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me?"
    "No, Jin," he said quickly, matter-of-fact.
    "You don't miss your family?"
    "They called for your blood just like everyone else. I had no idea that they would turn on you like that or me. I don't miss anyone, but I would have missed you, my friend."
    He blurred, and I realized that I was really much more tired than I realized.
    45
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "Oh, don't cry for fuck's sake," he grumbled at me. "Ya big girl."
    I smiled through my tears.
    "A male reah," he smiled back at me. "How the fuck did that happen?"
    "Your guess is as good as mine."
    He took a breath. "Okay, so seriously, whaddya wanna do now?"
    "Now I gotta get outta town."
    "Why?"
    "'Cause Yuri Kosa is a sheseru and he knows I'm a reah.
    Logan Church is gonna want to see me as soon as he finds out."
    "Why?"
    "You know why. To see if I'm his reah."
    "Maybe he's not gay."
    "It doesn't matter."
    "Really?" He nodded "'Cause it would matter to me. I don't care how hot the guy is, I ain't fuckin' him."
    "You're not a semel. You have no idea, the pull on your body and your mind. There's no way you could ever understand."
    "Okay, so why don't we just tell Logan Church or any other semel that wants to meet you that you've already got a mate."
    "I did. I told Yuri Kosa you were my mate. I told him you were my semel."
    He gave a snort of laughter. "Good job, idiot."
    "It's all I could think of."
    46
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "And when they check us out and ask Andrian where we came from... it's all gonna get out about us belonging to Christophe's tribe, and then we're really screwed."
    "This is why we gotta go."
    "Shit, Jin, why didn't you just say that you were mated to someone else? What's wrong with just lying so we could stay here?"
    "Because any semel would know I was lying."
    "See, I've never understood that. How do they know?"
    "They just do."
    "But how? That makes no sense. How would Logan Church know that you don't have a mate?"
    "He just will."
    "That's crap; tell me how he'll know you don't have a mate."
    "The way I smell, the mark the—"
    "The mark," he was frowning at me.
    "Yeah. It's...." I took a breath. "See, when a semel and reah mate, which they do for life—"
    "Cats don't mate for life," he said smugly. "They can choose each other just like everybody else, but they don't mate for life."
    "Semels and reahs do."
    He gave me a look.
    "They do, I swear."
    "They do?"
    "Yeah, they're the only ones that do, but it's more than just taking a mate and speaking the vows. It's forever from the moment they see each other."
    47
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "Are you kidding?"
    "No, I'm not kidding. Why would I be kidding?"
    "Shit."
    I nodded. "This is what I'm saying."
    "Tell me about this mark."
    "Why?"
    "'Cause you never talk about this with me, and I kinda like it."
    "Can we walk at the same time?"
    He started down the sidewalk, answering me with his action.
    I followed quickly. "Okay, so when a semel finds his reah, the reah is marked with a bite on the back of the neck." The bite, I understood, was as brutal as it was orgasmic and left a scar that could never be mistaken for anything but the brand of the leader on his mate. I never wanted one.
    "One bite, big deal. I can just do it and it'll look the same.
    We'll tell them your semel did it, and we're good to go."
    I shook my head. "Thanks, but no. I'm never letting anyone put a mark on me."
    "But if it'll help us out, why not?"
    "No." I was adamant. I would never let anyone brand me.
    It seemed hypocritical.
    He threw up his hands, annoyed with me. "So fine then, just don't let him check for a mark. I'm thinking he can't do that within the rules of hospitality anyway. Where does he get off doubting that another semel has marked you?"
    48
    Change of Heart
    by Mary Calmes
    "Because he'll be able to tell that we're lying to him and if he says, 'prove it, show me your mark', then we're really screwed."
    He shook his head. "I don't think he'll make us see him.
    We saved his sister,