Chapter 42

Plan

"So, tell me, Ryn," Eli said, gazing out the window of his office, his back to her. "Do you trust her?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" The pink-eyed girl was confused.

"Your little friend. Jade. Do you trust her?"

"Well," she thought about what to say next. "Yeah, I mean, she was in the Tribe for several years and was one of the best—"

"That's not what I asked you."

Eli turned her way, reading Ryn's face. He knew she wanted to trust her old acquaintance, but he wanted her to put business before friendship. He walked toward the brown-haired woman before him. He blatantly admired her rack, wanting her to notice he was checking her out.

"Really think about it, Ryn," he said, resting on the table in front of her, his arms crossed. "I don't want your newfound feelings for this… stranger… to get in the way of your work."

Ryn stared at the man in front of her. She took in the slightly disheveled look of his dark brown hair, maybe a shade darker than hers. Her eyes wandered his muscular arms that were unfortunately covered by his Tribe jacket, but she could still see the definition. She looked at his stance and the way he presented himself, like a leader. He had power, and she loved it.

He cleared his throat, the noise slicing through the sexual tension like a butter knife. Her eyes snapped up to his silver eyes, almost getting lost in them.

"Um…" she started, trying to regain her composure.

"I mean, think about it," Eli stood straight up and stood directly in front of Ryn, leaving maybe a foot of space between them. He smirked as she took a step back.

"She leaves without a word, and then reappears after eight years, claiming to know the Redfox family. Who knows? She could be on their side, working against us."

"I suppose so," the pink-eyed woman said, averting her gaze.

"Give her a few meaningless things to do," he said, finally walking back to the window, granting her time to take a breath. "I wanted to discuss our next course of action," he paused. "Privately, of course."

Her breath hitched at his last few words. She knew he didn't mean anything by it, but she also knew he knew exactly what to say to make her crazy.

"Alright, I'll go find something for her to do now," Ryn said, ready to leave the room that suddenly became hot.

"Come back when you're done."

"Yes, sir."

Ryn exited the room and quickly shut the door behind her. 'Holy. Crap.' She thought to herself as she leaned on the door. They've had the hots for each other for years now, but Eli refuses to mix business and pleasure, so, unfortunately, she could only play his little game where he says something to get her all hot and bothered. He loved watching her squirm internally. No one knew that the two were pining after each other, so their meetings were a bit intense with them only exchanging words. 'One day.'

It was a normally rowdy day at the guild, Levy walked off somewhere with Lucy, Gajeel went on harassing Natsu and starting their usual brawl, and Zeke and Nashi were following in their fathers' footsteps, causing a ruckus.

"Ugh, she's been driving me up the wall," Lucy complained to her blue-haired friend. "She's just like her dad. Fiery and careless!"

"Come on," Levy said, grabbing her blonde friend's wrist and pulling her toward the door.

"Where are we going?"

"You could use a break, and so could I!"

Lucy giggled as she was dragged off by her best friend, whizzing by a fighting Natsu and Gajeel.

"Oi!" Levy heard Gajeel call mid-battle. "Where ya off to?"

"I'll be back! Don't wait up!" Levy barely stopped moving.

Lucy looked at Natsu and saw the slight confusion on his face, it disappearing when Gajeel punched him square in the jaw.

"I'm all fired up, now!" He exclaimed, aggressive flames shooting from his mouth.

"Oh lord," Lucy muttered, still being pulled away by Levy.

After a few minutes, the two mages were situated in the women's sauna.

"You were right," Lucy said, the steam clearing her head. "I really needed this."

"Yeah, dealing with two dragons can get a bit tiresome," The script mage said, feeling a bit spent.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Nashi with all my heart, but she's a wild one! I thought Natsu was bad!"

"At least she gets to expend some energy with Zeke. Hopefully, by the time we get back, they'll be ready for bed," Levy said.

"If Natsu doesn't rile her up again like he does every night!" Lucy sighed, the events of her life swirling around in her head. "I would do it again, though."

Levy thought about it. She loved Gajeel and Zeke, but she was content with just one kid at the moment. She'd been taking a monthly birth control potion that Porlyusica had started giving her after she had Zeke. 'Oh, that reminds me…'

"Remind me to take my potion when we get out of here," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Aww, you don't want another one?" Lucy giggled.

"We haven't really talked about having another kid, and besides," the shorter woman said, running her hands through her moist hair. "I'm fine with one right now."

"Worried about having another mini Gajeel?"

"Ha! That's the last thing I need; a third one," the girls laughed together.

After maybe ten minutes or so, Lucy was ready to get out of there.

"Levy, you ready?" She asked, taking in her friend's out-of-it look. "Lev, you ok?"

"I'm… fine," she said as she stood up, her eyes glazed and a blank look on her face. She suddenly felt very weak. "I just… ju…"

"LEVY!" Lucy shouted as her friend suddenly collapsed, scrambling to her side to get her out of there.

"Ah, Jade!" Ryn said, bumping into Jade in the corridor. "Just who I wanted to see."

"Hello, Ryn."

"So, listen," the bubbly girl draped an arm around Jade's shoulder and continued walking with her. "I've got a new task for you."

'What's next on their ridiculous agenda?' The cursed girl thought to herself.

