Oath Sworn

by Kristen Banet

  Taking a quick shower gave me the chance to look over my injuries again. I had to swallow my shock when I saw there were none. I was healed. That wasn’t right. There was no way I should have been healed already. I thought back, frowning. Did I still have them yesterday morning after the full moon? I had no real idea. I couldn’t remember if I had checked them or not.

  But it didn’t really matter, since today the only thing I had was a small scar where the bullet had hit me. Silver burned like that, leaving scars. I didn’t mind the scar or being ugly, but part of me really wished that I wouldn’t have a permanent reminder of everything that had happened.

  The gunshot was thankfully the only scar, as the scratches and bites I had gotten were long gone now. I ground my teeth as I figured it was probably Brin that had done this, and I fully intended to ask him why.

  With that in mind, I got dressed, opting for one of my favorite pairs of jeans to make me feel normal. I needed normal. I needed anything that reminded me what normal is. I needed anything that reminded me that I did have a life and one day I would go back to it, for good or bad.

  I left Carey sleeping, only pausing to write a note in case she woke up before I returned. Once I was in the main office, I slammed my hand on the bell, waiting impatiently. Brin was yawning as he walked out of the back office.

  “Do you ever go home to this wife you have?” I asked, snappy and vulnerable.

  “Yes,” he answered nonchalantly, as if he didn’t realize I was angry.

  “Did you heal me?” I demanded softly. “Without my permission?”

  “No. Kind of.” His smirk gave me a firm idea of what the truth was. “I pushed the silver to leave your system a little faster while giving you the gift. Silver likes fae where it hates your kind. It answered my call. It was such a tiny amount to be causing you as many problems as it was, and since I’m meddling already, I didn’t think that was too much.”

  “Why me?”

  “You could be any werecat. I don’t really care about you. I care about what you’re doing. Get over it. Accept what I offered graciously and move on.”

  That had me baring my teeth, a growl vibrating my chest. His eyebrows went up slowly. “I have enough on my plate. I don’t need to be looking over my shoulder, wondering if the fae are trustworthy.”

  “Oh, I can answer that. We’re not, not if we want a trade or bargain, but I didn’t ask for those. Look, I explained already, but it didn’t seem to sink in. It’s in my personal interests that you do your Duty. Not this specifically, but in the general sense. You have a reputation to uphold that is much older than you, and that reputation keeps everyone feeling comfortable. We’re allowed to breathe a little easier if we know the werecats can and will do what’s needed to protect our humans from each other.” He sighed, crossing his arms as he looked me over. “Anyone with a human in their lives would relate to what’s going on here and offer assistance. Anyone. Don’t kid yourself by thinking we all just turn a blind eye to werecats and their Duty. That kind of thinking can and will destroy your ability to make valuable allies.”

  I bit back my anger. “I wish you had told me before actually doing it.”

  “Sure. You would have told me no and I would have done it anyway. I decided to skip the act of betrayal and just get to the gift-giving. Plus, you’re in my motel, my territory. By the grounds of hospitality, seeing that you come to no harm and helping you is part of the deal.”

  I curled a lip, turning away from him. “I should have kept driving when I realized you were here.”

  “Maybe, but it’s too late now. I actually gave you the time to run, too. I was thinking you would notice me and get moving after you and your charge got some sleep, yet here you are, still in my motel, still eating my wife’s home cooked breakfasts.” He started to laugh. “Not everyone is out to get you, Jacky. Some part of you must realize that, because you’re still here.”

  I waved a hand dismissively at him and walked out, shaking my head. I should have told Hasan about Brin. I should have kept driving. He was right, though. Some part of me did just want to stay in the motel. I had an ally, no matter how out of the blue it was, and it was someone who could really help and not some human bystander. I had someone to talk to, who understood what was going on.

