There’s nothing I want to do less than sit through a Bond dinner after Gloria fired me for being evil, but to get out of it, I’d have to tell North what Gloria had said to me, and I really don’t want to do that. More ammunition for him, more clues for him to chase down, and more chances for him to figure out what I am. I don’t want to risk it.
I do, however, tell Atlas and Gabe.
Atlas stares at me from the driver seat and then without a word, puts the car back into park and turns the engine off. When he climbs back out of the car and stalks back up to the cafe, I want to call out after him to stop him but the words get trapped in my throat.
I have nothing left in me.
“Don’t listen to the old bitch, Bond. She’s just a crackpot Empath who doesn’t know shit,” Gabe says from the backseat, but I just stare at Atlas as he tears the backdoor off of the cafe like it’s nothing.
We should probably be stopping him.
“I did try to warn you guys. I told you that Bonding with me was the worst freaking option! Gracie being a fucking bitch has just ruined—”
Gabe leans forward in his seat and catches my eye, cutting me off as he says, “Nothing. She’s ruined nothing, Oli. Stop running scared for a fucking minute and look around. Nothing bad happened when you and Gryphon Bonded. Fine, it was bad because your bonds triggered and neither of you could stop it or… fuck, consent to it. This all sounds really shitty, what I’m trying to say is that the sun still rose this morning. Both of you are still breathing, unharmed, and the apocalypse hasn’t begun.”
He looks furious and when there’s another booming crash from the cafe, he curses under his breath and gets out of the car, slamming the door and jogging into Atlas’ rage breakdown.
Why are you freaking out? Tell Gabe to answer his phone.
I startle at Gryphon’s words in my head, I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it just popping in there whenever he wants to chat. He’s gone from ignoring my calls and messages to having full access to my brain whenever the fuck he feels like it.
Rude.
I still have to concentrate like a motherfucker to send back the reply, but it’s getting easier.
I got fired because apparently I reek of evil. Atlas went after Gloria, and Gabe is too busy trying to stop the murder that is probably happening in the cafe right now to answer the phone.
He doesn’t immediately answer me but for the very first time, I can feel him the way he always seems to be able to feel me.
He’s furious. Fucking livid. It makes my throat close up with the force of it, and one of my hands clutches at my chest as I try to push his feelings away from me before my bond decides to wade into the fight.
There’s a popping noise from outside the car and when I look up, I find Gryphon and Kieran standing there in full Tactical gear, appearing out of thin air thanks to Kieran’s Gift. Gryphon slashes his hand at the car and then takes off at a sprint towards the cafe.
Kieran steps over to me, motioning for me to roll the window down. Instead, I just open the door and stand with him. He doesn’t say anything as he casts the quickest, least subtle eye over me to check for injuries.
I scoff, “I was very good about not letting the evil seeping out of me touch that woman. Atlas? Not so much.”
He rolls his eyes at me and shrugs. “He’s a Bassinger, what do you expect? Did you really not take a bite out of her? Just a tiny swing at the prejudiced bitch?”
Oh no, no, no, I cannot have a friendship with this man. I can’t have dry wit and comforting descriptions of the violence that I wish I could enact with him. I don’t have any extra capacity for friends right now, my tiny circle is a busload of people as it is.
And yet I instantly feel better at his words, even when I snark out, “Oh she can’t be prejudiced, she thinks the world of my very sedate and not at all monstrous Draven Bonds. Nox wouldn’t hurt a fly, according to that woman. I’m the evil one.”
Don’t ask me why that word is sticking so hard with me, but I really can’t shake it.
There’s another loud crashing noise from inside the cafe and Kieran snickers under his breath at it, sounding too joyful about the willful destruction of property happening here.
I roll my eyes at him. “Shouldn’t you be wading in there to help?”
“No, I’m on Bond-sitting duties. Besides, Bassinger is richer than God, he can pay off the bitch to shut her up once he’s done ruining her place.”
Men are useless.
I’m cold and hungry, can we wrap this up please? I’ve had enough public shame for one day.
