Crucible of Fate

by Mary Calmes

  “Damn, you’re loud.” He laughed softly, very pleased with my reaction as he pulled out only to slam back into me even harder the second time.

  “You like me loud,” I said, not sounding like me at all, my voice deep, guttural, and raw.

  His gaze locked on mine, and I reached up and framed his face with my hands. I watched his lashes flutter, saw how dilated his pupils were, and saw him bite down on his lower lip so he wouldn’t make any noise.

  “I like to hear you too. I love all the sounds you make.”

  “Domin,” he breathed, and I could see how hard he was concentrating not to come.

  “I feel good?”

  “Better than—your body is holding me so tight, I can feel every clench, every ripple, every… you need to not move at all.”

  I pulled him down to me instead, lifting up for his kiss, wrapping my legs around his waist and grinding my erection into his stomach, craving the friction.

  “You should come all over me, mark me, show me who I belong to.”

  The words were enough.

  I threw my head back and yelled his name as I spurted come over his chest and abdomen. He fucked me through the aftershocks, thrusting deep, his rhythm never faltering until the end, when he came inside of me and then froze.

  “I feel too good to move.”

  I started chuckling.

  “Stop it, oh God,” he moaned, arms around my knees, holding me against him, trying to keep me immobile.

  I stayed still, gazing up at him, delighting in his lazy grin, his hooded eyes, and the red marks covering his pale skin. No one could miss what we had been doing while we were gone.

  He eased free of my spasming channel and warm liquid ran down the insides of my thighs as he collapsed onto the narrow space of bed beside me.

  “I love you,” he said, kissing my temple, apparently not caring that I was sticky and sweaty, instead inhaling the smell of us together. “And that won’t ever change.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because you’re mine,” he sighed, using my words from earlier.

  I folded myself against him, my arm around his neck, thigh over his hip, and nuzzled into the hollow of his throat, under his jaw, inhaling his delicious, masculine scent.

  “Yeah, you like belonging to me.”

  “Yes, I do,” I agreed as I closed my eyes and relaxed.

  “No, no, no.” He laughed softly, massaging the back of my head. “You gotta get up.”

  I loved him, but he wasn’t in charge. “All you’re doing is holding me.”

  “No, you must get up,” he entreated, even as he wrapped his burly arms around me.

  I snuggled in tighter and then let out a deep, contented sigh.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  Obviously not.

  Chapter 11

  IT WAS late, and there weren’t many people still milling around the square when Yuri and I joined Jin at the table. He appeared tired but happy. Taj was sitting beside him, fast asleep, head on his arms, and Koren was on the other side in the exact same position.

  He was pleased when we sat down.

  “How are you up?”

  “I don’t need as much sleep as the others,” Jin said, lifting his hand and giving a small wave.

  A woman immediately brought a pitcher of water for us, and some eish—Egyptian bread—along with some koshari and sliced lamb. I wasn’t sure what kind of small roasted bird she delivered to the table until Jin said that it was pigeon. She also brought sliced cucumbers and tomatoes and fresh hummus with olive oil, then dates, figs, and plums along with plates and napkins and a decanter of thick red wine.

  Koren twisted on the bench and stretched out, putting his head in Jin’s lap.

  “Logan would kill him for that,” Yuri said as Jin stretched out a hand and rested it on Koren’s shoulder.

  “No,” Jin said softly. “Logan’s much more concerned about his son these days.”

  “How can you be so smart and so stupid at the same time?”

  Jin dismissed me with a wave. “Kabore is sleeping in one of the vehicles and Rahim is in the other. The rest of your khatyu are in different homes around town, and Taj is obviously here with me and Koren.”

  “And the djehus?”

  “They’re coming back first thing in the morning to see you. Oh, Dr. Pakhom and her people are in the medical tent, sleeping. She has Hanif Tarek in there with her because she had to give him a tranquilizer to calm him down.”

  I looked over at the cage where his father was penned. “He was given food and water, wasn’t he?”

