Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
GRYPHON
After I’m cleared to return to duty by the Healers, North grounds my Team for an indeterminate amount of time.
He informs the rest of the council his decision was made by increased security concerns but really he uses my attack as cover.
Instead of scouting or recovery missions, I start sifting through the minds of the members of the Top Tier families.
It’s been something we’ve chipped away at over the last five years, desperate to find something that might help us find our Bond, but whatever Nox found that he’s keeping to himself for now, it’s pushed this work back to the top of our priorities.
The results are, unfortunately, both predictable and horrifying.
My parents used to talk a lot about the riots back in the seventies.
They all fought within the TacTeams during the worst of the conflicts, lost many of their closest friends and even family members, and they each carved out a name for themselves in the Gifted history books with their service to our community.
As a young child, it all seemed so heroic but distant.
I idolized my father in particular, as I’m sure many sons do, but it took until my first mission out in the field before I really understood how very present this war is.
It’s not just something you read about in old textbooks or dates and facts to be memorized for tests.
It’s in everyday conversations, the ways the council addresses concerns, how the Top Tier families choose to interact with the Lower Tier Gifted they come across.
Every cold look and ignorant act, every chance they have to sharpen a blade, even on the so-called ‘good side’ of the war, they’re the shades of gray I’m surrounded by that make the vetting process a nightmare.
Far too many of those gray areas are a scant shade away from the Resistance’s rhetoric, and it only proves North’s fears for our Bond Group’s safety are far from baseless.
The security detail continues to shadow my Bond’s every move, made up entirely of the most trusted personnel from my Team.
Gabe spends his days escorting her from class to class while enduring the whispers and snide comments of his peers.
North and I both shift to working in his office building on campus, and with his lectures packing out his schedule, Nox is all but tied down as well.
I’m sure he would work on the opposite side of the state if he had any choice in the matter.
With a dozen threats and potential threats plaguing my every waking thought, I spend an extra hour in the gym going through my training circuit.
By the time I make it to breakfast, North and Gabe have already beaten me there.
A rare occurrence for Draven to beat anyone to anything before noon, the scowl on his face isn’t a good sign for the day ahead of me.
Gabe nods in acknowledgment to me but continues their conversation without missing a beat. “She hasn't said anything to anyone. At first, I thought it was just my stupid wishful thinking but… she hasn't said anything."
Ah.
His cousin’s note.
A single line of coordinates and a list of well-known Resistance names, it hasn’t made any sense to us yet, but his desperation to reach Gabe and harried appearance at the football game has kept us digging into it. Our resources are stretched thin though, and without help, it’s slow going.
To make matters worse, the kid is now refusing to speak to Gabe and his parental Bonded Group won’t engage with any of our attempts to reach out to them either.
North stares unblinkingly across the table at Gabe, still barely registering my arrival, and when I take a closer look at him, I find his eyes are so dark that they almost look like they've shifted. Even after all these years, the tension that floods me freezes me in place as I instantly prepare myself. If he loses control and his nightmare creatures make an appearance, I’ll be in the thick of it defending Gabe as they no doubt attack the source of North’s turmoil.
When the door opens and catches his attention, the whites of his eyes flash clearly as he glances at his brother’s haggard arrival, and I force my shoulders to loosen even with the new issue all but stumbling in.
Nox is, without a doubt, hungover as fuck.
He’s supposed to be teaching my Bond’s class in a few short hours, and I don’t think Gabe will be enough protection for her with Nox in this state.
I’m not the only one who comes to this conclusion.
Cheek muscle twitching for a second, North is careful about covering it before the maids bring out the serving dishes of breakfast foods.
It weirded me out to sit around the table and be served like this when I first started eating here, but North and Nox never seemed to notice.
Gabe did straight away, though, so I know it’s not just the General’s standards that differ from the Draven’s.
Nox slumps into his usual seat, ignoring the maid who prepares his breakfast setting as though he’s not a grown man capable of unfolding a napkin, but North thanks her in his usual firm-but-kind way.
