I wait for a moment, and then I let our fingers grasp together for a second, squeezing them in the only reassurance I can give her right now, before I pull away and stand back up, rubbing my hands over my legs to brush away the soap suds and dirt from the muddy ground of the shower.
When I snap the curtain back, the woman is waiting there for me, her ear pressed close to the fabric like she was trying to figure out what I was doing in there without the shower on.
Good luck with that, bitch.
“I’m ready to go,” I drawl, and she scowls at me.
“You didn’t even wash anything. What’s the point in me getting you over here?”
I shrug at her and enjoy the huff of frustration I get back, not even caring when she’s rough about tightening my restraints and jerking me around to get me moving again.
Kieran is safe because of my lie.
Kyrie is safe with Brutus.
I’m as safe as I’ve ever been thanks to the bond growing angrier and more savage by the hour in my chest.
We’ll survive until I can get us out.
Chapter Four
Gryphon
* * *
It’s getting harder by the day to keep my face passive and the contempt off of it while dealing with Gifted that we know are members of the Resistance. Daniella Jordan is no exception.
I’ve never trusted the slimy lawyer, and though North has always said I was just being difficult for the sake of it, it feels good to know that I was right. She doesn’t like me standing in on their meetings, especially when I stand on North’s side of the desk in his home office, behind his seat like I’m preparing to take a bullet for him as though he’s not the most dangerous man in our entire community. She doesn’t like the advantage it gives me, or that I’m looking down on her.
Well, I’ve never been looking down quite so hard before because this fucking bitch knows where my Bonded is. I know it. North knows it, and while she’s sitting there talking about asinine Council bullshit, she knows it too. We’re all just playing our parts and pretending the giant elephant isn’t in the room. It’s making my skin itch.
There’s no way her sister was working alone to mess with Bond Groups. There’s no way that Daniella has wormed her way into the good graces of North Draven for innocent reasons, and how much confidential information has she gotten directly from him in the last five years?
I’m going to call dibs on killing her, no matter how badly Nox wants it. There’s a reason he’s not here today. He’s terrible at keeping a poker face in this kind of situation.
Daniella paints a frown onto her face, the picture of a concerned lawyer worried for her boss’ Bond, but there’s something about the very careful way that she speaks around me that’s always flagged on my radar. Now we know why.
It takes everything inside of me to stop myself from reaching across the desk and choking the life out of her, at least until some useful intel falls from that sharp tongue of hers.
The way she smiles at me, she knows it too.
“I’ll get these documents drafted up for you, North. The Alpha and Bravo Teams will find her. They found her last time. I’m sure they have her scent already, it’s only a matter of time,” she says as she collects the papers in front of her and slips them into her briefcase.
North stands and runs a hand down his suit jacket as though he actually gives a shit about looking professional in this moment, just another part of the act, and then walks her out to Rafe, who will see her all the way out of the mansion.
I count to five after the door locks behind her before I murmur, “I have no idea how you put up with her. I would have killed her long before we figured her out.”
North shrugs and shakes out his hand, the one with the thin black ring of smoke circling it, one of the many little warning signs that he’s riding the edge of his control. “Being on the Council is exclusively dealing with people I don’t like. It’s that or I give up the seat, which I couldn’t do while we were looking for Oleander. Now I need to keep it so we can find her every time she disappears on us.”
It’s the first time he’s mentioned it without putting his fist through something, so I’ll call it progress.
He moves back to the desk and unlocks the drawer to collect his own stack of papers, all of it relating to Oli and her code name.
The code name that Atlas Bassinger conveniently knew without her telling him.
North checks his watch. “It’s dinner time. We both skipped breakfast and lunch today. With what we’re doing tonight, we’ll need the fuel.”