I’VE NEVER BEEN to this camp before which is both a blessing and a bit annoying. A blessing because there’s no hidden memories about to jump out and paralyze me and annoying because how many of these stupid things does the Resistance have hiding around the place? How many innocent Gifted have they kidnapped, brainwashed, tortured, and murdered?
How many little girls have been hurt and assaulted here?
“Don’t think about it; I don’t want your bond triggered right now. We’re going for stealth. We don’t need an outright massacre here just yet,” Gryphon murmurs, and I glance at him with a slow nod. He’s right, but it’s hard to shake those feelings. The ghosts walking around here with us are thick in the air, and the ominous feeling has my bond on high alert.
The camp either doesn’t have Gifted-sorting people, or there’s still so much chaos happening with the new arrivals that no one sounds the alarm that we’ve arrived. Gryphon uses mostly hand signals to move his teams through the small amount of swampy bush cover that’s here, and I just follow his instructions that he gives me directly through our Bond connection.
Just let the Teams do what they’re trained to do. We’re here as support, not to do the heavy lifting.
I glance at North and nod, tucking into Atlas’ side a little tighter to visibly show them all that I’m playing by the rules. Not because I’ve lost my spine or anything, I just don’t want them getting hurt from being distracted by me running off for no good reason.
I trust Gryphon and his team. I trust Kieran because he’s already proved himself to me, and I trust the rest of them because anyone trained and vetted by Gryphon is good enough for me.
He’s sort of a hard-ass, and no one could skate through under his watchful eye.
There’s a few minutes of quiet where only noises from the camp can be heard as we creep forward through the scrub as one, and then there’s an explosion on the other side of the camp as one of the tents goes up in a giant ball of flames.
My bond takes the helm immediately, my panic at the unexpected fire show kicking its protective measures into action. I’m still in there enough to know what’s going on and to argue with my bond if I need to, but it’s definitely in control. The shadows both come to heel at my feet, ready to protect me from anything that might come my way.
The Everlasting One notices straight away but stays close, dipping his head at me respectfully. He’s known about me for a long time, learned all of the ways to court a bond like me, and when I smile back at him, it’s all teeth.
“We should kill them all now. The only good Resistance soldier is a dead one.”
There’s movement around us as the operatives all move into the camp, gunfire and shouts ringing in the air, but the Everlasting One ignores it all. He inclines his head to me as though he agrees but says, “Mostly yes, but information is key right now. Someone here might know where Davies is, or what they’re planning next, and we want the man who dared to touch you gone.”
A carrot on a stick, effective because it’s true.
I want that man dead. I want to be fully Bonded and tear him apart slowly. I want to feed him piece by piece to the shadows at my feet.
A voice sounds in my ear through a small machine. “Bassinger, stop riling her up and keep clear of the rest of us until we’ve secured the area.”
I don’t like hearing them in my ear like that, but when I move to bat the earpiece out, the Everlasting One grabs my hand to stop me, gently moving me over to where there’s cover for us to watch the operatives work.
They’re efficient.
Outnumbered ten-to-one, they pick off the runners and what Transporters they can. I watch as they work and the Everlasting One takes out a gun of his own, checking the safety as he holds it at his side. He offers me one, but I shake my head. I’m a god, a gun means nothing to me.
We need to have a conversation about this ‘god’ stuff sometime soon, Bond.
I ignore my Bonded and watch as he directs his people into the camps to flush out more of the enemy soldiers. There are stragglers everywhere, a few of them making it to the scrub before the operatives take them out. I don’t think we’re expecting much from it but when the Everlasting One curses viciously, I look up to find a blonde woman staring back at him, shell shocked.
When her face finally twists into a snarl, the girl inside of me whispers that it is his sister.
She takes a step towards him and I move in front of him, raising my own arm, only to have him press up close to my back, murmuring to me, “Don’t kill her, Bond. We can take her in and deal with her however North decides, but just—”
His sister turns on her heel and runs, bullets hitting her body and bouncing off of her because her gift is the same as her brother’s.
The girl tries to take control again, to force me into submission, but I keep the helm. “Agreed. The shadows will take care of this for us.”
The Everlasting One looks over at me, but I snap my fingers until the shadow pup comes to my side. “I need her alive and as untouched as you can manage without being hurt yourself. Fetch her for me.”
