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Xiao Dan gasped and whipped his head to Chen, who placed his hand on his shoulder and squeezed, trying to comfort him.
“I don’t like that fox. I don’t trust him. But you and I both know that he is far too sneaky to be captured by the fae. He will return. I know it,” Chen stated.
“Thank you,” Xiao Dan murmured. The smile he forced to his lips was fake and fell away after only a second. “If he locates Yichen, will you be nicer to him?”
Chen made a show of thinking about it. “I…promise nothing, but I will consider being nice to him.”
That one at least won him something closer to genuine happiness. “Moon has been a positive influence on you. That was almost a joke.”
“Annoying,” Chen muttered with a glare, but there was no stopping his lips from giving a half smirk. It was nice to see Xiao Dan attempting to tease him. “I only stopped out here to tell you that the delegation from the Variks has arrived. It is an interesting mix. I thought you might like to greet them.”
“Mn. Yes, of course.”
They turned together and wove their way along the stone path to the house. As they reached the hall, Moon joined them. The sneaky witch was all smiles as he offered a very precise evening greeting in Mandarin with a bow.
Xiao Dan’s eyebrows jumped toward his hairline as he looked over at Chen before returning the greeting.
“I didn’t teach you that,” Chen groused.
Moon chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to Chen’s pursed lips. “That’s because Ming Yu taught me. I’ve discovered that while you are excellent at teaching me to write my characters, Ming Yu is better at teaching me to speak the language. She’s far less distracted by what’s happening with my tongue than you.”
That was a fair point. During the past month, Moon had lived within the compound full-time. Moon claimed it was so he could help Xiang watch over the clan during the daylight hours. Chen was more inclined to believe it was to keep him from losing his mind over the idea of Moon living alone in that big house surrounded by woods.
Regardless, Moon had begun taking Mandarin lessons. He was making fair progress when he wasn’t occupied with cooking up new protection spells.
But aside from that, Chen enjoyed falling asleep each day with his arms wrapped around the witch. It was a comfort he’d never known in his life, and he was sure he’d never be able to give it up now that he’d found it.
Moon stepped out of their path and motioned for them to continue to the front door. “Meimei said that the Variks are here. Sky came, too.”
Chen reached out and threaded their fingers together because he couldn’t help himself. If they were in the same room, he had to be touching this man. Thankfully, each time he reached out to Moon, the man answered with a bright smile. “How are Mad and Red? Have you talked to them today?”
“Briefly. They say they’re good. Red moved in with Mad temporarily. Mad’s got a big house, and Red’s place is more in the woods like mine. This way, they can watch out for each other until we get this new fae aggressiveness sorted out. I figure Sky will give me the truth of how they really are.”
“You don’t think they’re telling the truth?” Xiao Dan asked.
“I’m afraid they’re sugarcoating it or watering it down. I don’t know.” Moon frowned and scrubbed his free hand through his hair. “Sky’s probably got a better feel for things.”
“If you need to visit Red and Mad, you can…”
Moon stopped and looked up at him, his grin turning devilish. “I’m proud of you. You managed to say that and not sound like you’d rather rip out your eyeballs with your bare hands than allow me out of your sight.”
Chen snorted as he opened the front door. “I’m more impressed that you think I’d allow you to leave here without me at your side.”
Xiao Dan huffed and stepped outside, shaking his head while Moon followed.
Sadly, all their silliness fell away as three large black SUVs parked in their driveway. People were exiting the vehicles and walking toward their home. And they weren’t all vampires. Chen picked out the witch Sky and at least two shifters. Wait. Was that a second witch?
This was all overwhelming. Despite their advanced years, the Zhang clan had always kept to itself. They rarely had dealings with other vampires or even shifters. They’d sought witches only when they were trying to uncover information about the fae. But now their home was about to be overrun by strangers.
“Moon?” Chen murmured.
“I recognize most of them. You’ve got nothing to worry about. King Aiden wouldn’t have invited anyone untrustworthy,” Moon said and then turned on his brightest smile.
