Page 77 of Two Thousand Shadows

“Yeah!” River exclaimed suddenly. “We’ll send Winter to live with your clan until we can kill this Jiang Chong.” He stopped and scratched his jaw. “You’d probably end up getting Fox, too.”

“They’re a package deal,” Wyatt added.

A tiny spark of hope flared to life in his chest. Would that be enough to make a difference? They’d never been able to predict Jiang Chong’s movements. Taking away his element of surprise would level the field if not give them an edge at last over him.

“Okay. Thank you. I…I need to talk to Leo and the rest of my clan. Make…make some plans,” Junjie replied.

Bel gave his hands a last squeeze before pushing to his feet. “Whatever you need. I know Winter would be happy to stay with your clan for a while. He’s been very curious about your fighting style and would love to learn more. This would give him a chance to spend time with your clan while acting as an early warning against Jiang Chong.”

“And Bel is always happy to run new experiments,” Wyatt said.

“I know!” Bel gasped. He spun halfway toward his mates. “Could you imagine if we could get our hands on some actual cat shifter blood? The comparative studies we could run would be so fascinating! I can think of so many things I’d love to study.”

“Thank you again. I’ll talk to Leo and see what he thinks our next course of action should be.”

Not that their next conversation was going to be an easy one. He might have lost it a bit when he’d locked Leo in the armory. The cat shifter would not be happy to see him. And Junjie wasn’t sure any amount of groveling was going to make this better.

Chapter 22

Leo St. George

By the time Junjie had returned to let him out of the armory, Leo had yet to calm down. His phone had three bars while he was in his prison. He was sorely tempted to call the cops on Junjie and his stubborn dragon guard, but he wasn’t that big of a dick. There was no reason to fuck over the entire clan and put Erik in harm’s way.

So he sat there, stewing.

Trapped by the man whose dick he’d sucked.

Oh, my fuck! He’d slept with him!Not in the traditional sex meaning, but he’d fallen asleep, curled up in his human form, in the bed together.

Heneverdid that. He was always right out the door with his sexual partners. No emotional ties.

And this was what it got him. Locked up in an armory filled with ancient weapons and guarded by a dragon.This was why he didn’t date!

Thankfully, less than two hours passed before he heard the lock being worked and he jumped to his feet, ready to hit Junjie with both barrels as he walked out the front door and never returned. This cat didn’t do cages.

Except Leo lost some of his rage the second his gaze fell on Junjie. The vampire looked like shit. Far worse than earlier when he’d been scared out of his mind.

No! Leo was still pissed. Junjie had locked him up. People didn’t do that to people they were dating. Okay, maybe kinky people did that, but they weren’t those kinds of people.

“Leo…” Junjie started, but Leo marched right past him.

“Don’t! I don’t want to hear it.”

“Please, I’m sorry. I was afraid of you walking straight into Jiang Chong and getting killed. I had to find a way to save you. This was the only option I could think of to keep you safe while I went to see Bel Varik.”

That stopped Leo dead in his tracks. His knowledge of the Variks was light, but he knew Bel was a scientist who ran all these insane experiments. He turned to Junjie, his eyes narrowed. “Why would you go see the Variks?”

“Bel’s mates are shifters. I wanted to know if you could change a shifter into a vampire. I thought if I couldn’t stop Jiang Chong from killing you, maybe I could at least make sure your death wasn’t permanent. But…a shifter can’t be changed.”

Leo barely heard Junjie’s trembling words. Heat filled his face, and his heartbeat thundered in his ears. “Who the fuck asked you to?” Leo shouted. He stomped toward Junjie, getting in his face. The vampire stumbled back a half step as if he expected Leo to attack him. “Whoever said that I wanted to be a vampire? I never want to be a vampire. I’m a cat shifter and proud of it. I’d rather die than let someone make me into something else.”

“But Jiang Chong?—”

“Fuck Jiang Chong! This is my life, my decision. You’re not taking that from me.” He spun on the balls of his feet and marched to the front door, not caring that his shouting had drawn the attention of the entire house. He tossed over hisshoulder as he ripped the doors open. “Your enemy isn’t my problem anymore. I’m never returning here.”

Leo stomped across the driveway, cursing every vampire he’d ever met. Yet, before he could reach the doors at the end of the drive, Xiao Dan appeared from out of nowhere. Sneaky fucking vampire. Couldn’t trust any of them.

Xiao Dan wasn’t exactly blocking his path. Leo could easily shift and dart around him to slip out of the property, but he found his steps slowing to a stop.

---