It gets easier and easier to speak to Gryphon like this. His reply is instant and more fluid than mine, Get Black to take you back to the manor and then send him back here.
I groan as I tell Kieran the orders because I hate traveling with a Transporter. Sure enough, when Kieran lets go of my arm and I open my eyes to find North standing in front of me in his dining room, I have to slap a hand over my mouth to attempt to stop myself from vomiting all over my Bond’s shiny black leather Hermes shoes.
He shoves me into a chair and then forces me to put my head between my legs to stop the world from spinning.
“One day. I would like one fucking day without having to run damage control. Tell all three of them to quit making my life harder and get back here before I come down there after them,” North snarls, and I cringe at the sound of it.
There’s a pop again as Kieran leaves. I wait until I’m confident that I won’t puke before I sit back up.
North had shoved me into his chair and when I sit up, I find him in the chair next to it with paperwork everywhere. I keep my eyes away from it all because I don’t want him snapping at me for snooping, but that only causes me to make eye contact with Nox at the other end of the table.
There’s a glass of whiskey in front of him.
“Bassinger is off defending your honor again? Pathetic. He really needs to find a new mantle to take,” he drawls, as he lifts the glass to his lips. North sighs and his eyes flick up to narrow at Nox, but his brother just ignores him as he stares me down.
I really want to leave.
Or at least move seats, I do not want to be sitting here at the head of the table and dealing with Nox’s shitty, alcohol-fueled mood.
I rub my hands over my arms and raise my eyebrows at him. “Are you just going to be an alcoholic now? Don’t you have classes to teach? Young minds to mold and all that?”
He scoffs, “I could teach them in my sleep, but I’m on administrative leave for my extra duties. Gryphon hasn’t told you yet? We’re leaving tomorrow to back up his TacTeam.”
My bond doesn’t like that at all.
I glance back at North to see if Nox is just being an asshole and trying to upset me, but without looking up from the papers he says, “Gabe and Bassinger will be staying here with you. There’s been more abductions further south that we need to look into. Gryphon, Nox, and I will be gone for a week, two at most.”
Nope.
Don’t like that at all.
I clench my hands into fists again and then, cheeks heating, I duck back down to put my head between my legs again. When will this overdramatic bond bullshit end?
“Trouble in Bonded paradise? I thought Gryphon would have told you—”
“Stop it, Nox. If you can’t shut your mouth, then leave,” North snaps. It’s the harshest I’ve heard him ever speak to his brother. The kid gloves he usually wears around him are gone.
I hear him leave the room but I keep my head down until my mind is no longer swimming in fear and panic. When I sit up again, the doors to the kitchen open and servers come out with the usual platters of food, but I don’t want to eat any of it.
I just want to go lie down.
North grabs a plate and begins to fill it with starchy, boring foods, as he says, “Gryphon was in the meeting with us both when you reached out to him about Bassinger. He wasn’t keeping anything from you. Nox… is thriving on creating dissent, at the moment. He’ll get over it.”
When he places the plate in front of me before going back to his papers, my appetite thinks about returning and the plainer foods actually look tempting enough that I pick up my fork with a mumbled thank you.
He doesn’t acknowledge my words, just bundles up all of the papers and murmurs, “You’ll be sleeping with me tonight… unless you’re still nesting and want Gryphon instead. Nox will leave his creature behind with you and you’re Bonded with Gryphon now, so it makes sense for you to stay with me before we leave.”
Am I still nesting? I take a second to check in with my bond to see how we’re tracking along and North watches me with a strangely blank face. He’s not angry or frustrated at me for once, he’s just watching what I’m doing.
I try not to blush under his scrutiny. “My bond is okay, I think the nesting part is over with. If you insist on taking August with you, then I think I— I’ll need you.”
It almost kills me to choke those words out but he doesn’t gloat or throw them back in my face, instead he sets the paperwork aside and piles together a plate of his own.
When the others finally make it home, Atlas doesn’t come to dinner, and neither Gabe or Gryphon comment on my seat change.
