by Mary Calmes
She looked at him and lit up. Her face, her gaze, her smile, the flush on her skin, the way her breath caught, all of it was mesmerizing. His eyes crinkled in half when he looked back at her, and I liked it.
“Don’t be grateful to him,” I had told her earlier that night, when I had followed Logan in from the cold.
“I’m grateful to you and my semel,” she said and added that she had already replaced her mate with Logan, which made me warm inside. “I’m not grateful to Crane Adams, he didn’t save me.”
And I was glad. I didn’t want her grateful to him; I wanted her to love him, if that was what her heart could still fathom. He deserved to be loved, and so did she.
A snicker from beside me drew me from my thoughts back to the present. I turned to look at Mikhail, whose attention was diverted. Following his gaze, I found Domin sitting beside a reclining Yuri. Domin was chatting with the priest while his hip and thigh pressed into my sheseru’s side. Sitting on Yuri’s right was Chuluun, and both his posture and hooded eyes suggested that he was offering more than the wine that he was pouring.
It was a mistake. I watched Domin do a slow pan to the maahes of the tribe of Khertet, lean sideways over Yuri, and say something that drained all the color from Chuluun’s face.
“I think,” I said with a chuckle, turning to Mikhail, “that maybe Domin’s done with sharing and waiting to claim what he wants.”
Mikhail nodded, his smile the rare one that curled the corner of his lip and made his eyes glitter deep midnight blue. “And Yuri’s thrilled.”
I had to agree. The way Yuri was built, wanting equaled ownership, and he wanted more than anything for Domin to claim him, put his mark on him, as he had, and for Domin to just announce to everyone that Yuri was his. The show of possessiveness made my sheseru unbearably happy. But still, because he was kind, he caught Chuluun’s wrist before he could leave, pulled him down so he could whisper in his ear, and when the other man rose, he didn’t look startled anymore but resigned. When Yuri sat up and leaned against Domin’s back, I saw the other man smile even as he continued talking.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.
“What?” Mikhail turned to me.
“Domin’s going to Sobek, Yuri’s staying with us. How the hell is this supposed to work?”
“Everyone’s alive and safe, Jin,” he sighed, reaching up to gently pat my cheek. “Let’s just sit here and be thankful, alright?”
I couldn’t argue.
It was interesting to see people approach Domin, the new title changing everything. Everyone was reverent. Even Jamal and Shahid, when they came in, both came forward and bowed to him. When Shahid, who was more than an acquaintance of my former maahes, leaned forward to speak to him, I watched Domin tilt his head away, making certain, simply from his body language, that Shahid being that close to him was not welcome. Things had changed, and whatever everyone thought they knew of Domin Thorne was no longer correct. In the morning, the priest had said, Domin would need to name his maahes, his sheseru, and his sylvan. He would not go back to Nevada with us; his duty was to the tribe of Rahotep. They needed to meet their new leader, and the semel-aten needed to put his house in order.
“You do understand,” Mikhail said softly, “that this will change your life, Jin, no matter what.”
And I wasn’t sure what he meant until Logan put his hand on my thigh. I turned to look at my mate.
“Baby, you do realize that Domin has to have people he trusts around him.”
I was still lost.
“And where do you think those people will come from?”
It hit me like a sledgehammer in the gut. “Oh shit.”
Logan threw an arm around me and hugged me to his side.
“Who will he take to Egypt with him?”
“We’ll just have to wait and find out.”
I was afraid to know.
Ebere presented herself to Domin, bowing low before he bid her rise and took her hand as was the custom, to show that she was claimed by him and under his protection. The priest pronounced her, again, mastaba, mistress of Sobek, as Domin had claimed her. She was considered the widow of the semel, but in giving her the title, he had declared her his until she chose to marry again or died. She could not be made to take another mate, as she, as well as any children that were hers, had been claimed by the semel-aten. Domin had granted her and her daughters safety.
It was not as though Ebere even lived in Sobek anymore, but wherever she was in the world, she was mastaba and so was safe. The reach of the semel-aten knew no bounds. She came to sit with Logan and me afterward and thanked us both again.
“I’m sorry for the loss of your mate,” Logan told her. “Please make sure your daughters understand.”
“This was tribal law, semel-netjer,” she told him. “And we all live with the duality of our lives. We’re human and not, and so my daughters will grieve the loss of their father, but they will understand the law. Every semel can be challenged, every mate put to death or marked, every man, woman, and child brought before their semel and judged.” She took a breath. “We all live by the same rules, and perhaps some of them, now that Domin Thorne is semel-aten, can be changed, but to say that my daughters would somehow not understand tribal law is impossible.”
“It’s all well and good to know why something happened; it’s something else to be okay with it. They can still hate Domin for being the instrument of their father’s death.”
“Or perhaps love him for releasing their mother from a nightmare,” she said, smiling through her tears.
I had no idea what kind of horrors Ammon El Masry had visited on his mate, but from seeing the face of his widow, I no longer feared that she or her daughters would ever hurt Domin.
When she left, I hugged her, and she made me promise to visit her if I was ever in Cairo. It was a vow I made wholeheartedly.
