Page 53

They all ran over to peer at the map. Maddox’s circle was crudely drawn over what appeared to be a wooded area.

“No shit,” Sky muttered.

“What?” Moon demanded.

“That’s the same spot where those witches kidnapped me and, ooooooh…” Sky broke off and winced. It was already too late.

“Kidnapped you? When?” Maddox snapped.

“Why the fuck weren’t we told about this?” Red shouted.

Sky threw his hands over his blond head and tried to curl into a fetal position while still standing. “I forgot! It was just a little kidnapping! Not a big deal. It was when the dead crawled out of the graves. A bunch of witches were pissed and thought it was my fault. They wanted to talk.”

It was on the tip of Chen’s tongue to point out that Moon wasn’t the only one getting kidnapped, but he swallowed those words. It was nice that Moon’s friends weren’t glaring at him with suspicion any longer.

Moon smirked up at him, seeming as if the same thought had crossed the witch’s mind.

“The location makes sense,” Xiang murmured as he stared at the map.

As much as he hated to, Chen released Moon and moved closer to his clan mates. He needed to focus on what had to be done to locate Yichen. Cuddling with Moon would not help with that.

“The woods don’t look large, but they would provide the fae with the cover they need to enter this realm. It would allow them to avoid immediate detection by the humans,” Ming Yu murmured.

“Sean and I can go check it out during the day tomorrow, if you’d like. Scout the area. I’ve got a few wards I can throw up. It wouldn’t stop the fae from entering the world, but they can serve as an early-warning system, alerting to me their movement,” Moon suggested.

Something inside of Chen’s chest clenched around his heart, threatening to crush it. This was a horrible idea. Moon going into the very woods the fae would soon inhabit with no one as support but Xiang. Not that Xiang wasn’t a capable fighter. He was one of their strongest and most ruthless. He would keep Moon safe.

It was just that Moon was going to be out of his reach, and it was suffocating.

“We would appreciate that. Any reconnaissance ahead of their arrival would be helpful,” Xiao Dan replied, while Chen struggled to think beyond the first swell of panic.

Moon walked over to Xiang, putting more space between himself and Chen. They began making plans about how they would move through the area and what might be the best plan for setting up the wards. All Chen could think was, Nothing better happen to my witch.

Chapter 13

Moon Mullins

Chen was looming.

Not hanging out.

The vampire was looming.

All while Moon and the rest of his clan worked out how he and Sean would handle the scouting mission tomorrow morning. Loom. Loom. Loom.

He could feel Chen’s growing anxiety, even if it didn’t show on his face. Chen didn’t like the idea of Moon going into the woods, where they were expecting the fae to arrive. It didn’t matter if Moon was going to be right beside Xiang the entire time. Nope. Chen wanted to be the one watching over him; Moon could feel it.

They had everything settled about an hour after marking the location, and Moon tucked Red’s bag of spell supplies under his arm. Mad and Red shuffled toward the SUV, their heads hanging low with exhaustion. Moon shot Sky a look over his shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I’ll drive them home. I have a feeling they’re going to pass out before we reach the end of the driveway,” Sky said.

“Pfft…like you can even touch the pedals,” Red mumbled.

Without missing a beat, Sky reached out and smacked Red on the back of the head. “Keep it up and you’ll be riding in the trunk.”

Moon snickered. He didn’t know what Red was going on about. Sky might be the shortest of their group at a somewhat average five foot ten, but Red had only two inches on him. The witch was just exhausted and grumpy.

“Are you coming with us?”

Mad’s question stopped Moon cold. The idea of him leaving the Zhang clan hadn’t even crossed his mind. He’d been planning to follow Chen into the house after seeing his friends off. Maybe he’d raid the kitchen for some leftovers and then talk to Chen and the other vampires about adding a blood ward to their outer wall.

But leaving made sense.

He’d succeeded in his primary goal of getting the vampires in touch with an earth witch who could help them locate the fae door. Mission accomplished. Yay?

Sure, he had plans to wander the woods with Sean tomorrow, but he could drive over from his place in the morning. There was no logical reason for him to remain under their roof a moment longer.