I chuckle under my breath and lean into her. “You can always come back to my room. I might not love them like you do, but they’re always welcome.”
The grin she gives me is like looking directly into the sun, brilliant and bright, and August turns to sniff at me like he’s checking to see if I’m being honest. It’s still a little bit jarring being this close to North’s meanest and most vicious creature, but I’m adjusting well enough.
Then the grin falters a little and she sighs under her breath. “If I didn’t need a power up from him, I might’ve taken you up on that. I’m… struggling. Not having the pups makes it harder.”
I scowl and lean back into her, pressing our foreheads together how she likes. Something about our noses being pressed together makes her grin like a child, so I do it as often as I can.
“What’s wrong, Bond? What can I do?”
She sighs again and mumbles, “You all keep trying to help, but it’s… a lot has happened and I’m trying to figure it all out. How to get through this next stage without completely losing it that you’re all in danger. I got through the camps because it meant you were all safe. Now—now you’re not. And it’s hard to not feel responsible for that because if I had just stayed away—”
“No. No, this life of knowing we’re all in danger is a million times better than the life without you.”
Her lip quivers. “I feel selfish for thinking the same thing.”
I shake my head, our noses almost colliding thanks to how closely we’re pressed together, and murmur back to her, “Never. We need you as much as you need us. We all need you, Bond.”
She swallows and nods, looking demure for half a second before her sass kicks in and she rolls her eyes at me. “I’m blaming Gryphon for this. I didn’t give a shit until he started in on me with his guilt trip, and now I’m wallowing in it.”
I pull her into my chest, damn near preening when she just moves into my lap to wrap herself around me and rest her head over my heart. She’s tiny there, I can barely feel the weight of her, but when I bury my nose in her hair, I get a lungful of her scent that calms my bond inside me.
I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her right the fuck there.
Chapter Fifteen
Oli
I bully Gabe into grabbing his own homework to get through his assignments with me. He tried to argue that we’re not going back to Draven any time soon, but I need the distraction from everything going on around us, and I don’t want to be caught slacking by Nox, so there’s no real downside to keeping up with it.
Gabe cracks his back as he gets up to grab his bag from where he’d left it by the door, kicking his shoes out of his way in that very boy way of his. When he stalks back over to me with his arms full of books, he swoops down to give me a kiss. Brutus huffs at him but August moves over to sit between us, scooting Gabe away from me, and then turns his back on him to ignore him entirely.
It’s cute.
Gabe shoots me a look and I giggle, burying my face in August’s neck and taking a breath. It’s been a very long, confusing, ever-changing week.
“You’re sure you’re okay now? You don’t need anything?” Gabe murmurs, and I shake my head, pulling away from August and clearing my throat.
“Just you and the pups… and, well, I also need to find Sage and see how she’s doing. Plus, I need to speak to Atlas, but I have no idea how North is going to react when I tell him I want to speak to him alone.”
He smirks and shakes his head. “You mean more alone than projecting into Bassinger’s head? I’m not sure that’s possible, Bond.”
Ah. So word has gotten out about that then. I desperately try not to think about that moment again as my cheeks heat up a little. “I want to stand in front of him and hear what he has to say. I don’t want to be in his head for it.”
He nods and slides down to join me on the floor. “You’re better than me. I would’ve looked through every fucking second of his life to make sure he’s not a spy.”
He shrugs and scowls at August. “Any chance you can get him to move over a little so that I can get back to comforting my Bond? I’ve barely been able to see you since you got back, and now you’re being guarded by these grumpy jailers.”
I give August one last kiss and then snap my fingers to get him to swap sides, watching as he huffs about the move. He likes being between me and anyone else in the room, even North. He prefers to be a wall in front of me. It’s cute and I adore him for it.