He leans forward in his chair and says in a low and dangerous tone, “Try it. I’m about to chip you all over again just to make sure you don’t fucking disappear on me.”
I make a very embarrassing squeaking noise of outrage and snap back at him, “I went after your sister. I didn’t run away. I went after someone you love, because I couldn’t bear the thought of you losing her. Don’t stand there and act like I’m a liability when I was doing it for you. I don’t care about that man or what he did—”
He snarls to interrupt me, “You can’t even say his name! I can see it now. I can see the trauma spots in your mind—”
“Then get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. Head. I don’t want you in there. I deserve some goddamn privacy!”
He smirks but before he can open his mouth and ruin me even more, a solid body slides between the bed and the seat, in the tiny amount of space there, and North snaps, “She’s still healing. Walk it off before you say something you regret. Get out of here. Go.”
Gryphon leaves without another word, shutting the door a little harder than required, and I roll my eyes at the sound. North doesn’t move. He just stands there with his back to me and legs pressed against the bed like he’s expecting Gryphon to stomp back in for round two.
It makes me feel like an absolute asshole. “I’m sorry I thought you’d be unreasonable.”
He makes a dismissive noise. “I deserve it. I told your bond I’d regain your trust, and now I’m saying it to you too. I’m under no illusions that Bonding with you was a magic cure, it’ll take some time for me to prove myself to you. Gryphon is… he’s feeling guilty. It’s making him lash out, and he’s going to be sore about it later. I was trying to stop him from really digging himself into his own grave.”
I frown and lean back on the bed, exhaustion still creeping up inside my body even though I’ve barely been awake. Maybe I’m not past the sleeping forever phase like we were hoping. “What does he have to be guilty about? Jesus, he’s got a savior complex, doesn’t he? Typical.”
North carefully rolls his sleeves back up his arms and then starts to loosen the top few buttons, revealing the tanned and smooth skin there. He’s a fucking tease, and thank God Gryphon is no longer here to read all of the dirty thoughts running through my head, because I’m ready to spread out on the bed for him all over again.
“He’s feeling guilty because it was the first time he had to think about the choice between his family and his Bonded. If he had to choose between saving the two of you… He’s never had to think about it before and, like most men in his position, he always assumed he’d be able to stop there ever being a choice. You running after Kyrie made him aware that he’d rather you be safe here. That wasn’t such a terrible thing until she told him about Brutus saving her in the showers. If you weren’t there, she would have been assaulted.”
That cuts into my dirty thoughts a bit. “Well, that’s just stupid. Why worry about ‘what-ifs’ and made-up scenarios when there’s only one situation that did happen? We’re fine. Kyrie is safe and I just… I need a little more rest, but I’m fine.”
He flicks a hand at my leg with a raised eyebrow. “You were hurt badly. You were much closer to death than any of us ever wanted to think about.”
I roll my eyes. Men. Bonds. Bonded men with their heads up their asses. The list goes on. Honestly, my life will never be carefree again, and that has nothing to do with the Resistance chasing me and everything to do with five hot-blooded men that are fated to be tied to me for all of our lives.
North walks around the bed to shove the paperwork into a file and switch off the lamp over on that side of the room. “Do you need anything else? Hungry, thirsty? If you want another shower, I could be persuaded.”
I can’t cope with caring and attentive North Draven. Domineering and commanding North, sure. Asshole North? Not my favorite, but I’ve got him sorted.
This one?
Nope.
I could definitely go for another shower with him, and round three of playtime with his shadows, but the haze in my head still hasn’t lifted. “I think I need more rest, but I’m bored of lying around. Why don’t you have a TV in here so I can distract myself with something stupid on there?”
He looks over at me where I’m splayed out on the bed dramatically and then comes back over over to press a button underneath the lip of the marble-top, very luxurious looking bedside table.