Page 78 of Two Thousand Blades

Xiang instantly deflated, sitting back on his heels. Obviously, he owed Junjie big for talking some sense into Kai while Xiang had been asleep.

“I don’t wish for you to be hurt, ever. Especially because of me.” The words left Kai in barely more than a whisper.

Catching one of Kai’s hands in both of his, Xiang lifted it to his lips and pressed a sweet kiss to his knuckles. “I understand. I hate seeing you hurt. You’ve returned from the fae twice now near death, and it has torn me apart. I know that bitch was ordering you to kill me and you fought her.”

“I would rather die than harm you.”

Xiang swallowed hard and pointed one finger at the dragon. “And there will be none of that. You are not allowed to die. Do you hear me? There are too many things we need to do together. You still need to get the stone out of my stomach.”

Kai shifted, digging into his pocket. When he held up his free hand, there was a black weiqi stone balance between his thumb and his forefinger. “I retrieved it while you slept. I wanted something to remember you by.”

“No! You can’t leave. I won’t allow it. You…you…” His voice died off as the reality of the words coming out of his mouth sank into his brain. Kai was one of the great ancient dragons of the world. He was practically immortal, living for thousands of years. His powers were immense. Who the hell was he to tell Kai what to do? The dragon could go anywhere he wanted in the world in the blink of an eye.

All the food he’d eaten with Kai was now a lead weight in his stomach, and a chill was sweeping across his skin. An ache echoed through his heart with every beat, and his throat tightened. He wanted to crawl away from this conversation and back into bed, where Kai’s words couldn’t reach him.

Just as his hand was about to fall away from Kai’s, the dragon caught it and squeezed it almost painfully. Those soft silvery eyes flashed bright gold, while the pupils turned to black slits for a heartbeat. It was as if something had made Kai lose control of his human form.

“You are my mate.”

The world stopped. Xiang’s breath was caught in his lungs a second time and his brain turned to electric snow.

What?

“You are my mate,” Kai repeated, and Xiang was grateful. He’d nearly convinced himself he’d heard him wrong. “I don’t know things like love. I don’t want to use that word without understanding it, because I know humans put so much weight and value into that emotion. But I know you are my mate. You belong to me and no one else. You are more precious to me than all the items within my hoard.”

Kai had barely finished saying those words when a thousand invisible threads dove into Xiang’s soul and streaked back across to Kai, binding them together. He gasped at the feeling, but Kai continued as if he felt nothing.

“I would give up all of my hoard to keep you. I would give you all my hoard and more if it would make you happy. And if you asked, I would give up my life for you.” Kai lifted his empty hand, his fingers curling like long talons, while eyes once again flashed bright gold. “You are mine, and I will never part with you.”

For a second, within his mind, Xiang swore those threads flashed gold and then faded from sight. But he could feel them even now, binding him permanently to Kai. Pure, unadulterated joy pumped briefly through his veins, but it froze almost as quickly.

He wanted nothing more than to belong to Kai, to have Kai at his side for all time, but Kai was a dragon…and he was just some vampire who’d done some truly horrible things within his lifetime. How could he be worthy of Kai?

“But…you’re…you’re a dragon. You’re practically a god. I’m not worthy,” Xiang stumbled, trying to untangle his tongue enough to speak, but his brain wasn’t cooperating.

“Why?” Kai’s hold on his hand tightened, stopping Xiang’s attempt to pull his fingers free. “Because of decisions you made in the past? I don’t care about those things. What you have survived and learned from in your past are the very things that make you so priceless to me now. You are mine.”

Xiang could feel the echo of those three words through his entire body, branding him in the very best way.

Swallowing past the lump that threatened to block his throat, Xiang cupped Kai’s cheek with one hand and pulled him closer. “Does that mean that you’re mine? That I won’t have to share you with anyone else?”

A soft growl rumbled from Kai. “Dragons don’t share.”

Their lips met across the table in a hungry, desperate kiss that soothed old aches and insecurities. Xiang lost himself to the heat of Kai’s mouth, the caress of his tongue along his own. He pushed away thoughts of the strange magic spell that bound him to Kai. It wasn’t important. The only thing that mattered to him was that Kai wanted him completely. That Kai would never leave his side.

He slowed the kiss to a series of small, slow nips and brushes, as if they couldn’t quite get enough of each other. With his forehead pressed to Kai’s, he smiled. “Come to bed with me. You need to give your body more time to heal.”

Kai pulled away and grinned. “Will we have sex?”

A bark of laughter jumped out of Xiang’s throat and forced his head to tip to the ceiling. “No sex. Healing.”

The dragon released him and smoothly stood. He stripped off his clothes, tossing them about the room without a care. “You know, I’ve heard that sex has many healing properties.”

“No,” Xiang repeated as he also stripped to his underwear.

“I assure you that my ass suffered no injury in the fight with the fae. It is perfectly fine.”

This dragon was trying to kill him with temptation.

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