  I headed to the gas station, seeing it was Rian behind the counter this time. Unlike their father, who kept a glamour up over his red hair, the three half-fae sons didn’t. Rian was a punk, his flaming copper red hair in a mohawk with blue streaks. He had more metal in his face than I had seen before on a person, and I wondered if he set off metal detectors with that sort of assortment.

  He seemed stiff when I walked in, which he hadn’t been the last time I had seen him behind the counter. Over the last few days, I had visited the gas station on a number of occasions, and Rian was my favorite.

  “What’s up?” I asked him, not going to the food, but directly for him.

  He nodded his head to the back of the room. “Just came in.” His voice was a hushed whisper.

  I turned slowly, breathing in the air and paused, fear flying through me.

  Werewolf.

  “Haven’t had the chance to call my father. I don’t know if there’s more.”

  “There’s always more,” I said softly, my heart racing. I couldn’t will it to calm down as I stepped around a display to get a better view of the werewolf. He was grabbing some cold coffee from a cooler in the back. He was dressed to kill with beaten-up jeans and a thick leather jacket. I could see the gun in its holster at his waist.

  I started walking to him, determined. I had no idea what I was going to do when I finished closing the distance, but I wasn’t letting him go unnoticed.

  When he was in arm’s reach, I saw the moment he noticed I was there. He hadn’t been paying attention, the fool. I reached out, grabbing his shirt with one hand and his gun with another, snarling. He raised his hands as I threw the gun away.

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded, my voice rough and animalistic. “Who do you work for?” That’s what they ask in the movies, right? I was throwing it out there. Maybe I would even get an answer.

  He growled back as I knew my scent was finally registering in his brain. Wolves have a much better sense of smell than I did, which meant he was truly not paying attention when I walked in if he let me get the drop on him.

  “You must be the werecat he sent her to. We’re not here to kill you or Carey. We need her.” I smelled the lie. Fucking idiot must not have realized I could do that just like him.

  I slammed him back, hearing the glass door crack, then break, drinks falling out and going all over the floor. “Don’t fuck with me! How many more wolves are here?”

  “Like I’m going to tell you that,” he snapped back, now starting to struggle. I was six inches shorter than him, probably a hundred pounds smaller, but that didn’t matter. I was a god-damned werecat. He wasn’t breaking my hold. “Did you really think you could hide her? That we don’t have the resources to find you wherever you go?” Now he smiled. “Like we haven’t been watching you since the full moon?” He chuckled. “One wolf in the gas station and no backup…really? You must be new at this.”

  Ice ran through my veins and the shock of what he said must have loosened my grip. He took the chance to bring a knee up into my gut, forcing me to let go of him. I had no time to recover before a fist connected with my jaw. I shook it out before he got in another hit and pushed away his leg. I ducked down, small enough to get under another swing, and pushed forward, slamming my shoulder into his gut.

  We both went down, into displays and shelves, things flying everywhere. In the midst of the struggle, he rolled us, forcing me onto my back. I went for his eyes as he got two hands around my throat. I started to Change, knowing deadly claws were replacing my finger nails, my hand was becoming a paw, and longer than it was in my human form. A quick swipe and the spray of blood that followed told me that I hit my mark. His scream made my ears ring as I took a deep br
eath when his hands were done. I pulled back on the Change and stalked after him as he tried to stagger away, holding his bloody face.

  I jumped on his back, forcing him into another set of shelves. Rian was screaming something but I ignored it, too focused on killing the other predator who had come into my domain to take what didn’t belong to him. The wolf tried to pull me off his back as I tried to adjust my angle on him, going for his throat this time. I felt flesh rend under my nails and another scream dominated everything. He staggered underneath me, going to his knees.

  I was relentless, pushing him all the way down and rolling him over. When I was on his chest, I snarled victoriously. I sank my fingers into his neck and pulled, taking out everything except his spine.

  I was dazed the moment it was over, looking down to see what I had done. The last wolves I had fought, I had done so as a werecat in my animal form. This time I had killed a man with bare hands.

