like you." He looked at her gear. "So, I guess I'll be guarding you, huh?"
Brie's expression turned from hurt, to pleased, to resigned. She covered her face with her hand. "Well, considering I'm mated to your brother, have met your father, your other older brother and cousins, I know that it would be an absolute waste of time to argue with you."
"So very, very true," Declan admitted shamelessly.
Ari breathed a secret sigh of relief. With his older brother at his side, nothing was getting to his mate.
Adriel placed a hand on Brie's shoulder. "It does not get any easier. Trust me, I have been trying to beat sense into Declan for centuries. It is a lost cause."
Brie just shook her head and checked her watch. "Okay, men, listen up."
The men huddled around Brie for orders.
"We'll be running this a bit differently than Aiden's mission in Virginia. We're hoping to catch actual perps on site and live hostages. Which means we'll have to be very precise when it comes to timing." She looked down at her watch again. "In four minutes, we'll be linking up with Gemini—the twins. They have hacked the building's security and cameras and will be guiding us in. Our goal is painfully simple. If the hostages are alive, they take priority." She leveled her eyes at the men. "Éire Danu needs this win. The queen needs this win, so we're going to do our best to give it to them. Second priority will be securing any hostiles alive. Let me repeat that, gentleman: the more we take alive, the more chances we have at getting the locations of more warehouses in time to save people."
"Yes, sir," the men said, followed by an awkward pause.
Brie grinned and waved off the gaff. "Sir is fine. Now, according to what Meryn showed us earlier, this building has one entrance in the front. It's double doors, no windows. The back has a single door, but a window to the side. Anyone have any ideas of how we can obscure it?"
Quinn raised his hand. "I'm an Earth witch. I can sling mud up on the lower panes."
Brie nodded and kept going. "From the second we hit the door, we have less than thirty seconds to secure the building. If we give them any more time, we could lose hostages or face hostiles and their reinforcements. We'll have to hit and hit hard." She held up a small tablet with a schematic. "Gamma, Phi, we'll give you a twenty count, can you secure the back?"
"Consider it done," Sascha promised, and Nerius bumped forearms with the tiger-shifter.
"Good. That means Tau, Eta you're with me. According to the map, the double doors lead into a very small front office with an interior door leading to the warehouse storage floor. Adriel, Gage, once those double doors are open, I'd like either of you to flank the entrance and watch our six." Adriel and Gage nodded. "Thane, I'm not sure what you're capable of, so please don't get mad if I ask a question that paints you in a childish or poor light. I'm not used to working with people that can use the elements."
Thane smiled. "Ask away, you won't upset me."
"Can you open locked doors?"
Thane blinked. "Easily."
"Good. You and Justice have the following three orders. Open the front and interior door. Locate and defend the hostages, and if possible, prevent the perps from escaping."
"Dibs on securing the perps," Justice said quickly with a wolfish expression.
Thane just nodded. "If I don't let you do real work every once in a while, you'll become useless like Kendrick."
"I'm gonna tell him you said that," Justice threatened.
"I'll embroider it on a throw pillow for him," Thane replied.
Brie shook her head at their bickering. "That means the rest of Tau and Eta will divide their efforts between hostages and perps. You all have been running missions for more years than I can even imagine; you're experienced enough to act accordingly." The men nodded.
Her watch pinged, and she tapped her comms piece. "Gemini, men are briefed, and we're ready to go in."
"We hear you loud and clear. Move out whenever you're ready. Over."
"Darian?"
Darian stepped forward and opened a portal. Unlike most that Ari had seen, this one did not glow in a golden light. In fact, he could barely see the shimmer of the air in the center of the portal at all. He looked over at them.
He looked around. "Seriously, guys? Did you think I was going to open a glowing