I have to call out of work again and even though Gloria is absolutely fine with it, I feel irritated as hell about it. Gabe is quick to point out that the entire Gifted community already knows what happened on the front lawn of the infamous Draven manor already and that there’s no way Gloria would want me working for her while I’m still freaking pissed about it all, but that only reminds me of all of the spineless, weak Gifted high society who dare to judge my Bonds.
I write the angriest paper for Gifted 101 in existence and I prepare myself for the failing grade North is going to give me for it.
I also can’t find it in myself to care because he was such a dick to me over his creature. I don’t know why it bothers me so much, but my chest is hurting over the way they all talk about his creatures.
Why does he let them all talk like that? Why does he let the creatures go feral, why do they fight back at him and injure him when Nox has his all trained to perfection?
None of it makes sense to me, so I’m in a vicious mood.
Gabe heads home after lunch to see his mom, hesitating before he kisses my cheek because I think he’s a little bit wary of my temper. Atlas spends the morning with me but then ducks back to his room to video call his sister. Once again, I had no idea he even had an older sister, and when I scowl at him, he just chuckles at me.
“It’s not like I was keeping her a secret! I just forget that you haven’t kept up to date with the Top Tier Gifted families. Aurelia is five years older than me and we have the same father but different moms. She’s the Central of a four-Bonded group, and just so you’re fully in the know, I hate three of them.”
I raise an eyebrow at him and he huffs at me. “Jericho is decent but the other three are all arrogant, pompous assholes who would be of better use to my sister if they disappeared permanently. That’s all I’m going to say or you might judge me for hating them so much.”
“Like I’d judge you for that. Hell, I’d help you kill them if you really want to,” I say, only half joking.
Well, I’m not joking about helping him at all. I’m half joking about putting that idea on the table for us both to consider.
Once I’m alone, I take the longest bath in existence. I use bubble bath and giggle like a kid over it, and when Brutus climbs out from behind my ear to sit amongst the bubbles with me, I fall just a little more in love with him. He starts off in his smaller form and glides over the top of the water but after a minute, he grows until he’s taking up more of the tub than I am.
He sniffs at the bubbles and snaps his teeth at them even though he just passes through them like a ghost, adorable and perfect in every way. I start to question how the hell I’ve ended up here.
Not in the tub but here, in this house, with Bonds that, despite my best efforts, I’m growing attached to. I knew that the moment I let my gift back in, my bond would only grow in strength, but I wasn’t prepared for how quickly they would crawl under my skin and lodge themselves there, vital to my existence in every way.
I’m screwed.
It doesn’t matter that Kieran said they’d changed tactics and they’re waiting to see what comes after me, if… if that man comes here after us all, we’re dead.
Fuck.
I haven’t let myself think about him in years and for good reason, my gift starts reacting in my chest just from me acknowledging that he exists.
Brutus notices and starts to bump at my face with his nose, nuzzling me and trying to pull me out of the nightmare swirling around in my head. I’ve learnt a lot of tricks to deal with my trauma in my time on the run, but the most effective one has been blocking it out. Squashing down the memories until they’re all squished up in a tiny box at the back of my mind, wrapped in caution tape so there’s no mistaking that it’s my own little Pandora’s box.
My phone buzzes on the floor next to the bath and I wipe my shaking hand on the towel as I grab it.
“What’s going on? I will break the door down if you can’t get it under control soon,” Gryphon says without any formalities or niceties.
My voice is a little thready as I answer him, “What are you doing outside my door when there’s a mess out front to be dealt with? Or have you already cleaned it up? This doesn’t seem very ‘TacTeam leader’ of you.”
There’s murmuring in the background but he ignores whoever it is. “I am dealing with the mess. What happened this morning has rattled you and we’ve done a lot to get your bond under control. What do you need to calm down? The bath isn’t working.”
