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“The place where he’s hiding is about twenty miles from here. I can take you there,” Leo chimed in.

Xiang’s fingers tightened, biting into flesh, but even though it was mildly painful, there was something comforting in it. Xiang’s sledgehammer approach to everything was so very familiar. He’d been like this prior to becoming a vampire and hadn’t changed in more than two thousand years. “There’s no way we’d let you out of this house alone.”

“Just remember, cat,” Kai cut in, his eyes glowing bright gold as his pupils became slender vertical slits, “I will be there. If I believe there is any threat to my mate or my family, I will send them home in the blink of an eye and I will eat you in a single bite.”

Leo’s smile wavered, and he nodded once to Kai. “Got it. Don’t fuck over the vampires. That was never my plan, anyway.”

That might be true, but Junjie wasn’t so naïve that he believed Leo didn’t have some kind of scheme in mind. He simply had to figure out what it was before it got him or his clan in trouble.

Chapter 2

Zhang Junjie

Trees with long branches thick with leaves stretched across the road, crowding close to block out the light from the moon and the thin twinkle of stars. Moisture choked the hot summer air. Junjie was usually indifferent to the seasons, but the unrelenting heat had become annoying even if vampires weren’t much bothered by heat or cold. He was so very ready for the changing of the leaves and the cooler temperatures of autumn—not to mention the significantly longer nights that were made for his kind.

But those pleasant dreams seemed distant compared to the looming threat of the fae and the pall they cast on everything.

Tension tightened Junjie’s shoulders as Xiang drove them away from the clan home and into the forest. With the fae casting spells and wiping out the smaller human towns, pretty much everything east of Hartford was forestland now. The only thing to break the tension in the SUV was Kai’s steady stream of complaining about being in a rolling death box once again.

The dragon did not like motor vehicles of any shape or size.

“Why are you so worried about the other humans on the road?” Leo inquired. He leaned forward, which put him closer to Xiang in the driver’s seat and earned him an impressive glarefrom the dragon. “Can’t you use your magic to protect us or stop the other car before it can hurt us?”

“Xiang doesn’t approve of the random destruction of human life in the name of protecting him,” Kai replied.

Junjie snorted. He couldn’t help himself. This was the same vampire that had wrought more than his fair share of wanton destruction to human life.

“Hey!” Xiang snapped. He turned his head toward Junjie and pointed a finger at him. “I don’t threaten human life needlessly. I?—”

“Eyes on the road! Eyes on the road!” Kai shouted. He grabbed Xiang’s hand and forced him to grip the steering wheel again.

Leo snickered, and Junjie had to bite his lip to hold in his smile.

The new couple bickered in the front seat for another minute, and then Kai returned his attention to glaring out the passenger window.

“Are the fae out there, watching us?” Junjie asked.

“The fae are always out there.” Kai released a huff and continued. “But there are fewer out there now than there have been. None are actively watching us at the moment, but they’re not far. Don’t worry, Junjie. I will protect you from the fae.”

“I get the impression you would enjoy battling the fae again,” Junjie said.

“Yes,” Kai said with a soft hiss. “I would very much enjoy killing more of the fae…to protect my mate and our clan.”

Junjie gazed out the window to hide his grin from the rest of the car’s occupants. That last bit felt like Kai had tacked it on for the sake of appearances.

“Hey, cat,” Xiang called out suddenly. “What kind of shifter are you?”

Junjie looked at Leo to find the man smirking at Xiang. “Exactly what you said—acatshifter.”

“Yeah, but are you like a bakeneko?”

Junjie gasped and scooted closer to his door. The thought hadn’t even occurred to him. He’d assumed that Leo was of the shifter variety like River and Wyatt Varik, except where they changed into wolves, Leo became a house cat.

“Precious one, he’s clearly not Japanese,” Kai pointed out.

“Yeah, but what if he’s like a third or fourth generation, where all of his ancestors of the past several generations have been Americans? That would cause his human form to appear more American and less Japanese, right?”

Kai turned in his seat to stare at Leo, his nose wrinkling. “I’m not sure it works that way. A bakeneko would have a long life span similar to a huli jing?1 or a jiuweihu.”