I WAKE in my bed a little after two in the morning to my phone ringing.
North’s arm around my waist is like a lead weight, a million pounds of immovable man appendage, and I have to stretch out like crazy to reach the damn phone. I doubt it’s a prank call, and my Bonds would just come find me here if something had happened.
That just leaves my friends.
I don’t even bother looking at the caller ID. I just hit answer and croak into it, “What’s happened?”
Sage’s panicked whisper has me jolting up in the bed. “Oh my God. Oli, I need help! I can’t believe this happened. I’m fucking cursed, cursed! I can’t— Oli, it’s so bad—”
North grunts as he rolls over and I take the opportunity to scramble out of the bed and over to my closet. “Where are you? Are you safe? What the hell happened? I’m about to wreck someone’s shit, Sage!”
She sobs, her voice cracking, and I hear a banging, like someone’s trying to take her door down. I shove a pair of yoga pants on and grab one of Nox’s old cashmere sweaters from where I’d hidden my stash of them.
“I’m at the Med Halls, where Felix boards. We went on a date and—”
She’s cut off by more banging and I take the chance to hiss, “Has he hurt you? I’ll fucking skin him alive!”
“No! We… Oli, we had sex and I set the fucking building on fire! It was, I mean, I was totally in control of my gift, but my bond just… Oli, it felt like I Bonded with him. I couldn’t have done that, that’s insane to even think about, but it was like… Shit, the fire department is here, I’m so fucked, Oli!”
It doesn’t make any sense but it also doesn’t matter. She’s my best friend. If she needs me, then I’ll be getting my ass over there to save her, no matter what the fuck has happened.
“I’m on my way, just stay where you are and keep your phone on you. I’ve got you, Sage. Don’t worry about a thing.”
She whimpers out an agreement and I hang up, turning on my heel with a plan to wake up Gryphon or Atlas to help me with my escape plan.
I come face to stunningly perfect bare chest with a tired and rumpled looking North Draven.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re running off to?” he grumbles, and I hold up my phone.
“Best friend duties call. I’ll take a Bond with me and I’ll be back in no time, just go back to sleep.” I aim for coaxing and reassuring, but clearly I fail miserably because he just stares me down, moving further into the closet with me.
“Honestly, if I were attempting to run away, I wouldn’t pick a night that you were in my bed. That’s just stupid. I’d pick Atlas or Nox, because he never actually gets in the damn thing. Just hop back into— what the hell are you doing?”
He ignores me as he pulls on one of Gryphon’s hoodies, looking the most casual and hot I’ve ever seen the man. He shoves his feet into a pair of Gabe’s sneakers that are in the corner and then turns to give me a look. “Well? If this is such a time-sensitive rescue, we should get a move on, right?”
Oh fuck.
I blanch but he just walks out of the closet, swiping his phone from the side table and opening the door for me so that I have no choice but to follow him.
When we get in the elevator, he taps away on his phone for a moment and I try not to fidget too much to show him just how uncomfortable I am with this.
Sage is terrified of the Dravens.
She always has been, and she’s never tried to hide it from me either, so I really should send her a warning text… but that could also send her over the edge in her delicate state.
Fuck.
This is such a bad idea.
“Tell Gryphon we’re heading out. He’s not answering my messages but someone needs to know that we’re heading out,” North murmurs as the elevator doors open, and I nod as I chew on my lip.
This is getting worse and worse.
Uh, hi. Sorry to wake you up, but North and I are going on a Sage rescue mission. He told me to tell you, but we’ll be back soon, so go back to sleep.
I curse myself for sounding like an idiot. I’m distracted enough that I don’t notice North taking me around to one of the Bentleys and helping me into the front seat. I startle when he slides into the front.
He always takes his driver.
He rolls his eyes at my look of shock, drawling, “I can drive, and Rafe does require time off to sleep. Where are we going? Put your seatbelt on.”
I do as he says, grateful that he knows where the hell the Med Halls are because I have no freaking clue. I guess he probably owns them if they’re a part of Draven.
