Trusted Bond

down
    at him, and he was covered in blood.
    I tensed, jolted, and his hands were flat on my face as cries filled the
    air.
    ―No, no, no,‖ he soothed me, swallowing hard, shivering, his eyes
    pleading. ―Love, it‘s not my blood, it‘s the blood of Ammon‘s khatyu, it‘s
    all their blood.‖
    I stared into his golden eyes.
    ―Just look at me,‖ he said softly, gently.
    His eyes were warm, locked on mine, concerned, filled with love,
    filled with me. I let out a deep breath, feeling my body start to relax.
    ―You see, love,‖ he said, smiling up at me, rubbing circles on my
    muzzle, stroking under my chin, letting me breathe him in, his delicious,
    soothing scent. ―I‘m fine, I‘m safe.‖
    Yes.
    ―Look at me.‖
    He was all I saw.
    ―Now,‖ he breathed out, ―can you move your paw for me?‖
    I looked down, and caught under me, under one of my claws, talons,
    pinning him to the chaise, was Ammon El Masry. He was shivering with
    220

    Mary Calmes

    pain, and when I tried to retract and couldn‘t, I yanked back hard
    instinctively, the way a cat does when it‘s stuck. There is no finesse to the
    motion, simply an animal reaction to being caught, the tug to get loose.
    He cried out in pain and there was a spray of blood, the hole in his
    shoulder gaping, but no more than he could realistically heal. I could heal
    it, and he was stronger than me. Supposedly stronger. Logan had grabbed
    his shoulders so he wouldn‘t come forward into me, caught on my claw. I
    retreated several steps, hitting the canopy, startling myself, frightened, not
    sure what or where I was at that moment.
    ―Love.‖
    But was I his love or something that could possibly hurt him? I made
    a whimpering noise that was involuntary.
    ―Breathe me in,‖ he commanded me, lifting his hands back toward
    me.
    I shivered, inching away.
    ―No.‖ His voice was caressing, deep and husky. ―Just breathe.‖
    His smell was intoxicating, and I knew he had hit me hard with his
    pheromones, using them to stop me, but I also knew in my weakened state
    that the pull to seek shelter, find safety, was nearly overwhelming. I
    wanted him; I needed him, and the reah that I was responded to his
    strength and dominance. Whatever I was, I was still servant to the master
    that he was. My need to submit was pulsing within me.
    ―Come closer.‖
    I wanted to wrap myself around him, savor the heat that I could feel
    rippling off the man even from a distance.
    ―My reah,‖ he pleaded, ―come closer.‖
    But I was afraid suddenly for what I had done and whom I had done
    it to. What would be my punishment, and would Logan share it?
    ―It‘s all right; it‘s just us, Jin, me, you, and Ammon.‖
    But I took in many other faces, among them Jamal. Taj was there, as
    well, and Shahid. As I cataloged the men I was looking at, I realized they
    were all members of the Shu, no one else there. Logan, me, Ammon, and
    the men who belonged to the priest. We were alone in the private spectator
    box of the semel-aten. I had seen it from below, seen how high above the
    others it was. It had reminded me of those of Roman Caesars.
    ―He‘s going to promise now, Jin, in front of these witnesses, to never
    try and hurt either of us again,‖ Logan said slowly, his voice going hard
    Trusted Bond

    221

    and cold. ―Or I‘m going to let you rip him in half. I don‘t expect anyone
    would stop you.‖
    Silence greeted Logan‘s statement. The Shu were neutral, but in this
    case, I was betting, if it came down to it, that they would let me end the
    semel-aten without much protest.
    ―You mistake my motivation, semel-re,‖ Ammon gasped, slowly
    lifting up on the chaise, holding his wadded-up shirt to the already closing
    hole in his left shoulder.
    As I suspected, the semel-aten was a fast healer. He would need to
    eat and drink and rest, just like any of us, but by the following day, the
    wound would be half the size it was.
    ―Last night I tried to kill you,‖ Ammon said as he exhaled, sitting
    back, resting, and gathering his strength. ―But today I merely wanted to
    keep you isolated in the room until your reah came looking for you, and
    then I would take him and shut him away in the temple of Seshat in the
    Western Desert.‖
    Our eyes locked, and I understood that he was terrified of me.
    ―You, reah, are much too powerful to be allowed to return to your
    home. You will shift in a time of distress and make us known to outsiders.
    I fear for all werepanthers,