Ari narrowed his eyes. "So, a good thing, right?"
She walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck. "A very good thing."
Ari heard many of the men mutter 'lucky fuck' and 'bastard', and he couldn't help grinning. "Fate has truly blessed me with such a beautiful and fierce woman."
Brie pulled his head down for a kiss, and he happily obliged. One of the things he had noticed about his mate yest
erday was that her plump lips were soft every time he kissed her. He couldn't get enough.
A throat cleared. "Brie, when you're done scrambling Ari's brain, can you huddle in for orders?" Aiden asked, walking up to where the units waited by the portal. Ari noticed that Micah, Darian, Oron, Thane, and Justice were with him.
His mate pulled back and winked up at him. "Yes, sir," she said and walked over to receive orders.
Ari felt like he was stuck on stupid. Why were they leaving again? He felt hands on his back as Gage steered him over to the meeting.
Aiden looked at the group. "We'll do a three-prong attack again. Tau, you're assigned the back. Chi, the westerly side exit, and my group will go in the front." He tapped his earpiece. "Were you able to hack the closed camera surveillance circuit yet?" he asked.
Meryn's voice responded in their ears. "Yup, I have good news and bad news."
Aiden rolled his eyes. "Good news first, Menace."
"Good news is I don't see anyone in the building."
Aiden exhaled. "That's great. What's the bad news?"
"Bad news is that the camera mounted in the main storage room is black. Not staticky. Black. With a faint glow around the edges. I'm willing to bet it's been painted."
Every single person in their group began to cuss, including his mate.
"Sonofabitch," she murmured.
"We're heading in, baby. Let me know if our situation changes."
"Will do. By the way, I overrode their security system, so all the doors should be unlocked, and no alarms will sound," she added.
"You take such good care of me," Aiden said.
"It's because you're really good with your penis," she answered, causing more than one of men to choke on their own spit as they inhaled a laugh.
Aiden closed his eyes as a flush worked up the back of his neck. "Thank you, babe."
"Menace is out," Meryn replied.
Aiden opened his eyes. "Move out."
Ari led his men around to the back of the building. Knowing that Meryn was monitoring their advancement and suppressing any alarms was huge. He reached forward and pulled on the door; it opened with ease. He looked back at his unit, and they grinned back at him. He could really get used to this. Quietly, they made their way through the halls that smelled like lemon disinfectant. He heard movement to their right as Aeson, leading Chi, appeared in the hallway, coming in from the west.
They had almost made it to the main storage room when they heard a deafening roar. He and Aeson took point and ran to the door that led to the front of building. Despite wanting to run through, he held up his fist. He pointed to Aeson who peeked through the cracked doorway. When the older fae spun around and slid down the hallway wall, Ari knew what they'd find.
"Gage, stay with Aeson, the rest of you are with me," he ordered.
He opened the door and led them into the large, mostly empty room. Along one wall, Aiden's team formed a semi-circle around a stack of bodies. They walked up. "Sir, did you need me to call Rathais?" Brie asked.
Aiden nodded. "He and River will need to head to thru the portal, then on to the palace…"
"I'll get them," Darian said quietly, walking away from the pile. "If I go, I can bring them directly back here, and they can start processing the scene sooner."
Ari had never seen Darian look so broken. Oron walked up behind his brother. "I'll go with them. Darian can drop me off at the palace so I can update the queen in person, then he can pick me up to bring me back here."