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A yelp slipped out and Rei was running. He didn’t even remember making the actual decision to run. His feet started moving on their own, carrying him down the long corridors and wildly weaving between people who shouted in surprise. While he couldn’t hear Yichen’s soundless footsteps, he could feel his mate right behind him as he pursued. He wasn’t even sure where he was going. Giggling excitement and mild panic scattered what little thought was happening in his brain.
Another shout escaped him as a powerful hand grabbed his biceps and pulled him to the left. Rei stumbled into the room, his cackles ringing out. The door slammed shut behind him and a heartbeat later, he was tackled to the ground. Yichen’s arms wrapped around him to cushion his fall. A hint of incense and peach blossoms drifted past his nose. A good sign that his Yiyi had just come from praying in the ancestral hall to his shifu.
When they stopped rolling, Yichen buried his face into Rei’s neck, nibbling the tender flesh with human teeth rather than his fangs. Even though they’d agreed to put a pause on the biting, this was still enough to send a chill through his body.
“What are you hiding, my prince?” Yichen growled, lifting his face to press the tip of his nose just behind his ear. Fuck, now he was half-hard and giggling like a lunatic. He didn’t know what room they were in, but it probably wasn’t one where they could safely continue this conversation without clothes. Maybe it was time to surrender. If he was lucky, they could locate the room they shared so they could pursue this interesting discussion without clothes.
“Winter dropped something off for me,” Rei admitted the second he could catch his breath.
Yichen loosened his hold on Rei, and they rolled onto their sides to face each other. The vampire’s face was flushed, his long black hair spread about him and crowding close to his sharp eyes as they focused on Rei as if he were the only thing in all the world that mattered. “What did he drop off? Has he heard anything about the fae army or the queen?”
Rei deflated in his arms. This was now blown out of proportion, and he was feeling silly for his earlier giddiness. “Look, maybe we should drop this. It was something small and personal. Completely unimportant.”
“No, don’t do that.” While supporting himself on his right forearm, Yichen reached out and wrapped an arm around Rei’s waist, pulling him in tight. He rested his forehead on his cheek and resumed nuzzling him. “I’m sorry. You were happy, and I didn’t mean to ruin that. I really want to know. If it makes you happy, whatever Winter gave you is the most important thing in the world to me.”
That.
That right there was why he had no defense against Wu Yichen. The man melted him inside and out.
The burn of feeling silly didn’t leave him as he lifted one hand between them and opened it enough so that Yichen could see the brand-new, though ultimately fake, Connecticut driver’s license Winter had created for him.
“Like I said, not a big deal. He wanted to deliver this to make sure I was happy with it. My social security card and passport should be ready in another week,” Rei babbled as Yichen took the license from his hand and scrutinized it in the low light from a lamp that was on in a far corner of the room. “He thought making it appear like I was an American citizen would smooth the course for me while we’re here. Chen mentioned that you have a contact in China who could arrange papers for me there.”
Okay, he needed to stop talking. He wasn’t even sure Yichen was listening to him. His lover’s eyes didn’t stray one bit from the small piece of plastic.
“It’s real,” Yichen said in a breathless whisper.
Rei let out an awkward chuckle. “I’ll admit that Winter is good, but this is a complete fake. You know that.”
Yichen dropped the card between them and cupped Rei’s cheek, pulling him in for a hard, demanding kiss that shoved aside his feelings of confusion and earlier awkwardness. His eyes fell shut as he lost himself to that long, slow kiss, happily handing himself over to Yichen for safe keeping.
When the kiss ended, Rei was sure all his bones were crushed to dust under the strength of Yichen’s love. He didn’t want to move, didn’t want to leave these arms holding him so very tight.
“Yes, the driver’s license is a fake, but you staying here with me finally feels real.” Yichen closed his eyes and barked out a harsh laugh. “I know it’s stupid. We’ve been making all these plans for you to remain here after the door closes. The sandstone with Huli’s blood. Keeping the heliotrope for your exclusive use. Even keeping all the other stones from the crown. All so you can be safe here. Plus, you have no desire to go back and claim the throne. I logically know these things.” He opened his eyes and those bright-hazel depths pierced straight through Rei’s heart. “But this utterly mundane and stupid thing tipped the scale for me. You’re staying. You really are going to be mine forever.”
Rei threw his arms around Yichen’s neck and snuggled even closer. “Yes. A thousand times, yes. Never in my life have I been so happy. Whether I have one more night with you, or a million, this is the only place I want to be. In the arms of my vampire prince.”
“I love you, Rei. You saved me so many times, in so many ways, over the years. Each time you did it, you risked your own life.”
An unexpected lump grew in Rei’s throat and his eyes burned at Yichen’s sweet tears. “Because when I looked at you, I saw someone so infinitely precious. I couldn’t let your light be extinguished from the world. My one thought was to get you home to your clan. They needed you. I didn’t dare let myself think I could keep you. That I could have this. I was never worthy of this.”
“You are. You have always been worthy. My prince is so brave, strong, and sexy.” Yichen leaned in close and placed a tiny kiss to the tip of Rei’s nose. “Most importantly, you are mine. No one will ever touch you again. No one will hurt you. No one will take you from me.”
Rei rubbed the side of his head on Yichen’s cheek, trying to swallow the happy tears. Never in his life had he been so cherished, so protected. Even as the fucking crown prince of all the fae he’d never had someone want to keep him safe just for the sake of him, not for what they could get from him.
“Yiyi, think of my heart,” Rei pleaded. “I can’t take these sweet words from you.”
“You’ll learn to. We have many years together, and I promise to whisper sweet words in your ear every night from now on.”
“I love you, Yiyi. You are my everything.”
Yichen turned his face to capture his lips in a slow kiss that had Rei’s toes curling. Gods, this man owned him, body and soul.
As Yichen ended the kiss, he kept his mouth brushing along Rei’s so he could feel his smile. “There is one little thing…”
Rei’s heart stumbled, and he pulled back enough to meet Yichen’s gaze. “What do you mean?”
Shifting to put more space between them, Yichen lifted his left hand, holding up the new driver’s license in front of Rei’s face. “This…does not mean you’re allowed to drive.”
