I bend down to give them to him as I bring Brutus down from behind my ear at the same time, stroking them both and murmuring about all of the bloodshed and horror we’ll be doing here together for the night.
There’s a moment of dead silence around me and then Rockelle mutters, “That is fucking terrifying—”
Kieran cuts him off. “I told you! I told you to just stay away from her. You have to be the idiot that sticks his nose in where it doesn’t belong. Shore will reach down your throat and rip your spleen out with his bare hands if you so much as look at her again, just keep out of her way. In fact, all of you should just treat Fallows as though she’s a shadow creature as well, because if her bond decides to join the party, she might as well be a rabid, bloodthirsty shadow, because she’ll kill you just as easily as they do. Keep. Fucking. Clear.”
The group murmurs their compliance and then scatters obediently, moving into the formations that they’ve all been trained into by my Bonded. I watch them go and then straighten up, snapping my fingers to get the pups to follow me, which they do like the perfect boys they are.
“Tell me if you recognize anyone,” I murmur to Atlas and he glances down at me, faltering just a little. He thinks I’m doubting him, and I immediately feel guilty as hell about it.
I rush to reassure him. “I just mean that if there’s anyone worth keeping alive for North or Gryphon to question. Most of these people are worth more to us dead but… if there’s someone who might know what’s being planned, Gryphon should talk to them.”
He nods and pulls his helmet off, throwing it to the ground. “I can’t see as well with that thing on. Let’s go burn this hellhole to the ground. Preferably, with my father still in it.”
Chapter Nineteen
Oli
I’ve never been to this camp before which is both a blessing and a bit annoying. A blessing because there’s no hidden memories about to jump out and paralyze me and annoying because how many of these stupid things does the Resistance have hiding around the place? How many innocent Gifted have they kidnapped, brainwashed, tortured, and murdered?
How many little girls have been hurt and assaulted here?
“Don’t think about it; I don’t want your bond triggered right now. We’re going for stealth. We don’t need an outright massacre here just yet,” Gryphon murmurs, and I glance at him with a slow nod. He’s right, but it’s hard to shake those feelings. The ghosts walking around here with us are thick in the air, and the ominous feeling has my bond on high alert.
The camp either doesn’t have Gifted-sorting people, or there’s still so much chaos happening with the new arrivals that no one sounds the alarm that we’ve arrived. Gryphon uses mostly hand signals to move his teams through the small amount of swampy bush cover that’s here, and I just follow his instructions that he gives me directly through our Bond connection.
Just let the Teams do what they’re trained to do. We’re here as support, not to do the heavy lifting.
I glance at North and nod, tucking into Atlas’ side a little tighter to visibly show them all that I’m playing by the rules. Not because I’ve lost my spine or anything, I just don’t want them getting hurt from being distracted by me running off for no good reason.
I trust Gryphon and his team. I trust Kieran because he’s already proved himself to me, and I trust the rest of them because anyone trained and vetted by Gryphon is good enough for me.
He’s sort of a hard-ass, and no one could skate through under his watchful eye.
There’s a few minutes of quiet where only noises from the camp can be heard as we creep forward through the scrub as one, and then there’s an explosion on the other side of the camp as one of the tents goes up in a giant ball of flames.
My bond takes the helm immediately, my panic at the unexpected fire show kicking its protective measures into action. I’m still in there enough to know what’s going on and to argue with my bond if I need to, but it’s definitely in control. The shadows both come to heel at my feet, ready to protect me from anything that might come my way.
The Everlasting One notices straight away but stays close, dipping his head at me respectfully. He’s known about me for a long time, learned all of the ways to court a bond like me, and when I smile back at him, it’s all teeth.
“We should kill them all now. The only good Resistance soldier is a dead one.”
There’s movement around us as the operatives all move into the camp, gunfire and shouts ringing in the air, but the Everlasting One ignores it all. He inclines his head to me as though he agrees but says, “Mostly yes, but information is key right now. Someone here might know where Davies is, or what they’re planning next, and we want the man who dared to touch you gone.”