Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie #6)(84)

He chuckles and dips down to press a kiss to my shoulder. “I don't think any of them believe that they would die on a mission, Bonded. Especially when they haven't been out there before. There's a recklessness when they first join that takes a few missions to shake out of them. I have no doubt that some of them are using this as a campaign platform. They're planning on going out on a few missions, and then they’ll run for the next council seat using their experience as a party platform. I have no doubt that a lot of them have ulterior motives, but there are a handful that Gryphon has found who are genuine. Plus, the strengths that they all bring are useful, no matter what has led them to this point. Quite frankly, we can't afford to be picky right now.”

I sigh and lean back in his arms, letting my head drop back against his chest and enjoying a quiet moment with him.

One of our last.





I'm surprised, but not completely shocked, when the next part of our plan comes together thanks to the work of Sawyer and Nox.

Both Sawyer and Sage have made comments to me about their work together, and I was surprised when Sawyer was so nonchalant and calm about it. He’s only really gotten snappy about the lack of organization on the Bassingers’ part when it came to their digital records.

“Considering how fucking perfectly they’ve archived all of their paper shit, they really did not give a fuck about labeling files or setting up any sort of indexing matrices. Honestly, I feel like showing up at your house and punching Atlas in his smug, rich-boy face in the hopes that his dickhead ancestors feel it. But I also like my soul where it is, so that's probably not the best idea,” Sawyer had snarked at me when I showed up at their house to check in on Kieran and have lunch with Sage.

Unfortunately, even with Felix's full attention and his Bonded’s healing abilities, Kieran is on a slow track to recovery. Every bone in his body had been smashed to pieces, and that’s not exactly something that’s a quick fix. The stress it’s put Sage under makes me feel bloodthirsty all over again.

The only upside to this is the fact that Wick has stepped up to the plate for his Bonded Group and the community in a big way, filling in with Gryphon in the Tac Training sessions beautifully, without complaint or any need for praise. I can see why he was such a great candidate for the TacTeams when he studied at Draven. There’s no mistaking that he is a leader in his own right. Even with the cloud hanging over their house that comes with Kieran’s injuries, I can tell how united and settled Sage’s Bonded Group has become.

It’s an immense relief for me, even while I am concerned about Kieran. Vivian's death has brought up old traumas I was hoping to leave in unmarked boxes tucked away in the back of my mind, never to be opened again, and yet here we are.

Nox and Sawyer aren’t exactly the most obvious duo to pair together on missions, however all of the work that the two of them were doing has paid off. Going through the Bassingers’ files, both digital and the hardcopies that Nox managed to categorize and get home safely, has been a full-time job for them both.

Between that, and the memories that the Corvus has been filtering through to Nox, a plan becomes very clear to him. The problem is that he hates the plan with a vehemence that has him searching for something, anything, else for weeks.

Nothing else comes up.

Once he accepts that it’s our only option, he’s forced to broach it with North and I. He does so before the rest of our Bonded Group, and that in itself sends warning bells into my mind.

“Under no circumstances will my Bonded be used as bait. Find a new plan,” North says in his most savage and firm tone, one that I have never heard in our Bonded Group's direction, let alone his brother’s, but Nox doesn't react to it, he simply crosses his arms and raises his chin in defiance.

It’s a fighting stance that I know so well, and I start to mentally prepare for the fallout of this conversation. I already know it's going to be horrendous.

“You're making it sound as though I'm going to drug her and string her up somewhere, nothing more than cannon fodder. That's not what I'm talking about. The information that the Bassingers had been collecting concurs with what the Corvus has said. The Pain god uses its power as a trap to separate us; it always does. That's exactly what it's going to do, North. It will drive a wedge between us once it has lured us into a trap. As soon as it gets Oleander alone, it will kill her.”

North shakes his head at him. “It can't. We're stronger than it now. There are also six of us and one of it. There is no chance that it will get the better of us.”

He doesn't sound cocky, merely confident, stating the facts that the god-bonds have said to us over and over again, but I still feel the same pit of unease in my gut.

We're going to be stronger than the Pain god-bond, thanks to our Bonding, but are we going to make it out alive? We currently have a success rate of zero in hundreds of lives, so I don’t find myself feeling very optimistic about it, even knowing the difference of this lifetime from the last. I feel stronger than I ever have been before, but who knows if it's enough?

Who knows if it will ever be enough?

Nox keeps his eyes on North, staring a hole right into his brother as he does whatever he needs to do to win this argument. “The Pain god will use that against us. It will use our confidence against us. We both know it, because that's exactly what we would do. As much as we all might want to think differently, it's smart. Smart enough to have survived this long and to start an entire movement amongst the Gifted community to hide within and build resources against us. It has manipulated the strongest of our community, over and over and over. If we let our egos into this conversation, it will win again.”