The words were soft and broken by tears. “Thank you.”
I was officially called to Duty. I moved to East Texas to get away from all the trouble of the supernatural community and it found its way to my bar.
Of course.
Chapter Three
My world changed in that instant and I knew it. I held her to my chest, comforting even while I began to do my Duty. My magic roared in answer to my call, telling me every living thing that dared walk on this night. For the moment, there were no other supernatural predators to worry about. The moment any dared to come into my territory, I would know, and I only had one way to properly respond while protecting humanity from the threat of my cousins.
I would have to kill them. Brutally and without mercy.
“Come inside,” I whispered. “Come in. I have an apartment on the second floor. I want you to go up the stairs and into my apartment. Get comfortable. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
She only nodded, still curled into my chest, holding me like her life depended on it. It did, really. I removed myself, though. If her life was really in danger, and she was behaving like it was, then we couldn’t stand outside the bar all night.
Once I was able to untangle from her, she ran up the stairs. I took a deep breath, locking my back door the moment I knew she was up and waiting on me. I turned back for the bar and walked in, knowing I probably didn’t look like happy-go-lucky Jacky Leon anymore. I went straight for the radio, ignoring everyone talking to me, trying to stop me and find out what was wrong. It took ten long strides and I hit the power button with force, breaking the machine.
“We’re closing early!” I roared. “I need everyone to leave now!”
Silence greeted me.
“NOW!” I didn’t have time for this, and thankfully, my patrons realized. They started pulling out their wallets and I shook my head. “If you have an open tab, it’s on the house tonight. I have a family emergency and I need all of you to leave so that I can go deal with it.”
“Jacky…” Joey was the only one who dared come within five feet of me now. “Um…”
When he came closer, I could see it. I cursed, covering my face, rubbing my eyes. I could see the gold glow that had been reflected back at me. I should have realized that was going to happen.
“I’m not a werewolf,” I whispered to him, looking back up at his face, hoping he knew to drop the topic and drop it now. “Please, Joey. Get everyone out of here.”
This was a mess and there was no way I was going to be able to clean it up. I had better control than this, but the stress was already weighing on me and my feline was clawing and spitting to get out and defend its new charge, the crying human girl that I could hear in the apartment. Hopefully they only saw the gold and not the cat pupils that normally came with it.
“Let’s go everyone! Jacky’s got family problems and we need to let her handle them.”
I watched them leave. I watched the glances over their shoulders, curiosity in their eyes. Most were harmless. Some were suspicious, wondering what monster was hiding in their community. It was a mess I couldn’t clean up yet. Protecting humanity was higher on my to-do list than keeping the Secret. It had to be, especially if a little girl’s life was possibly on the line. I locked the door behind the humans and watched their cars leave. All the while, I kept in touch with my land and my magic, hoping nothing crossed my borders.
“God damn it,” I whispered, closing the blinds next. I turned off the TV and the lights as I walked out, heading for the back staircase that led to my apartment and office. I hauled myself up in record time, taking several steps at a time. The girl was still crying, and that drove me faster.
Werecats were protective to the point of insanity. Being solitary creatures, when we made a claim, no matter how temporary, we defended that claim to the death. It was part of what led us to the role we now played in the supernatural community.
I didn’t burst into my apartment. I had more sense than that, even if the tears had me wanting to go in and destroy my own furniture for offending my charge. I walked in quietly, searching my dark apartment for her. My night vision was perfect. It wasn’t in color, but it was perfect. I knew from the glow around my eyes that I hadn’t been able to go back to my human eyes. There was probably going to be very little that made me feel safe enough now to calm down.
“Carey?” I called gently. “We need to talk.” I knew she was on my couch, but I wanted her to know I was coming. I wanted her to feel safe enough to tell me where she was. I had never been called to Duty before, but I knew instinctively how to handle it. Kind of.
“I’m here,” she answered, her voice gentle and broken. Scared. She was so scared. Her fear filled the air in my apartment, soaking everything with it. It would be weeks before I lost all traces of the fear she felt.
“Hi,” I whispered, rounding the couch and sitting on the other end. She was a scared little doe and I couldn’t invade her space without risk of her losing her ability to trust me. “We’re safe right now, but we need to talk about a few things.”
“Will we stay safe?” she asked, sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest. She seemed so small. There was probably a time in my life that I seemed that small, but those memories were gone now. Becoming a werewolf or werecat came with risks. One of those was that sometimes holes appeared in the human memories. No one knew why, and many were lucky it didn’t happen to them. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones. I didn’t remember any time of my life from six to twelve. Her age.
“You’ll always be safe with me,” I promised. “I swore to protect you. If anyone wants you, I can and will stop the threat to you. You have to understand that a werecat takes the Duty more seriously than our own lives. We honor the Duty and nothing will ever stop me from fulfilling it. I will see you to permanent safety, Carey. Do you understand what that means?” It was hard asking a small child that. I was asking her if she knew I was going to kill anyone who came for her if they meant her harm. Not just defeat them. Not just scare them away. I would kill them, and I wouldn’t feel guilty for it because she placed herself in my care.
From the blazing look that came into her eyes, she understood. “Yes.”
I resisted a smirk because it was inappropriate, but I wanted to. She was the daughter of a werewolf Alpha. No amount 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 would know it.