Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
Oli
I wake up as my feet hit the ground at the Sanctuary, my stomach churning horribly as my head spins. Bile burns a path up my throat, and I choke as I fight to keep it down.
Why does it always have to feel this way?
I wait for Gryphon to ease the discomfort, but when his hand doesn’t come up to cup my neck, I’m forced to slap a hand over my mouth instead.
A strong arm bands around my waist, hauling me back onto a broad chest as North snaps, “Are you going to give Gryphon back so that he can help her or not?”
I don’t understand what he means by that, and I’m too busy gagging to figure it out.
Then Gryphon’s palm finally slides around my throat and his Gift flows into my body, flooding me and chasing the sickness away.
It’s only once my head clears that I realize the room around us is silent, the kind of silence where a million things are floating around us unsaid, and that Gryphon’s hand isn’t cupping the side of my neck like it usually is.
He’s gripping my throat the same way that he would when we’re alone, when he’s whispering filthy demands and observations into my ear as his hips drive his cock into my body.
I glance up to find his bond staring back at me.
Blank face, black void eyes, I’m meeting the god within him properly for the first time. I’m suddenly very aware of all of the eyes on us both.
Kieran has brought us back to one of the training rooms underneath the Tac Training Center, smart decision, as always, and he’s already backed right away from this clusterfuck of a situation.
He’s hovering by the door, close enough to help out the moment we need him, but he’s also perfectly aware that if our bonds are out, he’s more of a hindrance than a help.
I’m the only one who can really deal with them.
A quick glance is all it takes to know that none of my other Bonded are happy about his hands on me like this. Not the bond, because they might trust Gryphon to the ends of the earth, but they don’t trust the god that had lived hidden beneath his skin.
We all remember the warnings that Jericho had said.
The bonds kill their vessels.
Gryphon’s bond stares at me, unblinking as he reads me like a book. “I would never harm you. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. You’re mine . Nothing changes that.”
I’m not sure if he can just tell what I’m thinking by the look on my face or if he’s able to get past my defenses, but I nod slowly anyway, a slow sigh eking out from between my lips.
His fingers flex around my throat, tightening just a little, and there’s murmurs of displeasure around us from the rest of our Bonded Group.
I should really focus on getting him to let go.
“No. You should tell them all to leave us alone. It’s been a very long time since I was with you last, Bonded.”
Oh, God.
Definitely reading my mind then.
A shadow twines itself around his wrist faster than my eyes can track, sliding along his palm and then wrenching his hand away from me. Gryphon’s lip curls as his bond snarls, but the shadows wrap around his body to keep him away from me.
“You’re effectively a stranger to us all right now, so you’ll be staying there until we know we can trust you,” North says, stepping between us and acting like a protective wall. I slip a hand onto his back, as much an anchor to myself in this moment as a reassurance to him.
I feel off-kilter at the turn the day has taken.
Kieran steps forward, approaching Gryphon’s bond the same way that you’d expect a man to approach a barrel full of pissed-off rattlesnakes.
As though he’s about to die for the audacity of breathing.
North shoots him a look, but Kieran ignores him entirely, speaking to Gryphon’s bond in a formal way that speaks both of respect and the fear that’s very obviously pumping through him right now.
“I’ve got Sage in one of the cells downstairs with the rest of our Bonded Group watching her. What exactly is in her head right now, and how do I get it out?”
In her head?
My eyes flash back to Gryphon and I snap, “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why didn’t you say something sooner? What if she’s hurt right now or it’s doing damage?”
The bond, who hasn’t looked away from me yet, stays unresponsive to my words as his void eyes drink me in. I feel just a little bit uneasy at it, something I’d never felt around my Bonds or the bonds that live within them.
I don’t understand why.
“The god-bond is in her mind again. It’s been there before, therefore it’s an easy path for it to take to speak with us.”
The god-bond.
The one that had infiltrated her mind and used her body to kill our Shield, Dara, letting the Resistance into the Sanctuary and framing my best friend for a murder she would never commit.
