Forced Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #4)(75)

He gives her a very insulted, “Really? You're really going to side with Oli over your Bonded on this?”

She gives him a sheepish grin back. “I kind of have to. It's part of being besties.”

I scoff at their banter, but it's hard to concentrate on what's being said around me when my bond is feeling so vicious. The ache in my shoulder is still there, and it is proof that whoever it is that has been injured has not yet been healed.

My bond is pissed.

“So, what are you going to do? Get there, heal him, then just… come straight home? I need to know what your plan is if I'm going along with it this time, Fallows. I also need to know that you're going to stick to it and not just disappear on me the first chance you get.”

I take a deep breath, trying to ignore the ghost of my Bonded’s pain in my shoulder, and say as calmly as I can, “I’m going to go and find whichever one of them has been injured and heal them. I am then going to kill every Resistance piece of shit I can find to get the job done. I will then help with whatever recovery is required for Unser, and then we will all be returning back here as a group. I know my bond will not let me leave them there, so this is not going to be an in and out thing. This is me joining the mission… and all of you as well.”

Gabe nods along with me and then gestures at his chest and Atlas’. “And we'll be going along with her because there is no way in hell that I'm going to be left behind again while my Bonded goes to face the Resistance. Atlas has figured out how to extend his powers onto others in our Bonded Group, and I’ll shift into the biggest thing with teeth I can think of and do my part. We both know that I've been on enough of these missions that I will carry my own weight.”

Kieran rolls his eyes. “I’m not worried about that, Gabe. I'm worried about taking Shore and Dravens’ Bonded into the Wastelands against their wishes and the consequences of that, even if things run completely smoothly and follow all of Fallows’ carefully thought-out plans.”

I shrug. “Part of being my friend is knowing that I'm always going to be impulsive and run to wherever the conflict is, especially if it involves my Bonded Group or my friends.”

Sage nods along. “You can't be mad at her for that, Kieran. She's always running after me to save me from whatever new crisis I’ve found myself in. Look at how many different shitty situations she's been in just because my life keeps turning into a clusterfuck.”

Okay, that's not where I was planning on this conversation going, but it is the first thing that any of us has said that has gotten through to Kieran in any way.

He grits his teeth and lets out the breath he was holding. “Fine. We go there. We stick together. No one is going to act like a cowboy. And until we find Shore, I'm in charge. Look at me, Bassinger. I am in charge.”

Atlas stares at him blankly, and then a slow smirk stretches across his lips. “Sure you are. You'll be in charge for as long as it takes Oli’s bond to just decide that it wants to come out and play. Then we all know she's in charge, because if there is anyone that I am going to trust implicitly and follow every order from on a battlefield, it's going to be my Bonded’s bond.”

Kieran's eyes flick down to mine, and then he shocks me by saying, “Agreed. Get your Tac gear on.”

It’s a freaking miracle.

We are dressed and ready to go in under ten minutes, everyone moving quickly and efficiently to get us on the road. Sage comes with us all to North’s offices to say goodbye, and Felix arrives just as we're about to leave.

He looks at Kieran and gives him a nod, the two of them having formed their own friendship since discovering that they're in the same Bonded Group, and then Felix looks down at me. “If your bond can't heal their injuries all the way, then you need to get bandages and pressure around whatever the injury is. You need to think about blood loss, first and foremost. We’ll worry about infection and mobility issues after, okay? Whatever you can't do, I will fix.”

This is why Felix is in my top five favorite non-Bonds.

I look at him with a grateful smile. “I will get them back to you, no matter what. Even if my bond does heal them fully, I will still get them to come in and check in with you, but thank you. It's good to know for the other members of the TacTeam that I can't do anything for.”

He grimaces a little, his eyes flicking back to Kieran. “Should you be taking me as well, just in case? If someone in the Resistance has managed to injure someone in the Draven Bond Group, then that doesn't bode well for everyone else.”

Kieran is shaking his head before Felix even finishes speaking. “You're staying with Sage and making sure that she's safe. We need as many of our people here while we're gone as possible. It's very likely that Oli’s Bonds have been made target number one for the Resistance or that Nox has thrown himself in front of something recklessly. I’m hoping we’ll get there to find most of our forces unharmed.”

My stomach drops.

That seems like wishful thinking. The throbbing in my shoulder is also still consistent, and I don't want to think about how the injury occurred, let alone the thought of any of them doing this to themselves on purpose.

Kieran is right though, it would be a typical Nox response to throw himself head first at something. He always has been both very sure in his Gift and just a little bit reckless with his own wellbeing at the best of times.