Page 17 of Two Thousand Shadows

Ming Yu patted Junjie on the shoulder with one hand while covering her mouth with the other as she yawned. “Get some sleep.”

“What if he needs me and I’m asleep?”

“Don’t worry. You’ll wake up.”

She was right. He was a notoriously light sleeper. He’d also never attempted to sleep with someone in bed with him.

Leo didn’t count. He’d been in cat form and slept at the foot of the bed, which he now regretted allowing with a new passion.

After Ming Yu shuffled down the hall to her room, Junjie closed his door. He turned on the light to his en suite bathroom so the bedroom wouldn’t be completely dark in case the little one woke up before he did. The main light to the room clicked off, and cool quiet settled over the room. He slipped into the bed, careful not to shift the mattress and wake the child.

For a moment, he lay there wondering how the hell he was going to fall asleep, but it swept him away as he finished the thought. When the night had begun, they’d been fighting the fae. They’d watched the death of Queen Belladonna, the rise of the tyrant King Trin, and the return of Jiang Chong. Kai had gotten his stolen sword back, and now Junjie had a child.

No wonder he was so exhausted.

1 Jie/jiejie – older sister (opposite of meimei.)

2 Shijie – older clan sister

3 Xiao Ping Guo – little apple

4 Baobei – baby

Chapter 5

Leo St. George

Leo flattened himself across a tree limb while in his cat form, his eyes fixed on the rear of the Zhang manor. Lights glowed in the interior, and more were blinking on throughout the garden, creating a warm and welcoming illusion.

Come in. You’re home. This is where you belong.

At least, that was what it seemed to whisper to him, but it was all a lie. This wasn’t home, and he didn’t belong here.

No, he was more like a cuckoo bird than a cat, hiding one of his own kind within the nest of vampires.

Or some nonsense like that.

The truth of the matter was that jealousy was eating him from the inside out. He was green with it. That helpless kitten was undoubtedly receiving plenty of cuddles and laughs from Junjie. Cuddles and belly rubs that should have been his alone.

Not that he would begrudge the orphan all the love and affection he could receive. He’d lost his parents and home. Meanwhile, his own kind, out of fear and superstition, couldn’t be bothered to take him in. Vampires were far less cold blooded about the child’s fate.

Maybe he worried about the kid, too. This was Leo’s third visit in a week, though he never dared to venture any closer tothe house than this tree, which was closest to one of the walls. It allowed him to beat a hasty retreat over the wall and out of reach if a resident spotted him.

The sun had set a few minutes earlier, and he was hoping to glimpse Junjie when he took the boy out for a walk through the garden. The little guy loved to help feed the koi that swam through the man-made pond and under the curved bridge.

“You’re an asshole.”

Leo hissed and jumped up from where he lounged at the sudden voice below him. He looked down to find that weird fox shifter sitting beneath the tree, his many tails spread behind him. He’d heard some of the fairy tales about fox spirits and jiuweihu, but he’d never believed they existed. But then, there were a lot of things that were possible after meeting the Zhang clan.

“What are you talking about? It’s not like the kid was my flesh and blood. I was trying to find him a good home.” Ire and guilt sharpened Leo’s voice and left his hair standing on end. His spine arched, and he bared his fangs at the fox.

Huli leaped up and braced his front two paws on the tree trunk, stretching toward the cat. His triangular ears flattered against his head and his sharp teeth seemed to grow as his lips pulled back. “That’s not what I mean. All of Xiao Dan’s attention is on the baby now. Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for him? How hard I’ve worked to win his affection just to have you throw a baby between us because you can’t take care of it?I’msupposed to be his baby. No one else.Just me.”

“Huli.”

Both of them jerked their heads in the direction of the firm, deep voice that drifted across the yard from the house. Xiao Dan was standing on the bridge wearing a pair of dark slacks and a soft, thin sweater despite the lingering heat of the day.

The fox spirit needed no additional coaxing. He shoved off the tree and bounded over to where the vampire was waiting for him, as if he were an overgrown Tigger with too many tails. On the final bounce, the huli jing shifted into a human with chestnut-brown hair and large green eyes. The top of his head barely reached Xiao Dan’s shoulder. Huli’s bright smile beamed at the vampire as if he were the one and only thing that mattered in all of his world.

---