Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 105815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“There were others who committed suicide,” Xiao Dan continued. “People we saw as family. Jiang Chong broke their spirits or they could not forgive themselves for the acts we were forced to commit.”
Oh, shit…
“Jun-Jun witnessed each and every one of these deaths well before they happened. Sometimes days in advance; other times, it was weeks. He did everything he could to stop them. Risked his life, breaking his own body to stop it, but in the end, they all happened exactly as he saw it.”
“Fuck. Xiao Dan…”
“Of all the clan, he has the gift with the heaviest burden. It takes a great deal of courage and desperation for Jun-Jun to use his gift. I know that this time, he was doing it for his clan, for Erik, and for you. His reward was to see your death.”
Leo clenched his teeth against the rising pain squeezing his heart and lungs. It was almost impossible to draw a breath. “He shouldn’t have locked me up,” he stated stubbornly, but the heat had evaporated from his words.
“No, he shouldn’t have. He should have talked to you. Made you understand why he was so desperate to keep you safe. He’s lost so much, and you are so very important to him already.”
His fingers curled into claws in front of his chest and Leo growled in frustration, but he wasn’t sure what he was frustrated with. Junjie holding him prisoner? Xiao Dan’s meddling? Or himself for not trying harder to understand Junjie’s fears?
Why the hell did this dating thing have to be so hard?
“Look,” Leo snapped. “I-I need to get out of here for a little while. To think. But I’ll be back.” Yeah, there was no point in denying that any longer. Even when he told Junjie he wasn’t returning, the voice in his head had snickered. “Can you…” He paused and sighed. “Can you keep an eye on him for me? Don’t let him do anything else crazy or dangerous. Don’t let him hurt himself.”
“I will.”
Leo shifted into his cat form and ran to the wall surrounding the grounds. With ease, he scaled the barrier, finding purchase in the tiny divots and imperfections in the rocks. As he was about to jump from the top, Xiao Dan’s soft words reached his ears.
“Be careful.”
Chapter 23
Leo St. George
Leo scampered away from the Zhang manor, darting into the nearby woods that surrounded three of the property’s walls. He didn’t get far before he shifted into his human form. It was hard to throw a proper tantrum when he was stuck as a house cat, and he was still pissed.
Maybe not as much at Junjie as he had been. Xiao Dan had worked his magic, and Leo’s heart broke for the vampire saddled with such a horrific gift. Part of him wanted to run inside the house and gather Junjie up in his arms, make any promise he had to so the vampire wouldn’t be afraid for his life.
He was still a little mad at Junjie for imprisoning him rather than trying harder to explain what was happening.
He was a lot mad at himself for not trying harder to understand Junjie’s emotional turmoil.
And yeah, he was peeved at Xiao Dan for telling him this information and making it so that he couldn’t be righteously mad at Junjie any longer.
What the hell was he supposed to do? An adult would return and sit down for a long talk with Junjie. There were things he needed to know.
Ugh. Adult. Talking. Two things he wasn’t good at in the least. It would be easier if he returned and kissed the vampire silly. But as appealing as that sounded, it wouldn’t fix anything.
Plus, he’d just made a huge scene storming out of there. How would it look if he turned right around and forgave Junjie for everything?
With a heavy sigh, Leo folded his arms over his chest and leaned one shoulder against a tree. The problem was that he’d gotten all worked up, and he wanted to wallow in being angry for a bit longer. But that wasn’t happening. Now all he wanted was to find his Jun-Jun and make sure he was okay. Xiao Dan would make sure he didn’t do anything else rash, but Leo wouldn’t stop worrying until he saw it for himself.
Movement caught out of the corner of his eye had his head snapping to the left. His sensitive hearing hadn’t picked up the approach of any person or animal, but then Huli was quite good at moving without making a sound when he wanted to be stealthy. He half expected to see the fox sneaking up on him, preparing to pounce.
Instead, he made out the ghostly outline of the one person he didn’t want to see—Jiang Chong.
Leo gasped and stumbled away from the tree. It was too late to pretend that he didn’t see him. They were staring at each other now, even though Jiang Chong remained within the dead realm. If he shifted and ran, he could get inside the manor grounds before Jiang Chong caught him. Maybe.