The shadow blinks at me and I know that the Dark One is seeing through his eyes, that’s why he is pausing.
The girl inside speaks directly to him before I deal with it myself. Atlas didn’t attempt to hide her or talk her way out. He just asked to take her in instead of killing her, for now. I think we can give him that, right?
There’s a pause and then the shadow is off, moving faster than my eyes can properly track as he chases the enemy girl down. The Everlasting One takes a deep breath and watches but doesn’t attempt to interfere. I feel a deep need to destroy his family once again, to hunt them all down and feast on their souls until they are nothing but ash and dirt beneath our feet.
The Dark One speaks directly to us again. I’ll have August bring her to Kieran for an immediate jump. I don’t want her talking to Atlas and attempting to manipulate him. Let’s keep it as clean as we can for now, Bonded.
I look out at the carnage around us and say, “The Dark One is getting her out now, taking her back to be detained. She’s alive and will stay that way.”
The Everlasting One gives a curt shake of his head. “I don’t want to see her. I don’t want to see any of them. Let’s finish this and get the fuck out of this shithole.”
There’s another explosion of fire and he wraps his arms around me again, ready to cover my body with his own to protect the girl from the heat and damage. There’s a Flame there controlling the fire, making sure to only burn the enemy and their camp without taking out our own. My Shifter is in full wolf form and tearing through the camp, snapping and tearing men apart with nothing but his powerful jaws. Pride swells within me at the magnificent sight of him.
I want to be involved but I also want to watch them work, to know what my Bonds are capable of and to know that they’re worthy of the Bond Group they’re in. It’s good to see that they are.
Then I feel it.
One of my Bonds is hurt.
My eyes shift and it’s game over on the whole night, the mission, these men and women. My bond just wipes the entire camp clean of them all as I cast out my web to find which one of them has been hurt and where the fuck they are. Tearing their souls out is easier than breathing and there’s a satisfaction to the unanimous thump nose as they all fall to the dirt as one.
There’s shouts and chaos around me from the TacTeams but I ignore them, single-mindedly stalking through the mess.
Gabe, the girl whispers, and my heart skips a beat. I mean, rationally I know that it has to be the Shifter or the damaged Dark One. If it was one of my Bonded, I’d know exactly who it was and how they were hurt, and the Everlasting One is bullet-proof.
Where is he? What happened? I send out to both of my Bonded, but neither of them have an answer for me. He’s out there somewhere by himself.
My web finally finds him in one of the larger holding tents and I take off at a sprint in that direction. The bodies are thick here, most of them my kills, but there are a few with bullet holes and visible Gifted wounds. There’s a Flame doing some serious damage around here and I quietly admire his work even as I move towards my Bond.
I can appreciate these people feeling some pain before their inevitable deaths.
The girl doesn’t like me thinking like that, she doesn’t like what that means for her morality, but such pettiness belongs to me. What use are morals to a God of Death? Nothing. They are nothing to me or mine.
When I duck into the tent, there’s rows of cages filled with haggard and terrified-looking prisoners and a large pile of dead men in front of the Shifter. He’s been shot, a through-and-through wound on his arm that looks painful but not life-threatening. It still makes me furious to see him bleeding, and I stalk over to him with a scowl.
He looks very alarmed to see me, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead as he holds his good arm out as if to stop me. “I had two choices. I chose the one that had us all surviving. I’ll heal just fine, Bond. Calm—”
I roll my eyes at him as my gift bursts out of me and into him as I cut him off. “No. No more being hurt. Not for anyone, do you understand? I will not tolerate it.”
He stares at me, looking into the depths of my eyes before he nods slowly, pressing the fingers at the end of his freshly healed arm to the comms earpiece and muttering, “Oli is in full bond mode, are you all aware of this?”
I hear it in my own earpiece, and then the damaged Dark One says in a drawl, “The piles of dead bodies everywhere did give that away, yes.”
My dark Bonded says, “Just keep her with you and don’t let her near the abducted Gifted. I’m not sure what she’ll read off them, and I don’t want her killing anyone who might be useful.”
The Shifter watches me and when I cock my head at him, he mutters, “That’s easier said than done. She is listening to us right now.”
