Blood Bonds(The Bonds That Tie #3)(31)

He takes a deep breath when he feels my bond ease away, his hand rubbing down my spine in one long stroke that almost has me melting all over him. Weeks of sitting in a Resistance camp has every inch of my body tense and sore.

“Ugh, I probably smell. How can you stand me being this close to you right now?” I mumble, and he shrugs.

“Maybe if I shifted you’d be bad, but the need to have you here is greater than your stink so far. Besides, keeping your bond happy is more important than a bit of dirt and sweat.”

He chuckles quietly at me grumbling under my breath, but when I attempt to pull away, he just tightens his arms and gets back to stroking my spine until I turn into putty right there on top of him. I might be desperate for a shower and a proper sleep in a comfortable bed, but this little moment between us? It feels like pure magic, and I know the moment my bond starts pulling from his energy.

“You’re glowing again. Shit, I think I am too.”

My eyes feel as though they weigh about a million pounds as I murmur, my voice slurring with fatigue, “Sorry about that. I think I’m stealing your energy.”

His answer comes through to my brain like a dream, whispered but still meaningful. “Take it. Take whatever you want, just don’t fucking leave me again.”

I startle awake to two very terse Bonds speaking over each other at us both some unknown amount of time later.

“What the hell is going on?”

“You’re in the open. Where the fuck is her shirt?”

Gabe’s chest moves underneath me like he’s motioning with his arm, but my eyes stay glued shut. I’m tired, too tired to deal with any of them, and he’s so warm and comfortable.

He whispers, “Her bond came out again. I did whatever I had to, just like we all agreed, to stop her from a full-blown reign of bond terror on everyone in the house who isn’t her Bond. She’s still healing, maybe, or—is this nesting? Or something like it? She needs skin and scent, and her bond does not want to be argued with.”

It’s quiet for a moment, and then Gryphon says, “Good work. Everyone else has left now, and it’s only a skeleton staff on, so we can get her upstairs without bumping into anyone.”

I hear movement again and then Gabe says, “If you’re going to take her, you need to get your shirt off. She’s not interested in clothes right now.”

Smart boy, I definitely do want skin.

Horny, tantrum-throwing bond. I huff a little, and Gabe stiffens again like he’s afraid my bond is about to wreck their shit, and his hand strokes down my spine again. He’s very good at this whole calming, petting thing he has going on for me right now. I could honestly start purring.

“I’ll take her up, Gabe. You go ahead and make sure no one uses this hallway or the elevator.”

“Is she staying in your room? She’s been very vocal about not doing that.”

North’s arms are tight around me as he lifts me up, and Gabe rolls up onto his feet, immediately grabbing the sweater to cover my back up. I tuck my face into the column of North’s neck and breathe him in, taking in everything I could ever need from him as well.

I just need Atlas back, and then maybe I’ll be whole again.

“I’ll kill my assistant if I have to, no one is going to burst into any room in this house going forward. We’re on a security lockdown, and if Oleander wants to sleep somewhere else, she can when she wakes up. Until then, she’s staying with me.”

Oh, I like that too. I like that a lot.





Chapter Ten





Oli


My eyes flutter open at the sound of the shower turning on, and North’s arms tense around me as he readjusts his hold to stick his hand under the stream of water, checking the temperature. I’m still wearing Nox’s sweater but my pants have been stripped off, leaving me in my underwear, and my face is pressed into his neck so that I’m surrounded by his scent once again.

I clear my throat and try not to sound like an embarrassed child as I say, “I’m awake. You can just put me down.”

He doesn’t answer me as he steps fully into the shower stall and then sits down on the built-in marble bench that runs along one of the walls, still holding me close to his chest. I really should get my face out of the crook of his shoulder and face the man, but we’re in a shower stall together and I feel a little light-headed at what’s happening here right now.

Especially the part where I have no fucking idea of what that is.

I clear my throat again and finally he says, “Do you need something to drink? When did you last have something? Your bond wouldn’t accept anything from us while it was in control.”

Holy shit.

How long was my bond in control, and what the hell did it do if he’s in here cuddling up to me and pulling me into a shower?

“This morning… or how long was I asleep? Maybe yesterday.”

He nods and starts to tug at the sweater to get it off of my body. “This morning. You’ve only been asleep for an hour. I thought you might sleep through the shower.”

The moment he gets the sweater over my head, I realize I have nothing on underneath the damned thing. I finally sit up a little in his lap to unwind myself from him and freak out about this, wrapping my arms around my chest and shooting him a very scandalized look.