The packing to set up camp in Alaska is about as difficult as it sounds. I’m only allowed to take the same bag that I’d taken on the overnight mission with Gryphon and Nox, but the extra layers I need for warmth make it near impossible to feel as though I have enough supplies. We don’t know how long we’re going to be camped out before we take over the Resistance’s area, thanks to our need for recon and our inability to entrust that work to anyone else.
Besides my entire Bonded Group, we’re also taking Sage, Kieran, Felix, Sawyer, Gray, and Aro with us.
Sawyer is going to be pivotal in shutting down their camp’s security. He’s the only person I know who can hack into it before we even get in there. Gray has been training to be able to fight alongside us, and he’s been showing a lot of promise as a TacTeam personnel. Honestly, we need as many bodies as we can get, and his Gift is strong enough that he is going to be an asset.
Both of them had refused to come unless Aro did as well.
She’s keen to pull her own weight but also to see the destruction of the people who had kidnapped and hurt her. She’s reluctantly leaving her little brother behind with Vivian and his Bonded, the only people we trust enough to keep the little boy safe in our stead.
I can’t wait until we can all just go back to hanging out and acting like the college students we’re supposed to be. I’m not sure we’ll ever get that back but, fuck it, I can hold on to that image right now to get me through this.
When I finally emerge from my closet with my bag, still fretting that I don’t have enough stuff, Atlas immediately takes it from my shoulders and slings it over his own. I want to argue with him about it, but I’m also keenly aware that he doesn’t even feel the weight of it, thanks to his own Gift.
I’m also struggling to move with the giant, tactical puffer jacket I’m sweating in in preparation for the snow.
“It’s probably barely going to be cold there. You do realize it’s the middle of summer, right, Sweetness?” Atlas says with a bemused grin, and I shake my head at him.
“It’s Alaska. It’s going to be cold. I’m sure of it.”
“Have you ever been to Alaska?“ he asks, grinning and totally ready to give me shit about this.
I nod my head because I’m not a dumbass who’s going to get caught again. “My parents took me there while we were on our glorious traveling trip that I’ve now found out was us running for our lives. I nearly lost a toe to frostbite.”
He shakes his head at me, biting off his grin, but I can tell he’s just tickled by my misery. “I highly doubt that your parents would’ve let it get that close, Bonded.”
When we make our way out to the kitchen, we find the rest of the Bonded Group already waiting there, each of them carrying their own heavy packs and dressed for cooler weather, though none of them have taken it to the extreme that I have.
Gabe bursts out laughing at the sight of me, and Gryphon rolls his eyes as though I’m being overly dramatic. I glance down at myself. “You guys all understand that it’s Alaska, right?!”
I try to wrestle my pack back off of Atlas so that they don’t have anything else to tease me about, but he just nudges me out of the way, stalking forward to get us all moving. I follow behind him and try not to stomp my feet too much at everyone happily giving me shit.
North raises his eyebrow at me, waiting me out, and I break so damn quick under his silent stare. “I don’t do well in cold climates. I can deal with the rain. I can even deal with blistering heat, but add a few inches of snow and I’m ready to run for the hills.”
The idea that we could be camping out in it makes me sick to my stomach, far more than facing the Resistance ever has. That probably has more to do with my inhumane ability to compartmentalize than anything else, but that’s besides the point.
I don’t want to camp in the Arctic freaking Circle.
I’m expecting to take one of the ATVs down to North’s office, but when I get outside the house, I find Kieran, Sage, and the rest of our family waiting for us. They’re all suitably packed, and I’m pleased to see Sage has an extra sweater on.
She tries, and fails, to hold back a laugh at the sight of me.
Sawyer doesn’t even attempt it.
“It’s summer, Oli.”
I consider throwing something at him. “I know what season it is, thank you! Clearly none of you have ever been trapped in a snowstorm before!”
There is one person amongst the group who could very easily call me out on my shit, having had a front row seat to the entire history of my life, but Nox doesn’t look up from where he’s busy poring over his tablet. All of his research and information has been loaded onto it to get him through the next few days of being stuck in the camp, and he’s already blocking us all out while he works.
North had offered to have him stay behind to continue his research. With Kieran at our disposal, it would be easy enough to bring him in when we were ready to move. Even before my stomach had the chance to sink at the idea of being split up, Nox had dismissed that idea.
He’d been so straightforward in his reply. “We agreed to stick together. I can work from anywhere.”
He’s close to something. I already know it. The way that North and Gryphon have been acting recently says they know it too. I trust him to speak to me when he’s ready, whenever that may be.
