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“Fuck you, Fang Boy,” Sky sang.
“But this is an elf you want to help, right? A fucking elf?”
Rei flinched next to him, and Yichen began to march out to set them straight. He hadn’t gotten far when Rei’s hands tightened on his shoulders, holding him in place.
“It’s okay,” Rei whispered. “It’s not like my kind has a great reputation among the earth witches, and for very good reason. Their reluctance isn’t surprising.”
Yichen’s head whipped around and he stared openmouthed at his lover. This was far more than a bit of reluctance.
Rei smiled at him. “If you weren’t sleeping with me, would you help this elf?”
“Hush. Enough of your nonsense,” Yichen muttered, but he still relaxed as they stood by the front door listening to Sky and Moon argue their case. Things had been quiet the last few days, so Moon had invited his coven mates over to begin work on the sandstone spell that would allow Rei to remain in the human world indefinitely. They might still need the bloodstone and to come up with a plan for dealing with the fae army, but they could at least accomplish this small task.
“I get that you’re scared of the fae, but Rei’s not like that. He saved Yichen’s life,” Sky pressed.
“Yeah, and he’s really sweet and funny. He’s not a threat to you. All he wants is to stay with Yichen and live a peaceful life,” Moon added.
Rei released Yichen and tried to step past his mate, but Yichen caught him. “All right. Now they’re going too far. I am a creature of death and vengeance. My people fear the swing of my blade and the perfect accuracy of my arrow’s flight. I am a ruthless killer, cutting down anyone who dares to even look in my direction. A river of blood flows from me, washing over the land. They’re making me sound like some harmless…”
“Xiao mao?” Yichen supplied with a chuckle.
“Pfft,” Rei grumbled. “This xiao mao has claws and fangs and…”
He lost steam as Yichen wrapped Rei up in his arms from behind. His giggles were muffled as he pressed his face between Rei’s shoulder blades. His lover was right on all counts. He was a relentless, fierce warrior who had slaughtered countless who dared to cross him, but this image was also hard to reconcile with the cuddly man who curled up in Yichen’s arms, clutching his precious sweater to his chest.
“How had I forgotten what a pain in the ass you are?” Rei muttered.
“I’ll show you a pain in the ass,” Yichen teased.
Naturally, someone cleared their throat behind them. Yichen jumped, releasing Rei, as he turned to find Xiao Dan had walked up behind them as they’d been listening to the conversation outside. There was a faint pink flush to Shixiong’s cheeks, and his lips twitched as if he were fighting a smile. Chen stood beside him, a devilish smirk on his face.
“Shixiong, I—” Yichen began, having no idea what in the world he was going to say.
“Shall we step outside to greet our guests?” Xiao Dan suggested.
Rei bowed his head to Xiao Dan and took a small step back. “It may be best if I remain behind in my room.”
“No, it will be okay. We’ve learned that Moon’s friends are a lot of bark at first. They need to get to know you.” Xiao Dan walked out the door and paused, waiting for Yichen and Rei to fall into step behind him.
Threading his fingers through Rei’s, Yichen gave the elf a tug as he walked out of the house. At their appearance, all the conversation outside between the various witches fell silent and two pairs of eyes locked on them. Or, more specifically, they locked on Rei. At least the two new witches didn’t regard Rei with outright hatred. Simply a healthy dose of fear and skepticism.
“Hey, guys!” Moon greeted with a broad wave of his arm over his head. “We were just talking about you.”
“We heard,” Yichen mumbled.
“Baobei, I’m pretty sure even our closest neighbors heard, and they would be more than a kilometer away,” Chen chided as he caught Moon’s hand and pressed a kiss to the knuckles.
“No offense, Rei, Yichen,” Sky chimed in. The necromancer beamed at them as he leaned in front of the silent witches. “We’ve been friends a long time. We discuss all things loudly.” He reached and poked the witch with bright-red hair. “This is Redstone Mosely, but we call him Red.” His hand shot out to point at the man beside Red. “And this is Maddox Rathmore, but you can call him Mad. Both are earth witches and are more than happy to help with this spell.”
Mad snorted. “No need to oversell it, Sky. I’m sure they heard us arguing.”
Rei stepped forward and the two earth witches retreated a step. “Thank you for coming to help me, even if it was under false pretenses. And I am sorry for the pain and suffering that my kind has caused you.” The elf bowed low to the witches, who seemed very uncomfortable.
Red shifted from one foot to the other, his arms crossed over his chest. “Thanks. And it’s not all that bad. You know…you grow up with all the horror stories and warnings from your mother about the fae.”
“That they’ll drain your magic,” Mad supplied.
“Or they’ll kidnap you and hold you for…” Red’s gaze zipped over to Yichen and the words seemed to dry up in his throat as he realized what he was saying and in front of whom he was saying it.
