Page 74 of Live Like Legends

“Dani? Yeah, I’m pretty sure we all knew before he did.”

Maurice ran a hand through his dark hair, the gray strands contrasting with the dark. “Then like I said Ariel doesn’t have to do much of anything. We both know Nick has thought of nothing but getting her back and now that is out of his reach. There is a brick wall in his path, no way out to be seen.” He sounded tired and sad. He sounded like a dad that cared so much that it physically hurt him to see his son in this predicament.

I couldn’t say I was familiar with that ideal. The only thing my parents cared about was making sure I didn’t fraternize with people they deemed unworthy and the man next to me was one of them. After Nick explained as much of his missing past as hecould to me, I had somewhat of a better understanding that my parents were bigger assholes than I thought.

They had to have known about Nick’s mom, but maybe allegiance to something they considered was the purest in the realms was more important to them. They were far too old for it to still be blinding them, so for now I had to just assume they were the most stubborn fucking angels in the realms.

I placed my hand on his knee. “We’ll get him back, Mr. Cassial. I promise.”

He placed his hand over mine, squeezing it. “You’re a good friend, Reese. Probably the best my son will ever have.”

I smiled, scrunching my mouth to the side as I thought something over. “At this point, we’ve already proven that we don’t follow the rules. The time for talking is over. Ariel wants to steal him; we might as well just steal him back.”

Maurice huffed out a small laugh. “A rescue mission?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but an irritating voice plagued my ear drums.

“Rescue mission?” Elise repeated, leaning against the railing of the stairs.

I clucked my tongue, whipping my head up to her. “Yup. And please spare me your insanely unhelpful words of wisdom that are likely something like ‘you are far too stupid to rescue your friend’ or ‘he’s Ariel’s problem now, we might as well do it on our own.’” I pushed off the stairs so that I could look down at her from where I stood. “Frankly your moody bullshit is not on the menu for tonight so if that’s how you plan to be, your ass can sit here and wait for me to get back because I’m sure as shit getting my best friend back.”

I didn’t realize my chest was heaving, until I sucked in a breath. She blinked up at me as if she was unimpressed at every single word I’d said. Her silence frightened me just a little andI could feel myself wanting to flinch as if she would surprise me with a punch to the face.

“Are you finished?” She asked, sounding bored.

“Yes…”

She gave me a tight lipped smile. “As surprising as it is to both of us, I was going to ask you what you had in mind, Blondie?”

Natalia let out a noise, almost like a choked cough. Maurice had raised both his eyebrows and Garrett tried to hide his smile, but it wasn’t fucking working.

“Oh…” I tried to muster up all the confidence I’d had a second ago, “well, I…I didn’t really have one. I thought we could brainstorm a plan.”

She groaned, placing her hand at my face and pushing me back. “Yeah,okay. I generously give you an opportunity to impress me and you fail. Not surprised but, oh well, I tried.”

“And what do you want to do, just go in and slaughter everyone? No angel left alive?” I countered, chasing after her as she walked away from me.

She swung around, pushing me back. “Actually, that’s a fucking awesome idea. Good job, Blondie. I am so happy we have the same idea. Everyone let’s go!”

Maurice and Natalia both held up their hands, halting her idea.

“No, Elise. I understand that some blood may have to be shed, but you cannot just go in with violence being the intended solution,” Natalia said, sounding exasperated.

Elise tilted her head to the side, her black hair swinging above her shoulders. “Tell me, witch, why the fuck not?”

“Because your hot-headed little temper might get us into more trouble than it’s worth,” I taunted, gaining a growl from her.

Garrett spoke next. “Then what do we do? The sooner we get Nicholas back, the sooner we can head to Purgatory and find Dani. The sooner I can have my family and Beetee, her moms.”

Footsteps sounded as they rounded the staircase. “Are you all aware that there’s a rather large snake outside?” Xander hooked his thumb over his shoulder.

We all nodded.

“That’s Beetee. She had to uh, let off some steam,” I answered, receiving a look that saidah, okay makes complete sense.

Xander’s teal eyes surveyed each of us. “Am I missing something?”

“Nothing to concern yourself with, hot stuff, just go back to healing the weak and wounded.” Elise waved him off. He wrinkled his nose at her, but didn’t make a move to leave. Xander looked towards me for answers.

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