Honored Vow

opened my mouth to speak.
    “Don’t tell me about being a burden and not pulling your own
    weight financially,” he told me. “Since you’ve been here helping me with
    distribution and marketing, business has gone through the roof. I had to
    hire two new managers and brought Delphine on full time. Because of
    you, I am making more money than I ever have before. You don’t have to
    work, and neither does Crane until he’s ready to.”
    “And I appreciate that, but it’s not your place to—”
    “Of course it is, who else’s but mine? You belong to me; I want your
    focus on me, your family, and the tribe. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. When I
    get home and you’re closing the restaurant and you’re not home until
    two….” He sighed. “I climb the walls, Jin.”
    And I knew that. Male panthers, all of them, were a very
    Neanderthalish lot. They liked their mates at home when they were,
    around, underfoot, close enough to touch at all times. Semels were twice
    as possessive, twice as protective, and three times as caveman-inclined.
    Logan wanted me there where he could see me, eat with me, talk to me,

    Honored Vow

    99

    and touch me at all times. Me working had always been a source of
    contention that it looked as though I was about to finally lose.
    “I’ll talk to Ray,” I told him, because it was time and it was fair. My
    boss was a good man; I did not want to take advantage of him.
    “Really?”
    The light that infused my mate’s eyes was something to see.
    “Yes.”
    His hand went to my throat, and his thumb tipped my chin up as he
    bent and brushed his lips over mine. He was very pleased.
    “Morning.”
    The whole room turned to look at Crane, who had just walked in.
    “Hey,” Danny greeted him, crossing the kitchen fast to reach him.
    “How are you this morning?”
    “Better.” Crane forced a smile.
    “Oh,” I said softly, turning to look at my mate. “Danny didn’t just
    save you, he saved Crane.”
    Logan shook his head. “I don’t think so. He feels sorry for Crane and
    he wants to help Crane, but it’s not what you think.”
    But I knew interest when I saw it. My semel had no idea what he
    was talking about. “Logan, I—”
    “Listen,” he began as the door opened again.
    “Good morning,” Logan’s sylvan said as he came into the room.
    “Mikhail.” Danny swallowed hard. “Come eat, I’ll make you a plate.
    What do you like?”
    I watched Mikhail, my reserved sylvan, as he thanked Danny but
    told him he could get his own food. Danny flushed and stammered, taking
    a step back, lacing his fingers together so those restless hands would not
    flutter around like frightened birds. He very badly wanted to touch
    Mikhail, it was so very obvious, and just standing there breathing in his
    scent was making the younger man breathless with anticipation.
    I coughed softly. “Oh.”
    “Take back what you were thinking about me.”
    “What was I thinking?” I teased him.
    “That your mate was clueless.”
    And that had been my conclusion, but I saw the truth very clearly.
    “Danny saved Mikhail.”

    100

    Mary Calmes

    “And the rest of us,” Logan said, smiling warmly, “but yeah, first on
    his mind was Mikhail.”
    “Interesting.”
    “Apparently,” Logan coughed, “he remembered him from when he
    was here with your father.”
    “Really?”
    Logan nodded.
    “That’s very interesting.”
    “I thought so.”
    “Did anyone happen to mention to him that Mikhail’s straight?”
    Logan tipped his head, and I watched my sylvan reach out and curl a
    long piece of hair around Danny’s right ear. He then squeezed his shoulder
    and smiled. And when you got the real deal from reticent, aloof Mikhail
    Gorgerin, when you were gifted with a sparkle in the shining midnight-
    blue eyes and saw the wicked curling lip along with the arch of the dark-
    brown eyebrows… you were good and gobsmacked. The man glowed, and
    Danny nearly swooned as Mikhail brushed by him. I watched for a minute
    before I checked to see what Crane was doing.
    He was smiling at everyone, and then he turned funny and winced.
    “You okay?” I held my breath.
    “I’m fine,” he sighed, stepping around Delphine to walk over to me.
    Without thinking about it, he rubbed his chin over my shoulder before he
    sat down at the table with a huge plate of eggs and steak and biscuits. “Is
    anyone gonna talk to me?”
    They descended on him like locusts: Delphine and Markel and Yuri
    and Koren. When