Page 58 of Two Thousand Promises

“Sorry about that,” Xiao Dan murmured as he released Huli.

The fox winked at his mate and turned his attention to the blur of white as Min darted away.

“Why are you running, Min?” Huli shouted. “I thought you wanted to claim the rest of my tails and steal all my power away. That’s why you helped me, wasn’t it?”

“That’s still my plan.” Her voice drifted out of the trees like a hawk on a gust of wind. “But you’ve brought along a vampire to protect you. I’ll need to kill him first if I’m to get to you.”

“At least you have a fair understanding of the situation,” Xiao Dan called out. “There’s no way I’d allow you to harm my mate. You’ll have to go through me.”

Min’s low chuckle trickled out of the shadows. “It’s amazing that you’re still willing to protect him after everything he’s put you through, the danger he has introduced to your precious clan. It’s as if you don’t know him at all.”

“Shut up!” Huli barked. He lunged away from Xiao Dan, rushing to where he thought she was hiding.

“Huli!” Xiao Dan shouted after him.

“What’s wrong, Little Fox? Afraid I’ll tell him who you truly are?” Min’s mocking voice came from his far right. She’d moved without him even noticing. Huli turned and ran toward where he thought she was hiding yet again, but still came up empty. He needed to stop her before she told all his secrets. After their travels and years of cultivation, Huli had spent as much time with Min as he did with Xiao Dan. Possibly even more. And with her, he hadn’t bothered to watch the things that came out of his mouth. Xiao Dan couldn’t know how horrible he really was.

“Huli, be careful! Don’t get too far from me,” Xiao Dan called after him, but Huli couldn’t risk glancing over his shoulder at his mate. He needed to keep those brief glimpses of white in sight.

“Yes, Little Fox. Don’t wander too far from your protector.”

A low growl rumbled up Huli’s throat, and he clenched his teeth. He hated when she called him that. It had been Xiao Dan’s nickname for him during his early years. She wasn’t allowed to use that name. He raced forward.

Their running through the woods had taken them to a deep valley where the sides around them rose steeply and were covered in fallen leaves and branches, making it hard to escape. Huli stopped too sharply at the top. His body weight carried him past the rim, forcing him to slide and tumble to the bottom of the valley.

Huli jumped to his feet and searched the area to find that he was alone. There was no sign of Min, and he’d even outrun his mate.

As the thought crossed his mind, bright-white fur cut through the darkness. Min strolled along the top of the valley above him, her tails dancing behind her.

“Oh, no. Look at poor Huli. Lost his mate,” she taunted. “So determined to keep him from knowing the truth. You didn’t even bother to watch where you were running. Is his love for you really that fragile?”

“No. It’s not,” Xiao Dan stated, less than a meter away from Min. The white fox yelped and attempted to jump away from him as he swung his sword. Even from his angle at the bottom of the valley, Huli could see the tip of the blade slice her side as she tumbled into the valley.

Before she even stopped falling, Huli pounced on her, his sharp teeth sinking into fur and flesh at her throat. Blood coated his mouth and Min’s screams filled his ears. Yet, as he tried to give her a neck-snapping shake, Min planted her feet into his ribs and shoved free.

The white fox faced off against Huli for a couple of seconds, then darted to the other side of the valley, putting more distance between Huli and Xiao Dan. As she reached the top of the hill,Mei Lian stepped out from behind a tree, a spear held in both hands and leveled right at Min’s chest. Min dug all her feet into the soft earth to halt her sprint. She changed directions, searching for an escape route, but one by one, the Zhang clan stepped out around the side of the ridge, blocking her exits and forcing her into the valley to face Huli and Xiao Dan, who had now descended to stand beside his mate.

“No!” she snarled.

Huli chuckled. “You would almost think we planned this.”

“Did you really think you could hold the truth about Huli’s personality over his head?” Yichen called out.

“We know he’s selfish,” Xiang said.

“And lazy,” Junjie added.

“And that he’d sacrifice all of us if it meant getting an extra five minutes of alone time with Xiao Dan,” Chen stated.

Huli huffed. “They’re enjoying this too much.”

“I’ve always known all those things about him,” Xiao Dan interjected, shooting a warm smile at his fox mate. “And I still love him with everything I am. Nothing you can say would ever change that.”

Thank the gods he was covered in fur, because it felt like his face was on fire. How could Xiao Dan say those things where everyone could hear him? He wasn’t worthy of this vampire. It didn’t matter how many tails he had. Eight? Nine? A hundred? Not enough to prove his worth.

He’d just have to kill Min.

Huli lowered his head and flattened his ears as he stalked away from Xiao Dan, approaching his prey. Min’s tails flicked restlessly behind her, her gaze darting from the vampires watching above them and Huli as he crept closer.

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