I wake up the next morning with more than just the happy feeling of the afterglow. Every muscle on my body is tight, and there’s an ache in my thighs from clenching so hard, over and over and over again, that I think I’m going to need to start stretching out after sex if it’s going to be like that all of the time now.
There’s quiet snores and deep breathing around me as the four of my Bonded who slept here last night all stay asleep, worn out enough that even Gryphon, my early riser, is still here.
I wiggle carefully down to the end of the bed until I can get out without disturbing anyone, tiptoeing quietly to the bathroom and taking a quick shower. North had cleaned me up before tucking me in, but there’s still a feeling of relief at washing away the sweat and residue of our night.
I throw on a pair of old leggings and one of Nox’s jumpers, the only one of my Bonded that had opted out of the sexfest. I’m not surprised at all, but there’s still an ache in my chest for him. I know it’s my bond being pissy at not getting to have him as well.
The jumper is one that he had left behind for me, part of his agreement with North to supply me clothing on the regular if he was not willing to spend more time with me, and even though that should be an insult, I still find it just a little bit endearing. The more time I spend around him, the more that I see through the things that he is doing. Being cruel and unkind to someone for no reason is one thing, but lashing out because of trauma is another, and my own experiences mean that I have a lot more understanding of that than most people. My bond still feels particularly bloodthirsty about whatever the nightmare had been, and I know that there’s a good chance that someday we’ll be hunting down some monster for my Bonded.
My bond and I both agree on that fully.
No one harms my Bonded and lives.
I creep out of the bathroom and grab my phone to light the way out to the kitchen. My stomach is both empty and settled now that my bond has finished her meal of the Trigger’s soul, and I’m desperate for some food. I know that North will be furious at me for not waking him up so that he can be the one to feed me. Hisquirk about keeping his Bonded fed and happy was a delightful surprise to me.
Except they’re all sleeping so soundly that I can’t bear to wake them up, so he’ll have to just get over it.
I get out to the kitchen and rummage around in the fridge until I find everything I need to make an omelet and toast. I make the toast first so I can eat it while I’m frying up the omelet, and I’m so hungry that I seriously consider making a fruit salad afterwards as well.
I’m so hyper fixated on eating that it takes me a second to notice that I’m no longer alone in the kitchen.
I curse my bond for not warning me anymore about my Bonded, and then curse it all over again when I realize that Nox is now sitting at the dining table, a coffee in one hand and one of the ancient texts from the Hail Mary in the other.
So much for a peaceful breakfast.
He doesn’t say a word to me, just sits there and studies the words in front of him, the ones that speak of the lives that we’ve lived together many times before.
“Do you… want some breakfast?” I say hesitantly, and he shakes his head.
“The coffee is enough.”
I know that he’s spoken civilly and even nicely to my bond before, but I think it is the first time he’s ever uttered words in my direction that weren’t laced with acid.
I don’t push my luck though. I flip the omelet out onto a plate and dig into it with a fork, still standing at the kitchen counter because there is no way that I’m leaving the kitchen without the fruit salad.
I might even make some more toast.
“Have you found anything in there? I’ve read the texts that you’ve sent through so far, and I couldn’t spot anything that you hadn’t already highlighted.” I cringe as soon as the words are out of my mouth, waiting for the rebuttal from him.
But he just takes a sip from his coffee cup and places it back down on the table, the picture of a sedate professor. “Your bond isn’t crazy for calling itself a god. They are gods. I don’t know where they’ve come from, or anything else about them, but the things that they can do and their genetics… they are higher beings than are found anywhere else.”
Jesus Christ.
I shove some more of the eggs into my mouth, chewing happily on the mixture as I try to think of something not irritating to reply back to him.
He speaks before I have to. “Unser is being tortured. They’ve taken him back to Davies. Adella called last night, I spoke to her. She can feel what they’re doing to him, even though he is trying to block her out.”
