Monster.
The word follows me through all of my classes and the dining hall for lunch. Atlas, Sage, Sawyer, and Felix all follow my lead and just ignore it all. I don’t care about any of these people. None of them have tried to be even a little bit tolerant of me, even when they thought I was a giftless reject, so why should I care now that they’re all hating me?
I keep my temper in check and just get on with my day.
Gabe doesn’t.
The moment we step into the building and the whispers start, he glues himself to my side, gently maneuvering Sage out of the way because he knows better than to try to engage with Atlas at this point. He’s on edge and watching everyone down the halls and in every lecture hall as though he’s waiting for us to be jumped.
I want to believe that he’s overreacting but I’ve lived through too much at this point to brush this off. So instead, I watch everyone with him. I watch all of his friends hesitate before they greet him, keeping a healthy distance away from us. I watch the girls who have all been drooling and fawning over him for months avoid his eyes as they pass us and talk shit about me. I watch everyone who had treated him like the golden child on campus the entire time I’ve been here turn on him, thanks to me.
It makes my bond and my gift very twitchy because I don’t really give a fuck about what these idiots think of me, but to treat my bond like that just because he’s stuck with me? Nope. Don’t like that, not one bit.
When we leave History and head towards the dining hall for lunch, Gabe murmurs with Sawyer until they get Sage secured on the other side of Atlas so that she’s sandwiched between him and her brother. I give Gabe a look and he leans down to murmur to me, ‘Bassinger is indestructible. Who is better to protect you two than a guy who can be a human shield without dying?’
Okay, so when I manage to get the GPS out from under my skin without my brain exploding, I’m going to have to take all of these people with me. There’s no question in my mind that I’m going to be finding a bus to fit us all in because maybe we haven’t had the best start to our friendships, but I can feel it now, we’ll all be rock solid by the end of all of this bullshit.
When we arrive at the dining hall, it’s packed and the only good menu option is in high demand, so we get stuck in a line. Atlas jokes around with Sawyer about sport stuff I couldn’t care less about and Sage goes over our options for the next history assignment that’s coming up. She’s way smarter than I am and I’ll take all of the help I can get for this one because I know exactly nothing about the Gifted riots in the seventies. The line moves so slowly that by the time we make it to the pizza, there’s only a couple of slices left.
Atlas grabs them, plating them up and questioning the server about the wait time for more. When she replies that they’re almost ready, he holds a plate out and nudges me to go grab a seat.
I blink at him like an idiot and he grins back. ‘As if I’d eat before my Bond, go with Ardern and I’ll meet you guys over there.’
I glance over and find Gabe already sitting there, glaring around at everyone like he has all day. With a sigh, I walk to him, weaving through the crowd, although it’s made easier by the sheer amount of people who jerk away from me as though they’re afraid to touch me.
I like that.
Gabe has his usual plate of sadness in front of him, salad and protein like a good growing boy, and I take the opportunity to question him now that there’s less ears around us for the moment.
‘Why do you all care so much about what they’re calling me? What do I care if they think I’m a monster?’
He grimaces and glances over his shoulder to where Atlas and the others are all standing together, chatting happily. Atlas meets my eye and smiles at me, checking in on me, and I smile back brightly so he doesn’t rush over here and interrupt this.
I need some answers.
‘North and Nox have the same dad but different moms, did you know that? Their dad was the Central and he had the nightmare creatures too. Their dad… well, none of us really know what happened, but their dad killed North’s mom with his power. He was put to death over it. William Draven, their uncle, took over their seat on the council until North was old enough to take it.’
Jesus. That’s a whole can of worms I was not expecting from such a simple question. Even though my stomach is roiling at the thought of food right now, I shove some pizza in my mouth just to give myself something else to think about.
