Oath Sworn - K.N. Banet Page 0,32

nodded and opened her mouth, pondered saying something, then closed it again. I resisted rolling my eyes.

“What?” I wanted her to feel like she could talk to me, and if this was going to be story time, I wanted her to get it all out.

“Are you lonely like that? I mean, there’s so many werewolves, and they say that pack is super-important. Isn’t living by yourself with no friends or family lonely?”

“Very, but it’s the life I chose, just like a lot of people choose to be Changed into werewolves or werecats. I chose this life of mine.”

“Did you choose to be a werecat?” She was tentative and curious now. “Dad says one day I’ll get to decide if I want to try and be Changed…it’s scary. It’s scarier now.”

“One out of ten people survive the Change, but you’ll have it a bit easier if you go that way. Human children of werewolves and werecats almost never fail. You should be fine if you decide to.” I reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards me. It was hard, ignoring the throb in my shoulder, but I figured the girl needed some physical comfort. I positioned her next to me, under my right arm. Thankfully, she scooted in and got comfortable, leaning in like I was her best friend.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she pointed out once I went to turn on the movie again.

I couldn’t hold back my groan and dropped the remote again, realizing I couldn’t distract her. “I didn’t. I was in a car accident and had no idea that werecats or werewolves or any of this was real. I thought witches were in movies and Harry Potter. I thought fae were the monsters in old fairy tales. A werecat found the accident. I had met him before and had struck up a casual friendship while I was on vacation, with no idea what or who he really was. He decided to Change me.”

“Do you ever regret it? My dad says I should think really hard because I might.”

“I didn’t have a choice like you will, sweetheart. At first, no, I didn’t. Things changed. They might change again. But for now, yeah, I regret it a little. Or at least I did, until you showed up at my door. I haven’t had the chance to consider it since.” I couldn’t leave it there, so I continued. “But if I was never Changed, who would be here protecting you?”

“Dad says fate is real,” she whispered.

When she yawned, I yawned with her. It was a sign that the movie needed to come back on. She was asleep in a few minutes, the fear and recent events finally putting her under again. I rubbed her hair and dared to even kiss the top of her head. I tucked her in, checked the locks on the door, then proceeded to pass out myself.

7

Chapter Seven

I woke up to the sun coming through the window. Carey was still asleep next to me, and I was thankful for it. It was safer that way, really. It would give me a chance to check my injuries, find some real breakfast, and get us ready for the day.

Not that there was anything to get ready for.

My plan was to stay low here at the motel until everything blew over. Over an hour away from home and out of my territory, there was no reason to think the wolves would have a way to track me or Carey here. It was concerning to know that they had abused Carey’s trust, something that really stuck a bone in my teeth. She had trusted that werewolf to respect her father’s plan to keep her out of harm’s way. He’d betrayed not only her father, but her, and I was the only line of defense she could probably trust now. Even that was tentative, unsure. I could smell it on her and see it the night before.

I stumbled into the bathroom with my first aid kit, did my business, then got busy looking over my shoulder. When I pulled off my shirt, it tore something, making me wince as I felt a small line of blood flow down my chest. Once I could see it, I sighed. It was angry red and scabbed over, but not healing, just like I knew it wouldn’t. I grabbed the kit and tore it open, frustrated. I couldn’t be injured while I was protecting her. It wasn’t fair. No one should have challenged