Blood Bonds(The Bonds That Tie #3)(63)

He nods and pulls his helmet off, throwing it to the ground. “I can’t see as well with that thing on. Let’s go burn this hellhole to the ground. Preferably, with my father still in it.”





Chapter Nineteen





Oli


I’ve never been to this camp before which is both a blessing and a bit annoying. A blessing because there’s no hidden memories about to jump out and paralyze me and annoying because how many of these stupid things does the Resistance have hiding around the place? How many innocent Gifted have they kidnapped, brainwashed, tortured, and murdered?

How many little girls have been hurt and assaulted here?

“Don’t think about it; I don’t want your bond triggered right now. We’re going for stealth. We don’t need an outright massacre here just yet,” Gryphon murmurs, and I glance at him with a slow nod. He’s right, but it’s hard to shake those feelings. The ghosts walking around here with us are thick in the air, and the ominous feeling has my bond on high alert.

The camp either doesn’t have Gifted-sorting people, or there’s still so much chaos happening with the new arrivals that no one sounds the alarm that we’ve arrived. Gryphon uses mostly hand signals to move his teams through the small amount of swampy bush cover that’s here, and I just follow his instructions that he gives me directly through our Bond connection.

Just let the Teams do what they’re trained to do. We’re here as support, not to do the heavy lifting.

I glance at North and nod, tucking into Atlas’ side a little tighter to visibly show them all that I’m playing by the rules. Not because I’ve lost my spine or anything, I just don’t want them getting hurt from being distracted by me running off for no good reason.

I trust Gryphon and his team. I trust Kieran because he’s already proved himself to me, and I trust the rest of them because anyone trained and vetted by Gryphon is good enough for me.

He’s sort of a hard-ass, and no one could skate through under his watchful eye.

There’s a few minutes of quiet where only noises from the camp can be heard as we creep forward through the scrub as one, and then there’s an explosion on the other side of the camp as one of the tents goes up in a giant ball of flames.

My bond takes the helm immediately, my panic at the unexpected fire show kicking its protective measures into action. I’m still in there enough to know what’s going on and to argue with my bond if I need to, but it’s definitely in control. The shadows both come to heel at my feet, ready to protect me from anything that might come my way.

The Everlasting One notices straight away but stays close, dipping his head at me respectfully. He’s known about me for a long time, learned all of the ways to court a bond like me, and when I smile back at him, it’s all teeth.

“We should kill them all now. The only good Resistance soldier is a dead one.”

There’s movement around us as the operatives all move into the camp, gunfire and shouts ringing in the air, but the Everlasting One ignores it all. He inclines his head to me as though he agrees but says, “Mostly yes, but information is key right now. Someone here might know where Davies is, or what they’re planning next, and we want the man who dared to touch you gone.”

A carrot on a stick, effective because it’s true.

I want that man dead. I want to be fully Bonded and tear him apart slowly. I want to feed him piece by piece to the shadows at my feet.

A voice sounds in my ear through a small machine. “Bassinger, stop riling her up and keep clear of the rest of us until we’ve secured the area.”

I don’t like hearing them in my ear like that, but when I move to bat the earpiece out, the Everlasting One grabs my hand to stop me, gently moving me over to where there’s cover for us to watch the operatives work.

They’re efficient.

Outnumbered ten-to-one, they pick off the runners and what Transporters they can. I watch as they work and the Everlasting One takes out a gun of his own, checking the safety as he holds it at his side. He offers me one, but I shake my head. I’m a god, a gun means nothing to me.

We need to have a conversation about this ‘god’ stuff sometime soon, Bond.

I ignore my Bonded and watch as he directs his people into the camps to flush out more of the enemy soldiers. There are stragglers everywhere, a few of them making it to the scrub before the operatives take them out. I don’t think we’re expecting much from it but when the Everlasting One curses viciously, I look up to find a blonde woman staring back at him, shell shocked.

When her face finally twists into a snarl, the girl inside of me whispers that it is his sister.

She takes a step towards him and I move in front of him, raising my own arm, only to have him press up close to my back, murmuring to me, “Don’t kill her, Bond. We can take her in and deal with her however North decides, but just—”

His sister turns on her heel and runs, bullets hitting her body and bouncing off of her because her gift is the same as her brother’s.

The girl tries to take control again, to force me into submission, but I keep the helm. “Agreed. The shadows will take care of this for us.”

The Everlasting One looks over at me, but I snap my fingers until the shadow pup comes to my side. “I need her alive and as untouched as you can manage without being hurt yourself. Fetch her for me.”