17. Zhang Xiao Dan
Chapter 17
Zhang Xiao Dan
S he stole his tail.
That grim thought kept repeating through Xiao Dan’s brain as he chased and slashed at the creature who danced ahead of him through the forest with a woman’s body and fox ears. In one hand she held a long, slender sword and in the other dangled one of Huli’s orange and white tails like a grotesque trophy.
He wanted her dead.
The monster had harmed his sweet Huli. When he’d located the two huli jing, his mate was a limp, matted husk of blood-soaked fur. If he hadn’t been panting, Xiao Dan would have guessed that he was dead.
She stole his tail!
Huli had worked lifetimes to achieve each one of his magical tails. They were signs of his determination, dedication, and unwavering strength. Those tails were a source of great pride and joy for Huli. She had no right to touch a single one of them, but now she had one. She’d ripped it from his body.
And now he wanted to rip each of her limbs from her body.
Everywhere she went, he was right there to block her path with a lethal swing of his sword. The laughter that had greeted him at his arrival was gone. So was her contemptuous smile. Lines of strain formed around her mouth and stretched out from the corners of her eyes. Each slash that she dodged or blocked was getting closer and closer to his ultimate target.
“It’s okay. Kai has Huli at the manor,” Chen called out, but it was too late for retreating to check on his mate. He could only face Huli when he could bring his fox Min’s head. Along with all nine of her tails. That was the one consolation he could give his mate after losing one of his own tails.
Xiao Dan pressed on. He was so close.
Min darted to the left and a wall of ice sprang up in front of her, blocking her retreat.
“No!” Xiao Dan shouted. He whipped his head about to glare at Chen. “She’s mine!” No one could interfere with his kill. He owed this to Huli after letting him get hurt like this. He’d failed his fox. A true mate would never have allowed something like this to happen.
But it was too late. She used his distraction to charge at him, slipping past as he attempted to turn back and slash at her with his sword. The white huli jing became a blur as she zipped between him and Chen. Xiao Dan pivoted on his right foot to follow.
He and Chen raced through the woods as the huli jing moved like a fleet-footed deer, always a step ahead. After a few miles, the distance between them had grown too great. There was no catching her.
Xiao Dan stopped running with a snarl, throwing a knife after Min as a last-ditch effort to stop her, but he narrowly missed. The white fox disappeared into the dark forest, running farther from the Zhang manor.
His entire body trembled. His knuckles ached and throbbed from where he’d squeezed the sword so tightly.
“I want her dead !” Xiao Dan shouted. His voice echoed through the vast forest surrounding them.
Chen placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “We will get her. She’s not escaping us.”
Xiao Dan shrugged off his shidi’s support and took two steps in the direction she’d been traveling. “That’s not good enough. I want her dead now. I want her pelt and her head and all of her tails. She hurt Huli. She…she took one of his tails.” Xiao Dan’s voice shattered like glass, and it felt like his heart was doing the same thing.
Chen remained resolute, stepping in front of him, forcing Xiao Dan to meet his gaze. “And we are going to make her pay for that, but the important thing is that Huli is still alive. She didn’t steal his life.”
Swallowing hard at the giant lump of unshed tears in his throat, Xiao Dan nodded. Chen was right. Huli was alive, and he had little doubt that Kai and Ming Yu would work hard to make sure he remained that way. It was just that Huli’s tails were everything to him. What was going to happen to him and his magic with the loss of a tail? Would he even be able to shift into his human form?
“What…what if he doesn’t know yet?”
Chen grabbed his shoulders with both hands and gave him a shake. “You’re first going to tell him that you love him no matter how many tails he has.”
“I do!”
“And then you’re going to tell him that you and his clan are going to do whatever it takes for him to become a true jiuweihu again.”
Xiao Dan nodded, squeezing his eyes shut against the burn of tears. Yes. That was what they were going to do. He was also going to make sure that no one touched his sweet fox.
“Come on. Let’s return home. I’m sure Huli will heal much faster knowing that you’re safe and away from Min.”
As Xiao Dan and Chen reached the manor, they found all the clan gathered silently outside of his room. Even Erik, held tightly in Junjie’s arms, was quiet with wide, red-rimmed eyes. Moon went to Chen and whispered something, but Xiao Dan blocked it out as he stepped inside of the room he shared with Huli.
Kai stood at the foot of the bed with a frown while Ming Yu kneeled beside it. A bowl of pink water was beside her, along with several blood-stained cloths. All the blood had been cleaned from Huli’s fur and there were a number of spots across his body now wrapped in white bandages. But he remained in his fox form.
The last time he’d been injured, it had taken him hours before he’d felt well enough to shift. His fox form was his natural state, and logically, the one he was most comfortable in. Yet, with the absence of one tail, he was unsure whether his sweet fox could still shift.
Huli had bragged that he’d learned to shift when he had six tails. Or was it seven? Xiao Dan rubbed his head against the pain that was pounding in his temples.
