Forced Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #4)(67)
He gets onto the video call with the other council members, and I'm sure I’m not supposed to be in the room listening to any of it, but he doesn't seem too concerned.
At first, I'm so engrossed in the text in front of me that I don't take much notice of what's being said. But as North's temper gets shorter and shorter, I find myself being dragged out of my own work to sit there and listen in.
A snide voice comes through the speakers, “There are five Wastelands in the country now. Why are we not doing more to prevent this from happening?”
North cocks his head at the screen, as though the speaker is incredibly dense. “And what manpower are you handing over to assist with that, Williams? At no point have you attempted to take security into account, and it's only now that you're on the run and your Bonded Group has been targeted that you suddenly have an interest. Are you missing your pool back home or something?”
There's an indignant noise through the speakers and then someone else, a woman this time, speaks, “Councilman Draven, you can't speak like that! You’ve been responsible for security since you took the seat at the council. It's your responsibility.”
“I took over security because no one else was doing it. If I wasn't doing it, there would be nothing standing between us and the Resistance. If you want to know why we aren't doing more for the Wastelands opening up, then perhaps you should assess why we have such a lack of TacTeam numbers. Those we do have are highly trained and ready to move out at a second’s notice, but we do not have the numbers that the Resistance have. I'm not going to risk the lives of good men on a whim because you think that we are not doing enough, even while we are keeping thousands of members of our community alive and safe at the moment. Which is something that the council didn't even deem important a few months ago. There are women and children living here. I can't leave them unguarded.”
He sounds pissed off, and I think the other council members are glad that he’s here and nowhere near them.
Absolutely gutless, the lot of them.
An hour of useless whining and moaning later, he finishes up with the meeting and snaps the laptop shut, fuming as he cracks his knuckles and looks around the room until his eyes meet mine.
“They’re all a bunch of fucking idiots,” he snaps, and I nod.
“They're the type of people to sit around talking about a problem and never actually do anything about fixing it. They're the type of people who send others in to fight their wars for them. That's not who we are, and I’ll never be able to respect them, North. You’re a better person than I am for not having killed them years ago.”
Chapter Twenty
Oli
As much as I would like to continue to hide away in North’s office with him and make myself useful, I know that I need to get back into training to make sure that I don't lose all of the hard work I've already put in.
I’d been so proud of my efforts during the recovery mission and proud of not being overpowered by the heavy gear or the long hike, so I find myself incredibly motivated to be able to pull my weight even more.
I refuse to be the liability.
Gabe and Atlas are both still going to their training sessions at the Tac Training Center each morning before they head off to help in the rebuilding efforts, and I force myself out of the incredibly comfortable bed to go with them. I need to be ready for the next time we get called away from the Sanctuary, and I don’t want to rely on my bond to do the heavy lifting for me.
A few days after the council had threatened North during the meeting, I wake up to the sounds of Gryphon getting up to head off for the day. When I move to head into the bathroom to get myself ready to go with him, North grumbles in his sleep, his arms tightening around me, making it even more difficult to get out. I've come to learn that he’s the worst of all of my Bonded when it comes to waking up.
You’d never guess it from all of the suits.
Once I’m dressed and ready, I meet Gryphon, Gabe, and Atlas on the front steps of the house to head down to the Tac Training Center together. The jog down there has become one of my favorite parts of the day.
Gabe and Atlas start to get very competitive with Gryphon and me, and it's not long before our slow warm-up run turns into an all-out sprinting war over who is going to get down to the center first.
It's childish and stupid and the perfect distraction that I need so desperately these days.
I arrive at the Tac Training Center with the taste of blood in my mouth, my lungs screaming, but, to my great joy, the three fully grown men running with me arrive seconds later.
I beat them all, finally.
As I catch my breath, I find Kieran and Sage waiting for us outside. I almost burst into tears at the sight of my best friend, my eyes watering the second I realize it's her standing there, and when she gets a good look at me, she does the same.
She hesitates for a second, as though she's not sure how I'm going to react to her, but I fling my arms around her neck and cling to her desperately.
I’d spent the last few days messaging her constantly, trying to get her to agree to meet up, but every time she’d answer that she was spending time with her Bonded and getting her feet back underneath herself.
I wanted to be very respectful of her Bonded Group and give her what she needed, instead of just taking what I wanted from her, but it's been the hardest few days. Almost as hard as the admittedly few days her loyalty had been in question.