Instead of tying myself into knots over it, I focus on making sure that I’m not a weak link in our Bonded Group. I’m so hellbent on making sure that it isn’t just my bond who is a weapon for us all.
I’m going to be one too.
I sidle up to Sage and Aro as we get ready to make the jump, grateful when Gryphon tucks into my side as well with those magic healing hands of his.
There are a lot of things that could go wrong when we land, even having already sent out scout groups to set up and secure the area for us. So even though I’m tempted to make some smartass comments with my friends and laugh all of this off, I take a deep breath and roll my shoulders back, preparing myself to unleash my Gift the second our feet touch the ground, should I need to.
I meet North’s eyes across the group and try not to blush at the pride that’s there as he looks me over. For a long time, I didn’t think that I would ever truly feel as though I was worthy of his admiration and loyalty, but I’m starting to now.
Kieran does one last headcount and then gets into position. “Look alive, people! Everyone grab my arm. Sawyer, I will snap your fingers off if you even attempt to be funny right now, and I’ll persuade Felix to let you sit in discomfort for the rest of the day. Right, we’re leaving. Three, two, one…”
Gabe makes a big show of finding out the temperature when we arrive, but it’s at least sixty degrees without a single cloud in the sky. I refuse to back down on my stance that it could snow at any second, though I do take off my winter jacket and stash it away in our tent pretty quickly.
The camp is in a small clearing in an otherwise dense forest, and I’m worried about the potential of being eaten by wildlife until Gryphon points out that we have shields in place that will protect us from anything that might want to have us for dinner. It only makes me fractionally less concerned.
As soon as we’ve dropped off our packs, North and Gryphon disappear to speak to the operatives who have already been here a few days, and I prepare myself for the inevitability that I’m going to see very little of them until we return to the Sanctuary.
We will all return to the Sanctuary.
There’s no question in my mind this time that we’re all making it home, and I distract myself by finding someone to give me some jobs to do. I let Azrael down from behind my ear to walk alongside us now that we’re here in a working capacity. No one can argue with an extra set of eyes here to help out, even if it’s in the form of a shadow creature.
North and Nox have already both let some other shadow creatures down to act as scouts. Even though I know that Azrael isn’t a real puppy, it feels wrong to leave him tucked behind my ear when we’re out in the wild like this.
He plays his part beautifully, bouncing around in the foliage and snapping at the leaves as we go past even though his jaws drift straight through them. I catch Atlas smiling at him as he bounces from fallen log to fallen log. I won’t call him out on it, but it does warm me.
There’s still more operatives to come, and we go about putting up more tents for them and setting up generators to help out. Gabe makes a joke about helping to dig out latrines, but Atlas shoves him into a pile of dead leaves before offering to hold anything that I might need help with, as though they’re not being giant children right now.
Sage disappears with Felix to help him get the medical tent put together nicely, and Sawyer buries himself in his computers, growling and grumping at the setup he’s been given to work with, though I know he’s glad to not be left behind while everyone else is out here.
I know how it feels to be the only one left behind.
Things have also changed for him now that he has found his Central Bond. He’s never been quite so motivated to deal with the Resistance as he is now that he knows what they did to her. The fight for him is no longer about morals or his community but about the girl he’s growing to love, the person who he and Gray are destined to be with, and the missing connection in their Bond.
With his devious mind, I almost feel sorry for the Resistance.
They have no idea who they’re dealing with and who they’ve pissed off.
Aro herself comes over to help put up tents with us, Gray following along and watching her carefully. She smiles at him shyly, a little more reserved now that she’s not having to put a brave face on around her brother. Gray doesn’t seem to mind, talking to her quietly as they work out how to construct the makeshift lodgings.
He’s softer with her than he’s ever been with Sawyer, taking a different approach to his Central Bond, and the cocky, ice hockey hottie I’d first met is melting into a considerate and respectful gentleman.
I sort of want to scoff at the idea of him being the same guy as the one Kieran had to drag out of a party with his shirt undone from hooking up with Sawyer in a broom closet.
We’ve all come so far from there.
We get all of the extra tents put up and then head back to the main area of the camp to eat lunch together and find out if there is any more work that needs to be done.
Aro and Gray are happy to spend the whole day with us, and Gabe enjoys the break from all of the building he’s been doing. It’s as though this mission, which is probably going to be our biggest and most blood-soaked yet, is a little holiday for him. He enjoys messing around and being a bit of an idiot, only stopping when Sage and Felix join us for something to eat.
I’m shocked to see Felix at first, but he just shrugs his shoulders at me. “No one’s injured yet, so until the fighting begins, I’m mostly just running inventory and catching up on my notes.”
