I WAKE up surrounded by delicious Bond scents, my nose buried in warm skin and with arms tight around me. I’m naked from the waist up, and so is North where we’re pressed tightly together, though there’s something thrown over my shoulders to cover me up, and my legs are wrapped around his waist.
When I sigh, totally content with how I’ve found myself because my brain isn’t processing at all the ‘what the fuck’ of this moment, his arms tighten around me and he turns his head into mine a little more to murmur into my ear, “Ten more minutes, Bond. Then I’ll get you to a bed.”
Goosebumps explode over my skin and I shiver, my nipples tightening until they’re pebbled where they’re pressed into his chest, and his hand drops back down to grip my thigh, pulling me in closer to his body. My bond purrs in my chest, humming with pleasure at having him desperate to keep me close, because there’s no other way to describe the grip of his hand.
There’s voices around us, some I don’t recognize, but I let my face stay buried in his neck as I ignore it all. I’m sure if there were danger, he would have shared that information with me already, and I doubt he’d have me half naked if there were.
The longer we sit there together, the more my brain begins to work and information filters in. This man doesn’t trust me, sitting here on top of him is going to cost me big time the moment I get up, and I’m going to have to move soon because nature calls.
There’s also a lot of talk happening about whether or not the Resistance is going to retaliate against us in the next seventy-two hours that has me tensing and an icy bead of sweat rolling down my spine.
What if I’ve led them here, to my Bonds and my friends, and we’re about to be wiped out?
My panic must be obvious because the chatter stops around me and then there’s movement. I turn my head just as Gryphon reaches us, bending until he’s at eye level with me, his gaze sharp on my face as he assesses me. “What’s wrong, what do you need? Anything, Bonded.”
I can’t say it out loud. I can’t admit what it is that’s tearing me in half right now, so I take the coward’s way out and send the words directly to him as I squeeze my eyes shut. I don’t want to leave him, but I need the bathroom. I don’t want to lose this.
There’s a moment of quiet and then I hear rustling, the tight arms around me gently falling away. I have to swallow the whimper that creeps up my throat, and I keep my eyes shut until Gryphon’s hands tug me away from the warmth and security I’m clinging to.
The air in the room is cold against my exposed skin, and he’s quick to get a sweater over my head that smells like Nox. I take a deep lungful of that scent and finally open my eyes, just in time to see the furious look on North’s face as Gryphon slides my arms into the sweater. His body acts as a shield from the rest of the room so that no one can see me. This time I’m choking down tears at the next round of rejection I’m going to face from my Bond.
Don’t think like that. He’s pissed that Hannity and Rockelle are insisting on the debrief happening now so that he can’t just tend to you like he wants to. No one is rejecting you, Bonded. Not now, not ever.
I don’t even argue with Gryphon for reading my mind. I can’t let myself believe what he’s saying. I can’t afford to open myself up to that kind of pain, but then North’s eyes flick back down to mine and I watch them soften.
Soften.
He leans forward until my breath catches in my throat. It feels like he’s about to kiss me, right here for the first time, in front of God knows who, and my cheeks heat, but instead he murmurs to me quietly, “Go with Gryphon. I’ll get this wrapped up as soon as I can.”
His hands hold onto my hips as I stand, keeping me steady until I’m sure my legs won’t give out, and the second I wince at my first step, Gryphon wraps an arm around my waist. I allow myself one last glance at North’s face before we leave him behind, and if I thought his hands felt desperate on me earlier, they had nothing on the dark possession in his eyes now.
He’s staring at me like I’m prey.
I glance quickly away and let Gryphon lead me out of the room slowly. I keep my eyes on the ground so that no one can see the shock I’m experiencing. When I curse at the pain in my freshly healed thigh, Gryphon murmurs, “Felix said you need to stretch the muscles out, otherwise I’d just carry you. He’s told me not to take the pain away so that he can check up on it again and get more accurate in the healing, but if it’s too bad, I’ll just carry you. Fuck what he says.”
I shake my head and grit my teeth. “He’s a Healer, we should do what he says. It’s not so bad, more of an old ache than pain anyway. Please tell me there’s a toilet nearby though, because it’s about to get awkward as hell if we have to make it back to my room.”
