by Mary Calmes
“No, love,” he said quietly, grabbing hold of my shoulder. “This is not a semel that you’re looking at. You can’t pull a regular cat through his shift and expect him to heal. They don’t have the power.”
I heard his logic but had to do something. I could not simply hold Andrian’s hand as he died. “Then we’ll call Doctor Sheridan, who—”
“He’s in Reno, Jin. He’ll never make it.”
“Then 911 to—”
“Love,” he stopped me. “A panther’s heart beats three times the blood of a man. They would have no idea what to do with his physiology or how to treat him.”
“Logan!” I almost screamed. “I can’t just—”
“Would you have him die alone, in a human hospital?”
“So I should do nothing?” I rasped, my voice cracking.
“You should give comfort,” Logan urged, looking down at Andrian and grasping both of his hands. “My friend.” Logan’s voice was like honey. “What happened?”
Andrian had blood coming from his mouth, and as he spoke, it gurgled out between words. “My wife and son… they were taken before we returned home….”
I felt my power rise, felt the air heat around us, and saw Andrian’s body relax, watched his eyes narrow as he calmed.
“They were confined to the main house and were there when I went to leave. I have been there since I saw you last.”
While we were spending time with family, Andrian had been tortured.
“They were taken to try and get me to turn my allegiance, as I was head of your khatyu, my semel. They are still there, and Danny… he’s in the basement… you have to save him.”
Logan nodded and bent close to Andrian. “Who attacked you?”
“Your brother Russ, my semel, at the goading of others.”
“You were tied, were you not?”
“I was, and my mate… she was made to watch. You must save her and my boy.”
“I will,” Logan promised. “I’ll get them.”
“But who will help you, my semel? There are so many.”
“I have my mate,” he assured his friend.
Andrian rolled his head sideways, and tears ran freely from his eyes. “If only you were restored, my reah. Then I would know they would pay.”
He didn’t even know that I was the one warming him, so I concentrated until he couldn’t miss the hot prickling wind dancing over his skin. I then lifted my hand so he could see it change from first claws to a bird’s talons and finally to an enormous paw before returning again to fingers.
“Oh,” he gasped, and his joy made it hard for me to speak my next words.
“I will make them pay, Andrian Basargin,” I vowed. “You are the first man I ever met from the tribe of Mafdet, and your warmth and acceptance have remained with me.”
He nodded fast, and I felt it, felt his relief, his trust, and his absolute belief in me and in Logan. “It was my greatest honor to accompany you and my semel to the challenge in Mongolia. That you chose me… I will carry that memory with me to the next life as I have carried it here.”
“Yes,” I agreed, feeling his hot blood covering my hands.
“Wherever you go, take my wife and child.”
“I swear,” I said. “I swear on the life of my child, Andrian Basargin, I will not fail you.”
He exhaled deeply. “I know, my reah—” His eyes rolled to gaze up at Logan. “You and my semel have never failed me.”
I knew the instant he died, and I bent and touched my forehead to his as my vision went, and I felt the grief like an anvil on my heart before I did what I always did and shouted for Crane.
Logan slipped a hand around the back of my neck and held tight, anchoring me even as he took shallow breaths.
In moments Crane and Yusuke were there.
“Oh no,” she cried out before she bent over Andrian and pressed her cheek to his.
Crane took hold of my hand, blood and all, and clutched tight.
Logan cleared his throat. “Yusuke, contact Miguel Garza, semel of the tribe of Deshret in Los Angeles. Tell him Ruslan Church is here and is claiming the title of semel. Tell him I’ve been challenged, explain who you are, and then wait for instruction from him,” he said gruffly. “Go now.”
“Yes, my semel,” she said, rising quickly.
“Crane, I need you, Markel, and Ivan to build the pyre in the clearing where we normally have the gatherings, but first I need you to call Domin and tell him what’s happened.”
“Yes, my semel.”
“And Crane?”
My best friend regarded my mate.
