Page 66 of Blood Bonds
Bassinger stares him down. “Obviously it didn’t sink in.”
Black and I share a look. Bassinger is never going to make friends with the blunt and cutthroat treatment he gives everyone when Oli isn’t with him, but I’m also starting to figure out that he doesn’t really give a fuck either. He doesn’t want friends. The weird companionship he’s found himself in with Gabe seems like the only concession he’s been willing to make… that and the truce he just declared with North.
Anyone outside of our Bond Group is fair game to his acid tongue.
I motion for him to step in closer to the other two so that we can get this job over and done with. Rockelle is grinning at him with an edge to it like he’s itching for a fight. They’re as bad as each other, and I’ll need to remember to keep them apart in the future.
As we get within touching distance of each other, Black cocks his head at me before shaking it, clapping his hand onto my shoulder to transport me a little more forcefully than usual. “New cologne?”
My eyes narrow. “Don’t breathe a word. I have enough shit on you to bury you.”
He just smirks at me and motions like he’s zipping his lips shut, which is the biggest fucking lie because the asshole just thinks everything hewouldsay, which is just as effective.
He knows how to send me information, has for years, and it’s been useful in our line of work, so I find him thinking in my direction.I’d call you a degenerate but… I guess you’re Bonded and it’s to be expected.
I answer out loud, “You shouldn’t call me anything as your superior and definitely not in Councilman Draven’s hearing.”
He has been friends with North almost as long as I have been, and I don’t have to say anything else for him to get what I’m saying, loud and clear. He snorts and shakes his head again. “They’re both as jealous as each other, and yet neither of them have figured it out yet. Fucking hilarious.”
Bassinger doesn’t like any of this conversation, and the smirk he gives Black is all sorts of venomous. “How’s your Bond Group treating you?”
Black has gone toe-to-toe with Nox for decades; Bassinger’s shitty attitude is nothing to him. “Well, there isn’t a Resistance snake in mine, so better than others for sure.”
Bassinger just raises an eyebrow at him and snarks back, “Are you so sure about that?”
No one here wants to think about the Riley and Giovanna mess we’re still attempting to untangle for Sage, or what doing so is going to cost us.
Black grimaces and transports us without another word, thepoploud enough to ring in my eardrums and scramble my head for a second once our feet hit solid ground again. He’s brought us to the underground parking space of the offices, right in front of the elevator to the basement. There’s no one else around us, nothing to say that anything is happening here that we’d need to worry about, and a pit of unease starts in my gut.
It always does when things go smoothly.
I don’t trust that shit at all.
As per protocol, no one else speaks or moves until I’ve cast my gift out to check for other Gifted around us. There’s no one in the parking lot or the first three upper levels of the building. The raid has made sure of that, and when I push my gift to its limits, I only find the prisoners and other Gifted we have held down in the cells.
“We’re clear. Let’s get this over with.”
Black nods and takes point, letting Rockelle fall behind and cover our backs. Bassigner watches their movements with keen eyes but keeps his mouth shut, following along with the rules and guidelines he’s been told about coming along today.
Nox had railed hard about having him here, still so sure that he’s a spy, but North and I had agreed. Whatever we need to do to get the upper hand on the Resistance, as long as it’s not sacrificing innocents, then we’re doing it.
Anything to get Oli clear of Silas fucking Davies.
When we make it to the lower levels and the doors of the elevator opens, Black and I both watch as Bassinger steps out and gets a good look at the cells. It feels a little like deja vu, like I’m back to a few weeks ago when Oli had been here for the first time and Carlin Meadows had gotten an eyeful of her.
Render.
Fuck, when I’d heard her spit that word at my Bonded, I didn’t believe it. Not until Oli had immediately freaked the fuck out and run away like she was being chased by the devil. Every pore of her being was terrified.
Of me.
Me hearing it, me rejecting her, me telling the others and them all turning on her. My head had felt as though it was about to split from everything screaming out of my Bonded, and every protective instinct in me kicked in. I wanted her safe and secure in my arms, a million miles away from this place, and I’d barely made it through watching the interrogations without dragging her out.
Bassigner walks slowly down the hallway, oblivious to the memories of Oli assaulting me. The Gifted inside the cells are all thin, haggard-looking men and women with blank sort of eyes. They are all fed and taken care of, but most go on hunger strikes to attempt to kill themselves.
I usually end up here forcing them to eat with my gift.
I get my head back into the game. “Any you recognize?”