Honored Vow

you.”
    “Great.”
    “And maybe this part just has to do with Logan being gone, but,
    sweetie, what’s pouring off you right now is like sex and candy all rolled
    up together.”
    I squinted at her.
    “You’re just oozing this yummy smell, and I just wanna taste,” she
    finished, her voice going guttural for a second as she closed her eyes and
    rode out whatever it was that was twisting her up inside.
    “I’m sorry,” I said, my voice low and soft.
    “I know.” She exhaled, calming, taking long moments before she
    opened her eyes and smiled at me. “Okay.”
    I looked at her.
    “Before, I used to want to be close to you or hold your hand or just
    sit with you, but now, it’s like I can feel your heart beating in my chest
    sometimes, and I just want to crawl out of my skin and climb into yours.
    It’s really something.”

    Honored Vow

    47

    “I’m sorry,” I said again.
    “It’s not your fault, but you need to be conscious of the fact that if I
    feel like that, so does everybody else.”
    “Sure.”
    “So please, honey, take it easy, and don’t add any more emotion to
    the mix, because that makes you secrete pheromones, and unless you want
    my lady parts in your face––”
    “I get it,” I said, and I couldn’t help but grin.
    “Seriously, I was this close to attacking you.”
    “Sorry.”
    “But this guy,” she sighed, looking at Dennis Jennings, who was
    staring at me with besotted eyes, “is just gone. I thought I was always the
    weakest cat in the room, but compared to him, I’m frickin’ Yuri.”
    I eased my hand from his, and he leaned forward and stared at me.
    “Reah,” he breathed out. “How may I serve?”
    “Are you manu or bakhu?”
    He swallowed hard, his eyes on my mouth. “I am manu.”
    “And your maahes?”
    “Would you like me to call him for you?”
    “Does he have Russ Church?”
    He nodded slowly.
    “And is Russ alright?”
    Another nod.
    “Is your semel aware that you have him?”
    “We informed him last night. He wanted us to contact the panther’s
    family, and therefore his semel, but Russ won’t tell us what tribe he
    belongs to, so it’s slow going. We will start with claw on skin soon.”
    “He’s mine, a member of my tribe. Please call your maahes for me.”
    “Yes, reah, at once.”
    He got up and left fast.
    “Jesus.”
    I turned to look at Delphine.
    “You spun him hard.”
    “I didn’t mean to.”
    “The maahes won’t be so easy.”

    48

    Mary Calmes

    “No, I know, and I was just trying to get him to talk to—”
    “It’s alright, lighten up,” she said as she patted my knee. “We should
    eat while we have a chance.”
    It was an excellent suggestion.
    Dennis returned a half an hour later, explaining that his maahes had
    arrived. Our dinner was taken care of, which we thanked him for, and as
    we followed him upstairs, he said again what an honor it was to meet a
    reah.
    The rooms on the second floor were private and luxurious. We
    followed Dennis to the last one, and he held open the door. Inside, we
    found a long table with a man sitting at the head, a woman at his side, and
    five others clustered around him.
    The second the door closed, the man leaned forward.
    “My idiot manu thinks you’re a reah. Speak your lineage now to
    me.”
    “Who are you?” I asked instead.
    He scoffed at me. “I’m Blake Dempsey, who the fuck are you?”
    “I’m Jin Rayne of the tribe of Mafdet, reah of the semel-netjer,
    Logan Church.”
    It was fun to watch his face drain of color, his mouth open, his pupils
    dilate. I could smell the fear in the room. The others, so defiant moments
    ago, ready even to hurt me or Delphine, sat there in shock, staring, utterly
    still.
    Every semel who had attended the feast of the valley in Sobek had
    returned with a version of a story about me, Jin Rayne, the panther who
    was first a reah and second a nekhene cat. Reahs were rare, a million-to-
    one rare, but a nekhene cat was off the grid. As I stood there and saw their
    faces, I understood why they were frightened and excited and awed all at
    once. I was unique among our kind, and I would use their feelings toward
    me to my advantage.
    “Ruslan Church is the brother of my mate. I humbly request his
    return, and I would speak to your semel if that could be arranged,
    maahes.”
    His eyes ran all over me.
    When I bowed my head in deference, everyone rose at once. Chairs
    squeaked on the floor as they were hurriedly pushed back from the