He shakes his head at my stupid attempts at humor, walking me over to a bathroom only two doors down, and then I spend way too long convincing him to leave me alone to pee. He tries to talk me into letting him stay in there with his back to me, but there’s no freaking way I could pee like that. No way, and he’s crazy for even suggesting it.
Brutus pops out from behind my ear and jumps down onto the tiles in front of my feet. Tears fill my eyes because I’m tired, emotional, and so fucking relieved to have him back. Seriously, the few hours we’d been apart were too much for me now, and it occurs to me that Nox now holds a massive trump card over me.
If he takes this puppy away from me, I will break in half.
The moment Gryphon hears the toilet flush, he’s rushing back into the room, his eyes raking over me like he’s checking for any damage I might have taken while sitting on the goddamned toilet, and I huff at him.
“Stop being ridiculous. I’m healed up and perfectly safe here. I have Brutus with me and, I’m not sure if you know, but my gift is to literally rip people’s souls out, killing them instantly. I think I can handle a toilet break without you having a complete meltdown over it.”
His eyes narrow at me but I turn my back on him as I wash up. Brutus curls around my ankles and supports me like he knows that the ache in my thigh is now more of a burning sensation that has my knee buckling a little.
“At least I know you’ve woken up as yourself again, no mistaking that sass.”
I turn to grab a hand towel and flash him a grin. “You missed it though, right? You hate to admit it, but you missed my smart mouth.”
He steps forward and grabs my wrist, pulling me into his arms and ignoring Brutus snapping his jaws in irritation. “I’ll admit to every part of what I’m feeling. You left here again, but this time it was worse because you weren’t just the idea of a Bond to me anymore. You’re you. You’re mine, and you walked away from us again.”
I snap, “I went after your—”
“I know. You went after my sister for me, and I can both love you for it and be fucking furious at you for doing it. I’m never leaving you behind again. I’m never trusting anyone, not even our own Bond Group, to watch you ever again.”
I’m just going to skip over the usage of the L word, because I’m sure it’s just a little slip up, so instead I nod to him. “I like that plan. The feeling of you leaving was… let’s not do it again. There’s no real reason we can’t just stay here together from now on, right?”
His eyes narrow like he doesn’t trust what I’m saying, which is ridiculous because he can literally sense my lies and I’ve never been so honest with him in all of the months we’ve known each other. But after a minute, he gets over whatever it is that’s bothering him and pulls me back into his arms to get out of the bathroom and back into… whatever the hell the room we just left is called.
Hell, maybe?
Purgatory, or maybe even Limbo because I’m stuck there not knowing what the ever-loving-fuck is going on with North Draven and the soft eyes he just gave me.
Soft.
I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t been inches away from them and staring up at him like he was the goddamn sun. Hope that maybe he believes me now blooms like a weed inside of me, impossible to kill off, even though it could choke the life out of me if it turns out to not be the case.
I need to stop myself from thinking about it.
Embarrassingly, as we step into the hallway, we bump into none other but Kieran and Kyrie, my Bonded’s sister.
Kyrie smirks at us both wobbling along together, or maybe the fact we just walked out of a bathroom together, which is a little bit cringe-worthy.
When Gryphon just stares at them both, a slow grin stretching across his face at the sight of his very alive and unharmed sister, she huffs at him and snaps, “Let your Bonded go so I can hug you. It’s also creepy seeing you smile like that, tone it down a little.”
Gryphon helps me brace myself against the wall and then tugs her into his arms, squeezing his eyes shut as he sighs a little in relief. “How about you never let yourself be taken again so my goddamned Bonded doesn’t go charging after you? Such a pain in my ass, Ky.”
She makes a watery sound and then shoves at him. “I didn’t ask her to! Although, she’s handy to have around. You should hear how they all talk about her, like she’s the harbinger of death or something. It was freaking weird… until I saw people dropping dead everywhere. It made a little more sense then.”
Gryphon makes a dismissive noise under his breath and snaps, “They deserved a much slower death after everything they did, but at least, for once, there were no survivors.”
Kieran makes an equally pissed off sound, butting into their little tirade, and says, “Yeah, except that the asshole who is responsible for all of this got away. He’s still out there and still obsessed with your little murderous Bonded, Shore.”
Then the three of them turn to look at me, where I’m slowly shuffling down the hall away from this conversation, and I grimace. “Listen, I wasn’t going to be able to kill that man anyway, so it was leave him alive or die trying, and I know that I, for one, am happy with how it turned out.”
