Page 81 of The Chameleon

Elijah had reached out to a few of his contacts in neighboring countries, asking if there was any word on a team hired for a high-priority capture. It didn’t take long before whispers of names and travel routes were pouring in. Elijah and Ares immediately knew that something was up. This level of information was never so easily found, especially within such a short time frame. No. Someone wanted them to know. Someone wanted them to come and find them.

“Okay, so how do you want to handle this?” Mickey asked, standing next to Elijah and Chase.

“Well, I’ll go in pretending to be alone. Then when they grab me, you assholes come in and shoot up the place.” Ares’s plan was simple and to the point. “In fifteen minutes, everyone should be dead, except for us, of course. Then we all go grab something to eat.”

See? Nice and simple.

“Oh… kayyy… Well, I was thinking of something with a little more…flare,” the man wearing black eyeliner and a mesh top added.

“Andwhoare you again?” Ares asked, not recognizing the gothic young man. In addition to the sinful shirt, he also wore tight leather pants and a spiked collar around his neck.Oh, and black lipstick.

Throwing his arm around the sexy young siren, Patrick’s smile nearly swallowed his head. “This here is Sky. My husband. The only man as sexy and dangerous as me.” He leaned over and gave his husband a kiss on the cheek.

It was weird seeing Patrick being so… lovey. Usually, he was all badass and… death.

“Well, I have to congratulate you, young man. You, apparently, have the biggest balls in this place if you’re willing to get naked with this man.” Ares shoved his thumb towardSatan’s guard dog,who had apparently found his “forever person.” “I’d be too worried he’d wear my skin as a coat while I slept,” Ares noted, shifting a suspicious eye toward Patrick.

Patrick’s husband smiled. “It’s a burden I’m happy to bear.”

“So, let’s hear this plan,” Patrick said, wrapping his muscular arms around his smiling husband.

While Sky outlined his much more entertaining plan of attack, Ares finished double-checking their weapons with Elijah. The two sat in silence, double-checking cartridges and adding weapons to their bags.

It was Elijah who finally broke the silence. “Hey, boss. This whole thing with you and Matteo, I think you’re both being dumb.”

That was not what Ares was expecting the covert ops killer to say.

“I mean, you’re both spending all this time pretending to hate each other when it’s clear that you both still have feelings for one another.”

“I never said I hated him.” Ares gave his friend a sarcastic smile.

“No, but you refuse to tell him how you really feel about him.”

Ares glanced over at the others. Isaac was sitting in Jared’s lap with Jared’s arms wrapped possessively around his body. Jared’s chin rested gently on Isaac’s shoulder as he listened to his boyfriend chat up a storm. Next to them, Levi was leaning against Chase. Another inseparable couple.

Then there was Patrick—the scariest one of all. Even he had found his “special person.” The two sat on their own, but Arescouldn’t help but notice the way their knees still subtly touched. It was barely noticeable, but the connection was still there.

Going around the room, Ares took note of all the couples happily interacting with one another. They may have all come from different backgrounds and suffered through various traumas, but here they were, together, all of them willing to fight for one another.

It gave Ares hope.

“I think Matteo is well aware now of my feelings. I wasn’t exactly subtle about them these past few days.”

Elijah smiled.

“Good. I expect to be your best man at your wedding.”

Ares chuckled. “I have to get the man to speak with me first. He wasn’t too thrilled when he found out about the security cameras, the motion sensors, or the tunnel that runs from his cabin to mine.”

“Why? Nothing says, ‘I love you’ like possessive lover vibes.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Skyler added from where he was sharpening a knife with a stone next to his husband.

The room filled with laughter.

Six hours later, they were in Sicily crouched behind a row of oil drums, trying to remain unseen by the dozens of men carrying assault rifles and machetes. They were all busy corralling their latest shipment of merchandise out of their pens and into the dozen or so minivans.

Ares immediately recognized the activity. They had inadvertently stumbled upon a human trafficking ring right in the middle of its arrival and transportation phase.

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