Blood Bonds(The Bonds That Tie #3)(90)



It takes me a second to realize he’s heard North talking to me, that he is also a part of the mind connection I share with the other two, which is both daunting and a relief.

I like the connections, but he’s the most likely to argue with the other two about the things that they say to me using that form of silent communication.

The moment I’m completely covered, I follow Atlas back to the mouth of the cave to look back over at the town. If I had any doubt about what Atlas was saying to me before, I certainly can’t deny what’s happening right there in front of my eyes. We watch in horror as the Resistance pour through the open gates, dozens of trucks and more than a hundred armed and lethal Gifted soldiers here to kill, abduct, and maim.

Our Shield has betrayed us… or someone has taken them out. Either way, hundreds of enemy Gifted are here and the entire town are sitting ducks, sleeping in the early morning in the so-called safety of their new homes.

There’s children in the town.

A lot of the lower families who had come along were mostly Bond Groups with kids who were rattled after the last raids, none of them are prepared for this sort of thing.

“We can’t just… sit here and wait. I can’t do that.”

Atlas turns to me, but my eyes have already shifted to the black voids. My bond hasn't fully taken over and it won't unless I am in pain, but I'm not going to run away from this fight. No matter how much my Bonds would like me to.

Good girl, my bond purrs to me, and I feel all three of my Bonded have very strong reactions to that.

“Oli, if we go back to the town, you’re only going to be a distraction to your Bonds and Bonded. We need them all focusing on taking out the Resistance—”

“No. They can watch me do it,” my bond says, and I shake my head a little to clear it, my eyes shifting back so I can speak for myself.

“Sorry, I’m not going to wait around here while people die. If there’s one thing you should know for sure about me by now, Atlas, it’s that I’m not going to sit around and wait to be rescued.”

He doesn’t like that answer one bit, but he walks over to the bags that he’d brought out with us and pulls out the same guns that he’d been assigned when we were on the supply run. I have absolutely no interest or use for a gun, so when he tries to talk me into one, I just scowl at him and lift my hand up as though he can see the soul-sucking gift writhing under my skin at the prospect of the carnage we’re about to walk into. He nods without another word and climbs into the ATV, buckling me into it before he takes off.

“Can you do the net thing you do? Just to be sure they haven’t started scouting for us yet? My dad was the one who called this morning, there’s a good chance he’s here looking for me.”

Shit. Is now the time to talk about the fact that I might have agreed to keep his sister breathing… but his dad? Dead and gone the second I can get within gift usage distance, which is relatively far away these days.

When I mention this to him, he rolls his eyes and snaps, “Well, obviously, Bonded. Anyone who came here today is fair game, even my mom if she tagged along to work her diversion bullshit.”

With that shit out of the way, we get to work, him driving like a maniac and me scouting. North feels it the second I cast it out, thanks to his creatures and shadows already being spread out throughout the town, taking down Resistance soldiers like the good babies they are.

Tell Bassinger I will make his death a painful and messy affair.

I press my lips together to keep the giggle in. He can hear you. Also, he’s just doing what my bond told him to, can’t blame the man. It’s persuasive.

He doesn’t find that funny at all. When we get within a mile of the town’s edge, I motion for Atlas to park. Good thing I’ve been training with Gryphon for all of these months, because I can run an eight minute mile without completely dying, so we’re going to get into this town and deal with anyone and everyone we come across.

Stay with me, Oli. We’re doing this, but we’re doing it together.

I turn to look at him and hold out my pinkie finger, something stupid to break the tension out of the air. I feel calm about this for once. I’m not a liability or the one doing the harm here.

I’m going to save people.

He scoffs at me but links his pinkie with mine all the same, using it to tug me into his body to kiss me one last possessive time, and my body has a little flashback to the earth shattering orgasm from last night.

I was hoping for at least two more this morning, and that disappointment is enough to kill a whole army of Resistance soldiers.

Atlas keeps pace with me, and we make it three minutes into the run before we come across the first soldier. My gift net is still out and even without it, my bond flags the guy wearing black with blood on both of his arms as the enemy.

He moves to lift his hand, but before my bond can deal with him, a black mass the size of a bear appears suddenly out of the shrub and devours him, its jaws opening to the size of a small car and just swallowing the guy whole.

Atlas gets an arm around my waist and yanks me behind him, lifting me clean off of my feet, but I’m too busy trying to fight off a nervous giggle to be really worried.

The black mass turns to look at us, the form shimmering and folding in on itself until August is left standing there, his tail wagging behind him and a mysterious green liquid dripping from his jaws.

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