Page 156 of Reaper

Feeling a tug on my pant leg, I look down to find Cassie peering up at me, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. I set my mug down on the counter and pick her up. She nuzzles into my neck and damn near plasters her little body against mine.

I frown in concern. “Hey, is everything okay, Angel?” I quietly ask her. She shakes her head.

I duck further back into the kitchen so that we’re more hidden.

“What is it, Angel?”

She sniffles and worry eats at me.

“When I went to sit down at my s-special chair Auntie Levi got for me, that mean lady s-slapped my hands away from it and told me to scram and pushed my chair away. She took my spot and said us b-brats shouldn’t be here. The other two said the s-same. That everyone was en…ensane for letting us kids stay. That us and our mamas shouldn’t be here. That there s-shouldn’t even be any Old Ladies. I don’t see Daddy or Uncle Thor. I don’t know where they are,” she whispers as she sniffles again.

I breathe deeply as I try to force my muscles not to tense up despite how livid I am. “Angel, which lady told you that?”

Cassie lifts her head slightly and points to Crystal in the corner who is still glaring at Lark while she’s angrily stabbing at the eggs on her plate and using more force than necessary while ripping pieces of bacon off and chewing them.

“Her, but the others agreed too.”

I press a kiss to the top of Cassie’s head. “Let’s get you your seat, Angel. I’ll deal with them.”

I make eye contact with Patch and Thor, who must have just come from Thor’s office. Patch notices Cassie’s rigid little body in my arms he goes on full alert as he walks over to us with Thor right behind him. The guys all notice the change in us and they quiet down, quickly followed by the women.

“?γγελε(Angel), what’s wrong?” Patch whispers as he rubs Cassie’s back.

“Crystal, Cici, and Gemini are what’s wrong,” I grit out and cross the kitchen to find the chair Cassie had been talking about pushed away from the table and turned into the corner.

I pull out the chair next to Crystal and she blinks out of her staring fest to see who it is. When she realizes it’s me, she fluttersher eyelashes up at me and smiles coyly. Cici and Gemini, who are sitting on her other side do the same.

I grab Crystal’s plate and slide it down toward the other end of the table. “Get up and sit your ass down over there or even better, go stand in the corner while you finish and then get the fuck out of here.”

Lark comes up beside me and she whispers something to Cassie, who nods, and thankfully goes to her. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch her carry Cassie over to Mary who reaches out for Cassie as soon as they’re close enough.

“What the fuck for? What did I do?” Crystal screeches and my lip curls as I take in her appearance. Even to breakfast where she knew the kids were going to be, and despite the cold, she’s wearing as little as possible.

I lean on the table, getting right in her face. “You fucking threatened a child. You threatened all the kids here. You threatened their mothers. You threatened our Old Ladies, that’s what you fucking did,” I growl and the rest of the room goes silent, but I know without even looking that everyone’s furious at my words.

Her face pales and when Cici and Gemini try to scoot back to leave, I slap my hand on the table, making them jump. “You two are in on this, too. While you didn’t say nearly as much as Crystal here, you both agreed with her multiple times from what Cassie said.”

“Cassie,” Thor says gently and she shifts in Mary’s arms and looks up at him.

“What did Crystal and the others say to you?”

She hesitates and then shrinks back when she looks over at Crystal who looks about ready to strangle Cassie.

Without taking my eyes off Crystal, Cici, or Gemini, I address Cassie. “You aren’t going to get in trouble for anything you say, Angel. And if these three have any sense in their heads, they willnot come after you because of this if they do, they’ll be the ones in trouble.”

While I don’t say it, since Cassie and the other kids are present, these three will be lucky to still be alive if they ever lay a hand on one of the kids.

Cassie repeats what she told me and the tension in the room intensifies.

“Elvira,” Half-pint says softly, but her voice has an edge to it.

I hear a metal dish clink behind us and risking a look back, I see Elvira carrying a domed tray. She must have started portioning out food while our focus was on Crystal and the others.

“Children, how about we go find some cartoons?” Elvira asks as she carries the tray toward the hallway, but Drae takes it from her and carries it for her.

The kids follow after them down the hallway and more movement has me looking behind me to find Miracle carrying some plastic cups and a pitcher of orange juice. Cannon steps forward, taking it for her and when she turns to grab the pitcher of milk, Atlas takes that from her as well. She shakes her head as she tries to hide her smile. She heads down the hall, dipping her head toward me and Lark as she goes with Cannon and Atlas following behind her. With them out of the way, I turn my focus back on the trio.

“Thor,” Smoke says as he steps closer to him and hands him his phone. “Cassie paraphrased quite a bit, but she got the gist of it.”