“Are you the one who spoke to Domin about Ilia?”
Crane didn’t hesitate, only nodded, confessing the truth.
Logan sighed. “I know why you did it, because your first priority is Jin, and now Ilia after your own family. And as it turns out, you might have saved all our lives.”
Crane reached for Logan, who lifted his arm to wrap it around Crane’s back and give him a hard clench.
“Domin is more a brother to me than my own. I find no betrayal in you speaking to him.”
Crane’s relief was obvious, and I knew that he’d make the same choice over and over if faced with the same circumstances, but still, it was good to have Logan’s blessing.
“I’ll call Domin now,” Crane said when they parted. “And then immediately get to work on the pyre.”
“Good. Thank you.”
“It can’t be huge. There’s only the three of us.”
Logan looked down at Andrian’s body. “It doesn’t need to be, just enough to give Andrian the rites and the blessing.”
No panthers were ever buried. It wasn’t possible in case humans ever grew suspicious and wanted to find proof of our existence.
“My semel?”
Logan lifted his eyes to him.
“Where will you be?”
“Jin and I have to go to the house and retrieve Andrian’s mate and son, as well as Danny.”
“Danny?” Crane asked. “I thought he was in Vegas.”
“Apparently he never left.”
Crane’s eyes got round. “I don’t—he had your leave to go.”
“But maybe Koren changed his mind, and now he’s stuck,” Logan explained. “He’s in the basement, from what Andrian said.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
“Yes,” Logan assured him. “Do as I asked.”
Craned nodded and darted quickly into the house.
“Logan,” I said, my voice clogged with tears.
He met my gaze.
“I could go alone, kill them all, and return with Andrian’s wife and child, as well as Danny.”
Quick shake of his head. “You’re a reah, Jin. First, you’re my reah,” he reminded me. “So, no, you won’t kill. They’ll give them to me. I’m one of the seven laws that advise the akhen-aten, and as Domin is on his way with members of the Shu, they might consider that.”
They would pass out when he reminded them. “And if they don’t?”
“Then I’ll kill them.”
Chapter 10
IT LOOKED like we were walking over to the house for game night or something. It was just so normal, Logan and I on our stroll, until we got close and saw men who used to be Logan’s khatyu, armed and standing around the perimeter of the house.
They didn’t stop us, didn’t impede us in any way, and in fact many could not meet Logan’s eyes. I couldn’t imagine it was easy; they’d betrayed him, and they knew it, and it was treason, what they were engaged in, and when Logan killed Russ in the pit, they could all follow their new leader in death.
The door opened, and Koren stepped out, looking shaken and pale.
“I want Andrian’s mate, Irina; his son, Dmitri; and Danny Rayne.”
Koren simply stared at his brother. “You have nothing else to say to me?”
“You chose, Koren,” Logan informed him. “Give me my people, and I’ll be on my way.”
Koren stepped sideways instead and waited.
Logan lifted my hand, kissed my palm, and then the two of us moved forward into the house. What was interesting was that the home I had always found so warm and inviting now seemed so very cold. And some of it was simply window dressing. All Eva’s knickknacks and her pink Depression era glass that had been her mother’s was gone. All Markel’s gorgeous bright landscape oil paintings had been taken down, pictures of Logan and Koren and Russ were missing, and more than anything, the polished wooden floors had been covered in carpet, and the furniture that had been big and overstuffed and durable had been replaced with very modern leather and steel.
The room was very gray. It looked like a very pricey, refined hotel. Someone’s taste ran to chic and minimalist. I was guessing the woman sitting beside Peter on the settee.
She had very short blonde hair, dark deep-red lipstick, and creamy milk white skin I could see her veins through.
“Marina,” Logan said curtly. “Finally marrying into the Church family?”
She smirked at him. “Don’t be jealous, you had your chance. You’re the one who insisted on that whore Simone. It’s not my fault your brother Koren is smarter than you.”