We had brought sandwiches with us, knowing that the fresh food wouldn’t last very long and it would be our last chance to eat a stacked BLT with extras for a long while. There isn’t a dining hall or any sort of area specifically cordoned off for us to eat in. Instead, we spread out near the tree line, where we’ll be able to keep an eye on the entire camp but not be in anyone’s way at the same time.
Aro grabs something for Sawyer and takes that into his tent filled with computers before she joins us. I call out to North, Gryphon, and Nox, just to be sure that they don’t need anything from us, but they’re all too busy to stop to eat.
When we spread out on the ground, Gabe, ever the social butterfly, calls out to a few of the TacTeam personnel to speak to them.
I only recognize Rockelle, who nods his head at us in what I’m sure he is hoping is a respectful manner, and Atlas huffs out a breath in a pissed off sort of way. There might not be bad blood between the two of them, per se, but my Bonded still doesn’t like him.
All four of the guys that Gabe calls out to are carrying food of their own, and he invites them to sit with us, ignoring the savage glare that Atlas throws at him.
We’re going to be here for weeks, probably. There’s no point in holing ourselves away from the rest of the teams, Gabe sends through our mind link where Atlas can hear it too.
I don’t want to admit that I’m siding with Atlas here, antisocial thanks to all of the judgment I get constantly, and instead I send a tight-lipped smile to one of the guys that I recognize from our last mission.
“Oleander, but my friends call me Oli,” I say as I stretch out my hand to him.
I’m sure he already knows this. I’m sure everybody in this camp already knows this, thanks to the Bonded Group I belong to, but he takes my hand regardless.
“Tyrone Evans, I’m one of the Transporters.”
He introduces me to the other men and then tucks into his own sandwich, laughing along with the story that Gabe is telling about the buildings back home.
Rockelle takes a huge bite of his sandwich and chews once before swallowing, grossly efficient at getting food down his throat, before he asks Gabe, “How far away are the houses from being finished? I know that I’m speaking out of turn about it, but sharing with eight other personnel isn’t my idea of home.”
Gabe smiles back ruefully. “Unfortunately, unless you find your Bonded Group, that’s where you’re going to have to stay. There’s too many people on the entry list to start prioritizing single dwellings.”
Rockelle nods and takes a sip of the can of Coke before he sets it down at his feet.
Evans nudges at him with his shoulder. “You could always move into my house, but I’ve gotta tell you, living with three-year-old twins isn’t going to be an easier ride than the frat house you’re currently living in. Five a.m. starts ain’t shit when you’re not parenting.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “And are those twins yours? That seems kind of intense.”
He grins at me, beaming with pride. “Yep, two little boys. I have a six-week-old son as well.”
I have to stop my mouth from gaping at him as I look him over again. He certainly does not look old enough to be a happy father of three. I’m clearly not doing a very good job at subtlety because he laughs at me.
“I found my Bonded Group young, and both of my Bonded weren’t exactly keen on waiting around for the Resistance to be done messing up our lives before we had a family of our own. I’ve got to admit, having a family to fight for and come back to keeps me going when we’re out here facing all this shit.”
It’s hard to argue with that.
Atlas nods and glances around at the other men, but they’re all back on the conversation about the work Gabe is doing with the housing, and I’m too proud of my Bonded to interrupt his happy stories of errant nail guns.
Evans glances around the group and then clears his throat quietly, glancing back to me. “I don’t want to speak out of turn here, but I just wanted to say thank you for coming and for helping out. I know that most people are terrified of your Gift and what it is that you can do, but I’ve served under Shore for a long time, and I trust his judgment.”
He looks out into the density of the trees before he continues, his face like a blank slate that speaks volumes on its own. “I’ve also seen the things that the Resistance do to the people that they catch, and I’m not going to bite the hand that feeds. Having your entire Bonded Group here has been the first time that I’ve actually thought we have a chance at winning this. Hell, it’s the first time that we’ve walked into a fight without knowing that we’re completely outgunned. I might actually get the chance to see those little kids of mine grow up. They might have the chance to have Bonded Groups of their own too.”
He says it with the type of wonder in his voice that tugs at my heart, like he’s been out here fighting in the TacTeams without any sort of hope that they’ll win, but doing it anyway because it’s the right thing to do.
I wonder how many of Gryphon’s men have felt this way.
I swallow the last bite of my sandwich and look back over my shoulder at Gabe’s grinning face, the sun shining on his golden hair, making him look even more like the golden child of the group. He catches my eye and grins at me before I glance back at Evans.
“Whatever it takes, we’re going to get rid of them all.”
