Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(20)

The image of the bloodshed and gore from the Wasteland flashes into my mind once again, stealing my breath for a moment. I don't feel bad for what any of us did, but I also don't think I can eat anything while the memory is still so fresh. The smell still lingers in my nose, the hot, wet, sticky sensation of blood and innards, and yep, I feel like puking.

Wick finally steps aside, and I don't hesitate to gently push him out of the way, nudging past the hulk of him to make my way into the large, open area.

There's a lot of bodies living in this house.

I find Sawyer, Gray, Aro, and her younger brother, Lahn, all sitting in the living room playing video games on the large TV. Lahn is sitting in his sister's lap while she laughs along at the destruction on the screen. Both of her Bonded are shit-talking each other in a playfully vicious way, their language a toned-down version of its usual vitriol, thanks to the younger set of ears in the room, but it's playfully nasty all the same.

Atlas scoffs at them both, glancing around the room and nodding respectfully at Felix who is pouring himself a cup of coffee bigger than my head. I make my way over to him, and he holds out the pot to me like the amazing human being that he is.

“I need something stronger than this to get me through today,” Felix murmurs quietly to me as I grab the strawberry-flavored creamer and bend to rummage around in the drawers for some flavored syrups to really get me going.

“Has something happened or just the general bullshit? Gimme an idea of what we’re dealing with here, buddy.”

Felix watches as Wick stalks back into the living room, plonking himself down on the couch and scowling at the TV. “Things were a little bit calmer when there were only three Bonded to contend with. We’re having some… teething issues.”

I bite my lip to hide a smirk and gently point out to him, “Well, I have five Bonded. One of them was set on hating my guts and stirring up shit with all of the rest of them until his dying breath. We managed to make our way out of that, so I feel like you guys can get through this. He just needs to figure some shit out for himself.”

Felix quirks an eyebrow at me and mutters, “If he doesn't work it out soon, I'm gonna develop Flame powers of my own and set the asshole on fire.”

Atlas snickers under his breath, stealing a sip of my ridiculously over-the-top coffee. He’s good about hiding his grimace at the veritable fruit salad flavor I have going on over the rich and bitter taste of the coffee itself.

“Is he a good Bonded to Sage at least?” I murmur, and Felix raises his eyebrows at me.

“I’m not sure I could tell you if he wasn’t. You’d end up tearing his soul out without asking for any extra details.”

I shrug and turn towards the bedroom door as it opens. Sage shuffles out dressed in a pair of pajamas and one of Kieran's oversized Tac Training sweaters over her top. She looks a little bit like a zombie, but I rethink that description as Riley stumbles out after her, still not looking good.

I glanced back at Felix, worried, and he shrugs. “Who needs to go down to the clinic when I have enough patients in my own house to deal with?”

I put my coffee down on the bench and tuck Sage into a warm hug, hooking my chin onto her shoulder and murmuring quietly, “What can I do? You look like you need a serious blood transfusion and maybe four weeks on a tropical island away from all of this.”

She sighs and melts into my hug a little more, and I catch Wick staring over at us. He doesn't seem jealous or upset, more like he’s assessing the interaction and deciding for himself whether or not we're all lying about the two of us being close.

Well, fuck him, he can figure it out for himself that I’d die for this girl.

“Do you really think that Gryphon's god-bond can keep it from happening again?” she mutters, and I nod, tucking a limp strand of her hair behind her ear affectionately.

“I absolutely believe that it can and has done that, Sage. If I wasn't sure, and if North wasn't sure, you'd still be in the cells, and I would be right there with you, raging about everything until we sorted it out.”

She sighs and nods once more, pulling away from me and scoffing as she looks at the pink hue of my coffee. “Can you taste anything except the sugar?”

“Nope,” I say, popping the P obnoxiously and picking the cup back up.

I feel a little bit awkward being in their space like this for a moment as Riley starts to pull together food for himself and his Bonded, but when Sage gets us both settled at the table and starts to quietly debrief with me about the Wasteland, I relax.

Sawyer and Gray talk Atlas into going a round in the video game with them, and I let myself just exist here for a moment with my best friend, a moment of normality for once.

Riley sits at the end of the table and eats his breakfast in silence, acting as though he's not listening in on every word that Sage and I say. Every now and then, she will shoot a look at him, as though she's checking in. After the fourth time I catch her doing this, I raise my eyebrows at her with a little wiggle, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

She gives me a sheepish grin back. “We’ve figured out that healing goes the best for us both when we're around each other. I think whatever that bitch did to him has destabilized our Bond. Even though we've been working really hard to sort things out, there's still some… noticeable damage.”

Riley hunches in on himself, proving that he has been listening to our every word, but it's not as though we have been talking about anything private anyway.