“How is he?” He forced the words out of his tight throat, willing his voice not to break. Huli needed him to be strong. His clan needed him to be strong.
“Resting as comfortably as we could make him,” Ming Yu murmured.
“I used a little of my magic to heal the worst of his injuries, but I’m reluctant to do more.” Kai shoved a hand through his messy hair and released a barely-there sigh. “Huli jing are unique and complicated creatures. I am afraid that if I do more without better understanding him, I could hurt him.” He stopped and licked his lips, but Xiao Dan knew what was coming. “There’s also the matter of his missing tail. Ming Yu and I were very careful in tending to him, but we counted only eight…”
“She took one,” Xiao Dan stated between clenched teeth.
The silence that followed seemed heavier than before, as if all the air had flown away rather than face his boiling wrath.
Ming Yu shifted where she sat, her hands lying in her lap. “There’s no wound. It’s the strangest thing. But he had plenty of other wounds.”
“Has he been conscious at all since returning home?”
Ming Yu shook her head while Kai spoke up. “He passed out when I was picking him up. He argued right until he lost consciousness that he wanted to remain in the woods to help protect you.”
Xiao Dan nodded once as his eyes locked on the Huli’s unconscious form. His slender body was stretched out, with his head resting on the pillows. His eight tails ran the length of the bed and flowed over the edge to the floor. Everything about him looked so fragile that Xiao Dan alternated between wanting to gather him up in his arms and not wanting to touch him out of fear of causing him more pain.
Kai reached out a hand, and Ming Yu took it, allowing the dragon to help her to her feet. Mei Lian jumped in to help gather up the soiled cloths and the bowl of pink-stained water.
“The best thing we can do for Huli is to let him rest and allow his own healing magic to do its work,” Ming Yu murmured. She paused in front of Xiao Dan, took his hand, and squeezed it.
“Your fox is tough,” Mei Lian added, her shoulder pressed to Ming Yu’s as if she wasn’t willing to be too far from her new mate. “This little thing won’t stop him. Not for a second. In time, he’s going to be on his feet and following you around, calling out for his Zhang-ge.”
He tried to nod, but he couldn’t. It was taking all his energy to hold himself still while the others looked on. Ming Yu released his hand and shooed the rest of the clan away, leaving him alone with Huli. Only when the door closed behind him did he fall to his knees next to his bed.
Leaning forward, he rested his head on the pillow next to Huli’s and pressed in as close as he could, letting his damp fur tickle the tip of his nose. Gone was the scent of blood, replaced with a faint hint of roses and some other herbs that Ming Yu had put in the water to wash him. It was nice, but wrong. In the past few days, he’d grown accustomed to smelling his own soaps on Huli’s skin and even his fur.
“What were you doing chasing after Min by yourself? Why didn’t you call for me or anyone else in the clan?” Xiao Dan whispered.
The thought had been nagging in the darkest shadows of his mind since Kai had come to him to say that he’d sensed Min in the area and that Huli had gone after her.
Had he felt like he didn’t have time to alert someone else? Was he afraid of losing her if he paused to find help?
Or had it been something else? Like being afraid that the Zhang clan would blame him for bringing this threat to their door. Didn’t he trust the others to help him hunt for Min?
He’d failed Huli.
It was like a fishbone lodged in his throat. He’d failed his mate. Huli should have felt that he could come to Xiao Dan or any of the Zhang clan for help. He should have felt confident that he could raise an alarm, and they would all come racing to his side.
But for some reason, he didn’t and Xiao Dan was sure it was his fault.
With his eyes squeezed shut, Xiao Dan rocked his head back and forth, nuzzling Huli’s fur, wishing his beautiful fox would wake up to reassure him he was going to be okay.
“Huli, please heal. Your gege is so worried about you,” Xiao Dan whispered as the tears he’d been holding in slipped free and streaked down his cheeks to soak into his pillow and Huli’s fur. “I love you, Huli. You are my sweet and perfect fox. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. We’ve waited so long to be together. You’re not allowed to leave me now.”
A tiny whimper escaped the fox, and Xiao Dan sat up, staring at Huli. There had been no change in his breathing, but it looked as if there was a new tightness around his eyes, as if his brow was furrowing in concentration or pain. Could Huli hear him?
He dipped his head and peppered his fox with light, soft kisses. “ Shhh , love. I’m here. I’m safe. Min didn’t lay a finger on me. Not a scratch.”
His words were enough to remove the tiny wrinkle on Huli’s brow, and the tension flowed out of his body.
“I will stay right by your side. I promise to not leave the estate until you are on your feet.” Xiao Dan pressed a kiss to Huli’s ear. “But the second you are, I’m going to destroy Min for daring to touch a hair on your precious head.”
The corner of Huli’s mouth twitched slightly. Just the hint of a smile.
Yes. Min’s nights were numbered. No one touched his mate and lived.