Change of Heart 05 - Forging the Future (6 page)

“Who’s Crane?”

“He’s your best friend and he saw everything and it’s okay—everything’s okay—it’s just, I’m not supposed to… they want your memory to come back naturally, and if I say something I could force you to… to… oh Jin.”

“Please,” I entreated when she stopped.

“You—you thought you killed your son, Jin, but you
didn’t
.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“Your son is alive.”

N
AZAR
FOUND
me in the alley and carried me back into the restaurant and put me in Eliza’s office. Apparently I’d passed out, which didn’t seem like me, but the news had been fairly overwhelming. I had thought I killed my own son. No wonder I ran away. The sheer volume of questions I had running around my head was staggering. I needed to see my semel more than anything. I longed to sit and talk to him and hear everything he had to say. I wanted—I craved, I yearned for… him.

My skin felt hot and I was anxious. I couldn’t sit still, so I got up, pacing, and was there, verging on my shift, when the door opened, and Wick and Dov walked in with Luther, Alaine Boucher, and two other men I didn’t know who guarded the open door.

“I’ve taken the phone from you on the advice of my counselors,” Alaine announced. “You will not be permitted to have dealings with any who is not your mate. Once he arrives, he may grant any permission he sees fit, but until then, you are to remain sequestered in the garden house of my home.”

I could barely breathe; talking was out of the question.

“I have taken the liberty of resigning your position, and any and all things that you need will be provided for by—”

“I will not have you pay for anything for—”

“The akhen-aten,” he said sharply, striding forward with Nazar, who immediately grabbed my shoulder and shoved me to the ground. On my knees, staring up at both men, I saw Alaine’s fury. “I am a semel and you are in my territory, and reah or not, nekhene cat or not, you
will
respect my position!”

I wanted to hit him. I wanted to somehow hurl him across the room, and for whatever reason, I had the oddest feeling that I could, which was ridiculous. Perhaps, as a reah, there was another form besides panther that I could shift into, but I had no clue how to go about that.

“Did you hear me?”

I wondered about what Wick and Dov had said earlier in the day about me being a nekhene. They’d said I could be twice my regular size, and even though that made zero sense, at least the thoughts in my head seemed not as crazy.

Alaine grabbed my face, hard, and his hand shifted so there were claws on my cheeks cutting into my skin. “Did you… hear me?”

If I yanked away, he’d rip into my face. From where his ring finger was positioned, he could take out my left eye. It would be foolish, so I concentrated on not moving. “Yes,” I answered in a whisper.

He let me go and Nazar eased me to my feet. I stepped away, and I saw the hurt expression on the sheseru’s face. Logically I knew he was only doing his duty to his semel, but still, he’d put me on my knees, and in that instant, I knew where his loyalty was. And again, truly, I’d known that he belonged to his semel and not to me, but to have it illustrated for me was difficult. I had no advocate. All these men could hurt me if they wanted, and that realization made me want to run. I could make it to Nevada on my own. I could call Delphine back and let her know I was on my way, and I wouldn’t have to listen to any of these men.

“Jin,” Wick spoke, directing my attention to him. “Dov and I will also be staying in the semel’s home with you.”

I had nothing to say to him.

“We’ve moved all your possessions from your apartment to the garden house of the semel, and we’ve paid off your lease as well.”

They had gone ahead and treated me as though I was a kept man with whom they could do as they saw fit.

“I’m sorry that we had to do that without your knowledge, but the decision was made earlier today.”

I nodded.

“The issue is that the semel is, in fact, responsible for your safety, and any circumstances out of his control are not fair to him.”

I cleared my throat. “His yareah will not be pleased.”

“His yareah understands protocol as well as he and has moved any but you from the courtyard and gardens of her home.”

Basically, I would be a prisoner until my semel arrived.

“This is for the best.”

It was for them, not me. “And am I able to come and go as I like?”

“You may go wherever you please as long as you have an escort.”

Translation,
no
.

“You will tell us when you want to go out, and one of us and some of the khatyu will accompany you.”

There was nothing to be done. “I’d like to go to the semel’s home now.”

Everyone was pleased that I was being so agreeable, as evidenced by their relieved sighs and halfhearted smiles.

Walking out of the back of the restaurant, I was silent and stayed that way through the entirety of the car ride to the Garden District. If the semel asked a question, I answered. Anyone else, I ignored.

“When we reach the semel’s home,” Dov directed, “you must ask his yareah for sanctuary in her home.”

Nothing.

“Did you hear him?” Alaine asked.

“Yes, semel,” I responded quickly. “I will prostrate myself before entering your home.”

“That’s not necessary,” he said curtly. “You need only perform the aforementioned protocol.”

“Certainly,” I responded, staring into his eyes so he knew I was absolutely listening.

As he glanced away, I saw the muscles in his jaw clench.

When we reached the semel’s enormous Double-Gallery house and spilled from the SUV, everyone went to the right, to walk around the back, but I darted up the steps and rang the doorbell. Dropping to my knees on the welcome mat, I waited for the yareah to come out.

“Reah,” the semel snapped. “Come away from there!”

“I only seek admittance,” I replied. “You would have duty above all else.”

He growled behind me and would have said more, but the door opened, and the beautiful stately blonde woman I’d met the day before stood there. She appeared different than she had, though. Gone was the perfectly made-up haughty yareah, and in her place was a woman with puffy red eyes, a furrowed brow, and pursed, unsmiling lips.

Flustered, she gave me a quick bow. “Please don’t make a spectacle on my doorstep, reah. Simply enter and remove yourself to your quarters.”

I was to be out of sight. “I need permission to enter your home,” I reminded her.

