Honored Vow (7 page)

“But let’s say Markel didn’t know me, he’s just out doing his thing in his territory and I came along. Would he attack and kill me then?”

“Even if he never saw you before in his life, it’s still a decision he makes to attack you or hurt you. No panther is pure animal; we can’t be. Even when the attack is done purposely, panthers still retain their humanity.”

“You lost me.”

“Well, some semels, before a scheduled fight in the pit, they will have their khatyu, their fighters, shift to panther form and stay that way for the week before or for however long it is before the challenge.”

“That makes no sense. You’d think a semel would want their khatyu to fight smart and fast, not long and bloody.”

“You see, you think like a leader and not like a brute.”

“God!”

“What’s wrong?”

“See, I get why Russ hates all this bullshit. It’s crazy. I mean, it’s hard enough to live your life as a human being, but then you have to add the whole panther bullshit on top of it? How do you do it?”

“It’s different for me, like you said. I don’t have the whole animal-versus-human war going on in my head all the time. I’m just me.”

“What is that like? You shift and you’re still you, still Jin, aware of everything, making sense of—”

“Except when I change into my nekhene form,” I told her.

“What?”

I cleared my throat. “In Sobek, I changed into my nekhene form; you saw it.”

“Yes. You saved Logan and Markel from the semel-aten’s men.”

“In that form, I’m not me,” I confessed to her.

“But my God, Jin, you have to either be threatened with Logan’s death or with forced separation from him to bring on that form. That’s not just something you choose or don’t choose to become. Circumstances make you into your nekhene form; it’s a purely visceral reaction.”

And it was, but I didn’t like it.

“What’s interesting to me about that is that the form you take changes. The first time you shifted, Logan said you looked more like an enormous werepanther, that form that only a semel or reah can be, and then another time he said you looked more like a dragon, and then when I saw you, it was like you were a cross between a scorpion and a panther, almost like a giant spider with a cat muzzle.”

“All those forms sound horrible. I just want to be a panther or a man, nothing else.”

“Well, you can have the panther form, I’ll just be me.”

“If you shifted faster and it didn’t hurt, you might enjoy the freedom of being in your panther form.”

She smiled at me. “That’s another part I don’t get, it seriously doesn’t hurt you even a little to shift?”

“Not at all.”

“But I’ve seen you shift, and it’s amazing. It’s like I blink and you’re a cat.”

“We can increase the speed of your shift if you want.”

“We can?”

“It’s a skill just like anything else; if you practice, you’ll get faster.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Okay.”

We were silent for several minutes, just walking together, enjoying being outside in the cool night air.

“Jin.”

I turned to look at her.

“If protecting you is hardwired into Yuri specifically, then why does every sheseru want to protect you, and not just him?”

“It’s hardwired in a sheseru to protect the mate of his semel, his yareah, but a reah, that notches up the feeling and pulls it from every sheseru that’s encountered. And in Yuri, because he is my sheseru—”

“God, poor Yuri, he must want to sleep with you.”

I gave her a look.

“No, I just mean he must want to be with you and protect you all the time.”

“Yuri’s stronger than people think, and I’m not talking about physically. He’s very disciplined mentally.”

“Yuri’s a brute.”

I shook my head. “He’s really not.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She sighed heavily. “So back to these akers, where are they in hierarchy in relation to a sylvan and a sheseru?”

“Like I said, they report to a maahes, and he, the maahes, is on the same level as a sylvan and a sheseru.”

“So you think what? You think Russ got taken by a maahes?”

I nodded. “Or a manu or a bakhu. I doubt the semel even knows he’s here.”

“So, then, what’s your plan?”

“This bistro was picked so whoever could talk to Russ. His answers, whatever they were, didn’t make them happy, and so they took him. We just need to go in there and talk to whoever approaches us.”

She sucked in her breath. “I’m a little spooked, I have to be honest.”

I squinted at her. “You’re with me, why would you be scared?”

“See, this is what I don’t understand. Anybody passing through another semel’s territory must alert that semel that they’re there.”

“Wrong.”

“Oh God, could you just tell me?”

