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Chen watched them as they approached, each softly remarking on the beauty of the house and the gardens. As they drew closer, two men moved to the front of the line. One with light-brown hair and a kind face. The other beside him had darker hair and carried himself as if he were both protector and attentive lover to the first man. The two felt the oldest of the group, though their years were still relatively inconsequential compared to the Zhang clan.
When they reached the foot of the short stairs, Moon moved forward, taking up position halfway between the Zhang clan and the Varik clan—a bridge between the two worlds.
“Welcome, King Aiden. It’s good to see you again,” Moon greeted.
The brunet smiled at Moon. “It’s good to see you again.” He turned to glance at Xiao Dan, and his breath caught in his throat. Pale-brown eyes widened and his lips remained soundlessly parted as he looked over Xiao Dan and then Chen. “I-I’m sorry. That’s rude of me,” he stammered, his smile returning at once. “Sky informed me that your clan was incredibly old, but I don’t think my brain fully comprehended it until I stood before you.”
“It is quite understandable, King Aiden Varik. It is an honor to meet you. I am Zhang Xiao Dan, leader of the Zhang clan,” Xiao Dan replied, his voice full of his usual warmth.
The man on Aiden’s right leaned in close and loudly whispered, “Gives you hope that you’ve got centuries ahead stuck with me.”
Aiden snorted and nudged him with his elbow. “Please, allow me to introduce my mate, Ronan Varik.”
“An honor. This is my most trusted advisor, Chen Bo Cheng.”
From there, the introductions went swiftly, with more than a few surprises. Aiden revealed that while all of his sons were eager to meet the Zhang clan, he’d opted to keep the party small so as not to overwhelm the Zhangs. However, he’d brought along not only Winter, but Winter’s mate, Fox, the earth witch. There was the mate of another of his sons, Wyatt, who was a wolf shifter. There was also Sofia Montgomery, head of the Montgomery vampire clan, and her mate, David, who was a shifter and Wyatt’s brother.
Chen fought the urge to rub his forehead. This was getting as complicated as one of Junjie’s and Meimei’s Korean dramas.
In short, they had four vampires, two witches, and two shifters on hand to discuss the growing fae problem.
Once all the introductions were complete, they moved into the house to sit in the meeting room.
“Thank you all for coming this evening so that we can discuss the growing fae problem,” Xiao Dan began. “We welcome all ideas and suggestions.”
“I’m assuming you mean other than burning down all the forests,” Sofia grumbled.
“Not an option, my love,” her mate countered while wrapping an arm around the short, curvy woman.
“It is tempting, though,” Xiang drawled.
Aiden cleared his throat as if he were covering a cough. “Winter and Sky have told us why you’ve come to America. We are sorry to hear the fae kidnapped your clan mate. We will help you in any way we can to recover him.”
“Sky made it sound like you fought the fae a hundred years ago,” Fox said. The slender witch with red hair leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees.
“We did,” Chen stated.
“Ah, so were they this fucking bloodthirsty a hundred years ago? Did they slaughter every human being that went into the woods?” Fox sat up, throwing his arms into the air. “Because I tell ya, this is fucking insane.”
Chen’s wide eyes darted to Moon, who shrugged. “It’s a witch thing. We’re all a little crazy.”
“Uh…huh…” He was beginning to believe that. Moon was certainly strange, and Sky wasn’t all that different.
“To answer your question, no, they weren’t like this,” Xiao Dan replied. “There were whispers that strange things moved in the nearby woods, but we largely ignored them. Other magical creatures lived within our neighboring forests, so we assumed they were feeling restless.”
“We didn’t even know the fae were in our part of the world until Yichen went missing,” Mei Lian added.
“Then we went hunting for them,” Xiang growled.
“So this aggression and hatred of humans is new,” Winter murmured. “Have you had any problems with them attacking your home?”
Xiao Dan shook his head. “None.”
“They’ve been sniffing about the borders, but they haven’t attempted to cross inside the perimeter wall.” Moon snapped his fingers. “I got this place locked down tight.”
“Do you think they are retaliating for our attack when they came through the door?” Chen inquired.
The guests all exchanged a look, but it was Ronan who spoke up. “The thought had occurred to us, but then why go after the humans? Why not attack you? While you’re more powerful than any human, they still have your clan outnumbered.”
