Page 53 of Blood Bonds

He’s not wrong.

Dinner is a lot louder with this many people sitting around the table. Sawyer and Grey both attempt to butter up the creatures by feeding them pieces of steak, and I’m shocked when it works. Brutus is sitting at their feet with big, round eyes while he waits for his next piece. August stays at my side but happily takes the pieces Sawyer throws over to him.

“They don’t really have taste buds or stomachs. You’re just wasting food,” drawls North, cutting his own steak up like an aristocrat.

I roll my eyes at him and snark, “You have a magic TV in your room that appears out of thin air. We can feed the babies steaks without worrying about the food bill.”

Gabe smothers back a laugh, choking a little on it, and Gryphon grins at me from across the table. August rests his head on my thigh and licks at my fingers, enjoying the lobster juices even if it’s not really doing anything nutritionally for him.

I wait until they all look happy enough with their meals before I very carefully say, “So what are the plans here, long term? I’m about ready to start tearing walls down if I’m holed up for much longer.”

Gryphon raises an eyebrow at me. “Training starts again at five a.m. tomorrow. Do you still need me to come get you, or can you make it to the gym on your own now?”

Oh, that’s definitely not what I was after.

Gabe roars with laughter at the horrified look on my face while I struggle to think of a good reason to get out of it.

If you’re healed enough to fuck North and I at once, then you can train,Gryphon says. Although I want to murder the asshole for saying it, I can acknowledge that at least he didn’t make it public.

The tiniest amount of brownie points to him.

Nothing that will strain her legs. Go easy on her.

My cheeks heat, because of course they’re both happy to run free in my head while I’m trying to eat my goddamned seafood.

“Why are you the exact shade of tomato soup right now, Bond?” Gabe murmurs, and I startle back into myself, looking around the table like a criminal who’s been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“Gryphon has no table manners, and that’s all I’m saying. He’s dragging me to training. You’ll come too, right? Save me from his sadistic ways.”

Atlas’ hand is gentle on my thigh under the table, stroking reverently over the perfectly healed skin there. They all keep fussing with it. North wanting me to go easy on it makes no sense. I’ve healed up fully, so well that there’s no scar, but I also won’t argue about it. I don’t want to do squats and burpees.

Running is taking it easy though, right?

Totally.

Kieran looks at me over the table and shakes his head slowly. “She needs to see a Tac Psych. You should put off the training until she has.”

I poke a fork in his direction. “Shut your mouth, narc. I’m fine. I’ve healed, and there’s nothing I need to talk about.”

He cocks an eyebrow at me, the bastard, and says, “That man knew exactly where to cut you to get your bond out. You knew what was coming before he even opened the tool box. None of that comes without a lot of sessions. If your Bonds give a shit about you, they’ll get you in therapy.”

North looks over at me and I feel everyone’s eyes on my skin, but I talk directly to him because I already know that it’ll be him forcing me into it. “My bond is the one who deals with that shit. If you send me to therapy, it’ll have to be the one to talk. Do you really want to do that to some poor woman?”

Shit.

Don’t think about it being a woman, don’t go down that thought spiral again, Oli.

What thought spiral?

I roll my eyes at Gryphon.Are you ever going to get out of my head? Why am I even asking? Of course you won’t. The spiral about thinking of how many people you lot have all fucked.

He raises an eyebrow at me.Why would thinking about a psych do that to you? Why exactly are you so convinced that North has fucked every woman he comes across? And why don’t you feel the same way about the rest of us?

Stupid Bonds.

I turn away from him and back to Kieran. “I don’t need therapy. I need a nap and for everyone to leave my bond alone so it doesn’t go on another soul-eating binge again. That’s it. So just drop it.”

Sage meets my eye across the table and nibbles on her bottom lip a little, looking guilty.