Trusted Bond

were aptly
    named; I wanted to lounge in a hammock somewhere and forget all about
    the events of the past week. I waved when my name was called by
    different members of my team yelling goodnight. It was nice that they had
    all missed just seeing my face. Managing a restaurant was hard work, but
    what made it worth it was the people, and mine were some of the best.
    When my phone rang, I debated whether or not to answer it, seeing that
    the call was from home, but went ahead anyway.
    ―Hello?‖
    ―Jin.‖
    My heart skipped a beat, and I stopped walking, frozen there beside
    my Jeep, just the sound of the man‘s voice sending a wall of heat through
    me.
    ―Jin?‖
    ―Logan… you‘re home.‖ I exhaled, my voice quavering. ―When did
    you get home?‖
    ―You don‘t sound pleased.‖
    I was and wasn‘t all at the same time. ―No, I‘m glad. I‘m just
    surprised; I thought you said it would be ten days, but it‘s only been
    seven.‖
    ―I can‘t come home early?‖
    ―That‘s not what I meant.‖
    ―So you‘re glad I‘m home.‖ He sounded uncertain.
    ―Of course I am,‖ I said quickly, ―but when did you––‖
    ―Just a few minutes ago. Mikhail and I, we….‖ He was distracted;
    something he was looking at was drawing his attention. ―Where are you?‖
    What to say?
    ―And where is everyone? The house is empty. Mikhail and I get
    home and there‘s nobody around? How is that even possible?‖
    Trusted Bond

    3

    With twelve people living in one place, eleven now that Simone had
    officially moved out to get married—mated—the expectation was that at
    least one person would have been there when the man got home from his
    weeklong trip to New York. That there had been no one there to greet him
    had to have been weird.
    ―I want to see you.‖
    There was the underlying command in his voice, but he had not
    phrased it as an order, which, thankfully, allowed me to ignore it. I was
    relieved, because there was no way I could see him in the state I was in.
    ―Okay.‖
    ―Okay?‖
    ―Yeah.‖
    ―What does that mean?‖
    ―It means that I can be home in a couple of days, but––‖
    ―A couple of days?‖
    ―Yeah. You said you were gonna be gone, so I wanted to make sure I
    was too, and now I‘m locked into plans I can‘t get out of.‖
    ―Why would you want to leave home? You love being at home.‖
    And he was right—I did. Having been homeless for so long, outside
    of work, it was where I could normally be found.
    ―Jin, what‘s going on?‖
    ―With what?‖ I asked lightly.
    ―What plans do you have that you can‘t change?‖
    ―Logan––‖
    ―Who are you with?‖
    I cleared my throat. ―No one.‖
    His silence was long, like he was thinking. ―Jin.‖
    I had planned to think up my story that evening; I wasn‘t prepared
    yet. I was toying with telling him that I had to go to Vegas for my boss or
    something along those lines. The idea of lying to my mate hurt to
    consider, but the alternative, the truth, was no better.
    ―Jin?‖
    ―I‘m here.‖
    4

    Mary Calmes

    ―What the hell is going on? Where is everybody, and why the hell
    don‘t you want to see me? I‘ve been gone for an entire week; didn‘t you
    miss me at all?‖
    I had missed him way too much, which had basically been the cause
    of the entire problem, from what Abbot had said.
    ―Jin… love.‖ His voice softened, husky with feeling. ―Why don‘t
    you want to see me?‖
    ―I do… I so do,‖ I hedged. What was I supposed to say? ―I just don‘t
    want you to see me until I look good.‖ Which was basically the truth, just
    not the whole truth.
    ―You always look good.‖
    It was nice that he thought so, but I didn‘t always look good, and
    now, even worse, I was battered and bruised and still healing. As I was a
    werepanther, I strengthened after being hurt much faster than an average
    person, but there had been a lot of blood and cuts, and I still looked pretty
    bad. I had told everyone at work that I was in a car accident, and when I
    had showed up at the restaurant just to post the schedule and pass out
    paychecks, they were not sure I should have been out of bed. Had I told
    them the truth, that I was breaking up a fight between two werepanthers,
    they would have looked at me like I was crazy.
    ―Are you at work?‖
    ―I‘m actually just leaving,‖ I said, because I was, in fact, going to be
    driving away from the restaurant where I worked in the next few seconds.
    ―I‘m going