Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
GABE
North messages me long before dawn to let me know Oli stayed at the Draven mansion last night and I should come grab her from there. He’s short and overly formal, both of which are bad signs of his mood, and when I arrive early, I can make an educated guess why.
His front fence, driveway, and garden have been totaled.
Like, it looks as though they were taken out by a meteor shower or something.
I have to get off of my motorbike and walk it up to the house just to direct it past the worst of the damage, and by the time Kieran opens the front door for me, my stomach is in knots.
He’s dressed in Tac gear from head to toe, the heavy-duty armor stuff that personnel only wear on the most suicidal missions.
He grimaces and shakes his head at me. “It’s precautionary, Ardern, don’t worry about it. We’re going after that Gifted that tried to take Shore out.”
Jesus.
The day just gets worse and worse.
I’m expecting there to be a debrief underway, but instead I find North missing, Gryphon prepping his team, and Nox about to head out. Kieran slaps me on the shoulder before he strides over to Nox’s group, calling out to them until they’re all grabbing his arm, and the next minute they’re gone.
I might never see any of them again.
From across the foyer, Gryphon’s eyes collide with mine and he pushes at my mental barriers until he can speak directly into my mind.
North got intel last night that couldn’t be ignored or put aside. I know it seems rushed, but this is what we train for, Gabe. Everything is going to be okay.
I nod slowly, knowing even in my mind I won’t be able to keep my fears from my reply, so I change the topic instead.
What happened to the driveway?
Gryphon’s mouth sets into a firm line, not the distraction I was after.
I’m not going to lie to you, Gabe. Nox overstepped with our Bond and Bassinger came to her.
I’ve already spoken to him and I haven’t gotten the entire story yet, but it’s clear that it happened because he’s been rejecting their Bond.
I will figure it out, and I’ll make sure it never happens again.
If I speak to Oli and find out something else happened, or that Nox has concealed something, I will deal with him.
I swear to you, I will not put him above her in this.
It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but I nod regardless. I trust Gryphon, maybe the most out of all the Bonds. His Gift makes it way easier for him to figure out the right path ahead and to call the others out if they need it.
I barely get the chance to say goodbye, and then Kieran is back, calling out more orders and looking tense as Gryph’s team crowds around him.
The moment they pop out of view, my Bond arrives with Bassinger seething behind her.
His lip actually curls at me as he snaps, “If you were hoping to have Oli on your own, you’re shit out of luck, because I’m not trusting her with any of you after last night. Fuck no.”
He has no clue of where everyone else has gone, of the dangers they’re in, that if it all goes to hell then Oli could potentially lose three of her Bonds in a single sweep.
My stomach churns violently, and instead of arguing with him or even just calling him out, I head back out to my motorbike before we run out of time to train and the morning classes at Draven begin.
The ride over doesn’t help to clear my head at all.
The traffic is only a little better this early in the morning and I wait for my Bond and Bassinger until I’m sure they’ve left me behind as well. Shit, my thoughts turn pretty pathetic by the time they show up and I get us into the gym without a word.
Oli gets right into her training circuits but Bassinger is hellbent on sparring with me, so I head straight to the mats with him.
I’m going to regret skipping over stretching, but that’s a problem for later.
Right now, I have another Bond attempting to kill me and doing very little to hide that fact.
Bassinger has something to prove but my bond doesn’t entertain his antics for a second.
When it’s clear that he can’t beat me without using his Gift, and that he refuses to lose, I let him play out his little games.
He’s just preening after our Bond, trying to impress her, but he hasn’t been here for long enough to know that she’s almost impossible to impress.
So I laugh in his face.
In retaliation, he punches me in the jaw.
Typically, Oli is on her phone and either doesn’t notice or she just ignores us. Honestly, she probably couldn’t care less about us fighting, but I’m going to get so much shit from the other Bonds for it, so my temper flares.
I snarl at him, “What the fuck is your problem, asshole?”
He sneers back at me. “I’m not dealing with some spineless dickhead following the two of us around for the rest of the day just because a fucking Draven told him to. Either commit to your Bond and keep your mouth shut, or fuck off. We don’t need some little tattletale tagging along.”
