He’d been so straightforward in his reply. “We agreed to stick together. I can work from anywhere.”
He's close to something. I already know it. The way that North and Gryphon have been acting recently says they know it too. I trust him to speak to me when he's ready, whenever that may be.
Instead of tying myself into knots over it, I focus on making sure that I'm not a weak link in our Bonded Group. I’m so hellbent on making sure that it isn't just my bond who is a weapon for us all.
I’m going to be one too.
I sidle up to Sage and Aro as we get ready to make the jump, grateful when Gryphon tucks into my side as well with those magic healing hands of his.
There are a lot of things that could go wrong when we land, even having already sent out scout groups to set up and secure the area for us. So even though I'm tempted to make some smartass comments with my friends and laugh all of this off, I take a deep breath and roll my shoulders back, preparing myself to unleash my Gift the second our feet touch the ground, should I need to.
I meet North's eyes across the group and try not to blush at the pride that's there as he looks me over. For a long time, I didn't think that I would ever truly feel as though I was worthy of his admiration and loyalty, but I'm starting to now.
Kieran does one last headcount and then gets into position. “Look alive, people! Everyone grab my arm. Sawyer, I will snap your fingers off if you even attempt to be funny right now, and I'll persuade Felix to let you sit in discomfort for the rest of the day. Right, we’re leaving. Three, two, one…”
Gabe makes a big show of finding out the temperature when we arrive, but it's at least sixty degrees without a single cloud in the sky. I refuse to back down on my stance that it could snow at any second, though I do take off my winter jacket and stash it away in our tent pretty quickly.
The camp is in a small clearing in an otherwise dense forest, and I'm worried about the potential of being eaten by wildlife until Gryphon points out that we have shields in place that will protect us from anything that might want to have us for dinner. It only makes me fractionally less concerned.
As soon as we’ve dropped off our packs, North and Gryphon disappear to speak to the operatives who have already been here a few days, and I prepare myself for the inevitability that I'm going to see very little of them until we return to the Sanctuary.
We will all return to the Sanctuary.
There's no question in my mind this time that we're all making it home, and I distract myself by finding someone to give me some jobs to do. I let Azrael down from behind my ear to walk alongside us now that we’re here in a working capacity. No one can argue with an extra set of eyes here to help out, even if it’s in the form of a shadow creature.
North and Nox have already both let some other shadow creatures down to act as scouts. Even though I know that Azrael isn't a real puppy, it feels wrong to leave him tucked behind my ear when we're out in the wild like this.
He plays his part beautifully, bouncing around in the foliage and snapping at the leaves as we go past even though his jaws drift straight through them. I catch Atlas smiling at him as he bounces from fallen log to fallen log. I won't call him out on it, but it does warm me.
There's still more operatives to come, and we go about putting up more tents for them and setting up generators to help out. Gabe makes a joke about helping to dig out latrines, but Atlas shoves him into a pile of dead leaves before offering to hold anything that I might need help with, as though they're not being giant children right now.
Sage disappears with Felix to help him get the medical tent put together nicely, and Sawyer buries himself in his computers, growling and grumping at the setup he's been given to work with, though I know he's glad to not be left behind while everyone else is out here.
I know how it feels to be the only one left behind.
Things have also changed for him now that he has found his Central Bond. He's never been quite so motivated to deal with the Resistance as he is now that he knows what they did to her. The fight for him is no longer about morals or his community but about the girl he's growing to love, the person who he and Gray are destined to be with, and the missing connection in their Bond.
With his devious mind, I almost feel sorry for the Resistance.
They have no idea who they're dealing with and who they've pissed off.
Aro herself comes over to help put up tents with us, Gray following along and watching her carefully. She smiles at him shyly, a little more reserved now that she's not having to put a brave face on around her brother. Gray doesn’t seem to mind, talking to her quietly as they work out how to construct the makeshift lodgings.
He’s softer with her than he’s ever been with Sawyer, taking a different approach to his Central Bond, and the cocky, ice hockey hottie I’d first met is melting into a considerate and respectful gentleman.
I sort of want to scoff at the idea of him being the same guy as the one Kieran had to drag out of a party with his shirt undone from hooking up with Sawyer in a broom closet.
We’ve all come so far from there.
We get all of the extra tents put up and then head back to the main area of the camp to eat lunch together and find out if there is any more work that needs to be done.
Aro and Gray are happy to spend the whole day with us, and Gabe enjoys the break from all of the building he’s been doing. It’s as though this mission, which is probably going to be our biggest and most blood-soaked yet, is a little holiday for him. He enjoys messing around and being a bit of an idiot, only stopping when Sage and Felix join us for something to eat.
I'm shocked to see Felix at first, but he just shrugs his shoulders at me. “No one's injured yet, so until the fighting begins, I'm mostly just running inventory and catching up on my notes.”
We had brought sandwiches with us, knowing that the fresh food wouldn't last very long and it would be our last chance to eat a stacked BLT with extras for a long while. There isn't a dining hall or any sort of area specifically cordoned off for us to eat in. Instead, we spread out near the tree line, where we’ll be able to keep an eye on the entire camp but not be in anyone's way at the same time.
Aro grabs something for Sawyer and takes that into his tent filled with computers before she joins us. I call out to North, Gryphon, and Nox, just to be sure that they don't need anything from us, but they're all too busy to stop to eat.
When we spread out on the ground, Gabe, ever the social butterfly, calls out to a few of the TacTeam personnel to speak to them.
I only recognize Rockelle, who nods his head at us in what I'm sure he is hoping is a respectful manner, and Atlas huffs out a breath in a pissed off sort of way. There might not be bad blood between the two of them, per se, but my Bonded still doesn't like him.
All four of the guys that Gabe calls out to are carrying food of their own, and he invites them to sit with us, ignoring the savage glare that Atlas throws at him.
We're going to be here for weeks, probably. There's no point in holing ourselves away from the rest of the teams, Gabe sends through our mind link where Atlas can hear it too.
I don't want to admit that I'm siding with Atlas here, antisocial thanks to all of the judgment I get constantly, and instead I send a tight-lipped smile to one of the guys that I recognize from our last mission.