Page 21 of Two Thousand Promises

Maybe they could organize something in the house to allow Erik to experience this candy begging. It kind of sounded like fun if it meant the children got to keep the sweets they collected.

“Why are we discussing Halloween?” Chen demanded in an irritated tone. “We should talk about why the hell you attempted to trade Xiao Dan’s soul to that other huli jing. What the hell were you thinking? I thought you at least cared for him a little. Have all these years of clinging to him been some cruel ruse?”

“No!” Huli had shouted it at Chen, but caught himself at the last second and lowered his voice. He definitely didn’t want Xiao Dan to walk in on him now. “I love Xiao Dan. I have always loved him. Min taught me how to cultivate and the best places to gain powers. The plan was to learn everything I could from her, become stronger than her, and kill her before she ever got close to Gege.”

“Except you couldn’t kill her,” Chen stated.

“Nooooo,” he drew out. Chen always had to be such a know-it-all. “I thought she was dead already.”

“Shit,” Xiang grumbled.

“Exactly.” Huli reached across the counter and snagged another cookie. “I haven’t seen her in over three hundred years. I thought she was dead. Then…Yichen was kidnapped, and I kind of forgot all about her. It’s not like I was expecting her to show up on the other side of the world. If I’d known she was alive, I would have killed her years ago.”

“Ruthless,” Chen said.

“For Gege, I am,” Huli snarled. Some of the frightening posturing dimmed as he took a bite out of his cookie.

“And reckless. Yourrecklessthirst for power has put Xiao Dan in danger. If you cared one bit for Xiao Dan?—”

“I care for Zhang Xiao Dan more than you ever could,” Huli cut him off, the remains of the cookie in his fist crumbling to dust. “I remade myself for him.”

“What?” Xiang gasped, but Huli didn’t take his eyes off the smug and imperious Chen.

“You say that I care just for my happiness and you’re right. I do, because Xiao Dan’s happinessismy happiness. I knew I couldn’t make him happy enough as a mere fox, so I went away foryears, returning when I could speak as a human. I left again forcenturies, giving up years I could have spent at his side, so that I could face him as a human. Only as a human could I be everything he wanted and needed. What have you given up for your mate?” Huli curled his lip and shook his head at Chen and Xiang. “What would you give up? Your life?” He made a scoffing noise. “That’s easy. In the blink of an eye, you’re dead and your suffering is over while your mate is left without you for the rest of his life. I met my mate a thousand years ago and left his side for centuries at a time. I ached for him for countless years, waiting to be worthy of him.”

Huli opened his hand and glared at the crumbs covering his hand. He brushed them off and snagged another cookie out of the tin. He didn’t immediately eat it but stared at the round cookie with the rainbow speckling.

“Yes, I made a youthful mistake with Min. I saw her as a means I could use to get what I wanted faster. My intention was never to put Gege in danger. He…is my everything. Since I’ve given up so many years to be worthy of him, I’m now willing to give up my life to keep him safe.”

Chen sighed long and loud. “Fuck you, Huli.” He loudly thrust his hand into the tin of cookies, grabbed one, and stuffed it into his mouth. Huli was pretty sure he’d never seen anyone eat a cookie as angrily as Chen did at that moment.

“What did I…”

“Xiao Dan is a powerful, two-thousand-year-old vampire who is surrounded by a clan of other two-thousand-year-old vampiresanda dragon. He doesn’t need you to die protecting him,” Xiang cut in. “What he needs is someone who is going to make him happy. That’s what he’s been looking for. What he’s been waiting all this time for. Are you going to be that person for him?”

For the first time, he actually felt a little hopeful while in the presence of these two annoyances.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive you for hurting him,” Chen whispered.

Huli’s heart clenched, and his head snapped up to stare at the tall vampire. “Hurt him?” He’d hurt Gege? He’d never tried to hurt his sweet Xiao Dan. Nothing in this world could make him…

Chen narrowed his eyes on him, his expression icier than his magical gift. “Every time you disappeared, Xiao Dan was sad. He tried to hide it from the rest of us, but I could always see it, and there was nothing I could do to help him. He never knew if he was going to see you again or if he was just some plaything that you used each time you were bored. When you were with him, he was happy, but I dreaded your eventual disappearance, breaking his heart.”

“No,” Huli whimpered. Xiao Dan had admitted to missing him during their separation, but he’d never mentioned this deep sadness or that he’d been afraid of Huli never returning. Of course Huli came back to him. Returning to Xiao Dan was the only thing he had to look forward to in all the world.

All that hard work and years apart had been done so they could be together. So he could be Xiao Dan’s proper mate. He’d never wanted to cause sweet Gege any pain.

“But I didn’t realize that you left so that you could be…more,” Chen finished awkwardly. “You made a sacrifice that I thinkcould have broken any of us. Did you ever tell Xiao Dan why you were leaving?”

“Yes, but I could never tell him how long I would be gone. Only that I promised to return so long as I was alive.”

“The past doesn’t matter anymore,” Xiang said. He frowned at the tin of cookies and slapped the lid on it. “The present is the one thing that matters, like how much Rei is going to kill us for eating most of his treats.”

“And Min. We need to deal with her,” Chen added. He brushed his fingers together, knocking off the crumbs. “Huli, do you have any ideas of where she could be hiding?”

The fox chuckled softly as he followed Xiang to the pantry. His eyes skimmed the various containers, boxes, and bags until he finally spotted a box of salty thin crackers. He had some sweet; now it was time for something salty. “Min isn’t hiding.”

“What?” Chen asked.

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