Page 8 of The Party

Haruki froze, eyes rounding. “Wait. We’re having five kids?!”

William made a disgusted sound. “Stop bragging about your rosy future and help me manage these little assho—I mean, darlings.”

“Rawr, rawr, I’m a lion!” the kid wrapped around Haruki’s thigh contributed animatedly to the conversation.

Haruki sighed. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Kris, but I hear a lion roar most nights and she does not sound like that.”

Leah grinned. William sneered.

The sword-playing girls stopped fighting, expressions of horrified delight dawning on their faces.

“Uncle Haruki and Uncle Leah are being lewd again!” the one with the pigtails hissed conspiratorially at her sparring partner.

Her companion nodded solemnly. “We should take notes.”

Mila muttered something under her breath and started across the foyer.

“You can put your coats in that closet,” she told Mae and Nikolai over her shoulder, indicating a door on their left.

Mae walked over and opened it.

A pretty girl with blonde hair stood on a stepping stool inside the storage room. She had her hands braced against the wall on either side of a pale-faced, dark-haired, dread-stricken teenage boy and was leaning up to kiss him.

Nikolai made a choking noise.

Mae slammed the door shut.

Yup, that was Jacob Schroeder about to have his lips violated by a girl.

He looks a bit weak to be the Hydra’s host, my witch, Hellreaver observed suspiciously.

Mae wasn’t fooled. The beast inside the kid was a fearsome creature, albeit one currently frozen in the face of an amorous advance.

Mila stopped halfway across the lobby. “What’s the matter?”

Mae chewed her lip. “There’s some kind of situation going on in there.”

“Amelia is at it again,” Oliver muttered without looking up from his page.

“Big Sis is a hussy,” Lola declared solemnly beside him, except she lisped the ‘hussy’ and it came out ‘hutthy’. The dog woke up, yawned, and went straight back to sleep.

Suspicion darkened Mila’s eyes. She retraced her steps, dumped her bags in Nikolai’s arms, and yanked the closet door open. She sucked in air at the sight of Jacob desperately holding the blonde girl at bay.

So did Pig Tails and her sword-fighting companion, who’d followed her.

Jacob glanced wildly their way. “Help me!” he gurgled.

Mila lowered her brows.

“Amelia Storm, unhand that guy right now!” she growled. “And you,” she snarled at Jacob, “—how about you grow a pair? You’re the bloody Hydra, for Christ’s sake!”

“No cussing in front of the kids, Mila,” Lucy reminded mildly.

“But,” Jacob glanced at Amelia, “—I don’t wanna hurt her.”

“It’s okay, Jacob,” Amelia crooned. “I don’t mind a little pain.” She closed her eyes and puckered her lips with a smooching sound that made the Hydra’s host shudder.

“What is wrong with these kids?” Nikolai asked Mae in a horrified whisper.

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