Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #5)(83)

The problem is that now that the Resistance is all gone, it doesn't want to let go. It wants me.

I nod, humming under my breath in a soothing sound. “I know we can be together soon. Once it's safe here for us to be together, I'll let you have my bond as well. Okay? Right now it's not safe for us to be together.”

Whether it understands my words or only what I want from it, the bond does slowly slip away until Atlas is blinking down at me. His green eyes are cloudy for a moment before they clear, and his lips part in shock as he feels the being living within his skin. It takes up more room and has more opinions than his bond had ever had before.

I already know how unpleasant that feeling is at the beginning.

“What the fuck was that?” he whispers, and I can only think of one thing to say back to him.

“The gods live among us.”

He blinks at me for a second and then curses under his breath, jerking his head around to look again at the destruction his bond had wrought on the bodies just past the shield. There’s absolutely no horror in him at the sight of the gore, only satisfaction that he did that. He took out our enemy with no hesitation when they came calling for us.

I’m proud of him too.

“We need to move now. We need to run damage control,” Gryphon says as he steps over to us both. Azrael ignores him, pressing his big head against my belly for a scratch. I give it to him almost mindlessly.

North starts calling out commands and directing people around us, walking ahead of us, his shadow creatures moving along with him obediently. I’ve never seen him in such harmony with them before, the tension he usually carries with them is gone completely.

A lot has changed in our Bonded Group.

When we make it back, the entire camp is buzzing with the rumors of Atlas’ change. The news of it moved faster than even we did, dozens of eyes following us as we head straight to our tent. Atlas’ hand shakes a little in mine, the toll of his bond’s power shift is already setting in with him.

He’ll need to sleep it off, and fast.

All of the TacTeam who were present are staring at Atlas as though they’re questioning themselves about what they saw, but there's no question that his Gift had changed. The mangled bodies of the Resistance just outside of the shield is testament enough to that.

He passes out the second his body hits his sleeping bag.

North is careful about getting us away from the public eye until he can decide how to proceed. By nightfall, the situation has gotten out of hand. Gryphon decides to push his Gift further than he ever has before, stripping out of his thick jacket and sitting on an overturned crate by the fire as his eyes shift to white.

We all held our breaths for a second until they did.

Kieran drops off the provision boxes of dinner that we’re allocated, and I sit with Gabe to eat while I watch Gryphon work. His eyes stay white the entire time, no matter how hard I stare at him.

He hacks into the brain of every man and woman in the camp. It would be a very tall ask to wipe their memories entirely, especially when we're preparing for our offensive move in the next few days, so instead, Gryphon plants good feelings.

He argues with Nox over it, mostly because my most damaged Bond doesn't like the idea of forcing people to comply. At first, I think that this is an ethical thing, or perhaps trauma, but then Nox snaps, “If they're going to turn against us, we should get them out, not give them good feelings and potentially leave a snake in our nest!”

I can't disagree with that.

North is quick to point out the problem with that approach. “We don't have enough resources to be picky right now. We have to work with what we've got, and what we've got is an entire camp of people who are questioning their leaders, for better or worse.”

Gabe groans again and rubs a hand over his face. “I don't understand what happened! We were talking and everything was fine and then he just— what even was that?”

Surprisingly, it's Nox who answers him in our mind link.

The god that lives inside him woke up. Seeing what the Resistance did to his parents, no matter how he felt about them, triggered it. Then finding them all standing there so close to his Bonded after what they had just done, it woke it up.

Gabe shakes his head. How are you saying that so calmly? What part of your research told you that this was going to happen?

I'm glad the conversation has moved into our heads when Nox replies, Oleander and I found dozens of references to gods over the last millennia. There was a reference to the ability to Soul Rend, the shadow creatures, the Neuro ability, and the dragon. There was also the ability of a man who could tear his enemies in half while none of them could touch him. The more I look at it, the more of us that I can see. North and I aren't the only ones carrying gods. We're just the only ones whose gods have been awake so far. Bonding with Oli started the process, and each of you have had a trigger so far. Everyone except Gryphon.

I cringe and rub my hand over my eyes. Gryphon's eyes shifted the other morning when we had sex. I told him, but he said he didn’t feel anything… that nothing had changed in him. I think… I think maybe his bond took over for a second and then went back to sleep, maybe? It all happened so fast, and because he didn't feel anything and dismissed it, I didn't say anything. I'm sorry—

North cuts in before I can start rambling. It's not your fault, Oleander. None of this is your fault. As Nox said, he doesn't think that you're changing anyone, only that they're waking up.