Oath Sworn - K.N. Banet Page 0,37

doorstep or ripped her from her life.

“But you’re so sad and it’s my fault! It is!” She crossed her arms, pulling away from me. “This would have never happened to you if my dad didn’t have me.”

“This would have never happened if your father wasn’t betrayed. He sounds like a strong Alpha, and I have full faith that he’s going to fix this and take you home. You just need to relax and wait for that to happen.”

“But you’re sad…”

I closed my eyes for a second, letting that statement sink in as she repeated it. “I am sad. My life is a lonely one, but it’s mine, and that’s something. Even better, Carey, I wasn’t sad playing that game with you. You don’t make me sad. I was already sad when you came to my bar and needed help. If anything, right now, I’m pretty happy, even though this has been so bad. Even though those wolves hurt me.” I wasn’t lying. My sadness had nothing to do with her, nothing at all. She was a bright spot that came out of a dark mini-chapter of my life and hers. “I haven’t talked about my human family in…years. Not since before I came to Texas. Thank you for talking to me about them.”

When she launched herself at me, I opened my arms and accepted the hug, holding her tight. I buried my nose in her hair and inhaled. There was something to be said about Duty and the werecat drive to protect. It forced me to build a deeper bond with Carey than I ever would have. I was willing to take risks and talk to her, make her feel better, and that I never would have done under other circumstances. She belonged to werewolves, but for a moment, my body was her shield and my heart belonged to her.

Tears pricked my eyes. It was sad that death and destruction were needed to give me something in the world to hold on to. And I had to hold on to her.

8

Chapter Eight

“Lock the door behind me, kiddo,” I ordered, feeling the overbearing call of the full moon. The sun was setting and that meant I had to get going, but I was reluctant to leave Carey by herself all night. We spent all day playing a variety of games on my little Switch, jumping between laughter and tears. It was a roller coaster of emotion, two girls in hiding, each wondering what their life would be like when it was all over. Needless to say, emotions were always high, even when they were good.

“I will, I will!” she whined, stomping over to me and beginning to push. “Now get out of here. I won’t do anything or contact anyone. I think it’s perfectly clear that that’s a stupid idea. I don’t want to spend another night looking for a new place to hide, so just go!”

I groaned, turning to walk out of the room. She was right. The lesson about talking to anyone was perfectly clear now. This time yesterday, we were getting ready for dinner in my apartment. Now we were in a run down motel owned by a fae-human family.

“Be safe and careful. I won’t be more than a five minute run away, I promise.” I didn’t stop walking because she didn’t stop pushing. When I turned around again to look at her, she was in the doorway and I was firmly outside of it.

“Just come back,” she whispered. “I need you.”

“I will.” With a smile, I closed the door for her and stayed there until I heard both locks click into place. The sun was dropping fast, but I had to know she was secure, even though my body was beginning to burn with the need to become a monster.

I stepped back as my brain became more feline and hissed at me, mad that I locked easy prey away. After that, I knew I needed to start running.

Full moons were rough. The call and pressure to change was irresistible, and no matter how hard I tried, I could never overcome it. And I tried. Every full moon, I tried. This time was more important than the others, and I gasped as the Change began to force itself.

I barely made it into the woods behind the motel, yanking my clothes off desperately. As pieces of my clothing fell, my hands became more useless, forced into paws. The sick sound of bones breaking marked every Change, and this one