Page 7 of Two Thousand Promises

Maybe not after he learns the whole truth, though.

Kai blinked, and his lips twisted into something a little more mocking. “Moon?”

“What’s wrong with Moon? He’s great!” Huli’s fur bristled, and a faint crackle of magic entered the air.

“Moon is great. I like theyoung mana lot.” Kai paused and took a sip of his tea. “But please consider that Moon is only twenty-four in human years. Plus, he’s an American. He knows nothing of our heritage, our history. He doesn’t understand the long, complicated past of huli jing.”

Huli snorted. In truth, he didn’t exactly know and understand the long, complicated past of the huli jing himself. But he got the point Kai was trying to make. The dragon was his best option.

Heaving a loud, annoyed groan, Huli turned into a human and shuffled over to Kai’s bench, where he sat in the empty space. He picked up the cup and sniffed it. Pu-erh tea with…

“I added dried lychee fruit to this batch,” Kai supplied.

Oh, that sounded nice. Well, at least the dragon had better taste in tea than he did in mates.

“We’ll start simple. Is this creature an actual huli jing?”

Huli drank his entire cup of tea and placed it on the table close to Kai. “Yes, she’s a huli jing who goes by the name of Min.She was old when I was still little more than a pup. Had at least five tails already. I think.”

“And can she truly take Shixiong’s soul?”

Huli whimpered as he nodded. “It’s what she does. What all huli jing do.” His voice came out as a mumble, “What I’m supposed to do.”

“Why?”

One shoulder lifted in a halfhearted way. “It’s supposed to help grow our powers. Like cultivation. But there are other, far more effective ways to grow our powers. Plus, humans spent centuries hunting huli jing for their magic and tails. So what if we steal their souls?”

Kai directed a dark look at Huli as he poured more tea in his cup, and Huli shrank back on the bench. The dragon wasnota fan of hunting humans.

“How many souls have you stolen?”

Huli threw his arms out, nearly hitting Kai in the face. “Tons! Hundreds!”

“Huli,” Kai growled, pushing his hand away from his face.

“Okay. Dozens.”

“Dozens? Really?”

Huli huffed and slumped in his seat. The dragon was so annoying. “Fine. Like…six.”

“Just six?”

“Yes. And I had a good reason, too. They were all women who kept flirting with Gege after he clearly told them he wasn’t interested.”

“Mn. I have a feeling Xiao Dan would say something about that being wrong, but I can’t say that. I understand your frustration. The other day, a woman was following Xiang through the grocery and trying to flirt with him. I wanted to squash her in her tiny red car.”

Huli’s butt wiggled to the edge of the bench. “Did you? Did you squish her flat?”

“No. Xiang said it would be wrong.”

Huli flopped against the bench and noisily blew out his breath. “That sucks.”

Kai turned his head toward Huli enough so Huli could see his smirk. “When Xiang’s back was turned, I made the bottoms rip in all of her grocery bags. And she had a lot of bags. Food went everywhere in the parking lot.”

A loud snort jumped from Huli, and he sat up, feeling better. At least, if anyone understood him, it might be Kai.

“The difference is that you are a good huli jing because of your devotion to Xiao Dan. Min is an evil huli jing, and we will squash her like a disgusting bug.”

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