  “Jacky, you have to go!” Rian yelled. “There’s a fucking hunting group in the parking lot. There’s too many for us!”

  I jumped up, letting his works sink in. I picked up the gun off the tile floor, my mind reeling, trying to put together any sort of plan.

  No.

  All I could do was run. I flew out of the gas station towards the motel, covering four to five feet with every stride. I could see them clearly. Brin was trying to talk them down with his other two sons backing him up. The problem was, there were a dozen wolves this time, maybe more.

  This was a true hunting party. Werewolves only ran in that number for one reason, and that was when they were killing a werecat.

  I saw Carey there as well, held roughly by her upper arm by one of the brutes. Luckily, everyone was still in human form. Regretfully, they all had guns too.

  I never slowed down, even when they realized I was coming. One lifted a rifle, but was stopped. He said something I didn’t hear, but I didn’t honestly care what that was.

  “Stop! We don’t have to kill you!” he yelled.

  I jumped.

  The thing about cats was that we could and would jump long distances when it was required. I cleared fifteen feet, landing on a wolf next to Carey, who screamed at the top of her lungs. It might not have been my smartest move, but the only thing I really cared about was that she was next to me and maybe I could get her out of the middle of the hunting party and running with the fae before I died. I lifted my gun and fired before the one holding Carey had time to react. His eyes were wide with shock as he dropped, a bullet hole on the right side of his forehead. I grabbed her, pulling her into my body and kicking another wolf. I fired at the same wolf, putting it down before it was a problem.

  Three down. Ten to go.

  I’ll kill all of them before they take what’s mine.

  One tried to grab me away from Carey, so I kicked back, stomping on a foot, feeling the steel toe of the werewolf’s boot bend and crush the toes underneath. I held her with one hand, and fired with the other, hitting another wolf in the shoulder. I spun around, bringing her with me, and fired at a wolf bringing his sidearm out as fast as he could. I was faster than them, stronger than them.

  They can’t have her. She’s mine.

  A gun went off and this time, it wasn’t mine. I yelped as pain lanced my thigh.

  “Incapacitate her!” someone yelled. I fired blindly at the next wolf I saw. I knew I hit him from the scream, but I don’t know where. Next to me, Carey huddled close and finally, I saw a gap as I turned again. Brin was there, wide-eyed. I knew he couldn’t —shouldn’t—get involved. He couldn’t leave his wife and sons at risk if the wolves decided to kill him. A human woman and three half-fae wouldn’t have it easy in the world if he was gone, and if he pissed off the wolves, they might kill his family too.

  But that didn’t change that I did trust him just a little bit and to me, Carey was the most important thing in the world. I shoved Carey at him and into his arms. He lifted her, backing away. His sons pushed off a couple of wolves trying for her. I lost track after that as something hit my face and sent me to the pavement. I was dazed for a second, but I didn’t let the wolf kick the gun from my hand. I shot his foot instead. I had no idea how many bullets I had, but if I had to use every one of them, I was going to.

  Another gunshot hit my back and sent me to my chest, knocking the air out of me. I pushed up, standing slowly as another bullet tore into my shoulder. That one didn’t knock me down, but a fourth gunshot to the stomach did, sending me back to my knees.

  All I could hear was screaming at that point, the fighting fading into the background. I looked down, shocked at the blood pouring out of my abdomen. I was an EMT—at least I once was. I knew what it meant. Being a werecat, I knew the bullets were all silver.

  There was a very strong chance I was going to die.

  I didn’t let it stop me from standing up again. I pushed into the wolf closest to me and took him to the ground. I was weak, much weaker than normal and I was barely able to hit him before I was yanked off and thrown a few feet away. When I landed, my head smacked the asphalt. My vision went blurry.

  No.

  I heard Carey screaming. I heard others yelling and another gunshot. For a second, I thought they had shot me, but they hadn’t. I was just in that much pain already.