“You have it,” she said brusquely. “Just stay out of my way and my semel’s.”

“Catherine,” Alaine sanctioned.

She inhaled quickly, crossing her arms, and seemed like she was on the verge of crying.

“Thank you for your hospitality,” I mumbled, turning and walking down the stairs, moving to Dov’s side to follow him through the back gate.

I was led down a flagstone path that ended at a small courtyard surrounded by a lush garden. It would have been lovely if I could leave and return of my own volition, but as a prison, I had no fondness for it.

After moving to the door of the small cottage, Dov held it open for me.

“Am I to be accompanied inside or will I be allowed my privacy?”

He and Wick exchanged glances.

“We would make sure you’re comfortable,” Alaine flared irritably.

I coughed. “How could I not be, semel? This is your home, after all.”

“You will need to eat,” he ground out, furious.

“I’m sure whatever your cook prepares will be acceptable. It can be left on the doorstep as they do in jail.”

His gaze met mine, and I bowed my head in deference to him.

“Surely this will please your yareah.”

He pivoted and left then, and the others stood there, staring at me.

I walked through the door Dov was holding open and would have closed it behind me, but Nazar caught it and held on.

“Forgive me, my reah.”

My eyes flicked to his dark brown ones. “Your loyalty is to your semel, sheseru. There is nothing for you to apologize for. I’m sure my sheseru is just as loyal to me.”

He screwed up his face. “My reah, I—”

“Good night.” I cut him off, closing the door behind me.

After I locked it, I started shedding clothes. Stalking through the house, one moment I was a man, the next a panther. I moved easily to the open window and went out. Scaling the tree beside the small house, I was up and on the roof moments later. Crawling to the edge, I watched the men from the darkness and saw them all lingering in the courtyard in front of the cottage.

“No one wants to be a prisoner,” Dov reminded Nazar, who was beginning to pace.

“He doesn’t trust me now, and I would give my life for him if he asked me.”

Wick cleared his throat and put his hand on Nazar’s shoulder to stop his movement. “It’s a disease, this is, mate. You’re split right down the middle, you are, half of you wanting to give service to the reah, half knowing your duty is to your semel.”

Nazar stared at him. “I have no—it physically hurts to have him turn away from me.”

“He’s a reah, mate,” Wick said gently. “It’s just going to feel worse when he gets his scent back and the rest of his power.”

Nazar sucked in a breath. “I want to go in there and talk to him.”

“Not without his permission.”

I put my head down on my paws and closed my eyes. It was too early for me to take a run, so I’d wait.

Listening to the sounds around me, I heard the semel yelling, caught the sounds of his yareah crying, counted the times Nazar’s shoes scraped over the cobblestones of the courtyard, and kept track of the breathing of Wick, Dov, and the khatyu.

Hours later, when the others had retired to the house, Luther brought a tray of food out to me. He stood there speaking to the door.

“You should come out,” he said, his voice thick with desire I could hear. He wanted me, and it grated. How dare he want a mated reah? “You promised to have dinner with me, you remember.”

I made no sound, and after what seemed like a long time, he finally put the tray down and returned to the main house. Twisting into a ball, I waited for it to get dark enough to hide a black panther in the shadows.

Chapter 5

I
FLEW
over the rooftops of the city, listened to some jazz at Preservation Hall, drank rainwater down in Pirate’s Alley, ducked into a kitchen on Dauphine and Orleans and was fed by an old couple who was sure I was both tame and owned by a neighbor. It was the great thing about the city: nothing really surprised anyone. They expected to see things out of the ordinary. A black panther eating gumbo was normal.

I returned before dawn to find Nazar and Luther keeping vigil on the benches in the courtyard in front of the garden house.

Slipping inside the house, I immediately shifted back and walked to the kitchen for water. Once I gulped down quite a bit, I went to take a shower. My clothes, the few that I owned, were in a duffel bag on the bed, and after I got out, clean from my exploration of the city, I changed into a pair of chinos and a T-shirt and lay down on the bed. I didn’t think I could sleep at all, but I woke up to the gentle sound of knocking, and the room was full of natural light.

Rolling out of bed, I stumbled to the door and opened it a crack.

“Hey.”

The blond man I found there had the warmest smile I’d ever seen in my life.

Then, opening the door wider, I was stunned by the number of people clustered in the tiny courtyard. It was overwhelming.

“Jin.”

Turning back to the man in front of me, I was caught in his dark sapphire gaze.

He took a step closer, putting his hand on the door. “I’m Crane Adams.”

The name was said as though it were unneeded. “I’m supposed to know you, aren’t I.” It was a statement of fact.

Quick shrug from him, and the ease, his calm, soothed me. “It would have been good,” he said with a smile. “But it’s okay that you don’t.”

“You’re not pissed?”

“At you? Never. I’ve never been mad at you.”

“Have we known each other a long time?”

He nodded. “Yep, we have, a really long time.”

I continued to stare at him for a moment before I offered my hand.

He enfolded it in his. “I’m your bah-set.”

I breathed through my nose, trying to stay calm and steady. “I don’t know what that is.”

“That’s okay,” he said affably, easing me outside onto the small porch. His hands holding mine seemed natural, not carnal in any way, simply comforting and kind. “It’s a fancy word for best friend, is all.”

“How do you spell that?”

“Just like ‘best’ except with an extra
e
after the
s
.”

“So really like ‘best.’”

He chuckled. “Yeah.”

I took a breath. “They told me that only my semel would be allowed to see me.”

“Yeah, but that’s because they didn’t know you had a beset.”

“But you just said it was only a fancy word for best friend.”

“I did, and what I should have said was that you picked your best friend to be your beset. I think most reahs do—makes sense, right?”