Gabe winces at me and then clears his throat to continue, ‘Other shit happened too, but I’m not— it’s not— fuck, I shouldn’t be the one to tell you and I probably have half the details wrong anyway. All that matters is that when everyone found out that North and Nox both have the same gift as their father, there was a lot of talk at the time because of it. More than talking, the Council had to intervene. Then… well, Gryphon’s power has people on edge. Mine is just as bad. When we all found out that we were in the same Bond, it made a lot of people nervous.’
A healer and a shifter made people nervous? They’re run-of-the-mill gifts, it makes no sense to me. Except then Hanna’s words filter back to me from weeks ago, when her gift had shoved me away from her during TT.
Gryphon Shore is not someone you just decide to piss off on a whim.
I mean, if that isn’t a warning that I’ve misjudged him, I don’t know what is.
Gabe glances back and the others are finally getting served, the fresh smells of hot pizza wafting over to us.
He turns back to me and pitches his voice low so they don’t overhear him as they head our way, ‘Nox was barely more than a kid when he was brought back to North when his mom died. There were riots in the community about letting him go to school here. It doesn’t matter that their name is on the building, people hate them for what they can do. They hate all of us, Oli. Why do you think we were all so sure you’d been taken when you disappeared? Why do you think North has your every move watched? It’s not just because you’re a flight risk.’
Jesus.
Have I really read this entire community that badly?
Atlas takes the seat next to mine, still laughing with his new best friend Sawyer, and I pitch my voice low just for Gabe again, “I thought everyone here loved you? I was feeling crappy about having them all turn on you for me.”
Sage overhears me and gives me sad eyes but they’re different these days. Mostly because I know that she’s a rock-solid freaking badass under all of that amazing empathy and quiet wit of hers.
She glances around and then murmurs across the table at us, “You mean you didn’t know that everyone here are backstabbing, gutless, social climbers who would happily suck up to Gabe when they thought it would help them with their grades and future prospects because of your Bonds, but now that they’ve been reminded that all of you are like the strongest of the Top Tier Gifted, they’re back to talking trash like the spineless pieces of shit they all are?”
Even Sawyer stops talking to blink at his sister, the venom dripping from her words because she’s clearly so fucking over this place. I’m right there with her, and there is something extra vicious in me at the thought of these people using Gabe for the others.
Maybe the shoes were a terrible idea after all.
I lean back in my chair, grinning at Sage. “Should we set them all on fire or take the ceiling out so that they’re all crushed under it? I’m not sure I have enough control yet to fuck them up without hitting one of you guys, sorry. I’m pretty much useless.”
I’m loud enough that the table behind us starts packing up and moving out in a hurry, not fucking around with my threats because apparently they must have brains in those skulls of theirs.
Gabe glances at me. “You can’t just threaten people, Oli. Not when they all know what you can do.”
I watch as Zoey passes our table, her eyes locking on mine, and I make sure she hears my answer, “They don’t know half of what I can do, Bond. If they did, they wouldn’t dare call me or mine a monster.”
The whispers stop immediately.
Gutless fucking idiots.
SAGE OFFERS TO stick around in the library after our classes to start working on our history assignments. I’m nervous about this one, it’s the first time I’ve really felt out of my depth, and I take her up on it with so much relief written all over me that she starts a list of extra readings for me to do once I get back to the Draven manor.
Gabe, Sawyer, and Felix head off to football practice but only once they’re sure Atlas is fine to watch us both alone. Felix is particularly vehement about making sure we don’t just leave Sage behind when we’re done and Sawyer has to remind him that I’d run off into the arms of the Resistance after her the moment I’d heard she was taken.
He grins at me sheepishly but I wave him off with a laugh.
Once they make it back to us, we all split off for the night, Gabe and I piling into Atlas’ car with an easy and calm air around us all. It’s a million times better than life was even a month ago and I find myself happy, even with every fiber of my being aching.
I pushed it too hard today and I’m feeling it.
When we get back to the manor, I’m ready to eat and pass out and to hopefully avoid any of my other Bonds in the maze-like hallways. There has to be advantages to how colossal this place is, dammit!
