Change of Heart 05 - Forging the Future (7 page)

“I would think so.”

“Yeah, so you did, and I’m it, but a beset is also a station like semel, reah, sheseru, or sylvan. As your beset, I can go anywhere you are at any time. It’s against panther law to keep me from you, and they know that.”

“So you just came to the door and explained who you are?”

“Of course.” He winked at me.

“But I don’t understand. I mean, you don’t have a card or something that says who you are? What if you were lying?”

He shrugged. “I could be, I guess, but all they’d have to do is call Logan Church and ask him, or call Domin Thorne and ask him, to clear up any confusion. But really,” he said, his voice dropping conspiratorially as he leaned close to me and waggled his eyebrows. “I’m kind of a big deal.”

I couldn’t help but smile at him; the man was so charming, and it was simply infectious. “Are you?”

“Oh yes,” he assured me, narrowing his eyes and nodding. “I’m Crane Adams, beset of the reah who’s also a nekhene cat. Once people know you, they know me.”

“You keep me in line, do you?”

“I stand at your side and remind you of your humanity when sometimes circumstances make it difficult.”

“It sounds like you keep me from killing people,” I teased.

“Sometimes,” he agreed.

I was startled. “I’ve killed people?”

“Only when they deserved it,” he explained. “The law is finite. Those who choose to ignore the law have to be punished.”

I took a breath. “May I leave here if you go with me?”

“We can do whatever the fuck you want,” he apprised me. “Do you wanna go to a hotel or something?”

“No, I just want to come and go whenever I want.”

“Oh, I see. They were keeping you here because the semel’s responsible. Makes sense, but now that I’m here, you can do whatever you want. Even though we’re in another semel’s territory, your safety falls to me until Logan gets here.”

“So I’m free because my best friend is with me.”

His grin was wicked. “Exactly.”

My breath caught, and I had the urge to hug him, but I wasn’t sure if that was all right.

He opened his arms for me. “Come on.”

“Is it correct?”

“I’m yours,” he answered, his grin becoming a warm smile. “You say what’s right. I’m your beset, you’re my reah. Do whatever you want.”

I lunged at him, and he wrapped me up tight, so tight, his head down on my shoulder as he began to tremble.

A sense of relief swamped me, and even though I had no idea why, I felt safe. It was like, finally, after so long wondering what was going to happen and the fear that ate me up day and night… finally… I wasn’t alone anymore.

“Man, wait until Logan gets a load of you,” Crane said, chuckling, his hands sliding through my hair over and over. “You’re so skinny, and this haircut is wild.”

I pulled back to survey his face. “Please tell me about what happened to my son.”

He squinted. “Maybe we wait for Logan, huh?”

“But I—”

“He’s okay, yeah? Ilia, he’s in his panther form at home, and we need you to come back so he’ll shift.”

“He won’t shift back?”

“No. He won’t. But Logan has a theory.”

“Which is?”

Crane smiled again, and just seeing the dancing eyes, the curl of his lip, and the way he arched one eyebrow, I found myself grinning in return. I liked him so much.

“He thinks Ilia needs to see you because you’re what ties him to his humanity. Logan is what ties him to his strength, to his primal drives, to the animal he is. Logan’s his father, but he’s also his semel, and so Ilia is responding to the power and nothing more. But you… you’re the softness, the gentleness, and so when Ilia sees you, he’ll want to talk to you and sit with you, and so he’ll shift back.”

“A semel can be gentle and kind as well,” I reminded Crane. “Are you telling me that your semel is not?”

“The semel-netjer, your mate, is the best man it’s possible to be,” he told me. “Really, you won’t find better. But still, innately, he’s the power, right? The reah is the comfort. Logan can’t shut off the strength that rolls off of him any more than you can stop your innate kindness and tenderness.”

I nodded.

“We’re in new territory here,” Crane said, chuckling. “Ilia is a brand new creature with your nekhene blood rushing through him, and Logan’s semel line. He’s terrifying and combustible, and only we’re not afraid of him.”

“Who’s we?”

“Us, your family. We.”

I nodded. “How come you’re not afraid?”

He scoffed. “I can’t be scared of Ilia; I was the third person to hold him after he was born. He loves me, and I know that, but still I’m cautious when you’re not there because he could hurt me without meaning to.”

