Page 6

Yet, he didn’t get more than a step from the door. There was the soft shuffle of movement a second before the door jumped open. Kai stood in front of him, a questioning look on his handsome face. His normally styled hair was mussed, though, giving vivid proof of what he’d dragged Kai from. That was going to put him in a wonderful mood. “Junjie? Is something wrong?”

He never got the chance to answer. Leo meowed and slipped between Kai’s legs to enter the room.

“Ah. The cat,” Kai continued. He retreated a step and motioned for Junjie to enter. “I take it he came clean with you?”

And that was another thing…

Junjie threw the dragon a warning scowl as he entered Xiang and Kai’s room. How could the dragon know Leo was a shifter and not tell them about it?

“Who came clean about what?” Xiang inquired.

Thankfully, Leo saved him from needing to answer. In the blink of an eye, he shifted into an auburn-haired man with a sprinkling of freckles across his nose, bright-green eyes, and clothes.

The asshole was wearing clothes.

“You can shift without being naked?” Junjie shouted, the words slipping out as the filter in his brain was still trying to kick in.

Xiang screeched and jumped up on his bed, pulling a knife—from where, only the ancestors knew—to point it at Leo. “He can shift? Wait! Did you see him naked?”

Just let the floor open up and swallow me whole.

“I thought shifters couldn’t change and not be naked. Bel Varik’s wolves always have to bring their clothes with them,” Junjie argued.

Leo grinned at Xiang and scratched his head with his left hand. “Yeah, I thought naked would be a good icebreaker with Junjie. I was afraid of the dragon snapping things off if I tried that again.”

“Smart decision. And not being able to shift with clothes is a wolf-shifter problem,” Kai said as he crossed to where Xiang was standing on the bed. He wrapped his fingers around the hand holding the blade and got him to lower it. “There’s no need for that, my precious one. He’s not a danger to you or your family.”

“What?” Xiang demanded, refusing to move his eyes a centimeter from where Leo was standing.

“Yiguo’s real name is Leo St. George, and he’s a cat shifter or a cat spirit. I don’t know. All I know is that he’s not an actual house cat, and he needs our help.”

“What?” Xiang repeated.

Junjie almost sighed. Information was not entering Xiang’s brain. It was too overloaded.

“Cat shifter would be the best description, but not quite like the wolf shifters,” Leo chimed in. He tipped his head toward Junjie. “I’ve got way more skills than those dogs.”

“The main point you should remember is that your mate knew he wasn’t a cat.” Junjie pointed at Kai, who stared at him with his mouth hanging open as if he couldn’t believe Junjie had betrayed him like that.

“Are you shitting me? You knew? When?” Xiang demanded.

“From the moment I saw him. I didn’t say anything at first because I thought you knew. When I realized you didn’t, I thought it best to wait and see how it played out. The cat isn’t stronger than me. I knew I could protect you and your clan.”

“Kai!”

“Rei and Huli knew it too,” Kai blurted out.

Whoosh!Just like that, Rei and Huli were thrown in front of the oncoming bus.

“What?” Xiang was near shrieking levels. That was going to bring the rest of his clan running to their room, which was exactly what Junjie didn’t want. They’d all been through too much tonight. He wanted to take care of Leo’s request now and have a long talk with his clan mates the next evening, when everyone was well rested.

“Xiang, we can argue later about who knew what. The sun is going to rise soon, and I need your help with something.”

Those words flipped a switch inside of Xiang. He hopped from where he’d been standing on the bed and closed the distance between them so he could put his hand on Junjie’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong? What can I do?”

“Leo said that one of his pack mates is in danger and needs our help, but we have to go now while the fae are in disarray. The sun will be up in a couple of hours. I can’t do this alone.”