Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(34)

I could question why a Draven wouldn't have baby photos and why only one of the brothers is missing them, but the more time I spend in our Bonded Group, the more settled and accepting I’ve become.

We don't ask questions about Nox. We don't question the things that don't quite add up, and though I started off ready to light that asshole up at the drop of a hat, things have changed, whether I want to accept it or not. I've never seen my Bonded so happy. There really isn't any denying that even with the Bonded Group complete, having Nox rejecting a real relationship with her had left a gaping hole within her, one that I couldn't do anything to fix. I'm not willing to risk her getting harmed in any way, but he does seem to have mellowed out.

Whatever happened in that soul-bond was a powerful thing.

Gryphon steps around the corner and nods his head at North before we all get the signal to make our way downstairs. I suppose the fun and frivolity couldn't last for long, and I step forward with a sigh. I know I’m being a little too fucking dramatic about this, but no one seems to give a shit, they’re all just getting on with it while giving me the space to just… fucking hate this whole thing.

I slip my hand into Oli’s again and move her through the building. I don’t need Gryphon’s mapping of the bodies in the building to know where the staff are. I also know where the Dravens really want to go in this place. Not only that, but I know I have to get us there without sounding every alarm in the building. Not that any of them would go off, thanks to Sawyer hacking into the entire system remotely from the safety of the Sanctuary, but I still think it's best to give us every element of surprise that we can.

I can tell how badly Oli has to bite her tongue as I slide the paneling in the hallway to one side to take the servant’s stairs. Gabe’s eyebrows hit his hairline as he steps through behind us. The Dravens don't look very surprised, obviously used to this sort of wealth themselves, but Gryphon rolls his eyes so hard that they nearly roll straight out of his head.

Fucking Bassingers, he sends through the mind connection, shooting me a grin. Oli has to slap a hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling.

It lifts the mood a little, shifting this from the shitty experience of having to face my demons into something that we're doing together as a group, my new family coming to clean the house of my old one. The one I was born into but have chosen to no longer belong to.

Maybe I'll take Oli's last name.

Bonded Groups have always picked and chosen whether or not they've shared last names, changed them, kept them the same, or sometimes they pick something new altogether. Whatever works for each individual family, and I never put much thought into it until this moment.

Atlas Fallows sounds a hell of a lot better than Atlas Bassinger ever did.

We make our way down until we're below ground level in the vaults underneath the brownstone. The air feels different down here. Colder, thicker, more oppressive—as though it is trying to sap every last bit of energy straight out of your body.

It's also riddled with security that I'm sure had Sawyer cursing every last one of my ancestors as he had to disable it to get us here without any of the cavalry showing up. Even though my family have been killed by their own and marked as traitors, there’s a huge wealth of knowledge hidden under here, enough to incriminate the entire East Coast. I'm sure there are plans in place to move it all out of here. There’s no doubt in my mind that's what the Gifted are here doing.

I hold my hand up to show that we are getting closer to the end of the hallway, and Nox flicks out his hand, sending his shadows bounding ahead of us as they shrink in size until they are nothing more than a smudge, something that you can convince yourself is merely a trick of the light.

North's arms are crossed over his chest as he stands next to Nox and watches him work. The two of them may share the same Gift, but they use it very differently. Nox’s shadows obey his every whim, but North's are a chaotic and consuming mess, a complete juxtaposition of who they are as men.

I hear a strangled yelp and then thudding as three bodies hit the ground.

Gryphon's eyes flash to black as he calls on his Gift. For a moment, I think that the Soothsayer has joined us, but then he speaks, this time out loud. “They're taken care of. We can go in and get whatever we need before we take them back to the interrogation cells.”

I take a deep breath, and then I do something I was never expecting to.

I turn to Nox. “If Sawyer can crack into the computers, I can get you into the database for the Resistance information. Anything and everything they have ever compiled will be in there. It's basically a wet dream of information for you. If you want it, I will give it all to you.”

And that is how Nox and I find common ground in the basement of my parents' brownstone, for the sake of my Bonded, because her safety is everything to me.





CHAPTER TEN





Oli



If I didn't already think that Atlas’ upbringing was exorbitant and spoiled as fuck, seeing his house seals the deal. He’d casually opened up a wall to enter a set of stairs hidden in it, weird and freaking creepy in my opinion, and then he’d led us down to the basement as though it was all nothing. I wouldn’t have believed that houses like this really exist, and now I’m in a Bonded Group with three men brought up with this sort of wealth.