My stomach drops and I pick up the plate of eggs to walk over to sit at the dining room table with him. I don’t think I’m going to be able to stomach much more food if this is the way the conversation is going to go, and I try not to mourn the fruit salad too much.
“Is there any indication of which camp they took him to? We’re gonna have to go after him.”
Nox flips the page, his eyes still roaming over the words as he reads and holds a conversation at the same time. That’s a skill that I desperately wish that I had. I imagine studying would be so much easier that way.
“North called in all of the TacTeams before we came back last night. There’s going to be a meeting with all of the leaders today, and we’ll decide if we will go, and who will be in the teams.”
I nod and shift the eggs around a little on my plate, my stomach is still growling with hunger, but it’s hard to eat while thinking about such things. “We have to go though, right? We’re the best ones for the job. Especially if Gabe’s going to be turning into a dragon at the drop of a hat. We need to use that to our advantage.”
Shadow creatures, a dragon, complete mind control, super strength that can also shield and keep the rest of us alive, and my bond.
We’re a complete arsenal at this point.
I sigh dramatically. “I know North doesn’t want us all going at once—”
Nox shakes his head at me, interrupting me. “He doesn’t like the Sanctuary left unguarded. We’ll leave enough of the TacTeams here. Then, if anything happens, we can come straight back, as long as Kieran’s with us as well. We can’t leave Unser with the Resistance any more than we could leave one of our own Bonded Group behind.”
My cheeks flush a little as he acknowledges our Bonded Group to me for the first time.
I desperately want to push it and ask him a million questions, pry into him and his reasoning for everything that he’s ever done, but I also know that he is speaking civilly to me right now only because we’re discussing work. While he might not trust me on any sort of a personal level, I might just have proved myself to him on an operative level, something that I am incredibly proud of myself for.
I didn’t want any of them giving me leeway just because I was their Bonded. I want to be able to carry my own weight and be an asset to them, to be more than just the ability to kill people on a whim, and maybe, just maybe, I’ve done that.
“Unser will get through the torture.”
His eyes finally flick up to mine, the deep blue of them so much like North’s, but so much colder than his brother’s have ever been.
I swallow in case I’ve pissed him off, but continue anyway. “It’s hard to survive that sort of thing but, if he’s strong enough to be in a TacTeam and to lead people, strong enough to be a Trigger and cope with taking that amount of lives at a time, then he’s strong enough to push through the pain and get through it. If I can do it, then anyone can.”
Nox picks up his coffee cup again and drains the last of the black liquid inside of it. “I don’t think there are many fourteen-year-olds who could survive that amount of pain. Some of that was your bond, yes, but it also took a certain amount of strength in you.”
Holy shit.
Was that a compliment?
That felt like a compliment.
I nod and duck my head, shoving a spoonful of omelet in my mouth before I say something stupid to him, and he gets back to the book in front of him, flipping the pages slowly.
I hear my bedroom door click open and hurried feet heading in our direction until I find a half naked North Draven standing there with wild eyes as he stares us both down as though he’s caught us doing something illicit.
I chew on my mouthful slowly before swallowing, waiting for him to say something, but he is too busy glaring at his brother.
What has he said to you? he sends directly through our mind link, and I get weirdly defensive about it.
Nothing. We’ve been talking about Unser. Nothing bad. I can be trusted with my own Bonded.
His eyes finally flick my way and he eases up a little bit. It’s not about whether or not I trust you, Bonded. I was making sure that he was behaving himself.
He’s not a child, and I’ve told you before that I can handle him. Either you trust me with that, or you don’t.
Nox flips another page and then says out loud but quietly, “He doesn’t trust me. He won’t ever trust me with you, and that’s not something to blame him for, Bonded.”
Gryphon, North, and Nox all leave to go to the meeting with the TacTeams soon after my surprising conversation with Nox. I decide that maybe I can stomach some more food and make myself the fruit salad, carrying the bowl back to bed to climb up between Atlas and Gabe.
