I feel it the moment our Bonded Group is complete.
I’m sure everyone does.
It’s as though a piece I didn’t know was missing slides into place in my chest. Suddenly I can breathe at full capacity, having no idea that for so long it had only been at eighty percent. I should feel relieved, grateful, ecstatic, every good emotion you can possibly think of, that we’re now protected by having a closed circuit between the six of us, but there’s a part of me that desperately wants to stalk through this house, break down Oli’s bedroom door, and kill Nox for touching my Bonded.
Our Bonded.
I don’t need to reach out to Oli to know that she’s okay. I can feel her there in my chest, and she’s also content with the completed Bond. I’d only been able to stay calm about the whole fucking mess because Gryphon was in there as well. He was acting as a sort of ‘chaperone’ to make sure that Nox didn’t hurt her in any way while she was so vulnerable to him, but I can’t shake the feeling that I need to go and see it with my own two eyes.
I don’t understand why he hates her so much.
I don’t understand how her running away could’ve hurt him so deeply that he still couldn’t see sense once the truth of it all was presented to him.
I get the feeling that the guy has some deep-seated mental issues or something from the way that everyone treats him. I have to admit that the idea of him being in our Bonded Group still pisses me off. He’s a liability and a danger to Oli. I’ll never take that shit lightly.
We’ve almost lost her too many times already.
I’m still sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my newly finished room, but I couldn’t care less about it. I’m hoping to only have to sleep in here a few nights a week when Oli wants time alone with her other Bonded, so the idea of picking out anything and being fussy with it just doesn’t interest me. Gabe had been a good sport about helping me get it done, as well as his room, while everybody else was away. There’s still so much to be done around here before the house is actually finished, he easily could’ve told me to fuck off.
He’s also a surprisingly patient teacher, and his dedication to getting this place finished, and getting Oli away from the rest of the community, is definitely something that I can get behind.
He’s someone I don’t mind sharing her with.
Once we’d finished grouting my bathroom and laying the carpets, we had moved on to North’s room, which needed the most work. The guy is fussy as fuck when it comes to interiors, which means more work for us. I would point it out to him, loudly and often, just to be an asshole, except that the guy also built an entire town for his community without once asking anything of them beyond their loyalty to each other and to help where they can.
I might cut him some slack for insisting on incredibly fussy tile work.
Gabe hadn’t let me touch a single thing in North’s room, not trusting me to not fuck it up, and I don’t blame him. The only good perk there was that during the day, we had figured out how my power had grown.
Gabe had been working underneath a Jacuzzi large enough to fit eight fully grown men in it that North was having installed in his bathroom, when one of the temporary supports had given out and the whole thing had plummeted towards Gabe’s head and chest area.
It probably wouldn’t have killed him, especially if we’d gotten him to Felix fast enough, but he definitely would have been seriously injured had it actually managed to land on him.
The moment I heard the wood cracking, my Gift had burst out of my chest, completely involuntarily and in a way that I had never felt before. I could see it though. I could see the protection that it had placed on Gabe. When the Jacuzzi bounced off his chest and back into place, he’d caught it and held it up with ease, as though he had all of the strength in my body.
He’d glanced over to me in complete and utter shock. “What the fuck was that?!”
I shook my head, but a small bead of sweat formed on my forehead as I snapped back, “Get out from under there! I don’t know whether or not I can hold this.”
He scurried out and placed the tub back onto the ground, changing out the support and checking to make sure that it was secure this time with the practiced ease that he does everything. “Could you do that before? Is that something that you’ve always had up your sleeve and just forgot to mention to me or…?”
He let the sentence trail off and I took a second before I answered, staring down at my hands where they were glowing and then back over to him, that same glow over his skin. “I’ve never done that before. I don’t really feel my Gift the way that you guys do. It’s just a part of me. I can’t manipulate it… or, at least, I couldn’t before. Fuck. I don’t even know how I did it now!”
Gabe cackled and pushed a hand through his hair, covered in sweat and dust from all of his work. “Well, I guess we can say now that we are definitely friends if your bond is deciding to protect me from shit. I wonder if it would do that for the rest of the guys too?”
I shook my head. “Fuck knows, but I doubt it’ll do it for every one of the other Bonds.”
Gabe gave me a side-eye and slumped against the bathroom countertop. “You know you’re gonna have to let that go, right? Oli is Bonded with the rest of them as well… or she will be soon. You’re only gonna hurt Oli if you keep kicking up a stink about him.”
He didn’t say exactly who he was talking about, but it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. “I know, and I’m careful not to put that sort of pressure on her. Doesn’t mean I have to like him, and it also doesn’t mean I have to use my Gift to stop bathtubs from falling on his head. Natural selection isn’t always a bad thing.”
Gabe scoffed and shook his head, moving back through the bathroom to collect his tools so we could head off to have something to eat before moving on to another room. We’d eaten breakfast early, and I was fucking famished.