After another hour, Domin rose, lifted a hand to Logan and me, and then pulled Yuri to his feet. They both bowed to the priest—it was the etiquette—and were gone seconds later. Yuri knew better than to ask Logan to leave; that was not how my semel ran his tribe, with bowing and scraping and rigid observance of tradition. And I was so glad; the rigid rules were one of the things that Domin had already promised he would change. I had seen the look of concern on the priest’s face when Domin had been talking to him at dinner about the list of laws he would be tackling first. His plan was to see the council of Ennead weekly, whereas Ammon had seen them only once a year when it was mandated.
“You have changes to the law you wish to make?” the priest had asked him.
“Oh yes.” Domin had smiled his wicked smile that made his brown eyes glow. He looked dangerous, like some sort of pirate king, and the priest shivered just once.
Wine was swapped for vodka and airag, and the talking got louder and more boisterous before people started migrating into dark corners of the warm sandalwood-scented room. The lanterns were dimmed, musicians were ushered in, and the semel of Khertet thanked us all for honoring his house with our presence and thanked the priest for honoring him with the sepat.
Many of the people, both men and women, who had been serving had returned and were now offering more than food and drink to the guests of their tribe. Andrian and Taj both had a woman in their laps, and Danny was almost in Mikhail’s.
“He’s drunk,” my sylvan said to me even as he smiled up at my whimpering cousin. “I’m gonna go put him in bed.” He smiled at me, shaking his head even as Danny leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his neck.
“I thought Mikhail told me he and Danny talked,” Logan told me as we watched Mikhail carry the younger man from the room.
“They did, but,” I said with a shrug, “come on. Between the alcohol and the pheromones in here, hearing other people screwing, smelling it, seeing it—are you kidding?”
He made a noise, and I laughed softly before he fisted his hand in my hair, yanking my head back sharply so he could kiss a line up my throat
.
“What’re you doing?” I chuckled even as he pushed me down under him.
He stared at me with his warm gold eyes, and I felt the relief and peace wash over me.
It should have been heat, being that close to him, with his big hard body pressing down on me, trapping me, with the scents and sounds all around us… but all I could feel was joy.
“I’m supposed to be making you hot.”
I started laughing.
“Shit,” he grumbled as he rolled over on his back, bringing me along with him.
Leaning over, I kissed him gently, tenderly, letting him feel how much I loved him. “When the priest introduced each of the mates of the semels before the sepat began, he said Jin Rayne.”
Logan was searching my face, and I watched as he stilled, like he was holding his breath, waiting for what I was going to say.
“And I thought,” I said as I inhaled his delicious scent, “that I wanted to be just like those yareahs. I wanted to have my name be the same as yours.”
“Oh.”
“So I thought,” I said as my breath fluttered over his face, “that if it was still on the table, I would really love to take your last name.”
His hands lifted to my face, and the look in his amber eyes made me breathless. They were glowing with pride. “You would?”
I nodded.
“Because you know that’s what I want,” he assured me. “And it would make me… I mean, you’re not Jin Rayne anymore, are you?”
No, I wasn’t. I had not been since I met him. He made me different, stronger, better, kinder, all the things that a mate was supposed to do. All the good things, at least.
“So, then,” he whispered, easing me down until I was lying on top of him, my hands flat on his chest, “when we get home, we’ll change your name.”
I nodded.
“And begin the process with the surrogate.”
“Yes,” I managed to get out.
His eyes searched mine. “I never wanted it to be my sperm and a woman I didn’t know, you know? I always wanted it to be you and Delphine. It’s how I dreamed it.”
“But you deserve to have—”
“My line, and you,” he said, squinting hard, his eyes reddening, softening as he stared at me. “Do you even get how bad I wanna see your big gray eyes on someone I can protect and never let get hurt and take care of?”
My vision blurred as my eyes filled.
“I want my own family with you. The second I met you, when I knew you were mine, I swear, Jin, I could see my whole life in that one moment.” He eased me closer, my lips hovering over his. “Thank you for taking my name, it means more than you can imagine.”
I bent and kissed him, and he opened for me so I could taste him, slide and rub my tongue over his, take thorough possession of his mouth. When he rolled over on top of me, arms wrapped around me, holding me tight, I moaned deeply, loving the feel of his big hard body on mine. As the kiss changed, grew more heated and carnal and urgent, Logan broke it off, rose and grabbed my hand.
He tugged me after him, passed many people engaged in various sexual acts, some couples and a few in threes and fours, until we reached the priest, and both of us kneeled down before him. I saw how heated the older man’s eyes were as they raked over Logan. I understood then that yes, he had wanted Logan to be semel-aten because he was semel-netjer, but he also simply enjoyed looking at my mate. It made sense; he was gorgeous.
“Semel-netjer, will you and your reah grant us the honor of watching you and your—”
“I request permission to take our leave, Your Grace,” he said as he rose. “I will see you all in the morning when the semel-aten chooses his household, but for now… I need my reah.”
“But we would be honored to have you claim your mate here.”
The priest wanted to watch; he was curious, and it was very human, but also, in this instance, something that was not in his power to demand. Not with a semel and his true-mate.
