Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
He didn’t think it was possible, but he was finding new ways to love his fox every night. No one had ever made him so happy. He didn’t think it was possible to feel this much joy with another person, but Huli brought him to new heights every night they were together.
“Yes, Huli, I will always protect you.” As he spoke, his lips rubbed Huli’s, teasing his fox. “And I will always love you no matter how many tails you have.”
“Good, but I have no intention of losing any more.” Huli bumped the tip of his nose against Xiao Dan’s and grinned. “If I do, you must come with me while I cultivate. I will never sleep apart from my vampire again.”
“Deal.”
Xiao Dan would happily follow his fox wherever he led him.
Epilogue
HULI
Erik giggled, making the smile toying with Huli’s lips grow. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and bit it as he directed one of his tails to dangle just above the kid’s head. The moment Erik dropped his hands to his lap, Huli lowered his tail to tickle the child’s nose. The child squealed, laughed, and made a grab for his tail, but Huli jerked it out of his reach once again.
An owl hooted somewhere in the nearby woods and they both froze, listening for another hoot to determine the direction of the bird. But the feathery menace fell silent with the rest of the chilly woods.
Erik had come outside with Junjie a few minutes ago to say good-bye to the fish and give them a final meal in their current home. Kai was supposed to zap them magically across the globe to their new home in China. Huli thought it would be better to fry them up for dinner and get Erik some new fish, but Junjie had argued that their little boy was partial to these fish, so they lived another night.
Huli had come out to stretch his fox legs but had been strong-armed into watching the child because Junjie had to check on his mate’s progress with dinner. Apparently Leo the Walking Disaster had offered to make Erik and Junjie an American meal. As a result, there was now smoke coming out one window. That seemed about right.
Stretched out on the ground in his human form, but with all of his tails, Huli smirked at the cute kid. “Your Kitty Gege is a disaster, isn’t he?”
Erik either didn’t understand or didn’t care, because he tipped his head back to look for the tail that had been tickling his face. As he searched, he stretched too far and fell. Huli’s tails darted forward to catch the child, letting him fall onto a pillow of fluffy tails.
“Ooooh…soft,” Erik whispered as his small hand petted one of the tails that was right under his cheek.
This was always one of the pluses of spending time with the child. He always showed proper appreciation for Huli’s tails. The kid was careful, considerate, and he knew beauty when he saw it. It also didn’t hurt that Erik was always bubbling over with happiness and sweetness. He was a joy to be near.
“You’re going to have a pretty kitty cat tail, aren’t you?” Huli said.
Erik bobbed his head up and down in a nod that threatened to knock his head right off his neck. “Big tail!” He held his hands out in front of him. “Soft tail like Pretty Gege.”
“Yes, you are. You’re going to have the best tail any cat ever had.”
How could he not? The fates wouldn’t deny this sweet, smart child the most perfect tail that ever existed on a cat shifter. He refused to believe it. The kid had already lost his parents. He deserved a great tail.
Huli stared at the boy for a moment, his brow furrowed. He reclined on the ground, his head resting on his hand. Was there something he could do to hurry along the boy’s shift? Maybe not help him shifting into his full cat form, but a tail and ears wouldn’t be bad. It would make Erik happy, and that was all that mattered.
“Want tail! Want fluffy tail!” Erik pushed up to his feet and hopped once, his hands balled into fists. He landed with his legs and squatted while his face scrunched up in concentration. Was he trying to push out a tail?
At the same time, Huli could sense a tiny stir of magic within the boy. It was only a few sparks, but it was more than he’d sensed from him so far. Huli shoved up into a sitting position and held out a hand toward Erik. It hovered in the air above his bent head. The magic was growing stronger within him.
He was a genuine wonder! Erik had spent so much time around shifters that he understood that one day he was going to shift into a cat. He understood there was magic inside of him that could make this happen, and he was trying to force it. Oh, ho! He was going to shift well ahead of when Leo said he would. This kid was going to force it, come hell or high water.