Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #5)(85)

Atlas blinks at him for a second before he smiles, punching Gabe affectionately in the shoulder. “You're a lot smarter than any of us give you credit for, Ardern.”

Gabe smiles back at him. “It's not my fault that none of you can see past my pretty face.”

By the time we step out of our tent and head towards the command tent for the official debrief and communication on what tomorrow holds for us, Atlas is calmer and secure in his skin once more. It's a good thing, because everybody stares at us as we make our way over there.

Nox takes the lead and spends a lot of the walk staring people into submission. They scurry off like terrified little beings at the very sight of a grumpy Draven. It’s almost comical to watch fully grown men, armed to the teeth and trained to kill, turn on their heels and practically run away from him as though the hounds of hell are on their asses. The women are a little more staunch, most of them just gulp and avert their eyes.

He’s the perfect buffer between Atlas and the world.

If you had told me only a few weeks ago that this would be our reality, I would have laughed in your face, because Nox Draven has never liked Atlas. Even after Atlas had proven himself to the rest of the Bonded Group, Nox had refused to believe he would be anything other than loyal to his family.

The name ‘Bassinger’ was all that Nox needed to know about him to make that call.

I'm incredibly proud of them both, and I find myself walking with my head held high, mimicking Nox’s haughty attitude as I stare people down. It’s not hard to do, but the results can’t be argued with.

I’m happy to see that most of the TacTeam personnel don't look aggressive or as though they are judging Atlas. Mostly they’re just curious, which I guess I can't blame them for. It's unheard of, at least in our generation, to think that somebody could change their bond. The concept is clearly scary enough that while there might be passages written about the gods in history books, it isn't a general folklore.

It’s as though the generations past have tried to forget that the gods ever walked the earth, even with history repeating over and over again.

Sage and Kieran meet us halfway over there, both of them looking relieved to see us. Kieran meets Nox’s eye and gives him a curt nod before his eyes flick over the rest of us. They linger a little on Atlas, but it’s more like he’s checking in on my Bonded, a protective sort of thing rather than a judgment. If Kieran wasn’t already one of my closest friends, it would win him major brownie points.

Sage ducks in close to give me a hug as she murmurs into my ear, “Seriously, can anything else go wrong in this place?”

I chuckle quietly under my breath and mumble back, “I don't know, being able to cut people in half is definitely going to come in handy at some point. We might’ve just been given our best trump card yet.”

She chuckles again and then we head off together towards the command tent.

When we arrive, I stare at it for a second as though it is an opponent all on its own, but Atlas just tugs me forward. “If we're gonna do this, Bonded, then we're doing this. We need to get rid of Silas Davies, once and for all.”





Chapter Twenty-Six





Oli



I wake two hours before dawn to the sound of rustling around me as my Bonded get up and get ready for the day ahead of us.

Everyone, including Gabe and Atlas, is already awake. When North sees me sit up, he comes to kneel at my side, already dressed in his Tac gear.

“There’s been a change of plans. We've made the call to go in first, as a small group. Kieran is going to transport us, and we have a very specific target. We tried to let you sleep in as long as we could, but we need to leave in the next five minutes.”

I nod, a little confused as I struggle to my feet, but I’m quick to start pulling on my own uniform and weapons as quietly as I can. The plan had sounded solid yesterday. We were going to go in in the early hours of the morning in sets, each team having a different area of the camp to clear out. It was the best chance at getting prisoners out alive and for the big hitters to be taken out.

Something must have happened for this to change.

I feel both exhausted and like I’m buzzing with energy, ready to make the big moves that my Bonded have strategized for today without question. We’re all ready for this to be over with.

Gryphon catches my hand and gives it a squeeze as I move past him, his eyes darting across my weapons as though he's double checking that I have everything. He's not doing it as an insult or because he thinks I truly might have forgotten something, more that it's a habit of his to take care of me no matter what else is going on around us.

He gives me a nod of approval as though he's satisfied with the job I've done, and then as a group, we all step out of the tent together, our feet as silent as we can make them. Kieran is already waiting out there, dressed and ready for the mission. I check the sky, but there’s no sign of the sun’s arrival yet, and the air around us still feels very nocturnal.

Gryphon does a bunch of hand gestures to Kieran, which the Transporter nods at, their own form of silent communication. Luckily, I don't need to know it to be able to speak to my Bonded, because they might as well be waving at each other for all I can understand.

Our aim here is to weaken their defenses in our first wave. We've already taken out their strongest Transporter, so if we can take out a few key players now and have the rest of our offensive groups move in shortly after, they won't have time to bring in any Top Tier Gifted to save themselves, North says, and I nod along. So do Gabe and Atlas, so I guess they’re learning all of this now too.