Honored Vow

presence and thanked the priest for honoring
    him with the sepat.

    266

    Mary Calmes

    Many of the people, both men and women, who had been serving
    had returned and were now offering more than food and drink to the
    guests of their tribe. Andrian and Taj both had a woman in their laps, and
    Danny was almost in Mikhail’s.
    “He’s drunk,” my sylvan said to me even as he smiled up at my
    whimpering cousin. “I’m gonna go put him in bed.” He smiled at me,
    shaking his head even as Danny leaned forward and wrapped his arms
    around his neck.
    “I thought Mikhail told me he and Danny talked,” Logan told me as
    we watched Mikhail carry the younger man from the room.
    “They did, but,” I said with a shrug, “come on. Between the alcohol
    and the pheromones in here, hearing other people screwing, smelling it,
    seeing it—are you kidding?”
    He made a noise, and I laughed softly before he fisted his hand in
    my hair, yanking my head back sharply so he could kiss a line up my
    throat.
    “What’re you doing?” I chuckled even as he pushed me down under
    him.
    He stared at me with his warm gold eyes, and I felt the relief and
    peace wash over me.
    It should have been heat, being that close to him, with his big hard
    body pressing down on me, trapping me, with the scents and sounds all
    around us… but all I could feel was joy.
    “I’m supposed to be making you hot.”
    I started laughing.
    “Shit,” he grumbled as he rolled over on his back, bringing me along
    with him.
    Leaning over, I kissed him gently, tenderly, letting him feel how
    much I loved him. “When the priest introduced each of the mates of the
    semels before the sepat began, he said Jin Rayne.”
    Logan was searching my face, and I watched as he stilled, like he
    was holding his breath, waiting for what I was going to say.
    “And I thought,” I said as I inhaled his delicious scent, “that I
    wanted to be just like those yareahs. I wanted to have my name be the
    same as yours.”
    “Oh.”

    Honored Vow

    267

    “So I thought,” I said as my breath fluttered over his face, “that if it
    was still on the table, I would really love to take your last name.”
    His hands lifted to my face, and the look in his amber eyes made me
    breathless. They were glowing with pride. “You would?”
    I nodded.
    “Because you know that’s what I want,” he assured me. “And it
    would make me… I mean, you’re not Jin Rayne anymore, are you?”
    No, I wasn’t. I had not been since I met him. He made me different,
    stronger, better, kinder, all the things that a mate was supposed to do. All
    the good things, at least.
    “So, then,” he whispered, easing me down until I was lying on top of
    him, my hands flat on his chest, “when we get home, we’ll change your
    name.”
    I nodded.
    “And begin the process with the surrogate.”
    “Yes,” I managed to get out.
    His eyes searched mine. “I never wanted it to be my sperm and a
    woman I didn’t know, you know? I always wanted it to be you and
    Delphine. It’s how I dreamed it.”
    “But you deserve to have—”
    “My line, and you,” he said, squinting hard, his eyes reddening,
    softening as he stared at me. “Do you even get how bad I wanna see your
    big gray eyes on someone I can protect and never let get hurt and take care
    of?”
    My vision blurred as my eyes filled.
    “I want my own family with you. The second I met you, when I
    knew you were mine, I swear, Jin, I could see my whole life in that one
    moment.” He eased me closer, my lips hovering over his. “Thank you for
    taking my name, it means more than you can imagine.”
    I bent and kissed him, and he opened for me so I could taste him,
    slide and rub my tongue over his, take thorough possession of his mouth.
    When he rolled over on top of me, arms wrapped around me, holding me
    tight, I moaned deeply, loving the feel of his big hard body on mine. As
    the kiss changed, grew more heated and carnal and urgent, Logan broke it
    off, rose and grabbed my hand.

    268

    Mary Calmes

    He tugged me after him, passed many people engaged in various
    sexual acts, some couples and a few in threes and fours, until we reached
    the priest, and both of us kneeled down before him. I saw how heated the
    older man’s eyes were as they raked over Logan. I understood then that
    yes, he had wanted Logan to be semel-aten because he was semel-netjer,
    but he also simply enjoyed looking at my mate. It made sense; he