Honored Vow

stomach flipped over.
    “Okay, so you shower and I’ll meet you downstairs.”
    “Okay.”
    Yes!
    “But if I wanna go, then you need to go with me and not try and
    make me stay there.”
    He wanted me with him. Was he kidding? I would do anything he
    wanted. “Absolutely.”
    There was a quick nod, and he rose off the bed in a fluid movement
    that I was thrilled to see. The back and forth shifting was healing his body.
    “And put on some damn clothes,” he teased me. “No one wants to
    see your bare ass ’cept Logan.”
    I smiled as I watched him cross to the bathroom. I was pulling on my
    clothes, underwear, jeans, when I happened to look up at him again. It was
    then that I saw the marks on his back.
    It took everything in me not to be sick.
    He had been flogged, and the man wielding the whip had missed no
    part of the broad expanse of skin. The welts, and there were many, were
    angry; the cuts, crusted but still oozing, spoke to how deep—bone deep—
    they had been. My best friend had been set upon by vicious men; it was a
    wonder he was alive. Violence even I could not conceive of had been done
    to him. It was monstrous.
    “My hair looks like shit.”
    He had been mutilated, but he was grieving his hair at the moment.
    Jesus.
    “Doesn’t it?”
    They had cut his thick waves of blond hair to tufts; even his scalp
    was covered with scabs.

    Honored Vow

    97

    “I’ll get you a hat,” I said instead of crying.
    “Excellent idea,” he called back, turning to look at me. “Would it be
    too weird if you came over here and held me as tight as you can?”
    I ran.
    I hit him hard, harder than I should have, but he whimpered deep in
    his chest and clutched me tight. We stayed like that until he could breathe
    without me.
    Logan was in the kitchen with the others and Danny when I finally
    came down.
    “Good morning, Jin.” Danny beamed at me the second he saw me.
    “Thank you for giving me sanctuary in your tribe. I am very grateful.”
    He was smaller than I remembered, slighter, his features delicate and
    fragile. Compared to him, I was a damn Viking. He was easily the prettiest
    man I had ever seen in my life with his big almond-shaped brown eyes,
    short, straight nose, long, thick lashes and porcelain skin. His hair fell to
    his shoulders and was the same color as mine, jet black. Looking at him, I
    felt my power rise with the need to crush him.
    Logan’s warm laughter turned my head.
    “Come here.”
    I crossed the room to him, and when I was close enough, he reached
    for me, drawing me close, and kissed me breathless, until my skin was on
    fire and I had a steady pulse of need surging through my body. When I
    broke the kiss, we were both panting.
    “What was that for?”
    The noise he made was all male as he dipped his head forward, his
    lips against my ear. “So you know that there’s only one man I ever want in
    my bed,” he told me, his tongue licking down my collarbone, nibbling at
    the base of my throat. “You are my miracle, Jin Rayne; do you think I
    don’t know that? Do you think you’re the only one who feels lucky?”
    Logan always knew what to say.
    The beast in me stilled, quieted, and forgot about doing violence to
    young Danny as my hair was nuzzled and my earlobe sucked inside a hot,
    wet mouth.
    My mate.
    “Would you do something for me?” I asked him, looking up into the
    honey-colored eyes. “Or lots of things?”

    98

    Mary Calmes

    “Whatever you want.”
    So I explained about redoing Crane’s room.
    “Take him into Reno today, get him whatever he needs or wants, and
    I’ll have his room done by the time you guys get back.”
    “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    I stood there close to my mate and just breathed.
    “Hey.”
    My eyes returned to Logan’s topaz ones.
    “What about both of your jobs? You guys work for the same man,
    and now….” He sighed deeply. “Jin, with the sepat and Crane and…. I
    mean, is it fair to Ray to ask him to continue to keep you employed when
    he really needs someone there full time? How are you supposed to manage
    his restaurant when you have so much going on here? And if I fail in—”
    “You will not fail,” I cut him off sharply. “I need you.”
    He nodded. “Just talk to Ray, tell him that Crane had an accident and
    that you’re not sure when either of you will be back. Put the ball in his
    court. Sometime soon your life will balance out, but right now your tribe
    has to come before your work.”
    I