Blood Bonds(The Bonds That Tie #3)(84)

I duck into the garage, looking for the keys I need, and find Gryphon already there with a helmet for me. When I roll my eyes at him, he just puts it onto my head for me and drawls, “As if I’d let you sneak off without saying goodbye. Bassinger is probably going to find a cave to hole up in for a month and I’ll have to come looking.”

Hmm.

I’d probably be okay with that. I let him buckle the strap before I reply, “You’re not going to be mad at me for running away?”

He shrugs and adjusts the straps until the helmet is snugly in place. “Nope. I heard everything going on inside your head when it happened. You need a minute to figure that out, and you’re going to get that minute, even if I have to use every trick in the book to keep North from coming out there after the two of you.”

Well, shit. Now I want to break down and cry over his thoughtfulness. “I just need a break. I love you all, but I really need to breathe. And, like, a whole day of just dealing with one of you and not the whole bunch arguing about rationing and Tac bullshit.”

His eyes are hot as he swoops down to kiss the life out of me, a blistering show of force that nearly sweeps me off of my feet. I have no idea of what prompted it but, hell, maybe I want Gryphon to come along for the ride too.

When he finally breaks away from my lips, he trails kisses from my shoulder up my neck to just under the strap until he can murmur into my ear, “I love you too, Bonded, but maybe you should have saved saying that to me for my night, because now I’m thinking about stealing you away and leaving Bassinger to himself.”

I flush, realizing now what I said, but I snark back, “I don’t want to sleep in the hut, that’s the whole point. I feel like I’m… on show, twenty-four-seven, and it’s so freaking uncomfortable. I’m— it’s— I need a break.”

He nods and sucks on the skin under my ear. “We’ll figure something else out. We’re already doing what we can to get the big house done as soon as possible. Once you’ve Bonded with everyone, you’ll feel less… exposed.”

I scoff at him and snap, “Well, that’s never going to freaking happen, because Nox would rather cut his own dick off than sleep in the same bed as me, let alone Bond. Shit. Forget I said that and don’t you dare narc on me. I mean it, no Dravens.”

He bites the inside of his cheek like he’s stopping himself from speaking, but when I glare a little more, he nods. “Your secrets are safe with me. Even the ones in your head.”

He glances up as though he’s checking the door for anyone coming in to spy on us both, then leans down to whisper my deepest, darkest fantasies to me. “Like how much you want that orgy you’ve been dreaming of.”





Chapter Twenty-Five





Atlas


I watch as the tension leaks out of my Bond’s body more and more the further we get from the town site of the Sanctuary.

I have no real idea of where the fuck we are, other than the fact that we’re still in the States, but there’s a sandy sort of desertscape on the edges of the town and a warren of caves out here that I spent a few days walking through after we’d found my sister. I’ve been struggling just as much as Oli has been with the close quarters, especially with not having any sort of alone time with her thanks to Ardern sleeping a foot away from us in his own bed.

Not that I’m pushing for anything with her.

Never, and especially not while she’s still battling the bond living inside her that is nothing like mine. I’m nothing like the men in my family, and I’m definitely not a fucking Draven.

Not that North has turned out so bad, but his brother? I’d kill him in a heartbeat if Oli gave me the word. I’ve been watching him closely enough to know his weak points, and those nightmares of his? They can restrain me, sure, but they’re never really going to do damage.

I’d have his fucking neck snapped in a second.

“What’s wrong? You’re breathing like you’re trying not to kill someone,” Oli murmurs, her voice pitched low and sweet.

I calm down the second she opens her mouth. Her voice is more than enough to break me out of my murderous thought spiral.

“It might seem like I’m doing something extra thoughtful for you, but it’s also pretty selfish. I needed this as much as you did.”

She nods and looks out over the mountains that surround us, their peaks casting shadows over the entire valley. “I get that. The others all grew up together and have had a whole lifetime to get used to living in each other’s pockets. We’re both sort of on the outside with that.”

I catch her hand in mine and bring it up to my mouth to kiss the back of it. “It’s worth it. All of it. Having you here safe is worth it all. As much as I loathe admitting it, Draven outdid himself with this place. It’s like he knew that we’d need it for you, and he just did it. He just poured all of that Draven wealth into keeping our Bond safe… I can get behind that. I also didn’t have to learn a new language just to keep you safe, which is handy because I barely passed Spanish at school. I’m really shit at pronunciation.”

She giggles at me like I’m telling a joke, but I’m really not.

We get over the last of the small ridges to the opening of the first big cave, the one we’ll be camping out in tonight that the cameras cover the opening of. It’s clean and dry and secure, everything we need for a night out in the wild.