Raven
"Father, she's lying!" Lilian emphasized, and I felt every gaze in the room settle on me, including that of my own mother. She had a slight frown on her face, one tinged with displeasure as she fixed her eyes on me.
Father was no different. His aura seemed to sour, and within moments he looked enraged.
"Tell me the truth. If it's only one man, we'll find him and I will speak to him myself," he said.
I had often been insulted for being slow and not very smart, but even I was not foolish enough to believe my father's words. I shook my head as hard as I could.
"I met no one, Father. I do not know what you're talking about."
I had barely finished speaking when he erupted in anger. His brown eyes burned with annoyance as he moved toward where I sat and looked down at me while I looked up at him.
"Toss her into the dungeon! I have protected you for far too long!" he ordered.
Leon moved immediately to obey.
I had never believed it was possible until it happened. The roaches crawled over me at night, and there was no blanket to cover myself. By the next morning I had already caught a cold. I expected breakfast, only to realize there would be no food.
This continued for five days. The small window high up in the cell was enough for me to count the passing days of my imprisonment.
Staying in a dungeon was definitely something I could endure.
Quietly I sat there, waiting, until six days had passed. I was stunned when Lilian came to my cell. I had not expected it, especially since the food had stopped coming entirely. The hunger I could ignore, but the lost gaze and haunted look in her eyes frightened me.
Without a word she opened the cell and pulled me out. She did not release my arm as she dragged me from the dungeon, and I struggled not to stumble on weak legs. I followed her until we stepped outside the dungeon building and into the pack grounds.
My mouth fell open in shock as fear lodged itself in my chest like a nail.
Scattered around the clearing, bodies hung from the trees.
They were werewolves I recognized. I had never spoken to most of them, but I knew they were dead. The blades were still embedded in their hearts.
Other bodies lay rotting on the ground, and even from where I stood the stench was unbearable.
"Father is going to be killed, and Mother is next!" Lilian said, her voice shaking as tears filled her eyes. "Leon and Brandon will follow. Then you and I."
It was very early in the morning and barely anyone was outside. The streets were empty. I had only just been dragged from the dungeon, and my head felt heavy. I wasn't sure if it was from the lack of movement, the terrible smell in the air, or the hunger that had gnawed at me for days.
"Weren't we supposed to fight?" I asked, my voice hoarse and raw.
For a moment I forced myself to ignore the fact that the woman beside me—my own sister—had helped put me underground for days. I had to. There were dead bodies hanging from trees in front of me.
"Fight the Moonburn Pack with what?" Lilian swore under her breath as tears streamed down her face. "We don't have the numbers."
She grabbed my hands tightly, so tightly it hurt.
"Please, Raven. If you tell us where he is and where his pack is, then we can make contact and ask for support. Together we might be able to protect ourselves!"
Her grip tightened, and tears pooled in my eyes.
She was on the edge of panic, and slowly I nodded.
Hadn't the woman said they would leave in a week? Maybe—just maybe—it would be fine.
Perhaps if my body had not been so weak and my mind so clouded, I would have questioned whether the Moonburn Pack had already arrived. Perhaps I would have noticed their absence and wondered why I could not sense their presence. Perhaps I would have waited and asked more questions.
But Lilian continued to panic beside me, tears streaming down her face. I had never seen her cry before.
And the bodies… I had never seen dead bodies left unburied for so long.
"I saw him. I saw his pack," I said.
At once I felt the oath grip my chest and twist deep inside me. The pain made me squint as it spread through my body.
The oath would not kill me, but it carried a price. As penance, I would belong to the one I had sworn it to until either they died or I did. I would be bound to them whether I wished it or not.
Another name for the oath was a slave oath.
"…his pack members looked strong, so together we might be able to defeat—"
But I had barely spoken when Lilian grabbed my shoulders and shook me so violently that I nearly fainted.
"Where? Where, goddammit? Where is the pack located?" she demanded.
Something inside me hesitated.
Something deep in my gut made my mouth clamp shut as I watched her stare at me with raw desperation. That desperation quickly twisted into anger, then rage.
"I was blindfolded halfway," I said weakly. "I have no clue."
More tears spilled down her face as she suddenly dropped to her knees in front of me.
"Please, for our family's sake! Where is it?" she begged, clinging to my legs.
I let out a long sigh before nodding slowly.
"Left of the river… as far as I know, we kept going left."
The oath twisted deeper inside my chest, and I gasped as pain flared through me. I raised my hands to clutch at my chest.
But before I could even recover, my sister—still kneeling with her head bowed—suddenly burst into loud laughter that echoed through the empty air around us.