Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(47)

“What the fuck is going on?” Atlas asks, his arm still around my waist as we both move towards them, and North answers without turning around.

“They've decided that the Sanctuary is more dangerous than dealing with the Resistance. They all got a taste of what Nox and I can do if pushed, and it reminded them of the Draven curse.”

I don't like that at all.

“Fuck the Draven curse! They're all idiots if they think they can survive out there with everything heating up. Can't you call a meeting or something?”

Nox turns to stare at Gabe for a moment, surprised at his vehemence. When he speaks, his own words are chosen very carefully, his control over his temper impressive considering his history. “I’m not calling a meeting and telling any of those people that I will react in any other way if they wish death upon Oleander. I draw the line at that. I’ve had to make nice with these people for decades knowing that they are selfish cancers on the backs of this community, riding on North's coattails while he bore the brunt of the real work. I will do it no longer.”

I glance between him and Gryphon before I say, very carefully because the tension is suddenly so thick in the room that I’m choking on it, “Did someone actually threaten me? Or was it more of an indirect sort of thing?”

Gryphon answers me, his face stern and unreadable. “The General threatened you while you were sleeping… twice. The first time to North and I, the second time to Nox when he arrived to try to defuse the situation.”

North shakes his head, a scowl on his face and a ring of smoke around his wrist that shows just how tenuous his grasp on his temper is. “Nox is right. I'm not going down there and telling these people not to leave. The General isn't welcome here anymore, and I think we were far too generous in giving him twenty-four hours to get out of here before we let the shadows out to hunt him down.”

I swallow against the lump in my throat. I know how badly Nox and North hate the General, but I'm also aware that Gryphon has a complicated relationship with his father.

I don't need to say any of this for him to know exactly how I'm feeling about it. He reads me like an open book.

“You come first to me, Oli. The moment he opened his mouth and dared to say a word about you was the moment I cut ties with him for good. I might not wish a violent and bloody death upon him, but I've accepted that it's what's likely about to happen to him, running off half-cocked and with nothing but his ego out there. We didn't even get the chance to warn him about the god-bonds.”

“Fuck warning him,” Nox snarls. “He doesn't give a shit about anything other than the fact that your eyes turned a different color, and they weren't a color he wanted for his kid.”

“It's not about the well-being of his child, it’s about how it reflects on him. It always has been,” North says, and I shift on my feet, so uncomfortable with having this conversation in these circumstances. Out in the open with Kieran, Vivian, and Unser listening in. Gryphon doesn’t seem to care, and I’d hazard a guess that this isn’t the first time they’ve heard all of this information, but I’m still prickling with discomfort.

“Does Kyrie know?” I ask, and Gryphon turns back to me with a wry smile.

“We told her. The General also showed up to where she's staying and tried to drag her out with him, but she held a loaded gun to his head to let him know exactly how she felt about leaving. She was pretty pissed off when we told her what he'd said about you. She now thinks she wasted the opportunity to finally just pull the trigger.”

Jesus Christ.

“I always did like Kyrie,” Atlas says as he crosses his arms and nods his head, but Vivian shoots him a look.

“What the hell are we going to do about all of these innocent people being led out of here with nothing but fear mongering? I agree that the General has to go, no man should be able to speak about Bonds like that, and certainly not about Fallows, but these people have no idea about any of that. They're all just terrified and trying to make the best call for their families.”

North shrugs. “What else can we do? Some of them have been here for months and have seen the way that we run things here—they've still chosen to leave. If we take away free will, we are nothing more than the monsters in the Resistance. All we can do now is open up and let more Gifted in, those who have been on the waiting list due to the limited space. It's not an easy decision to make, but it's the only one we’ve got.”

I'm not sure any of us are going to sleep well with that thought, but as I look up at the screen where dozens of bodies are disappearing with Transporters, there's not much else I can do.





North changes his rules for how we’re all allowed to act in public dramatically as a response to the General’s defection.

We go from trying to stay in smaller numbers and putting on a peaceful and friendly face to living however the hell we want. By nightfall the same night, word has gotten around of what had really happened in North’s office between my Bonded Group and Gryphon's dad, and though no one else chooses to leave, there is a dramatic change on the streets.

They're empty now.

It makes my skin crawl.

“They're acting as though we’re hunting them down,” I say as I walk hand-in-hand with Gryphon to the dining hall.