  “He was,” he said as his face scrunched up.

  “What’s with you?”

  “Something troubling.”

  “Would you like to share?”

  Jin was worried, I could tell. “Dr. Pakhom also tranquilized him and gave him a lot of intravenous fluid. She made a very interesting diagnosis.”

  “For fuck’s sake, Jin.”

  “Okay, so, apparently the semel has stage four syphilis.”

  “Why did you say that like I should care?”

  “Because it probably explains everything.”

  “It would explain the change in him?”

  “It would, yes.”

  “And so what? I’m supposed to just let him off the hook because he’s sick? Let him make amends?”

  “That would be the right thing to do, wouldn’t it?”

  I checked with Yuri. “Your thoughts?”

  “I think everyone who had sexual contact with him should be checked out. I have to call Ehivet Milar and have his son tested. I know that Deoles was the one who raped Garai, but we don’t know that he didn’t have it too.”

  “You’re evading.”

  He locked his gaze on mine. “I think you want to kill him and you always do what you want.”

  “If I always did what I wanted, you would have never come out here alone.”

  Yuri’s eyes locked on mine. “That just says that you were concerned that you might have appeared weak if you made me stay. You let me do whatever I wanted, so it seemed like you didn’t care one way or another.”

  I held his gaze.

  “It’s true. You know it is.”

  “It was, but not anymore.”

  He kissed my cheek. “I’m glad.”

  Jin scoffed, and my focus shifted to him.

  “And you?”

  “And me what?”

  “What do you think?”

  “You’re so different from him.”

  “From who?” And then I got it. “Logan.”

  He nodded. “Logan never asks for advice from anyone.”

  “I’ve been trying really hard to be just like him, you know,” I confessed.

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s the perfect semel,” I said petulantly. “He always knows what to do. I wanted to be the kind of leader he is.”

  “You can’t,” Jin said. “Logan doesn’t depend on anyone; you don’t have that luxury.”

  “He depends on you,” I reminded him.

  He shook his head. “Not really. Logan can make decisions and not have to count on anyone. You’re more thoughtful than he is.”

  “You mean weaker.”

  “No, I mean what I said.” His voice rose a little as his beautiful eyes softened. “Logan never had his line ended, never had to overcome what you did. Logan has always been the law; there’s never been any interruption in that.”

  “Yeah, but second-guessing yourself isn’t a good thing.”

  “But you don’t, not as far as I can see. You ask for the opinions of people you trust and then you make an informed decision. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

  “Yeah, but if Logan were semel-aten, Hakkan Tarek would already be dead and the question of why would have died with him.”

  “And how is that fair to a man who by all accounts was a good semel up until a year ago?”

  “I don’t—”

  “So thirty
plus years of being a good leader is washed away by a year of horror?”

  “Yes,” Yuri chimed in. “I know you’re about life and forgiveness, my reah, but what was done, what might have been done, has to carry the most weight.”

  “Plus,” Taj said, yawning before he shared his perspective, “if you allow him to live, then he has to have that horrible realization of what he did to his family. It’s actually the greater mercy to simply put him out of his misery.”

  “It’s not a question of any of that,” Kabore said as he sat down.

  “I thought you were asleep,” I said.

  “I received word that Logan Church is on his way here from Sobek and came to let you know.”

  “Oh,” I said, turning. “Kabore heard… I wonder how?”

  Yuri rolled his eyes.

  “Could it possibly be that brand-new invention—a phone?”

  “It was an accident. I took the wrong one,” he reasoned.

  “Perhaps to make sure it never happens again, the one you have should be destroyed.”

  “I think Hakkan Tarek beat you to that.”

  “And you see,” I said to Jin, “yet another reminder of his indiscretions. You cannot simply disregard the law. It’s there for a reason. No semel is above it.”

  He was biting his bottom lip.

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  He furrowed his brow and gave a slight shake of his head.

  “Don’t be a pussy,” I instructed.

