Change of Heart

bathroom?"
    "Yep."
    "Take a final walk around."
    The man just couldn't keep himself from barking out orders. It was in his blood. "Okay." I smiled at him before I left the room. When I got back, he was standing at the window that opened out onto the fire escape. "You ready to go?"
    There was no answer.
    "Changed your mind? Don't want me after all?" I was terrified that maybe he had come to his senses. Already the idea of being without the man made my heart hurt.
    When he turned I saw how furious he looked.
    "What's wrong?" I asked, crossing the room to him.
    In his hand, I saw the T-shirt I had been wearing the night Ben attacked me. It had bloodstains on it.
    "Where'd you find that?"
    "Here behind the armoire. What is this?"
    I had thrown it at the trashcan, but apparently I had missed. "It's nothing," I said as I took it from him and pitched it in the garbage can. "Ex-boyfriend of a girl Crane dated broke in and attacked me, but it's all over now."
    156
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    After a moment, he nodded, calming, and reached for me.
    I went into his arms, and he held me tight, his face buried in my hair. "Don't worry about stuff that happened before you were around."
    He let out a deep breath. "You know, I have always been the one who didn't fight. I'm known for it. I compromise and make concessions. I don't ever want to put anyone in danger."
    "That's a good way to be."
    "No, it's not, and just now, between Domin's marks on your door and that damn T-shirt, I get that. How things are now, it's not safe. You're not safe; my family's not safe; my tribe... because I'm not scary, everyone's in jeopardy."
    "Respect is better than fear."
    "Agreed, but without repercussions, respect is hollow."
    "I don't understand," I breathed out, pulling free of his arms to look up into his face.
    "This man who attacked you—why did he?"
    "Because he thought I was Crane."
    "Yes, but also, he thought he could attack Crane. Crane was weak, in his mind, and so he came after him."
    "Not necessarily. He was just blinded by—"
    "He thought Crane was weak. People who look weak are attacked. Domin thinks I'm weak because I want peace.
    When he attacks my people, I do not come after him with my tribe, instead, I challenge him to one-on-one combat in the pit that he never accepts."
    "'Cause he knows he's gonna get his ass kicked."
    "But meanwhile, my tribe fears his."
    157
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "Yeah, but you shouldn't just go picking a fight with him to—"
    "I should go and see him, because now I am the same as the rest of the members of my tribe. I have something to lose."
    I smiled up at him. "You're not gonna lose me."
    "No," he said, and his voice was so ominous that I was surprised. "Come with me."
    I locked the apartment and followed him down three flights to the alley.
    "How come you have no stuff?"
    "I have stuff," I teased him. "What you just carried down, that's stuff. When I got here six months ago, everything I had fit in a regular-size backpack like the kind you use in high school."
    He didn't seem pleased.
    I was worried that I had somehow let Delphine's cute little Lexus get stolen when I didn't see it, but Logan told me that Yuri had driven it home.
    "But I have the keys."
    He arched an eyebrow for me.
    "I could have driven it back," I muttered. Obviously, the man had multiple sets of car keys for everything parked in his garage.
    "No," he said, leading me to the limousine parked almost at the end of the alley. When he opened the door for me, I climbed inside before him.
    158
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "You want me to take the quick way home or the long one?" the driver asked from the front seat, making sure to make eye contact with me and smile.
    "Take the long way so Jin can see our land."
    "Got it," the reply came back before the darkened glass rose behind him, separating the front and back of the car.
    "Our land?"
    Logan turned to look at me. "Everything that belongs to me is yours as well—the house, the land, the business, the cars... everything."
    "How can you just trust me so fast? What if I'm a bad person?"
    His smile was wide. I amused the hell out of him, that was obvious. "You're my mate. You feel exactly as I do. You're the only person in the world I don't doubt, because you were made for me so that I could trust you with all that I have and with my heart."
    I turned to look out the window so he wouldn't see me struggle not to break down. It was too much honesty to take in.
    "Why did