He nodded. “I insisted on my reah, but before that, yes, Simone. She just had a successful IPO with her company, and she and her husband and their children are taking a trip to Greece to celebrate. It’s good that she moved on, don’t you think?”
She sneered, and I could tell she was ready to just give it to him with both barrels.
“What are you doing here?” Peter asked, taking hold of her hand to stop her.
“So Sasha Orlov is to be Russ’s sheseru, Marina Antipin Koren’s wife… my God, how long have you been planning this? Is Dasia coming—that was another you wanted me to marry—or Anton, Vadim’s son? How many children of your friends finally get access to the semel?”
“You were always so proud, wanting to do things your own way without any guidance from me, and I told you, one day it would lead you to ruin, and now it has.”
“Okay,” Logan scoffed as Russ strolled into the room with another stunning woman on his arm. This one was also blonde, but her hair hung down to the middle of her back in thick highlighted waves of platinum and gold. The copper silk swing dress she was wearing complemented her curves and accentuated her toned legs. She was gorgeous, and what was interesting was that as soon as her eyes found Logan, they didn’t move.
“Russ,” Logan greeted. “I request Andrian Basargin’s mate, and his son, as well as Danny Rayne.”
“Yes,” Peter called over to Russ, who glanced at his father. “Let Logan have them all. It’s not worth upsetting the tribe any more.”
“Agreed,” Koren mumbled, and I noticed how flat his voice sounded. His coloring was off, too; he didn’t look like himself at all. “Already, Russ, people are coming to ask about Andrian. You need to defuse this as soon as possible.”
Russ turned back to Logan. “It was an accident, you must believe me.”
Logan’s voice was deep and resonant. “We’re giving him his rites in a couple of hours, so I need his mate, his son, and Danny. Now.”
Russ moved fast and bumped his fingers into Logan’s collarbone. “You dare to—”
“I dare!” Logan roared, and it sounded like thunder in the cavernous room, his hand shifting fast so that he grabbed Russ’s face with claws instead of fingers. “You play at being semel, but I am one, and as I plan to renounce this tribe once I win, you, your sheseru, and your sylvan will face me, in my werepanther form, in the pit.”
The color drained from Russ’ face.
“I would suggest you prepare yourself,” he sneered at his youngest brother before he shoved him away.
“Guards!” Peter yelled as everyone moved.
“You will stay as you are,” Logan commanded, and everyone froze, even his father. “I am one of the seven laws that advise Domin Thorne, the akhen-aten, and as he will be here tomorrow, I suggest that you do not anger me in the interim.”
No one even breathed as Logan turned back to Russ.
“And you, little brother,” Logan began, his smile genuinely evil. “Did you speak to or make reparation to Miguel Garza of the tribe of Deshret before you answered our father’s call?”
“What are you talking about?” Peter snarled at his firstborn son as he charged across the room to stand beside Russ.
“Russ took on the status of duat,” Logan reminded his father. “He told the semel of the tribe of Deshret, the semel of Los Angeles, Miguel Garza, that he would live on his land and never shift. He would be dead as a panther and live only as a human unless he first told Miguel that he had been received back into his birth tribe and then moved out of the semel’s territory.”
I watched Peter absorb the news and blanch.
“What?” Russ gasped.
Logan’s sigh was deep. “The only person who can receive you into the tribe of Mafdet is the official semel of the tribe of Mafdet.”
Literally, the pin-dropping analogy was valid.
“I am the semel of the tribe of Mafdet. You are the semel-bennu.”
“No, I—”
“So, Russ, brother, as you remain duat in the territory of Miguel Garza, I have taken the liberty of informing him that you have both left his territory without his permission and are now going to challenge me for my seat.”
“You cannot!”
“I already did. He should arrive before the challenge.”
“Miguel Garza has no hold over—”
“Oh, he does,” Logan cut him off. “Ask Father.”
All eyes were on Peter, who couldn’t seem to find his voice to speak a word.