A violent sort of rage takes fire in my stomach, and I find myself moving before I'm really thinking about it, pushing my way past my Bonded and stalking down the rabbit warren hallways of the training center, all the way until I hit the elevator.
I can hear everybody bickering and arguing behind me, but I can't stop myself from jabbing at the elevator button, cursing under my breath as the doors open. I glance behind myself to find Gryphon's god-bond hovering behind me.
It's strange that even without seeing his eyes, I can tell that it's not my Gryphon.
My Gryphon would have his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl fixed on his face as he assessed the situation, running through the possible outcomes over and over again until he had concocted a plan with the best-case scenario.
His god-bond just stands and stares, so inhuman and expressionless as it takes everything in. Still, my heart tugs towards them both.
They both belong to me.
“Oli, what exactly are you going to do when you get down there? It's not like you can fight the god-bond if it's wearing Sage’s body like some sort of fucked-up puppet,” Gabe says as he steps alongside me, slipping his hand into mine and threading our fingers together.
Kieran shoots him a dark look for talking about his Bonded like that, but I only shrug.
“If I can rip people's souls out, don’t you think it’s possible that I can also force the god-bond out?
Especially if it’s inside of someone it doesn't belong to? It’s worth a try, and I’m sure my bond would enjoy eating something like that. ”
Atlas chuckles darkly from behind me, his eyes still on Gryphon’s god-bond as though he's expecting it to attempt to touch me again.
North, protective and furious at all of this, as always, and Nox are half a step away from us all, talking quietly between themselves as their eyes drift slowly between Gryphon and I.
I can't focus on that right now as the elevator dings and the doors open wide.
I can't think about anything except Sage.
When we get to the cell that Sage is being kept in, I find the rest of her Bonded Group huddled around the giant glass wall. Felix, looking harried and a little worn around the edges, is watching her every move as he ignores the other two bickering viciously behind him.
Riley still looks as though he is recovering from the years he had spent being manipulated and assaulted by Giovanna, a Resistance spy sent in to manipulate their Bonded Group.
His eyes are sunken into his head and his skin is still stretched a little too tight over his bones, making him look as though he is halfway to the grave already instead of just attempting to rest and get his brain back together.
Last I'd spoken to Sage about it, he was still getting frequent nosebleeds.
Even with all of Felix's hard work, it was a slow and steady journey to get him back to where he needs to be.
The third man standing there is Sage’s fourth and final Bond, a man I haven't formally met yet.
After North and Gryphon had finally decided to contact him and bring him to the Sanctuary, all the background checks and monitoring they had done coming up with not even the slightest taint of Resistance, Wick had been put into isolation until Gryphon had finished off the vetting process.
Sage had been thrilled to meet him before we'd left, having instantly felt the same connection to him as she'd felt with the others.
I'm glad that this one Bond had been a little less complicated for her.
I know the path with the other three was… less than smooth.
He turns to look at us all as we make our way over and snaps, “How long are you going to keep her in there? She hasn't done anything wrong.”
I don't bother introducing or explaining myself to him, it's easier to let North deal with that side of things.
Instead, I give Felix a tight smile as he moves out of the way to let me face Sage through the glass.
He trusts me. He knows what lengths I have always gone to for my friend.
Plus, he knows that at the very least, he's going to get an explanation.
Sage is sitting on the bed with a frown and her arms crossed, but she doesn't look scared or worried, just pissed off.
She's covered in soot and ash and splatters of blood up her legs from where she had fought alongside us at the Wastelands only a few hours ago. Her hair is a mess, and a smile tugs at the corner of my lips at the sight of her sitting there at the center of everyone's attention, looking like she’s about to set someone’s ass on fire for this.
It’s a relief she’s not going to let this push her back into that panic spiral she was in last time.
Sage meets my eye and gives me a wry smile back, though it’s more exhausted than anything else. “It's back, isn't it? The thing that was in my head.”
I nod, pressing my hand against the glass and looking her over again as though I’ll be able to see it there under her skin somehow. “Can you feel it? Can you feel anything?”