Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(38)

As the Flame’s body hits the floor, the building is already alight, the house around her body burning. The shadow creatures move around us, searching for an exit, but the Cleaver shakes his head.

“My vessel has already said there's one way in and one way out. We need the Transporter back here.”

The Soothsayer reaches out, but I already know what the answer is going to be. “There's a Shield keeping him in the Sanctuary. They knew we were coming.”

I shake my head. “They've had a long time to prepare for our arrival on this earth; this is just the first of the traps they will have planned for us.”

The Corvus nods as well. “They will be prepared for our every move. We need to be smarter than this.”

It doesn't matter how smart we need to be in the future. Right now, we need to get out of this building before it burns to the ground around us.

I look down at the rest of my Bonded, and they’re quick to start moving. The Corvus, intent on collecting the information his vessel is so eager for, starts making a pile with the rest of the boxes so that when we’re ready, we can get out of here. We can't take the computer with us, but the paper copies will at least be something.

The vessel is sure it will help, so we will trust him, trust them all to navigate this time period better than we can.

The Crux descends the staircase again, taking my hand and leading me down as the smoke begins to creep underneath the door above us.

“We need to remember that the vessels aren't all indestructible, so we need to deal with this quickly,” the Soothsayer says.

The Cleaver turns his head from side to side as though preparing himself to fight. “Not all of them, but some are, and I am more than ready to face our enemies.”

My net shifts over the Manipulation god, an invisible force ready to take it out. Soon. I will kill it soon, rid the earth of its evil and carve out a new way of living for us all.

I shake my head. “I don't want to be split up like that.”

The Soothsayer glances over at where the Crux is now helping the Corvus with the information, both of them working seamlessly together as though they are cut from the same cloth.

The Soothsayer looks back up the staircase to where the smoke is now starting to come in thick around us, assessing every little thing before he turns back to me. The air is heating up, and we’re quickly running out of time.

“Come with me, Bonded. I might not be able to reach the Transporter, but you can.”

I let my eyes slip shut as I push into my Bonded’s mind, following along with him as he reaches out to the Transporter. The Shield is still in place, but it’s then that I find out what the power boost of the fully Bonded Group has done for me. Thousands of miles away, without ever seeing his face or knowing his name, I tear the Shield’s soul out of his body.

Together, we are indestructible.





I like the Transporter.

Even if he didn’t belong to the Flame and the girl didn’t adore him, I would like him. As he appears in the basement with us that is quickly being filled with smoke, he seems cool, calm, and confident, on the outside.

On the inside, he’s shitting himself.

It's a subconscious thing, something that any living creature would feel when they know they're in the presence of a predator, a pack of them really, and any wrong move will be their last. I'm sure that in his years of service to the Gifted, he’s had many opportunities to stare down monsters, but none quite like us.

“I will get you all out of here,” he says respectfully, dipping his head in the Crux’s direction as he glances over his shoulder at the Soothsayer.

The Corvus starts directing everyone to grab boxes, getting the last of the information together as we leave the building. The Cleaver compiles a small mountain, balancing the boxes precariously as he lifts them with ease. I tuck a single box under my arm, the only one they will allow me to hold. While they never doubt my abilities or my power, they’re still protective of me, as though some paper might strain me.

Thousands of lives together and still they love me so purely.

We appear back in the Sanctuary in the rooms that the Crux’s vessel claims as an office. The moment we set the boxes down, I place my hand back on the Transporter, smiling when he flinches.

Silly little Gifted.

“Take me back to where you first dropped us off. I have some words to share with the god-bond there.”

He nods without hesitation even as his eyes race over the other god-bonds, but none of them question me. They merely step back up to him and hold their hands out, waiting for his arm, ready to fight and face whatever may come in the hopes of building a life together.

The Transporter glances around at them, and the girl pushes me to reassure him from where she watches in the corner of my mind.

It seems petty and trite to do so, but I speak for her. “I will not let that god-bond kill or harm you in any way. I understand that you are important to our vessels, and no harm will come to you.”

He doesn't look very reassured at my words but he Transports us all the same.

I do like an obedient Gifted.

If we're going to set down roots in this world and live here permanently with each other, at least we'll have these types of Gifted around us.

With an inferno of flames consuming it, the house is quickly falling apart.

The Transporter brings us to a small park across the road from the house, a few feet away from the danger. There's already a crowd of humans huddled around the area, murmuring and whispering amongst themselves. Their thoughts and opinions on the matter mean nothing, they’re only here as a distraction, something to stop me from finding what we came here for.