The damaged Dark One says, “Figure it out.”
Then the Everlasting One says, “I’m coming to you both. I’ll help get her out of there.”
The Shifter stumbles on one of the bodies and mutters, “How many of them have you taken out? Jesus.”
The Everlasting One scowls at him and moves as though he’s going to strike the Shifter, then glances at me and changes his mind. “Don’t talk like that. Her bond might be at the helm but Oli is still in there, and she doesn’t need to hear you making fucking comments.”
I ignore them both but the girl has a lot of feelings about the conversation. Feelings mean nothing to me.
We arrive at the clearing and find that the men and women wearing black and vests with lots of weapons are standing around taking stock of the damage here.
It’s mostly my work.
The Shifter and the Everlasting One direct me over to a group and begin talking to some of the men, all of whom are watching me from the corners of their eyes like they think I’ll be taking them out next.
What fun that would be, but not right now.
As my bond finally leaves me with that last little delightful thought, slipping back into the inner recesses of my mind, I shake out my limbs until I feel more like myself again. There’s some pain in my legs that I’ll need to stretch out later but, otherwise, I’m okay.
We got through that experience okay.
“If you’re about to lie down and take a nap, lemme know. I’ll call Shore to come carry you around again,” Kieran snarks at me and I shoot him a look, rolling my eyes.
“Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine. Look at us getting a camp cleaned out without having our asses handed to us first! Not a broken bone in sight. I’m proud of you, Black!”
The guys around him all snicker under their breaths, but they shut up quickly when he turns to give them all a death glare. They might not revere him the way they do my Bonded, but he’s clearly still respected.
I can see why.
Atlas moves to stand a little closer to me as we wait everyone else out. I can see every last one of my Bonds, except North. I’m not worried, because I’d know if there was something wrong with him, but it still makes my skin itch a little.
Where are you?
He’s quick to answer. In the holding tents. Are you back now, or is this just another small moment of clarity?
I roll my shoulders back and glance around. The holding tents are close, and I tell Atlas where I’m heading. He turns to watch me but stays behind easily enough, trusting me.
I duck into the space and find that while the cages have been opened, most of the healing and assessment is still happening inside them. Some of the Gifted who have been here for a long time are so frail that they’ll need to be carried out, and some look too sick to be moved. My chest tightens at the sight of them. I walk over to where North is watching them all, his face giving away the sheer amount of disgust and loathing he has for the men and women responsible for this.
I clear my throat and murmur, “I’m back. Properly, I mean. Sorry for going off script.”
He nods. “It was for the best. They had a lot more on their side than we originally accounted for. They always do, no matter how much extra we throw in.”
That does seem to be one of the Resistance’s many advantages. Because of their unscrupulous ways, they’ll just kidnap and brainwash a whole new set of soldiers that they’re willing to sacrifice to get through to us.
Silence falls between us as we watch one of the women in the cage break down and start screaming at the operatives who approach her. She’s terrified, clawing at her own skin like she’s trying to dig something out that we can’t see. When the operatives switch so that it’s a woman approaching her, she breaks down, sobbing uncontrollably in a heap.
I want to cry with her.
It takes me two attempts to get my voice to work. “What happens to them?”
North grimaces. “You don’t really want the answer to that, Oleander. Those who can be taken home, are. Hold onto that instead of the alternative. It’s what I do.”
Looking at the crowd… I’m not sure any of them can really go home.
“Who does it? Who has to put them down if they can’t be saved?”
His eyes narrow at me. “No. Don’t ask, and don’t think like that. That’s not what your gift is going to be used for.”
“I’m already a monster, North. What’s a few more souls when I’ve already taken thousands? Yep, there it is. It’s in the thousands, thanks to my time in one of these camps. What does it matter?”
He tears the helmet off and shoves the gaiter down the column of his neck so that I can clearly see the blinding rage written all over his entire face, but he speaks quietly so that no one further inside the tent can hear us. “It matters because your voice is shaking, Oleander. Don’t you hear it? It matters because you’re writhing with guilt over it all.”
I shake my head at him but he gets a hand up to grab my chin and stops me, leaning in close and snarling, “It matters because you’re mine, and I’d never let you do it. Killing to protect yourself? Fine. Killing to wipe out the enemy who hurt you? Great, do it. Them? Never. Not you, not ever.”
