Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“Then I think you need to keep that.” Xiao Dan pressed Huli’s hands toward him so that the jade rested on Huli’s breastbone.
“But…I lost a tail.”
“You didn’t lose a tail. It was stolen from you,” Mei Lian argued, reminding him that they weren’t exactly alone in this fragile moment.
“Huli, the only mistake you made in all this was to go off after Min by yourself,” Xiang interjected. “You’re part of a clan now, and that means relying on your clan to help you.”
“I am?” Huli’s voice wavered as his gaze skimmed the face of each person watching him from the other side of the room. No one was looking at him with distrust or hate. There was just acceptance and joy.
“Of course.” Xiao Dan released Huli’s hands and cupped one of his cheeks. “You’re my mate, aren’t you? That means you’re a member of the Zhang clan now. We’re all your family.”
“You make Shixiong happy. Nothing else matters to us,” Chen stated. Moon grabbed his lover’s face and planted a loud kiss on his cheek.
“Okay.” Huli nodded. He grinned at the yupei he was still clutching, his eyes stinging for a new, happy reason. “Family.”
That was not something he’d ever had. It wasn’t even something he’d let himself dream about. His focus had been on winning Xiao Dan’s heart and being worthy of him. He’d never expected to win an entire crazy family as part of the deal.
“Good! Now come help us plan to kill that witch,” Mei Lian ordered, pounding her left fist on the table in front of her. “No more leaving us out of the fun. It’s like Xiao Dan said. We’re taking all her tails as payback for touching one of yours.”
“Meimei!” Ming Yu gasped from where she sat at Mei Lian’s right, their fingers entwined.
Mei Lian blinked wide eyes at her. “What? It’s true.”
“Oh, I agree with you. I was thinking that Huli might still hurt and want to return to bed for now.”
Xiao Dan wrapped an arm around his shoulders, drawing him in closer. “How are you feeling? Would you like to go lie down again? We can continue this meeting later.”
Huli shook his head before leaning it on Xiao Dan’s chest. “No. Nearly all the pain is gone. I can stay up for a while longer.”
With his mate’s arm wrapped across his shoulders, Huli shuffled over to the bench seat Xiao Dan occupied during meetings. They sat together, Xiao Dan keeping one arm on him the entire time. Huli continued to lean on the vampire, the coziness doing more for his healing than any amount of sleeping alone in bed could. He already felt stronger just being in Xiao Dan’s presence.
“Huli, is there anything you can tell us about Min that might help us in a fight?” Yichen inquired.
A frown tugged at the corners of Huli’s lips. He waved his hand, returning his jade pendant to its normal hiding spot. It was better if it was away. When he was thinking, he liked to nibble on things, and he didn’t want to nibble on his precious treasure.
“It’s hard to say. I thought I was at least as powerful as her, but I was wrong. She’s faster. I struggled to keep up with her.”
Xiao Dan grunted. “While her sword skills are not equal to ours, her speed enables her to make up for what she lacks in finesse.”
“So, if we outnumber her, we can easily kill her,” Rei said with a shrug.
“That’s only if we can keep her from escaping,” Yichen countered.
“Then it’s a matter of magic. That’s where I have her beat, I believe,” Kai proclaimed with a happy purr in his voice.
Xiang leaned in and smirked at his mate. “Could you be any more smug?”
“Oh, yes. I definitely could. Would you like to see?” Xiang answered that question with a groan, leaving Kai to turn his attention to Huli. “As we arrived at your battle with Min, I noticed a powerful charge, almost like lightning. That was her magic?”
“It was. Huli jing magic is…not interesting.” If he’d been in his fox form, his ears would have been drooping. At best, he could jut out his bottom lip.
“How can you say that? You can change from a fox to a human. You can even change what you look like as a human in the blink of an eye. That’s incredible!” Moon argued, making Huli’s bottom lip retract into a smile.
“We also have some subtle magic that affects the mind and helps us to seduce humans, but it doesn’t work on vampires,” Huli admitted.
“And you know that because…” Xiao Dan inquired.
“What? I didn’t try it on you!”
No, he’d tried it on another much younger vampire out of curiosity, and it still hadn’t worked. That at least had saved him the embarrassment of trying it and failing with Xiao Dan.