Chapter 22 #2
As if my day needed to get any worse, Gryphon’s eyes flash white and then he’s stalking down the hallway, expertly dodging all attempts to stop him.
He can without recourse, and my resentment grows a little more because there are at least five Gifted eyeing me like ravenous beasts, desperate for gossip fodder and any opportunity to gain favor with me.
I make it exactly one step before Maria Benson slides into my path with a tight smile. “Councilman Draven, I’m so glad you could make it. I was beginning to worry. You’re usually not this late to community events.”
As one of the Gifted lawyers employed by the council who specializes in non-Gifted , we’ve worked together for years.
Unerringly scrupulous with her work, Maria has always shared similar morals to my own, but on the rare occasion we’ve disagreed on policy, she’s never hesitated to hold her position.
I’ve watched her face off against Sharpe, and even Unser, without flinching.
I can certainly admit she’s a valuable ally, but not today and not while my patience is already stretched beyond the breaking point.
Whatever work I’d put into my placid mask, it instantly comes undone, and her eyes widen briefly as she sees it, perceptive to a fault.
She’s a great lawyer, Bonded into a prominent family who pioneered the discovery of Bond markers in Gifted DNA, and she’s as loyal as they come.
She’s also a stickler for doing the ‘right’ and ‘proper’ thing at all costs, only she still hasn’t figured out yet that maybe her version isn’t all that subjective, and she’s a pain in the ass of everyone around her the moment she feels slighted.
I’ve always pitied the children within her Bonded Group.
My own smile as I meet her irritated gaze is full of a seething sort of scorn.
“I’ll have to find your sister and her Bonded Group to apologize, Maria.
It wasn’t my intention to miss half the night, but the meeting went longer than expected and I had other urgent appointments that couldn’t be rescheduled.
Missing out on a social event is unfortunate, but it’s a necessary cost when dealing with security issues. ”
Even with the cutting reminder, Maria doesn’t back down, and instead her smile only tightens further. “No need to search the property, North. Caroline is right this way.”
Without Gryphon here to run interference, and with the rumors of the messy council meeting clinging to the Gifted’s gazes that we pass, I have no choice but to go along with Maria’s demands.
It takes me far too long to make it outside, the charade of playing the docile councilman raking over every last inch of my sanity, but when the catering staff start moving toward the backyard with giant platters of food, I make my excuses with thinly veiled jokes about the perils of a starved Draven and it does the trick to finally disperse the gossip-mongering crowd.
The back door of the Halliwell’s mansion opens up to generously sized stone steps that lead to the perfectly landscaped entertaining space and beyond to the large pool, complete with a rock slide and spa.
As is tradition, while the council members and older Gifted spread out around the tables of food with servers handing out glasses of wine, the college students we’re all pretending this event is actually about are either swimming or lounging poolside with drinks and tiny plates of appetizers.
I barely get through the doorframe before I’m scanning the area, and as though answering a siren’s call, my eyes land on my Bond.
My naked Bond.
Instantly my vision whites out as though I’ve been hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat.
Stunned, I almost miss the last step and end up on my ass in front of the the entire council, catching myself at the last second and recovering with barely more than a stumble.
With a vicious curse under my breath, I look back over to find that my Bond isn’t actually naked, but she might as well be.
My eyes shift to black for a second before I can shove my bond down.
Thankfully, only one person witnesses the near-disaster. Unfortunately for my future peace, that person is Gryphon.
On the other side of the garden, he’s already found the perfect position to keep surveillance over the entire area without having to move around.
The small, circular deck surrounds a large oak tree and is definitely a thoughtfully carved-out focal point surrounded by impeccable landscaping, but it’s the higher elevation that gives it the advantage.
He meets my eyes from across the cursed crowd of Gifted that I’m sick of looking at and smirks at me the moment I have my bond back under control.
How the hell he’s unaffected by the sight of our Bond is beyond me—did I mention she’s basically naked?
