Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #5)(66)

Isn’t that what Bonded are supposed to be able to do for each other?

I’m not going to let them get you again. I’m not going to lose you to Silas Davies again, Bonded.

I shiver at the dark promise in his words, but when I glance up at his face, his eyes flash at me. I blink rapidly, my mind attempting to rationalize what I thought I saw, but there’s no way. No chance that I could have seen it.

He couldn’t have had void eyes.





It's hard to sit still in a room full of council members and the leaders in our community, including Vivian and Unser, when I had spent the morning getting the life fucked out of me by Gryphon against a cold, tiled wall.

I’d spent the entire time watching his eyes, but there were no signs of change in them, and I started to tell myself that I’m clearly going freaking crazy. The history books I’ve been reading with Nox have obviously wormed their way into my brain, and I’m seeing things that aren’t really there.

Three gods and a pissy dragon is more than we can handle.

I feel hyperaware of my Bonds sitting around me at the table. I don’t want to be forced to sit here and listen to people trying to question them and belittle them even while they’re killing themselves to keep everybody safe and alive.

You need to stop fidgeting before I drag you out of here and give you something to fidget about, North sends through to me directly, but because he is evil, he does it where everyone else can hear it.

Gryphon is quick to supply, The problem is that somebody already has given her that, and instead of scratching the itch, it's only made it worse.

Someone, huh? Atlas sends through, and I try to keep my face completely blank as Vivian takes his seat across from us.

He's as close as I'm ever gonna get to a father figure who is still alive, and I feel mortified at the conversation happening in my head right now. The fact that it's happening so close to him is just freaking bad.

You can’t have done a good enough job if she’s still squirming that much, Atlas snarks with a smirk on his perfect face for the whole damn room to see.

I hate them all.

Instead of playing along with any of them, I put the walls back up in my mind and send Nox a pleading look from where he is glowering at the entire meeting room from over by the coffee machine. He's just as good a mind reader as his brother is and brings me a mug the size of my head, threatening Gabe with nothing more than a look to get him to move down so that I'm flanked by the Draven brothers.

Half of the council stares at my entire Bonded Group like we’re their worst nightmares come to life, and that is enough to get the smile back on my face.

It lasts about a minute before the General walks back in and takes up his own seat at the far end of the table. I swear that man was supposed to have left the town by now, gone back out on mission somewhere, but he just seemed to be lingering like a bad smell. A teensy, tiny part of me feels guilty about thinking that about my own Bonded’s father. That lasts only about as long as it takes for me to get a good look at how the General is glaring at our entire Bonded Group.

His son included.

It makes me murderous, but I really should settle down with those sorts of thoughts, because my bond doesn't need any assistance in planning out the deaths of anyone around me today.

It’s already chomping at the bit.

“Thank you everyone for joining us today. There have been significant changes in our stance with the Resistance, and we are hoping to be able to keep you all in the loop on how things are about to proceed.”

There's a quiet murmuring around the table at North's words, and though most of it is positive, there are some disgruntled noises that I try to ignore.

“As you all know, we have just opened the doors of the Sanctuary to sixty-five more families and, though we have some people sleeping in the Community Center in town, we’re close to having enough houses for everyone. I have spoken with Jeremy Ardern, who is joining us today, and we are confident that we will be able to fit the growing needs of the community in the coming weeks, as well as continue to expand for the next wave of Gifted who have been vetted.”

The General makes a grunting noise, and North's eyes snap over to him.

“This vetting process seems to be taking too long, considering the amount of people who have reached out to come here. What are you doing about that?”

I feel Gryphon flinch from where he’s sitting, two seats down. I don't need to see it to know that it's there. He's already feeling the weight of the entire community on top of him being the only person with a built-in lie detector and the only person that North trusts with such a decision. He's already being pulled in five different directions, and the reason that the vetting has slowed down is because we decided as a group that we would all be going out together from now on and no longer splitting up.

I want to kill the General for making such a comment.

North is quick to redirect him away from his own son. “This community is not funded by the council or any other pooled resource point, ergo, no one outside of the Draven Family Trust has a say on how we vet people or the time in which it takes for that process to happen. You are all here at my discretion, every last one of you is here because my Bonded Group allows it. While we are happy to listen to any concerns that you may have, it's up to us whether or not we choose to act on such things. The alternative is, of course, returning to your homes.”