Oath Sworn - K.N. Banet Page 0,12

of sheltering would ever protect her from the harsh realities of our world. It was a sad thing, but it also made her strong. She had come this far, which reminded me that she already had steel there in her spine, even if she was afraid.

“Okay, now I need you to answer a few more questions for me. How did you even know I was here?” That was important. No one outside of the werecats knew where I was, and most of them just stumbled on me, shocked at who they found in the borders of the territory. The werewolves should have never known. I was so careful.

“Daddy told me you were here. He gave me this.” She thrust out her arm, holding that business card I had seen her read off. I took it slowly and read it, flipped it over and read the back.

What I read made me growl softly. Not because it was bad, only annoying. Her damn father had given her a business card with the words of Duty, which I had already guessed, but he’d also put on the Rules of Duty. She knew exactly what she was going to get out of this new…relationship we were about to have. I eyed the girl and her big eyes seemed fearful again.

I shook my head, handing the card back. “Smart father of yours,” I said politely. “Did he think there would be trouble?”

“A smart and wise Alpha always thinks there will be trouble, but never gets paranoid. He trusts his pack fully, but always keeps his most trusted at his back, because if he didn’t, he would be seen as arrogant. He must be strong enough to stand on his own, but know to use the strengths of the wolves around him so that he doesn’t insult them.” She recited it as if it came from a book. For all I knew, it did.

“Who am I protecting you from?” I had a very good guess, but if she knew any names, that would be swell. Once I was done talking to her, I had to consider a game plan. I was officially her werecat and she was my human and a child. Legally, there was no one who could stop me from whisking her out of the country until I felt it was safe. I wouldn’t do that, but I had to recognize that I could. I had to keep on my toes and remember that this could go terribly wrong for someone, most likely her.

“There were wolves. I didn’t see any of them in their human forms and I don’t know their wolf forms well enough because I’m too young to be around too many werewolves. We were having game night and they came in. My daddy wasn’t home, working late on pack business. It was just me and my brothers. Landon told me to run. I heard fighting. I don’t really know, but it sounded bad. I started running, grabbing my bag for this like my daddy taught me, and I knew I had to get here somehow. I saw on my phone that my dad was missing and my brothers, like me. That means you’re all I have.”

“Because you don’t know which of your old guards are trustworthy,” I stated plainly. She was a damn smart kid, that was for sure.

She only nodded and the tears came back. “Why would they do this? We were all a family! Daddy said a wolf pack is a family and family never hurts each other.”

“Oh sweetie, it’s okay. You can cry. Come here.” I reached out for her and she half-crawled and half was hauled into my lap. I rocked her gently, my protective instincts flaring up. It wasn’t helped by the fact that I was female and she was a child. All I could feel in that moment was the need to kill whoever made the tears come. I needed to protect this child. It was my sworn Duty and I wouldn’t stop until every single one of those wolves was dead and ash.

While I rocked her, I began to consider my options. The best bet was to hide her in my territory and contact the werewolf government when things settled down. They would understand that I was keeping her hidden for her own protection until they cleaned up their mess. I couldn’t go to the city and fight the war to protect her. No. Caring for her was my utmost priority, and the wolves