Silver Fox (Silver Shifters 2)

And caught on a glow brighter than light, truer than gold.

It was right behind him.

He turned, shifting back to his human form between one heartbeat and the next, and froze as he stared straight into the wide brown eyes of his mate.

The man stared back, breath caught. Xi Yong saw his pulse in the open collar of his shirt. This was a man he had not yet met, tall, with curling hair and a beauty that reached into and forever refashioned Xi Yong’s heart.

The man blinked, blinked again, then took a tentative step inside. “I think . . . we haven’t met yet? I’m Isidor Sabetai.”

“I am Qilin Xi Yong,” said Xi Yong. He forgot his American manners entirely, and bowed.

“Horsie,” Pink crowed. “Fah horsie!”

“Fire horsie indeed.” Isidor dropped to one knee, his voice calm, though Xi Yong could hear his frantic heartbeat, and longed to reassure him. “But what have we here?” He glanced at the cookware still on the floor. He looked up at Xi Yong.

And smiled.

It was a tentative smile, full of question—and hope.

Xi Yong forced his frozen tongue to move. “Pink tried to make a robot with this cookware and that channel changer. It’s actually very clever thinking. She just needs a few lessons in mechanical engineering.”

“Which we’ll make sure she gets. I firmly believe that Pink will rule the world someday,” Isidor said, his eyes alight as he laughed up over his shoulder at Xi Yong. “And it’ll be the better for it. Pink, it’s time to put the cooking things away.”

“’kay.”

“Shall I help you?” Isidor said to the child, but his eyes stayed on Xi Yong, wide with wonder.

Xi Yong could do nothing but gaze back, as all the world stilled.

Pink lifted the bread pans and trotted to the cupboard as Isidor knelt there ready to help. He said softly, “How have we not met?”

Xi Yong wanted nothing more than to tell him everything, but settled for, “I have been outside most of the time.”

Isidor passed his hand over his eyes. A tremble in his fingers shot a pang into Xi Yong’s heart. He said, with care, “So . . . what I saw?”

“I am a qilin shifter,” Xi Yong said, and held his breath.

“Shifter . . .”

Isidor paused to help Pink’s small fingers manage the cookie sheets. As he slid them beneath the others in the cupboard, he said, “Once, when I was ten or so, I was at summer camp. A thunderstorm came out of nowhere, and we were supposed to stay in our cabin. But, being kids, we dared each other to go outside. There was a great flash of lightning. In its light I saw an eagle.”

His hand rose in the air, making a gliding motion. “Coming through the trees. Another flash of lightning, even brighter, and that eagle turned into a girl, with long wild hair. She ran off through the trees and vanished. No one ever believed me, so I agreed that it was a dream. And told no one again.” He turned his wide gaze up to Xi Yong. “But I wasn’t dreaming then. And I’m not now.”

“You are not dreaming,” said Xi Yong, and Isidor grinned.

“Awesome,” was all he said—but Xi Yong’s heart beat again, and outside trees soughed, and the fire crackled in the next room. The world had begun again, bright with promise. “Tell me more?”

“Anything,” Xi Yong vowed, “you wish.”

***

Xi Yong felt as light as his qilin as he went through the day’s tasks, helping Doris’s family with their breakfast preparations and then the cleanup of the house before their departure. He would not have be

en surprised to look down and see that his human feet were drifting a few inches above the floor, as his qilin’s hooves often did.

With the house awash in a sea of Lebowitzes, Xi Long and Isidor could not get much time alone, but every time their eyes met through a crowd, every time they passed each other in the hall with arms full of sheets and pillowcases, sparks of warm delight leaped between them.

Even Mentor Fox’s news about the wolf shifters, delivered mentally, could not entirely dampen Xi Yong’s bright spirits. He was vastly relieved to learn that everyone was safe, but he wondered how this would affect their mission. Would the mere presence of the human police be enough to deter Cang from further activities in this area? It was difficult to say; Xi Yong did not pretend to understand the workings of the rogue red dragon’s mind.