He uses the same tone to address the mess he calls a brother. “There’s no need for you to teach today. I’ll send Tyson in as relief, and you can catch up on your research.”
Nox drops the linen napkin onto his lap, a smirk stretching over his lips when North cringes at the action.
“I can’t keep up with you. Yesterday, you were whining about how hard I was making your life.
Well, this is the only remorse you’ll ever get from me.
Besides, what’s so bad about me being a productive member of our oh-so-welcoming community?
Either you need my help or you need me to disappear.
Figure out what the hell you really want, brother, and then let me know. ”
North’s gaze stays steady on Nox until his brother starts to fill his plate, and only then do his eyes narrow.
He looks close to intervening, to doing something a little closer to tough love, but for now, he sticks to his usual kid-glove approach of asking questions and giving firmly reassuring answers.
Nothing even close to offensive or abrasive.
The problem is, of course, that Nox can’t even tolerate being questioned in the first place without his twisted forms of retaliation.
My Bond bears the brunt of his trauma responses.
Later that evening, I’m forced to sit through yet another dinner of listening to his most asinine companion’s attempts to dig under her skin.
Lana is a fucking nightmare at the best of times.
It’s stupid and childish, but as the night goes on, I find a whole new problem we’re all facing as Nox’s petty games are met with no reaction from her.
I feel sick to my stomach.
No matter how much he may deny it and loathe it, Nox’s bond responds to Oli.
North’s does as well, and mine and Gabe’s, only I can feel something stir within her.
It’s not a Gift, no sign of any ability, and I refuse to pry into her mind further to find what she’s hiding there, but I know there’s something within her that responds.
Oli’s bond no longer registers Nox’s presence.
I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, and my chest tightens all through dinner until I’m struggling to breathe.
Nox’s games have achieved one thing; I’m fucking dying at the thought of what damage he’s done to her.
Is it irreparable? Is this a response in itself or has Nox somehow figured out a way to sever their bond?
Fuck, that’s absolutely insane to even think about, but if anyone is crazy enough to do that, it’s Nox Draven.
When Lana drawls out her baseless bullshit, Nox smirks along. “I heard that you lived on the street for years, selling yourself to eat. It must be hard to go back to living a ‘straight’ life again after being used like that.”
He chuckles under his breath, shooting the bitch a look that has even my bond writhing with fury and disgust. I glance at Oli to find her staring back at Lana as though Nox doesn’t exist. Careful not to use my Gift, I focus my attention on my Bond to see if there’s something, anything, responding to this shitshow.
Still nothing.
It’s only when Gabe glances hesitantly down at her that her bond reacts, a ripple that I can’t explain except to say it has to be that connection to me, to her Bonds.
She only has it around us.
Then the ripple has her temper flaring, hot enough that even while shutting my Gift off from prying into her mind, I can’t help but feel it.
It’s like a volcanic eruption, or at least the beginning of one.
Fuck, I can practically see the steam pouring from her ears at the idea of Gabe believing Lana Woodrow’s petty jabs.
She’s clueless to the fact that he doesn’t believe them at all.
He’s hesitating about tearing strips from that bitch for talking crap about his Bond because he’s worried Oli will be pissed at his coming to her defense. She couldn’t possibly blame him for that, not with the way she’s been treating him.
Just as I think I’m about to figure something about my Bond out, North ruins it all by interrupting, practically throwing himself in front of his brother like a Shield. “We need to discuss some ground rules for the party.”
Her eyes flash dangerously as her gaze snaps over to him and her reply is a snarl. “Why would we need to do that? I’ll avoid you like the plague, Gabe will stick to my ass like glue, and I’ll hang out in the corner with Sage while both of us pray that death will take us so we can get out of there.”
Nox finally leans away from that smirking bitch, undoing his brother’s good work as he waves yet another red flag in my Bond’s face. “I fucked a Flame once. She came so hard that she set the bed on fire. I should call your little friend and see if she needs some… loosening up.“