  He flipped me off and Kabore was flabbergasted.

  I stretched my arms wide. “Here it is: no matter where any of us go, no matter what any of us ever do, you are all my family and there will never be the law between us. So speak your mind.”

  “Even me?”

  I took in Koren as he sat up sleepily beside Jin. “Especially you, idiot.”

  He smiled that smile I had always loved: unguarded, genuine, all shining eyes and warmth. I leaned across the table and reached for him. He put his hand in mine and squeezed tight. Yuri grunted beside me, and Koren laughed, let my hand go, and reached for my mate.

  “Try not to bury the hatchet in my back, all right?”

  Yuri got up and walked around the table. Koren was up before he reached him, and I watched Jin tear up as the two men hugged.

  “God, you’re a soft touch.” I swallowed around the lump in my own throat.

  I got flipped off again and then gave my attention back to Kabore. “Yeah, I’m different; everything about me is. Are you sure I’m the guy you want to put up for the job you and I were talking about earlier?”

  “Oh yes. You’re who we’ve been waiting for, Domin Thorne.”

  “Okay,” I said as Yuri took a seat beside me. “What were you going to say?”

  “I was going to say that you have to take in all the factors of the life of Hakkan Tarek. You must have a trial so that everyone may speak,” Kabore answered.

  “Eat something,” Yuri prodded. “You need to keep your strength up.”

  “Yes,” Jin said softly, his voice smooth and rich, like it always was. “Please eat, Domin.”

  “Everyone sit down with me.”

  It was nice that they all did.

  WE SAW the lights first and then finally heard the sound of the Hummer coming up the two-lane road into Ipis. It stopped outside the square, and they came walking in, ten men in all.

  They had taken care, as my khatyu did, to make sure Logan didn’t stand out. He was dressed as they were, but the problem was that even in black cargo pants, black combat boots, a long-sleeved black shirt, a Kevlar vest, and a hat that reminded me of the ones the German army wore in the Second World War, I could still pick Logan Church out from the rest of them. His stride was longer and more fluid; he wasn’t used to moving in a formation with others but instead walking out front. He carried himself like royalty.

  It took me a minute to realize who the smaller man walking behind the others was. He was dressed in traditional Egyptian clothes, and I knew why. Nothing in the barracks of my khatyu or the Shu would fit him. At five nine, a fragile porcelain doll, he simply could not be outfitted for combat.

  “Fuck, what was Logan thinking?”

  It came to me then as I saw Jin’s cousin, Danny Rayne, a vision of what the reah would have resembled if he were smaller and his eyes and hair were brown. Danny was so sweet, so cute, it made your teeth hurt.

  I wanted to see what Koren was going to do, but Jin was the real attraction. I saw him close his eyes and take a breath. He didn’t even have to see Logan to know that his mate was there.

  “Don’t have a pissing contest,” I coaxed him. “Just get up and go to him.”

  His eyes closed, and I saw tears slip from under the thick black lashes.

  “Jin, don’t you miss him? Don’t you miss your son?”

  “It’s not that easy, Domin. I—”

  “Yes, it is. That’s the only man in the world who can deal with all your bullshit.”

  His eyes met mine.

  “Hurry.”

  He rose fast, turned, and ran.

  Logan stopped and had just enough time to open his arms before Jin flew into them.

  The instant they touched, we were all hit by a blast of air that smelled like freshly cut grass, jasmine, burning wood, and a crisp fall breeze all wrapped up together. A feeling of happiness and contentment rushed through me, and I had to grip the edge of the table not to fall forward.

  “Jesus, how does he do that?” Taj asked.

  “Who?” I teased.

  “Seriously!” He scowled at me. “What kind of power do you have to have that it feels like that when you’re happy?”

  It was like being caught in a sonic boom, and we were all reeling from the power of the reah reaching his mate.

  “It is scary to contemplate the nekhene cat unleashed in anger.”

  “Yes, it is,” Yuri agreed.

