Page 51 of Blood Bonds
I swallow roughly and he takes my hand, carefully so I can pull away from him if I want to. I don’t want to though. I want him to hold me because… I don’t even remember half of what was done to me thanks to my bond. To think that he’s seen it all—nope.
What’s happening? Oleander, I’m coming up.
I blink back the useless tears in my eyes and answer North immediately.Don’t. We’re just talking and he told me about the tapes. I’m guessing he’s told you already?
He is slower to answer but the urgency is out of his tone.I’ve seen them. Take a break and come see me. Leave this alone until later.
But I can’t. I need to know everything so that I can have my Bond back and know exactly what else he has on me that I didn’t know about. Fuck, North’s seen the tapes now too?
“You have them here, with you? Have they all seen them?” My voice is more of a croak, and when some of the tears spill out of my eyes, I hastily wipe them away.
He looks devastated when I pull my hand away from him but shakes his head. “No. Just North and Gryphon. I wouldn’t let them keep the footage because I didn’t want Nox seeing them. I know that you’re still on the fence with him at least, and I wasn’t letting him… see you like that. The other two had to see them to understand why I won’t ever side with my family.Ever, Oli. I would never side with people who did that to you.”
I can believe that, even without Gryphon’s lie detecting ability, because I can feel just how badly he needs me to believe him pouring out of his soul in my direction. He’s being very careful about keeping his bond away from mine, obviously so that I don’t assume he’s using it against me, but I can still read him like a book right now.
He means every word.
He also told me about sleeping around when I’m sure he’d rather not have talked about that but he’s being completely transparent.
So I nod again and murmur, “What happened then?”
He takes a deep breath and tips his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I confronted my mom about it. She didn’t want to tell me anything, but when I told her I was going to the Dravens to help look for you, she broke and admitted that she knew about them taking you. She’d lied to me about you so I wouldn’t go looking for you, and she ‘forbade’ me from finding you because of what Silas wants from you. The problem with her plan was that I was already nineteen at that point and had access to my trust fund. There was nothing she could do to stop me, not without telling my dad or the others what I was doing. So I planned out how I was going to find you and be with you on the run, and when I say that I had everything planned out, I meaneverything, Sweetness. From moving my trust fund into an offshore account so that my dad couldn’t trace the money to knowing the exact whereabouts of all of the Resistance camps and having them mapped out so we could stay away from them.”
My jaw drops, but he just smiles ruefully at me. “Getting you a passport without it flagging with Silas was hard, but I did it. I was going to try to talk you into going to Singapore with me. They have really strong anti-Resistance measures there, lots of security and surveillance. While I didn’t love the idea of being monitored all of the time, I’m all about keeping yououtof those fucking camps.”
Tears start up in my eyes again, but this time it’s because my heart is pounding in my chest like he’s just declared his undying love to me. Well, I guess he sort of has. Running away together? To a whole other country just to keep us both safe which, in turn, would have kept the other Bonds safe as well?
As much as I need them all, I sort of wish it had gone that way.
“Except then Shore and his TacTeam found you. I have no fucking clue how they managed it when Silas couldn’t, but they did. All of my planning went down the drain. I had to pivot to being here with you and hoping you’d want to run away with me. The GPS chip was in the way, and the sheer amount of security North has on you makes it really fucking hard, but I could’ve made it work… but then you started scenting and nesting. You Bonded with Shore thanks to that Davenport bitch. I knew we couldn’t run without taking everyone. That would have been impossible, so now I’m working on giving the Dravens as much information as I can to keep you safe. Dad and Silas haven’t figured out that I’m the one giving it to you all yet so, for now, it’s useful.”
I give him a look because this is all part of the story that has never made sense to me.
How did they not know that I was his Bond? They had all of the pieces and information and yet—they just didn’t know? It’s the one part that makes the story seem… like a story and not the complete truth.
Atlas nods slowly without me saying a word and answers the unasked question without hesitating, “My mom. That’s how. She knew that Silas and my dad would both sacrifice me for their goals without second thought. My mom might be a part of the Resistance, but she’s my mom first. She hates you, hates the Dravens, hates every part of this situation, but she loves me more than she hates. So, the day you escaped, the reason Silas finally left the camp? My mom. The reason you stayed a step ahead of them all the way? My mom. Every time something went your way that shouldn’t have, my mom was behind it. She manipulated security footage, organized holes for you to slip through, and used her own gift to take out lower Resistance members to keep an eye on you. Then, once you were captured by the Dravens, she had the coordinates for the GPS chip sent to her as well so that she could keep an eye on you easier. Before you ask, I didn’t know about it until Sawyer mentioned it. I knew it had to be her, and I called her to ream her about it. She just won’t give up.”
I blow out a breath and nod to him, looking away as I process that.
Well, it does neatly fix all of the holes in my story. Too neatly? Only time will tell, but when I think about it, I really did have too many close calls and lucky moments in my time on the run from them all. Holy shit. A reluctant and hateful guardian angel. Just my freaking luck.
I hum under my breath as I think, and he stands up from the bed, stretching out his back and stalking over to the closet, bringing back bottles of water for us both. I shoot him a look as I take the cold bottle and he grins. “I decided that if I’m going to be stuck in here, then I’m going to make the place more comfortable. I got a mini bar and some other shit so that I could stop calling the kitchens and dealing with the chef’s attitude.”
I drink some of the water and then put the bottle on the bedside table before I finally bridge the gap between us. I’m sure there’s more to talk about. I’m sure more shit will come up between us in the future, but for now, I’m satisfied. For now, I just want my goddamned Bond.
I lean forward to press my face back into his chest, and I can feel the instant relief in his as he pulls me into his arms. The buzzing feeling under my skin settles a little. It’s strange the different ways that my bond protests being separated from each of them. Gryphon and North are different now that we’ve Bonded, but my need for Nox is a slow itch, Gabe is an ache in my chest, and Atlas is this energy that won’t leave me, egging me on to find him and wrap myself around him.
He takes my hands as though he can read my mind as well and rubs his thumbs over my pulse points where my blood is thrumming with excess energy. “You Bonded with North.”
Just like Gabe, he’s not saying it as an accusation. He’s just putting it out there into the air, and I nod. “I did. It was my choice this time and… I don’t regret it.”
He nods back. “I don’t want you to regret it. I’d kill any of them for pushing you. But what did it do to your power? Did you have a surge or anything new pop up?”
I tilt my head to the side as I consider it. I’ve thought about it, of course I have, but the only answer I’ve come up with seems fake and like wishful thinking.
“I feel stronger. Not more powerful or anything, I just feel more sure of myself and what I can do.”
He nods and squeezes my hands. “I’m not just saying this because I want you. I do want you, nothing will ever change that, but after you and Gryphon Bonded, I’d been watching for some big change that never happened. Oli, have you ever considered that maybe your bond won’t grow in power because it’s already at full capacity?”