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There was no response to his words. Junjie stopped when he reached a pair of large, heavy doors with a complicated lock. He’d seen the vampires go in and out of this room a few times, but he always gave it a wide birth. With this kind of security, they’d notice anyone getting near it, even a cat. Prior to revealing himself, he hadn’t wanted anyone to notice him.

After entering the combination, Junjie opened the doors to reveal a large room full of weapons. Oh, this was taking a very bad turn. Junjie could not go off half-cocked to take out Jiang Chong alone. He’d get himself killed.

“Jun-Jun, you need to calm down and think rationally about this.” Leo followed Junjie around the room as the vampire snatched up weapon after weapon and placed them on the centertable. Swords, daggers, bows, a wicked-looking staff. Things he didn’t even have names for. Junjie was going to be a one-man army. “You can’t be completely sure of what you saw, right? Are you sure I was dead-dead? Maybe I was just wounded. Why don’t we go talk to Xiao Dan? I bet your shixiong will have some good ideas.”

“Shixiong can’t fix it this time.”

Junjie headed to the far corner to grab another weapon, but Leo caught his arm and stopped him. As the vampire turned to meet his gaze, his eyes were wide and slightly unfocused, as if he weren’t actually there, but lost in his own panicked thoughts.

“Listen to me. We’ll fix thistogether. I’m not leaving you,” Leo pressed.

“I know. We’ll stop him. But I need you to stay here for a little while.”

“What?”

“You can’t leave. If you leave, Jiang Chong will kill you.”

Leo’s brain was still digesting those ominous words when Junjie pulled free from his grasp and zipped out of the room. It was his own fault for forgetting that vampires could move insanely fast. That fact was hammered home as the heavy double doors slammed shut before Leo could make it past the table.

Fucking Junjie had shut him in the armory without taking a single weapon for himself. It was all a ruse. The goddamn vampire tricked him.

“Junjie! Junjie Zhang! Let me the fuck out of here!” Leo bellowed at the top of his lungs. He pounded his fists on the steel doors, but they didn’t budge an inch. “Let me out right now!”

“I can’t, Leo. Jiang Chong kills you here in front of the house. I don’t know when. Probably soon. That’s why I can’t let you leave.” The thick doors muffled Junjie’s voice, forcing Leo to strain to hear him.

“You can’t hold me prisoner forever! Let me out!”

“It’s not forever. There’s someone I need to talk to. I’ll be right back.”

He was leaving?Who did he need to talk to that required him to lock Leo up? The vampire had lost his damn mind. He couldn’t leave him locked up in the armory.

Leo stepped away from the doors to see if he could find a hidden release or some other trigger to unlock the doors, but there was nothing. Not even a set of handles on this side of the doors. The metal was completely smooth. If there was a mechanism to let him out of the room, the Zhang clan had hidden it really well.

“Keep the doors locked. Don’t let anyone open the armory or Leo will die. Do you understand?”

Leo lunged for the doors again and pressed his ear to it.

“I’ve got it. Chen has told me about your vision. I will protect that cat until you return.”

Kai!He put the dragon in charge of guarding him. Why not? Dragons were known for being able to protect treasure, and right now, Junjie was acting like he was one of the most precious things to him. Enough to make him temporarily lose his mind.

“Kai! Old buddy, you gotta let me out of here. Junjie isn’t thinking clearly. He needs help,” Leo shouted at the door.

“You have nothing to fear, cat. Junjie is leaving now to get help. I will keep you safe in the armory.”

Leo dropped his head on the door, banging his forehead on the metal.Fuck. His only hope now was for Xiao Dan to get wind of this nonsense and to set him free. If there was anyone who was sensible and calm in this clan, it was Xiao Dan.

With a heavy sigh, Leo slid down and sat on the cold floor with his back against the door. Dying at the hands of Jiang Chong didn’t scare him. But something happening to Junjie in his pursuit of Jiang Chong terrified him, and right now, there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Chapter 21

Zhang Junjie

Leo would never forgive him for this. Not that he blamed the cat shifter. Junjie had crossed all the lines. He’d pretended to be insane, locked his would-be boyfriend in the armory, and set a dragon to guard him.

Well, maybe he wasn’t pretending as much as he would have liked to be.

But none of that mattered. He’d watched too many people lose their lives at the hands of Jiang Chong. Leo would not join them. He would save Leo. Unfortunately, he couldn’t take the risk of allowing Leo to run around on his own until he figured this out.