I should’ve just let it go, but I couldn’t. “Why are you fine with him? You know what he did to her.”
He grimaced and pulled a face as he snapped his toolbox shut and lifted it into his arms, stalking out of the bathroom. “I do know, and I know how Oli feels about it, which is enough for me. I’m not going to tell her how to feel about something, and she told me that it was between the two of them.
I shook my head at him, but I kept my thoughts on that to myself. I don’t want to tell my Bond how to feel about something, especially something like that, but I also am not going to stand around and let him hurt her, to have her just accept it because he’s her Bond.
When we got to the kitchen, Gabe placed his toolbox down on the floor gently, careful with the hardwood floors he’d spent so long installing, before opening up the fridge and grabbing out the take-away lunches that we had ordered from the dining hall. Neither of us had wanted to stop to make lunch, and the chef was always thrilled to know that he was cooking for us.
Another perk of being in the Draven Bonded Group.
Gabe waited until we’re both eating before he spoke again. “I think maybe that you are seeing things that you want to see because of your sister and that whole fucked-up situation.”
I gave him a hard look and he shrugged back. “I’m not saying that Nox did nothing. I’m saying that Oli is not your sister, and her bond definitely is not your sister’s bond. I think at any point, if it was what you think it was, her bond would have done something to protect her. It’s wiped out entire camps for her. Fuck, we’ve both seen the destruction it’s wrought. I’m not saying it would have killed them, especially now that we know that it probably can’t kill him, but killing isn’t the only thing that she can do. I’m pretty sure the bond would have, at the very least, punched him in the mouth. If it was what you thought it was.”
He couldn’t even say the word, but that conversation rings in my head, even as I lie on the mattress hours later and sink into the feeling of completeness in my chest. I’m also feeling more than a little guilty at how much I enjoy it, because even though the other Bonded might feel a different way than me, I’m enjoying the feeling of my Bonded sacrificing something vital and important right now just so that we can feel this, and that will never sit right with me.
Gabe lets slip to North and Gryphon about the boost in my power, and the next morning, I find myself being shaken awake before the sun has even risen to head down to the training center to test out these new limits. I would say that I have fucking amazing restraint, because I stop myself from yanking Gryphon’s arm straight out of its socket the moment I’m conscious enough to realize what the asshole is even doing in my room.
“We’re in the middle of a war, Atlas. That is a very handy gift for you to have, especially now that we know the Resistance has an unlimited Trigger, and there’s no time like the present, so get your ass moving.”
I throw my pillow at him as he retreats, but he bats it away as if it is nothing, stalking back out the door as he calls out, “Five minutes, that’s all you get.”
I’m out in three, dressed in my training gear with my shoes already on and laced up. It’s too early to grab breakfast or even a protein shake, but I grab a bottle of water out of the fridge and stretch out. I already know we will be jogging down to the Tac Training Center as a warmup. Gryphon is a sadist, there’s no doubt about it, but there’s no denying that his methods work.
I feel the warmth in my chest before Oli walks out of her bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind her as though she’s trying not to wake someone up. A ripple of irritation works its way down my spine at the thought of Nox sleeping in there.
Get a hold of yourself. Don’t let her know how badly this is killing you. It’s not her responsibility to shoulder it. I have to keep that mantra in my head and also make sure that my own mind barriers are up enough that Gryphon won’t be able to trip over any of these thoughts.
I have no doubt that he could probably pry his way into my brain and find out anything that he wanted to know but, since I’ve proved myself, he hasn’t shown any interest in doing so, respectful of the boundaries within the Bonded Group. He doesn’t have the same respect for Oli though, still not teaching her how to put up barriers herself that could keep him out.
I could teach her.
It’s a skill that was taught to me by my parents when I was barely out of diapers, because there are a lot of Resistance sympathizers who are Neuros, and even the most devout followers don’t want their family secrets to be outed by a child’s errant thoughts.
There were a lot of secrets in my house that would have brought my father to his knees.
“How did Gryphon talk you into volunteering for one of these training sessions?” Oli murmurs as she slides into my open arms without hesitation.
I can’t see any injuries on her, and the only emotion I’m getting out of her at the moment is a sort of bone-deep weariness.
“He didn’t give me much choice, but it’s probably a good thing for us to explore it.”
She nods, her face still pressed against my chest, and Gabe finally comes stumbling out of his room, bleary-eyed and yawning so wide that I can see his tonsils.
“Did you have a power surge too?” Oli says quietly, only shifting away from me far enough so she can get an arm around him as well, bundling herself up in the two of us and making happy sounds under her breath.
He kisses the top of her head and says through another yawn, “No, but Gryphon wants to see if he can force anything out of me as well. Then he figured out that Atlas’ only made an appearance because I was about to be squashed, so you’re probably about to watch Gryphon beat the shit out of me to try and test that working theory.”