“But when I’m there, he can’t?”

“When you’re there, he
won’t
.”

“And yet there was an incident.”

He shrugged. “We really want you to remember what happened naturally, ’cause the doctor said it would be better to remember the trauma and not be told. But I will say that it was his grandfather’s fault, and that it had nothing to do with Ilia not listening to you and everything to do with how nuts things got.”

“Oh?”

“He’s just a little boy. He can’t be expected to have control when he hasn’t even learned any yet.”

I nodded. “So now you’re careful with him because I’m not home?”

“We all are.”

I took a breath. “How old is Ilia?”

“He’s five.”

“Oh, he’s so little. How can he be so young and shift? My understanding is that werepanthers don’t go through their first change until adolescence.”

“I told you, Ilia’s special.”

“Yes, you did.”

“And he’s so frickin’ cute with his big gray eyes and his black hair. You wanna see?”

“Please.”

Crane pulled up pictures on his phone and then passed it to me.

Ilia Church was beautiful. He’d been an adorable baby, and the pictures of me holding him, his chubby little hand wrapped in my long hair, brought tears to my eyes.

“Do you have pictures of me and my mate?”

He grimaced. “I do, but I’m not supposed to show those to you. You’re supposed to pick your mate out from a lot of other people. That’s why the semel—what’s-his-name—Boucher has all these people over here.”

“Is my semel here?”

“No, not yet. He will be soon. I was in Florida—that’s why I’m here already. I was mediating a sit-down between two of Martine Soto’s akers.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know who that is, and I’m not sure what an ‘aker’ is, either.”

He sighed. “That’s weird.”

“Why?”

“Normally you’re an encyclopedia of panther law.”

“I am?”

He nodded. “You are. Your father was a sylvan, and he taught you everything, way more than just what you needed to survive.”

“And is my father still living?”

“No, he’s not.”

“And my mother?”

“Your mother committed suicide two years ago.”

“Oh.” It was sad news.

“You weren’t close.”

“Do I have siblings?”

“You have a brother who lives in New York now.”

“And are he and I close?”

He shook his head. “No. You’re only close to your own family.”

“What you just said makes no sense.”

“I mean, your family that loves you.”

I was struck by how serious he sounded. “And that’s you?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’re closest to Logan and Ilia and me, but there are a lot of other people you hold dear and who you call family.”

I took hold of his hand. “Would you sit and tell me?”

“Of course,” he replied, beaming at me.

God, I really liked his smile.

We sat down on one of the benches as a beautiful woman came charging through the courtyard with two men following her, one taller than the other, both heavily muscled. The crowd parted for all three of them. She was dressed in a white suit complete with a white patch over her right eye, and both men were in suits: the taller in navy without a tie, the shorter in black with a yellow one.

Crane rose and held out his hand as the woman rushed to his side. I stood slowly, watching as she filled his arms for only seconds before she pulled free and flung herself at me.

I was startled by the ferocity of the embrace and by her immediate tears.

“Oh,” I whispered. “You missed me.”

“My reah,” she said with so much emotion in her voice that I could hear the tiny tremors. “I have more than missed you.”

“Are you part of my family?”

“Yes,” she answered quickly, forcefully, stepping back, her hands on my face. “I am. I’m Yusuke Adams, and I’m the mate of your beset and the ma-ahn of your tribe.”

I hated not knowing what that was, so I asked her to please spell it and explain.

“Most large tribes have either a maahes, or prince of their tribe, or maahen, which is what I am, the princess of your tribe,” she said, smiling at me. “And even now, your son runs with my daughters and cares for them and protects them.”

“Aren’t you afraid of my son?”

She frowned. “I’m your son’s godmother, my reah. I would never fear him. He was curled in my lap two days ago.”

I exhaled sharply. “I’m so glad to hear that he hasn’t been alone.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “It’s been hard for his father, as he loves and adores his son, but he was also the reason for you being gone, and a semel without his true-mate is only half of what he could be.”

“I’m sure he’s done everything for his son.”

“All that he is capable of, yes,” she apprised. “But my semel is still at the mercy of his beast and his standing, and without the other half of him, balance is hard to find.”