I turned, and she stopped walking to look at me.

“If you are going to spend more than a week in another’s territory, then and only then must you make that semel aware of your presence, or if you are traveling with more than two other panthers.”

“So, like, if you were here with Logan and Yuri and Mikhail—”

“Then we would need to call the semel of Los Angeles and ask his permission to be here.”

“But since it’s just you and me, who cares?”

“Right.”

“I get it.”

“But do you also see the problem?”

“Well, yeah, Russ was here for months without telling the semel of LA he was here, so that’s why he’s in trouble.”

“They probably think he’s an amenta.”

“I’m lost again.”

I just looked at her.

“What?”

“You know, really, I weep for your tribal education. Who taught all you guys?”

“Just never mind, what the fuck is an amenta?” she snapped at me.

“Well, it used to be that a semel would send an amenta into another’s territory to live and gather information and sometimes even join another tribe to learn all their secrets before they attacked and took over.”

“Like a sleeper cell.”

“I guess, sort of.”

“And so they could, what, execute Russ as an amenta?” She giggled.

“Yes,” I said solemnly.

“Oh, Jin.” Her face scrunched up, and I saw the fear finally grab hold of her.

“Honey,” I soothed her, taking her hand. “If they were going to do that, they would have to alert his family first, that’s the law, and since if anybody called the house it would forward to my phone,” I said, holding up my iPhone so she could see it, “we’re okay. They’re probably getting a hold of their maahes, and then he will contact his semel…. We have time to figure this all out.”

“Okay.”

“First things first, we have to make contact with the manu or the bakhu or the maahes.”

“Okay,” she said again, calming down, “all right.”

We started walking again.

“But what keeps them from hurting us once we make contact with them?”

“Love,” I said, smiling gently, “I’m a reah.”

She took a deep breath. “I forget sometimes.”

“Which I like.”

She threw herself at me, and I grabbed her and hugged her tight. After a minute, we went on.

The bistro was small and intimate, located close to the Santa Monica pier. There was seating outdoors close to some heaters, and when the waitress showed up after the hostess left, we ordered some flatbread to start and the house wine. It took only minutes for a very handsome man in a Versace suit, no tie, to show up at our table.

“Good evening,” he greeted us. “I’m Dennis Jennings, the manager here. Welcome to Bella Mia.”

“Thank you.” Delphine smiled at him, offering him her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He took it, kissed it, and gave her a dazzling smile, all perfect white teeth and gleaming blue eyes. “The pleasure’s mine.”

“I’m Delphine Kovac, and this is Jin Rayne.”

He turned to me after reluctantly releasing Delphine’s hand.

I offered him mine.

The second he took it, he jolted and his hand tightened involuntarily. The smile was gone, the muscles of his jaw clenching tight instead.

“I’m looking for Ruslan Church,” I told him, lowering my voice, narrowing my eyes as I looked up at him. “Tell me, have you seen him?”

His eyes were huge as he stared at me, and I parted my lips, inhaling him, his scent, tasting his power or, as it turned out, lack thereof.

“Are you the manu or the bakhu here?”

“I—” He looked so confused. He understood I was powerful, but he also knew I wasn’t a semel. He didn’t have the overwhelming feeling to submit to me, so I couldn’t be a semel. “I don’t.” He shook his head. “Who are you?”

I released my pheromones, because he was fighting instead of answering.

The man grabbed for the edge of the table, clutching at it to keep standing. My hand, he held onto for dear life.

“Jin,” Delphine whimpered, her eyes, when I looked at her, heavy with need.

Shit.

I stood and eased the man down into the chair beside me. When I looked at him, his eyes were glassy and unfocused.

“That was fuckin’ brilliant,” Delphine snipped at me, taking shallow in-and-out breaths.

“I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s because you’re missing Crane. Right now you don’t have 100 percent control over your power, and since you don’t know how strong it is to begin with….” She trailed off.

“You’re saying I’m like some nuclear reactor or something?”

