Change of Heart 05 - Forging the Future (28 page)

“You’re so beautiful,” he told me before he grabbed under my thighs and spread me open wide. “My reah.”

What started out slow and sensual would end with him pounding me into the mattress, and I was more than ready.

“Hurry,” I demanded, and he began the relentless thrusting he knew I loved.

“God, I missed you,” he murmured, coming down on top of me, hands framing my face, staring at me, eyes soft as I was admired, adored, before he took my mouth.

Logan pushing deep, skin to skin with me, the fluid roll of his hips as he drove inside, kissing me all the while, was more than I could hope to resist. I came without warning, hard and blinding, arching beneath him.

“Fuck, Jin,” he roared, shivering in my arms with his climax, my muscles clenching around him as he fucked me through his orgasm and mine.

We stayed locked together for several long minutes after the orgasm faded, breathing hard and trembling. The knock on the door was a surprise, even more so that it opened. I was
not
surprised to be looking at Domin.

“You know, it’s not like we can’t hear you yell Jin’s name all the way downstairs.”

I groaned and buried my face in the hollow of my mate’s throat.

“And your kid is getting worried.”

“Fuck,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, speaking of, do you want me to explain that word to him?”

Logan grabbed a pillow and hurled it at him, but it was easy to sidestep.

“Is that a no?”

“That’s a no!” we both yelled at him.

“Well, then, maybe we can hold off on the rest of the screwing until we get to Sobek.”

Logan’s snarl was pretty cute.

“Speaking of, you know my staff isn’t used to lots of noise coming from the sack. It’s why Yuri and I have our bedroom on the roof. So you guys might need to get your room soundproofed.”

“Nope,” Logan told him, leaning on his elbow, still buried in my body. “They want me, they get to hear me being loud in bed.”

Domin grinned wide. “Okay, brother. Hey, it’s okay, you guys can do it again. I’ll just stand here.”

“Domin Thorne!” Yuri bellowed from downstairs, and he immediately slammed the door and was gone.

“I have never seen him jump for anyone.”

“Well, you do for
your
love,” Logan said, easing slowly from my body.

“Yes,” I agreed, reaching for him.

“Should we go downstairs?”

“In one more minute,” I sighed before I kissed him.

Chapter 16

I
T
WAS
a solemn day. I knew that, but I could not for the life of me wipe the smile off my face. I was brimming over with happiness, and because I was a reah, everyone felt my sweeping, bubbling joy.

The tribe was there to watch us leave, to make sure we left—the ceremonial running them out of town. But I felt too good to let it hurt me anymore.

Domin insisted on suits for all of us, as was tradition, to leave with a show of respect. I suspected, however, it was so everyone could see how beautiful he looked. The man was now and had always been a showman.

The three-piece black Prada suit made Domin look like a prince, regal and stunning. He smiled wide, his pirate grin, all wicked, carnal heat before he put on his sunglasses. “I bid the tribe of Mafdet peace and prosperity here under heaven,” he said, his voice deep and resonant, carrying to every man, woman, and child standing there to see him off. It was an old blessing he had resurrected after the priest Hamid Shamon taught it to him before his passing.

The tribe cheered as he took hold of Yuri’s arm and steered him forward, like his mate didn’t know where he was going. I enjoyed seeing Yuri light up as he always did when Domin touched him, the pale gray suit he was wearing bringing out his deep-set blue eyes and showing off his massive frame.

Domin didn’t appear to notice Koren standing beside Peter when he passed, too busy saying something to Yuri, chuckling as he listened to the response before he did see Artem Varda, and then they both stopped to shake his hand and wish him well.

Crane and Yusuke had been asked if they wanted to walk in the procession or to go on ahead to Sobek on the first flight out. They had both jumped at the chance to leave.

“But the tribe will not be able to show you their respect,” Danny had argued.

Yusuke scoffed. “The tribe can keep their regard. I will prove my worth to another and stand again at my semel’s side.”

I was glad that Kabore had already told Domin that he wanted to step down, because I had no interest in watching Yusuke fillet anyone I liked. But really, any who came between her and her duty to Logan was simply morgue-bound.

So she and Crane, their girls, Markel and Delphine, Eva, Ivan and his parents, and Irina and her son, Dmitri, were already gone, having flown out of the Reno airport two hours prior, half of Domin’s khatyu and Wickham Morris and Dov Yadin convening with them there. Shahid Alon and more men were meeting them in New York to fly with them to France on a private jet, and then on to Cairo. I had no idea how Domin got passports and all the rest of the paperwork he needed for all of us so quickly, but I didn’t question him. I was just so relieved knowing the others were already completely safe that I started to feel like I was glowing.

Justin and Danny walked ahead of us, and several people stopped to wish Danny safe travels and to meet Justin, who was holding his hand. I was pleased to see that Danny didn’t appear to be ignoring Koren on purpose, just, like Domin, he didn’t notice him, too involved with his new mate. Domin had performed their handfasting before we left the guesthouse, the promise invoked until they reached Sobek, where their mating ceremony would take place. But first, Justin was taking Danny home with him to San Francisco to be introduced as his mate to the tribe. Then they would rendezvous with Domin in Sobek so they could be officially mated before traveling with him. Danny was gloriously happy; it was evident in his shining eyes, constant smile, and bubbling laughter. He didn’t leave Justin’s side, wouldn’t let go of his hand, and when Koren caught up with him before he got into the waiting SUV, Danny was, in his newly found happiness, kind when he didn’t have to be.

