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)
“I had a vision of Jiang Chong killing Leo,” Junjie blurted out, cutting Bel off and silencing everyone in the room. No one breathed.
Junjie squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head into his hands while resting his elbows on his knees. He’d come to the Variks hoping to find a way around Leo’s death sentence, but this was a dead end.
Pain and panic blanketed, making it impossible to think. He didn’t want to lose Leo. Not yet. Not after they’d only known each other for a few months. The wily cat shifter had been this bright spark in his long, dark life. How could that light be snuffed so quickly?
“Then…then we kill Jiang Chong before he kills Leo,” River announced to the suffocatingly quiet room.
Junjie dragged in a loud, shaking breath. “I’ve had countless visions of Jiang Chong killing people, and I’ve never stopped one of them. It’s as if they were fixed events in time. Unchangeable.” He lifted his eyes and narrowed them on Wyatt and Bel. Those were the science-minded people. “Are you sure? Wolf shifters and cat shifters must have some differences.”
“That is very likely,” Wyatt admitted. “If you could get us a sample of Leo’s blood, we could run some tests, compare it to my blood and River’s.”
A soft smile spread across Bel’s face as he stared at his mate, but it disappeared when he turned his attention to Junjie. “I know what’s going through your head, Junjie. You want to try it anyway. I’d be the same way, even after seeing what happened to River. But you need to remember, if you’re wrong, Leo will die regardless of your efforts. The only difference is that if you bring Leo back and he becomes a berserk monster, it will be your job to kill him.”
Could he do that? Could he kill Leo if he woke a monster? There was no way that Leo would want to harm anyone in his clan.
“I don’t know what to do. I can’t lose him,” Junjie choked out.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bel rise from his place on the sofa and come over to kneel in front of Junjie. He took his hands, pulling them away from his face so he could meet his gaze. “We won’t let Jiang Chong hurt Leo. That’s what we’re going to do.”
“But there’s no way to stop him. I’ve seen it happen so many times before.”
“True, but that was thousands of years ago. Times have changed. We have more tech, more magic, and a hell of a lot more crafty vampires to help you. We’ve got someone here with the same power as Jiang Chong. That’s got to make a difference.”
“Yeah!” River exclaimed suddenly. “We’ll send Winter to live with your clan until we can kill this Jiang Chong.” He stopped and scratched his jaw. “You’d probably end up getting Fox, too.”
“They’re a package deal,” Wyatt added.
A tiny spark of hope flared to life in his chest. Would that be enough to make a difference? They’d never been able to predict Jiang Chong’s movements. Taking away his element of surprise would level the field if not give them an edge at last over him.
“Okay. Thank you. I…I need to talk to Leo and the rest of my clan. Make…make some plans,” Junjie replied.
Bel gave his hands a last squeeze before pushing to his feet. “Whatever you need. I know Winter would be happy to stay with your clan for a while. He’s been very curious about your fighting style and would love to learn more. This would give him a chance to spend time with your clan while acting as an early warning against Jiang Chong.”
“And Bel is always happy to run new experiments,” Wyatt said.
“I know!” Bel gasped. He spun halfway toward his mates. “Could you imagine if we could get our hands on some actual cat shifter blood? The comparative studies we could run would be so fascinating! I can think of so many things I’d love to study.”
“Thank you again. I’ll talk to Leo and see what he thinks our next course of action should be.”
Not that their next conversation was going to be an easy one. He might have lost it a bit when he’d locked Leo in the armory. The cat shifter would not be happy to see him. And Junjie wasn’t sure any amount of groveling was going to make this better.
Chapter 22
Leo St. George
By the time Junjie had returned to let him out of the armory, Leo had yet to calm down. His phone had three bars while he was in his prison. He was sorely tempted to call the cops on Junjie and his stubborn dragon guard, but he wasn’t that big of a dick. There was no reason to fuck over the entire clan and put Erik in harm’s way.