Trusted Bond

every man, woman, and child in their tribes. Both would
    give their lives for the people they led. Avery would have been a better
    sheseru for either Logan or Justin, but fate had dealt him the card of
    becoming Christophe‘s. It didn‘t mean that when he was faced with what
    he needed he didn‘t crave it. The way he was looking at Logan, into his
    eyes, left no doubt that he would become my semel‘s sheseru without a
    moment‘s hesitation if he were ever asked.
    ―I will leave your maahes alone, and so will my men, semel-re,‖ he
    promised, unable to keep from tipping his head in Logan‘s grip and
    rubbing his cheek over the man‘s hand.
    Logan let him go and put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
    ―This is a promise between us, then.‖
    Avery nodded, unable to speak.
    The silence was broken by another knock on the door.
    Crane moved fast, darting across the room.
    I watched Logan‘s hand slide off Avery‘s shoulder, and I was going
    to say something when I heard Crane yell. I moved to bolt out into the
    other room, but Logan stepped in front of me, barring my way, gesturing
    for Yuri to go first.
    ―Logan,‖ I yelled, needing to get to Crane.
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    249

    ―No,‖ he commanded, pushing me back behind him when I tried to
    get by.
    ―Semel-re!‖
    Only then did Logan allow me to move, and only at his side, at pace
    with him, not moving by him, not in front.
    I did not expect to see the priest of Chae Rophon, Archer Pike, the
    current semel of my former tribe, the tribe of Anuket; his sheseru, Crane‘s
    father, Nelson Adams; or my father, Mitchell Rayne. I was frozen where I
    stood, having just stepped into the room with Logan.
    All the men went to their knees except the priest. My eyes flicked to
    Crane, and I saw that he had his hands fisted at his sides and his jaw was
    tight. He was furious, and it was all over him.
    ―Semel-re,‖ the priest called for the second time, as he had the first.
    ―I bring you the kith and kin of your reah to hear my words to you.‖
    Logan moved further into the room.
    ―I had wondered at what Jin had reported to me, that when he was
    discovered to be a reah that he was almost killed and then cast from his
    tribe. I wondered at that reaction as a reah, in any form, has always been
    none other than a gift.‖ He smiled over at me. ―A reah is, as you all know,
    the only true-mate of a semel, but even more so, a reah is the heart of a
    tribe, as they exude warmth, safety, and peace. A reah‘s presence ensures
    that a tribe will prosper and grow as other cats are drawn to a tribe with
    the power of a semel and the nurturing of a reah. A semel‘s strength is
    increased tenfold with his reah at his side, and any tribe gifted with the
    birth of a reah is considered to be blessed by Ra.‖
    No one said a word.
    ―I have wondered, since I spoke with Jin, why, if the tribe of Anuket
    did not want him, why then did they not send him here to Sobek, to the
    semel-aten?‖
    I didn‘t think anyone was going to offer an explanation, confess to
    hatred, so I was not surprised when the room remained silent.
    ―I believe,‖ the priest sighed, ―as it is in all things tribal, that the
    attitude of the semel directs that of the entire clan. So that had Gabriel
    Pike, the semel of the tribe of Anuket when Jin was revealed, accepted
    him, then so would have the tribe, even if his own father had offered his
    objection.‖ The priest‘s eyes returned to Logan‘s from glancing around the
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    room. ―As Gabriel Pike stepped down as semel, relinquishing his
    birthright to his brother, I can only give the balance of my anger to the
    new semel of the tribe of Anuket and ask for the punishment of his sylvan
    and his sheseru.‖
    ―May I speak first, before you pass sentence on them?‖ Logan asked
    softly.
    ―Yes, semel-re.‖
    He cleared his throat. ―I want no punishment for the past injustices
    done to my reah or the beset of my reah; I want only for all members of
    the tribe of Anuket, as I expressed to the semel of their tribe on his last
    visit to my home, to neither speak to nor see my mate or my kinsman. All
    else is settled between the tribe of Mafdet and the tribe of Anuket.‖
    ―Are you certain?‖
    ―I am. We want nothing at all to do with them; my tribe is khet ,
    separated by fire from them.‖
    Logan had told the priest that the two tribes, separated, as our
    ancestors would have said, by fire, were dead to each other. There