I had no idea how to respond but luckily I didn’t have to.

She stepped sideways, and I saw the taller man who had followed her was down on one knee, waiting.

“This is your sheseru, Artem Varda.”

He was stunning with his deep green eyes, short dark brown hair, and neatly trimmed beard and mustache. I had no idea they made suits for men with shoulders that broad.

“My reah,” he said kindly, his voice thick with feeling.

I stepped in front of him. “I don’t know what’s permissible.”

He took a quick breath. “With your former sheseru, Yuri Kosa, you used to put your hand on his shoulder.”

Slowly, I put my hand on him and felt, under my palm, the shiver run through his massive frame. “What did you have to do, to be my sheseru?”

“I had to fight and win a challenge.”

“Did you defeat Yuri Kosa?”

He scoffed. “No one but a semel could defeat Yuri Kosa in the pit.”

“But he’s not my sheseru anymore?”

“No.”

“Why did he leave?”

“To be the mate of the akhen-aten, Domin Thorne,” he explained. “He had to go live with his mate in Egypt. That’s the only thing that would have kept him from you.”

“Oh.” What a wonderful answer. He’d only left me to be with his love. How romantic was that? “Okay, so who did you have to fight, then?”

His eyes darted to Yusuke, who gave a nod of permission.

He took a quick breath. “Your last sheseru was chosen after Yuri left, and though he wanted to serve your semel, he never cared for you as he should have.”

“Yeah, but not everyone has to be crazy about me.”

“Your sheseru must, above all else, champion and protect the reah of his semel. You have to realize that most of those in the role of sheseru never even lay eyes on the true-mate of a tribe leader. A reah is precious and rare, and Avery Cadim didn’t understand that.”

“He simply was not strong enough to serve,” Yusuke explained, putting her hand on Artem’s other shoulder. “Your sheseru is now strong enough to be both enforcer and protector.”

I turned back to Artem. “Thank you.”

“No thanks are necessary, my reah. It is I who am blessed.”

I glanced at the other man, also down on one knee.

“This is Andrian Basargin, the leader of your semel’s khatyu.”

I smiled at him. “Khatyu are the warriors of the tribe, right?”

He nodded, and I saw how kind his smile was. “Yes, my reah.”

This man was handsome as well, with jet-black glossy hair and dark cobalt blue eyes with deep laugh lines in the corners.

“I was one of the first to meet you many years ago.”

I couldn’t keep from wringing my hands. Part of me was excited and happy to have them all there, to meet them… but that again was the issue.
I
was meeting
them
, they were seeing someone they knew, and in Crane’s case especially, knew extremely well. So the flip side was that their presence made me anxious and worried and more torn up inside than I’d been just a day ago. It was both a relief and nerve-racking at the same time. “I wish I could remember.”

“You will, my reah, in your own time.”

The faith was overwhelming, and when he lifted his hand to me, I clasped it tight. It was amazing, the look on his face, like I’d given him something great.

“I really hope that I’m worthy of all this trust,” I murmured.

“You are,” he promised.

“Okay.” I inhaled to get my bearings, releasing his hand. “May I leave here and show you all the city?”

“Of course,” Artem assured me, his voice gravelly and low. “We will do as you desire, my reah.”

It was like a weight was lifted. No one would make me do anything I didn’t want to anymore.

“My reah.”

We all turned to Alaine and his sylvan and sheseru. He had several of his khatyu with him as well.

Yusuke immediately stepped forward, bowed, and then put herself between me and them. “How may we serve you, semel?”

“I would request that your reah greet some members of my tribe.”

She crossed her arms. “Perhaps later this evening, but at present my reah wants to walk the city with us.”

“I will have my sheseru and some of my khatyu—”

“That’s not necessary,” she cut him off sharply. “And you would insult Logan Church, the semel-netjer, if you inferred that his maahen, his sheseru, the beset of his reah, and the leader of his khatyu could not see to the safety of his mate.”

“I—”

“That’s not what you were alluding to, was it?”

“I simply wanted to—”

“Because honestly,” she said flatly, “if you were to insist upon such a course, Artem Varda would have no choice but to challenge your sheseru to mortal combat.”