Two Thousand Promises (Kings of Chaos #5)

11. Huli

Chapter 11

Huli

L ying in bed alone was boring.

Huli wouldn’t deny that he loved sleeping in Xiao Dan’s bed while wearing his pajamas. He’d even bathed using Xiao Dan’s soaps. There was little else he could do to smell more like his mate.

Well, there was sex.

But Xiao Dan had declared no fun stuff until he’d fully healed. The fight with Min had been three nights ago, and he’d been healed for two of those nights. It was time to show Xiao Dan how ready he was for all the kisses he owed him.

Huli kicked off the blankets and sprang out of bed. He stared at the comfy blue pajamas he was wearing. Xiao Dan had rolled up the sleeves and legs personally, so the material didn’t stretch past his hands and feet. Should he conjure up some tight, sexy clothes to put Xiao Dan in the mood?

No. He enjoyed being in his mate’s clothes, wearing the same fabric that caressed Xiao Dan’s skin.

Besides, Xiao Dan had helped him into these pajamas. He could help Huli out of them again.

That decided, he slipped out of the bedroom and started down the hall in search of Xiao Dan. Voices echoed out of the kitchen. By the number and volume, it sounded like most of the clan was in there arguing about Min. At least they weren’t saying bad things about him.

He stood in the hallway, just outside of view of anyone in the kitchen, listening for the sound of Xiao Dan’s calm and collected voice, but it never piped up. Maybe he wasn’t in there.

While it was tempting to stand there listening to the other Zhang clan members come up with ways to roast Min, he would much rather locate Xiao Dan for some private time.

Smiling to himself, Huli turned on his heel and headed down a different hallway in search of his mate. An unexpected bubble of joy rose in his chest. He’d never felt such freedom walking through the clan home. The estate in China was three times the size of this one, and they had chased him away every time they’d spotted him.

In the United States, he’d been tolerated because they’d had a use for him against the fae.

But the fae were gone, and he could still walk where he wished within the home and on the grounds because he was Xiao Dan’s mate. This was where he belonged.

He wandered along, poking his head into one room after another, but there was no sign of Gege. Maybe he was in the kitchen. This was why he needed one of those silly phones Moon had shown him. He could send Xiao Dan a covert message to meet him in his bedroom.

At the next hallway, his feet stopped. Right in the middle of his path stood Erik, the adorable two-year-old the clan had adopted. He belonged to Junjie and Leo, though, considering how they doted on the boy. Huli stared at the child in red pajamas that featured a cartoon fire engine. Under one arm, he clutched a large white bunny with floppy ears. Huli looked around, but there was zero sign of Leo or Junjie.

“Hey there, Little One,” Huli said a bit awkwardly. “Where are Jun-Jun and Leo?” He’d almost asked where his mama and baba were as a playful reference to the vampire and shifter, but he bit his tongue. The fae had stolen the child’s real mother and father. No reason to stomp on that painful memory.

The child’s face lit up, and he pointed at Huli with his free hand as he exclaimed in some garbled Mandarin. It took Huli an extra second to realize Erik had called him “Pretty Gege.”

Huli straightened and flashed Erik a bright smile. “Yes, I am Pretty Gege.” His mischievous side had so wanted to feed the sweet child Cantonese words just to see if he could make Junjie’s head explode, but now he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not when this brilliant boy had cobbled together what words he knew to christen him Pretty Gege.

He’d have to fuck with Leo’s language lessons instead.

“What are you doing by yourself? Shouldn’t you be in bed? Or with Junjie?” He glanced about again, but there was no sign of the vampire or the cat shifter.

Erik said something he didn’t understand at all. He thought he heard mention of a fish, truck, and stars, but it was all nonsense to him. Apparently, Erik didn’t need him to understand. The little boy toddled over to Huli and grabbed his hand with his free one. He pulled Huli along the hall, still jabbering away, leaving the fox to make the occasional noise of agreement. He stared at the tiny hand as it held his. In all his thousand years, he’d had few interactions with kids and none where they could touch him.

But Erik had shown no hesitation in taking his hand and smiling up at him, as if he trusted in Huli completely. He cleared a sudden blockage in his throat and blinked away a bit of dust. These vampires needed to do a much better job of keeping up with their cleaning duties.

After a couple of stops to get the bunny repositioned under his arm, Erik led Huli to one of the sitting rooms that opened to a garden complete with a small koi pond. This was one of Erik’s favorite places to play because there was a retractable roof that blocked the sun during the day and allowed Junjie and the other vampires to be out there with him.

As they reached the garden lit up by a variety of lanterns, Erik released his hand and went straight for the yellow dump truck sitting under one of the trees. He held it up for Huli to see with a huge grin on his face.

“Ah. You wanted your truck. Should we go to your room now?”

“No.”

Well, he understood that easily enough.

The boy plopped down on the ground, put his bunny beside him, and proceeded to play with his truck. Huli glanced over his shoulder at the house. He wanted to locate Xiao Dan, but he didn’t feel comfortable leaving Erik on his own. Junjie and Leo probably thought the little guy was still napping and weren’t in a big rush to check on him.

Oh, well. This gave him an opportunity to shift. When he’d returned to the Zhang manor, he’d healed enough to change into his human form so Xiao Dan could help him clean up. Being human also made it easier for cuddles. But he’d not had the chance to change back into his natural form.

In the blink of an eye, Huli shifted from human to fox. He shook out his tails behind him and stretched one leg after another, working out the kinks. It wasn’t uncomfortable to spend extended periods of time in a human body. He’d done it for so long now that it had become a comfortable fit, but there was no denying that it felt nice being a fox again.

