Chapter 1 #2
When my Second pops into existence in the front foyer, I almost lose my last vestiges of control at the blood spattering the front of his uniform.
He only sends me a dark look as he shakes his head.
It’s not like him to get angry about shit, not with me, and my bond itches to crack open his head to rifle around in his mind until there’s no questions left unanswered.
With a scoff, he snaps at me, “No need to waste your Gift; your little Bond has a fucking mean right hook.”
I send him a savage look of my own. “What the hell did you do to her? And don’t tell me you went to a Healer before coming to get me, I’m barely keeping my shit together as it is.”
He shakes his head at me, far too casual for my liking because I’ve never been so serious in my life. If he’s hurt her, he’s dead and, honestly, me killing him would be a kindness.
North would let his shadows make a real mess of the job first if he found out.
“Something spooked her, so when I tried to talk to her, she wasn’t taking any chances.
She swung before I even got my mouth open and then made a run for it.
Makai blocked the exit, ready to help me talk her down, but then Harrison spotted the Resistance scouts from where he was keeping watch and I had no choice but to just fucking grab her.
I mean it, Shore, if I didn’t get a hold of her, then she would’ve been in the middle of a Resistance stake out, so I did what I had to do.
Good fucking luck dealing with her without spending half your time down at the med bay, she’s a savage little thing. ”
Cursing under my breath, I grab the arm he’s holding out. “I told you to come straight to me—”
He cuts me off, his temper well and truly snapped, “And I did! Aarav is back on duty and he reset my nose just so I can breathe again because I can’t Transport without oxygen in my brain. Rest assured, asshole, my face is still fucking throbbing.”
His Gift kicks in before I can reply, and then I’m too busy trying not to puke my guts up to argue with him.
He Transports us both to the Tac Response Office, right into the surveillance room that’s already a writhing hive of people.
Thankfully it’s mostly TacTeam personnel who are trained to hold barriers in their minds constantly so I’m not assaulted by their every thought, but there are a few errant Council members sweating in the corner where they’re clustered together, anxiety rolling off of them in waves and scrambling the streams of information pouring out.
Something else has happened.
Even a non-Gifted could pick out the Dravens with ease. They’re very clearly brothers, dark hair and even darker blue eyes staring out of variations of the same face, but it’s the wide berth the entire room is giving them both that’s the dead giveaway.
Already in uniform, Nox looks as though he’s gearing up to face his worst nightmare, but his tone is still level when he sneers at me. “You sure do take your fucking time.”
I have to swallow my scathing reply, my jaw tightening so hard my teeth almost crack, but then North meets my gaze with his own, pushing his thoughts toward me as he does, and the petty squabbles disintegrate into dust.
Davies arrived seconds after Black got Oleander out. They’re looking for something and they’re tearing apart the entire town looking for it. She was seconds away from crossing his path and falling into the Resistance’s hands.
My gut churns and I swallow back the bile creeping up my throat. Where is she now? Who do you have guarding her?
Nox starts snarling at Makai and Aarav, questioning their statements of what went down and demanding answers about anything that isn’t related to our Bond.
I can’t help but look him over, an old habit of searching for the markers of his control slipping, but there are no signs of black stains on his skin or rings of shadows to be found.
Not yet.
North’s gaze flicks to follow mine in assessing his brother before he finally answers me.
She’s in the holding rooms, waiting to be moved to the Council offices.
William just arrived, he’s going to oversee her transport, and I’ve called Gabe to meet him over there to guard her while we deal with this.
I’m hoping we can divert Nox’s reaction into a tactical response, find out what they’re looking for and figure out what Davies is planning.
The fight should level him out before they meet and, with any luck, we’ll find enough clues of their plans to keep his mind busy elsewhere until he… adjusts to her.
With a curt nod, I turn on my heel and move over to the lockers to get my uniform without wasting another second.
None of this is going the way I thought it would, the way I want it to, but there are no other options left.
I don’t trust William the way North does, but I do trust Gabe to keep our Bond safe.
