Unfortunately, the non-Gifted community has given me no choice.
I arrive at the Council offices and find Penelope waiting there for me. She’s dressed to the nines, skirt suit and pumps with a red slash of lipstick across her lips, and the flirty grin that she gives me sets my teeth on edge.
She is fully aware that I am Bonded, and that I have never shown her any interest beyond a working relationship anyway, but she still insists on trying to cultivate something of an affair. It had always annoyed me, but now that I know it is such a sore spot for my Bonded, it's no longer something that I can ignore.
I would never allow Oli to be in the presence of that sort of person, so I will hold myself to the same standard. I might be a controlling asshole, but fair’s fair.
“Give me my paperwork, and then go to your desk and do not interrupt me unless there's someone here to see me.”
Her face falls at the harsh tone of my voice, but only for a second before she's smiling again and nodding, following my instructions without another word. To be honest, that's the only reason she's lasted in the position, because she never questions anything. Also, I don't think she has the cunning or intelligence to attempt to use her position to further her career at my expense.
Even that won't be enough to save her if she doesn't quit this shit.
I take the paperwork from her and then stalk to my desk, shutting the door firmly behind me so I can go through the paperwork quickly before I have to leave. It's mostly notes from other council members, their own opinions and wishes on today's meeting, and all of it is predictable bullshit that I am not going to take into account.
The only two council members who have been cleared fully by Gryphon are Rockelle and Hannity, the two that live in the Sanctuary alongside us, and I’ve already spoken to both of them and come to an agreement. I've also spoken to Vivian and Unser about their opinions on the matter and, as high level TacTeam leaders, their opinions matter to me. I would trust my Bond’s life with either of them, as well as my own, and if they have something to say about how our community is being governed, then I want to know about it.
I have, of course spoken, to Gryphon and Nox as well.
It's not something that Oleander, Gabe, or Atlas have been involved in before, otherwise I would have spoken to them all at dinner about it. With everything else that went on last night, I didn't want to distress my Bonded with anything else because there was more than enough of a clusterfuck of information for one evening.
I don't know whether I desperately want Oleander to be right about my parents or if I want her to be wrong. The thought that the Resistance might have taken a real Bonded connection away from the people who brought me into this world and loved me so much fills me with a violent rage, but there's also a relief there. The potential that my bond and the shadow creatures are incapable of hurting Oleander is intoxicating and… maybe the poison that broke my brother was not something that had gone wrong in a happily Bonded Group.
Maybe what happened to him is the Resistance’s fault as well.
I shake my head to clear the monsters out of it, because there's no denying that following that path is strong enough to drown me.
I've lost more days than I want to admit to at the bottom of a bottle trying to drink away those memories. I will never begrudge Nox for wanting to do the same because while I might live with the knowledge, he lives with the experience.
Neither of us shoulders that very well.
An alarm sounds on my phone to remind me to leave on time to get to the summit, and I quickly check in mentally with my Bonded, mostly to reassure myself and remind myself of why I'm doing this.
She answers straight away. I'm just going to spend the day with Sage and Sawyer going through everything until we figure it out. Can we let her out if we get enough proof of her innocence together?
Irritation rolls down my spine, not at Oli, but at the terrible situation that her friend has ended up in, thanks again to the Resistance. I’m confident now that Sage did not intentionally kill Dara and that something else has happened.
I have known her family for too long and am now watching her father almost kill himself in the Sanctuary, going through blood types and trying to fix the mess that has been made of his family's legacy. There's also no way that the sweet, broken little girl who befriended my Bond, even when her own Bonds couldn't see past our own shit to do so, could ever be a member of the Resistance.
I realize this might sound naive, but when you have been dealing with those people for as long as I have, you start to see patterns and similarities in things. I was surprised when I heard that the blood groups had been messed with, but I also wasn't shocked into disbelief over it. Knowing their tactics, it made complete sense that they would go after Bonded Groups in hopes to weaken the bloodlines.