Honored Vow

mate.”
    He squinted at me.
    “Maybe you’re supposed to do that.”
    “Jin—”
    “And maybe panthers who love people, regular human people—
    maybe they should be allowed to do that without fear of reprisal.”
    “What’re you—”

    Honored Vow

    103

    “I’ve traveled all over the country, and I’ve met a lot of panthers
    who have left their tribes, run from them for one reason or another, but the
    one thing they all have in common is how much they miss being a part of
    a community. Panthers need other panthers, and maybe this is what you’re
    supposed to do.”
    “Jin, honey, there’s no way that—”
    “Maybe you’ll be the semel-aten who appoints a council to rewrite
    the law, making it, finally, understandable for everyone.”
    “But I’m not anyone special.”
    “You are, though, Logan; you have gifts that others don’t.”
    “Oh yeah?” He leered at me. “I have gifts, do I?”
    “Knock it off,” I snapped at him. “You’re the strongest panther I
    know, and I don’t mean physically, Logan, I mean your heart.”
    The look I was getting was all love.
    “You could be semel-aten.”
    “I never wanted to be anything but yours.”
    “I know.”
    “I just want to be the semel who found his heart, Jin, that’s all. Just
    semel-re.”
    I shook my head. “You’re supposed to be more.”
    “Love, I am not the—”
    “How do you know?” I cut him off, taking his face in my hands,
    staring into his gorgeous amber eyes. “Really, Logan? How do you know?
    The laws are ancient, they need changing, and who’s to say that you’re not
    the man to do it?”
    He stared at me. “Do you realize what you’re talking about? You’re
    talking about me being semel-aten. Me. Do you have any idea what that
    means?”
    “I think so, yeah. It means that you rule Sobek and the people who
    live there, and that you’re in charge of relationships with every tribe in the
    world, and that you and the priest of Chae Rophon are best buddies for
    life. You would be a king.”
    “Which I don’t want to be.”
    I smiled up at him. “Which is probably why it should be you.”
    He took a deep breath and grabbed me, holding me tight. “Whatever
    happens, as long as we’re still us, I’ll be okay.”

    104

    Mary Calmes

    I hugged him back, laying my head over his heart. “We’ll always be
    us.”
    “But you can’t get tired; you never get to say that this isn’t what you
    signed on for, because right this second, you’re promising to stand by me,
    as my mate, forever.”
    “I already did that,” I groaned, shoving away from him. “For
    crissakes, Logan, it’s you and me until one of us is done here and the other
    follows. I don’t plan on being here without you.”
    He nodded fast. “Me neither; I’m not strong enough.”
    I stared up into his eyes, and he held my gaze without wavering.
    Always, I saw the love there, always his granite resolve, the strength and
    his will. But there was also that piece no one else saw, his absolute,
    drowning need. Blessed with finding the other half of his soul, he could
    not be expected to live without me.
    I was the same.
    It was the only scary part about finding your true-mate: the inability
    to live without them. Others who weren’t semels or reahs could never be
    expected to understand.
    “Okay, so.” I took a breath. “What? When do we have to know about
    Crane?”
    He reached for me, and I took a step back just beyond the tips of his
    fingers.
    “Come here.”
    I shook my head, smiling, retreating behind the couch.
    “What are you doing? I’m not gonna chase you around the living
    room.”
    But he lunged at me, making his words a lie, and I moved away just
    as fast. His expression was priceless.
    “What?”
    “I don’t know,” I teased him, putting more space between us. “I’m
    just trying to talk to you; you’re the one that’s all touchy-feely after you
    said you weren’t gonna be.”
    He scowled at me, crossing the room so there was only a loveseat
    between us.
    “Tell me, who’s going to Mongolia to be with you?”

    Honored Vow

    105

    “You.” He went to grab me, but I was faster, looking for it, walking
    backward and hitting the wall between two windows.
    “And?”
    He came around the piece of furniture, stalking me, ready to bolt any
    way I did.
    “Yuri.”
    “And?”
    “Mikhail and Domin.”
    “Who else?”
    My mate closed in on me, and I noticed that his eyes had heated,
    changed to a beautiful warm gold,