Page 60 of Two Thousand Promises

“I don’t get to kill anyone or slice off a couple of tails?” Rei continued.

“I can raise her body, and you can fight a zombie fox,” Moon offered.

“No!” Huli shouted, joined by Xiao Dan, Ming Yu, and Chen.

Moon cackled, and Chen caught his mate by the waist, pulling him in close. “You have many more lessons with your necromancer friend, Sky, before you may raise so much as a headless chicken. Plus, you have punishment training to finish for not telling me about this necromancer thing in the first place.”

To his credit, Moon didn’t bat an eye at Chen’s grumpiness. The witch-turned-vampire smirked up at his mate. “How aboutI do that magical thing with my tongue and we knock a few training sessions off that list?”

Huli choked when he attempted to snort and laugh at the same time. Xiao Dan remained silent, but his shoulders shook as he burrowed his face into Huli’s hair.

“What should we do with her?” Ming Yu inquired.

“Can’t we just leave her here to feed the local animals?” Mei Lian said.

“I doubt it would be wise for the local wolves and such to eat a magical creature,” Xiang muttered. “The humans are still recovering from that fae mess. They don’t need other weird things happening in these woods.”

Huli pulled away from Xiao Dan enough to locate Kai standing beside his mate, staring skeptically at the corpse. “Dragon, can you burn her for us?”

Kai made a face. “I’m a water dragon. Fire isn’t one of my specialties. However…” He paused and waved his hands in front of him. In his left, a fancy jar of what appeared to be lamp oil. In his right was a box of stick matches.

Xiang snatched up both and made quick work of disposing of Min’s body so that she could infect no other creature with her magic. Huli could only stand back, watching as the yellow and orange flames turned her body to ash, a strange mingle of feelings twisting in his chest.

“Huli?”

There was no missing the concern that softened Xiao Dan’s voice.

“I’m okay,” he whispered past the tightness in his throat that angered him. “I can’t say that we ever liked each other. We’d had our secret plans to use each other. But…there’s this huge chunk of my life where we were constant companions. Not friends. I guess more like family who didn’t like each other. That part ofmy life is truly finished. No more running from it or trying to hide it from you.”

Xiao Dan wrapped his arms around Huli from behind and squeezed. “No. No more running and hiding. You have a new family now. One who doesn’t want to use you or hurt you.”

The tightness in Huli’s throat disappeared, and he breathed easier as he stared up at Xiao Dan. “My family.”

“Is it time?”

Huli stepped free of Xiao Dan’s hold and turned at the sound of a catch in Yichen’s voice as he asked that very simple question. His gaze skimmed the members of the Zhang clan, both new and old. There was something in the vampires’ eyes, a wistful longing that he also found on Xiao Dan’s face.

And that was when it hit him. They were finally free to leave the United States. No more roadblocks, evil schemes, or danger.

“Yes.” Xiao Dan’s voice was rough, and he had to clear his throat before he continued. “After a hundred years of being incomplete, our clan is truly whole at last. We have the shidi we have been missing and the mates we’ve all longed for. It’s time to go home.”

1 Chenxiang – also known as agarwood [Narrator’s note: ?? Chénxiang]

Chapter 22

Zhang Xiao Dan

“Jiejie, will you teach me to cook?”

Xiao Dan stopped in the middle of the hall and replayed that request and voice. Yes, that was Huli in the kitchen with Ming Yu, and he was asking her to teach him to cook. For a moment, he was both confused and terrified. He couldn’t imagine good things happening in the kitchen when Huli was mixed with knives and fire. Ming Yu seemed to have the same initial reaction.

“I…I don’t understand. Is there something you’d like to eat? I can make it for you,” Ming Yu replied, sounding as if she wanted to protect her precious kitchen from the fox spirit. Xiao Dan turned around and started for the kitchen to save Ming Yu’s kitchen from the fox, but Huli’s next words stopped him cold.

“I want to learn to cook, so I can learn how to make Gege’s favorite meal for his birthday. Also, I need to know what his favorite meal is. And I need you to tell me the date of Gege’s birthday.”

Xiao Dan slapped a hand over his mouth to hold in his laughter while his heart melted for his mate. He didn’t knowwhat to do. Should he go in there and help Ming Yu? He didn’t want to walk away. This conversation was too adorable.

“Oh. Well, Xiao Dan’s birthday isn’t until December thirty-first. The last day of the year. Vampires don’t celebrate birthdays much. They lose their meaning after a couple of centuries. I usually make a big meal to celebrate the end of the year. It would be too much for you to do alone. Would you like to help me with it?”

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