Page 51 of Two Thousand Blades

Judging by Xiang’s pale face and expression, the answer was yes.

Sigh. Maybe after he saved these Variks, it would earn him some more kisses from Xiang.

Yes, that was a very nice plan.

Chapter 17

Li Xiang

“Idon’t like this thing,” Kai muttered under his breath as he placed his hand on the window for the third time. He might have touched it to steady himself, but it looked as if he expected it to explode inward on him at any moment.

Xiang leaned close so that his cheek pressed into Kai’s shoulder. “Do you mean this vehicle, or cars in general?”

“All cars,” the dragon grumbled. “They’re metal death boxes, the way they speed about. I don’t like them.”

Xiang had to turn his face into Kai’s shoulder to hide his smile. Even then, he was sure he’d done a poor job of it. Apparently, the dragon did little traveling by car, because his face was pale and the muscles in his jaw were tight from where he was clenching his teeth. As much as he wanted to blame it on Chen’s driving, his er-ge wasn’t doing a horrible job of it. Fast but not utterly reckless, which was more Xiang’s style.

Unfortunately, there was no flying to the Variks if Kai wanted to remain close to Xiang, who was determined to travel with his family. Xiang would have loved to have flown on Kai, but he needed an update on what the fuck was happening.

“Baobei?1?” Chen prodded his mate in the front passenger seat without taking his eyes off the road. “Anything else from Fox?”

Xiang lifted his gaze to the fledgling vampire to see him shake his head. “Nothing.”

“Why don’t you call Yichen or Junjie in the other car so they can hear what you know?” Chen suggested.

“Got it.” Moon flipped through screens to call one of their other clan mates while Kai turned his face toward Xiang.

“Another huli jing?” he whispered.

Xiang’s brow furrowed for a second before he caught on to his companion’s confusion. “Fox isn’t a huli jing. Just a man. Witch, actually. His name is Fox. He’s the mate of Winter Varik.”

“And these Variks are friends of your clan?”

“Mn. Good friends. They helped us to get Yichen back from the fae, and they’ve worked hard to fight the fae to protect the humans.” Xiang winked at him. “For vampires, they’re good people.”

Kai sniffed. “Not everyone can be a dragon.”

Xiang choked on a laugh, but Junjie’s voice coming through the speaker on Moon’s phone cut it short. “Moon, what have you heard?”

“Nothing more since the initial call. I’m hoping they haven’t been overrun yet.” Moon sucked in a ragged breath and shoved his free hand through his white-blond hair. “What I know is that both Bel and Winter have houses close to a thick section of forest land that separates them from the land that belongs to the local wolf pack. The wolf pack has been in the process of moving in with another pack who lives farther west. Fox wasn’t clear, but I think the fae have attacked the shifters. They’re the family of Bel’s mates, so Bel has also jumped into the fight.”

“And, naturally, Winter and Fox joined in to help their clan mates,” Xiao Dan murmured.

“Fox called us first because we’re closer than the rest of their clan. But I talked to Ethan as we were grabbing weapons. Aiden, Marcus, and the rest of the Variks have been contacted and are on their way,” Moon continued.

Xiang grunted. “But we’ll be the first to arrive. We’ll give Bel a hand, push the fucking fae back.”

“Kai…” Xiao Dan began, but his voice cut off as if unsure what to say. “Do you have any…concerns about joining this fight?”

“None. I don’t foresee the queen being able to use the sword against me so soon. I am happy to assist in this matter.”

Xiang nearly rolled his eyes. Assist in this matter. Kai made it sound like they were heading over to the Variks’ to hang curtains, not kill as many members of the fae as they could.

No, Xiang was excited to cut down their enemy at last. Over the last several months, he had met all the Variks and their various mates. They were an interesting, bickering clan who clearly cared for each other as well as the humans. They only hoped to live in peace with the humans. Not to mention, they’d helped the Zhang clan when they’d had no stake in the matter. It was time they repaid the Variks for the risks they’d taken on behalf of his clan.

“Very well. Everyone, please pay attention to any information or instructions from Rei. We don’t know that we face. I—” Xiao Dan’s voice cut out, and Xiang thought Moon’s phone must have dropped the signal.

But as he lifted his eyes to the front windshield, his brain was wiped clean. Black, acrid smoke filled the night sky, tickling their throats and burning their eyes. They wouldn’t have been able to see it if it weren’t for the fire consuming a long string of homes. What had been a quiet residential street was now filled with cars and people running on foot, faces twisted in fear, as they fled their homes. Xiang’s heart tripped and his hand tightened on Kai, some urge driving him to protect the dragon.

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