Forced Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #4)(17)

I should have woken him up earlier.

“You should have, you’re out of time now.”

I startle at the sound of Gryphon’s voice, spinning on my heel to find him standing in the doorway with a smirk, fully dressed in his Tac gear and ready to move out. His eyes drag over me and I can see how impressed he is that I’m ready to go.

I curse under my breath that I was so distracted by North’s general hotness that I didn’t notice the door opening and Gryphon sneaking up behind me.

He smirks at me and shrugs. “He’s not coming with us, so I’m not worried about it affecting you on the mission.”

Mission.

Even something as small as that word makes excited butterflies burst into life in my stomach.

I grumble back, “You better keep yourself covered as well. We both know your ass is just as good.”

I smile at Gryphon softly and we both turn to watch North’s frenetic movements as he gets dressed in a rush. I'm not sure why he’s bothering and is so intent on seeing us off. It's just Gryphon and I going, and we could easily say goodbye to him right here.

Nonetheless, he pulls on a pair of sweatpants and shoves one of the very few casual-looking sweaters that he owns over his head, as though it’s vital that he puts that delicious chest of his away.

“When is the Transporter arriving?” he snaps at Gryphon, who merely raises an eyebrow in his direction.

It takes another huff from North before he finally replies, “He's already here. He's waiting outside for us. I knew that you would wake up with a shitty attitude, and I thought I'd spare him from this… undignified sight of our fearless leader.”

I smother a giggle and when North shoots me a look, I force my face to show none of the sadistic glee I'm finding in his distress. I must say, this version of North might be my favorite yet.

“Is Nox up yet?” he grumbles, and my heart sinks a little.

I glance up at Gryphon, who pointedly does not look at me in return as he says, “Yes, he's up and ready. You’re, as always, the last person to be awake. Gabe and Atlas are already up and waiting to see Oli off.”

I glance back down at my boots and try to take a deep breath without looking too obvious with it. I should have known that North wouldn't allow me to leave the sanctuary with only one of my Bonds. My reaction isn’t because I don't want to be around Nox. It's that this is my first real opportunity to prove myself to Gryphon and to prove that I can be an asset in this Bond Group, whether North likes it or not. I already know that Nox will do everything in his power to undermine that. He’s always so ready to point out all of my flaws and failings, every little thing that I do wrong or the little missteps I might have out of inexperience or ignorance. So now I’m not just going to have to be on my best behavior.

I'm going to have to move the mountains and the stars themselves to attempt to impress that man… or at least give him nothing to complain about. I still have his scathing critique ringing in my ears even though it feels as though the Resistance attacked us a lifetime ago.

“I’ve already packed everything that we need and distributed the supplies between the three of us,” Gryphon says, lifting a bag that is easily half my size up in offering to me.

I take it without a word, even though I probably would have grunted and complained in any other circumstances at the sheer weight of it. The bag strapped to his back is even bigger still, and there’s a weird sort of stubbornness in my very bones pushing me to just keep my mouth shut and take everything that is thrown at me right now.

Except, I'm not sure how far I'm really going to be able to go with this thing on, and it’s only just hitting me that maybe I should have been pushing myself a little bit more in our training sessions at the gym. I can run on a treadmill now for an hour straight, but with this weight on my back?

I’m screwed.

North finally gets his feet shoved into an old pair of sneakers that I'm sure are not his, because I cannot imagine Councilman North Draven wearing such things, and he walks back over to me to tug on the straps on the bag. I attempt to look steady on my feet and completely unfazed by the extra weight, but he’s too goddamn perceptive and I’m sure he sees through it.

He’s good about not completely calling me out about it though, thank God.

“Are you sure this isn't too much?”

When I shake my head back, he frowns at me, probably at my silence. I can tell he wants to prod at me some more, but Gryphon answers for me, “It’s not the bag. She's coming to terms with the fact that your brother is coming as well. I told you we should have warned her earlier, but you insisted.”

I don't want to have to explain all of the complicated emotions running through me about Nox to North right now, or ever, really, so I give him what I hope is a reassuring smile and turn on my heel to walk out of the bedroom.

I hear him begin to argue with Gryphon behind me, but before I can feel any sort of way about that, I find myself face-to-face with Atlas and Gabe. They both look incredibly exhausted and amazingly sleep rumpled as they wait to say goodbye to me in the living room, their hair sticking up everywhere and the imprint of their pillows still on their cheeks.

Atlas approaches me first, a low-slung pair of sweats on his hips and nothing much else on. It seems like the universe has ordered an early morning of torture for me.