Shit.
I choose my moment wisely, waiting until the car is stopped at a red light before I say, “So, just so you know, Sage has accidentally set the building on fire.”
North turns to stare at me and snaps, “I hope you’re kidding. That building is two hundred years old and houses over six hundred Gifted Healers!”
I nod and say, “Yes, and it’s on fire.”
The light turns to green and saves me from his furious stare, not that I did anything wrong here, but if it saves Sage from his ire, then I’ll take it. I’ll take it all for that girl.
I’m proud of her for getting over her own obstacles to climb into bed with Felix. If she’s set the building on fire, it had to be good, right? I’m going to need all of the juicy details as soon as I rescue her.
All of them.
“What happened? I’ll call the caretaker and make arrangements.”
I glance over at North and his face is still all sorts of pissed off, but at least he’s being forced to look at the road and not me. “She and Felix went on a date, then she went back to his room at the Med Hall… then she accidentally set the building on fire. That’s the whole story.”
I can’t even talk to North about having sex with my Bonded, there’s no way I’m talking to him about Sage’s sex life.
“Was she attacked? Was her bond threatened? Give me details here so that I know what I can do to get this sorted out. She’s a child of Maria’s Bonded group, I can’t just hang the girl out to dry.”
I cross my arms and shrug at him. “She wasn’t attacked. She just… had a small incident. Also, she’s my best friend, the first person in this place who was kind to me. If you thought about just throwing her under the bus, I would ruin you. I might not be willing to do it for myself, but you bet your ass I would do it for her.”
The trip feels as though it’s taking hours to get there and when we finally turn onto the right road, I know straight away because there’s fire engines and police tape everywhere.
The car slows down to a crawl.
I send Sage a quick text to tell her we’re close and not to panic. She sends back a whole stream of panicking and freaking out. I don’t blame her at all.
North interrupts me from my attempts to calm her down with the worst possible questions. “How has Bassinger taken your Bonded status with Gryphon? Are you going to Bond with him and Gabe now that you’ve started the Bond?”
I shrug, my heart thumping a little in my chest that he’s even bringing this up right now. “Nothing has changed. I mean, no, it has, obviously. Gryphon is now in my head and my Gift is begging me to test it out now that it’s gotten supercharged, but my plans haven’t. I don’t— I can’t get stronger. I can’t have more power than I have now.”
North nods and drums his fingers against the steering wheel in a small display of frustration at how slow we’re moving. I watch the people all moving around us, chaos that isn’t touching us at all in this quietly safe space.
I startle when he speaks again. “You need to give me something. I want to believe you when you say that you did what you had to do… I know that Gryphon believes you, so you’re telling the truth to some degree, but I can’t tell if you’re lying without him around, and he’s made his boundaries with you very clear to me. I was all in before you ran away. I was ready to give you the world and destroy anyone who attempted to hurt you or, fuck, breathe wrong in your direction. You broke that. Give me a reason to believe that you did it because you had no other choice… or that you were unaware that you had them in us.”
I open my mouth but nothing comes out.
What could I possibly tell him that he would believe? What evidence could I give him that wouldn’t lead him straight back to the Resistance?
He continues, murmuring so quietly that I have to strain to hear him, “Do you even want to be Bonded with us all? If you weren’t facing the big bad that you won’t tell us a thing about, would you even want us all?”
That’s easier to answer. “I did want my Bonds. I do want you all. I just… can’t. I don’t know how to give you what you need, but I’ll figure it out. God knows how, but I will.”
He turns to stare at me, his face covered in shadows thanks to the street lamps and lights from the fire engines, and when he gives me a nod, it feels like the most progress we’ve ever made.
When the car finally pulls up, we both take a second to stare, dumbstruck, at the giant wall of flames climbing up the eight-story building.
“You said ‘incident’. Oleander, this is not an incident, this is an emergency.”
I clear my throat and giggle a little hysterically. “Po-tay-toe, Po-tah-toe, right?”
