Change of Heart

allow.
    I shoved him off me, taking several steps back. "When is the challenge?"
    "Tonight. What's—"
    "If it's tonight, where's his sheseru?"
    "He's here."
    "And Yuri's with Domin?"
    "Yes." He was squinting at me. "Everything's being done according to—"
    "Where's his sheseru?"
    He looked over his shoulder and yelled, "Markel!"
    A man cut across the room to us. He was tall, lean, his face angular and carved. He was dressed all in black. He looked like something animated, a lovely work of manga, something that couldn't possibly have existed in nature, too fragile and perfect.
    "Reah," he breathed out, his dark cobalt blue eyes swallowing me. "I have so wanted to meet you. I have never seen one like you before."
    "We met." I squinted at him. "The night you were hunting Delphine, we met."
    His eyes widened even as he sneered at me. "If I'd known you were a reah, I would have taken you myself and only afterward presented you to my semel once you were tamed."
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    by Mary Calmes
    Tamed? He was talking about rape.
    "You forget yourself," Logan barked at him.
    He scoffed. "I meant no disrespect to you, Logan. It's just the truth. I didn't get close enough to him, or I would have known."
    "No," I spat back. "You ran like a dog. You make me sick!"
    I roared at him, and he flinched when I charged him.
    Logan's arm across my chest stopped me from reaching him.
    "He's so passionate, semel." He smirked at Logan. "You must enjoy that."
    I felt Logan's heartbeat against my back, felt how steady it was. It calmed me enough so that I could get out the words that needed to be spoken. "I call for the Law of Bast."
    Markel's head snapped up, and his eyes were huge as he stared at me.
    I repeated it in ancient Greek for him as I had been taught.
    "No." He shook his head.
    "We both know it's not your choice."
    "What?" Logan asked, turning me around in his arms.
    "What is the Law of Bast? What is that?"
    But my focus was on Markel. I had my head turned away from Logan so I could see him. "You must accept... Domin would have to accept."
    "But, reah, do you know what—"
    "Say it!" I railed at him. There was no delaying the inevitable. It was his place to agree.
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "I accept the Law of Bast on behalf of my semel Domin Thorne," he breathed, his eyes fixed on me. "Who will stand as aset ?"
    "Simone."
    He nodded slowly. His expression that had been so confident and full of contempt only moments before, was now saddened, the smirk erased from his face, replaced by a look of confusion. "Why?"
    "Because Domin can't have his heart. It's mine."
    "But, reah, surely—"
    "Get out!" I roared at him. "Send Yuri back safely, or you and your semel are subject to the punishment of the law."
    "I know the law! Don't presume to lecture me on the law!"
    I was shaking with fury, and so was he.
    "The winnowing happens when you are still alive, reah! I will take the flesh myself."
    I spit at him, and he lunged at me. Logan caught him by the throat and held him off the ground.
    "You forget yourself, Markel," he warned him, his voice icy.
    "This is my mate, my reah. You can be butchered for this transgression."
    He went pale because it was true. Anyone who threatened the mate of the leader of the tribe was considered to have forfeited his or her life.
    "Get out of my house," I snarled, letting him see my fangs as Logan released him. "Deliver my challenge to Domin and return my sheseru!"
    He turned and ran for the door; others that I didn't know were with him, following.
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    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "Look at me," Logan yelled, shaking me.
    I lifted my eyes to his.
    "What is the Law of Bast? What have you done?"
    I twisted free of his hands, stepped back and faced him.
    "Your first concern is your tribe. Mine is you. You've never had a reah, so you don't know, but I am your protector."
    He took a step forward, and I took one back.
    "What the fuck is going on?" Logan shouted, grabbing my arm, yanking me back to him. "What have you done?"
    "I am your protector."
    "Why do you keep saying that?" he snapped at me. "Yuri, my sheseru, he is my protector."
    "He's your enforcer," I corrected him. "Only I, your mate, your reah—I'm the only protector you have, Logan Church."
    His brows were furrowed. "What is the Law of Bast?"
    I took a deep breath. "The Law of Bast says that I will fight in your stead."
    His eyes got huge; he was stunned, and I used that second to pull free and take several steps away from