"I want you to go and gather information on Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia. Rumor has it, they also have a little dragon slayer baby."

'Nothing good can come from this…' That was seemingly becoming her new motto. She nodded, confirming her next mission.

"They're in the same guild as the Redfoxes. Take a few days. Come back let's say…." Ryn held a finger to her chin as she thought. "Next Monday."

"And that's all you want me to do?" Jade asked.

"Yep! For now, until Eli gives us our next orders."

"And Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia's possible child has what to do with Zeke Redfox exactly?" Jade knew those names. Natsu was the strongest mage in Fairy Tail, and the Tribe had to be absolutely screwed in the heads to think coming after anyone in that guild would end pleasantly.

"Now, Jade," Ryn stopped walking and looked at her associate. "Don't ask questions. He has his reasoning for everything. Just trust that everything will fall into place."

"Sure. I suppose I'll get started on that now," Jade said, ready to end the conversation. Something wasn't quite right with all of this, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. With all these decisions these people were making, they were just signing their death warrant if you asked her, but she wasn't there to judge.

Ryn watched as Jade left the building and rounded the corner.

"Shall we discuss things?" A deep voice said from behind her, startling the young woman.

"Eli—I-I mean… sir!" She turned around as she held a hand to her chest, her heart racing.

"Meet me in my office," he smirked, turning on his feet and walking away.

"Can't we just talk here?" Ryn called after him, attempting to avoid dousing her panties for the second time that day.

He stopped and turned around, still smirking as he looked her up and down, sending chills up her spine. "I'd prefer to discuss our game plan privately, and once we've worked out the kinks, we can discuss it out here, with the others," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and turning back around.

"S-sure." She followed him reluctantly to his office.

"Close the door," he motioned toward his huge wooden door as they entered.

He sat in the huge chair at his desk and stared at her with a grin on his face as she sat down on the other side. He wanted to get a rise out of her and so far, it looked like it was working.

Ryn almost couldn't take it. She loved his wide smile and those pearly whites. She just wanted to sit on his face. 'Come on, Ryn! Get it together! As much as you want him to bend you over this desk and fuck you senseless, he's never going to!'

"I have a plan," he said, his grin turning devious.

"Finally! The next step!" Ryn was genuinely excited to hear his plan. The two had spent years planning and waiting while sending the underlings on grueling hunts to raise their ranks.

"I want to attack within the next few days."

"What were you thinking?" She asked, curious.

"Fire." He smiled devilishly, his plan coming together in his head beautifully.

"Wow. Go big or go home, huh?"

"You know it, sweet stuff." He winked at her.

"W-well, you know that'll get their attention immediately, right?" She stuttered, trying to hide her blush.

"That's the plan."

"That gives us four days. I told Jade to come back on Monday with info, so let's be sure to do it before then."

"Done. By the way, what did you tell her to do?"

"I told her to get info on Natsu Dragneel and his mate."

"Ah, I see. Having her be useless without her actually being useless…" His eyes met her pink ones. "Smart."

"Well, when you've worked with the smartest for five years…." She trailed off, a slight smile playing on her lips.

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity with lust in their eyes, their bodies just screaming 'fuck me!' at each other. The busty, pink-eyed woman unknowingly started chewing on her bottom lip.

"Business…. before pleasure, Ryn," he said, a cocky smirk on his face as she turned cherry red.

Eli wanted to do so many dirty things to the woman in front of him, but success was always first in his book. He thought about bringing her to the top with him, but that meant he'd have to share his wealth, and he was a very selfish person. He also thought about a fling or a one-night stand, but she was his subordinate and he wasn't sure she'd stay cordial afterward. Although, it'd be a lie if he said it was easy keeping it in his pants. So badly, he wanted to fuck her face and bend her over his desk, to make her scream his name, but he was so close to his goal, he couldn't afford any distractions, no matter how sexy.

Jade did a lot of thinking during her trek through the woods. 'Why are they attempting this madness?' She thought. They couldn't be that dumb. They've been doing research on them for almost three years so they should know what to expect. Now they're trying to rope another dragon slayer into the mix. She shook her head at the thought. Going after the child of a dragon slayer was an immediate death sentence, but going after two? 'Good grief.'

She also thought it was a bit weird that they were having her go off and get information that they could easily obtain, especially when they were so close to their goal. Why would they tell her to research something else…? Unless they were trying to distract her.

The more Jade walked, the more she thought and pieced things together. She was beginning to think Ryn and Eli were in cahoots together. She thought back to what the girl said the other day. 'Everyone has their demons. I've done some stuff I'm not proud of.' If that's the case, then they most likely didn't trust her either. Makes sense. Some stranger coming back into the Tribe claiming to know the target family personally would raise some red flags in her book too.

Eli had to be the brains behind it all, though, Jade thought. She felt Ryn trusted her or at least wanted to trust her, that's why she gave her the confidential file to look over. If she didn't trust her, she wouldn't have shown her that information, right? He must have told her to be wary. 'Smart move.'

Now, the question Jade had to answer, what does she do next? She wasn't sure if she should go and gather information as requested, especially since she felt like they were trying to distract her. What were their plans, and when were they going to be initiated? Should she keep an eye on Levy, Zeke, and (unfortunately) Gajeel too, or should she keep an eye on the Tribe?