I want to scream at him, argue with him, because why shouldn’t it be me? Why should I get to live untouched by all of this ugliness just because I have them as my Bonds, but he gets a hold of my arm and drags me back out of the tent and into the clearing where everyone else is waiting for us to get back home.
Kieran waits for a second and when my eyes stay their usual color, he holds out his arm for us all to grab.
When we pop back into existence again, my stomach roils rebelliously and I clap a hand over my mouth. Gryphon shoves Atlas out of the way just a little more forcefully than he probably had to as he reaches out to get a hand on my neck, the heat searing me as he manipulates my nervous system and stops me from puking everywhere.
The sweats and shaking stop immediately, and I almost profess my undying love to him out loud in front of all of his friends and subordinates.
Like I’d care if they heard, Bonded.
My cheeks heat and I knock his hand away from my skin as I duck my head. I listen to him chuckle at me and he pulls me in close to his chest for a quick hug before he’s off barking orders at people again.
Atlas reaches out to give my hand a squeeze before he follows North out of the room. I assume he’s going back to his solitary confinement because he’s doing it without question.
I hate it, but I’m not going to call North out about it right now in front of all of these people.
I take a breath and let my shoulders slump down a little, checking in with my bond and my body, but I don’t feel the usual impending three day nap coming. I’m tired, but only the same amount as if Gryphon had run me into the ground in the gym, so a good night’s rest should cover me. When I open my eyes, my surroundings finally filter into me and my brows drop down. “Where are we? This isn’t the mansion. North said to take us home.”
Kieran gives me a lopsided grin and holds his arms out. “This is home now, Fallows. The raid got us here quicker than was planned, but the Sanctuary is home now.”
I glance up at Gabe and he slings his arm around my shoulders to direct me over to the large set of doors, opening them and directing me out to look out over… the Sanctuary.
It’s a whole-ass city.
Okay, it’s more of a town or a village really, but there’s dozens of houses and buildings here and people everywhere. The sun is barely setting, so I’m guessing we’re back in the States, but there’s mountains on every side of the clearing and a slight disturbance in the air around us that says we have Shields working overtime to keep this place off of the maps.
I stare around it all in wonder.
“What the hell is this place?”
Gabe kisses the side of my head and murmurs, “William and Nolan Draven started building it forty years ago. When North was old enough to take the seat on the Council, he started helping with it too. It’s been the Draven family’s mission for a lifetime. It wasn’t due to be ready for another decade or so, but when North found out about you, he moved the deadlines up. He’s poured literally hundreds of millions of dollars into it since he took over the build. He’s been recruiting to get the best and strongest Gifted here, all of them vetted by Gryphon so we know that you’ll be safe here. Except North refused to leave behind the Gifted communities who couldn’t get out by themselves so that’s why it’s this… big. He brought everyone who would come and could pass the testing. The Resistance will never find us here. North has made sure of it.”
I stare around at the people, the children, around us in wonder. They’re all looking a little shell-shocked but moving their personal items into the houses and smiling at each other happily enough.
“How do you move that many people at once without leaving a trace?”
I feel a Bond walk up behind us and then Atlas says, “Transporters. A lot of fucking Transporters. This is the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen.”
I spin around to face him. “I thought you were going back to your very comfortable and humane prison cell?”
He smiles at me but it’s not his usual warm and open grin, the day has clearly worn him down. “I went with North to see about the actual cells here and make sure they’d be able to contain my sister. I’m back to being free. North believes that I want you more than I’ve ever given a shit about the family business.”
He spits out the last few words like they’re poison on his tongue, and I pull fully away from Gabe to go to him. It’s hard to see him like this, hard to think about everything he’s going through while he faces that his family aren’t just the enemy, but they’re his enemies as well.
They’d all kill us in a heartbeat to further their campaign, everyone except his mom.
And Lord knows what she’s going to do now that Atlas has disappeared on her entirely.
Atlas tucks his face into my neck and breathes me in a little shakily, and I try to be strong for him. I try to be everything that he was for me when I first got here and I didn’t know who I could trust. I know I’m falling short, but I try.
