Trusted Bond

Copyright

    Published by
    Dreamspinner Press
    4760 Preston Road
    Suite 244-149
    Frisco, TX 75034
    http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the
    author‘s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
    business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

    Trusted Bond
    Copyright © 2010 by Mary Calmes

    Cover Art by Anne Cain [email protected]
    Cover Design by Mara McKennen

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
    means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
    and retrieval system without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by
    law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 4760 Preston Road,
    Suite 244-149, Frisco, TX 75034
    http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

    ISBN: 978-1-61581-667-5

    Printed in the United States of America
    First Edition
    December, 2010

    eBook edition available
    eBook ISBN: 978-1-61581-668-2
    Dedication

    For Dad.
    Everyone should have one like him.

    Glossary

    Aset

    The appointed mate of a semel in the event of the

    death of their reah. An aset can only be chosen,

    made, by a reah.
    Beset

    Companion of a reah
    Khatyu

    The soldiers of a semel
    Maahes

    Prince of a tribe, the emissary of the semel
    Maat

    Balance, harmony, correct action
    Phocal

    Leader of the Shu cats, an elite group of
    werepanthers that serve the Priest of Chae Rophon
    Reah

    True mate of a semel
    Semel

    Tribe leader
    Semel-aten

    Tribe leader of the werepanther capital city

    of Sobek
    Semel-re

    Tribe leader blessed with a true-mate, a leader who

    has found his reah
    Sheseran

    Mate of a sheseru
    Sheseru

    (Flail) Enforcer of the tribe, guardian of the mate

    of the semel
    Sylvan

    (Crook) Teacher of the tribe, counselor to the semel
    Taurth

    A yareah who has been cast aside because a semel

    found his true-mate.
    Wosret

    An unmated reah claimed by the semel-aten as

    a concubine.
    Yareah

    The mate of a semel that is chosen, not their

    true-mate

    Trusted Bond

    1

    Chapter 1

    EVERYBODY has a favorite season. Mine is summer. Certainly our love
    affair first began when I was a child and three months of vacation with
    nothing to do but get into trouble was irresistible. But as I grew, I realized
    that during those long hot days of June, July, and August, there were no
    expectations of me. There was always time, when summer was over, to get
    my life in order, prepare for school, the new year, whatever was to come.
    In summer anything was possible.
    Lifting my head, I stopped a minute from crossing the parking lot to
    savor the warm night breeze as it danced over my skin. The town where I
    lived, Incline Village, north of Lake Tahoe, was never too hot and just one
    of the many reasons I loved my home.
    Six months ago, I would have never thought that I would be calling
    any place home ever again, but that was before I met Logan Church. In
    such a short time I had gone from being an outcast to being the mate of a
    semel, or tribe leader, and being part of a tribe again.
    I was born both a werepanther and a reah. Had I also been born a
    woman, then my life would have made sense, but as it was, my road had
    been a rocky one. Reahs only mated with semels, and as semels were only
    ever male, the only mate I could conceivably have would be a man. While
    what I was had always made sense to me, as men, not women, had always
    been what mesmerized me, the tribe I grew up with, as well as my family,
    had quickly decided that I was an abomination. Having been cast out at
    sixteen, it had been me and my best friend Crane alone without a place to
    call home until I had met Logan Church, my mate.
    Now, as a recognized reah, my life was no longer simply me and my
    best friend Crane, but instead about my mate and his family and my new
    2

    Mary Calmes

    tribe. I was still reeling, still overwhelmed, buried under a landslide of
    obligations and protocol and demands on my time. It was daunting and
    had become even more so in the past week. I had no idea how I was even
    going to begin to explain events to my mate.
    I let the scent of wildflowers, the faint trace of the lake, and the
    charcoal burning close by distract me from my thoughts. The smells
    drifted around me as I resumed my walk. Lazy days of summer