Blood Bonds(The Bonds That Tie #3)(30)

“Shit, sorry! I’m still figuring out how to do that!” Sage stutters, and Felix steps back over to reassure her, but my attention is drawn elsewhere.

Mainly over to where Kieran is staring at Sage with something close to… wonder.

What the fuck is that?!

He notices the daggers I’m staring into the side of his head. When his eyes swing in my direction, my own eyes drop down to his leg, where his Tac gear is still cut up. Where the long gash that had only been partially healed in a rush job before they came for me should be, there’s now nothing but freshly healed skin.

My jaw almost hits the goddamn ground, but then Kieran glares at me savagely and my brain kicks back in. Of course it isn’t my place to freak the fuck out about this, in a crowded room full of people we definitely don’t trust, because there are TacTeam people here, waiting on orders from North, and some other men in suits.

North’s assistant, who I hadn’t noticed had arrived and who is hovering in the corner, is watching him obsessively, and nothing about my time away has lessened my urge to gouge her eyeballs out.

I’ve just been pulled off of him while I needed him, to pee and be healed, but having this bitch staring him down is unacceptable to me.

“Pen, you should head home now that we have this all under control,” Gryphon says as he pulls me back out of the seat and plants himself in front of me, his arms crossed over his chest and his tone very firm. He’s a lot less friendly with her, a very welcome change, and my bond settles a little in my chest at his loyalty.

Gabe steps in, flanking me as though he’s prepared for this to all go very badly, but I like having him close to me again.

She makes a disgruntled noise, like she’s pissed at him, but then North cuts her off with a no-bullshit sort of tone, “Go home, and don’t come in tomorrow either. I’ll arrange a time for us to meet at the council offices. The manor is going down to minimal contact, and you’re not on the security list.”

Oh.

Oh, I like that a lot.

I try to keep the smug look off of my face at his words, but Gabe snorts at me and shakes his head, so I’m obviously failing. Well, who cares really, because she was more than okay with walking into his room with me in his bed. With a key. Picking out his clothes.

His underwear.

“Take a deep breath. Another one, Bonded,” Gryphon murmurs, his head turned slightly my way but his body is still between me and the room. I’m now not entirely sure if he’s doing it for my protection or theirs.

I should do the right thing and get the fuck out of here.

I fumble around until I get a hold of Gabe’s hand, sidestepping until I’m tucked into his body. He accepts me without question or hesitation, turning towards me and wrapping his free arm around me protectively.

When I rise up onto my tiptoes, he bends down to meet me halfway, tilting his head so I can whisper into his ear, “Take me somewhere, please. Somewhere on this level where we can be alone but still close. I can’t… I can’t handle—”

He looks at me like he’s expecting me to burst into tears, with a vague sort of panic, and then he murmurs in a placating tone, “Okay, I can do that. C’mon, Bond. I know where to go.”

He leads me down a hallway I’ve never seen before—the place is ridiculous—and then we duck into a small alcove that is carved out of one of the walls. There’s a large potted plant in the entrance that partially covers the loveseat built into the wall, and there’s a small bookcase with old tomes on it.

The Dravens really love their books.

Gabe tugs me over to the loveseat, which is the size of a double bed really, and covered in European cushions, and when he sits on it, I glance around the space a little more. It’s too open, more open than what I was hoping for, and my bond starts getting pissy in my chest all over again.

I make an unhappy sound in the back of my throat, and Gabe grins lazily at me, even if it feels a little forced, and says, “There’s not a lot of options here, Bond. I’m working with what we have.”

When my eyes flash back to black, the grins falters and he gulps, but I move to tug his shirt back over his head and shove him down on the chair. I want to strip and press our bodies together. Hell, what I really want to do is fuck him against the wall until his scent is all over me and his cum drips down my legs in the most brutal and obvious branding, but my senses are still too aware of all of the extra bodies in the house and the giant opening to this little alcove he’s brought me to.

I don’t want anyone to see what’s mine.

So instead, I curl up on his chest, pressing my ear against the steady beat of his heart, and burrow into his warmth. He moves slowly to wrap his arms around me and hold me, as though he’s worried he’ll trigger some animalistic response from me that loses him a limb. My bond enjoys that sort of respect from him.

The fact that he’s so sure of how dangerous I really am is comforting somehow.

I huff, frustrated at the layers still between us, and lean back to pull the sweater off of myself. Gabe swallows roughly, color bright and high on his cheeks as he sees me bare to the waist, but he doesn’t attempt to stop me. When I press myself in tight against him again, he grabs the sweater and covers my back up. Another point in his favor. My bond likes him coveting me just as hard as I covet him.

“Can you change back? If I promise not to move away or cover either of us up? Gryph’s going to kill me if he sees you like this again,” Gabe mutters, and I wrestle my bond back into the background of my mind again.