Chapter 28 #2
I ignore it and instead murmur to my beloved Bonded, “Thank you. I'm feeling a lot better now. You can let Gabe come back, if you want to. It might be easier to get him home if he's a bit smaller.”
It snorts and snuffles under its breath as though it is unhappy at the idea, but with a simple shake of its head, it slowly retreats. Then we hear the telltale snapping and crunching sounds of Gabe shifting back.
There's footsteps around us and North meets my eye for a moment longer, nodding before he steps back out to start directing the Tac personnel, surveying the hundreds of dead bodies left behind.
Gabe stumbles into the tent, naked, sweaty,
and blood-soaked. His skin has turned an ashy-green color as his stomach protests the feasting of his god-bond.
Gryphon takes one look at him, shrugging off his jacket to hand over, and says, “Try not to vomit in here. If you're going to puke, head back out.”
Gabe shrugs the jacket on, checking that it covers him all the way down to the knees before he clamps a hand across his mouth and mumbles from behind it, “Half of the Tac personnel are women, and I thought Oli would lose it if I was out there naked. I'll try and keep it down.”
Instantly, I want to fuss after him, but he shakes his head at me. “It's getting easier. Don't worry about me, Bonded. Let's just get you home safely.”
There's more sounds of boots outside crunching as though someone is running, and then the flap of the tent opens again, revealing Atlas. He looks as though he's about to pass out from fear until he sees me, relief sweeping over his features as he stumbles towards me.
“You took way too long to wake up that time, Bonded. Let's not do that again.”
I shake my head at them all, reaching my arms up so that Atlas can help me to my feet, and then I get one around him and the other around Gabe, holding them both close to me. My bond tugs in my chest, chiming in on how it feels about all of this, and I let my eyes slip shut to hear it out.
They did well. Take us home to rest, girl, my bond whispers to me. You fought bravely. They all did. Rest so we can wake up in the new world, a world built just for us that no one can take away this time.
* * *
I wake up naked from the waist up, lying on North's bare chest, and I have a déjà vu moment, one where my heart stops and I think that maybe the last few months have been a dream.
The last time I woke up like this, his arms banded around me and my legs wrapped around his waist even in sleep, I found myself in his office back at the Draven mansion with the councilors in the room with us.
North was snarling viciously that they dared to question him while I was hurt in such a way.
I was taking the power that I needed directly from him, that healing energy seeping through his skin and into mine.
It was an exhausting and terrifying moment for me.
I didn't remember how I had gotten there or what could possibly have transpired between when my bond had taken over and when I was woke up that would make North hold me in such a way.
I remember the intimate way his hands cradled my thighs protectively, every inch of him curved towards me as though he was sheltering me.
I desperately wanted it.
I was so sure that it was some cruel trick to break me open just a little more, to dangle something I wanted over my head just to rip it away again.
I feel that same echo now. I remember the Pain god’s death and the destruction of the Resistance camp.
If those moments were just a dream… I think I’ll break right open.
“You’re awake, Bonded,” North murmurs quietly in my ear, and I nod, but I keep my eyes shut, leaning further into him to press my nose against his neck.
His skin burns against mine, and his hands pull me in closer until I struggle to breathe under the pressure, but it is so perfect that I would happily suffocate here.
“That's a little bit dramatic. Ease up, North,” Gryphon drawls, and I finally open an eye to look around the room at them.
We’re home, in the Sanctuary, in the kitchen of our perfect house, for some reason, but it is just my Bonded Group.
I find them all in some state of undress as they peel their Tac uniforms away from themselves.
They inhale the food that’s in front of us as though they're starving to death.
The only one not doing so is Gabe, who looks as though he is trying not to vomit all over himself.
I scowl at him, but Gryphon shrugs at me. “He won't go to bed. We got a gallon of antacid into him, but he said he's not going to bed until you are, so he's just going to have to wait until North is ready to give you up.”
North cuts in, “Which is never. The power transfer is still happening, so he can either give up and go to bed, or he can wait.”
The scowl stays on my face, but I lean forward to press my nose back into North’s neck, sighing happily under my breath as I soak in not only his power but his calmness, his soothing energy, and the way that he is completely calm and confident.
A phone rings, and when I wince and bury myself a little closer, North snaps, “Turn it off. We already told them they can wait until Oleander is feeling better.”
Footsteps approach and then Nox drawls, “Give it to me. I'll answer it.”
I almost feel sorry for whoever is on the other end of the line, but I’m wiped out. This feels different to the Wasteland though, a different sort of tired. I feel like a nap will fix this, just a regular one.
“Are you hungry, my Bonded? I have plain food if your stomach isn't feeling up to much, or there's a salmon risotto if you want some comfort food instead.”
I'm hungry but definitely not for that, so instead of answering, I wriggle in his arms a little, pressing myself into him and lengthening my spine, almost purring when his hands trace down my back exactly how I hoped they would.
“You know the best way to power up, right?” I murmur to him quietly under my breath, and his answering chuckle sends goosebumps bursting over my skin.
“I would never say no to my Bonded. I'll never have to now, either,” North says with a low drawl, his hands cupping my ass as he stands up, taking me with him as easily. “Whatever my Bonded wants.”
As he walks me down the hallway, the chorus of voices behind us is loud as the rest of our Bonded Group finishes eating, getting ready to follow us to bed. There’s no rush in any of them, no urgency, and it finally hits me that this moment is real.
We did it.
The god-bonds are gone, the Resistance is dealt with for now, and there’s no one left to chase after us. Sure, there’s probably some left that we’ll need to deal with, and our Bonded Group is always going to attract negative attention, but we achieved the impossible; and now, we’re free.
I press my face back into North’s shoulder, rubbing myself against him instinctively as he kicks open the door to my bedroom and nudges it shut behind him.
I’m sure if there were a lock on it, he’d be barricading us in right now, and I want to laugh at his possessive nature but instead, I press a kiss against his lips.
He hums appreciatively under his breath, deepening it the moment he can as his hands peel away my clothes. He maps out all of the little bumps and bruises on my skin, most of them from my own clumsy nature, and I shudder as his lips touch them all.
I shouldn’t be distracted so easily. I should ask more questions, hear more about what is going on in the Sanctuary. I should ask about Kieran and Sage; did Felix get him healed up? How are Adella and Unser doing—
“I will put you over my knee and have you screaming if you can’t switch that brain off yourself, Bonded. Everyone is fine. Everything is fine . The only thing we have left to worry about now is how many times I can make you come tonight before I have to share you, so focus on me .”
He punctuates this demand with two fingers plunging straight into my pussy, so I have zero options except to give him my full attention.
I hope his obsession with me never ends.