Blood Bonds(The Bonds That Tie #3)(3)

With those morose thoughts, I almost miss it.

It starts with Gryphon’s fingers thrumming against the leather seats, a small outlet for his frustration. The calm over Nox’s face, something I’ve barely seen before and that had only taken place when his own bloodlust had been sated, slowly melts away until the furrow in his brow is firmly back in place.

Blood and pain.

My bond hasn’t stopped whispering to me all morning, telling me all about the darkest and most blood-soaked things it wants to do to every member of the Resistance we come across today. It makes it harder for me to notice that same tension entering me that has taken hold of the other two, but once I see the scowl on Gryphon’s face, I take stock of myself.

My skin feels tight with irritation, as though it’s pulled tighter over my frame now than it was ten minutes ago, and my entire body feels restless. There’s a tension in me that wasn’t there before. Something is happening within our Bond.

Oleander.

I don’t have my phone with me, protocol on this sort of mission, and I try not to sound panicked or desperate when I murmur to Gryphon, “Contact Oleander. Tell me where she is right now.”

His eyes flick to mine, the frown still firmly in place, and there’s the slightest pause before he curses and his eyes flash white as he calls on his gift for an extra boost.

It’s all I need to see to know that I’m not wrong, that something is happening right now that even with hundreds of miles between us, I can feel her there under my skin. We might be Unbonded but it doesn’t matter, she’s there in my blood and the deepest, darkest corners of my soul.

The panic gets worse.

Nox is watching us both keenly, not faking his usual indifference when it’s only the three of us, and when Gryphon curses again, he drawls, “Where is she? Are we about to go running after our little poisonous Bond again?”

Gryphon ignores him as he grabs out his comms, a feat because even I want to snarl at his jabs and I’m sure being Bonded only makes this feeling a million times worse. When he doesn’t get an answer on the comms, he unbuckles his seatbelt and lurches into the front of the truck, coming back with his phone and a vaguely sick look on his face.

I take a deep breath and count down from ten to keep myself in line, forcing my bond back from lashing out.

“Kieran isn’t answering me,” Gryphon says as his scowl deepens, and I want to reach across the backseat and choke the answer out of him, another sign that something has gone wrong in the hours since we left the mansion.

My bond is writhing with bloodlust.

“She’s not answering me either. Get Gabe on the phone, call Bassinger too,” Gryphon snaps, throwing the phone to me as he presses both of his palms against his temples like he’s in pain.

Nox’s eyes meet mine, but he looks as though he’s about to tear the driver out of the seat and turn this truck around. “What’s wrong? Why do you look like you’re about to puke?”

“Because I pushed to get her to answer and she’s not… there. She’s not ignoring me, there’s something in the way. Something is wrong, get Gabe on the line now.”

Except we left a lot more than just the other Bonds behind to keep an eye on her.

As I start dialing, Nox’s eyes shift to black and Gryphon watches him check in with the… Brutus, like it’s the only lifeline in the middle of the ocean while we’re all drowning.

“She’s alive. She’s breathing, I can’t see much else, but he’s with her, so no one will get within spitting distance without him consuming them. Take a breath, Gryph, she’s alive.”

He doesn’t look any better at that news. “Well then, where the fuck is she? Don’t tell me to calm down when she’s gone again.”

When the phone finally clicks as Gabe answers, I hear Bassinger snarling down the line, “So now you lot want to call us? Well, you’re too fucking late!”

Gryphon’s eyes snap to mine, too wide and glassy, thanks to the push he’d given his connection with his Bonded.

I snarl into the phone, “What the fuck has happened? We’ve been gone less than twelve hours—”

Gryphon cuts me off, snarling, “Where the fuck is she, Bassinger? I will come back there and tear your fucking spine out of your throat, if you had anything to do with this!”

Bassinger scoffs at him, a savage sort of sound, and snarls back, “Your useless, fucking asshole second took her, and they haven’t come back! I will fucking kill you all if she’s hurt. I’ll gut that fucking dickhead Black too.”





Chapter Two





Oli


I wake up strapped to a chair, the smells of smoke, body odor, and despair hitting my nostrils, and my stomach turns as I squeeze my eyes shut tighter. There’s rustling and quiet murmuring of two women in here, the noises a sign of them cleaning something here in the tent up, and I don’t want them to know I’m awake yet.

It’s hard to keep the disgust off of my face.

The stench here is familiar, a particular blend of gross that I’d been hoping to never come across again, and I have to choke back the bile that creeps up the back of my throat. Kieran and I were separated right away but not before I’d been forced to watch three guards beat the shit out of him.

No one lifted a finger against me, but I already knew they wouldn’t.