Oli frowns and makes a grumbling noise, turning around to send a glare Gryphon’s way as he opens the front door, jerking his head at us all.
“We’re losing daylight. Let’s go.”
“There isn’t any fucking daylight. The sun isn’t up yet,” I mutter under my breath, and Oli giggles as she sets off down the front steps at a slow jog.
Her pace picks up quickly, and she breaks into a proper sprint as she catches up to Gryphon and keeps pace with him.
“It’s disgusting that he’s turned her into a workout person,” I gripe, and Gabe laughs at me, as if he thought it would go any differently.
“Then you’re an idiot. Gryphon was never going to let his Bonded slack on this front. He knows what happens to defenseless Gifted.”
I want to reply, to point out all of the ways that our Bonded will never be defenseless, but the pace is brutal, and cardio has never been my strong point. We make it down to the Tac Training Center in decent time. When we stop in front of the building, I take the time to stretch out my legs a little more, easing the cramp that is trying to take hold in my calf.
Fuck cardio, and fuck Gryphon Shore.
“I can’t believe I outpaced you guys! Do either of you ever run, or do you just lift heavy things?” Oli says in the most cheerful and sassy tone.
I flip her the bird, because I know it’ll just make her laugh even harder at my expense, and Gabe grabs his chest like he’s hurt by her words, but he’s panting as badly as I am.
“I will have you know that I can shift into animals that can run for literally days on end, if I need to,” he says, but his argument is kind of ruined by how much he’s gasping.
She cocks her head at him like she’s assessing his words and then snarks back, “Prove it, because from that performance, I highly doubt it.”
Gryphon ducks his head so that she doesn’t see him grinning at her sass. He’s always pretty careful about trying not to let her see how much he enjoys her inner brat, but I feel no shame in beaming at her. I’m fully aware that encouraging it only makes it worse, but there is nothing about my Bonded that I would change.
Especially not her bratty ways.
“Oh, look. Unser’s here. You might actually get to meet him, Bonded,” Gryphon says in an attempt to divert her attention that actually works.
She stumbles dramatically, as though she is shocked off of her feet, and the other two both get a hold of each of her arms, because there’s every chance she could still end up flat on her face.
“Unser? The Unser is here? The man who has been dangled over my head like a threat the entire time I have been back with you guys? I’m going to get to meet him. How exciting! I wonder if I can convince him to blow something up?”
Gryphon rolls his eyes at her and pushes his way into the building. Even at this early hour, it’s bustling with bodies, personnel everywhere, and they all stare at him with hero worship in their eyes, open and plain for all to see. They also all gulp at the mere presence of my Bonded, and I enjoy the feeling of superiority that that gives us.
All these highly trained men who deal with the worst of what our kind have to offer and they stare at my Bonded as though she is a walking nightmare.
That no longer irritates me.
I have fully come to accept that it’s better for her to be a nightmare to these men than to try and make friends with them, to play the docile and neutered monster who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Besides, we’ve got more than enough friends, and those we do have are proving to be a handful.
“Good lord, not this early in the morning! I can’t deal with that smart mouth.”
I glance over to see Vivian walking towards us, his mouth downturned as he greets us, although there’s a twinkle in his eyes as he stares Oli down. She grins back up at him, truly happy, and then, of course, she opens that smart mouth of hers and starts in on him.
“You should be happy with my dedication. I’m no longer a college student bound by unfair rules. I could choose to walk home at any time, and yet here I am, learning restraint and the proper way to kill our enemies. You’re welcome.”
He rolls his eyes and another man approaches us. He’s tall and wider than Vivian, and he is easily more muscular than even I am. He has a stern look on his face, but he looks at Oli with interest.
“An honest-to-God Soul Render. I never thought I’d see it.”
“I go by she/her, not it, but lovely to meet you. I’m assuming you’re Unser. I’ve heard a lot about you,” Oli says, tuning her sass down just a little at the end as the much larger man looms over her. He’s not trying to intimidate her or threaten her in any way, he’s just looking over every inch of her, like he’s trying to see some sign of her Gift etched into her skin.
Gryphon looks between them and then back to Unser. “This is Oleander Fallows, our Central Bonded. And, yes, she is a Soul Render. She’s the reason that the Sanctuary was cleared of the Resistance last week.”
Jesus Christ was it only last week that I’d had the greatest night of my life followed by one of the worst mornings in existence?
I share a look with Oli and see the same disbelief in her face that so much could have possibly happened in such a short amount of time. Yet, we’re still no closer to getting rid of Davies and the rest of his band of sadistic followers.
Unser holds out a hand and starts ticking off fingers. “A Soul Render, two Death Dealers, a Neuro with unmatched powers, an unlimited Shifter, and… what exactly are you?”
Oli’s hand slips into mine as I answer, “Strong enough to move a semi, and completely indestructible.”
He looks me up and down slowly and then says, “I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we? War is good at testing limits, kid.”
