Chapter Fifteen
North
It's difficult to wrestle my bond back into the recesses of my mind, but as the shields come down and the non-Gifted town comes into view, I have no choice. There's already markers everywhere around the perimeter where the law enforcement had clearly been trying to stop anyone from interfering with the monstrosity of the Wasteland. There are also men lining the edges of the destruction, their weapons pointed in our direction.
I reach up to remove my helmet and pull the neck gaiter down my face when Gryphon grabs my arm to stop me.
“They don't look as though they’re ready to have a rational conversation, better that we get out of here and contact them in a more formal manner,” he says.
I glance down at my Tac uniform and grimace at the mud, grime, and blood that coats me. I had been further away from my shadows when they were attacking, but there's no stopping them from spreading their meals around everywhere when they're dealing with our enemy, particularly now that the full extent of what had happened to our Bonded has come to light. I nod to Gryphon and then glance back at Nox to where he's standing just behind Oleander, hovering over her in that particularly protective way that he has now.
When he feels my eyes on him, he glances my way, and I'm struck with the alarming fact that it’s his bond in control and not my brother.
“It's going to be tricky to move them,” I murmur. Gryphon nods, flicking a hand signal at Kieran to get his attention. When his second-in-command comes over, they’re quick to mete out a plan.
Kieran moves over to where Sage has been helping to dispose of the bodies, burning them away to nothing more than ash, and he makes quick work of getting his Bonded and Gray back to the Sanctuary.
Both of them did well today.
This was more of a trial run to see how everyone would do working together and whether or not Sage and Gray could handle being on a mission. As expected, they’d both passed with flying colors. Even at the sight of the rotting corpses, Sage had done little more than swallow back bile before she got to work. I didn't expect anything less from the girl who has stood by my Bonded from the very first moment they met. Though I'm worried about her safety, I’m also happy to have another trusted and capable body alongside us in the fight.
Gray has always been a contender for TacTeams, only his parents’ obsessive protection had stopped him from joining years ago. Now that we've found his Bond, he has enough skin in the game to really become an asset.
Things are finally falling into place for us.
Kieran pops back into existence and nods at us that he's ready to take our Bonded Group back as well. I join Gryphon in attempting to coax Oleander back out of her bond. Nox doesn't react to our words, his bond just staring down the law enforcement only a few hundred feet away from us, but we're all careful not to touch him anyway.
Brutus sits patiently at Oleander’s feet, snapping a little at Gabe when he steps over to help out, and August is quick to join in. We move cautiously to not startle the bonds, so it’s slow work. We're making good progress until the shouting begins.
I don't know whether someone has recognized one of us or if they just assume that all Gifted are the Resistance, here to hurt them, but in the blink of an eye, there are dozens of guns pointed in our direction. Non-Gifted men are shouting for us to surrender and sirens sound as more cars arrive around the perimeter.
Atlas is quick to slide in front of Oli, and his body widens as he stands firm as a barrier. Her bond doesn't react any further than placing a warm palm between his shoulder blades, a small acknowledgement of his protection of her.
Nox's bond looks down at her, and I do not like the look that they are sharing.
“You can't kill the non-Gifted. They're not a real threat here,” I say firmly, and they both ignore me for a minute. I'm about to say it again, to start a full-blown argument with a god who wears my Bonded’s body as a damn vessel, when it finally turns her face towards me.
“We need to leave then, because if any of them dare to hurt my Bonded, I will not contain myself.”
I nod and gesture at Kieran to come closer, all of us moving around until we have circled around him. The movement seems to alarm the law enforcement, and the shouting gets louder, more demands for us to turn ourselves in. I look up, but I can’t see anything that might need my attention, my shadow creatures staying put inside my chest.
Right as we all move to touch Kieran and get out of here, a single gunshot rings through the air.
Before I have the chance to panic about where that bullet ended up, Atlas grunts, wincing as the small lead pellet bounces off of his shoulder as though it was nothing more than a penny being thrown at him.
I sigh at the argument I'm about to have with my Bonded’s bond, but I don't get the chance to. I don’t get the chance to do anything.
I'm expecting hundreds of bodies to hit the ground. I'm expecting to deal with the aftermath of dozens of non-Gifted being killed. I'm expecting the emotional aftermath of Oleander waking up to the devastation of what her bond has done.
I’m not expecting it to be Gabe’s eyes shifting as his own bond kicks in.
I’m definitely not expecting them to shift to black either.
The only thing that saves us is Kieran's quick thinking as he slaps a hand on Gabe’s shoulder and transports us out of the Wasteland. He's smart enough to take us directly to the Tac Training Center and into one of the meeting rooms.
We must have some good karma out there in the world because no one spots us as we reappear. The moment that our feet land on the cleanly tiled floor, Gabe lets out a roar as his body begins to shift.
I yank Oleander away from him and behind me at the same time as Gryphon and Atlas both dive in front of her, but her bond is still in control. It stares at Gabe with the unnatural blankness that it has, its eyes rounded as it takes in the gruesome sight of Gabe’s arms and legs snapping and elongating, his skin giving way to black, shiny scales, and giant wings bursting out from between his shoulder blades. His clothes are shredded into pieces and the sound of his labored breathing and groaning slowly turns into an animalistic snarl and in only a few short minutes, we're left staring down at the dragon.
The dragon with black void eyes.
I glance around at the rest of the room, but any words I might have dry up in my throat at the sight of the beast. There's no point in speaking to anyone about it anyway. No one but the three gods amongst us might actually know what the fuck is going on here.
None of them are reliable in answering though.
What the hell is that? I have to try to ask my own bond the question, even if I’m expecting nothing from it.
It's quiet for a moment before it answers, It awakens.
I stare over at Gryphon. He is splitting his time between looking at me, processing my bond’s words, and staring down the dragon as it begins to pace, its eyes glued to Oleander without blinking.
Its void-like eyes are the marker of the god now living within him.
No matter what we try, we cannot get Gabe to shift back.
Nox and Oleander are also both still in their bond state, standing and staring at the beast from where it paces on one side of the room, barely able to take three steps before it's turning and taking three steps back. It’s clearly agitated but unwilling or unable to be reasoned with.
After we get Kieran out and Atlas positioned next to Oleander, ready to pounce in case something goes terribly wrong, we decide to just wait them out, but after an excruciatingly long hour, nothing has changed.