Page 31 of Infiltrated

She stands and faces me and I throw up a shield around me.

Practice makes perfect, even if you have to be the dummy for a bit.

16

“If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” –Margaret Thatcher

“We made waves. We make moves.” -Pixie & Charlie

Charlie

This entire time,the men just sat around and watched, not saying a thing. After Pixie and I came down from our high, we put our hands on our hips and stared at them.

“Hi, welcome home, how are you? Okay, cool. Wow, that is such an interesting story. I’m so glad you decided to share.” I rolled my eyes dramatically. “Seriously if you’re trying to actively piss me off, you are succeeding.”

“You have your minds locked down pretty tight, what’s up?” asked Pixie as she sat down in front of them. Well, I wasn’t in the mood of having a kumbaya moment, so I grabbed a Gatorade from the gym fridge and leaned against the wall while I glared at the men.

Luca

Fuck,they were so beautiful and powerful and amazing. We were so lucky to have them and now we had to deal with the fucking mess the Council had put on us. I rubbed my hand down my face. We had to take a few moments to calm down when we got here, Dimitri went to wash the blood off his hands, and we switched into workout gear. It was impressive to hear Ellie describe magick and control, she was a natural, and Pixie just absorbed it all and kept going. I was in awe to be honest.

I felt Ellie’s stare, I knew she was pissed, I could lock down the thoughts but the emotions still came through. She looked like she was ready to just walk out and say fuck it; Pixie had a tighter hold but I could tell she wasn’t too happy either.

“So obviously we went to the Council and we put your names in. We were ready to go but the Council decided that they needed to see us. They are not too happy about us not catching the vigilante and that the informant we had suddenly disappeared.” Pixie and Ellie gave each other a look and a smirk at that.

“What was the look for?” Etienne demanded and stood angrily; we were all a little on edge.

“You don’t get to ask me jackshit, until you finish explaining why you all came here acting like a bunch of dicks, blocking us out, not even calling or texting us, and then on top of that, Dimitri comes in with blood on his hands. So I suggest you be very fucking careful. I don’t care if we are bonded, I don’t care if you are a foot taller than me. I will beat the ever loving shit out of you. Don’t fuck with me,” Ellie said in a dark voice, a shiver going up my spine and partially to my dick, and I can see why Exousia was feared. I smirked as I picked up Etienne’s similar reaction.

“We caught a lot of heat for not finding the vigilante, they think we are incompetent, questioned our ability to be trainers, and be a team. As for Dimitri…” I trailed off.

Truth is we keep him centered as much as possible but he thinks with his fist.

“Someone ran into his fist until they were unconscious,” I finished.

“That’s fucking hot,” Ellie whispered, and Dimitri smirked.

“There is also a small issue of four other females being put into the academy this round and they are all daughters of the Council members, color me surprised when I found out I had a fucking sister.” I rubbed my head, fuck, I had a headache from all this bullshit.

“There is another small issue. We need to bring someone forward as the vigilante by Friday before Shadow training,” Dante piped in, also rubbing his head.

“Oh, that’s it? You fucking men are so extra. Follow me,” Ellie said and walked out of the workout room and stood in front of a wall. She pressed a combination on the wall and a scanner popped out, took her eye scan and her finger print, and it even looked like a bit of blood for her DNA and then the wall opened to reveal a set of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was another system with a combination and scan. The door opened to reveal a large room with computers, books, and chrome walls. It looked like a lair for a fucking mastermind criminal. Pixie brushed passed us and said out loudinto the room, “Pixie and Ellie, plus four.” Until that moment we hadn’t even realized there were red dots on our chest. Holy fuck.Did she make super suits too?

Charlie

Men panic too easily.Tell them who I am, what I can do, my history and they still thought that... what? They couldn’t just come to me? I mean the bond should at least assure them they can trust me, that they can rely on me. It kind of hurt. I didn’t like that. I don’t like weakness. So we needed to tighten up and lay everything on the table. I gestured for them to sit down around the table.

“There is all the information needed on the four additional ladies. Added exactly thirty minutes after you initiated our invitations, which means they were placed there for a reason, I’m hoping the reason you are upset is because you know that reason, which means we can start calculating risks and countermeasures. As for the missing informant, we tied up that loose end minutes after you left that day. I don’t do loose ends, I protect my castes. It sucks it affected you but I am not sorry about it. She was taken, killed, and disposed of by an inside man. Snitches don’t get stitches here… they die.”

They looked taken aback by my statement, well Luca did. Etienne gave me a calculating look of respect, Dante looked proud, and Dimitri looked turned on. So different, so perfect. I sent affection through the bond to let them know that even though they sucked, I cared about them. They gave me a small smile.

“So how did you get information about the women so quickly, and is this pretty much everything about them?” Dante pried further.

“Everything is relevant.” I waved my hand around. “We have a suspicion, so now we want to ask you what you know. What’s up, and how can we work together, you know since we are bonded and all, to fix the problem?”

At least they had the decency to look slightly ashamed as if they just realized that we are in this together.Idiots, all of them.

“Well, it looks like the Council would like me to be married for political connections. My parents being in the Council makes me valuable to them. The other ladies are there to marry other high ranking Shadows and build those connections. It seems that, to them, it would further solidify the Shadows as the force of the Council and ensure that the Shadows are, even more so, tied to them. It’s a cluster fuck and it doesn’t make sense. We told them as such. We were built to protect Darnika, that includes everyone. It is a conflict of interest to tie the Shadows to the Council in that way; it's one thing if it’s a bond, but completely another if it's seen as a political move. There is already unrest in the lower castes and the only reason they are thriving and becoming stronger is because of you ladies and the work you do. They may be hiding it, but the crime rate is pretty much non-existent but they are saying it’s because of the MLE and strong Shadow presence.”

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