Blood Bonds(The Bonds That Tie #3)(65)

I ignore them both but the girl has a lot of feelings about the conversation. Feelings mean nothing to me.

We arrive at the clearing and find that the men and women wearing black and vests with lots of weapons are standing around taking stock of the damage here.

It’s mostly my work.

The Shifter and the Everlasting One direct me over to a group and begin talking to some of the men, all of whom are watching me from the corners of their eyes like they think I’ll be taking them out next.

What fun that would be, but not right now.

As my bond finally leaves me with that last little delightful thought, slipping back into the inner recesses of my mind, I shake out my limbs until I feel more like myself again. There’s some pain in my legs that I’ll need to stretch out later but, otherwise, I’m okay.

We got through that experience okay.

“If you’re about to lie down and take a nap, lemme know. I’ll call Shore to come carry you around again,” Kieran snarks at me and I shoot him a look, rolling my eyes.

“Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine. Look at us getting a camp cleaned out without having our asses handed to us first! Not a broken bone in sight. I’m proud of you, Black!”

The guys around him all snicker under their breaths, but they shut up quickly when he turns to give them all a death glare. They might not revere him the way they do my Bonded, but he’s clearly still respected.

I can see why.

Atlas moves to stand a little closer to me as we wait everyone else out. I can see every last one of my Bonds, except North. I’m not worried, because I’d know if there was something wrong with him, but it still makes my skin itch a little.

Where are you?

He’s quick to answer. In the holding tents. Are you back now, or is this just another small moment of clarity?

I roll my shoulders back and glance around. The holding tents are close, and I tell Atlas where I’m heading. He turns to watch me but stays behind easily enough, trusting me.

I duck into the space and find that while the cages have been opened, most of the healing and assessment is still happening inside them. Some of the Gifted who have been here for a long time are so frail that they’ll need to be carried out, and some look too sick to be moved. My chest tightens at the sight of them. I walk over to where North is watching them all, his face giving away the sheer amount of disgust and loathing he has for the men and women responsible for this.

I clear my throat and murmur, “I’m back. Properly, I mean. Sorry for going off script.”

He nods. “It was for the best. They had a lot more on their side than we originally accounted for. They always do, no matter how much extra we throw in.”

That does seem to be one of the Resistance’s many advantages. Because of their unscrupulous ways, they’ll just kidnap and brainwash a whole new set of soldiers that they’re willing to sacrifice to get through to us.

Silence falls between us as we watch one of the women in the cage break down and start screaming at the operatives who approach her. She’s terrified, clawing at her own skin like she’s trying to dig something out that we can’t see. When the operatives switch so that it’s a woman approaching her, she breaks down, sobbing uncontrollably in a heap.

I want to cry with her.

It takes me two attempts to get my voice to work. “What happens to them?”

North grimaces. “You don’t really want the answer to that, Oleander. Those who can be taken home, are. Hold onto that instead of the alternative. It’s what I do.”

Looking at the crowd… I’m not sure any of them can really go home.

“Who does it? Who has to put them down if they can’t be saved?”

His eyes narrow at me. “No. Don’t ask, and don’t think like that. That’s not what your gift is going to be used for.”

“I’m already a monster, North. What’s a few more souls when I’ve already taken thousands? Yep, there it is. It’s in the thousands, thanks to my time in one of these camps. What does it matter?”

He tears the helmet off and shoves the gaiter down the column of his neck so that I can clearly see the blinding rage written all over his entire face, but he speaks quietly so that no one further inside the tent can hear us. “It matters because your voice is shaking, Oleander. Don’t you hear it? It matters because you’re writhing with guilt over it all.”

I shake my head at him but he gets a hand up to grab my chin and stops me, leaning in close and snarling, “It matters because you’re mine, and I’d never let you do it. Killing to protect yourself? Fine. Killing to wipe out the enemy who hurt you? Great, do it. Them? Never. Not you, not ever.”

I want to scream at him, argue with him, because why shouldn’t it be me? Why should I get to live untouched by all of this ugliness just because I have them as my Bonds, but he gets a hold of my arm and drags me back out of the tent and into the clearing where everyone else is waiting for us to get back home.





Kieran waits for a second and when my eyes stay their usual color, he holds out his arm for us all to grab.

When we pop back into existence again, my stomach roils rebelliously and I clap a hand over my mouth. Gryphon shoves Atlas out of the way just a little more forcefully than he probably had to as he reaches out to get a hand on my neck, the heat searing me as he manipulates my nervous system and stops me from puking everywhere.