Erik’s excited squeal drew his gaze. The child clapped his hands and stared up at him with wide eyes. “Pretty Gege! Pretty Gege tails!”

“Oh, you like my tails?”

Erik’s eager nod dissolved into giggles as Huli brushed one tail across his cheek. His laughter squeezed Huli’s heart. It was the second best sound in the world. The best was still Xiao Dan telling Huli he loved him.

Huli stretched out on the cool grass next to Erik and draped several of his tails over the child, wringing more giggles out of him. To his surprise, Erik was incredibly gentle with his tails, petting them with extreme care.

“Soft tails. Pretty Gege tails soft.”

“Thank you. They are quite soft. Will you have a soft, fluffy tail when you get older?”

Erik bobbed his head vigorously. “Tail like Mao Gege.” He pointed to the house, where Leo was likely lurking.

“Yes, Leo has a nice tail for a cat.” It didn’t compare to his own tails, but there was nothing the shifter could do about that. He was sure a good kid like Erik was going to be blessed with a silky and fluffy tail.

“Who would have guessed that you would go soft on a human?”

Min’s voice invaded their happy little scene, raising all of Huli’s hackles. His head snapped up, and he bared his teeth in a low, deep growl the moment he spotted the white fox sitting in another tree on the other side of the garden. If he hadn’t been so wrapped up in entertaining Erik and reveling in his praise for his tails, he would have sensed her approach.

A soft, frightened whimper escaped Erik and Huli wrapped the child up in all his tails, hiding him from Min’s view.

“Don’t come another step closer. This human is none of your business.”

“How about this trade: give me the boy, and I’ll let you keep the vampire and his soul? That’s more than a fair deal for the knowledge I gave you over the years.”

“No! You get neither! Leave here, or I will rip off all of your tails!”

The words were barely out of his mouth when a horrendous roar rent the air and shook the house. Erik’s whimpers turned into frightened cries. Huli chanced a look into the house to see a large Bengal tiger racing toward them, followed by Junjie and several other Zhang clan members.

Leo stopped beside Huli and roared again at Min, flashing enormous fangs. As Junjie stepped outside, Huli picked Erik up with two of his tails and lightly tossed the boy into his arms.

With Erik tucked away, he leaped across the pond to Min’s tree. Leo was right behind as they chased Min across the Zhang property and over the wall. It was tempting to keep pursuing her, but Erik’s cries seemed to tug on Leo, holding him back. The giant cat let out a final angry huff at the wall where Min had disappeared before turning to the house. Huli followed him to the garden where Junjie was still fiercely holding Erik as he continued to sob. The rest of the clan gathered around him, whispering reassurances.

As Leo entered the garden, he shifted into his human form and ran his hand along Erik’s shaking body.

“ Shhh …it’s okay. Kitty Gege is bad kitty. I’m so sorry for scaring you. Everything is okay now. Me and Huli scared the other fox away.”

Huli shifted into his human form as well and waggled his fingers at Erik as the child lifted his head from Junjie’s shoulder to look at Leo and Huli. His crying stopped, and he reached for Leo. He transitioned from the vampire to the shifter, recovered from his scare.

With a relieved sigh, Huli turned to Xiao Dan, ready to demand to know where he’d been hiding. But he didn’t have the chance.

Junjie threw himself at Huli, wrapping him in a bone-crushing hug while a fractured sob broke from his throat. “Thank you so much for protecting Erik. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to him. He’s our whole world.”

Huli froze, his hands held out to his sides while the vampire clutched him like a boa constrictor seizing its prey. He stared over Junjie’s shoulder at Xiao Dan and soundlessly mouthed, Help me , but his evil mate just smiled.

Not one of the other clan members had ever hugged him. Junjie, though, had been the first to stick up for him besides Xiao Dan.

After swallowing hard, Huli patted Junjie on the back twice. “There, there. Erik is safe. Everyone here will always keep him safe. No one will ever get near the little boy.”

Junjie sniffed and released Huli at last. He hurried to Leo and Erik to coo and cuddle their precious kitten.

But Huli wasn’t free yet. The rest of the clan came to him one by one to pat him on the shoulder and offer supportive words. Ming Yu even pressed a kiss to his cheek and promised to make him some pork rib soup. His favorite! She knew what his favorite meal was.

The second he was alone with Xiao Dan, Huli had no words. Even Xiang and Chen had said nice things to him without even a hint of sarcasm.

“I’m so proud of you,” Xiao Dan whispered.

And those words from his mate lit a fire that started at the tips of his ears and ran across his face and down his chest.

“It’s all your fault,” Huli countered, wishing he could hide his face behind his tails.

“My fault? How is that possible?”

“I was looking for you, but I found Erik instead, and he called me Pretty Gege. He wanted to play with his truck and he likes my tails. And that boy deserves to have the bestest, fluffiest tail when he finally shifts.”

He was babbling. He knew he was babbling, but it felt like talking was the only way to get rid of the lump in his throat.

“Min offered to take Erik in place of my soul, but you didn’t hesitate to tell her off. You protected that little boy you don’t actually like,” Xiao Dan said, his smile growing wider.

Huli swallowed hard. So he’d heard that part, huh? “It’s not that I don’t like him. I just don’t like the times he gets more attention from you than I do. The kid is cute. Especially when he calls me Pretty Gege.”

Xiao Dan closed the distance between them. He cupped Huli’s cheek with one hand and a different heat spread through Huli’s body. Everything in him wanted to melt into his mate and never separate.

“Well, you have my complete and undivided attention now. What would you like to do, my beautiful, brave fox?”

Oh, he had ideas. So many ideas.