Page 36 of Infiltrated

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I laughed lightly and clapped. “Go team! And by team, I mean me and Pixie. So now we move on to the grappling, I assume you men know how to fight on the floor? So it's me and Luca, and Pixie and Dimitri. Need a water break, boys?”

Luca and Dimitri looked at each other and declined at the exact same time, and took off their shirts.Holy abs, holy sex gods, thank you for this moment of joyous celebration.

I raised an internal eyebrow because they wanted to fight dirty. Okay, fuckers.

“Let's take turns this time, that way we can observe different techniques. In our world, magick rules, fighting hand to hand is very useful and there are so many forms of fighting. Each form builds certain strengths, so we need to bring those forms together cohesively. Luca, would you like to go first?”

Stepping into the sparing section, I winked at him, and he rolled his eyes, and we faced each other. Without warning, I quickly grabbed his neck with one hand and his arm with another, and crossed his arm against my chest and swept him to the floor. I hooked my leg over his opposite leg in a scissors sweep. He fell hard. None of that mattered though. The moment our bodies became flush, skin to skin, we had to fight hard to focus as the bond worked its magick and passion flared between us. Shaking out of it, Luca leaned forward, grabbed my leg, pulled and turned with it effectively, tangling our limbs but leaving me on the floor underneath him, then gripped my hair back. From this position my neck was vulnerable so despite the pain I jerked my head to the side and maneuvered my elbows out to hit him repeatedly to dislodge his hold. Grunting, he let go. His eyes heat at the contact but he held my gaze and turned to pin my hands over my head, but instead of caging me in he let off my shin just enough for me to push harder and essentially bend my knees to launch him off of me. He breathed deeply but instead of attacking everyone stood at attention as alarms blared through the house.

Fuckk.

I jumped off the floor and ran to the security room/lair as quick as I can to see what was setting off the alarms. Pixie and I got into the computers.

“Building secure, perimeter secure,” she yelled.

“Fuck, it’s not the buildings, it’s the lower castes, there has been another child abduction and a murder. This alarm came from Burns, he called in Exousia.” I banged my head on the table and we quickly run up stairs, the men on our heels as we quickly dress into our gear. Sensing the panic, the men start to dress as well.

“No, you cannot come with us on patrol or on an investigation. You stand out like sore thumbs in your gear and hummer. Pixie and I will take our bikes and shield our presence until it gets dark. We need to figure out this SOS and verify its credibility,” I said as I quickly tied my hair back.

“We are going whether you want us to or not, we will dress down and take another vehicle. This isn’t up for negotiation, this is us being your bonded and having your back. You have both done this alone. We know you’re capable, that's not the point,” Etienne said halting my objection. “This is us also figuring out what the fuck is going on as Shadows and as your mates.” The men quickly move to put on jeans and dark tees instead of standard gear. I didn’t have time to argue, although I admitted jeans on those muscular thighs and asses should be illegal. So should tight shirts for that matter. The men threw me a smirk as Pixie laughed.

“Fuck, your phones. Turn them off and I will destroy them later. I have new encrypted phones for you programmed with the same number. I don’t want your messages, calls or location tracked.” I ran and grabbed their new phones, secured the rooms and passed them out. Etienne looked at me with pride.

We didn’t think of this, thank you.

Don’t mention it, we have a lot more things to focus on. Pixie and I have been working all morning.

We made our way to the garage.

“Johnny, lock this down tight and call all of the families. I want everyone accounted for and safe. I will be back soon,” I said as I locked eyes with our security guard. Pixie and I, after a while, suspected that the guards knew we not only patrolled but that I was Exousia. I mean they were a smart group of people but they never asked and we didn’t talk about it, but they knew that when I issue a command it's for everyone’s safety and they never hesitate.

“No problem, Ms. Ellie, Ms. Pixie,” he said as he nodded to us both. “Stay safe.” He glanced at the men and started to issue orders on his walkie.

Pixie stopped the men as they headed to their car. “No, too obvious, we said that. You boys can take midnight instead.”

“Midnight?” Luca looked around confused. I let down the illusions and their jaws dropped as they took in my fleet of cars, bikes and even my war tank. I admitted I got that last one out of sheer impulse.

“A fucking tank baby?” Dante laughed and shook his head.

“You never fucking know when you might need to fuck someone up.” I threw my hands in the air and walked over to my Beast, and Pixie walked up to her purple and black, almost identical bike, except hers wasn’t customized to have me sit in the front if needed, same shit applies. I had her back always.

“Grab Midnight, they all have name placards, keys are in the car. I will cast the illusion as we pull out.”

Holy fuck.

I smiled as they finally located Midnight. Yeah, that baby had that effect on people. A deep purple, almost black, four-seater Bugatti I snagged before it hit the market; it reminded me of a midnight sky during a thunderstorm.

We pull out of the garage and into the street and head into the lower castes.

We pulled into lower castes and our first stop was Burns’ bar. If there is anyone who knows anything right now it would be him, well, that and he called the alarm. The lower castes didn’t talk to outsiders, Pixie and I had proven ourselves we are part of the entire community. Burns was also one of those rare people that pretty much knows but doesn’t know. There is a fine line between knowledge and suspicions; one will save you, the other will get you killed. Pixie and I pulled up and quickly hopped off our bikes. We tell the men to stay in their car and we head inside, making sure all lines of communication are open.

His eyes widened when we walked in and he nodded his head in understanding. He knew why we were here. “Ellie! Pixie! It is great to see you, come on back. I want to show you both the new pool table I’m setting up this weekend.”

“Oh yes! A new table!” We headed to his back office and he closed the door behind us. The office was large, painted black, with a beautiful wood desk toward the back wall, and he had an entire bar set up behind his desk. The office reminded me of a MC club, and I often joked that he was secretly a President of the Magick Sons of Anarchy. He sat down behind his desk and set up three glasses and poured some whiskey and handed it to us while he chugged his in one swoop.

“Listen Elps,” he said affectionately. He started to combine our names when he always saw us together a couple of years ago. “A child was taken about an hour ago... a newborn, her mom was a low level water user, Rassie, and was murdered for interfering.” He shook his head sadly and leaned forward in his chair. “Rassie’s apartment was a few doors down from Mary’s and she called the alarm.” He sighed deeply and headed over to the bar behind his desk. “No one saw much but what we do know is that a hummer was seen leaving, and they headed east.”

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