When I say this to Gabe, he cringes at me and scratches at the back of his head. “So North messaged earlier and has moved the Bond dinners to Mondays because he’s got some council shit on Fridays now.”
I blink at him for a second before I find my words. “So you’re telling me that I can’t just shovel some pasta or bread in my face as I run up to my room because North has decreed that I have to see everyone tonight? I hate that man.”
Atlas slings his arm over my shoulder and leads me over to the elevator. “Let’s just skip it then. We can order something to be delivered and do our own thing for the night.”
I desperately want that.
I also know that North was willing to rip me out of Atlas’ bed and drag me here in the middle of the night for daring to disobey him, so it’ll never work. “It’s fine, better to get it over with now and get Friday nights back. Atlas, I hope you’re ready for the most uncomfortable meal you’ve ever eaten in your life because this is about to get rough.”
Atlas scoffs but tugs me closer, pressing his nose into my hair like he needs my scent just as badly as my bond is craving his. I wonder how strongly they all feel the pulls of our connections, whether they crave me as much as I crave them? I doubt it, because they all seem to find the distance between us much easier to handle than I do.
Damn them.
When we get to the dining room, we’re the first ones to arrive, small mercies, and we take our usual seats, except now I have Atlas on my other side. I’m hemmed in by the two of them and isn’t that just freaking perfect?
“I feel like we’re at a wake, except it’s just our wills to live that are dead,” Atlas murmurs as the kitchen doors open and the house staff begin to serve us dinner.
They usually wait until North is here and summons them. I feel so uncomfortable with them walking around and carrying out a dozen different kinds of foods for us, but the other two just start filling their plates up.
Gabe hesitates for a second before grabbing my plate and filling it for me, grabbing all of the foods he’s figured out are my favorites and adding in some of the healthy stuff he lives on. The servers all stare anywhere but at us, which feels a little too much like the students today for my liking.
Now seems like the right time to get information out of him while he’s distracted, so I lean over in my seat until I can whisper to him without the server hearing me, “Why is a shifter so scary to them? What are you hiding from me?”
He stiffens in his seat, his fork hovering halfway to his mouth as he freezes, and he clears his throat before he answers, “Why should I tell you anything about my gift, if yours is off limits? I’m happy not to push but you’re asking a lot, Bond.”
Dammit.
That was the whole reason I haven’t already tried to ask him, but thanks to him dropping little hints about how terrifying they all are, I’m now insanely curious.
I pout.
Now that we’ve found this sort of weird peace between us, a friendship that’s both a lot more than that but not at all a relationship, I feel comfortable enough to do that and know he’s not going to call me a spoiled brat or a sullen child like some of my other Bonds would definitely do.
Instead he chuckles at me and murmurs, “If you tell me one thing about your gift, one thing that no one else knows, I’ll answer all of your questions. See? I can be generous too.”
Ah, so Atlas’ little dig about covering things for me has really taken a hold under his skin. It’s fine, I can’t stop them from fighting or make them be friends, but it’s also a little like watching all of the problems we’re going to have down the track start to brew.
It might make me the biggest bitch in the world but I’m absolutely going to take it and use it to my advantage here. I have so little power in this Bond with all of these men, not with a gift that could end us all and the Resistance looking everywhere for me, so I need to just use what I can and let the cards fall where they may.
“Deal. Not right now but… later, I can do that.”
He smirks at me right as Gryphon walks in covered in mud, a bruise blooming on his cheek. My bond immediately takes offense at the sight of it, my gift bursting out of me to heal him so quickly there’s no stopping it. Gabe startles but doesn’t yelp and dive away from me, which I’m taking as progress.
Atlas watches me and carefully moves his hand on the table closer to mine so that we’re not quite touching but he’s showing me he’s here if I need him.
I don’t say a word and the moment my gift settles back into me, I pick up my fork with a shaking hand, ignoring how ridiculous I must look trying to eat like that.
