BLACK CURLS of smoke writhe around Bassinger’s body as he struggles against my nightmares, the disembodied limbs claw at his skin as I keep them from consuming him entirely.
He’s a pain in the ass and I don’t have time to placate him right now because not even Athena Bassinger’s nephew can distract me from the cluster-fuck of incompetency and mismanagement that happened on the college campus this morning.
After we’d cleared out the front buildings, we were working our way through the courtyard when Gryphon got the call from Black to say that Oleander had been taken. It was only when we caught up with Gabe and Bassinger that we found out she’d left them behind the moment they’d turned their backs on her.
Once a runner, always a runner.
“She’s my fucking Bond, you can’t keep me from going to her,” Bassinger snarls, and I have to force my eyes not to roll at him. It’s the same bullshit he’d been spitting at me from the moment I’d had to disable him when the others had left.
I was too late to stop Gabe and if the little shit gets himself injured, I’ll have him screaming in terror for the rest of his natural life for running after her. If she were a normal Bond, someone who actually gave a fuck about any of us, then I’d be more forgiving, but she proved how little she thinks of us all a long time ago. There are many names I’ve been called in my life but a blind fool isn’t one of them.
I tug my tie away from my neck and let the silk slowly unravel. “You were never taught to share, were you? Your ‘only child syndrome’ is showing. She’s our Bond and she ran off at the first signs of chaos, exactly like we all knew she would. Have you seen through her little charade yet? Or are you still so infatuated with the feel of her bond that you can’t think past your dick?”
The tattoos on his neck stand out as he strains against the smoke again in a futile attempt to get free and, very probably, knock my front teeth out. We’re locked away in my office, waiting on the signal from Gryphon and Nox for an evacuation, and with no witnesses around, I’m comfortable enough to grin at him in an animalistic baring of teeth. No part of me right now is the sophisticated councilman. No, I’m nothing but the monster.
The next Draven man in a long line of cursed men, never to know peace or comfort.
I watch as Bassinger’s lip curls at me, no fear in him, which means he either has no idea of what I’m capable of, or that he thinks he can take me on. Either way, he’s stupid and reckless, another liability in our Bond group.
Oleander is bad enough.
We’re interrupted by a knock at the door, a hesitant sound that is easy to distinguish as my assistant in an utterly panicked state over everything that has happened in the last four hours. I let the calm and sure mask settle back over my features, the measures I’m forced to take to inhabit this world without being hunted in the night.
Little do they all know that I’m most comfortable in the dark.
“Come in.”
Penelope looks terrified as she enters, taking a deep breath as she approaches me. Every inch of her body is shaking as she clears her throat twice before she can speak. “The Delta TacTeam has made their way through all of the students who were on campus during the attack. We have forty-two with injuries, but thankfully no deaths to report yet.”
Her eyes flick over to where Atlas is being restrained and what little color her face was desperately holding on to vanishes until she’s the shade of a fresh powder of snow. I take a half step in front of him and give her a reassuring smile. “Mr. Bassinger isn’t thinking rationally. I’ve been forced to take extreme measures to keep him here but rest assured, he is both safe and unharmed.”
She swallows again and her eyes flick back to mine as her chin wobbles just a little. She’s new around here, the daughter of one of the more affluent families, and she’s been sniffing around after me as though she thought that sleeping with the boss was the best way to get a cushy ride and easy paycheck.
I’ve been through dozens of assistants with the same attitude but none of them make it past this moment, the moment where the curtain is pulled back and there’s no mistaking exactly what I am.
She clears her throat again and holds out a sheet of paper to me, her hand trembling a little. “There’s also reports that Miss Fallows went after her friend, Sage Benson. She didn’t attempt to run, despite the earlier… speculation. We spoke to Gracie Davenport and she was adamant that Miss Fallows went after her friend. I thought you’d want to know this information.”
I find that very hard to believe.
My chest is still tight, my jaw aching from how hard I’m grinding my teeth together, and when she visibly gulps at me, I can’t muster up the energy to placate her. She excuses herself and practically runs from the room, stumbling at the door.
Bassinger waits until it’s shut behind her before he snaps, “See? Hate her all you want but you’re wrong. She’s not running from her Bonds. She’s not running from me.”
My phone starts buzzing in my pocket and when I fish it out, I find Gryphon’s name flashing at me, GPS coordinates, and a single line to tell me he has Oleander and Gabe secured.
“Keep thinking that, Bassinger, and she’ll lead you right into hell.”
