Page 39 of Two Thousand Shadows

“No. I’m fine. Everything is fine.”

“Ah. So, you’re avoiding me?”

“What? No. Of course not. Why would I be avoiding you?”

It was becoming almost impossible to not laugh directly in Junjie’s face. The vampire was talking faster, and his pitch was inching higher with every word.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Leo drawled, taking a step closer to Junjie. The vampire backpedaled, bumping into a low, long dresser. “Maybe it’s because you held me in your arms, licked my neck, and drank my blood like it was the finest wine you’d ever tasted. And when you were drunk on my amazing blood, we kissed.”

“For that, I most sincerely apologize. I should never have taken such liberties.”

“You took nothing that wasn’t freely offered.” He took another step closer, his gaze locked on those perfect lips as they trembled inches from his own. “And I am still offering to kiss you senseless.”

Junjie slipped past him and darted across the room, holding up his hands to keep Leo at bay. “We shouldn’t have kissed. I regret that I pushed things so far while I was not in my right mind. It was wrong of me. Of us.”

Leo’s smile never wavered. It wasn’t the first time someone had said they’d regretted kissing him, and Bastet knew Junjie wouldn’t be the last. The only difference was that Leo very much wanted to convince the vampire that the kiss wasn’t an unfortunate decision and that they should do it far more frequently.

He slowly crossed the room toward Junjie and pointed a finger at his chest. “It looks like you’ve completely healed from your injury.”

Junjie glanced where he’d indicated. There was only flawless pale skin stretched across the hard muscles of his chest. He was exquisite, as if a marble statue had come alive and escaped the Louvre to wander through Connecticut on holiday.

“Oh. Yes. It’s very rare for a vampire to be scarred or have trouble healing from an injury. The wounds healed within an hour.” Junjie lowered his hands and narrowed his eyes on Leo. “What about cat shifters? Can you heal quickly from an injury?”

One corner of Leo’s mouth tilted upward into a smirk. “Are you planning to injure me?”

Junjie glared at him, his perfect lips flattening into a hard, unamused line.

A huffed laugh escaped Leo. “Yes, we are fast healers. Like wolf shifters, I believe. Though I never tried to do serious harm to a wolf shifter to test that theory. I don’t think we’re as fast at healing as vampires.”

“We’re not testing that theory either. It’s good to know. For Erik’s sake.”

That last bit felt tacked on, but Leo kept that thought to himself.

“I stopped by because I hoped we could talk. I was wondering if you’d learned anything interesting about the fae after our walk in the woods. Chen shooed me away when we arrived here.” Leo turned on his heel and wandered in a slow circle around the room, his hands behind his back. “Plus, someone has beenavoidingme.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you.”

Leo swung about and pinned Junjie with a pointed stare. “You stopped taking Erik out for his evening walks and fish feeding.”

“We’ve switched up the schedule so I could get more sleep. Erik is getting up in the afternoons and spending a few hours with Xiang and Kai while I sleep. I take him in the late afternoon through the evening hours. Xiang and Kai enjoy taking him to feed the fish.”

“Uh-huh,” Leo drawled. It was a good explanation, and he couldn’t argue with Junjie’s need for sleep. Leo had suspected that he’d been pushing himself too hard to accommodate the little boy. But it was also a good way to avoid what Junjie would likely describe as an awkward conversation. “Well, I was just stopping by to get some fae information. You also said that you wanted me to share some info on my kind for Erik, but if you don’t have time?—”

“No! I never said that. I have time. I…” Junjie glanced at himself, his eyes widening as if he suddenly remembered that he’d been talking to Leo all this time while wearing only a towel.

Leo leaped across the room and landed on the bed with a bounce. He laid across it with his feet still on the floor and his head propped up on his hand. “I’m happy to wait while you get dressed.”

Junjie rolled his eyes as he marched over, grabbed Leo’s arm, and hauled him to his feet. “I was thinking you could go spend time with Erik while I get dressed. I’ll join you in a couple of minutes.”

“Are you sure?” Leo inquired as Junjie marched him to the door. “I could help you dress. I’d hate for you to suffer a relapse from your injury. It would be no trouble at all.”

“Out, cat,” Junjie ordered as he shoved him into the hall and shut the door behind him. He might have been put out, but Leo could have sworn he heard a tiny bit of mirth in Junjie’s tone.

Besides, he was still in the house with a promise to talk more later. That was better than he’d been expecting when he’d goneto find Junjie. He’d been sure the vampire would toss him out with the command to never return.

Humming to himself, Leo wandered through the winding hallways until he located Erik sitting with Xiang and Kai in a parlor of sorts that opened into a courtyard garden with more elegant statues and a smaller pond. A large, retractable awning extended to block the sunlight so any of the other vampires could join them without worrying. The boy sat on the ground with a selection of toys. A bowl rested off to the side with some sliced up fruit from what was likely his afternoon snack.

Erik caught sight of him first and let out a squeal that shot straight into Leo’s heart. He had a bright-red ball in one hand and held it out to him as if he were offering to play. That child had no right looking so happy to see him. Not after he’d failed him as one of his own kind.

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