  “Is it safe to allow him to leave Sobek?” Kabore was concerned.

  “Yes,” I said as I observed the semel and his reah. “As long as Logan is with him, Jin is contained.”

  “He should scare you, my lord.”

  “Never,” I murmured. “Look at them.”

  Logan had one hand on Jin’s right hip and he had wrapped the other in his mate’s long glossy hair. He yanked his head back and then bent and kissed him. It was possessive and dominant, and I saw Jin tremble and clutch at Logan.

  “My brother never cares who sees him claim what belongs to him,” Koren commented. “I envy that ability to just not fuckin’ care.”

  I checked faces, eyes: the way people stood and watched, and how they suddenly had to clutch a loved one to them. Love, so clearly on display, affected everyone staring at the semel-netjer and his nekhene cat. I had never seen so much obvious adoration and complete acceptance. When Logan lifted his mouth from Jin’s, the smaller man’s eyes slowly drifted open. Logan took his chin in his hand and studied his face before he bent and touched his forehead against Jin’s and began talking. I was glad to see Jin nodding.

  “I don’t understand why you aren’t frightened,” Kabore said suddenly, sounding confused.

  “Because,” I replied as Logan gazed down at his mate a moment longer before taking his hand and walking toward the table. “You don’t understand all the things he is.”

  “My lord—”

  “Jin is a complicated mess,” I maintained. “And only Logan understands him.”

  “Speaking of complicated….” Yuri cleared his throat.

  “What?” Koren groused.

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake.” I gestured at the younger man. “God, Koren, you’re such a prick.”

  He was fighting getting up, and the indecision was annoying me and killing Danny.

  “If you make him cry, I’ll end you,” Yuri warned him.

  “I thought he had the hots for Mikhail,” Taj inquired.

  “It changed,” Koren muttered as he got up. “He changed, I changed—it’s all different no
w.”

  We could all see that adorable, doe-eyed, luscious little Danny was almost vibrating with need as he stood by the fountain, worrying his bottom lip. He could not have been gazing at Koren with more heartbreaking longing if he’d tried.

  “Oh, come on, Church,” I prodded my ex. “Time to step up, huh?”

  “It’s not that easy to—”

  “So you’re gonna do what?” Yuri chortled. “Let another man have that?”

  “Fuck no,” Koren growled, and I liked the sound. It suited him, some commitment, finally.

  We all watched him rise and then saw Danny tremble even as he lifted his chin and squared his shoulders.

  “That sort of makes sense,” I said, yawning. “Both Church men have mates who are Raynes.”

  “Jin’s not a Rayne anymore, he’s a Church,” Yuri reminded me.

  “Oh, that’s right.” I agreed, watching Koren reach Danny.

  The younger man hesitated, hooded eyes missing nothing, but when Koren gestured for him to come closer, Danny didn’t hesitate. He leaped at him.

  I had never seen that particular expression on Koren’s face before as Danny wrapped his arms and legs around the bigger man. He was wiggling and whining, and Koren engulfed him in his arms before he slid one hand down over Danny’s ass.

  “You didn’t tell us.” Yuri chuckled as Logan reached the table.

  Kabore took a breath when the semel of the tribe of Mafdet caught him in his stare. Gold eyes swallowed him, and my steward was momentarily speechless.

  “I wasn’t sure what Koren was going to do. It’s hard to know with him,” Logan said point blank, never anything but directness coming out of the man.

  “I don’t know,” I said, watching him carry Danny out of the square, rubbing circles on his back as Danny kissed along the length of his jaw. “I think this might be it.”

  “Me too,” Logan agreed. “And I like it. Danny’s actually very good for him. He’s smart and knows what he’s worth to the tribe. He won’t let Koren get away with anything.”

  “On the flip side,” Jin offered, “Koren makes Danny feel very confident and protected, and they simply fit. I hope Koren keeps him.”

  “Maybe it will be Danny who leaves,” I said.

  Jin thought that was funny.