“Is this your yareah?” Logan asked Russ about the woman on his arm.
“Yes, I… this is Lydia, who—”
“Demand a champion for your child now, yareah,” Logan cautioned her. “The semel of the tribe of Deshret may demand a blood sacrifice.”
She gasped and rounded on Russ. “I asked you if it was maat to leave, and you said it was.”
“Yes, I—”
She slapped him hard across the face and turned quickly to Koren. “You must champion my child.”
“I cannot.”
“Cannot?” she cried. “Or will not?”
“It won’t be necessary,” I told her.
She whirled to face me. “You’re the reah.”
“I am,” I said gently. “It’s only posturing, lady. Ask Artem Varda, who will be your husband’s sheseru. He’ll stand as champion for your son.”
“You’re certain?”
“I am.”
She took light hold of my hand. “Thank you.”
I squeezed it gently. “The semel will want menat, tribute, to forgive the trespass, and perhaps to have your semel flogged. You must insist on whatever price he names or punishment doled out. It won’t kill Russ—he can heal the damage—and the money is of little consequence. Protect your son.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“But—” Russ began.
“No,” she shouted, and when Peter tried to touch her, she slapped his hand away. “My son is what’s important.”
“Of course,” Russ offered, soothing her.
“You all treat Logan as though he is still semel,” Marina snarled from the settee. “But he is not. Guards!”
Logan’s former khatyu surrounded us.
“Have this man whipped to show the tribe Ruslan Church’s true power!”
“Yes,” Peter shouted. “Russ! Do it now!”
Russ looked from his yareah to Koren to Peter and back to Marina before his eyes returned to Logan. “You have brought pain to my house,” Russ accused. “Now you will pay for that transgression. Take him!”
My power rose fast, and I took hold of both the yareah’s hand and Russ’s because the nekhene in me wouldn’t recognize either of them.
It still burned. Both of them screamed and sank to the floor—and I knelt wi
th them—but my ferocious rage did not wrench them through their shift as it did everyone else in the room.
Once, my power had been unstable. It had been a glamour to lure a mate and so had become sexual, carnal with an appetite that only Logan could sate. It had then become a hunter and sought to eradicate weakness by pulling all through their shift to uncover strength, punishing those it deemed unworthy. But now, finally, I balanced the feral nekhene cat that lived in me and the reah that I was, creating a melding that had become, at last, protective. It suited me, and Crane was right, I lived well in my skin.
I breathed out fierce, annihilating power and then took a breath and calmed before rising. The kiss on the back of my neck was unexpected, as was the scowl. Even as I shivered with goose bumps because Logan Church glowering at me was sexy as hell, I couldn’t keep from smiling.
“What?”
“I didn’t want anyone to know you got your memory back,” he informed me.
“Well, tell a person next time,” I quipped.
He threw up his hands before squatting down beside Russ and Lydia, both of whom were staring at Logan in absolute horror from where they lay on the floor, reeling, collapsed in shock and pain. They weren’t panthers like everyone else, but that was the only blessing.
“Sorry,” he said affably as we heard movement on the stairs from the basement, and Andrian’s mate, Irina, and his four-year-old son spilled into the room with Danny less than two paces behind them. I hadn’t drenched the house in my power, which was the only reason the two of them––Andrian’s son was still too young to shift––were on their feet, having instead focused on the room and the people in it. Once, long ago, that kind of control hadn’t been possible. But I’d had years of practice since then.
“My reah!” Irina screamed and ran to me, arms out, hitting me hard, her son too, and me, there, clutching them both, hugging them tight. “Andrian promised you and my semel would come for us!”
“Of course,” I crooned. “I’m only sorry we couldn’t save your mate.”
She nodded fast as she began to weep. “We will go with you and my semel, yes?”
“Oh yes,” I swore, petting Dmitri’s head before I pointed to Logan.
Dmitri looked up, gave me a tearful, toothy grin, then leaped at my mate.