I look over at Brutus and raise my free hand to scratch behind his ears, trying not to sigh too loudly into the phone. “The bath is what set me off; I’ll get out. I can’t be alone with my thoughts today.”
He’s quiet for a moment and then says, “If you get it under control, you can come out and sit with North and me while we process Sharpe’s Bonds. It’ll get you out of the house for a couple of hours.”
Huh.
That actually sounds interesting and I could definitely learn some more about what the hell is going on with the council without having to speak to North about it.
I pull myself to my feet and grab a towel. “Give me five to get dressed and I’ll come out.”
“You have two minutes before I’m leaving, move your ass.”
Freaking Bonds.
I’D COME out from the bathroom to find an empty bedroom but clothes laid out on my bed, waiting for me. It’s a little presumptuous but if that doesn’t sum Gryphon up, nothing will.
I tug the black jeans, white tee, and leather jacket on and then shove my feet into the perfect leather boots without bothering to check out how I look. It’s a very TacTeam sort of outfit and I’m sure that was the whole point of it. I’ll be around fully trained soldiers while they work, a dress would’ve been impractical.
I send Atlas a quick text and snap my fingers at Brutus to get him to follow me. He’s not so keen about tucking back into my hair, not with this many unknown people in the manor, and he stays his giant size as we stalk back down to the foyer together.
The maids and TacTeam members swarming around everywhere avoid me, flattening against the walls as we pass them, and Brutus is the perfect gentlepup about it. He doesn’t snap or sniff at any of them as he sticks close to my side.
North, Gryphon, and Keiran are waiting for me in the foyer, murmuring quietly together and only looking up when they hear my footsteps on the marble floors.
Gryphon shoots me a look. “I said two minutes, and the nightmare can’t come like that. He’s either in your hair or staying here with Nox.”
My eyes narrow at him. “I was soaking wet when you invited me down here, and Brutus is twitchy about the crowd. If you want him to hide, then you’ll need to wait until we’re alone again because he’s on edge.”
North shakes his head at me and Brutus doesn’t like that either. I have to step in front of him when he starts to growl at my Bond. It kind of forces my hand a little because they all stare at me again like I have no idea what I’m doing when I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life as I am about the creatures.
“Honestly, I don’t understand how you get on the creatures’ bad sides when you’re literally in charge of them! You have a real gift there, Draven,” I mumble, holding my hand out to Brutus and trying to coax him back into my hair.
He doesn’t want to but I hold his eyes with my own, not backing down an inch, and eventually he whines a little as he shrinks, climbing back up my arm and tucking in behind my ear like the perfectly obedient good boy that he is.
I hear the entire room exhale the moment he’s no longer in sight and I’m once again questioning the strength of all of these TacTeam members if they’re really that scared of my beloved Brutus.
“We’ve wasted enough time. Oleander, you’re riding over to the council offices with me. Gryphon and Black will meet us over there with the prisoners,” North says, opening the door to the garage and holding out an arm like he’s ushering me through.
I raise an eyebrow at Gryphon, because this definitely wasn’t a part of the deal, and he just plants one of his big hands on my lower back to gently push me in North’s direction.
Bastard.
Rafe, North’s driver, opens the door of one of the Rolls Royces for me and I thank him as I slide into the backseat. I have to scoot along for North as well, but it’s a lot less uncomfortable than it was the last time I was trapped in here with him.
The wonders that the last few months have done for us.
He’s dressed in another suit, clean and pressed to perfection, and though he looks more weary than usual, he looks much better than he did this morning.
Rafe gets the car out of the driveway without hitting any of the giant holes in the driveway, which makes him an expert in my opinion, and I try not to freak out at how many of the Dravens’ neighbors are openly out and watching us drive past.
You’d think after an attack on this very street that they’d be holed up inside their ridiculously oversized mansions, clutching at their pearls and fearing for their lives.
“You can’t just jump into conflict like you did this morning. You had no idea what we had planned or whether the people we were facing were a real danger to you,” North says, his eyes keen on me as I attempt to avoid meeting them.
