Page 47 of Infiltrated

“You challenged me at darts and called me a chick. It was your fault.” I scoffed. “But I love you now, doesn’t that count for something?”

Cole shook his head and chuckled while he wrapped up his machine to minimize the vibrations to his hands while he worked. “Yeah, yeah, I love your crazy ass too, but how was I supposed to know that the purple-haired cute girl was gonna be so damn resistant to my charms, and then punch me.”

I pointed at him with my beer. “Louie, that is why they won’t settle down. Cole still thinks calling a girl a chick is part of his charm. Maybe I didn’t hit him hard enough.”

Laughter echoed around the room.

“Oh Ellie, you hit him hard enough, alright, he walked his ass right to my wife to be healed and started to work for me. He wouldn’t stop going on about the girl who kicked his ass, his silly story kept people coming back. If you hit him again, we may double our weekly appointments. So have at it.” Louie chuckled.

I laughed. “I’ll think about it. Boys, come to think of it, Dimitri challenged me to a game of darts when he first met me and even called me princess. ”

The boys started to laugh. “Man, and you’re still alive to tell the tale?” Anthony piped in, shaking his head. “That has to be a fucking miracle, she’s punched people in the nuts before even finishing that word.”

“I don't even know why calling a female princess is derogatory these days,” Dante threw in.

“Are you kidding me? Have you seen Disney movies? I mean other than Moana and Elsa, everyone is a damsel in fucking distress, totally not me.” I scoffed.

“Okay, that’s fair. But Rapunzel was pretty badass too.” He smirked.

“Sure, keep talking and you're going to be seeing the same lights she was seeing,” Pixie added, and the boys barked out a laugh.

Dimitri got up and sauntered to me, and wrapped his arms around me, drawing my hair to the side and kissing my neck. “No Letting Go” by Wayne Wonder started to play on the system, and I groaned while Dimitri smirked against my neck.

The shop boys stared slack-jawed. “I got lucky I guess, now she is stuck.”

“Yeah, yeah. Shut it. I still have a reputation to uphold.” I laughed while he started to rock to the beat with me to the song and spun me around in a circle, then kissed me. God, these lips.

I’m glad you love my lips, they will need to be all over you soon, we need some alone time, just us.

Deal, vampire, I’ll be the Anita Blake to your Jean.His laughed echoed in my head.

Louie cleared his throat. I blushed.

“Right so, sorry, I’m rude. Anthony, Cole, Damien, Jinx, Tommy, Louie, let me formally introduce you to Dimitri, Luca, Etienne, and Dante,” I said as I pointed everyone out. “You all know Pix and I have been bonded for years, we were lucky enough to meet these four and our magick sparked. Turns out they are our mates as well.”

“Wow, that’s…wow.” Jinx blinked in surprise and the guys looked at us slack-jawed. “Little sisters, we are so happy for you, people are lucky to find one mate and you ladies have each other and four more. That’s incredible,” Jinx said, sounding suspiciously emotional.

“If you fucking cry, Jinx, I will nut-punch you, you will find your mate too.” He laughed and smiled sadly but gave me and Pixie a hug and went to shake the hands of the guys, the rest following suit.

Louie clapped his hands. “Well, any mate of Elps is family here. Let’s get you all comfortable and we can start on your ink. All my boys are unmatched in talent except by each other, well, only difference is that Tommy also does the piercings in the shop,” he boasted. He loved his team and it was evident on his face. He got those boys out of the castes and helped them become talented artists and gave them something to hold on to when everything always seemed so bleak. Louie was a good man. “Grab a chair and they will work on your designs,” he continued, “so we all know what we are getting or are we keeping it a surprise for when we are done?”

“Surprise,” LEDD said at the same time. Fuckers.

Pix and I shook our heads. “I have an idea but I guess since it's a secret”—I rolled my eyes—“we can all do that. I'll open a link with you and your artist and you guys can discuss in privately.”

“You can do that?” Damien said incredulously. I laughed.

“You have no idea of all the things I can do.” I winked at him, and he blushed and turned around.

“Too much information, little sister,” Louie muttered.

We settled into our chairs once the secret stencils were created and the men got to work. It was cathartic. I was sending healing magick to everyone in the room to avoid them getting tired. We had a Hunger Games marathon playing in the background, and Luca kept muttering that someone stole his face and we were teasing him the entire time. After sitting for a few hours, we all took a break and ate Chinese takeout before settling back down and watching a few episodes of Supernatural while the machines kicked back up.

“I do not look like him, he looks like a skinny version of me.” Etienne scoffed.

“He is not skinny, he’s lean and sexy. You just look like you eat muscles for breakfast, at least he solves paranormal crimes. Let me know the last time you fought off a demon.” No one is allowed to insult Dean Winchester on my watch. He scoffed and ignored the TV.

“If you’re going to be ungrateful about meeting your twin, then I'll just put on Vampire Diaries.” The men groaned as I switched it on.

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