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“Good job, my little vampire,” Chen whispered. He rubbed his head on Moon’s shoulder, snuggling in closer.

“That’s not enough. You need to feed. I—wait. Am I a vampire? I don’t feel any different. Are you sure?”

Chen’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. “Open your mouth.” Moon followed his instructions and allowed Chen to stick a finger inside. He applied pressure to a tooth and stroked down. A long way. A really long fucking way. “That looks like a vampire fang to me.”

Moon moved his tongue around and bam!

That tooth was not there before.

Oh, shit! There was another one!

“Fuck! I’m a vampire!”

“Help me up, sexy bloodsucker. We need to get to the meet-up spot. I think we’ve done all the damage we can to the fae for one night.”

Moon kept Chen tucked close to his body as he lifted him to his feet. He paused and gazed over his shoulder at the castle. The light from the door remained. There were at least a dozen corpses littering the ground, but there had to be more fae. Had they done enough?

“Remember, tonight wasn’t about wiping out the fae,” Chen reminded him. “We agreed we were going to rescue Yichen, and that was it. Now we have to remain alive long enough to bring him home permanently.” Chen reached up and grabbed Moon’s chin, forcing him to meet his eye. “Besides, we need to return home so someone can teach you how to be a proper vampire.”

“Oh, and who’s going to do that?” Moon teased. His grin turned wicked as he swept one arm under Chen’s legs and lifted him into his arms. “Look at that! Already got the vampire strength thing figured out.”

Chen yelped as he wrapped his arms around Moon’s neck. Not that his very dignified mate would have admitted to making that sound. “Don’t push yourself. Your body has been through a lot. You need to conserve your strength.” Chen paused and sniffed softly. “Besides, if you’re going to carry me, it would be better if you draped me across your back rather than this…this…princess carry.”

Moon beamed as he strode through the woods in the meet-up’s direction. “But you are my princess. You are my princess, my mate, my love, my everything. And I dare you to get rid of me now.”

“Fine,” Chen huffed. “Just as long as you remember who rescued whom first.”

“I know. It was you. It’s always been you.”

Chapter 31

Chen Bo Cheng

Three weeks later…

Where was he now?

One unexpected downside of Moon becoming a vampire was that the man had become significantly sneakier, and he took pleasure in making Chen hunt for him. It was as though they were engaged in a nightly game of hide and seek, and Chen was always stuck as the seeker.

The only time that it truly worried him was during those last hours as the sun hung above the horizon, casting the world in a golden glow. Moon slept most of the day wrapped in Chen’s tight arms, but the sly man always awoke before the sun set and scampered off somewhere.

Moon told him he was happy as a vampire, but Chen struggled to read his emotions now. They were even more jumbled and chaotic than usual. The first few years as a vampire were always the most dangerous. A person’s mind would fight to make the adjustment, their heart longing for those bygone days of long walks in the sun and a normal life.

There were times when Chen would wake alone, fear that Moon might hurt himself so strong it would choke him.

He moved through the house on silent footfalls, checking room after room until he located Moon seated on the sofa in one of the side parlors. His gaze locked on the central garden. The retractable shade roof was retracted, allowing the plants to be bathed in the last tendrils of the day’s sun. Light danced and glistened on the water that tumbled into the small pond.

Standing in the doorway, he hesitated to disturb Moon’s quiet’s solitude as he stared out at the garden. If Moon wanted time alone, Chen didn’t want to force himself on his lover and risk smothering the man. There was a point where he needed to find his own way, to come to terms with what had happened to him.

“Finished your call with the Variks?” Moon asked without turning around to look at him.

One corner of Chen’s lips lifted in a smile. Of course, Moon knew he was there. Thanks to the red thread that stretched between them, each could always feel when the other was near. He crossed the room and sat on the sofa, leaving almost an entire cushion of space between them.

“We have. Winter’s most recent reconnaissance into the woods confirmed what we’ve suspected: the fae have pulled back. He didn’t go as far as the castle, but he said that he encountered no fae scouts or guards within a mile of their lair. It would seem we injured the fae army deep enough to make them retreat into their fortress.”