Black grimaces and transports us without another word, the pop loud enough to ring in my eardrums and scramble my head for a second once our feet hit solid ground again. He’s brought us to the underground parking space of the offices, right in front of the elevator to the basement. There’s no one else around us, nothing to say that anything is happening here that we’d need to worry about, and a pit of unease starts in my gut.
It always does when things go smoothly.
I don’t trust that shit at all.
As per protocol, no one else speaks or moves until I’ve cast my gift out to check for other Gifted around us. There’s no one in the parking lot or the first three upper levels of the building. The raid has made sure of that, and when I push my gift to its limits, I only find the prisoners and other Gifted we have held down in the cells.
“We’re clear. Let’s get this over with.”
Black nods and takes point, letting Rockelle fall behind and cover our backs. Bassigner watches their movements with keen eyes but keeps his mouth shut, following along with the rules and guidelines he’s been told about coming along today.
Nox had railed hard about having him here, still so sure that he’s a spy, but North and I had agreed. Whatever we need to do to get the upper hand on the Resistance, as long as it’s not sacrificing innocents, then we’re doing it.
Anything to get Oli clear of Silas fucking Davies.
When we make it to the lower levels and the doors of the elevator opens, Black and I both watch as Bassinger steps out and gets a good look at the cells. It feels a little like deja vu, like I’m back to a few weeks ago when Oli had been here for the first time and Carlin Meadows had gotten an eyeful of her.
Render.
Fuck, when I’d heard her spit that word at my Bonded, I didn’t believe it. Not until Oli had immediately freaked the fuck out and run away like she was being chased by the devil. Every pore of her being was terrified.
Of me.
Me hearing it, me rejecting her, me telling the others and them all turning on her. My head had felt as though it was about to split from everything screaming out of my Bonded, and every protective instinct in me kicked in. I wanted her safe and secure in my arms, a million miles away from this place, and I’d barely made it through watching the interrogations without dragging her out.
Bassigner walks slowly down the hallway, oblivious to the memories of Oli assaulting me. The Gifted inside the cells are all thin, haggard-looking men and women with blank sort of eyes. They are all fed and taken care of, but most go on hunger strikes to attempt to kill themselves.
I usually end up here forcing them to eat with my gift.
I get my head back into the game. “Any you recognize?”
Bassinger is slow and methodical as he checks them over slowly. He’s taking this seriously, and I’ll give him credit for that too.
He points between two of the cells. “Him. And that woman. They’re both familiar, but that’s it. I’d have to look through the footage to pinpoint it exactly. Well, them, and I know Carlin, but you already know that. You should kill her for what she did to Oli.”
She does deserve it, she deserves a lot more than we’ve done to her so far, but she’s still being processed for now.
One day she’ll face North’s nightmares, and I’ll enjoy nothing more than watching her being consumed into nothingness.
Chapter Twenty-One
Oli
When I finally climb out of Gryphon’s bed close to noon, I drag my ass into the shower and attempt to look as though I slept well and didn’t have my brains eaten out by him last night. I was kind of under the impression that guys only really went down on girls to get their dicks sucked, but Gryphon just blew that theory out of the water.
I turn beet red when I think about him walking around right now, smelling like me and honestly being smug about it. Literally, my skin is glowing and hot as I brush my hair out, and the color of it looks even more bleached out, more white now than silver.
I need to do something about it before it sends me into a full spiral and my Bonded freak out about the mess my head is in.
Brutus sits by the door with me, but August is nowhere to be seen. Gryphon refuses to let them sleep on his bed, and while Brutus will sleep on the floor, under protest, to stay with me, August mostly goes back to North when he’s not allowed to be all over me while I sleep. I miss him and need to go rescue him from North later.
When I leave Gryphon’s room, I can feel one of my Bonds in the living room, and I find Gabe sitting there with the TV off and his phone in his hand as he scrolls aimlessly. He looks up at me and grins the moment I walk in, holding out a hand for me to take as he draws me into him.