Neither of them have any motivation to get up, and I don’t particularly blame them.
I have a couple of text messages from Sage and Sawyer, both of them having heard about Gabe shifting into a dragon and desperate for more details. I giggle over Sage’s commentary and try not to get jealous or defensive at how much Sawyer wants to know about the anatomy of said dragon.
I will never get comfortable with how many details about my Bondeds’ dicks that boy wants.
By the time I finish up with my food, Atlas has gotten up and showered, dragging his feet in a way that I haven’t seen out of him before, and he makes himself a protein shake before coming back to bed. He picks up a pillow from where it’s fallen onto the carpet and throws it at Gabe to get him moving.
He snarks at him, “If we’re going to get dragged out again to go look for Unser, you’re going to regret not showering.”
Gabe groans as though he’s being murdered. “Shifting and flying and breathing fire is hard, okay? You wouldn’t understand.”
I scoff a little under my breath, but when he looks at me all betrayed, I school my features into something much more contrite. “Of course, it sounds very difficult. So much more difficult than tearing souls out of people left, right, and center.”
Gabe glares at me and then pulls himself up, groaning as his back cracks in about four different places. “Why?! Why can’t we just stay in bed for one day? This is fucking stupid.”
I bite my lip and stop myself from pointing out that we’re going on a rescue mission because someone’s literally being tortured right now. I’m only glad that it’s just the three of us here, because Atlas is good about keeping his mouth shut as well and just letting Gabe have a gripe about it.
He heads off to the bathroom, and I hum happily under my breath at the chunks of watermelon in my bowl, picking out the nicest-looking bits first.
“They’re going to be in the meeting for at least a couple of hours first while they hammer things out. There’ll be a lot of conversations about whether or not it’s smart to have the Draven Bond Group all go together,” Atlas murmurs as we listen to the shower turn on.
I nod and offer him a piece of fruit, happy when his hand comes up to cup mine, drawing it to his lips as he bites into the piece of apple directly from my fingers. It’s a very flirty move, but there are aches and pains in me that say that sex is definitely not on the table for us this morning. Damn, is it tempting though.
I attempt to shift my mind back to the matter at hand. “I want to go and see Aro. I can’t shake the feeling that she’s important, and the fact that Nox felt it too makes me curious about her.”
Atlas nods slowly. “The fact that he felt it definitely says something, Bonded. We can head straight down there once Gabe’s done in the shower, if you like.”
I nod and finish up the last few pieces, offering him more, but he shakes his head, draining the last of his protein shake.
I get up with a little bit of wincing at the aches and pains, and Atlas’ eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “Do you need to see a healer?”
My cheeks flush scarlet. “There is no fucking way I am going to Felix about this.”
Atlas frowns at me for a second before he smirks. ”So… not injuries from last night then? Or not the part of last night that I’m thinking of anyway.”
I grab a pillow and shove it at his face, ignoring his laughing at my expense, and I rummage around to find a pair of shoes to pull on.
I head straight to the Tac Training center, bypassing as much of the town as possible. Word has definitely gotten out about Gabe’s dragon, beyond just our friends, and the few people we do pass all stare at him with a mixture of awe and distrust that makes me feel a little… violent.
He wraps an arm around my shoulders and presses a kiss onto the top of my head, a total heartthrob move, as though this is all perfectly acceptable behavior from the Gifted in our community.
I’m not feeling so kind about it.
Atlas swipes a card at the Tac Training center to get us in, and Gabe greets a few of the TacTeam personnel in there as we head straight down to the cells. No one attempts to stop us or even escort us down there, and when I raise an eyebrow at Gabe in the elevator over it, he smirks.
“I have clearance. You and Atlas don’t yet, but I do.”
It makes sense, what with him going on missions with Gryphon in the past, but that doesn’t make me any less insulted.
I sputter out, “I listen in on North’s council meetings. I’m fucking great at keeping secrets! What do I have to do to get clearance? Clearly sleeping my way to the top isn’t working!”
