Page 80 of Shark 2

“Kass!” Zyra gasped. “You know you can’t give them cookies before dinner!”

Illa and Tanjin, my niece and nephew respectively, both three years old, with the cutest little troll tusks, pouted behind their mother as she scolded me.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said and took a sip from my drink.

Zara pushed Aketa and Zulkaz, my twin niece and nephew, into the room, crumbs all over their adorable two-year-old faces. “Kass,” she growled. Zara saw Zyra and the kids and sighed, shaking her head.

Standing, I wiped my hands on my jeans and smiled wide. “Who is ready for dinner?”

“We are!” all my nieces and nephews yelled and we all ran to the dining room in a planned out, synchronized move. Now, Zara and Zyra were left grumbling in the other room and Theo just sighed and shook her head.

That sighing and head shaking happened a lot when I was around my family.

The kids sat at their smaller table and I sat with them. I preferred eating at the kids’ table.

Silver walked in and patted all of the kids on the heads as he passed and even patted mine, making me smile up at him.

Grant, Reed, Jong-min, Jong-hyun, Zyra, Zara, Zara’s mate, Kuroji, Zyra’s mate, Venjo, Theo, Damien, Tristan, Antoine, and Silver sat at the adult table.

Theo had tried to purchase a large table for holiday dinners such as this, ensuring there was enough seating for all of the adults. However, there were so many of us that Damien had ended up building one for us instead. It had taken them a full year to find a house that fit their needs and even then, they’d made adjustments to their first floor so the dining room was large enough for the huge table, and for the living room to be large enough to fit enough couches for us all to sit when we met. Normally, we also had Jong-kyu and his mate, Mi-Yong, with us, but they had returned to their homeland to visit his family.

We took turns hosting and next year was my turn. I had an easier time finding a location, since Silver had sold the bar to me and I could close it down to have our family events there.

“How’s the bar doing?” Silver asked as if he could tell I was thinking about it.

“Doing really well,” I said.

“She conned an entire basketball team and made over a thousand dollars in a single night,” Grant said, ratting me out.

“Tattletale!” I hissed at him.

“Snitches get stitches,” Cassandra muttered before she shoveled some cooked chicken into her mouth.

“Cassandra!” Antoine snapped.

I put another bread roll onto her plate, earning a big smile from her and a scowl from Theo and her mates.

Kuroji and Venjo, whispered conspiratorially together, which did not bode well for me. The two troll males liked tormenting me and playing pranks on me. My own mates joined in often, too, especially Reed.

“Auntie,” Tanjin whispered.

I looked over at him.

He leaned across the table, trying to get closer and whispered, “Don’t drink what Da brings you.”

My eyes widened. Tanjin must have overheard what his dad and uncle were planning. What a great nephew!

I winked and put a bread roll on his plate. “Thanks, buddy.”

He tore into his bread while smiling, his little tusks glistening with melted butter now.

“Let’s have a toast,” Silver said and stood.

“We got it, Father,” Venjo said as he and Kuroji stood. Kuroji passed out glasses while Venjo went to get the sparkling wine bottles from the kitchen.

Kuroji set a glass in front of me and I held it up, inspecting it, but there was nothing inside … yet.

Venjo poured glasses for everyone, including himself, leaving me for last. As he poured it, I heard the soft clink of him dropping something into the glass first right before he poured the wine.

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