“Yeah, an unstable one. Think about it. Back when I first met you, we could all tell you were different, but we couldn’t quite put our finger on why. The difference was noticeable but not overwhelming. Now your power sort of grabs you by the throat and shakes you.”

“Great.”

“And maybe this part just has to do with Logan being gone, but, sweetie, what’s pouring off you right now is like sex and candy all rolled up together.”

I squinted at her.

“You’re just oozing this yummy smell, and I just wanna taste,” she finished, her voice going guttural for a second as she closed her eyes and rode out whatever it was that was twisting her up inside.

“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice low and soft.

“I know.” She exhaled, calming, taking long moments before she opened her eyes and smiled at me. “Okay.”

I looked at her.

“Before, I used to want to be close to you or hold your hand or just sit with you, but now, it’s like I can feel your heart beating in my chest sometimes, and I just want to crawl out of my skin and climb into yours. It’s really something.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again.

“It’s not your fault, but you need to be conscious of the fact that if I feel like that, so does everybody else.”

“Sure.”

“So please, honey, take it easy, and don’t add any more emotion to the mix, because that makes you secrete pheromones, and unless you want my lady parts in your face––”

“I get it,” I said, and I couldn’t help but grin.

“Seriously, I was this close to attacking you.”

“Sorry.”

“But this guy,” she sighed, looking at Dennis Jennings, who was staring at me with besotted eyes, “is just gone. I thought I was always the weakest cat in the room, but compared to him, I’m frickin’ Yuri.”

I eased my hand from his, and he leaned forward and stared at me.

“Reah,” he breathed out. “How may I serve?”

“Are you manu or bakhu?”

He swallowed hard, his eyes on my mouth. “I am manu.”

“And your maahes?”

“Would you like me to call him for you?”

“Does he have Russ Church?”

He nodded slowly.

“And is Russ alright?”

Another nod.

“Is your semel aware that you have him?”

“We informed him last night. He wanted us to contact the panther’s family, and therefore his semel, but Russ won’t tell us what tribe he belongs to, so it’s slow going. We will start with claw on skin soon.”

“He’s mine, a member of my tribe. Please call your maahes for me.”

“Yes, reah, at once.”

He got up and left fast.

“Jesus.”

I turned to look at Delphine.

“You spun him hard.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“The maahes won’t be so easy.”

“No, I know, and I was just trying to get him to talk to—”

“It’s alright, lighten up,” she said as she patted my knee. “We should eat while we have a chance.”

It was an excellent suggestion.

Dennis returned a half an hour later, explaining that his maahes had arrived. Our dinner was taken care of, which we thanked him for, and as we followed him upstairs, he said again what an honor it was to meet a reah.

The rooms on the second floor were private and luxurious. We followed Dennis to the last one, and he held open the door. Inside, we found a long table with a man sitting at the head, a woman at his side, and five others clustered around him.

The second the door closed, the man leaned forward.

“My idiot manu thinks you’re a reah. Speak your lineage now to me.”

“Who are you?” I asked instead.

He scoffed at me. “I’m Blake Dempsey, who the fuck are you?”

“I’m Jin Rayne of the tribe of Mafdet, reah of the semel-netjer, Logan Church.”

It was fun to watch his face drain of color, his mouth open, his pupils dilate. I could smell the fear in the room. The others, so defiant moments ago, ready even to hurt me or Delphine, sat there in shock, staring, utterly still.

Every semel who had attended the feast of the valley in Sobek had returned with a version of a story about me, Jin Rayne, the panther who was first a reah and second a nekhene cat. Reahs were rare, a million-to-one rare, but a nekhene cat was off the grid. As I stood there and saw their faces, I understood why they were frightened and excited and awed all at once. I was unique among our kind, and I would use their feelings toward me to my advantage.

“Ruslan Church is the brother of my mate. I humbly request his return, and I would speak to your semel if that could be arranged, maahes.”

His eyes ran all over me.

When I bowed my head in deference, everyone rose at once. Chairs squeaked on the floor as they were hurriedly pushed back from the table, each man going down to one knee, the woman standing, preparing to kneel.

“No.” I stopped her, moving fast, offering my hand.