Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 111252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Right now, they needed a plan for taking out Queen Belladonna and forcing the fae from the human realm. Defeating Belladonna meant freeing both himself and Rei from her clutches. He wouldn’t have to worry about her possibly controlling him any longer, and Rei could breathe without fearing her striking the world and family he loved.
“Aren’t any of the Variks joining us for this meeting?” Meimei inquired as she dropped into one of the empty seats.
Today she was a kaleidoscope of bright colors and furry cat ears sticking out from the top of her head. Kai frowned at them and reached out so he could poke one with a finger when Xiang leaned in close. “They’re not real.”
Kai grunted and dropped his hand to his side. He wasn’t entirely sure what Mei Lian’s vampiric gift was, but he didn’t think it was shapeshifting into other creatures.
“I don’t wish to bother the Variks on this mission. They’re still recovering from the last attack,” Xiao Dan replied.
Ming Yu leaned forward as she picked up a cup of tea. “Have you heard any news from them? Is Fox okay? What about Bel and his mates?”
“Fox has recovered. While he has lost his powers as a witch, Aiden has stated that he can still protect Winter from visions of the ghosts. In fact, it seems Winter is the one who is still recovering from nearly losing his mate.”
“Oh, thank God,” Moon muttered with a heavy sigh as he dropped his face into his hands. “Fox was worried about losing that.”
Chen placed an arm around his mate’s shoulders and squeezed as he stated. “Apparently, there have been other troubles in the vampire world that are taking up King Aiden’s time and preoccupying the Variks. Marcus hasn’t come out and said what the issue is, but I feel they would be thinly stretched if they attempted to assist us as well.”
Xiang clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Fine with me. We’ve taken out plenty of dangerous targets in the past with no one else. We can kill Queen Belladonna and force the fae into their realm on our own.”
Yichen snorted. “I love how you make that sound so simple, and yet they’ve been here for months killing people and torturing your own mate.”
Kai was torn between wanting to preen over the fact that Yichen had called him Xiang’s mate, but he also wanted to hit the vampire for saying such mean words to his mate. Of course, Xiang didn’t need his defense. His highly trained and very skilled vampire could take care of himself—as shown by the mantou1 he chucked at Yichen’s head.
“Hey!” Moon cried out as he lunged for the bowl of innocent white buns in the center of the table. “Ming Yu made those for me. They’re not for throwing.”
Meimei wrinkled her nose at them. “Why did you ask for mantou? Jiejie makes an amazing egg and chives baozi2.”
Moon clutched the mantou to his chest. “Sometimes a boy just wants some soft, yummy bread.”
Xiao Dan cleared his throat. “Maybe it would be more productive if we got to the matter at hand. I was waiting—”
“Here! I’m here!” Huli bounced into the room and scurried around everyone else to land in the seat right next to Xiao Dan in a flurry of orange tails. Kai cocked his head at the huli jing, marveling at how he had appeared as mostly human, except for his many tails dancing behind him and a pair of triangular orange and black ears poking out from the top of his head. Now that he saw the difference, Meimei’s ears were definitely fake compared to Huli’s, which twitched and moved constantly to reflect him reacting to all the various sounds and his own mood.
“Why the hell is he here?” Xiang snarled, jumping to his feet. He balled his hands at his sides and he looked as if he were ready to launch his body across the table at the fox spirit to pull him away from his shixiong.
“Because Huli can keep a closer watch on the movements of the fae than we can,” Xiao Dan argued, doing nothing to pry free of Huli’s tight grip. Not only did he have his arms wrapped around Xiao Dan’s waist and his head on his chest, but he also wrapped Xiao Dan up in many of his tails. There was no missing it—Huli was staking his claim.
But why was Xiang so against the fox spirit?
Yes, they were usually filled with malicious mischief, but Zhang Xiao Dan struck Kai as someone more than capable of caring for himself.
“In addition, this is going to be a sneaking mission,” Rei emphasized. He spread out a large map across the table while others moved aside cups of tea they’d been sipping. Moon continued to cradle the bowl of mantou like they were his little bun children, not trusting Xiang near them.