A new resolve falls over me, I don’t give a shit what these people think of me, but I’llbe damned if they’ll ever make any of my men feel like freaks because they’re afraid of them, and how powerful they are. A static charge fills my blood, making my hair swirl into the air as if carried by a current.
Ares freezes, halting before we reach the dining room. “Laura?” His reaction is enough to tell meI need to cool it before going into the dining room.
I take a few deep breaths. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Dante whispers. “If you need a minute, we can go to the room.”
“Wedon’t want anyone knowing the extent of your abilities yet,” Ares cautions.
“I said I’m fine.” A little misplaced anger seeps into my tone. I pull my hands free from Ares and Dante and shake them out, dispelling a little of the static energy collection on my skin. “Sorry.” I gentle my voice.
“No one hereis going to hurt you,” Ares tells me, completely misjudging my unease.
I make a sarcastic scoffing sound. “That’s not what’s bothering me. I don’t like the way these people look at you.”
A throat clears and I turn to seea couple of people from the living room that were staring at us. They have the nerve to look at me with upturned noses.
Rosa makes her way to the front of the group, a small frown marring her features since she missed the exchange. “Everything all right?”
I bite my teeth together to keep from speaking out. Instead, I give her a tight smile and nod my head. “Fine.”
Milo and Ollie walk past the growing group of people to come to our side. As I turn away to head to the dining room, Icatch a glimpse of Ares’s face. His features are hard, and shadows dance across his cheeks as he tilts his chin down to stare at the group behind us. Not a wordis spoken, but the threat is clear.
I feel guilty that I started this, that they are seeing him for what they fear, since now he’s going all Dark Lord on them. I reach for his arm, pulling him so he’ll turn. He does so, reluctantly. In the next second, I offer my hand to Dante. Milo and Ollie form a wall behind us as we finally reach our destination.
Rosa keeps casting suspicious glances at her guests, while the rest of their parents, clueless to the brief encounter, carry on light conversations while everyone is filling their plates with food. The dining room isn’tquitelarge enough for all of us, so there are a few tables set up in the kitchen and living room. Our group snags oneof the tables in the living room, away from most of the guests’ prying eyes.
“Still at the designated kiddie table,” Ollie snickers, and I look over to see that the table closest to us is, in fact, a kiddie table. Several children, ranging in age from seven to about sixteen if I had to guess, sit there looking supremely bored.
“Works for me.” Milo settles in his seat. “What happened in the hallway?” He lowers his voice to just above a whisper.
“It was me,” I confess, before Ares or Dante can make an excuse. “I got a little sparky. While they were trying to calm me down,a couple of the people heard me say I didn’t like the way they looked at Ares.” I rub my fingers over the tablecloth, not meeting anyone’s eyes.
“Good.” Ollie snorts and drops his plate to the table. “Half those assholes talk shit, but they’re just fucking scared. They wouldn’t know what to do with half the power he has.” He scoops up his fork and digs into his food like it’s no big deal.
The rest of the guysbegin toeat, so I take my cue from them and drop the subject, picking at the food I put on my plate. Everything looks and smells delicious, but with the way my stomach isfeeling, I’m not sure I really want to eat very much.
Dante is the first to notice my lack of interest. “You need to eat.” He pushes my plate closerto meusing the end of his fork. His eyes stay on mine until I place a bite of sweet potatoes into my mouth. He makes a grunting noise and returns to his overflowing plate.
“How soon do you think we can get out of here?” Milo asks before he’s even done eating.
“I think we should just sneak out, make a couple plates to take home. No one would say anything. Besides, your mom looked like she was about ready to kick everyone out. Did you see the way she was eyeballing Frank?” Ollie shakes his head with a smirk on his lips. Dante lets out a low chuckle in response.
“I don’t know why you guys never told her the way those people treated you, you know she would have kicked their asses herself,” Ollie continues, sounding baffled.
“I’ve never cared what they think about me.” Ares looks over at Dante quickly, a tick working in his jaw. “I let it go because some of them are their real friends. I also know that it is literallyfear that makes them wary of us.”
“They aren’t bad people,” Dante agrees.
“I guess,” Ollie concedes, but he doesn’t sound like he agrees with them.
“I’m going to grab a soda, anyonewant anything?” Milo stands.
“I’ll take one.” Ollie points his finger in the air.
“I’ll have a water, if you don’t mind.” I meet his gaze.
He nods. “Ares, Dante?”