Great.
Here’s the lecture I never needed.
I keep my mouth shut and just nod along with him, hoping that my silence is enough for him to let this shit go but of course it’s not. This is North Draven, the councilman and control freak extraordinaire.
He couldn’t let anything go if it meant taking a break on me.
“If you’re refusing to tell us anything about your gift, then you need to just stay back and let us do everything for you. Without knowing the risks, you’re a liability.”
I need a subject change and fast. “Why wouldn’t you let me make peace with your creature? Do you really hate me so much that you’re happy to have him think I’m mad at him?”
His eyes flash at me and his jaw tightens as he speaks through his teeth, “I don’t hate you and he doesn’t think anything while he’s not here. He’s a mindless nightmare, not a puppy you can name and domesticate. Even you’re not naive enough to think that, Fallows.”
Ah, back to my surname is it? Fuck him. “Augustine. August for short.”
He shakes his head at me but I go on, “If you’re not going to name him then that’s what I’m naming him. August and Brutus go well together, you should let me have him. We can co-parent. I’ll have him every other week. Maybe he’ll be less grouchy if you’re not keeping him locked up all the time. Brutus loves curling up in my bed with me, running on the treadmill, hell, bath time is his favorite, as long as I use a ton of bubble bath.”
If I thought I’d get away with it, I’d take a photo of North’s face right now because I’ve never seen anything as perfect as the horrified disbelief on this man’s face.
I turn back to the window and watch the gated neighborhood disappear and turn into the busy highway. We have no luck and hit every red light on the way over to the council offices. Gryphon and Kieran are driving a blacked-out van behind us and when I glance back at them, I try not to seethe with jealousy.
Gryphon is grinning and laughing with Kieran.
I’ve only seen him laugh once and that was him laughing at me. He might’ve explained it to me and I’m a little less sore about it, but he looks so much younger and hotter when he’s oozing out joy at his friend. There’s none of the watchful, moody tension in him and I want to bathe in Kieran’s blood for having this version of him when I don’t.
“Stop whatever you’re thinking about and calm down. I’ve spent a lot of time telling the council members and workers that you’re not a danger to our community. I don’t need you showing up here with void eyes and proving me wrong,” North mutters, and I shift back around to face the front of the car again.
Right.
Put on the facade of a perfectly obedient, placid, boring girl. I need to smile pretty and fake it because the information I could learn today is worth it.
If I don’t want to be found by that man, then I need to get my head together and play the role.
“I’ll keep my bond under control,” I murmur and North’s eyes are sharp on the building in front of us as Rafe takes us into an underground parking garage. There’s lighting everywhere, so it’s not actually dark, but the rows of luxury cars still have a lead weight sinking down in my gut.
North leans over to murmur to me again, “We’re always a united front in that building. Even when I disagree with one of the other Bonds, I never discuss it in the open. It would be best if you kept your commentary to yourself until we’re back at the manor.”
My jaw flexes but I nod my head sharply.
It’s actually a very good policy to have, because weakness is never a good thing to have on display, except that it feels a little weaponized in my direction right now.
Rafe parks the car and immediately gets out to open the door for North and me. I give myself one last breath sitting in the car to make sure I’m calm and, most importantly, blank.
A frown flits over Gryphon’s face where he’s waiting at the blacked-out van a couple of parking spots over as I step out of the car, but he doesn’t comment or do anything about it. He just looks stern as he opens up the back with Kieran and they pull out the two women who were Bonded to Sharpe.
Right up until he was eaten alive by my precious August.
“We’ll take them straight down. Are you coming with us, Oli, or going the long way with North?”
I want to run right after Gryphon but I flick my eyes up to North. I can play nice for right now.
Even if I choke on it, I can do it.
“Go with Gryphon. I need to check in with Pen and you seem to have issues with her.”
Ugh, fuck him.
