Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #5)(62)

“There's only so much that we could guess, given what we know,” Gryphon says as he raises his cup of terrible coffee to his lips. “We have two Resistance members locked in the cells under the Tech Center. Now might be a good time to be a little more creative in our questioning.”

North sighs and shakes his head. “Any more creativity and we cross the line with what we had promised Atlas. I'm not going to bring dishonesty into our Bonded Group. We’ve fought too hard for it to lose it now.”





Chapter Nineteen





Oli



I'm expecting Gabe and Atlas to have questions or some sort of reaction to my admission about my parents’ death, but both of them are more concerned with my reaction to North's revelation than the news itself.

It's both comforting to know that they really will love me no matter what and a little disconcerting, because they should be at least a little concerned for their own safety being around me, shouldn't they?

“Didn't North's bond specifically tell you that none of us can hurt each other? Listen, I'm upset for you. That your parents died that way… it sounds horrific for you and them, and it’s such a heavy thing for you to have been carrying for so long. But if you think that I'm thinking of myself in this moment and not you, then clearly I have done something wrong so far in our relationship, Sweetness,” Atlas says to me as though I'm being incredibly dense.

Gabe is more quiet about it, but he still wraps me up in his arms tightly. When I move to pull away from him, he murmurs, “Don't run away from me again. You promised.”

I have to swallow harshly against the lump in my throat, but I nod to him, turning away to swipe a hand over my eyes to banish any errant tears that might think about working their way out.

I still feel as though there should be more to this than just ‘you’re our Bonded and we love you’, but they both get up and get dressed to start our day, even if it is hours after we normally do.

“Am I getting dressed to work on houses or go back to the training center?” I mumble around my toothbrush as Gabe showers and Atlas brushes his teeth alongside me.

Gabe ducks his head under the water to rinse out the shampoo as he calls out, “Neither. We have a new wave of families joining the Sanctuary today. I was planning on going down to meet with them to help figure out where we're putting them all. My uncle is coming along with them and his Bonded Group. A few of my cousins too. All of them are builders, so we might finally make some extra headway on the next batch of houses.”

My eyebrows slowly creep up my forehead as I finish up with my toothbrush. “You have family here and you weren't planning on telling me? What is it with you guys and springing relatives on me?”

Gabe cuts the water as he chuckles, grabbing a towel and turning his back on us to wrap it around himself. I get a small peek at his gloriously tanned abs as he moves. Atlas scoffs at me, nudging me gently with his shoulder as though he's teasing me for my reactions. At this point, I think they're pretty standard.

They all know I find them hot.

“North and Gryphon have been behind in vetting people, so they’ve only just gotten the approval to come through. I didn't realize my uncle's family would be in this batch until North told me last night. You were at the dinner table when he told me, but I guess you were preoccupied.”

Preoccupied.

Freaking the hell out about what had North so on edge is what I was, but I guess that's a pretty good way of saying it.

“Do you like this uncle, or do we have another General situation on our hands? Because I have to admit, there is only so much sassy Oli I can throw around before my bond comes out and deals with people itself.”

Gabe chuckles and walks over to me, dropping a kiss on the top of my head as he grabs his own toothbrush. “My uncle is great. He has a lot of opinions about my mom though, so you should probably prepare yourself to pick a side in that argument.”

I start brushing out my hair, watching Atlas pull on his boots as we finish up getting ready. His ass is also very biteable, and I enjoy all of the bending over that’s happening around here right now. It’s getting hard to focus on the conversation I’m supposed to be having.

“What's the argument?”

Atlas glances up to me, smirking like a smug asshole at my wandering eyes as I take in the strong lines of his flexing arms. I wiggle my eyebrows back at him, not at all upset to be caught ogling him as well.

Maybe we could sneak in a super quick threesome before we leave. Is there any such thing as a ‘quick threesome’? We should try it out.

For science.

“He’s an uncle on my dad's side of the family, so he believes that my mother is nothing but a useless wife who should be exiled from the community for practically abandoning me after my father died.”

My heart squeezes in my chest, all the fun flirting melting away from me as I focus back on Gabe. He says it all very matter of factly, as though it doesn't really bother him to speak of his mother like that, but the tense lines of his shoulders say exactly how he truly feels. We've spoken little about his mother, only that she's still alive, but Gabe has no interest in the two of us meeting.

I pushed it with him once, more out of my own insecurity because I thought he was trying to hide me. It was then that he admitted that his mother struggled to grasp what day of the week it was. The two of us meeting would only be distressing for him, rather than bring any sort of joy.