Kyrie steps over to me and is a little bit faltering and cautious as she gives me a hug, but it’s clear she’s more worried about hurting me than touching a Soul Render. “Thank you. The little beast at your feet saved me instead of stopping you from being carved open, and I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”
I have no idea what to do with someone’s thanks.
Awkward.
So I deflect like a pro instead. “I knew I was safe from certain things in those camps that you weren’t, it wasn’t a hard choice to make. Besides, who hasn’t been sliced and diced a little in their spare time?”
None of them so much as crack a smile at my lame attempt at a joke, but it seems they’re all falling flat today. I glance at Gryphon and say, “Not to be a pain in the ass, but I need to sit down.”
He’s immediately hauling me up into his arms, and when I try to protest, he snaps, “You’ve been walking for long enough. Davenport can come at me over it; I’ll deal with it.”
Kyrie starts cackling behind us, but Gryphon ignores her, stalking back into the room that I now see is North’s office. I slide out of Gryphon’s arms as we step through the door, not wanting to be inappropriate around people I don’t know, even though Gryphon mutters a protest about it.
North is still sitting where we left him, his dress shirt only half buttoned, with a thunderous look on his face as he faces two older men that I vaguely recognize from that cursed dinner we’d attended a lifetime ago.
The moment we step into the room, one of them glances back at me and says, “Well, she’s here now—”
North cuts him off with acid dripping from his words, “Attempt to address my Bond right now, Hannity, and I’ll not be held responsible for what happens.”
I freeze, but Gryphon just slides in front of me, his arm tucking behind his back to hold me close to his body but clearly shielding me from sight of anyone in the room who might want something from me.
Hannity clears his throat and then chooses his words carefully. “I’m just trying to say that only one person knows exactly what happened. If we could hear it directly from your Bond—”
“No. You will hear nothing from her, and neither will any of the rest of the council. You’re sitting here because Gryphon has vetted you. If that status changes, if he finds even the slightest whiff of deception from any of you, you’ll be dealt with.”
“And how are you planning on achieving that, North? You’re strong, but you’re not a god.”
I should just let it go, but them questioning him like that? My bond isn’t happy about it. Gryphon’s arms tighten around me as he feels my bond take over and my eyes shift. I lean in his arms just enough that Hannity and Rockelle can get a look at me and say, “Me. He won’t get the chance to set August and his creatures on you, because I’ll have you dead on the ground before they get the chance.”
I watch as two fully grown, Top Tier, Gifted men gulp at the sight of my void-like eyes. The look of exaltation in North’s eyes only draws me into him even more.
It feels too damn good; my bond preens in my chest.
The moment Hannity and Rockelle finally give up on their questioning of North and leave us behind, he grabs his phone and demands that Felix comes to have another look at me. I want to protest, but I’m now sweating over the very sharp pains in my thigh and there’s no hiding that from either of my Bonds. Gryphon directs me into a seat while we wait for my only trusted Healer friend.
Felix arrives in under a minute, looking harried and completely fried, but gets straight into healing me. When our eyes meet, there’s a very clear look of relief in him that has me cringing.
“You met my bond, huh?”
He huffs out a laugh as he presses a palm to my bare ankle and his gift floods me. “Sure did. Wouldn’t have thought something that terrifying lived inside of you.”
I roll my eyes back at him as the door opens again and the room becomes very crowded with my Bonds, our friends, and some more people I don’t know. “I tried to warn you all, but no one believed me. It’s a cantankerous bitch at the best of times.”
Gabe comes straight over to me and cups my cheek, ignoring Felix’s disapproving protests, and he kisses me softly. “Thank fuck you’re awake.”
I swipe my tongue over my bottom lip, chasing the taste of him absentmindedly. “I didn’t really… sleep the way I need to. I give it maybe another hour or two, and I’ll be out for a few days. I did sleep the first three days at the camp away as well, that helped get me through the boredom.”
He nods and then steps away to get out of Felix’s way as he finishes up on whatever repairs my thigh needs. Sawyer has an arm over Sage’s shoulders, and I can see the effort it’s taking him to keep her away from me. I give her a smile anyway, knowing I’ll be throwing myself at her for that hug the second I can.
She looks freaking exhausted.
