Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(75)

There's a loud screech overhead again as the Draconis closes in on another section of the Resistance, this time above where North and Gryphon are pushing the teams further.

I can feel all of this happening through the net that I've cast out. I can feel what everyone is thinking, where they are, what they're doing. I can feel everything around me, so I feel when the god-bond makes its next move.

There is a strange absence in my net, an empty pull that has no explanation, no reason for being there. And yet, there it is. I feel it the same time I feel the Draconis turn and circle back.

Panic flares in my chest, but my bond speaks to me. Trust our Bonded. All of them. They know what to do here. They have lived every life with us, and they will not throw away a chance at being together. Not this one.

I swallow roughly and glance at Nox, to his eyes that are glowing black. When he turns back to me, I can see that the Corvus has taken over in preparation of what’s to come.

Atlas continues to move the boulders, but his speed picks up. He's less careful about what he's doing, and it takes me a second to realize the Cleaver has taken over as well.

Sage scowls at him for a moment until she catches a glimpse of his black eyes, then she gulps and turns back to me.

“It's alright. He's just getting ready for the god-bond. He's going to find Kieran first, and we're going to get you guys out of here. I promise, Sage. Everything's going to be okay.”

As sure as I feel about my words, I'm glad that Gryphon isn't here to hear them, just in case there's a lie in them, one I refuse to face myself. We have to find Kieran before the god-bond gets here.

We have to get him out.

North and Gryphon move towards us, leaving their TacTeams where they are as they continue to work through the Resistance. They have a bunch of Elementals in their numbers, and they’ve figured out that the quickest way to fight this Ice god is with fire. They melt away the giant shards it sends flying towards us so that we get hit with nothing but a gentle splash of water.

Just when I feel as though I'm going to scream with anxious energy, Sage gasps and a sob rips out of her throat as she calls out for Felix. The Cleaver turns with Kieran's broken body in his arms, his legs pointing in the wrong directions and blood all over his face as it pours out of his mouth. His breath is uneven and choppy, with a terrifying rattling sound coming from his chest.

I have no idea how he's still breathing in that state.

Sage moves towards him, but Felix barks out an order. “Stop! If you heal him like this, you might do more damage. Just wait there, Bonded. I’ll do what I need to do first.”

She falters and comes to a halt, but I can tell how much it's breaking her to do so. Wick and Riley both stay steady and sure as they work together against the hordes of Resistance that surround us. I give myself one more minute with my bestie before I turn my attention back to the gods; one more minute to observe as Felix patches Kieran up enough to make the jump. I watch as Sage and Felix find a Transporter to take them back to the Sanctuary. I also watch as Wick and Riley make the choice to stay here and continue fighting, to do what they can for us and our community.

My respect for the two of them skyrockets as they both kiss Sage goodbye and tell her not to worry, that they will come home once everything here is over with. They might not be my favorite of her Bonded Group, but I can now firmly say that they have my respect.

The moment that minute is over, my eyes shift to black and my bond takes over, ready to deal with this god-bond once and for all.





The Eternal



The Draconis has not only found the god-bond but it’s working towards capturing it and bringing it directly to me. An act of love and devotion that cannot be ignored.

Instead of waiting for it, as I'm sure it would like me to do, I move towards the Corvus. I’m ready for him to Shadow Shift us directly to where the god-bond is lying in wait. I’m ready to use my power and consume the soul, to take it into myself and ensure that we will never face this god again.

Pillars of ice are appearing around us as our enemy prepares to make its final move, trapping us here and attempting to use its strengths to take us out.

Little does it know, we are beyond such things now.

As I move towards the Corvus, ready to take his arm and shift with him, I feel the earth begin to move under my feet in an unnatural way. With an ear-splitting rumbling sound, a cavernous hole opens up around us. I stumble, my feet slipping on the loose rocks, and the Cleaver lunges towards me to cover me with his body as the earth gives way to a sinkhole, both of us tumbling into it as though we’re ants under the feet of giants.

Instead of landing terribly and breaking my body into a million different pieces, I feel nothing as the Cleaver rolls us both so that I’m on top of him. He takes the brunt of the fall with no reaction other than the tightening of his arms around me as we hit the bottom of the hole.

It ignites my temper.

I cast my web further, throwing it out wide and pulling out the souls of everyone around me that does not belong to the small community we have built. Every living being within the destruction zone is gone in the blink of an eye, all of their power churning through me as we prepare to face down not one, but two god-bonds, both of them working together.

“An Elemental,” the Cleaver says to me as we stand back up, trapped in a hole at least ten feet deep.

“Two Elementals,” I reply, and the Soothsayer speaks into our minds.