“You didn’t need to do that,” Gryphon says, taking a seat in his usual spot down the table from us.
I shrug and try not to look as shaken as I feel. “I can’t help it. My bond doesn’t like seeing you guys injured, even if it is just a bruise.”
I can feel all three sets of eyes on me but I start in on my food, ignoring them as best I can.
Less than a minute later North stalks in, a savage look on his face as he takes us all in, but his eyes stay glued to the plate in front of me. I glance down at it but there’s nothing wrong with the food there, no contraband that he could get pissed off about sitting amongst the peas and corn, so I just keep my eyes down and get to finishing off the plate.
“What happened? Why is Oleander using her gift?” he says, pulling out his chair and taking a seat. He looks so agitated, I’m not sure how he thinks he’s going to be able to eat in that state.
I shove a forkful into my mouth so I don’t have to answer him but Gryphon is quick to supply, “She healed me and she didn’t mean to. We should all make sure we’re not showing up here injured or pissed off until she has more of a handle on her gift, now that she’s got it again.”
He says it all in such a matter of fact way that North doesn’t question it at all and just turns to look at me like I’ve grown a new head or suddenly started speaking a dead language.
“Noted. I’ll speak to Nox about it later as well, he’s… tied up.”
Tied up.
There’s a whole lot of nope behind those words and I don’t want to know about it at all. It’s not until we’re all eating again, North and Gryphon talking about council business amicably, that the door opens again, because of course I’m not going to get through this dinner without facing them all.
Of course.
Nox stalks in with one of his usual girls, Lana, tucked in under his arm and once again, my bond ignores it. He’s really managed to piss it off, which is helpful because he’s not easing up on his dickish behavior at all.
When Lana tries to grab the chair next to Gryphon, he stops her and snaps, “Out. You’re not welcome.”
The room falls quiet and Nox’s eyes shift between Gryphon and me. I try not to look guilty, which should be easy because I’ve done nothing wrong, but I think I fail miserably.
Lana giggles but it’s an awkward sound. “But Nox invited me, you just want me to leave?”
Gryphon raises his eyebrows at her and I’ve never been so uncomfortable in my life. “I’m not asking you, I’m telling you to leave this house right now. Either you do it yourself, or I make you.”
She takes a step away from him slowly, as though she’s afraid he’s about to strike with… whatever the hell he can do.
Am I the only person who doesn’t know what all of my Bonds are capable of?
No one says a word to intervene, and North even picks his knife and fork back up to get back to his meal, the clearest dismissal of this entire mess that I’ve ever seen. Nox watches as Lana walks out, her shoulders slumped in a way that should make me feel sorry for the girl, but also fuck her because she knows he has a Bond. She knows and she came here in an attempt to rub their sex life in my face.
Shit.
Don’t think about any of them having sex lives without you, Oli. Your bond is already feeling delicate and volatile!
Sure enough, my fingers tremble with the power of my gift swirling through my veins, ready to strike out at any of them who might dare to want another woman instead of me. I shift in my seat, shrinking back from Atlas and Gabe so I don’t accidentally destroy one of them with my jealous bond.
I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath, my head swirling with all of the emotions I won’t let myself feel but that my bond is writhing with. Jealousy, anger, wrath, blood, pain, destroy them all.
Fuck, my periods are going to be next level now that my gift is back, I can freaking tell already.
“That’s why you need to quit provoking her until we know what she can do. No more women. No more, Nox.”
My eyes snap open at the sound of Gryphon’s voice to find him pointing at me with a glare pointed in Nox’s direction. I’m so focused on the two of them that I startle when Atlas’ fingers slide against my own, threading them together until he’s got a hold of me. I glance down at them and look at him with all of the shock and fear that I’m feeling at him willingly touching me.
He smirks at me, then leans over to murmur in my ear, “Bombproof, remember?”
God, I hope he really is.
I hope he’ll survive me.
