Oath Sworn - K.N. Banet Page 0,4

to. I wanted a safe plot of land that was mine and didn’t feel too threatening to any other werecats in the state. I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to look in my direction, so I kept my magic close, never letting it reach out to try to claim more than I wanted. Six years before, I had claimed even less than what I had now, but had very slowly spread it out until I was comfortable.

There were a few reasons for that. I needed the leg room, for one. Two, a werecat could only safely hunt on his or her territory.

I had been warned that trying to keep my territory while roaming away from it would bite me in the ass. Like the idea of leaving my bar unattended, it was something I had learned quickly to correct.

It only took two minutes for me to find myself on my back porch. It took less than that for me to turn back around and run off, wanting to keep stretching my legs.

It felt so good. I didn’t shift often enough, not nearly often enough. I tried for once a week, and there was really no excuse for me not to, but I was bad like that. I had never been a good werecat; I would never be a good werecat. I could only try, and even that felt too hard most of the time.

In the attempt to be a good werecat tonight, I sniffed out a whitetail deer nearly ten miles from home and took it down without thinking. Hunting came naturally, as I was ridden by animal instincts I couldn’t control sometimes. It saw prey, and the feline beast I shared my body with wanted that prey. I had to be careful, thanks to that beast. The werewolves didn’t admit it to the humans, but our animals thought they were prey too. It made things dangerous and was why I didn’t worry about being closed on full moons. Everyone was. No one wanted to be out when the monsters were. Joey didn’t know it, but it kept him safe too. I could never risk them visiting while some employee I didn’t want was at the bar. It made them easy prey.

I don’t know how long I ran, really. I could see the dangerous tinge of dawn just beginning to creep over the horizon when I was back on my front porch and triggered the change back into my human form.

“Fuck,” I groaned, leaning against my back door. It was always painful, and the faster I could do it every year, the more it felt like it hurt. Maybe the pain was just too concentrated; I had no idea, but it wasn’t pleasant. There was no fairy dust and seamless shifting for the moon cursed, wolf or cat. Our bodies just broke and healed into new bodies. It fucking hurt. Every time, it fucking hurt. For me, it’d been hurting worse, and my shifts had only been getting faster.

With that on my mind, I knew I needed to make a call. A call I would continue to avoid, because it was the worst call.

It was a call to family.

“Tomorrow,” I promised myself half-heartedly.

2

Chapter Two

Waking up to my cellphone blaring like a fucking police alarm wasn’t the way I wanted to start my Friday. I didn’t open my eyes, but I knew there was no way I was getting back to sleep. It didn’t matter what time it was. I knew the ring tone. Even if it wasn't loud and obnoxious, the ring tone meant I was getting the call I had avoided making.

That was never good. In my world, it was possibly the worst thing that could happen.

Without opening my eyes, I reached out, groping for the phone. If I didn’t pick up, he would just call again. And again. Then he would text, which was the last chance I would have to talk to him before he just showed up and invaded my territory.

Luckily, I grabbed my cellphone and yanked it off its charger before it stopped ringing. I was able to hit the bouncing green symbol before it stopped.

“Hi,” I said blandly, hoping the caller wouldn’t realize I had just woken up.

“It’s three in the afternoon, Jacqueline. Is there a reason you almost missed my phone call?” His deep voice made my bones vibrate.

I still didn’t open my eyes, and holding back a yawn took effort. “I don’t open the bar until five, Hasan. There’s no