Page 29 of Infiltrated

Having finished our coffee we were much more amenable, hell, we even walked them over to the elevator door and gave them all hugs, kisses, and sensual promises. All domestic and shit. Now if I could only get the motherly thing down I would be a shoe in for bonded of the year, next to Pix of course.

As it was, the bond is incredibly difficult the first few months. The craving to be with one another is strong. Having to train, then heading to the Academy soon, will be quite difficult to say the least. Not that I will back down from the challenge. Sounds like clandestine sexcapades. Fuck yesss!

15

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”-Arthur Conan Doyle

“The problem with the Council, is that you must first go in assuming that nothing is impossible.”-Etienne

Dimitri

“How much fucking longeruntil we fucking leave this shit show?” I asked Luca for the hundredth time. He stared at me drolly. Fuck his look, he couldn't blame me for wanting to get back to the girls; he wanted to leave too, he just had to always be the epitome of control at all times, his father being who he was.

“Once my father gives us information, we can go,” he said as we strode through the main Council building, aiming for his father, Sergio Ignis’, office. One of the strongest fire elementals and the current head of one of the founding families on the Council. Every time, I was in his presence, I wanted to throat punch him. He was arrogant and there was something off with his thirst for power. It was an addiction for him. He was constantly looking for more power, I’m sure that is why he set us out on this mission to find this vigilante. Granted, it was a Council decision, but we all had a suspicion that Ignis was beyond the move. While I understood the reason for the hunt, I’m sure it went beyond the need to actually help the caste. It wasn’t a secret of his disdain for anyone who wasn’t at the top of the food chain, no, the thought of anyone undermining his control was beyond anything his narcissistic personality could possibly fathom.

We paused outside of his office as Luca knocked.

“Come in,” Ignis said from the other side of the door. I bit back a sneer and I fought to keep my face impassive as Luca let us into the painfully ostentatious office. There were accolades on every wall, Lucas and his combined. Photos of every major event over the past several years, but what really caught the eye were the two giant fireplaces on either side of the room, his large desk situated right in the center of the room, covered with paperwork and old worn books.

“Ah, Luca, Dante, Etienne, Dimitri. I’m glad you took the time to come see me before heading back over to the castes,” he sneered the last word. Glad indeed, considering he sent us a missive that pretty much said ‘come or else.’

“Yes, well. You had something to tell us father?”

He stood up and walked around his desk, looking every inch an Elite warrior, muscular, tall, with a carefully placed blank expression. Not that it hid his dark soul.

“Yes. As an Elite guard who is on track to bring in the Vigilante, you four will be quite the catch for political alliances and you are not getting any younger.” He reached over to pour himself a few fingers of a dark liquor from a decanter.

The words he uttered settled over us like a thick suffocating blanket. This is what the capital was about, political and loveless marriages, intrigue, lies, all for the detriment of the many and the benefit of the few. There is nothing that could come from this that would bring us any joy, but that never mattered. What mattered is whatever aspirations the Council had.

“How do you mean, sir?” Etienne spoke up, an undercurrent of fury lacing his tone.

“I mean, Etienne, that you all have a role to play and youwillplay it well. Bring me the vigilante, and after the execution we will be having a wedding ceremony…for all four of you… and one of you will be marrying my daughter,” he finished with a dark look. The silence was thick.

“I do not have a sister, what are you talking about?” Luca broke the silence.

“Oh, you do, she just didn't have a purpose until now. So she was kept well protected but away. But now? I see the value of her marriage to an Elite guard who has brought forward the vigilante. I will even let you decide which one from your team gets to have her.” He chuckled, walking around and sitting back at his desk. We simply stared at him. Luca looked like he was about to lose his shit when he raised his hand and effectively dismissed us. Closing the door behind us, I held my hand up, indicating that we needed to move further before we started to discuss any of this.

We started to head over to the car when the snark of some Elite Shadows that were drinking whatever koolaid they had in this place, reached our ears.

“Wow, the Elite of the Elite. I hear you're having a few problems tracking down one vigilante in the lower castes.” One of the dickheads laughed.

“I guess the real Elite team has to be sent in now,” another threw in. I was done being nice. I looked back at Luca, he gave me a slight nod and I grinned. I strode over to the men talking shit and swung, hard, breaking his jaw. His friend tried to put me in a headlock and I shifted my body, flipping him over my head and tossing him to the floor. A few dozen punches to their faces, and I felt the boys start dragging me back.

It wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy my need to make someone bleed, but it will have to do. Now, back to my women.

Charlie

“That can’t be right,”I muttered as I looked at the screen in front of me.

“What can’t be right?” Pixie looked over her shoulder and her eyebrow popped up.

“Exactly,” I responded to her expression. “I have refreshed the system, double checked the names, and it doesn’t make sense. Why now?”

For the first time in several years there are more than a few female recruits, in fact other than us, there were four more. I went into the system a couple hours after the boys left to make sure the invites were processed, and to manipulate the sleeping arrangements to have Pixie and I next to their rooms. As trainers they were given special sleeping quarters in the building next to us, so we just needed to be closest to the exit. It worked for two different reasons, the wet-spot-on-the-bed kind, and the bring-down-your-entire-operation kind.

“Pull up their names, families, histories, medical information, and pictures. I can’t speak about the timing because we have no idea if they were going to be put there with or without us, infiltrating this year.” She shrugged. “No one knows about us, but at least there will be more than a few buffers between us and the meat market,” she teased, but the slight concern in her eyes was clear.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Looks like all of these women are daughters to the members of the Council, pretty ones at that. Why the hell would they put high caste girls in the training academy when they were usually used for political marriages and alliances?”

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