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“No!” Moon snapped in a matching low voice. “He surprised me. It’s not like I was expecting to see him here. What the fuck!”

“Then why are you so sweaty and panicked?”

Moon jumped back to his feet and smacked Sean in the center of his forehead. “Because I was worried about you doing something stupid!”

The vampire sulked, rubbing the spot Moon hit. “I wasn’t going to attack him or anything. Not unless he started something.”

Moon rolled his eyes as he grabbed the vampire and put him in charge of moving the awkward weight. “We are getting out of here now.”

“But we still have three more aisles to go.”

“No, we have enough.”

Nope. No chance in hell were they staying a second longer.

He’d now run into Wyatt Varik, who would pass along to the rest of his clan that he ran into Moon Mullins while shopping. Wasn’t that nice? Oh, and it was even more interesting because Moon had this strange Chinese man with him who smelled like a vampire, but it was the middle of the fucking day. Yeah, that was going to catch everyone’s attention and not in a good way. They needed to get back to the Zhang clan house before they encountered anyone else.

Moon didn’t take a relaxed breath until they had the car loaded and were on the road. He slumped in his seat, his head resting in his hand and his eyes closed. The hangover he thought he’d avoided was trying to sneak attack his brain now. Or maybe it was just hunger. Food would be good.

Getting Sean hidden away with the rest of his clan would be even better.

“That man…he’s a werewolf, right?” Sean asked after they’d gone a couple of miles in silence.

“Yep.”

“How do you know him?”

“His pack and I have exchanged services in the past. I’ve done some protective warding for his people. His pack has done some work on the land I own. Culling the local deer population and thinning some of my woods. A barter system for goods and services. Good neighbors. That kind of thing.”

“He said his last name was Varik.”

There it was. That was the shoe he’d been waiting to hear drop.

“I thought the Variks were vampires. As in, the head vampire clan in this region.” Something had changed in Sean’s voice. Usually it was light and free, as if he were ready to tease you at any second. But this was hard and cold. All business.

“The Variks are…complicated.” Moon lifted his head from his hand and offered Sean a weak smile. “I don’t know them well, but I promise to share what information I have with all of your clan. Let’s just say for now that Wyatt sort of married into the clan.”

“Okay, but you will tell us about the Variks later?”

“Definitely.”

“And you will tell us what type of witch you are.”

Moon chuckled. “I haven’t forgotten.”

The comfortable silence returned, and Moon contemplated digging into the bags they’d put into the back seat for a snack to hold him over. Ugh. If he hadn’t been worried about getting away from Wyatt, he would have demanded Sean go through a drive-thru. A big container of salty fries sounded like fucking heaven right now.

“You weren’t trying to escape with him?” Sean’s question ripped Moon’s thoughts away from fries.

He cackled, leaning on his door. “No, I swear I wasn’t. Remember, I’m trying to get your brother to sleep with me. I can’t do that if I escape.”

Sean snorted. “You’re so weird, Moon.”

Weird? Yeah.

But he had a feeling life was going to get a lot weirder now that he was involved with the Zhang clan. And he definitely wasn’t done chasing after Chen.

Chapter 6

Chen Bo Cheng

Incense lazily curled up to the ceiling, filling the room with a light, haunting scent Chen associated with peace and a clear mind. He burned this incense only when he was praying to Shifu.

Part of him missed the Ancestral Hall in Luoyang. It was bigger, containing the name plaques for nearly a hundred Zhang clan ancestors and the forefathers of the Sword of the Heavenly Garden Sect. They had added a small fountain in the past four centuries. It created a pleasant, watery tinkle of sound that complimented the silence rather than breaking it. Delicate orchids, gentians, and rare lilies filled pots and blossomed between the memorial plaques.

For now, the temporary Ancestral Hall held only a dozen plaques and a single pot filled with sand for their incense sticks. But regardless of the austerity of the room, it still brought him peace. The moment his knees touched the mat and his palms pressed together after his first bow to Shifu and the elders, his mind emptied.

While at home, he’d begun making fewer visits to the hall, stopping in once or twice a year. But since they’d arrived in the United States, Chen bowed to Shifu at the start of every evening, his mind cluttered with worries.