Kieran scoffs at me and takes the seat next to me, waiting his turn to be looked over by Felix, and snaps, “You slept most of the time away. Slept like a fucking baby, even strapped to a chair.”
“Are you still complaining about that? At least you could lie down and I got you decent food, you could say thank you, you know.”
He stares at me for a second and then says sullenly, “The chicken was shit.”
I laugh back at him. “The chicken is always shit. The slops are worse though, so, again, you’re welcome.”
Felix finally removes his hand from me and when he shuffles over to Kieran, there’s a wobble in his gift that wasn’t there before, and he’s clearly nearing the end of his power source for the day.
Sage senses it too, of course, they’re Bonded after all. She eyes him, her brows drawn together in a frown, and then I watch as her bond bursts out of her and into him in a wave. He grunts a little and rocks back on his heels, but the lines of tension melt away almost instantly.
“Shit, sorry! I’m still figuring out how to do that!” Sage stutters, and Felix steps back over to reassure her, but my attention is drawn elsewhere.
Mainly over to where Kieran is staring at Sage with something close to… wonder.
What the fuck is that?!
He notices the daggers I’m staring into the side of his head. When his eyes swing in my direction, my own eyes drop down to his leg, where his Tac gear is still cut up. Where the long gash that had only been partially healed in a rush job before they came for me should be, there’s now nothing but freshly healed skin.
My jaw almost hits the goddamn ground, but then Kieran glares at me savagely and my brain kicks back in. Of course it isn’t my place to freak the fuck out about this, in a crowded room full of people we definitely don’t trust, because there are TacTeam people here, waiting on orders from North, and some other men in suits.
North’s assistant, who I hadn’t noticed had arrived and who is hovering in the corner, is watching him obsessively, and nothing about my time away has lessened my urge to gouge her eyeballs out.
I’ve just been pulled off of him while I needed him, to pee and be healed, but having this bitch staring him down is unacceptable to me.
“Pen, you should head home now that we have this all under control,” Gryphon says as he pulls me back out of the seat and plants himself in front of me, his arms crossed over his chest and his tone very firm. He’s a lot less friendly with her, a very welcome change, and my bond settles a little in my chest at his loyalty.
Gabe steps in, flanking me as though he’s prepared for this to all go very badly, but I like having him close to me again.
She makes a disgruntled noise, like she’s pissed at him, but then North cuts her off with a no-bullshit sort of tone, “Go home, and don’t come in tomorrow either. I’ll arrange a time for us to meet at the council offices. The manor is going down to minimal contact, and you’re not on the security list.”
Oh.
Oh, I like that a lot.
I try to keep the smug look off of my face at his words, but Gabe snorts at me and shakes his head, so I’m obviously failing. Well, who cares really, because she was more than okay with walking into his room with me in his bed. With a key. Picking out his clothes.
His underwear.
“Take a deep breath. Another one, Bonded,” Gryphon murmurs, his head turned slightly my way but his body is still between me and the room. I’m now not entirely sure if he’s doing it for my protection or theirs.
I should do the right thing and get the fuck out of here.
I fumble around until I get a hold of Gabe’s hand, sidestepping until I’m tucked into his body. He accepts me without question or hesitation, turning towards me and wrapping his free arm around me protectively.
When I rise up onto my tiptoes, he bends down to meet me halfway, tilting his head so I can whisper into his ear, “Take me somewhere, please. Somewhere on this level where we can be alone but still close. I can’t… I can’t handle—”
He looks at me like he’s expecting me to burst into tears, with a vague sort of panic, and then he murmurs in a placating tone, “Okay, I can do that. C’mon, Bond. I know where to go.”
He leads me down a hallway I’ve never seen before—the place is ridiculous—and then we duck into a small alcove that is carved out of one of the walls. There’s a large potted plant in the entrance that partially covers the loveseat built into the wall, and there’s a small bookcase with old tomes on it.
The Dravens really love their books.
Gabe tugs me over to the loveseat, which is the size of a double bed really, and covered in European cushions, and when he sits on it, I glance around the space a little more. It’s too open, more open than what I was hoping for, and my bond starts getting pissy in my chest all over again.
I make an unhappy sound in the back of my throat, and Gabe grins lazily at me, even if it feels a little forced, and says, “There’s not a lot of options here, Bond. I’m working with what we have.”
