Forced Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #4)(61)

Gabe had been working underneath a Jacuzzi large enough to fit eight fully grown men in it that North was having installed in his bathroom, when one of the temporary supports had given out and the whole thing had plummeted towards Gabe’s head and chest area.

It probably wouldn't have killed him, especially if we'd gotten him to Felix fast enough, but he definitely would have been seriously injured had it actually managed to land on him.

The moment I heard the wood cracking, my Gift had burst out of my chest, completely involuntarily and in a way that I had never felt before. I could see it though. I could see the protection that it had placed on Gabe. When the Jacuzzi bounced off his chest and back into place, he’d caught it and held it up with ease, as though he had all of the strength in my body.

He'd glanced over to me in complete and utter shock. “What the fuck was that?!”

I shook my head, but a small bead of sweat formed on my forehead as I snapped back, “Get out from under there! I don't know whether or not I can hold this.”

He scurried out and placed the tub back onto the ground, changing out the support and checking to make sure that it was secure this time with the practiced ease that he does everything. “Could you do that before? Is that something that you've always had up your sleeve and just forgot to mention to me or…?”

He let the sentence trail off and I took a second before I answered, staring down at my hands where they were glowing and then back over to him, that same glow over his skin. “I’ve never done that before. I don't really feel my Gift the way that you guys do. It's just a part of me. I can't manipulate it… or, at least, I couldn't before. Fuck. I don't even know how I did it now!”

Gabe cackled and pushed a hand through his hair, covered in sweat and dust from all of his work. “Well, I guess we can say now that we are definitely friends if your bond is deciding to protect me from shit. I wonder if it would do that for the rest of the guys too?”

I shook my head. “Fuck knows, but I doubt it'll do it for every one of the other Bonds.”

Gabe gave me a side-eye and slumped against the bathroom countertop. “You know you're gonna have to let that go, right? Oli is Bonded with the rest of them as well… or she will be soon. You’re only gonna hurt Oli if you keep kicking up a stink about him.”

He didn’t say exactly who he was talking about, but it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. “I know, and I'm careful not to put that sort of pressure on her. Doesn't mean I have to like him, and it also doesn't mean I have to use my Gift to stop bathtubs from falling on his head. Natural selection isn’t always a bad thing.”

Gabe scoffed and shook his head, moving back through the bathroom to collect his tools so we could head off to have something to eat before moving on to another room. We’d eaten breakfast early, and I was fucking famished.

I should’ve just let it go, but I couldn’t. “Why are you fine with him? You know what he did to her.”

He grimaced and pulled a face as he snapped his toolbox shut and lifted it into his arms, stalking out of the bathroom. “I do know, and I know how Oli feels about it, which is enough for me. I'm not going to tell her how to feel about something, and she told me that it was between the two of them.

I shook my head at him, but I kept my thoughts on that to myself. I don't want to tell my Bond how to feel about something, especially something like that, but I also am not going to stand around and let him hurt her, to have her just accept it because he's her Bond.

When we got to the kitchen, Gabe placed his toolbox down on the floor gently, careful with the hardwood floors he’d spent so long installing, before opening up the fridge and grabbing out the take-away lunches that we had ordered from the dining hall. Neither of us had wanted to stop to make lunch, and the chef was always thrilled to know that he was cooking for us.

Another perk of being in the Draven Bonded Group.

Gabe waited until we’re both eating before he spoke again. “I think maybe that you are seeing things that you want to see because of your sister and that whole fucked-up situation.”

I gave him a hard look and he shrugged back. “I’m not saying that Nox did nothing. I'm saying that Oli is not your sister, and her bond definitely is not your sister's bond. I think at any point, if it was what you think it was, her bond would have done something to protect her. It’s wiped out entire camps for her. Fuck, we’ve both seen the destruction it's wrought. I'm not saying it would have killed them, especially now that we know that it probably can't kill him, but killing isn't the only thing that she can do. I'm pretty sure the bond would have, at the very least, punched him in the mouth. If it was what you thought it was.”

He couldn’t even say the word, but that conversation rings in my head, even as I lie on the mattress hours later and sink into the feeling of completeness in my chest. I’m also feeling more than a little guilty at how much I enjoy it, because even though the other Bonded might feel a different way than me, I'm enjoying the feeling of my Bonded sacrificing something vital and important right now just so that we can feel this, and that will never sit right with me.





Gabe lets slip to North and Gryphon about the boost in my power, and the next morning, I find myself being shaken awake before the sun has even risen to head down to the training center to test out these new limits. I would say that I have fucking amazing restraint, because I stop myself from yanking Gryphon's arm straight out of its socket the moment I'm conscious enough to realize what the asshole is even doing in my room.