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“Greg? Who’s Greg?” Xiang demanded.
Moon twisted in his seat so that he was facing Chen. “You mean Sky’s underworld minion, Greg, right?”
Chen nodded. “Yes. Sky said that he used one of your old T-shirts. Greg took your scent from that and tracked you to the cave we were waiting in. Do you think he could do that with Yichen?”
“Do you have Yichen’s clothes here?”
“We brought some of his personal effects. Clothes and some of his books,” Junjie stated. “We thought that once we found him, he might feel better having some familiar things close to him.”
What they weren’t saying was that they were afraid of the mental and physical state they would find Yichen in, assuming he was still alive at all. They were prepared for his body and mind to be broken, but clung to the hope that maybe things from his past would help him heal.
A frown tugged on Moon’s lips and furrowed his brow. “It’s been a hundred years. Too much of his scent might have faded. I don’t know if there would be enough for Greg to work with. But I can send Sky a text and ask him. He might know.”
“If Sky will give this a try, we are happy to supply the teddy bear as payment. As big as we can find,” Chen added, earning a low chuckle from his mate. He’d buy Greg an entire toy store of plush animals if the creature could lead them to Yichen.
“I’m sorry, what?” Xiang choked out.
Chen shook his head. “I’ll explain it later.”
“Is it also possible to ask for help from more earth witches to locate the fae? Or track their movements?” Xiao Dan inquired.
Junjie slid to the edge of his seat, leaning toward Moon. “Yes, we need to map out the greatest concentrations of the fae, particularly the elves. They seem to be the most likely to have Yichen. If we can locate where they are establishing strongholds, we can draw up proper battle plans. Wearing down their numbers if necessary to get us closer to Yichen.”
Moon scrubbed a hand through his hair, leaving the pale locks standing up in every direction. “That…that will be tricky. I can talk to Red and Mad, see what they can figure out, but getting more witch help will probably be complicated. It’s only a matter of time before word gets out that witches were helping the fae, and that their would-be ally slaughtered them.”
“You believe the witches will go into hiding rather than risk facing the elves head on,” Chen murmured and Moon nodded.
“I don’t think the dead are going to get any sympathy from their witch sisters. The consensus is going to be that they asked for it. Everyone was on edge ahead of their arrival, and they’d prefer to stay out of sight.”
The room fell into a heavy silence. Chen wracked his brain for some idea, anything that might give them an edge in finding their missing brother. Meeting the fae as they came through the door had always been a long shot, but Chen had never expected it to be this much of a dismal failure. He’d nearly died. Moon had been in danger and could have easily died while Chen was withering away. Junjie was injured. The fae had cut off Ming Yu and Mei Lian from the clan. This was a fucking mess.
Xiao Dan shattered the silence with a single question. “What about the Variks?”
Chen cocked his head at his shixiong. “What do you mean?”
“It’s just a thought that they must have a better network of contacts than we do here. They’ve been here longer, and not to put too fine a point on it, have more influence and power than us. They might be able to use those connections to help us, or at the very least, hear more news.”
“Not to mention, they have their own earth witch in their clan,” Moon tossed out.
Chen’s head whipped around to stare at his mate. “They do?”
“Yep. Winter—the sneaky Varik you met—his mate is a witch. Goes by the name of Fox.”
“That’s interesting. I didn’t think witches went for vampires,” Xiang teased.
Chen glared at his brother, but Moon won his attention when he threaded their fingers together.
“I’ve met him in person once or twice. Nice guy, but he’s still relatively new to magic. Got a hell of a teacher, though,” Moon stated. “I don’t know how much he can help us or even if Winter would let him help. It’s my understanding that vampires are possessive and overprotective of their mates.”
And now Chen’s ears were burning again while his brothers snickered. It was fine. Moon could tease him. If Xiang-di kept it up, he’d rip the vampire’s tongue out with his bare hand.
“I will contact Aiden Varik and consult with him about the fae problem.” Xiao Dan pushed to his feet and paced in the small open area near his chair. “He may offer some suggestions about how we can get a feel for the number of fae in the area and where they are settling.”