When my eyes flash back to black, the grins falters and he gulps, but I move to tug his shirt back over his head and shove him down on the chair. I want to strip and press our bodies together. Hell, what I really want to do is fuck him against the wall until his scent is all over me and his cum drips down my legs in the most brutal and obvious branding, but my senses are still too aware of all of the extra bodies in the house and the giant opening to this little alcove he’s brought me to.
I don’t want anyone to see what’s mine.
So instead, I curl up on his chest, pressing my ear against the steady beat of his heart, and burrow into his warmth. He moves slowly to wrap his arms around me and hold me, as though he’s worried he’ll trigger some animalistic response from me that loses him a limb. My bond enjoys that sort of respect from him.
The fact that he’s so sure of how dangerous I really am is comforting somehow.
I huff, frustrated at the layers still between us, and lean back to pull the sweater off of myself. Gabe swallows roughly, color bright and high on his cheeks as he sees me bare to the waist, but he doesn’t attempt to stop me. When I press myself in tight against him again, he grabs the sweater and covers my back up. Another point in his favor. My bond likes him coveting me just as hard as I covet him.
“Can you change back? If I promise not to move away or cover either of us up? Gryph’s going to kill me if he sees you like this again,” Gabe mutters, and I wrestle my bond back into the background of my mind again.
He takes a deep breath when he feels my bond ease away, his hand rubbing down my spine in one long stroke that almost has me melting all over him. Weeks of sitting in a Resistance camp has every inch of my body tense and sore.
“Ugh, I probably smell. How can you stand me being this close to you right now?” I mumble, and he shrugs.
“Maybe if I shifted you’d be bad, but the need to have you here is greater than your stink so far. Besides, keeping your bond happy is more important than a bit of dirt and sweat.”
He chuckles quietly at me grumbling under my breath, but when I attempt to pull away, he just tightens his arms and gets back to stroking my spine until I turn into putty right there on top of him. I might be desperate for a shower and a proper sleep in a comfortable bed, but this little moment between us? It feels like pure magic, and I know the moment my bond starts pulling from his energy.
“You’re glowing again. Shit, I think I am too.”
My eyes feel as though they weigh about a million pounds as I murmur, my voice slurring with fatigue, “Sorry about that. I think I’m stealing your energy.”
His answer comes through to my brain like a dream, whispered but still meaningful. “Take it. Take whatever you want, just don’t fucking leave me again.”
I startle awake to two very terse Bonds speaking over each other at us both some unknown amount of time later.
“What the hell is going on?”
“You’re in the open. Where the fuck is her shirt?”
Gabe’s chest moves underneath me like he’s motioning with his arm, but my eyes stay glued shut. I’m tired, too tired to deal with any of them, and he’s so warm and comfortable.
He whispers, “Her bond came out again. I did whatever I had to, just like we all agreed, to stop her from a full-blown reign of bond terror on everyone in the house who isn’t her Bond. She’s still healing, maybe, or—is this nesting? Or something like it? She needs skin and scent, and her bond does not want to be argued with.”
It’s quiet for a moment, and then Gryphon says, “Good work. Everyone else has left now, and it’s only a skeleton staff on, so we can get her upstairs without bumping into anyone.”
I hear movement again and then Gabe says, “If you’re going to take her, you need to get your shirt off. She’s not interested in clothes right now.”
Smart boy, I definitely do want skin.
Horny, tantrum-throwing bond. I huff a little, and Gabe stiffens again like he’s afraid my bond is about to wreck their shit, and his hand strokes down my spine again. He’s very good at this whole calming, petting thing he has going on for me right now. I could honestly start purring.
“I’ll take her up, Gabe. You go ahead and make sure no one uses this hallway or the elevator.”
“Is she staying in your room? She’s been very vocal about not doing that.”
North’s arms are tight around me as he lifts me up, and Gabe rolls up onto his feet, immediately grabbing the sweater to cover my back up. I tuck my face into the column of North’s neck and breathe him in, taking in everything I could ever need from him as well.
I just need Atlas back, and then maybe I’ll be whole again.
“I’ll kill my assistant if I have to, no one is going to burst into any room in this house going forward. We’re on a security lockdown, and if Oleander wants to sleep somewhere else, she can when she wakes up. Until then, she’s staying with me.”
Oh, I like that too. I like that a lot.
