Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #5)(42)

She shakes her head at me. “We can't just roll with it. This affects everything, and if there’s the potential of your bond changing then… what's to say that Gryphon and Atlas’ won’t change as well? Is it only within our Bonded Group, or have other people's bonds changed? What does this mean for us all?”

I'm not sure it's all that deep, but I don’t want to argue with my Bonded when she is looking this upset. Instead, I stand up and take her by the hand to pull her to my side as I move through the dream space with her, leading her to the darkest recesses of my mind until we are faced with the dragon.

My bond.

It looks and feels differently in here than it ever has before. I’ve never noticed anything different or unusual about it, and I certainly have never felt as though there was a god living inside of me the way that Oli or the Dravens have. But now, staring up into the amber eyes of the dragon, I get the sense of otherness here.

It's never felt like that before.

Oli stares at the dragon the same way that she stares at the shadow creatures, with love and affection that borders on obsession, like she can't wait to get her hands on the shiny scales and long snout of the dragon just to pepper kisses onto it as though it were nothing more than an adorable little creature. As though it’s as harmless as a mouse and not a mythical, fire-breathing nightmare.

“Gabe, it is so beautiful! How could you not show this to me before?”

I let her slip out of my arms as the pull of the dragon becomes too much for her, and she has to get closer to it. My chest swells with pride at the way she mumbles happily under her breath, cooing and fussing over the beast, and it laps up the attention.

“It wasn't like this before, Oli. None of my creatures were like this before. I was always in control, but now I feel as though I'm just sitting on the sidelines when it takes over. Like my body—“

I pause, but she fills in the space for me. “Is a vessel? I told you, Gabe, this changes things.”

“I know,” I say, because there isn't really any arguing with her. The more I think about it, the more that she has a point.

The dragon pushes forward into her hand to get more of the gentle strokes she's giving it, pushing and pushing and pushing until she is laid out flat on her back with its entire head covering her chest and stomach as she giggles and loves on it.

I'm not controlling it in any way.

I can't stop it from doing any of this, and for the first time, I understand North's panic over his own creatures. The dragon is huge, even in this space, and it could easily tear her to pieces right now. Would that hurt her or just send her back into her own body? Would it trap her mind here so that part of her life force died here in my mind?

This is all way too confusing for me. This is the type of theoretical philosophical bullshit that is far more up Nox's alley, and I desperately want us both to wake up and get out of this space and away from any potential danger, back to where I know how the world works.

“It’s not going to hurt me, Gabe,” Oli mumbles from where her face is pressed into the scaly cheek of my dragon.

I groan at her. “Are you reading minds now too?”

She sighs and mutters soothing words to the dragon as she pulls away from it, rolling up to stand back on her own two feet. “I’ve become very good at reading the panicked silence of my Bonds. Unfortunately, it happens all too often. He's not going to hurt me, the same way that Brutus isn't going to hurt me, the same way that August isn't going to hurt me.”

She stumbles a little over Brutus’ name, and it makes me wonder, once again, what happened in that bedroom of Nox's that had changed things so completely between the two of them.

“The Dravens both have much better control over their creatures than I have over the dragon that just appeared in my mind. Come on, let's try to wake up and get out of this place before something happens and I have to try and explain to everyone… this. Fuck knows how I’d do it.”

Oli giggles at my hand flinging around at the dragon as though this is all so amusing to her, but she follows me anyway.

I don't know how we get out of the space, only that we keep walking hand in hand until eventually, we both wake up in her bed once again.





Atlas is not happy about the dream walking.

Oli had woken up, kissed me quickly, and then crawled out from between the two of us, heading over to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. It's early, the sun's still not up yet, but she’s been so focused on keeping up with her training that I already know exactly where she's going to be heading.

Atlas didn't wake up until I had shaken him, quietly explaining what had happened. The moment I mentioned the dragon, he jumps up out of the bed to pull on a pair of boxer shorts and stomp into the bathroom after Oli, a savage look on his face that he usually reserves for Nox.

Oli is scrubbing the shampoo out of her hair, her eyes shut as the water runs over her, and it strikes me right in the chest again how utterly stunning she really is. My breath squeezes out of my lungs, and I have to hold in an embarrassingly squeaky sound, one that I wouldn't mind Oli hearing, but Atlas doesn't need any more ammo on me.

He’s looking too pissed to notice me though, and though his voice is still level and calm, his words as he confronts Oli aren’t. “How did you know that his dragon wouldn't hurt you? How could you know that? The dragon isn’t a fully formed creature like the shadows are. You have to take this stuff more seriously, we’ve got too much happening already without you being careless with the creatures of your Bonds.”