Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #5)(22)

Oli knows something is up the moment I do it.

The longer we’re Bonded and the more time we spend together, the easier it is for her to read me and know when something is off. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t love it, the fact that she’s going to know everything there is to know about me and how I act over the years that we’re together; it’s exactly how things should be.

She shuts the water off and climbs out of the stall, a frown tugging at the corner of her lips. “What’s going on? What happened?”

I could lie to her, even if it tastes like shit in my mouth, or I could dodge the truth fairly easily, but I want her to feel secure in our Bond. I want her to know how much I value her and her opinions in our Bonded Group, even if the truth sucks.

“My parents got here last night. I avoided seeing them because of everything happening here, but I have a debrief with them this morning. They’ve been working with a few of our TacTeams to dismantle the Wastelands that are cropping up on the East Coast like a plague.”

Oli blinks at me.

I stand there and try not to burst out laughing at the mini crisis that filters over her face as she realizes that we’ve never discussed my family beyond my sister.

I also haven’t told her that Kyrie is the only person in my family who I can speak to without wanting to stab myself directly in my eyeball just to get away from.

“You didn’t think I had parents?”

She looks at me sheepishly. “You never mentioned them so… I guess I assumed they were dead. Sorry, that sounds so shitty. I’m the worst Bonded ever!”

I tug her a little closer to me and kiss the top of her head. “Don’t say that, and don’t worry about it, Bonded. I don’t exactly talk about them, and the rest of the Bonded Group try to avoid reminding me about them too. They’re not… abusive or anything, just a pain in the ass that none of us want to deal with.”

She nods and rubs at her hair with the towel, biting her lip a little and still looking way too guilty for my liking. “Are there… any other relatives I should know about? Does Gabe have a secret brother or something?”

I grin at her and take one last minute to check over my weapons, more of a soothing action than really suspecting I’ve forgotten something.

Right as I’m about to leave, Oli bends down to dry off her legs, and I spot the bruises all over her lower back and her ass, a small smattering of fingerprints over the pale skin there that leave very little to the imagination of how her night went. There’s a moment of gut-wrenching fear in me before my brain kicks in and I remember that Oli is standing here with me, whole and grinning widely. So if anything had gone… wrong between them, I would know about it.

There’s a reason I was there when they’d Bonded, and it had a lot less to do with seeing Nox through with it than making sure Oli wasn’t hurt than Oli probably believes.

I run a hand over her ass and say teasingly, “You might not want Atlas to see you naked for a few days, Bonded, not unless you want him to fuss over you like a hot rash.”

She gives me a startled look before spinning around to check herself out in the mirror, groaning and blushing when she sees the marks Nox left behind.

“Shit,” she mutters, and then another sheepish grin stretches over her lips. That’s all I need to know about what happened between her and her most damaged Bonded.

The rest really isn’t my business.

I kiss the top of her head, trying to avoid getting water all over myself, something else my father would bitch at me over, and I take one last second to reassure her.

“There's nothing wrong with being with any of your Bonds. Don't let Bassinger bully you into thinking that you owe anyone an explanation. It's none of his business.”

She sighs and nods. “He’s just protective. He hasn't come to terms with the fact that I don't need to be protected from Nox.”

I nod back and swoop down to give her one last, blistering kiss before I leave her in the bathroom to get herself ready for the day and finally face my fate of dealing with my parents at four a.m. on a Tuesday morning.





The Tac Training Center is more alive than I’ve ever seen it, bodies moving around the spaces with a frenetic energy that only ever happens when the big players are back in town. Usually, when the world isn’t going to shit so completely, this only happens once a year at most, but over the coming weeks, we’ll be seeing all of the strongest Gifted we have on our side.

Lucky fucking us.

The moment I walk through the doors, Kieran meets my eyes across the room and grimaces at me, a very overt action to let me know just how fucking obnoxious it is to have these people in our home. We’ve worked together and been friends for long enough that he knows exactly how I feel about my family. He’s not looking forward to dealing with any of this any more than I am.

It's not that I don't love my parents.

They were good parents. They took care of me and raised me without any of the trauma that my friends and Bonded Group all seem to have, but once I was old enough to join the TacTeams and work my way up to the top, things changed. Working with them has become a nightmare, especially since the revelation of exactly who is in my Bonded Group.

There was a reason I hadn't been quick to call them home to meet Oli.

I walk across the foyer area, letting the savage look on my face part the sea of bodies for me, because no matter how excited the TacTeam personnel might be, none of them want to get on my bad side.