I think calm thoughts as I stalk over to Gryphon without a word, my boots loud on the concrete as I stomp a little. Don’t do anything that might come off as ‘brat-like’, Oli. I’m going for the higher ground here, making sure they have nothing to throw at me later.
We step into a service elevator and Gryphon hits the button for the lowest level. I take a deep breath about once again being trapped underground and I think they both misread it.
Kieran seems to have decided we’re friends now and leans down to murmur to me, “What’s wrong with Penelope? She’s a little bit of a nag but she’s a good enough kid.”
That’s even more insulting because he hated me on sight. Gryphon shoots him a look and his eyes flash. “Oli’s bond has taken a disliking to her. Pen didn’t do anything wrong, it’s a Bond haze thing.”
“How many of North’s secretaries has he fucked? Do we have an exact number or should I just keep guessing with how much he gets touched?” I say in a very sweet tone.
Kieran startles away from me, muttering under his breath, “Fuck wading into that fight. Draven can dig himself out.”
I raise an eyebrow at Gryphon but he just shrugs at me. “You can’t talk, Bond.”
Oh, he has no idea. No freaking idea how much I can talk about it and yet none of them— nope. Stop thinking about it, Oli.
I take a breath and remind my bond that men ain’t shit.
The doors to the elevator open again and Gryphon takes the lead, jerking his head at me to follow him through the concrete and steel nightmare in front of us.
Prison cells.
The council offices are built on top of prison cells, all of them filled with Gifted who I hope are Resistance and definitely not just people who can’t afford their taxes or drink in public.
I try not to look into the cells. I don’t want to recognize anyone in there. They all react as we walk past, screaming, yelling, banging against the glass. I want to turn on my heel and get the fuck out of here.
I force my legs to keep walking.
“Just ignore them, these are the leftovers from the camps North and Nox went after,” Gryphon says, his voice pitched low to me and I glance up at him. He looks worried, especially when I startle as we come to the end and one of the prisoners is smashing her fists against the glass.
I shouldn’t look.
I know I shouldn’t, but the sound draws my eyes and I come face-to-face with Carlin.
She looks a lot worse for wear than she did when I’d last seen her. Her hair has grown out a little and there’s bags under her eyes, but the most terrifying thing about the strongest tester the Resistance has is that she recognizes me straight away this time.
“Render,” she hisses at me and I dart around Gryphon, shoving my way into the interview’s observation room before them just to get away from her.
Kieran walks in after me, opening the door to go straight through to the interview room as though he didn’t hear a thing, but Gryphon just shoves his prisoner through the door and shuts it after her, turning back around to me.
“What did she just call you?”
I blink up at him. “Don’t make me lie to you.”
He takes a deep breath and runs a hand through his hair. “She just called you a—”
“Please don’t say it. Please don’t tell North, or Nox, or anyone else. Please just, please don’t.”
He tugs at his hair, scooping it back to tie it up from where it’s come out. I stare through the two-way glass as Kieran gets the women both secured into their seats. They haven’t said a word or attempted to escape in any way, but the glowing of Gryphon’s eyes explains that perfectly.
He’s switched their brains off for now, all of the parts of them that might attempt to flee or fight, leaving behind docile, walking zombies.
There’s a very tense sort of silence between us, I’m choking back the panic and fear flooding me to attempt to keep my bond at bay. It’s fine. If they all know about all of my gifts, they’ll either let me go or lock me up into one of those little cells.
I can stop myself from hurting people in either of those scenarios, this isn’t the worst possible option. I’m going to rationalize this until the moment North walks in here and loses his mind over it all.
When the door opens again and Kieran walks back into the observation room, he looks between us. “Are we going to ignore that she just called your Bond—”
“Nothing. She didn’t call my Bond a single thing,” Gryphon says with a sharp look and Kieran nods curtly, dropping it like a great second in command does.
I almost pass out with relief but I doubt this will be the last I hear of this.
