Nox’s eyes meet mine, but he looks as though he’s about to tear the driver out of the seat and turn this truck around. “What’s wrong? Why do you look like you’re about to puke?”
“Because I pushed to get her to answer and she’s not… there. She’s not ignoring me, there’s something in the way. Something is wrong, get Gabe on the line now.”
Except we left a lot more than just the other Bonds behind to keep an eye on her.
As I start dialing, Nox’s eyes shift to black and Gryphon watches him check in with the… Brutus, like it’s the only lifeline in the middle of the ocean while we’re all drowning.
“She’s alive. She’s breathing, I can’t see much else, but he’s with her, so no one will get within spitting distance without him consuming them. Take a breath, Gryph, she’s alive.”
He doesn’t look any better at that news. “Well then, where the fuck is she? Don’t tell me to calm down when she’s gone again.”
When the phone finally clicks as Gabe answers, I hear Bassinger snarling down the line, “So now you lot want to call us? Well, you’re too fucking late!”
Gryphon’s eyes snap to mine, too wide and glassy, thanks to the push he’d given his connection with his Bonded.
I snarl into the phone, “What the fuck has happened? We’ve been gone less than twelve hours—”
Gryphon cuts me off, snarling, “Where the fuck is she, Bassinger? I will come back there and tear your fucking spine out of your throat, if you had anything to do with this!”
Bassinger scoffs at him, a savage sort of sound, and snarls back, “Your useless, fucking asshole second took her, and they haven’t come back! I will fucking kill you all if she’s hurt. I’ll gut that fucking dickhead Black too.”
Chapter Two
Oli
I wake up strapped to a chair, the smells of smoke, body odor, and despair hitting my nostrils, and my stomach turns as I squeeze my eyes shut tighter. There’s rustling and quiet murmuring of two women in here, the noises a sign of them cleaning something here in the tent up, and I don’t want them to know I’m awake yet.
It’s hard to keep the disgust off of my face.
The stench here is familiar, a particular blend of gross that I’d been hoping to never come across again, and I have to choke back the bile that creeps up the back of my throat. Kieran and I were separated right away but not before I’d been forced to watch three guards beat the shit out of him.
No one lifted a finger against me, but I already knew they wouldn’t.
Once he was bleeding from about ten different places and there was a rattle in his chest that suggested some serious internal injuries, Kieran had been dragged away to one of the holding tents unceremoniously by a couple of low-level thugs.
I had been escorted to the priority tent, somewhere I’ve spent way too much time.
“Why the fuck are we waiting on some sheep-bitch? It’s demeaning, she should be eating slop in the cages with the rest of them.”
There’s a quiet grunt and then the other woman replies, quietly but in a rougher, aged voice, “She’s a VIP. Her gift means she gets real food, a bath when she needs it, and she’s off-limits to the men for a bit of fun. Don’t worry about it, she’ll be torn up good by Davies just the same as they all are.”
Gross.
For one, I do not want to hear his name, but there’s also something about the women talking so casually about the horrors that happen here, like it doesn’t even matter to them what happens here after dark and in tight quarters, that makes my blood run cold. I guess I don’t have to feel guilty about killing them all when the time comes. Does that make me just as bad as them?
I hope not, but I’ll also accept it if it does.
“VIP… what does that even mean? Is she a Neuro? Davies doesn’t usually keep those around for long.”
Of course not, they’re competition for him. Okay, they’re not at all, because I’ve never heard of another Neuro who can do the shit he can, except Gryphon. As strong as my Bonded is, he’s no match for that man.
I’m no match for him either.
It’s terrifying.
I know how much power is pumping through my veins, so much that my body still can’t use it without taking a three day nap to recover, and he could end my world without a second thought. Our gifts might be eons apart in ability but there’s too many parallels with the destruction we’re both capable of.
The woman with the rough voice mutters, reluctantly and somewhat reverently, “This girl, this little white-haired bitch who looks like nothing special, she’s the Infinite Weapon. They’re going to use her to end the war and finally let us Gifted take control of this country like we deserve. No more making nice with the non-Gifted. No more living shackled to laws that shouldn’t apply to us because we’re above them. No more sheep in control, living in their mansions while the rest of us struggle to survive.”