Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(31)

“How did you come up with this?” North asks before lifting a glass of whiskey to his lips and downing the whole lot in one go.

I didn't think the list was that serious, at least, not the type of serious that we have to drown in the bottom of a whiskey bottle.

“There are markers for the gods, clues that a person is a vessel, and I had already started compiling a list before we spoke to the gods.”

North nods and glances at Atlas. “You haven't seen the list yet, have you?”

Atlas scowls back and squints in his direction before it hits me.

Athena Bassinger is on the list.

Atlas groans and shoves his face in his hands. “Is there ever going to be a time when my family isn't fucking us over?”

I desperately, desperately want to fuss over him, to hold him and reassure him that it's okay, that none of us blame him or think differently of him for all of these connections that he has. However, I don't think he would take it very well with the rest of the Bonded Group watching.

The fact of the matter is that he's already copped a fair amount of grief for his relation to that woman. It was always the first thing anyone brought up, though I've never questioned it before.

Nox doesn't need to be able to read my mind to know where my thoughts have gone. “Athena Bassinger is the face of the East Coast Gifted. She pretends that they're not all just Resistance supporters. Whenever something happens that requires liaising, she’s the one they send.”

“Her Gift is Manipulation,” Atlas says, grinding the palms of his hands into his eyes as though he can wipe all of this away if he presses hard enough.

“She's a Neuro, but it's different from what Gryphon can do. It's closer to what Emmeline could do,” North says very carefully, and my blood runs cold at the mention of that woman's name.

I very pointedly do not look at Nox, because North and Gryphon might be completely aware of the situation but Gabe and Atlas are not. I've already sworn to myself that I will not be the person who breaks Nox's trust in this way. I do, however, open up the mind connection to him.

I don't send him any feelings or reassurances. I just open it up so he knows that I'm with him no matter what comes from this conversation. It doesn't surprise me when he shuts down, but it's not the way that he used to. He doesn't start slinging vitriol and viciousness at everyone, but instead, he immediately becomes a blank slate.

Atlas glances around, noticing the shift in the mood, and he speaks with care. “I don't know who that is, but Athena is not someone that I want to be dealing with without backup. If those markers are things that you think implies she has a god-bond as well, I would definitely not be dealing with her without the entire Bonded Group present.”

The part that he fails to tack onto the end there is that we’ll also need to be whole enough to deal with her, which Nox does not look like right now, even to the untrained eye. I can feel some tension beginning to build in him. I can feel the way that he's pulling himself together and preparing to face an echo of the monster from his past.

My bond does not like the way that he is acting.

My bond wants to hunt Athena down and eat her alive for causing this pain.

My bond might just not take no for an answer.





CHAPTER NINE





Atlas



The plan is simple.

We're going back to my parents’ house and tearing the place apart until we find something that proves that Nox's theory about Athena having a god-bond is correct.

The very idea of stepping foot back into that house makes me want to vomit, but I work hard at keeping all of that off of my face. I know that I have succeeded when no one questions me about it. Not even my Bonded.

If it were anything else but this, I might get a little offended that she hadn't noticed that I was losing it, but there's too much riding on all of this for petty squabbling in our Bonded Group about my ego. Too much of the danger that we have faced has been from my own bloodline, and the idea of any of us facing Athena is already something that turns my stomach.

I hadn't spent a huge amount of time with the woman, but I know enough about her. My mother did not like her or the power that she wields, and she’d done her best to keep me away from her. The few times she had visited my father were enough to prove to me, especially now in hindsight, that none of the Bassingers are good people. They aren’t just flawed human beings, but selfish, self-serving Gifted who enjoy the power of having Top Tier Gifts and the type of wealth that people can only dream about.

I had been a spoiled little shit as a kid too, and I credit my Bonded with saving me from turning into one of those assholes. The moment I had clicked on that video on my mother's computer and found Oli chained to a torture table by Silas fucking Davies, the trajectory of my life had changed completely. One look at her and I was a changed man. One look at her and I knew that I would do whatever it takes to protect her and give her the life that she deserves, one in which she would never feel that sort of pain ever again, and certainly not at the hands of my family.

The sins of the Bassingers are plentiful and I hope that my devotion to my Bonded is enough to cancel a bit of that bad juju out.

North and Gryphon make arrangements for us to leave in the early hours of the morning. Everyone disappears to get some rest and get their things packed together before we leave. On instinct, I follow my Bonded back to her room.