed that small, but those memories were gone now. Becoming a werewolf or werecat came with risks. One of those was that sometimes holes appeared in the human memories. No one knew why, and many were lucky it didn’t happen to them. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones. I didn’t remember any time of my life from six to twelve. Her age.

“You’ll always be safe with me,” I promised. “I swore to protect you. If anyone wants you, I can and will stop the threat to you. You have to understand that a werecat takes the Duty more seriously than our own lives. We honor the Duty and nothing will ever stop me from fulfilling it. I will see you to permanent safety, Carey. Do you understand what that means?” It was hard asking a small child that. I was asking her if she knew I was going to kill anyone who came for her if they meant her harm. Not just defeat them. Not just scare them away. I would kill them, and I wouldn’t feel guilty for it because she placed herself in my care.

From the blazing look that came into her eyes, she understood. “Yes.”

I resisted a smirk because it was inappropriate, but I wanted to. She was the daughter of a werewolf Alpha. No amount