Crucible of Fate

world over.”
    “You—”
    “We need someone to lead us out of the darkness, not keep us inside.”
    “You would annihilate every tradition! You—”
    “It’s over, it’s done. All of this that you and some of the others hope to keep alive does no one any good. If people were prospering, if everyone in the community was thriving, I’d say yes, keep it like it is, but that’s not the case. We have poverty and crime and homelessness. That is not acceptable, and I won’t have it.”
    “You won’t?” he roared. “And who are you to make these new laws for the rest of us? You are nothing! You are no one!”
    “I was the semel-aten, and now I am akhen-aten, who will lead us into our new day.”
    “You’re mad with power!”
    “I want what is best for my tribe.”
    “These people are not your tribe!”
    “They are more mine than yours,” I enlightened him.
    He moved close to me. “You may call yourself by this new title, by this ‘akhen-aten’, but you will not be able to deliver this city from—”
    “I will.” I signaled for Taj, who was there with a few of his khatyu immediately. “The priest has no family, that was the law, so you will go to Logan Church and—”
    “Did you think I missed the coming of this overthrow of my power, Domin Thorne?” he snarled. “Are you under some mistaken belief that I thought you an honorable man?”
    I frowned.
    “And while it’s true that I do not have the legions of followers that you do, there is still one I can count on, still one who will do my bidding.”
    “Tell me, please, who this is lost soul, so that I may go and save him or her from your mad delusion.”
    “You will know soon enough,” he confirmed. “When what you love most is taken from you, remember that it was on my order that it was done. I took from you. I ended his life.”
    Yuri.
    “He’s already dead.” he hissed.
    I never saw the knife.

Chapter 6

     
    M Y VISION went white. Everything hurt, and there was screaming and yelling and something hot flecked over my face before I collapsed. I couldn’t breathe; my heart was in a vise because all I could think of was Yuri.
    My mate.
    The city of Ipis, the tribe of Feran… Hakkan Tarek… he had my mate. He had Yuri. Men loyal to the priest, or at least to an antiquated law, had my mate. I had to get him back.
    The thought consumed me even as my body convulsed in pain.
    I had to shift. My body wanted me to shift.
    But if I changed into a panther, there would be nothing of me left. I was an animal. I needed to retain my faculties and….
    Werepanther.
    I could shift into my half-man/half-panther form, but that would take so much energy and I didn’t seem to have any, and….
    My vision changed, the angle dropped, and then there was only the sweet coppery smell of blood and the ripple of fear. I charged forward to kill it, whatever was weak and injured and ready to die.
    I was pushed down to the floor so hard that all the air rushed from my lungs and I was left gasping, choking, like a fish out of water.
    “Domin!”
    I was drowning and rolled to my stomach and vomited up blood.
    “Domin, you must shift!”
    But I could tell I had done it once already and I didn’t want to do it again. There was something wrong with my body. I was hurt, and I wanted to lie down even as I needed to get to Yuri.
    I had to save Yuri.
    “Domin! Shift!”
    It was a command from my maahes, and I bristled at his hubris. How dare he tell me what to do?
    “You’re going to bleed to death if you don’t shift!”
    The heaving continued and became retching that I could not control.
    “No, Jin!”
    Crane sounded frantic, which meant that to get me to shift Jin would not simply let his power rise as he’d probably done once already, but would this time use his power as a call. In my weakened state, I would respond to his pheromones, and the moment I desired him, I would be sucked through my shift, and yanked inside out in a violent, painful rush.
    I would not. I was the semel-aten and had just finally baptized myself anew, as I had been considering for the past month. My only regret was that Yuri had not been there to hear what I’d announced. Just imagining the glow in his eyes….
    For the life of me, I could not pinpoint the exact moment when I had fallen in love with Yuri Kosa. I had said I loved him in Mongolia because those were the words he needed to hear for him to go with me. But I hadn’t really loved him, not then.
    But now… if he was