Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(36)

I feel as though I should be helping with that, but when I offer, North shakes his head at me, gesturing me over to stand with him instead. I’m secretly grateful. If Nox snapped at me like he is at the others, we’d either end up in a screaming mess of vitriol and rage… or I’d cry.

I’m leaning towards the rage, though.

It’s almost a surprise to me that Gryphon’s Gift keeps the prisoners under our control even as he Transports in and out of the house, but the Soothsayer’s words still bounce around in my mind. There is nothing we cannot do now that we are all Bonded. We are unstoppable together.

Maybe the gods are right, maybe we will all survive this.

North’s shadows are thick in the room, helping Nox’s with the surveillance while his younger brother is focused so heavily on the piles of information, and I find August sitting at my feet as I come to stop behind Sawyer at the computer. He's dressed head to toe in Tac gear, standard procedure for coming out in the field, but I still have to contain the smirk that threatens to spread across my face at the sight of him.

He used to play football, so he's not exactly a small guy, but I've spent so many months seeing him in sweatpants in front of a computer now that I've forgotten that he's capable of this sort of thing. I still feel sorry for Aro as his smart mouth starts to run.

“You guys need to get Bassinger into some fucking therapy, because this is just the tip of the iceberg of the Resistance propaganda, and it’s psychotic. The boy definitely has some demons hiding somewhere in his head.”

I scowl at him, but North pops him on the back of the head before I get the chance to come to my Bonded’s defense. “Worry less about what's happening in my Bonded Group and more about how you can get all of this to the Sanctuary as quickly as possible. I'm sure those three aren't the only ones who want access to all of this.”

Sawyer rubs a hand over the sore spot and grumbles under his breath, “It's already being transferred. You know, you could be slightly nicer to me. I was planning on spending the day with my Bonded, not cleaning up after this bullshit.”

I sidle up to him and bump his shoulder with my hip in a friendly gesture, except I do it a little too hard because of his shit-talking to my Bonded Group. “You were planning on spending the day sitting in your living room playing video games in your underwear. Don't lie. Being productive for an hour isn't going to kill you.”

He gasps at me dramatically, pressing a hand against his chest, though his eyes stay glued to the computer screen in front of him. “Knock on some wood, Fallows, I'm not having you curse me right now. I'm worth my weight in gold, you know. The rest of you barely know how to open a laptop, for fuck’s sake.”

I know a bit more than that, and North and Nox are both well adept at technology, but I let it slide as I shift down onto my haunches to scratch August behind the ears and love on him a little. He presses his head into my shoulder, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he enjoys the scratches I give him. When Sawyer makes the sound of disgust at my loving, I amp it up even more.

“Sage told me she saw that thing eat like a hundred people in the Wastelands, and you're sitting there telling it how much you lovey-wovey it? That's fucking creepy, Fallows. Honestly. You should tone it down a little.”

I shake my head at him and talk to August as though he hasn't spoken. “Should we get the others out? Should we play with the snake for a little while and let it test out the room too? It’s been such a long time.”

“Draven, if you get the snake out for her, I swear on my Bond’s life, I will be out of this room so fucking fast, none of you will even know which direction I left in,” Sawyer says in a panicked tone, a tremble to his voice that makes me cackle like a witch.

North shoots him a glare and snaps, “Just finish it.”

Then he shoots me a look, one that is much kinder than his glare at Sawyer. “Later, Bonded. You can play with the shadows when we get home. They're needed here right now.”

I want nothing more than to play with every inch of that man—it’s been too damn long. My bond also wants him and the shadows, everything, and I have to bury my face in August’s neck to stop them all from seeing the color as my cheeks heat. North speaks to me directly, blocking the others out as he amps me up even more.

Later, Bonded. I’ll give you everything you want.

They’re on the fourth trip ferrying boxes back and forth to the Sanctuary, and I’m busy looking over Sawyer’s shoulder at the goldmine of information on the computer screen, when there's a crash.

Nox snaps viciously, “What the fuck are you doing, Shore?”

I look over to see that Gryphon has dropped the boxes that he was holding to take back to the Sanctuary. When I get a look at his face, I find that his eyes have shifted to black and his features have gone blank as the Soothsayer takes control of the vessel.

Everyone goes dead still for a second, and then I hear Sawyer gulp.

“What the fuck is that!?” he questions, drawing the words out too slowly as he goes stock-still, as though any little movement will trigger the god-bond into a murderous rampage in his direction.

It must be survival instinct, something so ingrained in him that he isn’t aware that he even has it. Still, it's weird to see the cocky Technokinetic act in such a way. Even when he's been worried about the Dravens' shadows, he hasn't acted like this.