Honored Vow

just that trace of a hunt firing his blood.
    The man so wanted to run me down and make me submit. Just the idea of
    it, I knew, flushed heat through his blood.
    “Stay there.”
    “Why? You so want me to take off just so you can catch me.”
    I saw the muscles in his neck cord, saw his jaw clench.
    “You’re kinda twisted there, Church.”
    His brows furrowed.
    “What?” I asked him.
    “I want something, but it has to be okay with you, and I don’t want
    you to say yes unless it’s really okay.”
    “What is that?” I waited for him to explain.
    He stepped in front of me, and his hand went to my throat, closed,
    and his thumb slid under my chin, tipping it up as he bent toward me, his
    breath feather-light across my face. “I want you to take my name.”
    My eyes flicked to his.
    “You can’t wear a ring because of how fast you shift and––”
    “No panther can wear a ring, Logan; everyone shifts too fast to
    remember to take it off.”
    “I’m talking about you right now.”
    I was silent.
    “You already bear my mark, but it’s not enough. I want everyone to
    know, not just werepanthers, that you belong to me, with me. It’s
    important.”

    106

    Mary Calmes

    I could see that it was from the look on his face. “You want me to be
    Jin Church?”
    “Yes, very much.”
    Our eyes locked as he waited.
    “I need to think about that.”
    He nodded.
    “Is that okay?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good.” I smiled up at him.
    He made a sound in the back of his throat.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “When you see me again, I’ll be this wild creature that you’ll have to
    tame. Eight weeks in panther form will take its toll.”
    “I know,” I told him, pressing forward, my hands sliding up under
    the lightweight cashmere sweater to touch hot skin and rippling muscles.
    The man was so beautiful, utterly edible, and I was ready to make a feast
    of him.
    “It’s part of it, part of the trial of the heart—the mate taming the
    semel.”
    “Yes.”
    “If you can’t even do that, then you—”
    “We both know I can do that,” I told him, lifting my eyes slowly to
    meet his. “Logan.”
    “I don’t want to hurt you. The priest says that in the history there are
    accounts of semels ripping the throats out of their mates in their
    werepanther forms before being ordered to shift back to panther form,
    never being semels again, never knowing they slaughtered them, nev—”
    I chuckled. “Ripping their throats out, really?”
    “Jin, this is—”
    “Stop, you know I can tame you, Logan Church. In whatever form
    you are, you’re mine.”
    “But we’re not even allowed to shift back into men until after the
    trial of the heart is concluded. So when you’re done with your trial, I get
    to be me for a day before I meet the semel-aten in the pit. We go from
    panthers to our werepanther form. I won’t even be able to talk to you.
    They lock us up at night and—”

    Honored Vow

    107

    “It’s okay.”
    “And if Yuri fails, or Mikhail, or you, then I never get to talk to you
    as a man ever again!”
    “Logan—”
    “Jin, if the semel kills his mate, he is immediately ordered back into
    panther form and never allowed to shift back again,” he said, his voice
    strained and cracking. “You spend your life as an animal that dreams of
    being a man.”
    “Kiss me.”
    “Jin.” His voice cracked on my name.
    “Please.”
    He exhaled sharply before he bent and kissed me.
    There was the press of his lips, his mouth melting over mine, slow,
    sensual, utterly claiming, and so hot. I trembled in his arms, lifted mine,
    wrapping them around his neck to hold him tight and close. I wanted my
    mate. The desire to strip away all his clothes, have him naked and heaving
    in bed, both of us slick with sweat and come, was almost overwhelming.
    He whimpered in the back of his throat.
    “I love you,” I told him, easing back for a moment before I
    reclaimed his mouth.
    The kiss was endless, and breathing became a secondary
    consideration.
    “Your scent, Jin… you’re gonna make me forget all my plans
    today.”
    It was what I wanted but not what was best for my mate. He would
    be leaving soon, and he needed to make sure that everything was set
    before he left. For his own peace of mind, I had to let him go.
    “It’s gonna be soon.”
    “What is?”
    “They’re coming for me and Domin at the end of the week.”
    I reached up for his face, and he closed his magnificent eyes as he
    gently shivered under my