There were laws that could be changed and others that were finite, like the one that protected Logan and me, always, from prying eyes.
“It would do my reah no honor, nor me.” He bowed, and I did as well. “So we will take our leave and bid you good night, Your Grace.”
And no one said another word as we left.
Back at our quarters, Logan started stripping out of his clothes.
“What are you doing?” I asked, as Yusuke was trying not to look, Crane was chuckling, and Mikhail was confused.
“I’m going to go for a run with my mate.”
I was stunned. “But, Logan,” I said, starting to take off my parka, which I had put on just to get from the mouth of the cave to the ger maybe a hundred yards beyond. It was so damn cold. “You were in your panther form for so long? I didn’t think you’d want to—”
“I’m not afraid of being a panther, Jin, and running with you is one of the great joys of my life. I know who I am.”
I caught my breath.
“And I know what’s mine.”
I nodded because I couldn’t speak.
“Hurry up.” He smiled at me before he shifted.
Crane was laughing as I tore off my clothes.
Chapter Nineteen
WE ALL stood near the entrance of the cave late in the morning, having convened after breakfast. There were Jeeps outside to take us to the airport and a helicopter that would take the new semel-aten and his chosen household, along with the priest and the Shu warriors, to a secluded airfield where a private jet stood fueled and ready to make the long trip first to Beijing and then on to Cairo. We would be making a similar trip, except that we would fly first back to Beijing and then on to Los Angeles. Logan had been on the phone that morning booking Yusuke’s flight back, even though he had no idea yet if everyone who had come with me would be flying home with him.
Whatever happened, he was prepared. I was not.
It had taken hours for everyone to say their goodbyes to the priest. He and Logan had met at dawn, as it was the priest’s favorite meeting time, and they had spoken at length. I had not been included, which was fine with me. I had become, to the priest, a worrisome creature to be feared. That was unfortunate, but I hardly cared. I was happy that Jamal had sought me out and that the two of us had talked, and though he still seemed wary of me, he was no longer openly resentful of my power. When I had dragged him through his shift, he had been at first surprised, then furious, and finally ashamed. He was supposed to be stronger, certainly stronger than my sheseru or my sylvan or my beset. That Yuri and Mikhail and Crane had been able to keep from turning into panthers was hard for him to accept. The others—Logan, Domin—they were semels, so it made sense. But not him. It was good that we had talked and would be parting ways on good terms.
As I stood beside Logan, silently waiting along with everyone else, including the semel of Khertet and his household, I watched Domin and held my breath. He looked good this morning, shaved, hair still pulled back in a queue, every bit the new leader of the werepanther world. When he turned, giving Logan the playboy smile, my heart stopped.
“Anyone, semel-netjer?”
“Anyone,” Logan said, nodding. “I want the semel-aten to be safe.”
Domin nodded, smiling bigger, and looked over all of us, all of Logan’s household.
“And you don’t have to choose from those here,” he told him. “If you want Ivan or—”
“No,” he called over to Logan. “I would never ask Ivan or Markel again. They both have their lives there with you, especially Markel.”
“Yes,” Logan agreed, smiling back at him. “It’s amazing how many good things came out of something that was hard for all of us.”
Domin nodded, and I saw his jaw clench with emotion before his eyes found what he wanted.
I caught my breath.
“Mikhail,” he said softly, “come with me to Sobek.”
And I watched Mikhail Gorgerin smile slowly before he bowed. “It would be my privilege, sem
el-aten.”
Domin’s eyes then flicked to Yuri, who was barely standing still.
And every part of me screamed, No, not like that, not to be sheseru.
“Taj,” Domin said, looking away, “come and be the sheseru of the tribe of Rahotep. I need someone I trust completely to carry out my orders until I become fluent in the language and customs of my new tribe.”
Taj was touched by the depth of Domin’s faith, and it was there on display for everyone to see. He nodded and bowed low. “Yes, my semel, it would be my honor.”
I didn’t want either of them to go, but I didn’t want Domin to leave either; I wanted my family and my tribe together forever.
“This is maat,” Domin said as Mikhail took his duffle bag and walked over to Domin to stand at his side. Taj did the same, and so he was flanked on either side by his sylvan and sheseru.
When Mikhail’s eyes met Logan’s, there was the slightest nod of understanding. They each knew what they meant to one another, and it was up to Logan to take care of Mikhail’s family, parents, siblings, as well as his business there in Nevada. He would make the transition seamless for Mikhail, making sure that everything he needed would be shipped to Egypt, and if any member of Logan’s tribe wanted to follow him, they too would be allowed to go. Only semels released tribe members, and Logan always did what was best.
He would do the same for Taj, although for him, returning to Sobek was more homecoming than leaving.
“As for the maahes of the tribe of Rahotep….” Domin took a breath and looked at me. “It’s time, isn’t it?”
Logan put an arm around me and tucked me against his side.
“I need my circle to be impenetrable against corruption. I cannot ever, for a moment, not trust my sylvan, my sheseru, or my maahes.”
And I knew what he wanted, but I also knew that unless I nodded, gave him my blessing, that he would not take what was mine. Only I could release Crane Adams; only I could release my beset and promise at the same time.