Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 105815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Ming Yu leaned down to the child’s eye level and beamed. “Now, that’s much better, isn’t it?”
The boy giggled, clapped, and reached for her wooden spoon.
“I bet you’re hungry. Gods only know what they were feeding you.” Ming Yu put her spoon aside and picked up a plate of peeled apple slices.
“I don’t know. The cat shifters found him and took care of him until they could find him a more permanent arrangement. Oh, that’s right. The stray cat I’ve been feeding is a cat shifter named Leo. The child is also a cat shifter.”
“Leo didn’t tell you his name?”
Junjie shook his head as he handed the child an apple, which he stuffed greedily into his mouth. “I don’t think he knows. The cat shifters are solitary creatures. They aren’t close and don’t have packs like the wolves. It was luck that they stumbled across him.”
“Poor baobei,”4 Ming Yu crooned. “We’ll get you all fixed up and comfortable. Nothing for you to worry about.” She cocked her head and lifted her eyes to Junjie. “Though I think we need to decide on a name for him. I keep thinking of him as the little boy or child. A good American name. I think I saw Liam is popular now. Or Noah. Maybe Elijah or Asher.”
Junjie chuckled and rested his cheek against the top of the boy’s head as he handed him another apple slice. Ming Yu was having too much fun with this. “We should discuss that with the rest of the clan. Also, I should try to talk to Leo about the boy’s name.”
Ming Yu made a dismissive noise as she turned to the rice porridge. “If the cat knew his name or had an opinion about it, he should have said something.” She tapped the wooden spoon on the side of the bowl and set it aside. “Besides, it looks to me that he’s attached himself to you. If he could say it with words, I think he’d tell us that the only person he wants naming him is you.”
“Really?” He shifted the kid so that he was sitting on the edge of the counter rather than Junjie’s thigh. The biggest grin spread across his red lips and he held out half of an apple slice to Junjie, wanting to share with him. How could he be so sweet and adorable? After everything he’d been through, shuffled from his own kind to a clan of vampires, who didn’t know what they were doing.
All except for Ming Yu. He had no doubt that she’d had some interaction with the younger children of the Zhang clan and the sect prior to the arrival of Jiang Chong.
“Eat that,” Ming Yu admonished in a whisper. “I’ll cut up another to go with the congee.”
Junjie leaned close and took a small bite of the offered apple, smiling at the child. He chewed but struggled to swallow the piece of fruit past the sudden lump that had grown in his throat.
“Why do you think he’s so attached to me already?”
“No idea, but children are often excellent judges of character. He can look at you and sense that you’re going to take good care of him.”
He would. That soft smile and sparkling blue eyes shining so brightly at him sealed it completely. The feel of him cuddled against his chest, the chubby fist clenching his shirt, begging to be kept safe. All of it worked deep into Junjie’s heart and there was no letting him go now. Even if he didn’t know the boy’s name.
Yet, one problem remained.
Jiang Chong and the fae.
That monstrous group was trying to destroy all of humanity, but their first target continued to be the Zhang clan. How could Junjie think to keep a small child at the manor when they weren’t sure they could protect themselves?
“Jiejie?” Junjie choked out.
“Hm?”
“What about Jiang Chong?”
“What about him?”
His head popped up, and he stared at her back, his forehead furrowed as his eyebrows snapped together over his nose. “What do you mean?” She made it sound as if that bastard wasn’t even a threat to them at all.
“Just that. What about him? What does he have to do with this precious Xiao Ping Guo?”
Yep, that settled it. He needed to decide on a name for the child. He couldn’t let him go through life as fruit.
“But…but…Jiang Chong is trying to destroy us.”
“And we’re going to stop him. We defeated him once before, and we’re going to do it again.” She turned to face him and clucked her tongue as if she were disappointed in him. “We fought too hard to escape Jiang Chong and a string of useless emperors. To have a life that we weren’t ashamed of. We can’t put that life on hold because we’re threatened.” Her gaze softened as she stared at the boy who was chowing down on the fresh plate of apple slices she’d placed next to him only minutes ago. “This darling young man needs you, and he needs a family who will care for him. If we allow Jiang Chong to force us to be less than ourselves, to turn aside those who need us the most, what is the point of fighting him? He’s already won.”