Forced Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #4)(93)

I shake my head. “He's not bothering me, North. I know you don't believe me, but I'm worried about him.”

He grimaces back to me and presses a hand against the side of my neck, using his thumb to tip my chin back so that I'm looking right at him. “Unfortunately, knowing Nox and being someone he is close to, even unwillingly, means that you're going to worry about him constantly. I'm sorry about that, and I know that if he were capable, he would be sorry about that too.”

I reach up on my tippy toes to press my lips against his, ignoring the fact that there are so many people around us and that he usually tries to keep our PDA to a minimum. “Don't get caught up in an explosion this time. I'm still half tempted to insist that Atlas go with you guys. Gabe’s dragon and I will be more than fine on our own.”

North smirks at my teasing and tugs on the buckles of his vest, the slightly larger one that they have all changed over to after Gryphon’s gunshot wound. “You took care of the Trigger, remember? There's nothing for me to be concerned about anymore.”

I still have a sinking feeling in my gut that that isn't all true.

Gryphon approaches us, his heavy-soled boots loud on the tiled floor, and he slips an arm around my waist, another public show of affection that they’re not usually so open about.

“We need to move out and get this over with.”

North nods and his eyes flick back to mine. “We're going in three sets. We'll all go in first and then wait for the next two sets to come through before you cast out your Gift and get to work. Kieran is going to stay close by to you as well, and there are two other Transporters who will be tasked with bringing home Aro’s brother and anyone else we might need to evacuate.”

I swallow roughly. “If there are any other children, we'll bring them back here, right? Adults can be taken to the processing area, but the kids can come here… right?”

North grimaces and nods, looking away from me. “We always try to keep the kids with us. There's too many chances of things going wrong otherwise.”

My bond coils in my stomach as if she doesn't like the sound of that, and I understand completely. The thought of anything going wrong with a child makes me both want to ask a lot of questions but also never have them answered.

“Oleander, just do your best not to let your bond completely take over, unless it's an emergency. We need to go about this in a very careful way, and your bond can sometimes complicate things.”

I scoff. “You mean like when it told Gabe that he needed to think bigger and he pulled the dragon out of his ass?”

He chuckles under his breath, pressing one last kiss to my cheeks.

“That sounds about right,” Gryphon mumbles, and we all move back over to our Bonded Group and the Transporter waiting there with them.

I frown at the man, the one who had been so resistant to taking me to the lake house where Riley and Giovanna were holed up when Kieran had been locked up and out of commission.

Gryphon dismisses him to another group straight away. “Black is around here somewhere. He's just saying goodbye to his own Bonded.”

I duck my head and nod. That makes sense.

I’d had the chance to call Sage and tell her about what had happened in the Wastelands, and I think that the reality of how dangerous these missions really are had hit us both pretty hard. I wouldn't want to leave my Bonded without a proper goodbye either.

North looks at Gabe and Atlas and gives them both a firm nod. “Don't go anywhere without her. Use whatever weapons or Gifts that you need to to get her out if things go wrong.”

Both of them stare back at him solemnly, Atlas replying with an equally firm, “Of course.”

Then North turns to look at Nox and gives him the same nod. “Unser, the boy, and taking out Silas Davies.”

Nox nods again, still strangely quiet, and then Kieran approaches us.

North looks around at each of us one more time. “We're ready to head out.”

Deep breath.

Here we go.

We leave the Sanctuary as the sun is setting behind us, but when we arrive with that same little pop sound that echoes in my nightmares, it's already completely dark wherever we are.

Night has fallen.

I’m thankful when Gryphon takes my sickness away for me, but even when he's done, I take a few slow and even breaths to stop the panic from rising in my chest and triggering my bond.

Everything about this place is familiar.

It's not like going home, that feeling of returning to something so intrinsic to you, but instead like tumbling into the same nightmare you've had for years. The one that never leaves you behind even though you’ve grown out of it, and the moment it starts again, you find yourself covered in a cold sweat.

Horrifying.

The air still smells the same. The warm sticky night still clings to my skin the same way, and it takes every inch of control I have taught myself over the years to keep myself calm. Thank God they hadn't brought Kyrie back here all those months ago, because I would have been useless to Kieran in this place.

There's that same small pop noise next to us as the second set of TacTeam arrives, and I know my time to calm myself is coming to an end. Another deep breath and then another one. Atlas’ hand slips into mine, and I have to give myself a second before I stare up at him.

He reaches out to my mind carefully, making sure that no one else can hear him. Are you okay? If you can't do this, we can go home right now. No one needs to know why.