He shook Koren’s hand—didn’t hug him, that would have meant letting go of Justin—gave him a radiant smile, and wished him all the best with his intended.

Koren nodded to Justin, who did the same in return before tugging Danny gently after him. To Danny, it was a new adventure with the love of his life; for Koren, I suspected it was hard to see his best shot at happiness claimed by a man everyone knew to be far too smart to ever let Danny go.

I thought that people would want to talk to Logan, touch his hand, say good-bye, but they all stood back and just watched us walk with Ilia. I didn’t understand it. Logan looked resplendent in his black suit, gold tie, and white shirt. I would have taken any opportunity to put my hands on him.

“Should I say good-bye to Dedushka?” Ilia asked me as we got closer to Peter and Koren, and Russ and Lydia.

“You do what you feel,” I told him.

As we closed in, Peter snubbed us, and even when Ilia called his name, he ignored him. Koren knelt and held out his hand to my son, and Ilia, though still visibly hurt, bottom lip quivering, eyes filling, took it and smiled.

“Good-bye, Uncle Koren,” he said quickly, gaze flicking up to Peter and then to Logan, who bent quickly and lifted his son into his arms.

Ilia hugged Logan tight, head down on his shoulder as Logan skipped everyone else, father, brothers, their mates and intended, and headed to the car.

He was utterly and completely done with all of them, and I understood. I had no parting words to share either and simply trailed after my mate. It must have been such a relief for everyone to see me leave, the same as it was for me to be going.

“Never, never?” Ilia was laughing when I got into the car, and I realized I’d missed the beginning of some discussion. One of Domin’s khatyu closed the door behind me, thumped the roof, and then we were moving, driving off the property for the very last time. “No matter what?”

“No matter what,” Logan promised.

“What if I burn down your house?”

“You’re not allowed to play with matches,” Logan reminded him.

“Oh yeah.” Ilia considered that. “What if I break your favorite watch?”

“I’ll get a new one.”

“What if I make Papa go away again?”

“Papa will never go away again, and that wasn’t your fault, like I told you before.”

“But you were mad at me.”

“I was sad, and that’s all. I never stopped loving you, and I never will.”

“No matter what,” Ilia repeated the word from earlier, beaming up at Logan. “You’ll love me forever and ever.”

“Yes, I will.”

Ilia swiveled to me. “Dedushka doesn’t love me anymore, but Daddy does and you too, huh, Papa?”

“Yes,” I answered, choking up, wishing only ill on Peter Church.

“Uncle Crane loves me; and Auntie Yusuke and Babushka and you love me too, huh, Uncle Yuri?”

“Yes, I do,” Yuri assured him.

Ilia’s glance fell on the akhen-aten, and he bit his bottom lip. “Uncle Domin?”

Domin turned slowly, as though bored, lifting his eyebrows. “Yes?”

“Do you love me?”

He appeared to be considering the matter.

Ilia fidgeted in his seat. “Well?”

“Of course,” Domin answered, as though the whole conversation were ridiculously insignificant. “The question’s utterly beneath you.”

But all Ilia heard was the “of course” said with absolute authority and truth, and so he got up and plowed over to the other side of the car and tumbled down into Domin’s lap.

Acting as though Ilia were covered in lice, he tried to shove him away and into Yuri’s lap, but my son was already smitten and refused to go. After a moment of fixed regard, Domin scowling, Ilia grinning, the leader of the werepanther world sighed loudly and tucked my child up against his side, kissed his head, and then asked if he wanted to play a game on his phone.

After Ilia got comfortable, Yuri took hold of Domin’s free hand, and I took hold of one of Logan’s and breathed. I was finally going home, and I couldn’t wait.

“Oh, by the way,” Domin said with a smirk. “Miguel Garza demanded two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of menat.”

Logan scoffed. “Good luck getting that from Peter,” he said. No more “my father,” no more any of that. Peter turning his back on Ilia had closed the door forever between the two men. Logan would forgive many things, but never that.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Domin said, smiling. “When you have open records, you can make a fair and equitable demand.”

“How would he have gotten the tribe records?” I asked.

“I’m sure I have no earthly idea.”

“Speaking of money,” Logan said, leaning forward to look at Domin. “All my accounts were joint ones with Peter because of the tribe, so they were closed and drained. I’m not quite sure what we’ll be doing for funds in Sobek.”

“That’s all been taken care of,” Domin explained. “You’ll see. Everything’s with Taj, who’s meeting our plane in New York. You’ll have passports, credit cards, and bank statements. It’s all done.”

“I’ve worked all my life, Domin,” Logan insisted.

Domin chuckled. “What makes you think you won’t be working, semel-aten?”

Logan did a slow pan to me.

“I’m thinking running the only werepanther city in the world might be a bigger job than you thought,” I teased my mate.

Logan glanced back at Domin, who cackled before he went back to playing a game with Ilia.

“You should always read the fine print before you make a deal with the devil,” Yuri chimed in, arching an eyebrow for Logan’s benefit.

I could not help laughing, he was so indignant.

“Jin!”

I couldn’t even breathe, and Yuri’s snickering was not helping in the least.

Epilogue

C
RANE
BOLTED
past me, his girls following moments later, squealing with laughter; then Dmitri, who was flying after them with Ilia in his panther form beside him; and then Mikhail’s twin boys, Emad, after Samani’s father, and Josef, after Mikhail’s; and finally an enormous golden panther, so big there could be no mistake that I was looking at Yuri Kosa. As I watched, they all spilled down the grand staircase to the bottom where Yusuke was standing with Mikhail and shaking her head as they all flowed around her and then past.