Oli makes a soft sound under her breath and both of our heads snap toward her as if on command.
She’s grinning down at her phone, her fingers flying across the screen for a minute before she notices our attention.
We stare at her raptly, completely forgetting we’re at each other’s throats right now.
Literally.
Bassinger has a hand wrapped around my throat as he hovers over me.
Our Bond scoffs at us like we’re all old friends and this is typical behavior. It’s jarring, but mostly because of how right it feels. There’s nothing about Bassinger that I want to grow accustomed to, and as his fingers flex instinctively around my throat, I’m certain he feels the same.
“Sage is going to meet us for breakfast. I’m starving, we should get a move on so we can find a decent table.”
The dining hall food is terrible, but my Bond is hungry, so I practically throw Bassinger off of me to get her there.
I grab her training bag and sling it over my shoulders, still quiet as we walk together.
Bassinger isn’t quiet though, he’s openly flirting with our Bond while throwing insults and jabs my way.
I’m determined to ignore him when my bond goes into high alert.
I grab Oli at the same time Bassinger does, but it only takes a glance at him to figure out that he’s as clueless to exactly what the threat is as I am. I give it another second before I call on my Gift.
Resistance are here.
Scouts and soldiers alike, there’s a full scale-attack being mounted on the campus right now, and we’re sitting ducks in the middle of it.
Cursing viciously, I grab my phone out and put out the emergency calls, following the protocol that has been drummed into me for longer than I’ve even known I was in the Draven Bond Group. Then I turn back to my Bond, praying I can keep her safe.
“Run. We need to get to shelter right the fuck now.”
Say whatever you want about my Bond, you don’t have to tell Oleander Fallows to run twice.
Our legs might be a lot longer than hers, but she keeps an incredible pace, even after she just worked out.
When my phone starts to buzz with replies, I grab it without slowing, relief flooding me as I see North’s text.
This is retaliation and an attempt at recouping their losses. Shore and his team are on ground, I’m on my way, Nox is cleaning up here and then will meet us there. Get Oleander to the evac point and Kieran will get you all out. Grab whatever students are nearby but keep our Bond close.
The Gifted they went after must be dead, or they were tipped off and they fled, but either way, the Resistance must’ve lost a lot of soldiers if they’re coming here looking for strong Gifts to recoup.
I shove my phone back into my pocket. “North is on his way and Gryphon is already on campus, we just need to get you to an evac point.”
Bassinger nods back at me, surprisingly easily as he follows my lead. The way he’s covering our Bond while making sure he’s not hindering her speed is impressive as well.
The moment the dining hall comes into view and we’re in the home stretch, there’s an explosion on the east side of the campus.
With my Gift thrumming in my blood, the sound almost ruptures my eardrums and I feel a little stunned by it.
Atlas hauls our Bond into his arms and wraps as much of his body around her until he’s physically shielding as much of her as he can.
It’s a great plan, but I’d like a lot more protection than that, and it’s then that I see that there’s an entire building on campus missing.
Not destroyed, missing, which means Dara is here, and that’s the type of Shield I need my Bond to be covered by, right the hell now.
Atlas starts to argue with me the second I deviate from the original path, his unquestioning compliance obviously over with, but I’m too busy talking to the walls to hear him out. “Dara? Fuck, I can’t see shit here, you must be around.”
The moment the air around us shimmers, I want to punch the air in victory, but that would be really fucking embarrassing considering the students watching us keenly. Well, watching Bassinger like he’s the Resistance here to kill them all. His lip curls at them, and weirdly, mine wants to as well.
Beasts start writhing under my skin.
“Thank God! Ardern, where are Shore and the Dravens? We’ve seen at least eight groups of Resistance, there must be fifty or sixty of them here!”
Shit.
It’s Martinez.
I need to distract myself from this dickhead before the beasts take him out instead of the Resistance, though either would be protecting my Bond.
Rolling my shoulders back, I project confidence and pray I’m not an idiot for feeling it. “TacTeams are already neutralizing them, we just need to keep a low profile and wait it out.”
It’s not just lip service, either, I’m fully prepared to wait until the others show up, even when unit after unit of Resistance soldiers start running past us in their hunt for hostages to kidnap.