I trained him myself and he’s already able to go out with teams if we’re short on personnel.
No matter how badly I want to be the one watching over our Bond, I can’t deny that North’s plan is irrefutably sound.
There’s also no doubting the fact that we can’t stick Nox in a room with our little runaway Bond the way he is right now; the shadows will eat her alive.
Jury is still out if she deserves every seething inch of his hatred or not, but I refuse to believe she’s done anything that would warrant that sort of death.
Frustration writhes in my gut that I won’t know the answer to that until I get my Bond in front of me.
A hush falls back over the room the moment I step back into the office, my hands still checking over my weapons in an old tick I’ve never been able to shake.
There are half a dozen extra Tac personnel in the room, Transported in from the front lines, and even blocking me out, I can tell they’re all rattled.
I glance back up to find North’s eyes have shifted, his fists pressed against his desk as he struggles to get control of himself.
Nox and I are the only two people not shitting ourselves at the sight of his void eyes, the anomaly of the Draven bloodline that sets them apart from the rest of the Gifted community, no matter how hard they try to assimilate.
Nox turns to me, his voice a scathing drawl. “They detonated a Trigger. The entire town is gone.”
It takes us two days to deal with the aftermath of the Trigger.
There’s nothing I want more than to Transport back to Draven and finally, finally, get my eyes on this Bond of mine, but no Resistance attack ever happens in a vacuum.
Four other towns are hit at the same time, only without a Trigger to make a clean sweep of it, and there’s no way I can just turn my back on the innocent civilians while the Resistance picks them off by the dozens.
We’re forced to deploy Gabe with one of the teams, leaving William to watch over our Bond, but resources are stretched thin and there aren’t enough Top Tier Gifted within the TacTeams as it is.
Gabe’s not supposed to even go out on missions, let alone lead them, but Makai and Harrison are good about backing him up and North sends him to the safest option of the four zones.
He comes back without a scratch on him, but he’s absolutely been damaged by his duties, some young and naive thread stolen from him by the senseless violence of the Resistance. I remember the moment it was robbed from me in the same way with a sort of clarity I don’t think I’ll ever really shake.
After we’ve all washed the grime and violence down the drain, as though there’s any amount of hot water and soap that could clean away the horrors, we Transport back to the Council offices and I’m swamped with dozens of streams of consciousness the second my feet hit the ground.
I filter through it all on reflex, searching for something out of the ordinary but there’s nothing.
Frustratingly, I can’t hear my Bond, and it only irritates me more.
North and Nox’s uncle meets us at the door to the interrogation room with a carefully stifled yawn that grates on me.
I'm keenly aware that he’s a far better man than the head of any of the other Top Tier families, but that bar is low.
I don't know if it’s the immense wealth he’s always held or if it’s the fact that he’s well into his fifties now and has never found his own Bond, but there’s no doubt in my mind that William Draven is out of touch.
He’s too careless and casual about things, bordering on apathetic, and the way he’s all but thrown a tantrum about North’s priorities moving to his own Bond Group makes me see red.
Most of this I know thanks to my Gift, so I’m forced to bite my tongue about it for now. North loves him and, though I definitely wouldn’t call Nox’s feelings love, the damaged Draven I call my best friend is certainly fond of the man as well.
“She’s fine, other than being bored out of her mind in there. Honestly, North, you could’ve let the poor girl wait back at the house.”
There are at least a dozen reasons why that’s a fucking terrible idea, and William should be able to figure out at least five of them for himself.
Gabe shoots me a look the moment he’s sure no Draven will spot it, pushing his thoughts at me as he covers the irritated curl of his lip with the coffee cup in his hands.
When I got here to watch her before North called me in, William was too busy yakking it up with Hannity to notice I’d arrived. I told North about it and he called to ream him, but I don’t think we should trust him. Not unless we have to, I mean.
I jerk my head at him to follow me into the observation room, sending back, I’ll speak to North about it. Our hands were tied this time, but I agree we keep everything within the Bond Group from now on.