Page 27 of Two Thousand Shadows

“It’s okay, Meimei. I’ve got him.” Junjie didn’t even need to speak. Erik took one look at him and stretched his arms out to Junjie, hands opening and closing as if that action alone could pull Junjie closer. He sucked in a few ragged breaths and wrapped himself around Junjie as much as he could the moment he landed in Junjie’s arms.

“It’s okay, Xiao Ping Guo. I have you now. Nothing is going to get you,” he cooed in the boy’s ear.

Mei Lian stepped close and rubbed the top of his head. “It was the strangest thing. We were playing in the TV room with some blocks and he paused to stare at the wall as if he were watching something. As I was trying to figure out if he was seeing a bug or a shadow, he burst out into these horrible tears. It was breaking my heart. Nothing I did could get him to stop.”

“I think I’m the reason for his scare.”

The voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Mei Lian was moving before the person stopped speaking. She whirled and scooped up a nearby lamp, pulling the plug free from the socket with a single jerk. One foot planted on the arm of a chair, she raised the lamp above her head, preparing to bring it down on the would-be attacker’s head. Her brain clearly hadn’t registered that she was staring at Winter Varik.

Thankfully, Xiao Dan acted faster.

“Mei Lian, stop!” he shouted, soaring to his feet as well.

Mei Lian froze, still balanced on one foot on the chair, the lamp held high. She blinked and horror filled her face. “Oh, shit! Winter!”

“Holy cow!” Moon echoed from the doorway, his phone still pressed to his ear. “I gotta call you back. Meimei is about to clock Winter with a lamp.”

“Meimei!” Ming Yu snapped.

“Okay! I won’t hit him.” She hopped from the chair and returned the lamp to its table. Her cheeks flushed bright red as Winter rose from his defensive crouch and lowered his arms from his head.

“Way to make friends, babe,” Fox teased.

Ronan lifted one hand above his head. “So, I have questions.”

“Yeah, me too,” Winter chimed in.

“This is Erik. The fae killed his parents. They were also cat shifters like Leo. We have agreed to take him in. He is now a member of the Zhang clan,” Junjie explained, while his arms automatically tightened around the child, squeezing him so that he felt safe.

“You havetwovery rare cat shifters linked to your clan now,” Aiden observed softly. “How very lucky!”

“Erik is a very special little boy.” Winter eased closer to the child. Erik lifted his head to stare at Winter and gave a whimper of discomfort. His chubby hands twisted in Junjie’s shirt, and he squirmed as if trying to get closer to him. Junjie comforted him with a kiss to the side of his head. “He can see me,” Winter continued in a whisper.

“That’s not a hard thing. I can see you too,” Fox grumbled.

“No, he means when he’s in the dead realm,” Junjie corrected. “That’s why Erik started crying with Meimei. He saw you in there.”

“Exactly.”

Junjie shifted Erik in his arms so that he could look into the boy’s teary blue eyes. His face was less flushed now, but his brown hair was sticking up in every direction. “Hi. Everything is okay now. I’ve got you.”

“Gege,” Erik mumbled. His fists didn’t loosen in the front of Junjie’s shirt, and he gave Winter quite a bit of skeptical side-eye as if he didn’t know what to think of the strange man in the dark hoodie.

“Gege is here.” He tipped his head toward Winter. “Did you see this man earlier? Did he scare you?”

Erik slowly turned his head, taking a peek at Winter only to dive back into Junjie’s chest, his face pressed into his neck. But he could still feel a tiny nod.

“I’m sorry, Erik. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Winter said in a gentle voice. “Can we still be friends?”

Erik didn’t budge.

“Winter, try this.”

Junjie didn’t need to see what Ming Yu was handing him, but he could hear the scrape of a ceramic plate on the table.

“Erik? Would you like a cookie? Ming Yu?—”

“Jiejie,” Ming Yu corrected in a whisper.

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