The pause is confusing.
A Transporter appears in the tent, and my bond comes to life inside of me.
Stop, I send out to them and thankfully, all three of them listen to me.
I can't fully map out where all of the shadow creatures are, only knowing that they’re out and hunting, but they move too quickly for me to be sure that they are arriving at the tents. They’re not going to be able to be able to kill Davies. Not now.
The problem is that the Transporter isn’t just there to take Davies and Lydia to safety.
He’s brought in someone else, someone I don't know.
I can't feel anything about the person.
It's as though there is someone standing with them who is as ambiguous as my own void eyes, nothingness, blankness. Even when my Gift comes across a Shield, I can tell what they are, but this person is nothing.
My entire body fills with dread.
Come back. Don't go to the tent, you need to come back, I say and there's a moment of quiet.North replies, This is our best chance. We'll send the shadow creatures in first, and if they can't do anything, then we will leave.
I feel as Kieran gets to Unser, evacuating him with the help of Vivian as they assess the massive amount of damage that has been done to him by Davies.
The moment he disappears, I plead with North again, We have everything that we need. We don't have to kill Davies now, we can do it later. Come back!
There's quiet down the mind connection and then pain.
All I can feel is pain, all that I can think of is pain, everyone and everything is pain.
It takes over every fiber of my being, and even though it's not mine, all I can see and think and feel is his pain, pain, pain.
I can't even pinpoint what injuries any of them have. There's nothing in the air to say that there's been an explosion or a fire or even gunshots. There's only pain.
I'm taken to my knees, my bond flickering in my chest as it tries to take over, but my mind is flooded with everything that is going wrong right now, and Gabe lets out a shout as he goes to his knees next to me, desperate to find out what is wrong with me.
Atlas uses his Gift to transfer his strength to me, but this is not an injury that is happening to me, so it does nothing to help. This is not something that I need to be shielded from, this is three of my Bonded being tortured in ways that I do not understand, but my bond does.
My bond always knows.
It takes over my body, ripping through my mind and flooding me as my eyes shift, the souls of everyone around us that is our enemy are torn from their bodies all at once as my bond takes from them and funnels everything it can to my Bonded, giving them that strength from us to survive whatever it is that's happening to them.
I’m relieved for a split second.
Except Nox refuses the power.
I want to scream inside of my head where I'm stuck, but he refuses the power, putting up a wall inside his own mind as he moves it onto his brother, giving everything he has to North to make sure that he survives whatever is happening right now to them.
I fight my bond for control of my limbs, scrambling to my feet and running, running towards them, running towards the pain and the horror of what is happening to them, diving over the bodies of the men I just killed, barely seeing through the darkness of the night. Brutus slips out from behind my ear to run with me, both of us desperate to get to him.
I run towards them as I feel the life slowly draining out of Nox as he gives everything to North. My bond still funnels energy through to Gryphon and North as fast as it can, desperately beating at the wall that Nox has put up between us. But it's no use. He won't accept it.
Whatever is happening, he wants his brother to make it out alive.
Take it! Take the power. I’m coming, but just take it! I scream at the wall in his mind, but it’s no use. I feel his soul slipping away.
His voice echoes in my head, the last thing I hear as chaos reigns around me and the only time he’s ever spoken to me through our connection.
I’ll see you in the next life, Bonded. Maybe I can love you right there.
I feel the thud of his lifeless body hit the ground, the echo in my bones as our connection severs and the puppy running at my heels disappears in a puff of warm wind, as though he really was nothing but smoke.
My Bonded is dead.
Also by J Bree
The Mounts Bay Saga
The Mounts Bay Saga
The Butcher of the Bay: Part I
The Butcher of the Bay: Part II
Hannaford Prep
Just Drop Out: Hannaford Prep Year One
Make Your Move: Hannaford Prep Year Two
Play the Game: Hannaford Prep Year Three
To the End: Hannaford Prep Year Four
Hannaford Prep: The Complete Series