Honored Vow

pieces.
    “Jin.”
    And when I didn’t feel like me, I lost myself just a little.
    “Please, Jin,” I heard Yuri whisper from where he sat beside me.
    “Please try and breathe. Please calm down.”
    I had trouble focusing past whatever it was that had coaxed the
    nekhene power from me.
    “Jin!”
    My name, yelled, finally brought me from my thoughts at the same
    time I realized that my heart was pounding in my ears and I was
    breathless.
    “You’re making me sick,” Mikhail growled from across the room.
    “Please, Jin, please breathe.”
    I got up and walked to the picture window and stood there, my
    forehead pressed to the cold glass.
    “What’s going—oh,” Delphine gasped behind me. “I think I’m
    gonna shift.”

    24

    Mary Calmes

    There was shuffling in the room. I heard the front door lock open,
    the door hitting the wall with a bang, and then Yuri’s roar for his semel.
    There were others close by; I was aware of them, but my eyes were
    closed as the ache swelled inside, got bigger and suffocating, and the pain
    overtook me.
    “What’s—Jin,” I heard Logan say my name, felt him closing on me.
    “Logan,” Taj said from somewhere close. “Do something. I feel like
    I’m going to claw my way out of my own skin.”
    “I—” Mikhail gagged. “I’m going to shift right here. I can feel it.”
    “Logan,” Yuri panted, and I could hear his fist slowly pounding on
    the wall. “Please, I can’t… I’m gonna shift too.”
    “Jin!”
    When I felt Logan’s hand in my hair, I tried to lean away, but he was
    stronger and so grabbed me and held tight, not allowing any movement.
    “Stop,” he ordered sharply. “You think if I touch you, you’re gonna
    break. You won’t.”
    I didn’t turn to look at him.
    He yanked hard, cocking my head back at the same time his other
    hand wrapped around my throat. His mouth was at my ear. “You will
    submit to me because I’m stronger than you.”
    I took a deep, shuddering breath and felt something deep inside
    deciding. I could even imagine the gentle swish of a cat’s tail like a
    pendulum, thinking… thinking….
    “You’re mine, and all your pain is mine too. Trust me with it, my
    reah.”
    But how could I? He was leaving me, and I needed to reach Crane.
    “Stop,” he ordered me.
    I tried to pull free of his hold.
    There was a growl from his throat before he bent my head forward,
    moving my hair, baring my shoulder, and he buried his fangs in the curve
    of my neck.
    I jolted under him, and a sob rose from my chest.
    He was stronger, I was weaker, and I calmed because he had
    reaffirmed my place at his side, in my tribe, so that my world settled and I
    could breathe.

    Honored Vow

    25

    We stayed frozen there together, and after long minutes, he gently
    withdrew his teeth. He licked at the spilled blood, at the wound he had
    made, and kissed and suckled at my skin.
    “Mine,” he told me as he rubbed his chin over me, his cheek,
    marking me with his scent, putting it all over me. “You’re mine.”
    I twisted around and buried my face in his chest. His arms wrapped
    me up, and he tucked my head under his chin. I was shaking hard,
    clutching at him, holding on for dear life.
    “Baby, you haven’t slept in days. Let me put you in bed, you need to
    sleep. You need to close your eyes. I have you, I’ll always have you.
    You’ll always belong to me.”
    “Oh my God, thank you,” Delphine gasped, and I heard her drop to
    the floor.
    “Christ,” Mikhail moaned, and I opened my eyes in time to see him
    slide down the wall so he was sitting with his knees up, looking
    completely wrung out.
    “Thank you, Logan,” Markel muttered.
    Yuri took a deep breath.
    “Rest, Jin,” I heard Mikhail murmur, his voice edged with pain.
    “Please.”
    “Yes,” Taj muttered. “Please.”
    I inhaled Logan’s scent and concentrated on the sound of his
    heartbeat. I wished I could lie down with him, curl around him.
    “When I get back with your beset, my reah, I’m all yours.”
    I had only his promise to comfort me.

    26

    Mary Calmes

    Chapter Three

    DELPHINE woke me the following morning and brought me the cordless
    phone.
    “Who is it?” I asked her, because Logan and anyone else close to me
    would have called my cell; it had to be someone else.
    “I’m not sure,” she said, squinting at me, her hand on my face. “But
    I think maybe it’s somebody who knows Russ.”
    Someone who knew Logan’s youngest brother? “Russ?” I