Change of Heart

the minute I relaxed, the others felt it, completely at ease in my presence, each jockeying for position beside me as we walked. All my life, it had happened, and maybe it was the same with all reahs, but I had never met another one to ask. When I glanced over at Crane, he just rolled his eyes.
    "So," Andrian said, sliding an arm around my neck, drawing me closer to him. I doubted he even knew what he was doing. It was simply the pull of a reah on a regular cat.
    "How long have you two been members of Christophe's tribe?"
    "Six or seven months," I exhaled.
    "Christophe's been away." He squinted at me, inhaling deeply. "Did he accept you and Crane, or did his sylvan?"
    "Both his sylvan and sheseru were too busy to even meet with us." I smiled at him. "We were accepted by Christophe's yareah, Therese."
    His mouth fell open. "Are you kidding?"
    "Nope," Crane told him, laughing softly as the others joined him. "We've never even met the man; we wouldn't know him if we passed him on the street."
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "That is fucked up," one of Andrian's friends said. "Our semel... he knows every person in our tribe, swear to God."
    "Which is why you think he's great," I told him. "A leader that truly cares about his people is hard to beat."
    "I agree," Andrian said, letting me go as we all filed into the diner.
    Crane waved at the waitress, who told him to take his regular seat. I got a smile and a wave from her as well. At the table, Crane slid in beside me before anyone else could, and Andrian took the seat across.
    "So lemme get this straight," Andrian smiled at me. "If Logan tells Christophe to commend two members of his tribe for saving his sister and gives him your names, he wouldn't even know who you guys were."
    "Nope," Crane assured him before he explained that the mushroom burger and the Amarillo fire burger were the best things they served. The consensus was to trust him. No one even looked at a menu; they just ordered one or the other and drinks.
    "Where were you guys before you got here?" Andrian asked a while later between bites.
    "I was in Miami," Crane lied seamlessly, having told it so many times, "and Jin's been traveling for a while. We both work at Fusion; it's that nightclub on the strip."
    "I've been there," one of the guys said. "It's a nice place.
    You've got that cool Bossa Nova lounge upstairs."
    "Yep," Crane grinned, "that's it."
    "What do you guys do there?"
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "Jin bartends in the club, and I bartend upstairs in the lounge you like so much."
    "I bet you make a shit load of tips." Andrian couldn't stop smiling at me.
    "I do alright."
    "What our boss would really like," Crane arched an eyebrow for my benefit, "is for Jin to take over the night manager spot at his restaurant in King's Beach so he could run the club. I could work up there too, and everybody would be happy."
    "What's stopping you from taking the job?" Andrian asked me.
    I looked deep into his eyes until he got it.
    "Oh, shit, King's Beach is our territory—you needed permission from Logan to come and go."
    "Yep, can't be on your land without safe conduct."
    "Well, shit, consider it done, Jin. I mean, you and Crane are heroes as far as I'm concerned, and Logan won't even care that you're there. I'll run it by our sheseru, but I really don't think it'll be any problem. Tell your boss you and Crane will take the job."
    I nodded. It was a nice surprise for the evening. "Thanks."
    "No, thank you, guys. It could've been a real bad night all the way around without you stepping in. Anything we can do to repay you, please just ask."
    "Well, this'll do it." Crane smiled at him.
    "Well, great." Andrian nodded, genuinely pleased as his eyes locked on mine.
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    It was four in the morning by the time we were dropped off in front of our apartment. I felt exhilarated as the car drove away. I had extracted a promise from Andrian not to let Delphine know anything about us, just to let her know that he had seen us when, and if, she asked. She would ask, he promised me with a smile, but he agreed to my stipulation.
    Alone on the street, I smiled at Crane, arching an eyebrow for him.
    "You lucky piece of shit," he groused, trailing after me toward the three flights of stairs that we had to take to our place.
    "What?"
    "You know what," he snorted. "You dodge more fuckin'
    bullets than anybody I know."
    "What are you talking about?"
    "What am I... oh, I dunno, you get