  My vision went dark to the tell-tale sound of trucks driving off.

  11

  Chapter Eleven

  “You have to get up, feline.”

  I didn’t want to. Everything hurt. I felt weak and sluggish. I didn’t want to get up. Where was I, anyway? Why wasn’t I at home in my bar? Who was talking to me? It wasn’t Hasan. It wasn’t even Joey, the damn human.

  “Jacky, please. I did all I could to get the silver out of your system, but I can’t force you to rise.”

  Silver? Why had there been silver in my system? I didn’t get into trouble that normally had silver involved. I didn’t get into trouble. I actively avoided any sort of anything, really.

  “They shot me and my son, Eamon. Nothing fatal. Just some warnings that they were willing to kill us if we didn’t hand over Carey. I’m sorry, but I had my wife to think about and my boys. I’m sorry.”

  Carey…

  I took a sharp breath, my eyes flying open. The breath made my chest tighten and hurt beyond imagining. It took me a few moments to be able to breathe again, whimpering a little as I tried.

  Carey.

  “There you are. You had my wife and I worried. You were dead for a little while, cat.” My eyes found the man talking. Brin, the fae owner of the motel. He had a human wife and two…no, three half-fae sons. “Rian showed up after making sure the one in the gas station was well and truly dead. He also called the fae Kings and told them what happened. This is considered private property and there’s going to be repercussions for them if the wolves don’t handle their own.”

  “Carey…they have Carey?” My heart sank as that revelation settled in.

  “They have Carey,” he confirmed softly. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t risk my family.”

  “It’s okay,” I said hoarsely. “I knew that when I jumped in, but I had to try. I-I…”

  “I know. We tried to say she was now fae property, but they weren’t buying it. They weren’t going to allow me to keep her and when they shot me, I was fine, but then they shot Eamon…” He reached out and patted my shoulder, ever so gently. “You’re on the mend, but it won’t be fast this time. There was too much…too much damage, too deep. Internal organs and such.”

  “Yeah…Thank you.” I was able to get one arm to move and put my hand over his. “Really. I’m in your debt for trying. You must have slowed them down just enough for me to get there.” My lungs hurt, but I didn’t let that stop me from saying what needed to be said. I owed him for so much.

  “We tried. I think some of them were hoping you wouldn’t get there before they could sneak off with her. They showed up the moment you entered the gas station and had her before I was even able to cross the parking lo
t. It was like they were waiting for the right moment to get her in hand without needing to go through you.” He seemed concerned, worried. “They must have been watching us. I only own and have my own claim on this side of the highway. They could have been hiding in the woods across the way and I would have never known. I’m sorry.”

  “Heh. I still killed a few of them,” I managed to say, even as the pain and regret filled me. I lost her. She’s gone. I failed.

  “They also managed to kill you for nearly two minutes,” he snapped, glaring now. “And I have six dead werewolves to deal with.”

  “Call…Call the Alpha Council. They’ll clean up. I’ve already used them.” I coughed now, my body rejecting how much I wanted to use it just to speak. The problem was, I couldn’t stay down. They took Carey. With that thought, I sat up slowly, trying to work my stiff muscles and ignore the pain. “How long have I been down?”

  “Ten hours,” he answered, his voice going gentle again. “You can’t be thinking…” Realization dawned in his eyes. “You’re going to go after them? Are you mad?”

  “I swore an oath to protect her.”

  “And you failed. I’m sorry, but you did. At least you’re alive. Let the wolves deal with their own now.”

  “Is that really what’s expected of me?” I couldn’t believe it. “Is that really what you think I should do?” I tried to move so that my legs would fall off the edge of the bed. I had a few things I needed to do now that I was awake.

  “It’s what everyone would tell you to do. To get involved now puts you directly in the line of meddling in the politics and affairs of the werewolves, which is a very bad place to be for a werecat. They won’t let it stand.”