Eyes of the Woods by Eden Fierce

the ground. I obeyed. Other had gathered around, and the elder was flanked by much larger nightwalkers than I had seen in a very long time, if ever.
    Daniel made a sweeping gesture to the elder, his voice sounding very formal. “Eris, you stand before Evander. He is one of six elders who lead our coven. He is the patriarch of the territory of Ona.”
    “You wish to settle with us, daughter of the Priory?”
    “I … I don’t know.”
    The nightwalkers surrounding us began a quiet murmuring, and it made me feel very nervous.
    One side of Evander’s face moved just a tiny bit, barely hinting at a smile. “That’s the most honest answer I’ve heard. Have you somewhere else to go?”
    I shook my head. “Not at the moment.”
    Something behind me caught Evander’s attention. “Speak,” he said simply.
    “I beg you not to let her stay here. How many have we lost because of her?”
    Daniel took a step forward. “She did not kill them, Ayana. You cannot say the same.”
    “She deserved it!” the woman cried. “How much have I lost? She was there! She helped them!”
    Daniel turned his head to the side, only sympathy in his eyes. “I do not deny your suffering. But I will reject Eris’s responsibility for the death of your child.”
    “Child?” I said, turning to look at the woman behind me.
    She looked down at me, anguish and anger weighing down her expression. “You slay our children. And you call us the monsters.”
    My mouth fell open, but I had nothing to say. Father had told us they were turned at a young age. Nightwalkers couldn’t breed. It was unheard of.
    “Ayana, enough,” the elder said.
    The woman leaned into her mate, the male nightwalker who had pushed the tree trunk out from under me, and he held her, looking equally distraught.
    I looked down. “I didn’t know.”
    “We recognize that you’ve been ill-informed,” Evander said. He looked to the crowd surrounding us. “Eris may live among us.” He looked down at me. “As long as you adhere to our rules, young Prior. Trust is earned, not given.”
    I nodded and kept my eyes to the ground until I felt the elder and the crowd walk away. Daniel stood next to me, and I felt his hand on my shoulder.
    “You did well.”
    “Those were actual … children? How is that possible?”
    “It takes nearly a year for our bodies to fully change. You might have noticed a difference in those you’ve come across. Some are easier to kill than others.”
    I nodded. “Father said the older ones, the ones who’ve been nightwalkers the longest, are stronger.”
    “Indeed. Occasionally, our women become with child before that year is completed, while their bodies are still human enough to produce a child, and only with a newly turned male. It doesn’t happen a lot, but when it does, we seem to have many births within months of one another.”
    “And the children … they grow normally?”
    Daniel nodded. “They’re stronger, and yes, maybe a bit faster than human children.”
    “So that group that we … Oh God. Oh God, no.”
    “Most of the mothers allowed themselves to be killed once their children were gone. Ayana and her mate, Efraim, are the only ones still alive. They’ve been hunting your family, waiting until the right moment.”
    “I would too,” I said, feeling the urge to sit down. I found the closest tree to hold myself up. “I didn’t know. I didn’t …” I covered my face. “That’s a lie. It felt wrong. I knew it was wrong. But my father said—I thought he knew of such things. I trusted him.”
    “He learned that from his father, just like his father before him. There are many untruths about us, which is why we live apart, deep in the woods.”
    “How could you bring me here, knowing all of this? How could you save me?”
    “Because I saw the look on your face when your father and brothers slayed those children. I even saw that it bothered Dyre. And I saw him bury the boy. We don’t run from Priory, Eris. We watch you. We