Forced Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #4)(26)
It's early enough in the morning that there aren't many people out, thankfully, and we only have to take cover once on our way to avoid being detected. Surprisingly, we don't skirt around the O'Neill property this time. As we get close to the boundary of it, Brutus grows a little bigger at my side, and another shadow creature of the same size flanks my other side as we move through the property.
I glance around and find that the other shadow creatures are doing the same with Nox and Gryphon. It takes a second for it to click in my mind, but then I remember all of the photos that I have attempted to take of Brutus and August over the last couple of weeks. Every last one of them turned out to have light flares or some other sort of lighting problem, so I assume that they are messing with the cameras for us as we move. Since we are moving in on the targets, we no longer have to worry about being seen.
When we get to the lake house, Nox heads straight for the back door. One of the shadow creatures jumps up to slither straight into the keyhole, unlocking it instantly for us.
That’s freaking handy.
It only takes me half a breath to start feeling the flushes of nervousness in my gut, but I push it away as Nox looks over my head to meet Gryphon's eyes, one last check that we’re ready to go before he gives him a decisive nod.
Nox reaches forward to push the door open and enters the lake house with his gun drawn, his eyes still that same eerie black color that’s so unsettling to the other Gifted, and he’s moving with the rapid, practiced ease of a professional who has done this a thousand times.
I have no real concerns that anything is going to happen to him, even as he takes the lead, because his shadow creatures all move as one to follow him in, streaming into the house like a swarm from the deepest pits of hell. They’re all snarling and snapping silently, as though they’re eager to find a throat to rip out. I hope the maid hasn’t arrived since we started moving in, although these shadow creatures are not like North's at all. There is no part of me that is worried about them attacking us, or anyone else, unprovoked, because Nox has such a firm control of them all.
I move in after him just as quickly, proud when my feet are still silent as I work my way up the steps, even though it no longer matters. Brutus is quick to stay at my side. I can hear Gryphon moving behind me, but we have done training for this enough times that I know not to slow down or turn back for him. I'm here to protect Nox’s back and to help sweep the house until we are sure that we have both Giovanna and Riley captured.
With Gryphon and Nox’s abilities, I'm almost completely sure that there’s only the two of them in the house. If there was someone else, Gryphon should be able to hear them or the shadows would have sniffed them out, but it’s still part of Tac procedure for us to do this, so we’re sticking to it.
The lake house is luxurious, and it's very clear that Giovanna’s family doesn't just have money, but that they’re the deep-pockets sort of old wealth that the Dravens and the Bensons are also a part of. Everything is perfectly designed, and even though there isn't anything particularly flashy or extravagant, it all still oozes money. There's something about scattered decorative pillows in neutral, coastal colors and cashmere lap blankets that really screams money.
The shadow creatures don’t seem to notice it the way I do though.
Nox moves through the house with the type of precision that can only come from knowing the layout intimately; the hours and hours that he had spent yesterday seeing through his shadow creatures’ eyes have given him an edge by mapping this place out. In under a minute, we are staring Giovanna and Riley down in one of the many parlor rooms on the first floor.
I haven't seen Riley since the football game that Sage and I had run into him at and then promptly left, but he is almost unrecognizable now.
His skin looks tight over his bones, and he's lost so much weight that he's practically a walking skeleton. His eyes are sunken into his skull, and the sallow pallor of his face makes him look at least thirty years older than he actually is. There's a small smear of dried blood under his nose and a frantic look in his eyes as they dart between us all that’s almost animalistic.
The horror at what he’s gone through without anyone knowing he’s a victim is, well, horrifying.
Giovanna, on the other hand, looks like the picture of good health, which instantly has me ready to rip her soul out my-damn-self, no vengeful bond required.
Her long, perfectly bronzed legs are exposed, thanks to the teeny tiny mini skirt she's wearing, and her halter top barely contains her tits. She stares Nox down with a look of contempt for a second, which also gets me fired up, but then her eyes flash white as her Gift kicks into gear.
“Give it up, Jordan,” Gryphon snaps from behind me. “We already know that you’re using so much power on Riley that you don't have any left for us.”
A smirk slowly stretches over her mouth and her hand rises to tap one very manicured fingernail against her chin. “That might have been true a few weeks ago, but I'm fully bonded now,“ she gloats, and without another word, Riley's eyes also shift to white.
My bond moves my body before I have the chance to move myself, flinging me from where I'm standing and into Nox's side, taking him to the ground until I’m splayed out on top of him. For a second, I think that maybe Giovanna has taken control of me somehow before I see the fire poker lodged in the wall behind us both.