"I don't know how they manage to stir up so much mischief and still manage to stay the highest ranking units between the four pillar cities," Corrin shook his head.
Balder held the door open for her. "I think that just proves how good they actually are."
She nodded and stepped inside. It was eerily quiet.
"Hello?" she called out.
Ramsey poked his head out from the back hallway that led to the larger main office. "Hey, you made it. Ari's been like a lion cub with a thorn in his wittle paw all morning waiting for you."
"I evidently needed to catch up on my sleep? Where is my lion?" she asked. She turned and reclaimed the cooler from Corrin.
"In the office. We had just sat down to re-group, so perfect timing," he explained as he led her down a dimly lit hallway. When they walked into the office, the men stood, and she went right to her mate. Ignoring the men around them, she pulled his head down for a kiss. As usual, he completely took over, leaving her to wonder what planet she was on. Sighing, she pulled back. "Good morning," she said a little breathlessly.
He nuzzled her neck then straightened. "I missed you."
"I could tell." She set the cooler on the table with a thud. "I brought you snacks from Leo."
The men were practically pouting. Balder scowled at Ari. "I hate you."
Ari just laughed. "I have the perfect mate who brings me food, I'd hate me too." He blew air kisses to the men who just groaned and threw wadded up paper balls at him.
Ari opened the cooler then turned to her. "Did mother tell him I might be hungry?"
"Yup. Half my omelet is in there somewhere on toast. Find it for me? Walking down here has me getting peckish."
Ari rooted around the cooler and held up a wax paper square. "I think this is it."
He handed it to her, and she sat down in the empty chair next to him. Ari looked around the room. "Dig in, guys, Leo packed for a small army."
The guys were all smiles now as they reached for food, which made sense since it was approaching lunch time. Once everyone had something, she turned to Ari. "I heard about Bastien's assault, is he okay?"
The men all growled as Ari's eyes darkened. "Yes, but that incident had us changing how we were going to start this process."
"We're no longer going to allow them to line them up and take them first come first served, huh?" she guessed.
"Exactly. We're waiting on an announcement from Portia that asks each family that has lost someone to send a single representative to the palace first to create a file on their loved one." He grimaced. "One of the things we noticed right away is that most of the dead look the same."
Brie licked a bit of butter off her fingers. "Like, de-comping the same?"
Gage shook his head. "No, literally. They are all fae. They are all tall and blond. Fae tend not to get tattoos and do not need dental work. Take a generic look and distort it from bloat, now you have over a hundred corpses that will be nigh impossible to identify."
Brie sat back with a thump. "Shit. I never even thought of that."
Ari rubbed across her shoulders. "Neither did we. We have requested additional assistance from Noctem Falls."
"Their microscopes?" she asked.
Ari shook his head. "No, their hematologist. Vivian Vi'Aerlin, mate to Etain Vi'Aerlin, is a renowned scientist. We're hoping she will be able to help us match us bodies to family members using DNA."
"I guess we don't need the guys assigned to this huh?"
Ari shook his head. "We absolutely do. The men have been assigned roughly fifteen bodies each. They will be working with Anne Ashwood in getting samples organized and labeled for shipment. As we receive information back about each person, the warrior will confirm with the families and make the arrangements to release the bodies for final arrangements."
"So, we're on hold for now?"
Ari and the men nodded. Her mate squeezed her shoulder. "Once Portia makes the announcement, the crowd will disperse. Anne should be here soon to gather samples. We'll maintain guard duty on the building to avoid anyone disturbing the dead. After that, we're waiting on matches from Vivian in Noctem Falls."
She crumpled up the now empty wax paper, and she was surprisingly still a bit hungry. She was going to gain weight if she kept stress eating. "I'll forward Portia the form we use to file a missing persons. She can tweak it as needed, but it should give her a jumping off point."