Page 48 of Blood Bonds

I giggle, feeling oddly teary about the ragged tone of her voice, and when we pull away from each other, Felix leans in to give me a very sedate side hug as well. I’m not sure if he’s worried about upsetting his Bonded or the many overprotective Bonds of mine in this house, but I can respect it.

I usher them both into my room, and Sage carefully steps around the pups to take a seat on the floor with me while Felix takes a seat at the small, never-used desk that’s covered in books I’ve already used for my studies today, as well as all of Gabe’s stuff. The small stack of Atlas’ books acts like a little beacon to me, pointing out how badly I need to go find my Bond and hear from him.

I clear my throat, looking back at Sage and say, “So catch me up on what’s been happening since the world as we knew it ended. What’s been going on?”

I’m expecting to hear about everyone officially moving into the mansion, but that’s not quite what I get.

Sage shoots me a look. “Oh, nothing much. Except that I’m definitely a Central Bond. Kieran is one of my Bonds, and I havefourthat flagged in my dad’s very secure, very secret retest. So, you know. Business as usual around here.”

Four.

Holy shit.

I suddenly care about nothing more than finding out about her Bonds. My own bullshit just evaporates out of my brain. “So, Kieran, Felix, Riley, and… some other guy? Do you know him?”

She huffs and leans herself back against the bed, tipping her head back dramatically, which I can totally get behind, and says, “Yeah, I know him. He already graduated from Draven a year ago and moved interstate for work. He’s from one of the lower families, but he came to Draven on a scholarship because his gift was so strong. Gryphon tried to get him to join a TacTeam, but he wanted something that paid more.”

Understandable. When you come from nothing, you’re going to go for your best option. “So… are you going to contact him now or later?”

She groans and props herself up on her elbows to look back at me. “My dad and North are discussing it, as though I'm a child who can’t make her own decisions on these things. They’re also monitoring the Riley and Giovanna situation from a distance until it’s safe to get him out of there even though I’m dying inside thinking about what is happening to him right now but my opinion on that matter is also very low on the list of priorities.”

From the corner of my eye, I see Felix pulling a face, chewing on his lips like he’s keeping himself from butting in, and I point at him. “Don’t you even think about talking rationally about this right now, Davenport. We’re here to hate on the controlling men in our lives, not their very sound and good reasoning for it.”

He grins and shakes his head at me while Sage groans again. “I know it’s a security risk thing and nothing to do with how they see me, but why does it always have to be this way? Why can’t something,anything, be easy or normal for me?”

I stack up my homework to make more room for us to spread out on the floor, and August uses the opportunity to wedge himself more fully between Sage and I. I give him a scratch and he settles onto his belly, tucking his face into my legs as he watches the room keenly.

Brutus is on his back, fast asleep by my feet with zero cares.

Sage prods at the paperwork, drawling, “You’d think a near death experience would get us out of assignments, wouldn’t you? I doubt your Bond will allow it though. We’re going to be forced to hand shit in for him at least.”

There’s a pang in my chest as I think about Nox, a craving for him that is going to mess with my plans to sleep in with Gabe tomorrow night. I know that North said I’d been ‘tended to’ by all of them after my bond went on its killing spree, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Nox wasn’t actually on that list.

Or if he did the bare minimum possible.

Felix looks over at me again, and I raise an eyebrow at him until he says, “I can’t help but notice that there’s two creatures in here with you now.”

Sage glances over and shrugs at him. “That’s August, one of North’s creatures. We met when Oli came to grab me from The Great Fire Incident. You really think after Oli was captured and hurt he wasn’t going to add his own little spy to the mix? I’m surprised he only gave you one.”

August looks up at the sound of his name and I give him a scratch to settle him back down. Brutus wakes up and immediately asks for some love too, which he gets like the precious baby he is. “I might ask for the snake as well. My bond liked that one alot.”

Sage fumbles with her phone a little, gulping as she nods at me. She’s clearly got a phobia but doesn’t argue with my hopes because she’s the best.

Felix does though. “You can’t complain about being stuck here and in the same breath, say you want a fucking snake following you around. Jesus Christ, Oli, that’s pushing it. Even for you.”

I giggle at the strain in his voice. “Scared of a widdle snakey? This changes everything I thought of you, Felix. Seriously. He’s cute, and he ripped some guys' arms off for me. If that isn’t the most precious thing I’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is.”

The memory floods me without warning and, though my hands shake a little at the ferocity of the moment, I don’t feel guilty for all of the death and pain. They came for innocent people. They trapped a monster instead and that’s their own stupid fault. I tried to warn them.

Where are you? What’s upsetting you?

What’s happened?

Gryphon and North speak over each other in my head, and I try not to roll my eyes at them both fussing. It still feels weird to have them in there like that, let alone having North being so… sweet.

Oleander, if you don’t answer, I’ll leave this meeting and come up there after you.

Ah, that’s much more North-like.