Honored Vow

and fetch for them.
    Miguel Garza and his people had all shifted; ripped through the clothes
    they came in, and were wearing new ones procured from stores close by.
    They wanted to leave, wanted to rinse away the night and forget that
    another panther had turned them inside out, pulling them through their
    shift, rendering them powerless. It was humiliating, and every instinct
    screamed at them to simply slink away and hide. But that wasn’t the law.
    The law said that Logan had to be greeted, and so they remained. If
    Miguel had left to go home and shower, he would have looked weak in
    front of my mate, so he stayed even though the reek of sweat and come
    and pain and arousal clung to his hair and skin like a sticky July afternoon.
    Sitting there, waiting for him to give the word that they could go, had to
    be maddening.
    “I accept your terms, semel,” Logan said, stepping away from me,
    walking over to Miguel Garza, who rose to shake hands with my mate.
    “And thank you for your care of my brother.”
    He sighed deeply. “Your reah is dangerous, semel-netjer, and though
    I would like to seek justice for the shift that was forced on myself and my
    house, I also saw you in the pit in Sobek and do not want to challenge
    you.”
    “May I offer you some other reparation?”
    “I would accept any that you would see fit to offer.”
    “I will have my sylvan contact yours and set terms.”
    He bowed his head, covering their joined hands with his other. “My
    thanks, semel-netjer.”
    I trembled because it was over and I could go home to Crane.
    “May I present to you my sheseru and sylvan?”
    I crossed the room, away from the others, and looked out at the
    lights of the pier while Logan met Miguel’s household.
    “Are you well, my reah?”
    I lifted my eyes to Artem. He was tall, almost as tall as Yuri, but
    leaner, and I liked his dark-brown beard and mustache. They were striking
    on him. “I am. How was your trip?”

    74

    Mary Calmes

    “Quick,” he said, smiling at me. “I’m glad you’re coming home,
    Crane needs you. He won’t shift back, and we can’t let him out to run on
    the grounds because we’re afraid of what he might do to himself.”
    I nodded. “So he’s locked in a room in his panther form?”
    “He’s not locked up, all he has to do is shift and he can get out.”
    “But he won’t.”
    “No.”
    I took a breath. “I just want to go home.”
    He was looking at me, staring, and I saw his brown eyes bleed to cat
    green a moment before he dropped to the floor.
    I had not been there to protect Crane. I had let him be taken and
    violated and maimed. How could I have done that? He was my best friend,
    the closest thing I had to a brother.
    “No!” Miguel shouted, and it was chaos in seconds, everyone
    yelling, the fear and panic drowning me, choking me.
    “Jin!”
    I lifted my head, and Logan was there and I was wrapped in strong
    arms and held tight.
    “Logan!” Justin roared.
    “Baby, I’m here,” my mate told me.
    I clung to him, pressing against him as hard as I could, freezing
    suddenly, wanting to draw every bit of warmth I could from him.
    “You’re panicking, and you don’t need to,” he soothed me. “I’m
    right here. You’re safe.”
    I was trembling, my teeth chattering as he tightened his hold so I
    could feel his heart beating. I felt a hand in my hair, his other arm around
    my waist, and his lips on my forehead as he tried to soothe me with his
    presence, with his body. He smelled like stale air and musk, with a faint
    trace of the cologne I had bought him for Christmas. I wanted to crawl
    inside him where I knew it was safe. I clutched at him, my fingers digging
    into the hard muscles of his back, holding on.
    “Logan!” Justin yelled. “Either claim your reah or step aside!”
    “He’s mine!” Logan roared out his ownership, and the primal sound
    sent a flush of heat through me, my mouth opening on his throat.
    “Show me,” Justin challenged him.

    Honored Vow

    75

    Logan’s low growl was answered by my moan that was part growl,
    part purr.
    I was spun around hard and slammed against the window, only my
    hands splayed on the glass keeping me from going face-first into the hard
    surface. My sweater was yanked and tugged, and I heard the ripping and
    then the cool air on my skin as the shredded garment slid off me and fell to
    the floor at my feet. Logan fisted my hair and pushed my head down,
    causing a shudder to tear through