Page 9

Junjie took a step inside to find that it opened into the main living room, where a boy sat in the middle of the sofa. His brown hair stuck up in several directions as if they’d just woken him up, and he clutched a yellow blanket in his fists. Wide, bright-blue eyes watched Junjie, and his pink bow lips were parted.

“Hello, little one,” Junjie cooed as he got his brain working. With some effort, he tore his eyes from the child and examined the room, searching for an adult. Oh, he desperately wanted an adult to be present. “Where’s your mama and baba?”?2

That earned a very loud and disturbing gasp followed by a heart-breaking sniffle. Enormous tears formed in those brilliant blue eyes, and Junjie’s stomach sank. That was a very bad question.

“What the—” Xiang began and cut himself off.

Junjie didn’t spare his clan mate a glance as he rushed forward with his hands held out toward the child. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” He dropped to his knees in front of the sofa, trying to make his much larger frame seem smaller and less intimidating. “Nobody is going to hurt you. Everything is okay.”

“Nothing is okay,” Xiang corrected him, each word low and tight. “Nothing is okay at all. What the hell, Leo?”

The boy’s gaze lifted from Junjie to stare over his shoulder. Junjie twisted slightly on the balls of his feet to see Xiang, Kai, and Leo standing close to him. Only Leo didn’t gawk utterly flabbergasted at the child.

“Leo?” Junjie prodded as he turned his attention to the boy.

When the cat shifter spoke, his voice was low and almost sullen. It was the most serious he’d sounded to Junjie since the man had first opened his mouth. “The fae killed his parents afew weeks ago. We were lucky to stumble across him before he became sick or the fae found him.”

“You knew them?”

“I knewofthem. They were cat shifters like me.” He stopped and shifted from his left foot to his right while scrubbing one hand through his hair. “You have to understand that we don’t have a clan or pack like vampires and wolves. We’re typically a solitary people. We’ve done what we can for him.” Leo’s voice drifted off, but Junjie didn’t need him to finish. It was crystal clear what he wanted them to do—take the child in.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Xiang grumbled, but Junjie ignored him.

“He feels mostly human to me,” Kai stated. He paused, and it sounded like he was sniffing the air. “But there is something to him. A hint of magic.”

None of that mattered. Human, shifter, fae. It didn’t matter. The only thing that did was that this was a helpless child who was very much alone in the world—something Junjie could still remember all too well even after two thousand years.

“Do you at least know his name?” he demanded.

Silence filled the house. Junjie twisted around to find that Leo was gone.

“Fucking cat!” Xiang snarled as they realized Leo had slipped out the door the moment they’d all been focused on the child.

Junjie winced. Not the language or emotions the boy needed right now. Kai also moved toward the door, but his voice was slightly distant, as if he were concentrating on something else.

“There’s a cat running away from the house. Not too far away. I could catch him.”

“Yes!” Xiang hissed.

“No!” Junjie overruled. “There’s no point. Leo either isn’t able to or can’t handle caring for a child. That’s why he askedfor my help. The only thing that matters right now is getting this little man safely home with us.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Xiang snapped. “You want to take him home with us?”

“Of course. He can’t stay here.” Junjie turned his full attention to the child and held out his hands. “Would you like to come home with me? We’ll get something yummy to eat and a nice soft bed. I bet we could even borrow some nice toys for you to play with.”

Xiang snorted. “Good luck with that.”

Yeah, Meimei had an enormous collection of soft plushies, but they were all related to her manga and anime shows, which meant they were guarded and treasured. Maybe he could convince her to give up one to the child, who couldn’t be over two or three, until they got him some toys of his own.

“The sun is rising. I’m running out of time. Why don’t you and Kai search the house for toys or possibly clothes for him? We don’t know if this is where he lived with his parents or if this was simply a house the cats were borrowing,” Junjie instructed.

Thankfully, Xiang and Kai followed orders rather than continuing to argue. Junjie fluffed up his smile and waggled his fingers at the boy. “My name is Jun-Jun. Can you say that?”

The boy sniffled and rubbed one eye with his fist while the other continued to cling to his blanket. He didn’t speak. Only stared at him.

“How about gege? Gege means older brother. Would you like Gege to take you to get something to eat? We have all kinds of good food at my house.”

Which was thanks to Rei, Kai, and Moon. How the vampire could be such a bottomless pit was beyond his understanding, but right now, it could be a real boon.