Lucky fucking us.
The moment I walk through the doors, Kieran meets my eyes across the room and grimaces at me, a very overt action to let me know just how fucking obnoxious it is to have these people in our home. We’ve worked together and been friends for long enough that he knows exactly how I feel about my family. He’s not looking forward to dealing with any of this any more than I am.
It's not that I don't love my parents.
They were good parents. They took care of me and raised me without any of the trauma that my friends and Bonded Group all seem to have, but once I was old enough to join the TacTeams and work my way up to the top, things changed. Working with them has become a nightmare, especially since the revelation of exactly who is in my Bonded Group.
There was a reason I hadn't been quick to call them home to meet Oli.
I walk across the foyer area, letting the savage look on my face part the sea of bodies for me, because no matter how excited the TacTeam personnel might be, none of them want to get on my bad side.
When I finally reach Kieran, he slaps me on the back and steps in to murmur to me, “They're in with Unser now. The medical personnel finished up with him and discharged him last night, but I don't think he should be down here yet. He's not in the right frame of mind for this. Vivian agrees with me, but there’s sweet fuck-all we can do about it when the General asks to see him.”
The General.
The code word for my father, who is definitely not a General, but we enjoy calling him that behind his back anyway. Kyrie had started it back when we were kids and I didn’t yet understand why she was pushing back against him so hard. He’d always treated her differently than me, and I’m ashamed to say that it took a very long time to see where my sister was coming from.
The doors of the center open again, and I glance back, expecting to see North striding in but finding Kyrie there instead, as though my thoughts had summoned her. She’s looking as though she’s been hit by a train.
I frown at her as she tucks her coat into her sides a little closer and stomps her way through to me. The crowd of people part just as easily for her as they do for me, and I feel a small glow of pride at her for having these trained personnel so terrified, even though most of them have never seen her shoot before.
They’d be shitting themselves if they had.
“What the fuck is the General doing back?” she snaps as soon as she reaches us, and I raise an eyebrow at her attitude. It’s a lot more pointed than I thought she’d be, more venomous than her usual attitude.
Kieran chuckles under his breath and leans into whisper to me conspiratorially, “Kyrie has been enjoying the attentions of some of the builders Gabe has been working with, and finding that she might have to explain some of these actions to mommy dearest and daddy dearest is not going over well with her.”
I groan and rub a hand over my face as she shrugs at both of us, completely unrepentant. “I don't give a shit what they think about what I'm doing. It's no one's business but my own. I’m Unbonded, remember? The problem here is that we're trying to pretend that everyone in the Sanctuary is so united and happy to be here, and putting the General in the mix is not going to be a good thing. Have you warned Oli of what’s about to go down? Hell, has anyone thought to tell her bond about him? Because it can't even handle any of us side-eyeing any of her Bonded, let alone when North and Nox end up in the same room as Dad.”
I drop my hand away from my face and give her a look. “I have considered that, obviously, but what am I supposed to do? Tell him he is not allowed to come here? Because that would be so easy to do. North agreed to let him here to give his latest debrief. He's only supposed to be here for a night or two. It’ll be just long enough that we can wave Oli in his face briefly, and then continue on with our lives.”
Kieran nods along as though I am giving him so much ammo for later ribbing, and Kyrie presses both of her hands against her temples as though she is suffering from a giant headache, though I doubt it could possibly be as big as mine.
“And how exactly are you convincing the Draven brothers to let their Bonded be in the same room as the General without them? Because the only way that we’re going to stop her bond from coming out and tearing his soul out through his nostrils is for her to not know about their issues.”
Kieran glances between the two of us and then chips in. “I don't think we're gonna have to worry about Nox giving a shit. He seems to be pretty fine with Oli doing anything that might get herself murdered, maimed, or kidnapped.”
This is not how I was planning on having this conversation with either of them, but I murmur, “That might not be true anymore.”
Both of them look at me, startled, and I shrug. “She saved his life. It involved a soul-bonding, and they seem to have found some common ground.”
Kieran snorts at me as though I've told a great joke and claps me on the back again. “Sure, sure. Nox Draven gives a shit about his Bonded. I believe you, one hundred percent. It's definitely what's happening here and not just that he wasn't thinking clearly post, y’know, death.”
Kyrie seems a little bit more hesitant to argue with me, but she shrugs and glances around the room, her back straightening with a snap as her eyes fall on our parents as they walk back into the room. Vivian and Unser are with them, both looking as though they’ve been chewing on sour grapes, though I'm sure Unser’s appearance has more to do with the fact that he isn't even twenty-four hours out of the medical center.
“Yeah, it can't be that bad. We’re going to be fine here,” Kyrie mutters under her breath, and I shrug because it doesn’t matter. We’re going to have to speak to them whether we want to or not.
The doors to the training center open again and North steps through, confirming that today is going to be a complete shitshow for me.
Surprisingly, he doesn't look as though he's just spent the last three days at the bottom of a bottle of bourbon, none of the horrendous hangover he must be experiencing showing on his face. His suit is perfect, his hair is slicked back in the very structured, councilman way that he has, and only the thin band of black smoke around his wrist shows that he might not be so happy about this situation.
Kieran leans into me again to murmur, “Ding ding, round one.”
Chapter Seven
Oli
After finding out that Gryphon's parents are both in the Sanctuary and down at the Tac Training Center, I abandon my original plans of going down there to work on my training. I am a little surprised that Gryphon hadn't mentioned that I was able to keep him out of my head, but I chalk it up to him being preoccupied.
I feel embarrassed that it hadn't even occurred to me that his parents might still be in the picture, and I feel a little bit off-kilter about it. I consider going back to Nox’s room and climbing back into his bed with him, but I think that maybe that is what’s keeping me jittery as well.
I need to breathe, get some space, and figure out my new normal. A new normal of having all of my Bonded at my side, loving me and protecting us all, no matter who it is that’s coming after us.
So instead, I get dressed and head into the kitchen, even though it is way too early to even be thinking about food. I rummage around in the cupboards until I have everything I need to make pancakes, a comfort food for me. I've never been all that good at cooking, but I have fond memories of getting up early on Saturday mornings with my dad and making pancakes together while my mom slept in.