Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(73)

Bullets begin to rain down on those on the ground as they change tactics, moving towards the Eternal once more, and I'm taken by surprise as Sage’s Bonded Group joins the fight.

I'm expecting a wall of flames or something to be moved telekinetically, thanks to Riley. I'm not expecting huge balls of fire to rain down on the troops as Sage and Wick work together with Riley, sending burning debris everywhere as the ground lights up around them. I watch as Riley lifts a bus and Wick sets it on fire, his eyes flashing white as he calls on his Flame ability.

He might not be as strong as Sage, but he's smart enough to know how to best use his Gift, teaming up with Riley as they throw vehicle after vehicle. I watch as the gas tanks light up and the vehicles explode as they hit the ground, bolts and pieces of metal acting as shrapnel as they tear through the crowd. The Shield kicks into place around them as the next spray of bullets come out, and the Draconis shifts paths once more to send out another spray of liquid fire, flames exploding through the smoke as the screams of the injured begin to fill the air.

Those who have hurt my Bonded do not deserve a quick or clean death. I told her they would die screaming, and scream they shall.

I agree wholeheartedly with my bond.

As we circle around once more, I spot exactly what we're looking for, directing the Draconis until it spots it as well. A freshly laid patch of ice, one that wasn't there on our last pass, and a sign that the god is still working here.

With nothing more said between us, the Draconis swoops down, ready to prove his devotion to our Bonded and the god within her.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO





Oli



I have traveled enough of the country to know some of the major cities, but I don't recognize where we’ve chased the god-bond to. There's no major markers or touristy spots that give it away, just lines and lines of apartment buildings that now have ice damage to the side of them, sections of them blown to pieces and, of course, the two apartments that have been completely demolished by the fighting.

We’d landed directly in front of one of the piles of rubble—the only spot there wasn't already Resistance fighters camped out and waiting for us—though that in itself shows that it's a trap. I'm not sure if walking into a trap is better or worse if you know exactly what it is, but all I can do now is cling to the hope that we’re stronger than these people, strong enough to handle whatever they throw at us.

Strong enough to go home safely at the end of this all with Kieran in tow and Sage’s Bonded Group back together.

I realize now that the reckless streak in me, the one that has me running off after my friends without a thought for my own safety, has calmed a little. Not that I wouldn't still run headfirst after them if they were in danger, only now, I would ask my Bonded to tag along too. I need to have them with me now the same way that I need air.

Knowing that Silas Davies is dead and no longer out there, ready to strap me to a table and carve me into pieces, bolsters my courage a whole damn lot. It's probably stupid and naive of me, but I feel as though I can face the god-bonds far easier than I could ever face that maniac.

I don't have trauma when it comes to them.

Sure, my own god-bond does. All of them do, thanks to a hundred deaths in a hundred lifetimes, but me? I still get the sweats and the shakes thinking about that goddamn table and the box of weapons that was used against me over and over again until my bond had to come out and play. All of the tactics used by a madman against a child, all of the ways he broke me.

I can admit that now that I'm a little older and I've seen a little more of life, both through my eyes and through Nox's. I was a child, and he was a fully grown man, playing his little games and torturing me in the most creative ways. His sick mind would come up with a hundred different ways to carve a body up, only to have a Healer put me back together so he could start again.

If that pain couldn't break me then whatever Gift this god-bond has can't either.

I'm not even sure the Pain god can touch me with its power anymore now that we're all awake and the Soothsayer has reinforced our minds. We’re not just stronger because of the power boost. I'm stronger because I have my Bonded with me. I'm stronger because I know that every last one of my moves is backed up by them, all of them are here to work with me to get us out of here alive and whole. We’re going to get through this together and be ready to take on whatever else might appear in our future.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

The moment that Gabe shifts into the Draconis and the dragon hops off into the air, I feel a moment of panic at his disappearance that is only eased by Gabe’s voice in my mind as he reassures me that he's going to keep us safe, that everything here is going to be okay. I'm more worried about what’s going to happen to him up there than anything else, as though the distance between us is an unbridgeable gap when really, I know that we're going to be fine. Everything has to be fine.

I wouldn't have come out here unless I was sure that it was going to be fine.

Liar. You chased after Kyrie to a Resistance camp that terrified you purely because she’s Gryphon's sister. The reckless, self-destructive tendencies in you are strong, Nox sends to my mind connection, and I startle for a second.

Are you reading my mind right now? Because I can only handle that happening with one person. To have you in there as well is terrifying.