Gabe cackles and kisses the top of my head again, still acting a little too calm and loved up right now for the situation we’re in. Am I the only one with the sense of doom and dread hanging over my head?
Maybe.
Atlas is calm as well, totally at ease as the elevator doors open and we find ourselves walking into the cellblock again. It’s much nicer this time around without all of our friends in here, much less guilt and terror running through my veins at least, and not hearing my bestie sniffling is nice.
The girl is sitting on the bed at the end, a book in her hands and a pile of snacks sitting there with her as she happily munches away on some corn chips. She glances up as we walk in, putting the book aside and staring at both of my Bonded distrustfully.
I know that look.
My stomach turns at the sight of it, and I step forward to draw her attention back to me, to attempt to look like I’m non-threatening and that both of my Bonded are absolutely not going to… hurt her.
I fucking hate those Resistance camps.
“Hey! Sorry it took us so long to come see you. I see they’ve brought you food. Is there anything else you need? My Bonded, Gryphon, he’ll be down sometime soon to question you. If you pass all of that, we can figure out how to get you… out into the Sanctuary. We can find you a house or something. Lots of female roommates.”
I slip that bit in at the end as a reassurance, but she’s shaking her head anyway. “I need to speak to someone who is in charge. Like, now. I need to speak to someone about my brother.”
Right.
A brother.
“Sure, I can speed things up a bit. Your brother, what’s his name and why is it so important you speak to someone about him?”
“Lahn. He’s… all I have left now. He’s back at the camps and… I need to know if there’s a chance you’ll be going there. He’s only five.”
Oh, God.
I could handle just about anything but them having a freaking kid as a hostage. My bond stirs in my chest, taking an interest in the conversation, which is a little weird.
Find the boy.
Ahh, excuse me? Since when do you care about rescue missions for kids?
We protect them all, not just the Bonded. Even the mouthy one.
The mouthy one? Sawyer? I poke at my bond a little more, but it just goes back to sleep, still processing the aftereffects of the soul.
Sawyer.
Holy shit.
I grab my phone, ignoring the looks my flailing about is getting from everyone else, and I send a message to Sawyer, and then Gray, for good measure. “No one judge me here if I’m wrong. My bond… said something and I want to test it out.”
Gabe nods along happily and questions Aro a little more while we wait, mostly about her brother and where she’d come from originally before the Resistance had grabbed her. She’s actually twenty-one, older than she looks, and she’d lost her parents when they’d all been grabbed.
The elevator doors open again and Gray steps out, frowning over at us all like this is particularly weird. I mean, it definitely is, but we’re on borrowed time right now.
Any minute that meeting is going to end, and we’ll be off to find Unser and bring him home.
I’m not at all subtle. “Gray! Hey! Come over here for a second. I have someone I want you to meet. This is Aro, she was kidnapped by the Resistance, and her brother is being held captive. Any chance that you’re… feeling something? About her?”
Gray stares at me like I’m freaking insane, but when he looks at the tiny girl in front of us, he looks so unsure of how the world is still spinning on its axis that I know that my hunch was absolutely correct.
Aro is Gray and Sawyer’s Bond.
Their Central Bond.
Ten minutes later, Sawyer finally arrives, only to also stare at Aro like he’s about to propose, glancing over at Gray like he’s trying not to publicly pinch himself. They both fumble a little over their words with her, and I will absolutely be giving Sawyer shit about it later.
Aro is hesitant, again thanks to the Resistance camps, I’m sure, but it’s plain to see that she’s having that same pull to them as they’re feeling to her.
It makes me wonder how the Resistance ever lied about Bonded Groups and what they make you feel deep in your chest the moment you lay eyes on them. But I guess if you’ve never felt it before, how do you explain it to someone?
I glance over at Gabe and murmur, “Strongest Bond Groups, right? We take care of family, that’s what makes us different from them. We can’t leave a five-year-old behind. Not now, not ever.”