!—but even after he turns his back on me and returns to watching over the pool area, he’s as calm as ever.
Meanwhile, I’m consumed by my bond’s jealousy.
It’s the only thing distracting me from my own.
“Councilman Draven, I’m so glad you’re here!
Councilman Benson was hoping to speak with you about the funding for the new research into the Bond Markers for his brother’s team.
They’re doing some amazing work, far beyond any other labs in the world, and your contributions certainly won’t be overlooked when their findings are published. ”
I could murder my assistant right now.
Cold-blooded, violent, and blood-soaked murder, the exact type that befits a Bond with the ‘monster’ label I’ve worn my entire life.
Instead, I paste on a curt smile for Penelope and a genuine one for the brothers standing with her. Neither of the Bensons look pleased with Pen’s approach, but I’m quick to smooth it over.
Greeting Alexander with a nod before turning to shake his brother’s hand, I don’t have to fake the praise in my tone.
“I’ve already taken your proposal to the council, Julian, but I’ll personally cover the inevitable shortfall.
If it weren’t for the potential inquiries on the ethics and potential motives of the Draven family financing the research, I wouldn’t bother with the council at all, but I’d rather not have the results tarnished by a witch hunt. ”
The Bensons first rose to prominence decades ago by pioneering the science around Bond Markers in DNA and the ‘coupling’—what we know as Bonding—that happens at a genetic level.
They were able to use blood analysis to not only differentiate between Bonds and Central Bonds but also identify Bond Group numbers.
The blood tests are simple, safe, and have never been wrong.
They also only look at three markers out of the hundreds there are.
In the decades since, their continued research has identified three dozen marker ‘types’ to distinguish between the different powers that the Gifted wield.
Julian Benson is the sole Gifted who is aware that there is something different about the Draven bloodline that sets us apart from other Gifted, that our eyes aren’t the only anomaly we bear.
He drew my blood when I was a child, under my father’s strict guidelines and supervision, and he tested it entirely in isolation.
The amount of paperwork, trust, and boundaries that were established before he was ever allowed near the Draven legacy probably terrified the man, but that curious scientific mind of his pushed him through, and I’m certain he feels as though it’s all paid off.
He’s obsessed with it.
Even now, I let him draw my blood every few months so he has a fresh batch of samples to play with, and I’m even able to convince Nox to visit the lab once or twice a year usually.
The fact that Benson has never, not once, breathed a word to anyone in all this time has given him some allowances where Nox was concerned.
Unfortunately, that good will was destroyed when our Bond was found and Benson made the mistake of mentioning that he hoped to run additional tests on our Bond’s blood.
I often wonder how much my father and uncle both knew about my bond. I also wonder how much the Resistance and their sympathizer spies know, because Sharpe’s Bonded, Lois, has spent a decade interfering with Benson’s work.
Her last smear campaign against the ‘monstrous’ Dravens is the reason the council had to take over the funding for the research, but not before years of hard work was rendered useless outside of our own closed-off community.
No one believed the findings were scientifically sound with my name attached, as though I’d paid for the ability to give false results to Gifted.
What good that would do is beyond me, but it was devastatingly effective.
The Gifted here in the West Coast were unaffected thanks to my position on the council, but there are millions of others around the world who missed out on the benefits of that information while we ran damage control and had to scramble to recreate the tests without my name attached at all.
Julian grimaces at me, sharing a look with Alexander.
“Honestly, I’d rather fund it myself, but my hands are tied just the same as yours.
I appreciate what you’re doing, North, and I wanted to thank you again personally.
I’m aware you’re catching the heat for it to keep it from interfering with my work… and to keep my family out of it.”
It’s easy to accept his gratitude, to give him my own for his tireless work and his loyalty, and we move on to friendly pleasantries.
It’s only when Julian mentions his son, Sawyer’s work for the lab and gestures over to the pool that I catch another glimpse of my Bond and lose my head all over again.